THE KNITTING LABORATORY

Any minute now

2011-11-07T00:24:00.003-05:00

Are you anxiously awaiting the Winter 2011 Twist Collective? I know I am. The pattern list is already entered into Ravelry, so I'm not giving away any secrets by saying that I'll have another sock pattern in this issue. I'm incredibly excited about it and can't wait to share.

Meanwhile, I'm knitting a pair of socks for myself from Loure, my pattern from Fall Twist Collective. The prototype pair was too small for me, and I recently had the pleasure of giving it to a wonderful designing friend. I'll eventually get back the sample pair I knit for Twist, but it, too, is a little small for my wide feet.

There's a Loure knitalong just getting started on the Ravelry Twist Collective forum. If you've been thinking about knitting Loure but would like a little company and occasional advice, please come join me!

Sizing woes

2011-04-18T20:59:00.006-04:00

There's a well-known editor who has publicly proclaimed that all sock patterns "ought to" be offered in a range of sizes, as if anyone (like me) who has ever published a sock pattern in only one size should be publicly flogged with a handful of Addi Turbos. And I'm absolutely in favor of offering as many sizes as is possible. But when I say "possible," I mean provided that re-sizing does not compromise the integrity of the design. Sometimes the math simply doesn't allow a complex sock pattern to be re-sized without significantly changing the sock's appearance. If we insist that a sock pattern shouldn't be published without three or more size options, then we run the risk of (a) banishing many very beautiful, complex sock patterns, and (b) promoting dishonesty in sock sizing.

Let me explain what I mean by "dishonesty in sock sizing." Once, in my pre-professional-designing days, I bought a sock pattern by a very well-known designer. The pattern was written for three sizes (64, 72, and 80 stitches around the leg), and I started knitting the medium size. When I got to the transition from ribbing from the leg, the knits and purls of the 2x2 ribbed cuff did not flow smoothly into the knits and purls of the more-complicated leg design, like the pattern photo showed.

As I tried to figure out what was going on,I discovered that the sample sock photographed was the small size. And I realized that in order to size up the pattern from 64 stitches while preserving the symmetry, the designer had to add 4 stitches of ribbing on each side of the centered motif on the front of the leg, and likewise 4 stitches of ribbing on each side of the centered motif on the back of the leg. That's 16 stitches added in total. And in fact, that is how the pattern was written for the large size. But the designer included the in-between size even though it was impossible for the ribbing and leg to line up (IMO a very important feature of the design). The medium size simply wasn't as attractive as the other two sizes.

The moral of this story is that I just don't feel it's right to pretend a pattern is graded for sizes that look significantly different from the sock shown in the photo.

Something Nouveau

2011-04-12T15:25:00.010-04:00

Have you seen The Sanguine Gryphon's Spring 2011 Art Nouveau pattern collection yet? I have a new sock design in it. Willow Tea Room is a toe-up lace anklet named for a Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed building in Glasgow, Scotland. The rosebud motifs appear on the leaded glass windows and doors, and the lace grid is reminiscent of the chair backs.

The pattern model features TSG's Skinny Bugga! in spring/summer 2011 colorway Golden Orb Weaver.

After I sent off the sample pair, though, I made a second pair to keep for myself. This time I used a winter 2010 colorway, Miss Spider, because the inspiration building is decorated in similar shades. Here's a quick snapshot of my pair. (The camera angle was a little awkward; my feet aren't really that short.)

Like Betony, WTR has asymmetric toes and arch shaping. And both Betony and WTR have a heel that is identical in appearance and proportions to a top-down flap-and-gusset round heel. However, Betony shapes the sole flap with short rows; WTR shapes the sole flap with decreases and then stitches are picked up along the sides. A bit of garter stitch at the sides of the heel back adds interest and coordinates with the garter-and-twisted-stitch lace background on the instep.

The sizing for this sock is a little unusual. There are two foot circumferences given, but three foot lengths, as well as directions for adding more foot length. If you have any trouble following the pattern (for this or any other reason!), please do email me at the address on the pattern.

If you have really small feet and like a snug fit, you can still knit WTR. Now, I think it's a terrible idea for a pattern to direct changing the finished size of a sock by changing gauge with the same yarn (that's a whole other post). But it's perfectly fine to change size by changing gauge if you also change yarn weight. If you use TSG's Little Traveler instead of Skinny Bugga!, you can get a very nice sock fabric at around 9 st/in and follow the instructions for the size M circumference. The Little Traveler version of the Golden Orb Weaver colorway is called The Five Continents.

Not today

2010-11-25T15:24:00.005-05:00

I know I've mentioned before that I intend to publish a multi-size version of the Skew sock pattern. And at least a couple of times, I've predicted in private emails or Ravelry messages that it would be available by Thanksgiving.

The bad news, obviously, is that today is Thanksgiving. And it's not ready.

While I'll openly admit I'm a procrastinator, there were three specific reasons that interfered with the release of multi-sized Skew. The first is that I personally test-knitted the adult Small size and ran into some difficulties with the fit. As a matter of personal pride, I will NOT sacrifice quality to rush this project.

The second reason is that we have been having a radical remodel done on our house: we added a second story. As a night person and light sleeper, I've found it virtually impossible to get enough rest before being woken up by the noise of hammers and air compressors and chop saws. And the stress of arguing over design decisions has been even worse. I've tried leaving the house to work at a coffee shop, but usually I found that I needed some yarn or needles I'd left at home. One time I realized that I was too tired to drive home safely. So I quickly gave that up and have been working on less mentally-demanding projects instead. Mercifully, the contractors are only a couple of weeks away from completion.

The final straw is that I've been babying a terminally ill cat this fall. We were able to suppress Callisto's symptoms at home for a while with medication, but the meds eventually ceased to be effective and we euthanized (a tremendously painful, personal family decision) and buried her yesterday. She was not our only cat, but Callisto is the one who cuddled with me while I worked, often sneaking onto my lap under the knitting-in-progress, and I miss her terribly.

Now, on the bright side, an unusual opportunity has come up to assist me in exploring the Skew sockitecture. I'm not ready to make it public yet, but it may help me provide an even wider range of Skew sock options than I had previously considered.

So if you have ever made a wish for any variant of Skew, hang in there. I haven't forgotten you.

A gear to wear

2010-10-06T15:58:00.010-04:00

This is what happens when a knitting designer has a housemate who is a mechanical engineer:
Involute is a full-circular capelet named after the curve that forms the contact edge of gear teeth. Its lower edging consists of twenty-four teeth. The square neckline represents a gear’s square axle opening. Four “spokes” are separated by panels of Arrow Lace suggestive of rotational motion. Garter ridges and eyelets provide texture and laciness, but with an industrial feel. Even the color is reminiscent of antique brass.

This design was originally conceived in response to a call for submissions for the Sanguine Gryphon's fall steampunk pattern collection. They passed on my submission proposal, so I ordered some yarn, knit madly for several weeks, and submitted the completed Involute for the Deep Fall issue of Knitty (punch line: it was very graciously rejected by Knitty also), which meant a photo shoot in mid-July. I had a great site for the shoot-- I live just down the road from an engineering college. But I couldn't get the sample finished until the morning of the submission deadline, and it was nearly a hundred degrees that day. So here's Involute on my awesome model, as she tries not to melt. (That reminds me, I think I owe that girl some knitwear.) After a few shots with the cool rusty statuary, we hastened indoors for the rest of the photos.

I really did research the proper shape and spacing for gear teeth, so if you have two Involutes-- or in my case, one Involute and a submission swatch-- the teeth do mesh. The photo at left is the engineer's favorite.

Out of ideas for potential publishers and anxious to get Involute out into the world, I decided to self-publish, so Involute is now available for purchase through Ravelry.

Betony

2010-09-28T13:56:00.007-04:00

Finally! Something new to share!

I was invited months ago to design a sock pattern for the August installment of Three Irish Girls' Sock Yarnista Club. Betony is now available for purchase directly from Three Irish Girls.

(I wanted to name this sock after an Irish wildflower. I apologize to my friend Steven A. who was really rooting for the name Butterwort, but I was too chicken to name a sock this pretty after a carnivorous plant. Another sock, another time, my friend!)

Betony is worked from the toe up and, although the toes aren't worked on the diagonal like Skew, they are shaped to be left- and right-footed. I'm in love with asymmetric sock toes. Not only are they more comfortable, but they also wear more evenly than symmetric toes because the strain on the big toe is eliminated.

Speaking of fit and wear, check out the arch shaping:

Unlike arch shaping on top-down socks, which places increases on the sole of the foot, toe-up arch shaping places decreases on the bottom of the foot. The double layer of stitches in a decrease is more durable than an increase. And of course they feel great snugged up into my arch.

