Mermaid Rock

October mourning

2011-10-06T16:15:00.000-04:00

As I drove home from work today, I was listing all the lovely things about the drive. Not least that someone in authority noticed the sinkhole developing in the right lane of my morning commute, and it looks like it will be mended by morning. But mainly, it has stopped raining. The sky is no longer overcast. In fact, it is blue, and cloudless, and there is a hint of nip in the air (although there is still no need to wear a coat). I could smell the woodsmoke from someone's fireplace.

As I drove, I checked on the noteworthy trees along my commute. Trees that by some happy circumstance, some combination of placement, soil, water, sun, who knows? - are outstanding specimens. There's an enormous maple that will be setting the sky on fire in a few more weeks. A stately white dogwood, large and old for its type, perfectly shaped, that punctuates the arrival of spring every year. And a crepe myrtle of such size and majesty that twice a year it fairly glows with flowers, causing my husband, who is not given to noticing flowers much, to ask what it was and if we could have one in our yard. The autumnal flowering is over now, but like the others, I still glance at it as I pass.

Except today. It's gone. They've cut it down. They're building a house in the area behind it.

I'm not totally against cutting down trees. I've removed a few dead or dying specimens myself, and thinned out places that needed it. And I understand that construction means clearing a path for the machines. But this beauty was on the edge of the yard, out of the way, and nothing they could replace it with will come anywhere near it in beauty for decades.

Thoughtless waste.

Meloch

2011-07-18T19:13:00.006-04:00

(MYEH-lutch: trifles, little things, small change)

I've been making little things:

- a cozy for NKD's GPS out of leftover Cotton-Ease from KD's stash:

I love the button. I made sure it was not a shank button, as I didn't want it poking back into the screen and scratching it. Then I sewed the button on making a yarn shank, as I wanted NKD to be able to fasten it easily (with the GPS inside, one can't bend the fabric to pop the button in and out).

- a cozy to keep my iPod earbuds from constantly tangling (and then decided I liked another set of earphones better anyway):

I made a matching (as in, the same Purple Heather Knitpicks Stroll, my current favorite color ever) cozy for my iPod:

You'll notice there's no pattern link. I cast on as if it was a toe-up sock, worked linen stitch in the round until it covered my iPod, cast off one side (plus a bit, to leave room for the earphone cord), continued in linen stitch as I decreased, purposely (no, really!) slanting the flap to one side, made a buttonhole at the end, and there you go! (As in, go find a button - thanks, KD!)

And then, before sewing the button on and tucking in the ends, I turned it inside out. I can't explain it. I just love the way those fat reverse-linen-stitch purl bumps look. Like Israeli couscous.

2011-07-13T17:50:00.003-04:00

When I made NKD's Saige, I had a fair amount of Berroco Sox self-striping sock yarn left over. Glamorgan 1420 was by far my absolute favorite stripe (go ahead, ask my family about the noises I made while knitting with it the first time). I was delighted to find that I had just enough left to make a pair of ankle socks for myself. I was also ridiculously pleased to be able to get the stripes to match.

I knit them on zeros, and fiddled with my standard toe-up sock pattern a bit. KD and I have noticed that over time our hand knit socks, um, grow a bit, so I've been experimenting with making them a tighter fit to start with. I can't really tell until I've worn and washed them awhile if this did any good. And I'm certainly not wearing wool socks for another couple of months! These are in (moth proof) Summer Sock Hibernation until then.

Overdye? Seriously?

2011-07-11T17:55:00.004-04:00

I made my SIL (mother of two of the cutest kids on the planet - I have photographic evidence!) a beaded lace shawl, the beautiful and challenging Dracula's Bride (ravelry link).

I bought the type of yarn called for, Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool-Silk, not wanting to mess around with substitutions.

It was a shock to receive the pattern and discover it was beaded. My eyesight just isn't sharp enough to pick that out in the pattern photographs. But with some advice from my SIL, I found some gorgeous beads. I have done beading previously by attaching the beads as I came to them with a crochet hook, but there was no way that was going to happen with these tiny things, so I learned how to string beads on yarn and slide them up when it was time.

I started it in September, and restarted it in January (it's hard to spot a significant pattern error in unblocked lace), and gave it to her this spring. The one major modification I made was in the color yarn. The certifiably crazy wonderwoman who designed the shawl knit it entirely in dark red, and then OVERDYED the edge black. I had heart palpitations just thinking about how badly I could mess up my carefully knit lace by trying my hand at dying for the first time. So I bought the yarn in Ruby and Ebony and switched at about the spot it looked like she overdyed it. The black came off on my hands a little as I knit it, making me nervous about even wet-blocking it, but pinning and spraying did the trick.

Just for you, kid

2011-05-16T18:34:00.006-04:00

Awhile ago (in November 2009, to be exact), I was in my LYS with my non-knitting daughter, a situation I normally try to avoid. Not on her account, lest she be bored, but because there is nothing worse than ~~petting~~ pouring over yarn in the presence of toe-tapping impatience. As it happens, she was extremely well-behaved, exploring an alien environment with her usual absorption, and I'd nearly forgotten she was with me.

Until she showed up at my elbow, her face aglow, waving a booklet in my face and asking "Could you make this for me?"

The kind of question that warms a mother's heart, right?

Except that she is in her 20s, and the pattern was for a small child. Still, I agreed that it looked like her kind of thing, and the construction was simple enough. I thought it would be possible. And on Mother's Day 2011, I finally sewed on the buttons and sent her on her way.

NKD's Saige

Pattern: Saige (Berroco #280 Soxcetera)
Needles: US 2
Yarn: Berroco Sox in 1420 Glamorgan, 1424 Huddersfield, 1425 John Moores, 1426 Royal Holloway, 1427 Lancaster, 1436 Lidores, 1474 Liverpool, and 1477 Kingston

Mods: Well. Since the thing is constructed from strips, I started out by doubling the number of body strips from 2 to 4, adding a couple more colors of gorgeous self-striping Berroco Sox, and doubled the amount of yarn called for in the sleeves. The green for the edging wasn't available, so I went with NKD's favorite blue. I figured out what color went where, and knit one of the outer strips that required no shaping at all. When I got the length (up the back, over the shoulder, down the front) that NKD wanted, I recorded the number of rows and did some math. Then I knit the rest of it. I took a bit of a rest before tackling the neck/hood math, but since NKD was available for frequent try-ons and math help (she's working on her doctorate in astrophysics, what's a little knitting math to her?), it wasn't too bad. I assembled it as I went along. I love mattress stitch, and really, when there's no shaping, it's practically mindless. When it was done and blocked, we visited her grandmother's button boxes to finish it off with some vintage buttons.

Hats for Liz

2011-01-25T18:28:00.004-05:00

Rumor has it that some months ago Liz saw a selection of NKD's hats, knit for her by mom and sister, and complained that our family had not made her any hats. So we did. Not least because she made it safely home from her last tour of duty.

The boys are still working on their contribution (newspaper hats - why do mine always turn into boats before I can stop them?).

NKD picked up her needles again, and turned out a very creditable watch cap (but she's still NKD, because she still doesn't enjoy the process):

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease (80% acrylic, 20% wool) in one of the blue-ish heathers
Needles: Size 7 circulars and dpns
Pattern: Cast on 88 sts, work K2,P2 ribbing for 10", K2, P2tog; work another inch, K2tog, P1, work another inch, K2tog twice around, cut yarn and pull through remaining stitches.

KD, after a false start (we don't need no stinking gauge swatch) that found a happy home, made a perfectly lovey spiral hat:

Yarn: Red Heart Worsted (100% acrylic) in rust, a discontinued color I bought scads of back when I was churning out gingerbread men almost daily
Needles: size 7 circular
Pattern: Hurricane Hat (non-Ravelry link here)

Rumor had also revealed to me that Liz had a fondness for the currently popular South American chullo (earflap hat), so with NKD's help on picking colors, I contributed this one:

Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss DK (70% wool, 30% silk) in Jade, Grass, and Cream
Needles: size 6 circulars and dpns
Pattern: Alpaca Earflaps
Loved this yarn, and I have enough left to make something else - maybe a scarf? Lots of people had issues with the pattern. I left the claw pattern out of the earflaps, did a half-double-crochet edging instead of double crochet, and finished with braided colors instead of I-cord. The stockinette edge was partially tamed by the edging, and stops flipping up entirely when worn.

Welcome home, Liz!

Arrrgyle Vest

2011-01-17T13:38:00.005-05:00

Still catching up with this year's gift-knitting, now that the unwrapping is over.

