Dome sweet dome

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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...

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

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.