I'm particularly happy with the heel. For a very long time, I've used a toe-up heel with the same structure and proportions as a standard top-down flap-and-gusset heel, but it involves knitting a shaped heel cup and then picking up stitches around it. Personally, I don't mind picking up stitches; but I know some people do. And most toe-up heels with short row heel cups are either way too shallow or have way too many gusset increases (but that's a rant for a whole separate post). So for a change, Betony's heel has the same proportions as my usual heel, but the cup is shaped with short rows instead of picking up stitches.

By the way, the heel flap is patterned at the sides, but I left the center of the flap plain since that area is prone to wear. However, you could certainly pattern the whole flap if you want to wear Betony with clogs.

And now for the bad news: there are a couple of errata. I've posted them to Betony's Ravelry pattern page, but I'll repeat them here.

In the Double Rivulet Rib chart, the three central columns should be (p1, k1, p1) instead of (k1, p1, k1).

In the Ribbing instructions, the Right and Left sock instructions are switched.

Strange juxtapositions

2010-06-18T12:10:00.003-04:00

Yesterday I saw Cookie A attempt to explain the Axiom of Choice to room full of knitters. One of my life's Great Missed Photographic Opportunities was my failure to snap her picture drawing the Cantor set underneath a knitting diagram.
Demonstrating that I occasionally learn from failure, I offer you Franklin Habit wearing my Oblique fingerless gloves.

Getting carded

2010-06-17T13:57:00.004-04:00

Okay, I think I've successfully ordered business cards to pick up later this afternoon. The hotel wireless was too slow to handle emailing a big attachment, so I had to sneakernet the file downstairs to the business center and use webmail. Let's hope it went through.

I really do need them here. Just this morning I talked to an indie dyer who would be interested in sending me some of her yarn for a Skew sockitecture-based design and an Ohio knitting guild program chair who invited me to give a workshop.

Pharmaceutical failure

2010-06-17T05:54:00.006-04:00

Well, bother. I've got another hour before my alarm, but my sleeping pill wore off. I'm always too excited too sleep unaided at these events, and I only get six hours' help from a pill, so that leaves me about three hours short. I guess I need to add a bottle of anti-redness eye drops to my travel supplies, so I won't look like I followed up a hard day of knitting with a hard night of drinking.

Today's agenda: a morning class with Cookie A, and an afternoon trip down toward the Capitol building to see if the independent printer can crank me out a small batch of business cards.

In between, I'd say lunch at North Market is a strong possibility, including a salty caramel ice cream sandwich from Jeni's (yesterday I had the orchid vanilla sandwich, which includes a marvelous layer of tart black currant filling). North Market reminds me of Faneuil Hall in Boston: you can just eat your way down it from one end to the other. You can get Indian, Vietnamese, Mediterranean, sushi, crepes (savory or sweet), fine chocolates, pastry, or gourmet ice cream. And those are just the places that caught my eye!

I don't think I'll be needing to spend a lot more time in the Knitter's Market, though. I covered it pretty well during last night's preview session. Unfortunately, it's a lot smaller this year. Last year, the exhibitors were split between two rooms, one of which was distinctly less desirable than the other. It wouldn't surprise me if a number of the exhibitors who were stuck in "the Cave" decided not to come back this year (I know that's the case for one of my favorite indie dyers). I did make a beeline for the Briar Rose booth, though, to snag a couple of skeins of limited edition teal merino/silk laceweight.

I'm going to see if I can doze a bit before breakfast and Cookie.

Road trip

2010-06-16T07:31:00.003-04:00

I'm in a hotel room sipping on a hot beverage vaguely resembling coffee, waiting for registration to open at Knitter's Connection. I've got design classes with Ginger Luters all day: modules in the morning and short rows in the afternoon.

Although being solely responsible for the hotel bill is going to be grim, I'm enjoying having a room to myself. Since I have both a husband and a housemate at home, I don't get a lot of truly "alone time." And since I have some income to offset, at least the expense will be tax deductible.

It's been a long time since I took a car trip by myself, too. While it's awfully nice to ride in the passenger side and knit, it's also pretty cool to have sole control of the radio dial. And I get to decide when it's time for a Starbucks stop. Or whether to take a semi-gratuitous detour through the Dayton metro area. (I say only semi-gratuitous because I was looking for an office supply store. I successfully acquired a graph paper notebook and possibly the most fabulous set of colored pencils in the world, but it was too late in the day to get business cards printed.) This would have been more brief if I had remembered to pack our Ohio map.

My late departure, as well as my failure to get business cards printed, was due to a frenzy of mad knitting and proposal preparation for yesterday's submission deadline. I'm terribly proud of this project; it's a triumph of short row geometry. I wish I could post photos! If it doesn't get accepted this round, I've already got a Plan B.

It's almost eight o'clock, so I guess it's time to pack up my colored pencils, my modular beret, and my mystery short rowed object, and head over to registration.

Almost famous

2010-03-07T09:01:00.002-05:00

My first interview is now available! Many thanks to math4knitters for the invitation (given that my own Ravname is named4wool, how could I resist?). Now you have the opportunity to hear me rattle on about the history and construction of Skew. (I'm still not sure I have the nerve to listen to myself.)

Easing into it

2010-02-28T14:42:00.006-05:00

I've finally got successful modifications to add a bit more room to the back of the Skew ankle (at the top of the heel). A lot of people have said (and this is my experience) that their Skews are comfortable once on, but hard to wiggle into. That's because the band at the back of the heel is biased with respect to the main sock fabric.

So here's what I did: On the 13th and 25th rounds after beginning the ankle gusset, I worked short rows 8 stitches long over the ankle band. (That's 4 stitches on either side of the second ankle marker for the left sock, but on either side of the first ankle marker for the right sock.) You can use any gap-closing method you like; I chose the Japanese method. This photo shows the heel of the left sock (toe is pointing upwards); can you find the short rows from the 13th round? I can, but they're pretty subtle in the handpainted yarn (Kitchen Sink Dyeworks Merino Fine, BTW).

Do be careful to make a conscious choice about increasing on the knit-side short rows. I only increased on the first pass (before the first turn, but not right after both turns) to keep the stitch counts correct. If you increase both before turning and after both turns, you will add one stitch to the back of the leg and one stitch to the heel per pair of short rows.

Oh, and I'll hide a little bit of exciting (to me, anyway) news at the end of this post: I've just received a test knitter's review of my next pattern! I expect to have it ready for publication no later than early April.

Skew U

2010-02-24T17:24:00.011-05:00

It's been two weeks since Knitty.com released Skew as a mid-Winter Surprise, and I've been ecstatic about its generally-positive reception. I know that no sock construction can be ideal for every foot, but of course I want the Skew sockitecture so suit as many feet as possible, so I've been working madly on fit modifications. Here's what I've come up with so far.

Higher instep: In the first row of the "Inner ankle" section, increase six times on the sole of the foot. Explicitly: for the left sock, when 25 stitches remain in the round, work (k1, RLinc, k1) 6 times, k 10, SSK, k1. I bet you can generalize for the right sock. :) Then, when you work the first round of the "Heel shaping: Left sock only" section, k 13 instead of k 10. The Kitchener-stitched section in the Origami Moment will have 18 stitches instead of 15.

Roomier legs: The double decreases in the "Decrease mini-gusset" section serve two purposes. First, they remove the stitches introduced on the top of the leg in the "Increase mini-gusset" section; and second, they shift the structural line on the outer ankle forward. In order to accomplish the second objective without removing stitches, I suggest that you work only three double decreases (instead of six) in the
"Decrease mini-gusset" section, but omit the opposing decreases (SSK near end of round on the left leg; k2tog near beginning of round on the right leg) on alternate rounds. The result is 78 leg stitches instead of 72. You will need to work an extra set of short rows on the leg before the ribbing.

Thinner legs/ankles: Try eliminating the increases on either side of the first ankle marker (for the left leg) during the "Inner Ankle" section on every fourth round, three times. The result is 66 leg stitches instead of 72. You will need to work one fewer set of short rows on the leg before the ribbing.

Roomier heel back: Several knitters have expressed frustration at the snugness of the band at the upper back of the heel. I admit this requires a little wiggling to pull on, but for me, the fit once the sock is on is exceptional. For many feet, the high-instep mods described above will add sufficient wiggle room to pull on the socks. I've tried working additional rounds in the heel section, but the result was too much distortion in the leg (the outer leg vertical band ends up too far towards the back). I intend to try adding some short rows over the heel band, but haven't test-knitted it yet. Stay tuned.