A vest for my littlest niece:

Pattern: Moose's Argyle Vest (non-Ravelry link) from the 2010 Knitting Pattern a Day Calendar

Size: 2T-3T (she should be able to wear it for another year at least)

Yarn: Knitpicks Stroll Sock Yarn (75% Superwash Merino Wool, 25% Nylon) in Basalt Heather, African Violet, Carnation, and Dove Heather

Needles: 3.5 mm

Modifications: I adapted the Arrrglye Socks graph (non-Ravelry link) to fit across the front of the vest. It was finicky, but worth it.

This was a fun, fast knit. I had to pick up the neck stitches twice - one look at the opening I was making and I knew no child's head would ever enter. This is a constant mistake I make, but at least I caught it early on this time.

I'm gaining confidence in colorwork. I've learned three important things since those long-ago first efforts in acrylic: 1) Blocking (i.e., making it in a fiber that can be blocked, to start with), 2) Spacing your floats - keep spreading out the stitches on the right-hand needle to stretch out your floats, and 3) Make adjustments as you secure your ends. That last one was the big deal on this piece. I didn't even bother to block it. I did take care with my floats, but some of it still looked crappy until I wove in the ends and pulled a few loose ends snugly into line.

Twins

2011-01-09T17:46:00.004-05:00

Yarn makes a lovely souvenir. Whether it's the oddly colored cotton I bought at a Dutch flea market decades ago, or the sweet, chestnut-brown alpaca a friend brought me from Peru, it conjures up memories, or thoughts, of far-away places. I love the challenge of knitting up a new yarn into something it wants to be.

Recently, a well-traveled friend brought me two skeins of yarn from Spain. Thick, warm, luscious, soft alpaca/wool/acrylic. Enough for a striped scarf, or two hats, or - well, I never did get further in my musings in that, since one of my daughters was within hearing. They rarely dress alike, but are not averse to the occasional item being made for both of them, as long as the colors are different.

They've both been wearing them constantly ever since I delivered them, so I think they were a hit. Thank you, my friend.

Yarn: Katia's Peru (40% acrylic, 40% wool, 20% alpaca), 2 100 g skeins
Needles: #8 circular*, #10 circular and dpns
Pattern: Winter's Coming (and non-Ravelry here)
Mods: none. This yarn and pattern were made for each other; I would make more in a heartbeat.

*This was not good to discover just now, since I have spent all weekend insisting I did not own a small #8 circular. Obviously, I did when I made these hats. Guess I'd better go look for it. NKD wants to learn to make a hat. More on that later.

Sailor hat

2011-01-02T15:59:00.004-05:00

Hat for Sailor

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Chunky, I think, in a lovely blend of green and black impossible to see here.

Pattern: Lion Brand Watch Cap, no modifications

The photograph completely fails to convey the warmth and comfort level of this hat. But somewhere far away, someone is enjoying it.

Sometimes, the light at the end of the tunnel is Minnesota

2010-11-05T16:53:00.003-04:00

Here's how my week at work went, told, as always, in the form of an analogy:

me, to software developer: I downloaded the updated version of your program, as instructed. But now every day it locks up, and my fingertips turn bright purple. ( <= enter the analogy)

developer (to be fair, we have known each other for years): Ha ha ha ha ha!

me: I'm not joking.

him: I've never heard of anything that would cause that. Hey, listen, guys! (retells story to roomful of developers; much laughter ensues). Are you sure it's our program that's causing the problem?

me: When I quit the program, my fingers go back to normal. It takes awhile to quit the program, though, because it's hard to type with purple fingertips.

him: Try this...

me: Didn't work. But I found someone else with the same problem.

him: Two aren't enough. You need to find more people with the problem.

me: Or you could just help me re-install the old version.

him: (Walks me through it, pointing out along the way that I'm doing it wrong; I try his way.)

me: Now the old version of the program causes the same problem.

him: I talked to the IT department and they said purple fingertips are bruises and it means you are typing too hard!

me: Ha ha ha ha ha no. I know the difference between a bruise and this. And bruises wouldn't go away when I quit your program.

him: Okay, try this...

Meanwhile, trying to find more victims has resulted in a slew of advice on manicures, gloves, and other non-helpful options.

Some days, retirement shines bright.

Oops

2010-10-03T16:38:00.003-04:00

Last week I ordered a pinch-pleat curtain panel, hooks, and curtain rod for the sliding door in our study. Sounds simple, doesn't it? I drove myself nuts though, because I knew what I wanted but didn't know what any of it was called. And after that, I couldn't seem to find a thermal curtain in white. But finally, on the website of a company I have done excellent business with in the past, I found everything I wanted, and the order went in.

This Thursday I came home from work to find three boxes at the front door, one of them clearly a curtain rod. I carried them all in and set them in the study, and went on with my day (I'm on a tight schedule in the afternoons to get swimming laps squeezed in between work and supper). After supper my husband asked why they packed each curtain in a separate box, and I said that, since it was only a one-piece curtain, I had assumed that the curtain hooks (I had to order two sets to have enough) rated their own box.

It was days later before he actually opened the boxes. With a laugh, he delivered one of the boxes to me straight away.

Not curtain-related at all! I hadn't expected to see this order so soon. And in the surprise of it, the next thing I knew, I had cast on the new project. *sigh* I'm never going to finish anything at this rate!

Elephant included for scale

2010-09-25T18:10:00.005-04:00

This is, quite possibly, the cutest package of yarn I have ever received (elephant included for scale). (Okay, ruler, too.)

Here's the thing: there are ~~three~~ two¹ skeins of yarn in there. And I am fully cognizant of the large, awesome object they are going to become (a gift for a loyal blog reader, so pardon me if I don't even show the return address).

How is this even possible?

I am going to surround air with small, discrete edges, linked together. With my bare hands! (Okay, and a size 5 circular needle that I don't own yet²).

Once upon a time I had a little sister who believed that I was magic (aren't little sisters great?). There are days I believe it myself.

¹ I finally opened the package...

² And I'm really happy about that. I am rotating through three projects on a daily basis, frantic to finish even one of them. If I had a size 5 circular needle, I would cast on this project, and none of those three projects would EVER be finished.

It's Officially Fall

2010-09-19T16:09:00.004-04:00

Not because of the autumnal equinox, which isn't until later this week.

Not because the weather has cooled off a little, and the AC is finally off.

Not because the school year has started again, or even because my last child has moved out (I'll miss you, LG!):

No, our official sign of fall is a visit to the county fair. (Do not even get me started on the local system that holds the county fair long after the State Fair.)

I watched Duck Races,and bought a duck (a Candy Corn Duck, no less);

we watched sheep showing off,

and another complaining (loudly!) about his missing coat;

There may have been funnel cake, but there is no photographic evidence.

Annual, traditional fun (and the prettiest weather we've had since spring).

Read it Aloud

2010-07-04T11:24:00.002-04:00

Thanks, Franklin. I approve the sentiment. We're going to do it as a round-robin later this evening.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

hen in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Memorial Day

2010-05-31T08:00:00.002-04:00

I was on a military post at 5 pm the other day. That doesn't happen as often as it used to, since my husband retired from active duty many years ago. Still, as the bugle call sounded Retreat, I automatically stopped and faced the general direction of the flag, too far away to be seen. As the lovely warm breezes of a May evening washed over me, I closed my eyes and took a moment to enjoy the sun on my face.

I found myself faintly anxious in the silence as the last notes of Retreat faded, that same feeling when you know what the next movement of a piece of music is going to be, but it hasn't started yet. Or, since I pre-date the Shuffle Generation, that moment when some deep part of you knows what the next track will be, and relaxes in familiarity as it starts. And sure enough, at the first notes of To the Color sounded, I relaxed.

I thought about friends overseas, and their families, and was instantly transported back to a memory of when that was us, a family overseas, with DH even further away in a war zone. We weren't always on post in the evenings, since we lived "on the economy" in a beautiful little village. But that evening we were, and the girls knew what to do.

Epic Fail

2010-05-27T15:00:00.001-04:00

The whole and entire point of having a knitting blog (at least for me), not to mention a Ravelry account, is to document my work so that when I want to go back and make something I've made before, I can remember how I did it. Except that this past month, two things I wanted to document simply weren't document-able.

Here is a pretty scarf I made for sister K:

I can tell you that it is made from one skein of some lovely cinnamon-colored alpaca that my co-worker brought back for me from her trip to Peru. No label, but 100% alpaca, and it felt like lace-weight to me.

I can tell you that I probably knit it up on a size 9 circular, because I can vaguely remember the color of the needle it was on.

But can I tell you what the pattern is? I cannot. I found it on the internet, copied the relevant pattern rows to one of the scraps of paper my life is littered with, and went on my merry way. *sigh* I can tell you that I chose the pattern because I do not trust alpaca to stay blocked, and it looked nice even as unblocked lace. I can tell you that I did not find the pattern on Ravelry. I probably found it on Knitting Pattern Central. Wait - wait - memory is stirring... Bingo! Bramble Lace Scarf, and credit where credit is due. As you can see, I made it quite a bit lacier, but even in it's unstretched state (which I firmly believe alpaca reverts to), it's still pretty.