Further skewed

2010-02-12T20:10:00.004-05:00

I do plan to release a multi-size version of Skew later, but for the brave, I'm posting my notes on how to shape the heel for an 84-stitch foot. A talented friend successfully produced socks from these notes. If you need line-by-line instructions, I'm afraid you'll have to be be patient until the official version comes out.

KNIT AT YOUR OWN RISK. I have not personally tested these numbers and can't provide "pattern" support.

Cast on 8 stitches per needle, increase in the big toe section to 56 stitches, then to 84 in the mid-toe section.

Inner ankle gusset (IAG) needs to create 42 sts for the back of the leg, which takes 42 rounds (21 shaping rounds separated by plain knit rounds). After 7 IAG shaping rounds (14 sts between IAG markers), start working mini-gusset shaping as for the 72-stitch version. After 14 IAG shaping rounds (28 sts between IAG markers), start the heel decreases.

During the heel decreases, my notes say there should be 18 stitches between markers instead of the 15 for 72-st version-- so on left sock, replace "k 10" with "k 13."

Skew

2010-02-11T16:17:00.004-05:00

My Skew sock has been published! It is one of the winter Knitty surprises. The waiting has been killing me.

I'm short on time today (I'm prepping for a crochet scarf class tonight), but I promise to blog tomorrow with some notes on upsizing (and downsizing). Also, there is an error in the Big Toe section; I've put an errata note on the Ravelry pattern page, and will add the details here too shortly.

Adjunct Professor of Yarny Goodness

2009-12-07T22:24:00.004-05:00

I used to think I wanted to be a college professor. I went to grad school. I also dropped out of grad school. Twice. I got a master's degree in one subject, and embarked on a serious attempt at dissertation research in another. I married one man with a Ph.D., our housemate is another, and both are college professors. So although I realized that my personality was unsuitable for the tenure track, I'm fairly experienced with the culture of academia.

Now that I'm designing with the intent of publication, I'm amused by the parallels between my work and academic life. At a recent coffee shop gathering, a friend asked me, "So what have you got going on these days?" Thinking of my upcoming submission deadlines, for which I'd done extensive knitting and crocheting but no proposal-writing, I said, "Well, you know how it's way more fun to do the research than to write the paper?" and everyone at the table, with one voice, said, "YES."

Something important that is missing from my life is a good graduate student. I would gladly teach knitting and crochet arcana and provide grant funding (i.e., yarn from my stash) in return for winding my skeins, testing my instructions, and (of course) knitting my second socks.

Barter for Garter

2009-11-15T18:37:00.002-05:00

Recently, a relatively new friend-- someone whom I like very much, but haven't really had time to develop a strong emotional bond with-- asked me, "So what does it take to get a pair of handknit socks?" I actually don't knit for very many other people. My gift knitting is pretty much limited to my husband, some (but not all!) of my family of origin, my in-laws, and my band. Very rarely, I'll knit for an extremely close friend. The list of people for whom I will knit for free looks suspiciously like the list of people for whom I would donate a kidney.

I was thinking, though, that there is one way I would knit to order: in exchange for an equal amount of the recipient's time. If you're willing to labor at something you're good at for me, I'll do it for you. A pair of fine-gauge socks take about thirty hours, so start thinking. Here are a few ideas:

Like hanging out with cats? Take care of mine for a week, and I'll knit you a hat. There are seven of them (cats, not hats). If you'll come twice a day to supervise the one on a restricted diet and let the crazy outdoor-lover in and out, there's a matching scarf in it for you. House-sit and they'll be cashmere or silk.

Like landscape gardening? I've got at least a lace shawl's worth of that for you to do.

Like cabinet-making? There may be an entire intricately-cabled Aran pullover in your future. If you are an experienced kitchen or bath remodeler, we can talk fair isle.

Of course, if I simply don't like the pattern or the yarn you want knitted, all bets are off. So if you want a black acrylic cabled sweater, I don't care if we share DNA, exchange vows, or play rock 'n roll, you're still out of luck.

A work injury

2009-09-03T16:21:00.006-04:00

See what happens when I knit other people's pattern's instead of working on my original designs? This is the front leg detail from Cookie A's "Stricken" sock pattern. I didn't have enough yarn to finish the toe, but a kind person from Ravelry sent me some. First, however, I need to rip and re-knit the foot due to a gauge anomaly. Again.

However, I purled through the back loop too often and crossed too many twisted knits, and this happened.
That's my tennis elbow support band. All right, no more twisted stitches for me for a while. Back to stockinette for the moment.

Minimum summer moment

2009-09-01T14:47:00.005-04:00

It's been quite a summer. I've been working almost entirely on designing and have two sock designs in submission, one in preparation for self-publishing for sale, and a fourth on the needles to self-publish for free download (you know you want it!). Whew. All that design work doesn't make for much blogging, as you can see, since most publications want you to keep your projects under wraps until the release date.

I went to Knitter's Connection and spent two days of class with my awesome friend Peg and the inspiring Cat Bordhi. She liked the design work I brought with me, which made me deliriously happy and kicked off my designing frenzy. You'll see that sock one of these days. I can't tell you where and when, but you'll see it.

I was fairly restrained in shopping, but I did come home with yummy stuff from a new-to-me company, Castle Fibers. I wish I'd bought more. They have an etsy store but there's nothing like picking it out in person. Later I found out an amusing factoid: they are based in Rapid City, SD, which is the town where I was born.

It took me two days of misery to get there, but I did eventually make it to Sock Summit in Portland. I had to rush straight from the airport to Amy Singer's "Making the Next Monkey" class, and still missed half of it, but Amy invited me to attend the first half of the other session to catch what I had missed (thanks Amy, you rock!). I'm feeling much better (or at least better-educated) about doing my own sock photo shoots for Knitty submissions now.

I spent an incredible amount of time in the Sock Summit marketplace. (I swear it would have been cheaper if I'd gotten into more classes!) I met Casey and Mary-Heather in the marketplace, and did the fangirl routine (Yes, Casey,I'm the dork who gushed profusely about your beautiful programming). He gave me a Ravelry button! After embarrassing myself soundly, I didn't have the nerve to say hello to Cookie A. I didn't make it to Voodoo Doughnut (smelled the doughnuts, saw the line, kept walking) but I did have a root beer cupcake from Cupcake Jones. They have mocha almond fudge cupcakes today and I WANT ONE.

Oh, uh, and I've been in the throes of moving to a different house. In my spare time. Riiiiight. I got my old house sufficiently (not entirely) emptied and fixed up to put on the market within SIX WEEKS of deciding to sell. It was a monumental, stress-inducing, sleep-depriving endeavor. Well, at least there's more room for yarn in the new place, even if there is an appalling lack of closet space.

When I'm high, I can knit the future

2009-06-11T10:54:00.008-04:00

My husband the number theorist goes to conferences which are well-attended by people who do mathematics for the National Security Agency. Many of them will tell you they really enjoy their work, but they can never give any talks about it. That's how I feel about working on my sock design; I'm having a grand time, but it doesn't make for interesting blogging.

When I say "grand time," it actually reminds me a lot of taking narcotics. I'm hyper, euphoric, insomniac, and just a little nauseous.

I'm on my fourth iteration of the heel. The first time was like a rough draft, just to see how the pieces fit together. Then I did a whole bunch of high school algebra to figure out the numerical relationships between the stitches and rows of the various sections. I also demonstrated that there was only one degree of freedom, which means that it's okay to pick the number of inner ankle gusset increases to be anything I want, but then all the other numbers are determined by that one (no more free choice).

While I was knitting up the Math on a Recycled Envelope, I tweaked the construction details, substituting kitchener stitch for a section of narrow short rows, which produced satisfactorily stretch and mysterious-looking ("How'd you do that?") heel, so now I'm just tweaking the fit.

I have to knock off the tweaking pretty soon, though, because in seven days I'm leaving for Knitter's Connection! My friend Peg and I had some headaches with registration, but in the end, we are both taking two whole days of class with Cat Bordhi. It's important to me to have a finished sock with me, not a pile of sock ramen and a better idea.

Oh, and because blogs should have photos, here's one of a famous number theorist. Does his shirt say "Kaffe Fassett influenced" to anyone but me?

Seventeen days and counting

2009-06-01T16:42:00.003-04:00

So it's immediately obvious that this is a useful tool for creating an unconventional sock architecture, right?

I'd had a creative inspiration for sock architecture several months ago, but I never figured out quite how to work the heel. Last night while I was trying to fall asleep, I suddenly had an idea about how to go about solving the problem: mark up an actual sock! The house was dark and my husband was asleep already, but luckily there was a load of whites wrinkling in the dryer, so I fished out one of his white socks. Sadly, there wasn't one with an incipient hole, and I grudgingly admitted to myself that I ought not to draw all over a perfectly good one with a laundry marker. So I used double pointed needles to mark parallel lines to help me figure out where to place heel shaping elements. Then I stayed up way too late knitting on my prototype.

I'm taking (hopefully-- still waiting for confirmation) a class with Cat Bordhi in seventeen days, and I'd love to have this prototype completed to take with me to show off. I can't post a photo of the WIP because that might interfere with submitting the design for publication, but I'll share a closeup of the yarn knitted up because it's Ooh Pretty. It's a Claudia Hand Painted Oops, which is a shame because I'd be tempted to buy more of it.

The right tool for the job

2009-05-30T10:37:00.002-04:00

Okay. It's time to break down and spend the money on a pair of sock blockers for photography purposes. How do I know? Because I just took a photo of a sock with a cheese grater inside it.

At least that photo turned out better than the one of a sock with the DVD remote control in it.

If you like the waffle texture on the non-ribboned portion of the cuffs, it's ridiculously easy: Knit 3 rounds, then work (K1, P1) rib on the 4th. The original pattern called for seed stitch, but that sounded like way to much purling.

Technical difficulties and things that are pink

2009-05-21T11:25:00.004-04:00

When I tried to photograph my latest stockinette sock, I ran into a problem. The pictures turned out fuzzy.

I promise I've got the second sock on needles already. Casting it on immediately isn't a surefire cure for second sock syndrome, but at least it keeps me from using the right set of needles in some other project, stalling out the second sock indefinitely. In fact, there is a solo sock on my coffee table right now as a result of the last time I failed to segue directly to the second sock; I robbed the needles for the purple ankle socks instead.

At least I've managed to cast on a non-stockinette sock. It's a charity project; I plan to donate the finished pair for the local Race for the Cure raffle in the fall.

I'm using (by which I mean modifying) the Pink Ribbons: Breast Cancer Awareness Sock pattern by Lisa Lloyd, graciously distributed by her for free.

Two-pack

2009-05-19T13:08:00.006-04:00

I've been in a stockinette sock slump again lately. This time I was carved into that rut so deeply that I made four matching socks. They're all knit from one 100-gram ball of sock yarn (Opal Cotton).

How did I know I had enough yarn left to knit a second pair of socks? I used my kitchen scale. I've got a good digital one that will measure in grams or ounces. When I finished the first pair, I popped the rest of the ball on the scale; since it still weighed 54 grams, I knew I had enough for a second pair. By the way, I would have run out of yarn if I hadn't made them fraternal quadruplets (they're not quite identical, since the subtle stripe pattern falls differently on each sock).

A postal scale will also do nicely, and if you don't own a scale, all you have to do is stop by a post office with a self-serve scale in the lobby.

Six of Hearts

2009-02-04T19:49:00.006-05:00

I've finally managed to resuscitate my Great American Aran Afghan. In honor of Valentine's Day, may I present the recently-completed Barbara Selesnick square:

This is supposed to be one of the five easiest squares. Well, sure, if you knit exactly according to the pattern. But when I tried that, it was going to come out ridiculously short; if I added a fourth vertical repeat at that gauge, it would have been too tall.

I monkeyed around with several unsuccessful modifications, but in the end, I chose to add 4 rows of reverse stockinette to the center section before and after the heart motifs.

Fidgety business: I worked the garter borders on 51 stitches instead of 55. I increased four stitches in the last row of the border, then increased another four stitches in the process of beginning the first hearts (two stitches at the base of each motif, bringing the stitch count to the expected 59 and successfully avoiding cable splay.

By the way, here's Susan Rainey's interpretation of the Selesnick square with four pattern repeats.

Ravelry to the rescue

2008-12-01T12:46:00.004-05:00

A couple of months ago, I had an unhappy surprise at Afghan Sunday. I laid my completed blocks out on the floor and stood back to look them over - and saw that the Carol Adams square, which had been in the shop window for a while, had faded! Martha (the shop owner) was quite apologetic and offered to replace the yarn; but even using her secret underground shopowner connections, she was unable to locate another ball of off-white Cascade 220 Superwash from the same dye lot.

Finally it occurred to me to post to the Ravelry group dedicated to the GAAA. After all, it has 450 members, and many of them are using the same yarn I am. And sure enough, within a few days, someone messaged me to report a sighting of the appropriate dye lot at her LYS! I phoned them right away and had them send me, not just one, but three balls. I should have enough yarn now to knit all 24 squares and the heavy cabled border if I want. Thanks very much, Heather (creativechick)! Also, thank you to the friendly, helpful staff of Knit-a-Bit in Westfield, NJ.

Now what am I going to do with that non-matching Carol Adams square?

What Your Pattern Never Told You

2008-11-04T11:54:00.006-05:00

My mother is knitting garments! She's a multi-talented crafter who most recently has done miniature quilts and Native American-style beadwork. She's known how to knit (and crochet) for many years, and she let me teach her to knit socks after it became apparent that I couldn't produce them for her fast enough. But I haven't seen her make a sweater since I was a toddler (the red, white, and navy Fair Isle I wore to kindergarten is still around here somewhere, I think!).

Mom's sweater knitting has reminded me of just how much information about finishing isn't included in the average pattern. Many important decisions that affect the ease and appearance of seams and other details are made, not during the sewing-up process, but during the knitting of the pieces. Here are three suggestions for preparing the pieces of conventionally-constructed sweaters so that you won't dread the sewing and will be proud of the result.

Casting on: When you cast on for a piece that will later have a seam begin at its corner, leave a tail long enough to sew the seam. You'll have two fewer ends to weave in. How long a tail? For a mattress-stitched side seam, you need at least 1 1/2 times the length of the seam plus a tail to weave in. Err on the long side. To keep the long tail under control while you knit, wrap it around a bread tie (thanks to Lily Chin and the TV show Knitty Gritty for that hint!).

Edge stitches: If the side edges of the piece you're working on will end up in a seam, or have stitches picked up along them, keep the stitches nearest each edge (called selvedge stitches) as plain as possible. Ideally, keep the two stitches at each edge in stockinette or reverse stockinette. Work decreases one or two stitches in from the edge. If you work increases at the edges, place each new stitch two stitches in from the edge. This is easy for "make one" increases because they are worked between stitches; however, for Kf&b increases, remember that the bump which becomes the new stitch falls to the left of the stitch in which you increase. In order for the bump to occur two stitches from the edge, increase in the second stitch at the beginning of the row but the third stitch from the end. If you're really fussy (or just adventurous), use the mirror-image to Kf&b that I describe in this earlier post; since this increase produces a new stitch to the right of the stitch in which it's worked, work it in the second-to-last stitch.

New skeins: Begin a new skein only at the beginning of a row (unless you are splicing the ends together), so that you can weave the ends into a seam allowance later. Yes, this will waste a little yarn, but it's worth it. Be careful with the front pieces of cardigans which have knitted-in bands; join a new skein at a side edge, not a front edge.

This'll get you started. Some other time we'll have to talk about short row shoulder shaping.

It slipped my mind

2008-06-29T12:34:00.004-04:00

It's Afghan Sunday again and I've hardly touched the afghan in weeks, except to move the stack of finished squares around so the cat won't sleep on it. I did finish the Patt Tanton Hewitt square, which I was working on at the last meeting.

I went down a needle size and this square still came out a smidge oversized (12-1/4”W x 12-1/2”H, after wet blocking). You can see it's a little taller than it is wide. It would have been even taller, except that I trimmed a few rows off. I ended the lower border with a RS inc row and then started the charts on Row 2 (instead of working a foundation row consisting of the last row of each chart, which would have meant two more rows). Correspondingly, I ended the patterned section with Row 2 of chart C, and incorporated the cables of Row 3 into the RS decrease row of the upper border.

Fidgety business: I found that the M1P’s distorted the reverse stockinette too much, so I replaced each with a backwards loop cast on in the previous row. And in Row 25 of Chart C, just to be consistent, I replaced the SSK and K2tog by P2togs by borrowing a purl stitch from each neighboring panel.

Here’s a hint I saw on Ravelry just after I finished: use two different-colored DPNs for the cable calisthenics. (By the way, Ravelry has a group devoted entirely to this project, and it's full of helpful and amusing people.) The tightness of the stitches while working those multi-strand cables made working this square physically tiring and hard on my wrists, but the high "ooh pretty" factor gives you a pretty high return on your investment.

I've almost finished the Salazar square, too. Here's a shot of the center section; I've got the borders done and sewn on now. Maybe I'll finally wrap up the chain stitching this afternoon.