Well. Maybe if I start a blog post about the other lost pattern, memory will jog again. Time will tell.

A Blast from the Past

2010-05-24T15:00:00.002-04:00

Towards the end of winter, my sister sent me back a pair of socks I had knit her. I was shocked when I opened the package. Not because they were in such pristine shape - I already knew that she'd never been able to get them on, so they were completely unworn. But they had to be among the first pairs of socks I ever knit.

I do things so differently now!

Let's start with that pointy little toe, since these are toe-up socks. I believe the original had you cast four stitches onto a straight needle, knit in the front and back of each stitch, then slide the whole thing off the needle, where it opened up neatly into two halves, which you then slid onto two double-pointed needles. You knit the first two stitches onto a third needle, and there you were, ready to start your toe increases. Although I deeply loved the magic of sliding those stitches off and watching them open up, these days I use a magic-8 cast-on of 20 stitches, resulting in a much blunter toe.

And nowadays finding "European" sets of double-pointed needles, with five to the set instead of four, means that my socks rest on four needles in a square, rather than three needles in a triangle. Yes, I know about magic loop and the wonders of two circular needles. I've made progress, but I'm still old-fashioned.

Then there's that heel, which, although simple to execute, makes a much narrower opening for the foot than a nice gusseted wrap&turn heel. I use Wendy's, because she's done the math for different yarn weights and foot sizes.

Although the mock cable ribbing was pretty, I tend toward the practical elasticity of a 2x2 rib these days.

Finally, and from my sister's point of view the most important thing, I have learned the miracle of Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn cast-off when it comes to the top of toe-up socks. Unlike my first attempt (where I believe I confidently cast off using a needle two sizes bigger), these are wearable.

Now I'd better re-knit the other one and get them back on their way!

Mother's Day

2010-05-09T15:55:00.007-04:00

Finished, Mom's really cool socks:

Yarn: Knit Picks Essential (now Stroll) in Granny Smith, Cocoa, Pumpkin, Sarge, and Bare

Needles: Knit Picks Harmony dpns, sizes 2.25 mm and 2 mm

Pattern: Nancy Bush's Ilga's Socks from Favorite Socks

Mods: none whatsoever

Mom had picked these out as her favorite pattern in the book. I didn't jump right on them, as colorwork has never been my strong suit. But somewhere along the way last summer, knitting sock after sock in the Leyburn pattern, it occured to me (I'm a little slow at times) that if spreading the stitches out along the needle while you carried the yarn in front prevented puckering in Leyburns, maybe the same thing would happen in colorwork. I checked this brilliant insight out at my knitting group, and they kindly didn't laugh, and assured me it was indeed the way to do it. So my first favorite thing about these socks is the nice flat colorwork.

My second favorite thing is the eye-of-peacock heel. I just love me an eye of peacock heel, although I admit it's a little hard to see here.

And lastly, the cute little round toe, so cute that I quickly worked out a way to do a round toe in a toe-up sock, and cast on my next socks that way.

Happy Mothers Day, Mom! What's that? You want to wear them? Seeing them isn't enough? You do realize they're wool, and this cool weather isn't going to hang around much longer... all right, all right, I'll bring them up next time we come.

Liitle Drops of Water, Little Grains of Sand

2010-04-11T18:16:00.003-04:00

I finished my computer socks. Computer socks? You know, the project I keep beside my keyboard at home, to see me through those moments when something won't load, or is taking its own sweet time about completing a function. They're also handy when the phone rings while I'm at my desk and I don't want to be distracted by the internet. Or when I've decided to watch something on Hulu... well, you get the idea. Certainly a project I wasn't in any hurry about (mostly because they're for me).

This was the last of the Patons Stretch Socks yarn I spent all last summer on. Leyburns for KD, NKD, Mom, and me. And then, because there were leftovers, ankle socks for everybody, but in someone else's color. So KD and NKD switched, and Mom and I switched. Are you confused yet? Everyone wound up with two pairs of socks in two different colors and patterns.

Now I need a new, mindless, small knitting pattern for Computer Knitting. Although actually, Mom's really cool socks are far enough along to be mindless...

Facing Facts

2010-02-21T14:16:00.005-05:00

It's been a good weekend for facing facts. Yes, we are going to have to do some gutter repairs after the Blizzard of 2010. Yes, the shed is a goner due to the weight of the snow. Sometimes, as fascinating as a class is, you know that due to circumstances beyond your control (see the aforementioned blizzard), you may be too far behind to ever catch up. As much as you'd like to, you're not going to lose any weight before that trip you're planning. And then there's the knitting.

You know that moment in the Olympic downhill skiing where the Olympic hopeful becomes a giant snowball with head, arms, and ski tips sticking out? That would be what happened with my Olympic knitting this year.

It started out well enough.

I had the pattern, the yarn, the needles, and the recipient lined up.

I signed up for Stephanie's Olympics and cast on while watching the Opening Ceremony. I figured out how many inches I'd have to knit each day, and started the sleeves as my travel knitting.

Here we are a week later, and I'm taking stock. I've discovered mistakes along the way, but they were nothing I couldn't live with as, ahem, design elements. No, the snowball moment came when I measured the sleeve length to find out how much I had to go to reach the proper length after finishing the increases. Uh-oh. A negative number. Really?

Yes, really. A quick check of gauge revealed that despite knitting with the yarn called for on the needles called for, I was completely off gauge. I'm not anti-swatching. I've swatched a recent project to a fair-thee-well, because I'm messing with the pattern, yarn, and needles. But I wasn't modifying this pattern in any way, so I didn't swatch.

You can't show me many Olympic champions who haven't done the proper training.

Now I could finish this sweater in a week. But it wouldn't fit the recipient. And that would be a pretty hollow victory. So my friends, avert your eyes as I frog this pretty thing back to its constituent skeins, and begin again, two entire needles sizes down from those called for.

Because the point is to make a pretty sweater for my daughter, not win a race.

Catching up

2010-02-10T09:00:00.002-05:00

There's a blue jay in there - see him?

So I'm back on line after 56 hours without electricity thanks to our first February blizzard of 2010. Really, calling it the Blizzard of '10 as if there couldn't possibly be another was just asking for it. And don't even get me started on cutesy names like Snowmageddon and Snowpocalypse. Over-exaggerate like that and the universe will show you what words actually mean.

We've dealt with the 2-3 feet of snow (impossible to measure accurately with all the blowing and drifting), and restocked for the next nor'easter, arriving in a few hours. I'm scheduling this to post tomorrow, whether we have power or not (thanks, internet!).

The undeniable truth about being snowed in and without electricity is that it makes you glad you're a knitter, on so many levels. I have never been so happy that I own multiple pairs of hand-made, personally-fitted, wool socks as I have been this week. My semi-felted jaywalkers that fit like gloves for feet are my favorite for wearing under boots while shoveling. And to think I was sad when they first shrunk a little in the wash and I thought they were too warm!

One of the primary benefits of knitting is that it prevents boredom. In the evenings, huddled under blankets in a room lit and mildly warmed by 24 (of course we counted) votive-sized candles all gathered on the coffee table, knitting turned out to be easier on the eyes than reading.

Knitting? I'm glad you asked. In January I made my son is first-ever pair of handknit socks, because he was finally going to be somewhere cold enough to wear them. And he approved.

Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks FX in Cadet Colors, 2 skeins
Needles: #3 dpns
Pattern: Standard toe-up sock sized for a 9 1/2 inch foot, Wendy's wonderful toe-up gusset heel, 2x2 rib uppers.

Then I fired off a pair of socks for NKD (both of these were Christmas promises), striving to achieve something reminiscent of stars and galaxies. She was pleased.

Yarn: Berroco Socks Metallic in Curacao, 1 skein
Needles: hmm. I was borrowing Knitpicks Harmony dpns from a friend just before I bought my own set. I believe it was the 2.75 mm size.
Pattern: Well. I started with Charybdis (Ravelry link), then made so many modifications I may have lost track. I changed the number of sts around to accommodate her smaller foot, and adjusted the number of sts between spirals accordingly. I did lifted increases instead of yarn overs, because it's too cold for lacy socks. I worked Wendy's above-mentioned toe-up gusset, because experience has shown that a short-row heel will not go over her foot (and because left to myself, I would never work any other heel ever). After the first full spiral up the leg I increased one stitch in every spiral by working an increase row without the corresponding decreases between two normal pattern rows, and worked the extra sts into the pattern. I did it again when the next full spiral started, so that the fit expands slightly up her leg, and mimics the widening spirals of a galaxies arms.

The odd thing was that I only used half of a 100-gram skein of yarn (really? two socks out of 50 grams? How the heck did I do that?). I picked out a possibilities and she settled on this hat, which matches nicely (and look how much yarn I had left!):

Yarn: Leftover Berocco Socks Metallic
Needles: #3 dpns
Pattern: Sheepytime's Swirl Hat (Ravelry link), no mods whatsoever

Finally, my snow knitting has been Calluna in Knitpicks Gloss HW (Wine). I made a total botch of the first attempt from failing to read the pattern closely enough, despite all the discussions on Ravelry, and am now on my second. The charts read in alternate directions for each row. How did I miss that? Meanwhile, I'm not slip-stitching up the front edges (I slip-stitch the edges of scarves, but this is fine as it is). I'm not knitting the button band separately (although I swore I would do that on my husband's next sweater), nor am I working short rows into the garter edging. The slight difference in length just doesn't bother me. I haven't decided about buttonhole placement yet.

And now I'd better finish shoveling off the deck!

A moment between blizzards

2010-02-09T08:44:00.005-05:00

My husband has a new love. I realized it was serious when I noticed I wasn't hearing any more talk about the house he's building for us; now it's all about the house he's building for her. Right in our own backyard! She's younger, of course. Much younger. And she was there for him - all right, for us - in our time of need. But still.

Not to mention the family betrayal - she's my brother-in-law's cast-off, which I'm sure makes my sister happy. Although I don't think he cared for her as much as much as my husband does, since he kept her isolated in a small place close to his office.

And really, what can I say about it, when it's clear we're going to need her again, right away.

Just wait until spring.

I Made Glass

2009-12-13T18:50:00.007-05:00

See?

When the kids were little (yesterday, right?), one of our favorite places to visit was Wheaton Village. I'm a South Jersey girl, and it was important to me that they know about salt marshes and pine barrens and glass.

Last year for Christmas, my family gave me the gift of a glass-making class there. (Seriously, who thinks of that? "Let's have Mom twirl some 2000-degree F. molten glass around on the end of a steel pole! She'll love it!" In fact, I did, but how did they know?)

I just got around to scheduling the class. This is not something you want to do on a hot summer's day, and I was happy to be playing by a glass furnace on a bitter cold December day. But I didn't put it off because of the weather, I put it off because I thought I wasn't going to be good at it. Left-handed, clumsy, arthritic - there's a reason I work with nice, soft, forgiving wool.

I had a fantastic time, though. My instructor was right there at every step to make sure I didn't hurt myself or anyone else. And he lent a hand when my weak right hand wasn't up to a task. But I did most of it my own self, right down to pressing the mark in the bottom that says "made by me."

I learned some new words, like marver, which is the metal table glass-makers roll the molten glass on, and the verb for it is marvering. It's from the French word for marble, because that's what they used to roll glass on.

I learned that when you're gathering molten glass on to the tip of your pole, in the glass furnace, the way that you tell where the surface of the glass is (because the interior of the furnace is a pink-orange window into hell, and you truly can't tell) is that your pole-tip casts a shadow onto the surface.

I learned that letting the glass melt to near-liquidity in the glory-hole, pulling it out and letting it drip down about a foot, and then spinning it back up onto the tip, in order to swirl the colors, is a rush right up there with blocking out lace, or seeing the colors progress on a self-striping sock.

I learned that poking dents in the molten glass, and then adding a new gather of clear glass, makes bubbles in the paperweight.

I learned that you may think you've picked out some nice colors, but as far as you can see you're making a red-orange paperweight, and you have to take it on faith that it will look good when it cools.

Thanks, guys! What a great gift!

First Snow

2009-12-05T14:34:00.007-05:00

The first snowfall of the season was rapidly followed by the traditional invasion of the kitchen. There is now chili in the slow cooker, a pumpkin pie out of the oven, and bread waiting in the wings. DH and I acknowledge that this is a primal reaction to snow, but since it's one that we share, we enjoy responding to it.

We are also enjoying the serendipitous outcome of a minor calamity this summer - we returned from our summer vacation to discover that four (4!) partying squirrels had fallen down our chimney and died. September entailed the animal-removal guy tearing out the gas fireplace and part of the damper in order to remove the corpses. To our surprise, we discovered that the former owners had sealed up some pretty andirons and some well-used fireplace tools in the uncleaned fireplace. The next expense was a thorough chimney cleaning and repair (and a screen and some new tools). I still think it likely that we'll install another gas fireplace at some point, but meanwhile, there's nothing like this:

when outside it looks like this:

The children agree:

In knitting news, let's see. I spent the summer on a dishcloth knitting jag:

as well as knitting Leyburns (Ravelry link) for everyone who held still long enough out of Patons Stretch Sock yarn:

Now Christmas knitting has commenced.

I have Sung My Song

2009-11-03T18:18:00.003-05:00

KD wished me a Happy November on Sunday and asked if I had sung my song yet. Then Claudia asked why anyone likes November. Such a happy confluence of events means that I shall sing my song here, in public, as it were.

Ready?

The Crazy Women, by Gwendolyn Brooks

I shall not sing a May song.
A May song should be gay.
I'll wait until November
And sing a song of gray.

I'll wait until November
That is the time for me.
I'll go out in the frosty dark
And sing most terribly.

And all the little people
Will stare at me and say,
"That is the Crazy Woman
Who would not sing in May."

That is possibly my favorite poem ever. And apparently, my children know this.

A Spooky Story

2009-11-01T20:24:00.005-05:00

KD and I went Up North in mid-October, for a week of reading. It looked like this outside:

and like this inside:

We had a lovely, restful time (and our thanks to our absent hosts!). The last evening we joked of all the ways we could manage to stay a little longer, by getting snowed in (hoped for, but we only got rain), by losing track of the days, etc.

So it was with a considerable start that I looked out the kitchen window the morning of our departure to see this:

There was, for a few moments, that wonderful, ghost-story moment of an observed phenomenon with no apparent rational explanation. We were completely alone, both in the cabin and on the road to it. The only people we had seen all week were in the town up the road. KD denied going out into the night to close the gate. As you can see in the first picture, the gate is usually fastened open. Indeed, I had never seen it closed, and did not know how to unfasten it; nor did KD. We both eventually recalled that the wind had howled prodigiously in the night, sounding like a far-off train before actually hitting against the sides of the cabin. But the gate was fastened with a loop of heavy wire - surely even a strong wind couldn't snap that. It looked for all the world as though the cabin wanted us to stay.

I blame the fact that I was more ready to consider the spirit of the house than a wandering human spirit on my fondness for the works of Barbara Michaels.

While we were packing up, the gate wandered further open, and then closed, and then back into the trees again - a slightly less spooky apparition than seeming to have locked us in. And when we ventured outside to pack up the car, we discovered that the wind had indeed snapped the wire. Instructional Note: do not run your hand down a twisted wire as if it were a particularly thick piece of wool. I had to go back into the cabin for some first aid before we drove off.

Negative socks

2009-10-08T17:40:00.002-04:00

I knit a beautiful sock out of Patons FX yarn using the Oliver pattern. I didn't notice until way too late that the pattern called for using another color for the heel and toe. I went surfing in the Ravelry KAL for this pattern and found an assurance from the designer that if one was knitting a smaller sock, one skein per sock would be enough. And I have to admit that I got all the way to the toe-weaving with just enough yarn left to weave (ray!). But it didn't fit the recipient (boo).

So now I get to decide whether to find another skein of the same color (it doesn't have to be the same dyelot - it's the toe of a sock, for heaven's sake!), or knit the yarn into a sock that doesn't eat up as much yardage.

I had one of my now-rare migraines last night, however, so all decisions are on hold until I don't hate everything.

At last

2009-09-13T17:55:00.005-04:00

You have all been very patient (why is that picture a mirror image of reality?).

We spent all summer renovating the study. Picking the paint for the wall color was the most unnerving experience of my life. Props to KD for helping to install the new flooring last weekend.

You will be thrilled to know that after a marathon baseboard/quarter round painting session this morning (miles of it!), the study has been put back together enough to finally unpack my new computer and set it up.

p.s. I may have gotten a slightly too large monitor. I could get lost in here.

Dome sweet dome

2009-07-25T11:50:00.004-04:00

I'm leaving on an adventure tomorrow. I am not offering this as a warning of blog absence - given the gaps in my posting, and the fact that I'll only be gone four days, you'd never have known I was gone. I just thought I'd mention it. I've never been to North Carolina before (to stay - I'm fairly certain I've driven through it a time or two).

Since we are seriously considering putting a dome home on the land to which we are planning to retire, we have taken the manufacturers up on an offer to actually stay in one for a few days, trying it on, as it were.