Passing the bar

2008-06-06T19:50:00.008-04:00

I've been deconstructing the humble bar increase lately. I'm talking about the one where you knit the front leg of a stitch without removing it from the left needle, then knit the back leg. The stitch you're working into gets a half twist, forming a little bump to the left.

In this earlier post I described how to work a less-prominent variation on the bar increase. Here's the structural difference between Kf&b and the variant: in the purple figure above, look closely at the twist. The horizontal-ish part lies on top. In the variant, the vertical-ish part ends up on top, as in the green figure. That's why the horizontal bump lies to the back of the fabric.

Once upon a time, I was working on a pair of gloves with bar increases for the thumb gusset, and it bothered me that the increases weren't symmetrical. Yes, I know that if you Choose Wisely which stitches to work Kf&b in, you can make the placement of the bumps symmetrical; but still, they aren't perfect mirror images because there's a bit of distortion to the right of each bump. What I wanted was an increase that is a structural mirror image of Kf&b, with the bump lying to the right, as in the blue figure. So I unvented one.

Here's how to work the blue increase: remount the stitch left leg nearside. Knit the front leg and remove the stitch from the right needle (so far, you've merely made a twisted knit stitch). With the tip of the left needle, pick up the strand that runs from lower left to upper right of the stitch just removed (it's the top strand of the twist), and knit the back of it.

It's also possible to work the mirror image of the variant (peach figure), but it's a little more awkward. Knit the back leg and remove the stitch from the right needle (a traditional twisted knit). With the tip of the left needle, pick up the back strand of the twist, and knit the front of it.

It took me about three days to draw those figures, and I'm all tuckered out, so I'll have to tell you about Pf&b and its friends another day.

Seeds of May

2008-05-19T20:50:00.007-04:00

Afghan Sunday was early this month to avoid Memorial Day (a.k.a. "Race Day" in Indiana). Most of the local knitters are behind (except for one who is well ahead of me), so I didn't feature any new blocks this month, but I'll go ahead and share a couple here anyway.

Isn't the seed stitch pretty on the Ann Strong square?

This is supposed to be one of the five easiest squares. I kept forgetting to purl through the back loop on the wrong side for the two columns of twisted stitches. I also made a lot of knit vs. purl mistakes on the wrong side rows because of the seed stitch, but they were easy to see and fix on the following row.

Fidgety business:To feed the consistency hobgoblin, I worked the upper and lower borders on 54 stitches like my other squares worked on #7 needles; I ended the border on a RS row and worked a WS foundation row (last row of each chart). The large side cables ended up due for a twist on the first row of the top border, so I worked some of the decreases as cable decreases. But if I were knitting this square a second time, I would center the side cables vertically instead by working the twists on rows 7 and 17 instead of 5 and 15. It doesn't keep me awake at night the way it is, so I left it. (You think I'm joking? Sadly, I have in fact had knitting-induced sleepless nights.)

By the way, wrapping up the Sea of Despair socks (literally and figuratively; I gave them to my Mom for Mother's Day) sent me off on a sock-finishing bender. I knit a complete pair of DK-weight Opal stockinette men's socks in four days, finished a toe-up variation of CookieA's Mingus for myself (more on those later), and pulled a pair of diamond-brocaded socks based on a Nancy Bush pattern out of hibernation to finish for my husband:

I promise there are two of them, but he was leaving for a business trip just as they finished drying after blocking, so I let him take them before I could get a photo of the pair. He finished teaching his spring semester classes and immediately skipped the country. Maybe he'll model the new socks when he gets back.

A different type of stranded knitting

2008-05-08T11:54:00.006-04:00

Here's the second square from April Afghan Sunday. It's the Hanna Burns square, a.k.a. "the DNA square."

In the magazine photo of this square, the garter stitch borders clearly flare; and no wonder, since they are worked on 62 stitches with size 8 needles! I worked 48-stitch upper and lower borders, and the square is quite true. The central braid really draws in a lot, so I worked border increases/decreases about every other stitch in that section. Fidgety business: As usual for me, I ended the lower border with a RS increase row, then worked a WS foundation row; I also began the upper border with a RS decrease row, working decreases into cable crossings.

Some knitters find it confusing that the righthand "DNA strand" (Chart B) begins with Row 1 but the lefthand strand begins with Row 17. The tricky bit, for the spatially challenged, is to realize that when you are working on the wrong side, those positions are reversed. So for the second row of the patterned section, you have to work Row 18 of the chart for the first strand you come to, then work Row 2 for the second strand. Fidgety business: The only time this threw me was when I was working the WS foundation row; I should have worked Row 16 first and then Row 32, but I got them backwards on the first try and had to tink.

The square was a little narrow before blocking (11 1/4"), so I stopped a bit short in length also (11 1/2") to keep the proportions square, and it wet-blocked to 12" x 12" very nicely.

The consistency hobgoblin demands that I riff for a while on working all the 1/1 twists in such a manner that no individual stitches end up twisted. Here are my methods:

1/1 RT: This one is okay as written, but it's hard on my right wrist. I prefer to sl 2 tog kwise, then transfer both sts back to LH needle (this exchanges the positions of the 2 stitches and also changes their mount direction). K1 tbl twice.
1/1 LT: Sl 1 pwise, Sl 1 kwise, then transfer both sts back to LH needle (this changes the mount direction of the second stitch; otherwise it would get twisted by being worked through the back loop). Now with RH needle behind work, k 2nd st tbl, then k 1st st in front loop.
1/1 RPT: Also okay as written, but I like to sl 2 tog kwise, transfer both sts back to LH needle (as for the RT), K1 tbl, P1 tbl.
1/1 LPT: Reverse the mount of the second stitch as for a 1/1 LT. Now with RH needle behind work, p 2nd st tbl, then k 1st st in front loop. (BTW, it's much easier to dig out that purl stitch once it's been turned around, too.)

One last remark: Those strands aren't actually helixes. They don't spiral, they merely rotate one direction and then the other, because the twists in Row 13 and 29 go opposite directions. If you want them to truly spiral, replace the left twist in Row 29 with a right twist.

Out of the Sea

2008-05-05T11:18:00.004-04:00

The Sea of Despair socks are done. (Yes, really done; the ends are actually woven in, not just tucked under for the purpose of photography. Not that I would do such a thing, ahem.)

The only interesting thing about this pair of socks (and its many, many friends) is the heel construction, which is my own. I've designed it to mimic, as accurately as possible, the traditional top-down flap-and-gusset round heel. When I say "as accurately as possible," we're talking viceroy vs. monarch here.

The foot circumference was 68 sts before beginning the gusset increases. I like mirrored left and right lifted increases for the gussets (the ones where you knit one leg of a stitch in the row below, not the "make 1"s where you knit the running thread between stitches); they look the most like decreases when viewed upside down. I work 12 gusset increase rounds every other round, increasing at each end of the sole stitches.

The bottom of the sole is a flap shaped exactly like the turning of a round heel. To get started, I mark the center 22 stitches of the sole and knit to the end of them, then turn and purl back to the beginning marker. Then I work in rows, working ssk at the end of each right-side row and p2tog at the end of each wrong-side row, until only 9 stitches remain after finishing a right-side row. I pick up and knit down the left side of the flap, one stitch per row (13 stitches), turn, sl1, purl to last 2 stitches, p2tog, pick up and purl 13 stitches down the other side of the flap. Now there are 34 stitches on the heel needles again, ready to turn.

The back of the sole is rectangular. It looks like a top-down heel flap, but it's executed with short rows, like turning a top-down square heel. Slipping the first stitch of every row, I just work back and forth on the 34 stitches on the heel needles, working the last stitch of the row together with one of the sole/gusset stitches with ssk or p2tog.

Now here's some really fidgety business, for complete sock construction junkies only. I don't have high insteps, so a stockinette heel back worked exactly like I just described would be too tall for me. The quick-and-dirty fix for this is to work sssk/p3tog every third pair of rows. I knit a lot of pairs of socks that way. However, gettting even more fidgety, this method also reduces the number of chain stitches down the sides of the heel back, producing a slightly "gathered" appearance which bothered me. So eventually, I figured out how to reduce the number of rows without reducing the number of chain stitches along the sides of the heel back. Every third right side row, after working the ssk, I put the last stitch made back onto the left hand needle and work another ssk. At the end of the next (wrong-side) row, I put the last stitch made back on the left needle and work another p2tog.

Got a headache now? Go knit something. I know I will.

My afghan's getting bigger

2008-04-27T20:02:00.003-04:00

It's April Afghan Day! Here's the Carol Adams square. I didn't feel a need to tinker with the pattern, except to start the patterning with a wrong side foundation row.

Here's a nifty variation on the Kf&b increase that I've been using on these squares for the get-out-of-garter stitch increases. First, reverse the stitch mount (if necessary) so that the left leg is nearside. knit the back leg, then the front leg (Kb&f). What's the point? When worked on a RS row, it makes the little bump hunker down deeper into the fabric. Also, if you sneakily choose your increase points so that those new "bump stitches" become the bottom of purl stitch columns, they blend in with the scenery even more.

Orts

2008-04-17T14:28:00.004-04:00

I've been especially unfocused in my knitting lately - and for me, that's really saying something. I have no pictures because I keep ripping everything out! I started the Cabaret Raglan from IK Spring 2004, but Stockinette Tension Weirdness quickly set in. My purl stitches generally tend to be larger than my knit stitches, but on this project the opposite is true. Whassup with that? Maybe it's something about the cotton knitted tube structure of the Reynolds Cabaret. But then the Manos Cotton Stria arrived for my Perfect Tee class sample, so I put the Cabaret Raglan aside. This yarn is a lot like knitting with chenille because of its bumpy structure. I had to use needles two sizes smaller than I customarily would to get gauge. Then, halfway up the back, my tension changed. So this had to be ripped and reknit.

As a result of all this stockinette, I got it in my head to try controlling the tension for purl rows with my thumb. I'm pretty infatuated, but I've got to swatch properly, and then I'll report.

I had to start a new sock project because I was going to a classical music concert and needed something on wooden needles (no clinking). So I cast on Cookie A's new Stricken socks, but I've ripped them out at least twice now. First I misread the chart; the second time, I decided I really needed to make the calf more shapely, since the biasing and the twisted stitches interfere with its stretch. And I only got a couple of inches into her Mingus socks before bailing on that too. I'm going to start over and convert this to toe-up so I can control the fit more easily.

There are a couple of bits of good knit-news: mercifully, whatever was ailing the gauge of the Sea of Despair Socks seems to have straightened itself out, so the second one has a heel now. And I got my own copy of Principles of Knitting! I swapped my spare copy of Alice Starmore's Stillwater for it. Hurray, Ravelry!

Oh, and I cast on Nancy Bush's Estonian Socks yesterday for No Good Reason At All.

Mad as a March square

2008-03-31T11:38:00.005-04:00

I'm surprised that the Barbara McIntire square didn't make the "Five Easiest" list. I've found it to be the easiest square of the lot. Yeah, there are a lot of cable crossings, but there are no other techniques required: no moss or seed stitch, no bobbles, and certainly no calisthenics with multiple double pointed needles. All the wrong side rows are "rest rows": knit the knits, purl the purls. And the two major charts even have the same number of rows.

I did have to go down a size from the suggested #8 needles in order to keep the square from turning out too wide. And I added four rows to the beginning of the central Saxon braid so that it would turn out vertically centered, but you already knew I was funny that way.

The other featured square for March was the Ada Fenick square. Can you believe I actually knit something according to the directions for a change? It was a little challenging to keep my place when working the ground and sky sections, but none of the techniques were difficult. And I really like those monster-bobbles.

I read a great hint on Ravelry about knitting from charts: use colored highlighters or pencils to shade each cable, then shade the corresponding instructions in the written directions with the same color. I'm too lazy to actually do this (I'm frequently too lazy to place a stitch marker when I should, and usually pay for it), but it's a terrific idea.

A postlet from hell

2008-03-28T22:15:00.005-04:00

I did my penance and finished the first blue-green sock last night. Continuing in my virtue, I started the second sock today. Guess what? The gauge refuses to match the finished sock. I've gone down a needle size (to the absurd 00's) and it's still too loose.

These socks shall henceforth be known as the Sea of Despair Socks.

The wrath of the gods

2008-03-26T20:40:00.006-04:00

Okay, I have definitely upset some minor knitting deity. I've been working on this cape from Sandi Rosner's book Not Just Socks for Kids and have five out of six sections finished. I had to start a second ball of yarn for the last section. And would you believe, on this ball the salmon pink is brighter than on the first ball? (Same lot.) It's subtle enough not to show in a photo, but it's noticeable in daylight. Extra maddeningly, if I hadn't cut up the last part of the first ball in order to get speckled pieces to use for the visible seams, I might have finished the last section with it.

Now I have to pick a plan:

Just finish this section, sew it in and live with it (not bloody likely)
Stuff the whole project in a bag in the corner and never lay eyes on it again until after the intended recipient graduates from college
Finish this section and reknit the other side section from the second ball so the brighter parts will be symmetric

Maybe if I go knit some penance on the blue-green tofutsies socks, the offending pink will fade?

My three sins

2008-03-25T12:03:00.002-04:00

This is what I'm going to knitter's hell for: I have three pairs of Tofutsies socks started at the same time. And they're all just plain, ribbed, toe-up socks.

In my defense, the red sock has a sad, sad story. The sock shown is the second sock of the pair. The first sock is in a LANDFILL somewhere because the housekeeping staff at the Indianapolis airport couldn't be bothered to send it to the Lost & Found office. The staffer at the L&F assured me that "Oh, I'm sure it just got thrown away, they only send stuff to us if it's VALUABLE." Yes, I know it's my own fault for having dropped it while boarding, but really, did they have to throw it out immediately?

The red socks and the blue ball of yarn were the only knitting I had with me on that vacation. I couldn't bear to work on the red sock on the needles. So I sulked for twenty-four hours, then started the blue sock.

I am sure this is my karmic punishment for having started the red sock in the first place, when that perfectly good pink one was on the needles.

Maybe if I finish the red sock and give it to a one-legged knitter, I'll be forgiven?

A little instant gratification

2008-03-21T17:16:00.006-04:00

I've been working on small projects interspersed with fits of obsessive work on the GAAA. I was amused by the reversible cables from the Carol Adams square, so I knit this scarf with the same technique. The pattern is the Swelligant Scarf from Son of Stitch 'n Bitch. It was a great excuse to buy and knit with silk/wool blend yarn (Alchemy Yarns' Synchronicity). I finished the scarf just in time before I got bored with the repetition, five days after I bought the yarn.

The recipient is a dear friend who is going through a divorce. His future ex-wife had been working on a scarf for him for some time (and a very lovely scarf, also: the multi-directional diagonal scarf out of Noro Silk Garden). Once the papers were filed, he remarked that he was never going to get THAT one, and the weather was still cold, so I knit him the Swelligant.

And there might be brownies

2008-03-14T14:42:00.005-04:00

Here's a little advanced warning: at the March afghan squares meeting, I'm featuring the Barbara McIntire square (easy) and the Ada Fenick square (this one required careful attention, but the stitches themselves aren't too hard). I'll post photos and reviews later, but if anyone wants to get started on the McIntire square, let me warn you that I had to go down a needle size.

Meanwhile, I've been salivating over a borrowed copy of The Principles of Knitting. I saw an article about this tome in a recent issue of Vogue Knitting and knew it was the knitting book I had wanted all my life. However, since I can't really afford to spend $200 for it, I had my spouse request it as an ILL (interlibrary loan). So now at least I can study it for six weeks. Then I'll wait impatiently for the new edition that's supposed to be released in 2009.

I confess I'm inordinately proud that I know a bar increase method which isn't in the book.

Off with their heads

2008-03-11T16:57:00.009-04:00

Here is the Jay Campbell square, also from February. It is knit from the outside edge to the center. I followed the instructions as written. It's not quite square even after blocking, but it will be fine sewn into the finished afghan. The center puffed up like a volcano before blocking, so I would recommend decreasing on round 41, especially for anyone using synthetic yarn.

I didn't like the particular bobble in the instructions; one could easily substitute another bobble (perhaps the one from the Vicki Sever square). And the three consecutive bobbles on round 35 didn't lie very well, and had to be poked severely into place during blocking. Moving the center bobble down to round 35 might work better.

Fidgety business: There is no compensation for cable splay anywhere in the design. See how the edges ruffle a bit? That's because there are no increases at the bottom of the cables. I don't like the way the three-strand braids fan out at their tops, either. I will probably re-knit this square later and do a major re-engineering job. It will be tricky because any new increases and decreases have to balance out; otherwise the number of rounds in the square will be affected, and I don't want to cut off the top of the the stylized figure's head!

The unholy trinity

2008-03-10T21:25:00.007-04:00

The Ginette Belanger square was featured at the February meeting of the River Wools blocks-of-the month group. I like the look of trinity stitch (the bumpy side panels), but I don't enjoy working it. The double increases are hard on my wrist, and if you make a mistake, there's usually no way to fix it except by ripping out.

As with the Levy square, I cast on 54 stitches instead of 48.