(photo, not to mention adventure, courtesy of American Ingenuity)

Since the whole point is just to be in the dome, I am packing unread books, unfinished knitting, my camera, and my birthday-present Kindle (currently full of much-read, much-beloved, and free, children's books).

I am on the toe of the last of six socks (pictures when I return). I am nearly done re-knitting a cotton vest I started last summer, which was two sizes too small, in a grinch-like way. I am 1/3 through an unbelievably soft cotton shawl which will be a gift for a women in a nursing home. And my needles are full of a few projects where I matched up yarn, needles and pattern into satisfying projects, knit 4-6 inches, said "yep, that'll work, " and set them aside. I think because I thought the summer was going to be too hot to knit. It never was, this year, reminding me of some childhood summers. Nevertheless, I think I'll pick back up the alpaca scarf (not for me, I can't wear alpaca, I'll gift it somewhere) and the autumn leaves scarf come fall.

Off to pack my suitcase!

It's a little pink

2009-07-13T15:00:00.001-04:00

Pattern: Pinwheel Baby Blanket
Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby, Candy Baby

Akasha is going to have a daughter in the fall, an event that has fired up all the family's knitters.

The day I heard the news, I picked up the yarn beside my chair, leftovers from a grandniece's sweater, and started knitting. It was fast and satisfying.

The only problem is, Akasha doesn't like pink (the Akashlette is so far silent on the topic). This would be a minor problem, since what I know about babies is that there are never enough blankets clean at any given moment. Granted, I was doing laundry for twins, but I bet it's still true for singletons. There were many moments when I cared not what the aesthetics or provenance was - if it was clean and warmth-inducing, it would do.

Still, I think a stated preference should be taken into account. Fortunately, there is yet another grandniece on the way. (I am never going to run out of them - my children had 35 first cousins before I quit counting). So this blanket is on its way there, and the Akashlette will have to wait on a more considered offering.

Wrapped in Love

2009-05-31T14:43:00.006-04:00

I like the way you've all been taking it in turn to nag me about posting. A slow but effective wearing away of my resistance...

A dear friend has now retired from a lifetime of service to this country. I knit her two shawls for bon voyage gifts as she embarks on her new life. The first, because she admired the pattern so, and it was a quick and easy pleasure:

Ravelry here
Pattern: Crescendo Shawl by American Thread Company
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft, 3 skeins
Needles: US 10 1/2
Modifications: no fringe. After experimenting with a picot edge, I went with a simple single crochet in every other bound-off (& cast-on) stitch.

First photo is truer to the actual color, but this one shows off the cables better..

The second, because this was the kind of gift worthy of learning to knit lace for:

Ravelry here
Pattern: Romantic Moments Lace Wrap, by Evelyn A. Clark
Yarn: Yarn Palace Graceful, 1/2 skein (and I'm making plans for the rest!)
Needles: US 4
Modifications: none whatsoever. I did exactly what I was told, and took it on faith that blocking would make this odd lump of crumpled-ness look like the one in the pattern's photo - which it did! I learned that laceweight yarn dries so fast that a wet block is practically impossible. It was dry before I had half of it on the blocking wires. So once it was all pinned out, I sprayed it good.

Taking lace off the blocking wires and setting it free is an absolutely magical moment. I can't wait to make more! But first, I have to post a few more finished objects, and escape from the Slough of Socks.

Tune Without Words

2009-02-22T15:52:00.009-05:00

I'm going to start calling my dryer Hope.

I washed a duvet cover weeks ago, and I'm still pulling clothes out of the dryer covered with feathers, despite regular lint-trap cleanings. *sigh* I suppose if I put something really fuzzy through the dryer I could get rid of them all at once, but what would I do with the fuzzy/feathered object that would result?

This was a good weekend, since I finished off the tax forms for all family members requiring one. Oddly, despite having a reputation for being tech-savvy, I continue to be a Luddite here and do them without benefit of tax software. I tried it once eons ago and was so offended that it insisted I list my husband first (when he fills out the forms, he can have top billing) that I never went back.

I've also Finished off a couple of Objects. One's a surprise gift, but I've Raveled it.

These were finished some time ago, but I wanted to record my dissatisfaction:

Pattern: Retro Rib Socks, from Evelyn Clark's Favorite Socks

Yarn: Trekking Pro Natura, 75% wool, 25% bamboo

These are my husband's socks, which he likes. I like the pattern, and I loved the yarn in the skein, but I don't like the way it's wearing. Bamboo always blooms a bit, adds a bit of shine, but these are pilling, which my other bamboo socks have never done.

The yardage that would not quit:

These are probably the last orange knit goods for KD, as she prepares to graduate from the College of Orange and Black.

Pattern: Anastasia Socks

Yarn: Regia 4-ply

Mods: I used some graphing advice from Wendy's blog to re-size them, so I had enough yarn left over for these:

Pattern: Piano Mitts, by Catherine Ryan
Yarn: Leftover Regia 4-ply

And there's still some left!

Portable knitting

2009-02-09T15:45:00.002-05:00

I always have socks on the needles. Portable knitting, instant gratification. In no particular order, here are a few things I've finished recently.

Jacqaurds for NKD, who swore I had never made her socks (conveniently forgetting these, which she took home and misplaced):

Yarn: Patons Kroy in Crayon (I'm not crazy about Kroy, but she wanted a jacquard and it's all I could find)
Pattern: My standard toe-up sock pattern
Modifications: length, obviously, since NKD has very short feet. I also inserted Wendy's wonderful flap heel for toe-up socks - I loved the way they turned out when I made her Double Eyelet Rib Socks, so I just grabbed the instructions and inserted them into my pattern. This involved quite a bit of math, and all of my mathematical children have flown the coop, but with the aide of my trusty calculator I have now inserted this heel into any number of sized patterns.

Here's another:

I knit KD socks from leftover worsted weight Wool-Ease some time back, and when the weather turned really breath-taking last month out in the midwest, she asked for more. I grabbed some Wool-Ease she had left behind at Christmas (it made a really spectacular hat and mittens for a young Spiderman fan/friend of hers). I used every bit of it up, but here are her new worsted socks, with Wendy's heels - this time I also had to figure out what to do with the one row where she has you knit a complete round in the middle of the heel, since I didn't want a single row of red on top of the sock.

And lastly, NKD got her own pair of clogs this weekend:

In addition to cutting down on the length, I also chose the higher heel-back option. These developed a crease during felting that I never quite got rid of, but she's happy with them - it was all I could do to make her wait until they were dry!

Great merciful heavens - now I have no socks on the needles!

Sometimes, knitting is not the right answer

2009-02-03T17:39:00.006-05:00

I realize this is heresy. But I need my crafting to be practical.

My co-worker's daughter is a nurse, and a little over two weeks ago she let it be known that she would like to have some baby blankets on hand as she works in her inner city hospital, just in case the mothers on her floor don't have anything to wrap their babies in as they head home.

Of course I immediately cast on a baby blanket from some leftover yarn. And cast on again. And again. I haven't actually made a baby blanket (that I remember) since my very first knitting project, and I had to work out the proper pattern for the amount of yarn at hand. It took me two weeks, in between other projects, to crank out a lovely little "dishcloth blanket," which I delivered today.

Meanwhile, two weeks ago when I was still casting around for a pattern, I stopped by the fabric counter while I was out running errands, picked up the end of a bolt of pale yellow no-sew polar fleece, had them cut it in half, and delivered two 36x30" baby blankets the following Monday, at the whopping expenditure of $2.22 and 2 minutes apiece. The nurse and her mother were pleased with the idea, and plan to replace them with more of the same as needed.

My knitted blanket is nice. And there's definitely a place for hand knits, from heirlooms to practical workhorses. But in this case, there was a better solution.

Dishcloth baby blanket

Yarn: 1 1/2 skeins Simply Soft in white

Needles: Size 9 circular

Pattern: if you've ever made a cotton dishcloth you don't need this, but just in case:

Cast on 5 sts.

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: K3, yo, k to end of row.

Repeat row 2 until desired length (measured on one side of the triangle)

Row 3: K2, k2tog, yo, k2tog, knit to end of row.

Repeat row 3 until 5 sts are left, bind off.

Elucidate! Reiterate! Interrogate! Procrastinate!

2009-01-26T18:05:00.006-05:00

My children took my education in hand after my shameful admission last year that I didn't know what a Dalek was. In fact, they gave me Series 4 for Christmas, so I am now All Caught Up. And a fan, of course. I always knew I would be, in a resistance-is-useless kind of way. I just kept postponing the inevitable.