Fidgety business: I ended the bottom border on the RS instead of the WS, then worked a foundation row using the last row of each chart in its proper location. In other words: K3, work Row 4 of Chart A over 22 sts, work Row 24 of Chart B, work Row 4 of Chart A over 22 sts, K3.

I also stopped a few rows early; I didn't work the last set of Chart B rows 1-4. However, as with the Levy square, I worked the cable twists for Row 1 into the first row of the top border.

Square one

2008-03-09T23:08:00.004-04:00

The Julie Levy square was the first Great American Afghan square featured at the January River Wools blocks-of-the-month meeting (the one I missed due to flu). I actually knit it twice, since my yarn order for the afghan hadn't come in yet. This is the second version, out of Cascade 220 Superwash. My first version came out rather oversized, so I went down a needle size for the second version.

I'm adjusting the number of stitches in the bottom and top garter borders for several of the squares. The directions for this square called for casting on 48 stitches; however, other squares (with the same suggested needle size) called for casting on as many as 60 stitches! Since my garter stitch gauge is about 18 sts/4", I cast on 54 stitches instead. That meant I only needed to increase 22 stitches in the last row of the bottom border. Likewise, I decreased 22 stitches in the first row of the top border.

Fidgety business (for the truly obsessive only): I ended the center section two rows early (on row 13 of Chart A). However, as I knit the first row of the top border (a RS row), I worked the cable crossings from the next row of the Charts, except all in knit stitches. Why? Two reasons: First, the square was getting a little bit tall, and this let me shave 2 rows off. Second, I think this matched the transition out of the bottom border better. As a bonus, since this was the decrease row, I hid some of the decreases in the cable crossings.

The start of something big

2008-02-12T17:41:00.001-05:00

I recently started the Great American Aran Afghan and am leading a two-blocks-a-month support group at River Wools. Unfortunately, I had the flu (yes, the real thing, with ten days of fevered misery and a cough I still haven't quite gotten rid of) during the first meeting at the end of January. I had completed the Julie Levy square just before I got sick, using Universal Yarns Classic Worsted. I'm actually knitting the afghan out of Cascade 220 Superwash, but it hadn't arrived yet when I needed to start the January samples.

February's blocks will be the Ginette Belanger square and the Jay Campbell square. I've finished the knitting and I'll post photos and comments on those soon.

2007-12-23T06:57:00.001-05:00

Hey! I've been published!

I wrote one of ten chapters in Making Mathematics with Needlework and just got my author's copy. Wow, is it ever a gorgeous book. Even if you hate math (a treatable condition), how can you not like the glossy pages with green and purple accents and fabulous photography? It's available from the publisher, A K Peters, Ltd., or amazon.com.

2007-09-19T13:25:00.000-04:00

Not so much knitting going on so far today. I'm on a bit of an organizing rampage. At least it's a stash-organizing rampage. I've dismantled most of my issues of Cast On, keeping only those few patterns I might actually knit and the technique articles.

The technique issues are truly excellent. I've found that I often remember, vaguely, that I've seen an article about such-and-such, but then it takes me forever to locate it. Well, no more. I'm putting them in sheet protectors and sorting them into a binder by general topic: Design, Technique Fundamentals, Textures, Advanced Topics, and Finishing.

I ran out of sheet protectors, so I haven't done 2006-2007 yet. However, I immediately ordered more sheet protectors and they should arrive tomorrow. I had been wanting to place an office supply order anyway, to get more of the colored tabs I mark magazine patterns with. (I discovered that, of course, my very favorite brand of tabs is a store brand, and double of course, I have no local store... it's the boonies, folks.) But I'm compulsive about stalling until I need enough stuff to get free shipping, and the sheet protectors did the trick.

For my next trick, I'm going to hunt down all my really awful plastic yarn and take it to Goodwill.

2007-09-18T17:19:00.001-04:00

Oil Slick socks are finished. I'm being a Very Good Girl and knitting the second sock of a pair I started, oh, maybe a couple of years ago. These are the Merino Lace socks from the IK book, but I knit the first one after it came out in the magazine.

Of course, I did not make any notes when I knit the first one, so it took me three tries to get the gauge right for the second one.

2007-09-07T15:09:00.000-04:00

I've put the heel in the Oil Slick Socks and I'm a couple of inches up the leg. I need to finish these in a hurry before I cave in and start something else. Last night I bought Cat Bordhi's new book and it makes me wish I had twelve hands. Coriolis socks are imminent! Oh, and I also need to knit an entrelac sock from the Spring 2007 IK as a class model.

I thought of a new way to organize magazine patterns I'd like to knit and I started, of course, with the sock patterns. I had previously tabbed them with green Post-It tabs (yes, I've got a whole color-coded tab system) but now I've color-copied them and put them in sheet protectors in the binder along with my other sock patterns. I still can't decide, though, how to organize them in the binder: should they be sorted by yarn weight, or by style? Hmmm...

2007-09-06T15:33:00.000-04:00

I'm bummed that the purl diamonds don't show up any better on these socks, adapted from the "Gentleman's Sock with Lozenge Pattern" in Knitting Vintage Socks. You can see the silk gleam, though; they're made with Regia Silk. These are a birthday gift for the lead guitar player in my rock band. (I only knit socks for my band members and some of my blood kin.)

These are what I'm knitting on today. I've recently discovered Tofutsies, thanks to a ball I got in a yarn swap. I'm just knitting them by my usual decide-as-you-go toe-up method. I think I'll call them the Oil Slick Socks because the coloration reminds me of the dark rainbow on a puddle in an asphalt parking lot.

Those little metal needles are 6" size 0 Hiya Hiya stainless steel, which are now my very favorite double points. They're unbelievably light and they don't break in my purse, as happened recently with a Crystal Palace bamboo needle. I had just been to the dentist and found out I had cracked a molar and would need a crown, and then when I dropped my purse into the car, snap! I went directly to the LYS and bought the Hiya Hiyas.

2007-09-04T14:21:00.001-04:00

Aha! Would you believe that uploading works much better if your USB hub is plugged in?

These are the Waving Lace Socks from Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave. I used Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Lilac.

Here is my second pair of Lavender Lace Socks from Vogue Knitting On the Go: Socks Two. They are made from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Natural. I also made a pair for my friend Traci a while ago in Sage Shepherd Sock.

In fact, I just noticed that these two pairs of socks were by the same designer, Evelyn Clark.

Last pair for today: Charlene Schurch's Ripple Weave Socks, from the Fall 2006 issue of Vogue Knitting. More Shepherd Sock, this time in Blackberry. Yes, that's my white leg.

Be warned that the stitch pattern chart has an error in Row 3; the yarnovers should be one stitch farther to the left. Study rows 1 and 5 and you'll see what I mean.

2007-09-04T14:12:00.000-04:00

Hah! You thought this blog was dead! But it was merely comatose. I'm taking a break from investigating every free sock pattern on the internet. You, too, can spend countless hours on this endeavor. Check out this enormous list.

For my next trick, I might actually figure out how to post photos of some of the ten pairs of socks I've knitted this summer. That's right, complete PAIRS of socks. I'm not even counting the singles.

2005-02-17T22:24:00.000-05:00

The Einstein coat is done. I define "done" as (1) being wearable and (2) having no needles in it. Property (2) is not redundant; the other day I had left the house without a jacket, and when I became cold, I put on the Einstein, complete with a circular needle hanging from the collar. The people at the pharmacy were rather amused.

Today I left the house without a coat AGAIN (doh!) and ended up buying a new winter coat. Now, mind you, I did not actually buy a coat BECAUSE I was cold; I bought it because it was on mega-clearance-sale and it was the perfect shape and the perfect shade of dusty purple. I was smart enough to buy it on the small side, so it should still fit me next winter. (A size 8! How cool is that!) I am really happy that I am sufficiently close to my goal weight that I can knit sweaters for myself that I expect to be able to wear long-term, instead of merely temporarily.

2005-02-14T23:02:00.000-05:00

I finished the Wedge Pullover. It got rather larger when blocked, but it's a casual style, so it still looks good on CH. He's requested a cotton sweater for next time, though, as the wool gets rather warm in the building where he works. I thought this was a fine excuse to buy a Honking Great Pile of Classic Elite Spotlight off elann.com. Never mind that the colors I got were the ones that would look fabulous on ME...

Meanwhile, I'm nearly done with an Einstein Coat. River Wools recently offered an Einstein Coat class; a bunch of my friends were in it, so I dropped in to see their projects-in-progress, and got inspired. I had a ridiculous quantity of Jamieson's Chunky Shetland in stash and it seemed like a good use for it. I was tremendously pleased that, although at the time I bought the book I would have needed to make the largest size, I can now wear the adult Small. Comfortably. And I only had to make a couple of teensy-weensy changes. First, the underarm bulk was more than I could bear, so I sewed a short seam up each side (connecting the upper right front to the upper back, etc.) to raise the armhole. Perfect! Second, I needed to narrow the neck opening a bit, so I left fifteen bound-off stitches unsewn on each side instead of seventeen. Also perfect. I just have to finish re-knitting a sleeve and I'll be done.