Pattern: Extermiknit
Materials: the same as for last year's faucet-cover Dalek-outfit
Modifications: copper beads instead of bobbles, and a bit of copper wire (leftover from the kitchen remodeling, with the ends bent over, so no sharp edges) inserted into his arm for stability

This particular project gave rise to one of those wonderful, entertaining, family games that just happen - you can never seem to make them work when you set out to do it on purpose. It involved finding all the possible 4-syllable verbal commands ending in -ate that English provides - without recourse to the Internet. We were coming up with them for days!

Son, if you've got a better picture, I'll post it. This one is not one of my better efforts.

a little hitch

2009-01-12T16:33:00.002-05:00

in the knitting content, as my computer and camera have decided to stop speaking to each other.

I'll distract you:

When my kids were teenagers but still at home, I would perch on the first step of our staircase, which ends by the front door, to say goodbye. Despite a lifetime of trying, I've never quite reached 5'5", so the step was a good height from which to hug my nearly-grown children as they headed out the door.

As my husband and I headed out the door to a holiday party this weekend, my son (who is pushing 6' if not already there) stood on that step and solemnly intoned, "Remember to be home by curfew. Remember Who You Are. Remember that you can always call me if you need a ride home from anywhere."

I'm still laughing.

Bloggiversary

2009-01-03T13:19:00.006-05:00

Blogging on a regular basis is hard. And feels a bit like shouting down a well. But because I believe that it will get easier with time, and because I've just discovered that my sister-in-law's bloglist labels me a knitting goddess (who knew?), I've decided to keep at it for another year. My goal will be to publish a post every weekend. I think I can do that. Unless we go away for the weekend...

Speaking of which, we went away for the weekend just before Christmas. The family get-together was severely interrupted by the weather, and I learned a valuable lesson about the place to which we are planning to retire, to wit,

this:

results in this:

Or put another way, being holed up in a motel room watching a blizzard, while not conducive to visiting relatives, does result in the completion of ones first pair of argyles. At least in my case.

I vowed to learn how to knit argyle socks over the summer, but didn't actually get around to it until this fall. Since my brother-in-law volunteered to be a guinea pig, he got the first pair for Christmas.

Yarn: Knit Picks Essential fingering weight, in Navy, Ash (looking tan instead of grey in the photo for some reason), Dusk, and Burgundy

Knit Picks was the only place I could find solid colors of sock yarn. The yarn was lovely to knit with, and knit up very smooth, warm, and soft. I am used to sock yarns with a lot of twist, so my brother-in-law is on notice to let me know if they don't wear well.

It took me entirely too long to realize that the Rule of Pull Skeins does not apply to this yarn. Instead of finding the outside loose end tucked in and pulling the yarn from the center of the other side, for this yarn you pull from the same end the outside yarn was tucked into. As a result of my failure to recognize a trend, I managed to eviscerate nearly every skein used in the completion of these socks.

Pattern: Leisure Arts' Argyle Socks

Mods:

used the same color for both cross lines, instead of two different colors (I had enough trouble coming up with these colors; it's not my strong point);
changed all the k1, sl 1, PSSO 's to SSK's;
refused to wind bobbins, preferring to have my minions unwind the skeinish tangles a la Franklin Habit's wonderful cartoon in It Itches.

I did measure and cut the burgundy lines, I'm not crazy. But they're knit in, not duplicate stitch added later. I considered that option, since the pattern offers it, but my mom (my consultant since she made more than a few pairs back in the day) was appalled by the prospect.

It was so much fun I've cut the pattern down to my size and am knitting myself a pair in grey with blue and red diamonds and navy lines. I'm especially charmed by finally managing to continue mattress stitch from stockinette into ribbing while maintaining its lovely invisibility. I just wish I knew how I finally did it. It just clicked. I hope it stays clicked.

Felted Clogs

2008-12-07T14:37:00.005-05:00

I truly don't know how any knitter blogs in November, when everything on the needles is a present for somebody, and there's really nothing else to talk about. Luckily, this is one of those out-in-the-open-but-totally-ignored presents (because he had to try them on), so a little blogging can't hurt.

FiberTrends Felt Clogs, Lion Brand Wool perfect for Felting, 4 skeins of Midnight Blue*.

This was a KAL with a co-worker, and I just e-mailed her the following account of my first adventures in felting:

It was a good 20 minutes before they looked like anything but wet knitting - I was sure I had done something wrong and the wool was never going to felt. Then it took another 10 where they were clearly felted, but hadn't really shrunk any. Persevere!

The instructions say that every time you check, you should take both out of the bag - I didn't do that the first few checks, and whether that was the reason or not, one of them lagged behind the other by about 10 minutes (meaning that I had to give it two more 5-minute sessions before it shrunk down to the same size as the first one.

I should also admit that I got tired of the bag and stopped using it after the first 20 minutes.

Once they were the right (and same!) size, I drained the machine without the clogs in it, let it fill with rinse water, and them rinsed them out by hand, rolling them in a towel and then setting them out to dry while I drained the machine again. I just wasn't sure about letting them spin.

*I bought 5 skeins to have the yardage specified in the pattern, but only used 4, so the 5th skein became a nice wool watch cap over Thanksgiving (nice mindless knitting while the house was full again). I used every bit of the yarn, but the hat is too small for an adult head, so I need to find a cold child somewhere.

And that makes two presents I finished this weekend. 8)

A Public Service Announcement

2008-10-21T17:22:00.002-04:00

We will skip the unspeakable amount of time I spent on the heel of my current sock-in-progress, and proceed directly to the solution. If you own any knitting books from Interweave Press, get them out, grab a pen, go here, and make corrections. The sanity you save may be your own.

Mom, I saw two of these on your shelf, but I know you can't "do" pdf's. I'll borrow the books next time I'm down (heh heh heh) and return them corrected (really!).

There are bigger issues, but a lot of little ones can get you down

2008-10-14T19:23:00.004-04:00

Isn't that pretty? It's a picture of all the scarves (and some of the hats) KD's dorm suite knit for charity last year. I'm using it to remind me to take deep breaths and focus on a bigger picture than one small elementary school...

My husband, who is a teacher, told me last week that one of the agenda items on an upcoming faculty meeting was what to do about the fact that several of the middle school students have taken up knitting, and knit during recess.

I stifled my knee-jerk response and asked questions. Was it that they wanted the girls to be more active during recess? No, the playground has always been literally split between those who want to race around and blow off energy, and those who want to sit, stand, or walk, and just chat. (FWIW, I've always thought this was a good idea, because people - grown or not - relax in different ways.) They're all out breathing fresh air and making sunshine into vitamin D.

Was it that they were worried about the presence of large straight needles? That seemed likely, so I lent him an indestructible 10.5 plastic circular to demonstrate an alternative. And if that failed, I offered to teach the young knitters my daughters' patented - at that same school, albeit years ago - method of knitting a scarf using two bic pens.

Silly me. The meeting was today. They banned knitting. Outright. Not on straights, not on circulars, not on pens, presumably not on fingers (I've tried that in desperation, and it's not worth it - although KD taught herself to knit backwards doing it).

There are limits to what I am willing to do about this, given that I haven't even had children in this school for years. I decided that my first priority was to the knitter-neophytes, so I have extended an invitation to take them to next week's gathering of knitters at the local library, where they will be petted and praised for their talents instead of scolded and forbidden.

I have a reputation for trying to see both sides of a situation, but this one has me stumped.

Summer of Socks

2008-09-24T18:37:00.003-04:00

I knit socks all summer. They just didn't survive. Finally, I found some keepers. These are KD's - and she made sure of it by requesting that the colors run in opposite directions, a mod that I would never wear:

I used the leftover bits to make baby socks:

This was a kit Akasha gave me, since the colors weren't to her taste. The pattern was one of the most challenging I've done (not definition 1. easily messed up, but 2. pat-with-one-hand, rub-with-the-other intriguing/interesting). The yarn was super-comfy, and the shaping - particularly the arch shaping - made for an incredibly comfy sock. So I tried the same pattern in some Koigu from my stash:

You can see how far I got with that. More on that sock attempt later.

And finally, proof that KD's socks were knitted on vacation (thanks, Stewart!):

run/kill

2008-09-22T19:22:00.000-04:00

I spent a bit of my summer vacation driving back and forth (and forth and back) between upstate New York and Maryland. And I stumbled upon a new (to me) isogloss!

An isogloss is - well I could get all technical, but an example would be quicker. If you've ever traveled farther than the corner store you already know that a carbonated beverage is called different things in different parts of the country. Mapping that out tells you a little bit about English dialects in America.

I was already familiar with other food isoglosses (hotdish/casserole, and the whole sub/hoagie/gyro/grinder mess). But this one was topographic!

As I headed south, lovely little rivers became nice Dutch kills - the Catskills are named for the Kaaterskill, but there were plenty more, right down to the Schuylkill. Creeks for awhile, then I crossed the Mason-Dixon line, and suddenly, the rivers were all runs! James Run, Gravelly Run, Dogwood Run, Winters Run. New Jersey has necks, but I think that might only apply to estuaries.

So what's a small river called in your neck of the woods?

Mermaid Rock photos, finally

2008-08-25T18:30:00.001-04:00

Thanks to NKD, I have some lovely pictures of Mermaid Rock to rotate through, some even with knitting content (stolen right out of my bag!). I don't know how well it comes across (the web still lacking good 3D rendering - get on that, son, would you?) that this rock is a veritable armchair of a rock, with a backrest, comfy ledge, and lovely golden sand to rest ones feet/tail in at the bottom of the lake.

It was one of my favorite summer spots as a child, and the "happy place" I chose to visualize in those childbirth classes. When the big tree that anchored it went over a few years ago, I was devastated. But the rock and the lake are still there, and if it's a tad harder for me to reach these days, that's just incentive to stay active and agile.

The computer has recovered

2008-07-06T17:11:00.004-04:00

It will take me a little longer. Oh, I still had access to e-mail and blogs, thanks to generous family members with laptops, but my pictures are all on THIS computer. And now must be backed up.

This is my Summer of Finishing Things. First up, NKD's Sea Monkeys, which she loves:

KD's sweater is finished in its present form - she grew while I was designing it, so it's back to the drawing board.

I've a cotton vest to block so it can make an appearance. Meanwhile I've cast on for a Summer of Socks, and started a baby blanket for no good reason at all (I don't even know any incipient babies) - but I've never had trouble disposing of baby items.

Thunder! I'd better post while I can!

Denial

2008-05-14T19:01:00.003-04:00

I drove my regular route to work this morning, for the first time since last week. We had a little rain Sunday night... On Monday morning I discovered that three out of four routes to work were under water. "Turn around, don't drown!" the cheery public service ad runs. It's remarkably effective on someone who grew up on an island and had recurring nightmares about plunging off the causeway and winding up under water in a car.

I gave the waters Tuesday to subside, and successfully took my regular route this morning. I gave the creek a stern glance as I passed, and got back, "What? Me? I'm just a little old innocent piece of water here, minding my own business. Sure, I may get a little high, but it is Spring. Overflow my banks? Ten feet up the road on either side? Are you sure you haven't got me confused with an actual river? I'm just a creek, you know."

The trouble is, I had seen this creek on Monday, and although I had seen it over the road in past years, now I knew what it was really capable of. But I sensed that it was both embarrassed by its complete lack of restraint and proud of what it had managed to pull off.

So I didn't respond. There's no arguing with an attitude like that.

I've Been to Wales!

2008-05-10T18:56:00.005-04:00

and I knit socks on my journey:

Pattern: Wendy's Double Eyelet Rib Socks
Yarn: Brown Sheep Company's Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn in Mistletoe, from my stash

I loved this pattern, and cannot wait for her book to be available. I had never made a heel like this before, despite my years of toe-up socks, but a little blind faith saw me through.

I bought yarn in England (raise your hand if you're surprised), but I think I will take pictures as I knit it up. The same goes for last week's Sheep & Wool acquisitions.

Happy Mother's Day!

Now I'm awake...

2008-04-15T18:28:00.004-04:00

On my drive to work this morning, I realized that the news on the radio was exactly what I had just heard on the tv before leaving home, and switched it over to a classical music station.

I recognized the piece immediately. The standard metaphor for "spring morning." Apropos, I thought, as the sun came up on the 15th of April. Then I got to thinking that it is really beyond a metaphor, almost a cliché. When does symbol cross over into caricature?

A question I could pose to my friends and family - if I could name the music. I hadn't even tried yet, not on one cup of half-caf and the sun not completely up. It was definitely a staple of my cartoon-watching childhood, but called to mind no images of hippos dancing or dinosaurs wandering, or even a centaur caught in a rainstorm...

Right then the next movement started, and drove any need for caffeine right out the window. At the first note of the trumpet fanfare, I went: oh. (And despite my childhood, I did NOT immediately think of the Lone Ranger.)

So whose idea was it to play the William Tell Overture to sleepy driving workers? And what do you think - has that slow part become so synonymous with spring that it's a caricature?

Image: René Magritte's The Son of Man, 1964, courtesy of Wikipedia and sister J (who knew the painter's name from my description of the painting)

Panda Knitting

2008-04-10T17:50:00.000-04:00

KD's birthday presents, an adorable Panda scarf and matching Ying-Yang mittens, kits from Morehouse Farm Merino that my sister-in-law tipped me off to (and swore I could get done by KD's birthday - she was right!). I made the leftovers into some slipper socks, but they zipped out of the house to fast for a photo shoot.

German Jaywalkers

2008-04-10T17:00:00.000-04:00

KD's Jaywalkers, knit from yarn she gifted me with after her trip to Germany last spring (here, Mom, have some yarn!.. Will you knit me something with it?) - the gift that gives back.

The photo shows off our new kitchen counters nicely, for those who have been dying for pictures.

Warm toes

2008-03-24T16:14:00.005-04:00

Pattern from the 2008 Knitting-Pattern-a-Day that my boss makes sure I receive every year.

Yarn, astonishingly what was called for: Lion Brand's Wool-Ease.
Modifications: none.

These knit up fast and are destined for a life of house socks, since it's entirely too warm around here to wear worsted weight wool outside most of the time. But they're a color I like (I have a shirt and hair scrunchy that match exactly).

Sea Monkeys

2008-03-24T16:04:00.005-04:00

I decided to knit some Monkeys. I had some pretty Koigu, and because I know exactly what size Koigu knits up on for me, I blithely cast on 52 sts and started the pattern. Too small. Huh, I said, guess the designer knows what she's talking about. So I frogged them and cast on the 64 stitches called for. Too big.

Serious thought (and some frogging) ensued. Then I cast on 56 sts and never looked back. (For the sake of brevity we are ignoring my whole experiment with knitting them toe-up, my preferred direction.) I took the missing 8 sts out of the back of the heel, which resulted in an interesting seamed look (and the proper size heel for my foot when I got there).

The pattern is addicting in its simplicity, and I enjoyed the way the colors turned out.

um die Ecke

2008-02-23T10:06:00.002-05:00

The title is from a famously much-quoted line of memorized dialog from the Army's headstart language course for troops headed to Germany. It's not the Army's fault it left most of them half-believing that you could find the railroad station in any German town (from any point in town, of course) by going "straight, and then around the corner."

I have turned the corner on this bout of flu, the kitchen remodeling has turned a corner wherein the majority of the new cabinets are in the kitchen instead of in boxes in the next room (yes, we're doing it ourselves). I can get to the stove and am promised running water by the end of the weekend. All in all, life is looking up.

The downside of recuperation, though, is that suddenly tons of beautiful new patterns are clamoring to be knit, but I can't seem to hold the needles for more than 10 minutes without dropping off to sleep. *sigh*

Pictures of my latest finished objects are off limits for another week. I have two pairs of socks on the needles, neither worth a photograph yet. But I do have a sock-related question. In looking over the Yarn Harlot's tour schedule (because my mother pointed out that Stephanie was coming to a town near me), I noticed a week set aside for Sock Camp. Sock Camp? What on earth is Sock Camp? I know they like getting out in the yard for photo shoots, but are we really expected to send them off by themselves for a week in the country?? I mean really, you know they ignore the buddy system and get lost going through the wash, just imagine what could happen at Sock Camp!

How Sad is That?

2008-02-04T08:02:00.000-05:00

No knitting pictures today, since the NKD/KD's birthday looms (but Michele, you were right, I could finish it in time!). I even have more leftover yarn to practice making knit balls with. Someday they will actually be round after I stuff them. In the meantime, they make great cat toys for friends' cats.

I watched the Superbowl last night, started dozing off after the Patriot's drive down the field and resulting touchdown with about two minutes left, figured it was ok to drift off because there was no way the Giants had time to do the same... Silly, silly me. You'd've thought the cheering would have wakened me, but seriously, after 10 I think I could sleep through anything. I am comforted in the knowledge that this is NOT the result of aging, I have been an early riser and resultant early-to-bed kind of girl my whole life.

Waiting on the electrician today, but patiently, because after his arrival I expect to have no power for most of the day, and even the phones need the electric on these days.

Just caught up with the blogs I read and was stunned to learn here (in the comments)* that I missed a Vital Clue in the last offering of Lost, despite watching it live and again taped. I do knit while I watch Lost, but by that I mean that I grip needles tightly in my hands, ignoring the trailing yarn until the commercials, when I can barely remember what I was working on.

*My first Trackback! I have no idea if I did it right... (nope, but maybe now?)

This Bear Has a Twin

2008-02-02T16:00:00.002-05:00

I thought it would be fun to take his picture against a background that matched him near-perfectly. This is why no one let me near a camera for years. At least I knew enough to take another picture with a better background...

This is the twin of the Baby Shower Bear, who will be living in Georgia. I originally knit this one to have a baby shower gift in reserve, but this bear apparently wants to go to school in Kansas, so he is off to sister K (who will be long done her unit on Teddy Bears by the time he arrives, but assures me that no one will mind).

Yarn: Dr. Jones leftovers
Pattern: out of a book I own, but interestingly online here as well

What in the world is that?

2008-02-02T15:41:00.002-05:00

Why, it's a Dalek. What's a Dalek? I really have no idea. Something in the Dr. Who universe, which means that practically any member of three generations of my immediate family could tell you more about it than I could. My brother-in-law commented that his new kitchen sink had a faucet that looked like a Dalek, and sister J asked if I could knit something to make it look even more like one. Thanks to Google Image Search, I discovered what Daleks look like, and knit this up.

This was my first attempt at beaded knitting, the version where you actually string the beads on the yarn. I learned to always order more beads than you need, because some of them will be too wonky to string. Other than that, it was a blast.

Yarn: Patons Brilliant in Marvelous Mocha
Needles: #5 dpns (which I have since misplaced - to Daleks eat metal?)
Beads: 4mm copper shiny rounds from eebeads.com
Pattern: measured faucet, measured gauge, made it up as I went along. Mostly k5, p1 rib to preserve the paneled look of your fashion-conscious Dalek.

Purple Spiral Bamboo

2008-01-24T18:18:00.000-05:00

Socks for a co-worker, for whom no one has ever knit anything before. (That hurts my brain. Seriously, you could so get me to knit for you if you told me that no one had ever knit anything for you. Unless I knew you were lying.)

Yarn: Southwest Trading Company Bamboo. This is not sold as sock yarn; my co-worker chose it because she was intrigued by bamboo yarn and wanted 100% bamboo. It knit up to my sock gauge on my Brittany birch #2s, and is wonderfully soft. But I don't think I would choose it again for socks. I was knitting the leftovers into a baby hat when one of the tiny bamboo threads (that are formed into a yarn that looks like miniature Icord) snapped, and the yarn broke. Snags happen. A sock yarn needs to stand up under pressure.

Pattern: Standard toe-up learned from Bonkers Sock Kits (the Yarn Barn again), with k2,p2 ribbing at the top because my bamboo socks have gotten looser with time, and I wanted to make sure these would stay up. Why the Yarn Barn, when I don't live anywhere near Kansas? Because a) sister K does (K is for Kansas), and b) the Yarn Barn is one of my two favorite stands at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. (ooh, Bonkers has new colorways - love that Coal, and the Obscure Rainbow...)

The other is Mannings, where I get my annual Koigu fix. Speaking of which, I pulled some Koigu from my stash and started me some socks, because there were No Socks on Needles, and this cannot happen. And also because I discovered the moth invasion of last fall got into my socks as well, and one of my early lace footies in Koigu (back when my annual fix was one skein and footies was all it would stretch to) has an extra non-lace hole. I've fallen in with the Monkey fad, but am knitting them toe-up. Pictures when there's more than a toe to show off.

I finished the baby shower bear just in time (but not in time for a photo shoot). I'm knitting the rest of the yarn into a reserve bear (at my husband's suggestion - he thinks I should have baby shower knits stashed away in advance), so I'll take a picture of that one.

And it's time to bind off for the neck on KD's top. Scary.

Ocean Waves

2008-01-22T15:09:00.002-05:00

I had no idea it would be so hard to take a picture of a rectangle. *sigh* Thank goodness knitting isn't as hard as photography. This is my non-knitting daughter's Christmas present, a lacy shawl to wear when she's out in her little black dress.

Yarn: 2 skeins of Trekking XXL bought at the wonderful Yarn Barn in Lawrence, Kansas (I had planned to use 3, but she stopped me, declaring it quite long enough - more socks for me!)

Pattern: Wave and Shell Shawl (wonderful easy lace pattern, I would make it again in a heartbeat)

This shawl was the reason I bought blocking wires. I've gotten away with not blocking most of my knitting life, primarily because I started out knitting acrylic (the blocking of which is about as pointless as sweeping a mud puddle), and then moved to socks (seriously, who blocks socks?). But I knew lace was a different story, and was worried about driving myself 'round the bend trying to make the pins line up perfectly. (think Monk - I'd still be at it). Fortunately the knitblogs had introduced me to the concept of blocking wires. They worked as advertised and I was very pleased.

Which is a good thing, as I have another lace project or two on the needles. Meanwhile the knitting daughter's ~~vest~~ ~~top~~ short-sleeved object is almost done. I'm using this pattern as a jumping-off point, since it is exactly the shape she had in mind. I just sized it up a little, since she's not quite my baby any more.

But there's a baby shower at work tomorrow, and I have a baby gift to finish...

Rose socks

2008-01-11T17:25:00.003-05:00

Yarn: Panda Cotton Print in color Roses
Pattern: I searched on "rose socks" and found these, Ann Budd's pattern, which inspired me
Recipient: the same sister who loves Dr. Jones, so we'll call her J *

I loved the yarn, and the pattern. I thought it would look good in a solid color too (like these do), but that hasn't worked out yet.

The story of how these socks came to be is on its way to becoming a family legend. My sister-in-law misunderstood something J said, and asked me about the socks I was making. At that point I didn't know I was making socks for J, but if she thought I was, I'd better (because I still owed her a bear, you see, and was hoping to distract her). Eventually the miscommunication was unraveled, but by that time the socks were on the needles, and I was still looking for a distraction.

*I'm against naming names in a blog to respect people's privacy, but I have eight sisters - it's either label them or number them.

Yummy leftovers

2008-01-06T13:41:00.001-05:00

My sister-in-law dyed some stretchy cotton for socks, then gave me the leftovers. I had thought to make sock legs out of them, making the feet out of something else. But life had other ideas. It was exactly enough yarn for my daughter's new lacy hat love, which I finished just in time to put her on a plane back to college:

Now I'm in that post-holiday pause, where I need to cast on something NOW, but so far nothing has had sticking power. I'll be starting a new pair of bamboo socks tomorrow for a co-worker (if she remembers to bring in the yarn), but what about today?

Because my daughter got into my stash rather heavily when she was home (apparently I got her all the way out of her teens without her realizing just how much yarn there actually is in this house), I now have a bag of Patons Canadiana that was going to be a sweater that is now going to be... a vest. Apparently for the above-mentioned daughter. Something close-fitting with little cap sleeves. Except that I can't find a pattern like that... ("think, think, think," tapping finger to head stuffed with fluff...)

Not for the squeamish...

2008-01-04T17:12:00.001-05:00

I ran a #4 dpn into the palm of my left hand today, trying to grab it before it fell to the floor. If only I had known it was going to get stuck at the edge of my desk.... The puncture is small, nowhere near the big deal running an inch of #3 dpn into the top of my foot was back in 2001. At least my tetanus shots are up to date. Probably the worst thing about it was that it happened on a break at work and I had to fill out forms explaining what happened (which will be read by non-knitting muggles, I just know it).

Here, pretty pictures to distract you all from my clumsiness:

Comments should work now...

Coincidentally...

2008-01-02T19:13:00.002-05:00

Over the weekend I've been knitting up leftover scraps of Christmas knitting into hats and mittens and such. My daughter will take these mittens back to college with her, assuming I finish the last thumb. Today in the mail I received a free knitting pattern - of the same mittens! OK, they striped the cuffs as well, and the top is shaped differently, but it's the same colors! I watched too much of the Twilight Zone marathon yesterday - I find the coincidence slightly ominous, instead of charming

Mine are this pattern, using leftover yarn from her Tigger (I bought all four kits before she started college; she gets one every Christmas, the only crocheting I do).

Meet Dr. Jones...

2008-01-01T17:59:00.002-05:00

This is "Professor Rusty" from Beautiful Bears, Saprotex Design Studio, in "Aran Fleck" Red Heart, one skein (which I stole from my mom's sweater leftovers) plus one arm's worth of a second skein. The vest is Chocolate Simply Soft, the tie is some oddment, and the watch, the lovely watch, I bought online from Dolls and Lace at Ruby Lane.

He is a birthday/Christmas present for my Sean Connery loving sister, who was very patient with how long it took me. Not to knit him, that went fast, or to stuff and sew him up. No, it was learning to make movable joints, and that darned vest, which still isn't right (look closely - no buttons, and it curls like - well, like stockinette in acrylic). But she'd been waiting long enough, so he was delivered Christmas eve.