2005-01-21T09:19:00.000-05:00

Can you believe I went to La Lana Wools and didn't buy ANYTHING? Although, it was not for lack of desire. It's just that everything I wanted was a large purchase and it was not a good time for that. So I took notes for future mail orders instead. Meanwhile, I tried on the Valentina Devine jacket from the Winter VK (yes, the ACTUAL jacket photographed in the magazine) because it is ever so much prettier than the picture. The colors are all washed out in the mag photo. It actually has peach, fuchsia and yellow streaks in it, can you believe it?

I got the replacement copy of the Wedge Pullover pattern I left in the Albuquerque airport and am now almost done with the sweater. I have a little bit of seaming to do and, of course, the ENDS. The thing has quite a bit of torso torque as a result of the bias wedges, so I am anxious to see how it turns out after post-assembly wet-blocking.

Oh, and yesterday I weighed in at Weight Watchers and I have now lost all my New Mexican vacation weight gain. My leader says it's about time to set goal. I still wanted to lose nineteen more pounds, but the WW staff are dubious.

2004-12-27T00:52:00.000-05:00

I'm terribly cross with myself. I took a brand new project, the Reynolds Odyssey Wedge Pullover, on vacation to New Mexico, and apparently left the pattern in the Albuquerque airport. So now I've got a bagful of lovely green yarn and no pattern. At least I got far enough on the back of the sweater during the flights that I can keep going without the pattern until I get to the neck and shoulder shaping. Then I guess I have to put it on holders and start the front.

On the bright side, there is a yarn shop that I can see the roof of from the hotel window. It is across the street and two doors down. Unfortunately it was closed today and tomorrow so I have to wait until Tuesday to check it out. Oops, make that Wednesday; I think we're going to drive up to Taos for the day Tuesday, so I'll "only" get to go to La Lana Wools that day. Bwa-ha-ha.

Meanwhile, CH has a new knitted vest. It's the Cabled Rib Vest from Men in Knits, out of Cascade 220 in a medium gray with heavy red and green heathering. I sewed the buttons on it this morning. I knit it right in front of him and he didn't even notice (although he was a bit befuddled when I was insistent that he render an opinion on buttons).

2004-12-21T23:20:00.000-05:00

Today I experienced a knitter's true Moment of Glory. I wore my long hooded crocheted coat to the Fashion Mall and the very swishy sales clerk came up to me and said: "Can I help you with anything? Oh, you look SOOOO cute this evening-- that coat is DARLING! Where did you GET that?" I told him I made it and he said, "Oh, you did NOT-- I am SO impressed!" and fondled the bobbles.

2004-11-10T12:36:00.000-05:00

I am kicking projects around like footballs this month. The Dashing Diamond Pullover is finished, sort of, but it turned out to be so much of a bust that I may rip the whole thing. First, I had to re-engineer the top of it because the armholes were way too deep. Then, even though I took my standard two inches off the sleeves, they ended up being outrageously long. I think this was deliberate on the part of the designer; however, in the photo, you can't see the model's hands, so who knows? Personally, I think over-long sleeves only look good on tall people, and besides, they interfere with my knitting. And as a last annoyance, the A-line is just too wide at the bottom. Even I don't need six inches of difference between bust and hip measurement anymore.

After that, I spent two weeks cranking out the Lush Shaped Cardigan from Classic Elite's Noble Fibers booklet. In stark contrast to the previous project, I'm terribly happy with the finished object. It's all warm and pink and fuzzy and it fits great. It's very low-cut, so I wear a camisole underneath it to work. My rock-star alter ego wears it out on the town sans camisole for the naughty librarian look.

Then I started Tilt. I've done the lower body sections and one of the back yokes. I fall maddeningly between sizes but I think I can adjust the width several inches during the blocking process. The yoke charts require quite a lot of concentration, though, and I've learned not to try to work on it while chatting or watching TV. I'm looking forward to the sleeves.

On a short break from Tilt, I spent two days knitting a K1,P1 rib scarf out of three balls of #40 Almond Tree Diakeito Diamusee. The browns, cream, and roses are gorgeous with my brown suede jacket.

2004-10-07T22:02:00.000-04:00

Stash triumph!

I have been coveting the Dashing Diamond Pullover ever since the fall issue of Cast On came out. However, I was trying to prioritize sweaters which could be knit from stash, so I hadn't ordered the Softwist Bulky for it. But then I was digging in the Yarn Room one morning and I ran across the bags of Classic Elite Follies I had acquired some time ago from elann.com, and I got to thinking. The suggested gauge for Follies is 18 stitches/4", whereas Softwist Bulky is labeled at 16 stitches/4". However, Follies is a rayon/alpaca blend, and Softwist Bulky is a rayon/wool blend, hence they ought to have somewhat similar draping qualities; and they're both around 65-70 yards per 50 gram ball. So I looked at the Dashing Diamond instructions again, and lo and behold, it calls for knitting at 17 stitches/4". I gave it a go, and I got gauge. Now I have a front and a back and half a sleeve.

Because this design is by Norah Gaughan, who I worship and adore, I have not felt a need to make many changes. I used short rows to give it a slightly shirt-tailed hem, and I'm tremendously pleased with how that turned out. I changed the decrease technique at the V-neck to emphasize the knit stitches which are an extension of the cables, and because I have no fear of Wrong-Side Decreases, I decreased every three rows instead of alternating two and four as specified. Oh, and one last thing: I used a few short rows to make the neckband extensions turn a little more gracefully. I think maybe I should have lowered the center back neck with short rows also, but I don't think I'm going to reknit it.

2004-09-23T21:49:00.000-04:00

I was teaching my beginner crochet class at River Wools when who should appear but Christy Renshaw, the soon-to-be-famous designer, speed knitter and handknitter extraordinaire. Christy amazed me by telling me that she looked at my blog. (I have a blog?!?!?) She also pointed out that I don't have an email link on said blog. So, as a temporary measure until I can schedule a Hack-the-Template Day:

Email Me.

I'm coming to the end of the West Side Raglan. Er, at least it started out as a West Side Raglan. I'm working in a different gauge; I used rolled hems instead of the slip-stitch rib; I added A-line side shaping; I changed the decrease style; I altered the raglan shaping; I raised the back neck with short rows; and I'm going to put a funnel neck on it. So, basically, what it has in common with the WSR is that they are both raglans. Anyway, it's all slip-stitch-basted together and I just have to sew the raglan seams properly and add the funnel neck.

I can't decide which I want more desperately: Reynolds Cabaret to knit the Norah Gaughan raglan from the spring IK, or Reynolds Odyssey to knit a Hippy Chic pullover.

2004-09-19T19:33:00.000-04:00

I'm knitting madly back and forth in stockinette, of all things. I bought fifteen skeins of Berroco Uxbridge Tweed, #1171 Marionberry, thinking I was going to knit the heavily cabled-and-bobbled Maine. But when I swatched, I decided I didn't want a cabled sweater that hefty, and I'm making a West Side Raglan instead. I'm adding subtle A-line shaping and possibly a funnel neck.

The Uxbridge Tweed is a sad story of a lost opportunity to save money. It went up at elann.com right around the time I went to Stitches Midwest, so I didn't buy it. A couple of weeks later, I discovered that UT had been discontinued by Berroco (guess that's why elann.com had it–DUH). So I went on a mad internet hunt for it and had to pay $4.95 a ball for it, which is actually a little higher than full retail.

Meanwhile, I've completely finished the Debbie Bliss Hooded Aran Cardigan, and after a marathon week with a crochet hook, I am about a dozen ends away from having a fabulously bobbled crocheted off-white coat (Fall 2003 FCEK).

2004-08-18T08:47:00.000-04:00

I have been a Busy Kitty. Not only did I buckle down and get a Real Job, I finished a sweater! I knit Trish in eight days, start to finish. And that INCLUDES weaving in the ends. I accomplished this by following sage advice from Hope: I started a project where I really, desperately, wanted to have the finished object. And I have certainly enjoyed wearing it. Maddeningly, it is already starting to get a little large on me. But hey, I had enough yarn left over to knit it again, and I probably will next spring. I think I can duplicate the little changes in shaping that I added (it was a straight-sided tee, which never flatters me, so I "fixed" it).

Now I am cranking right along on the Debbie Bliss Hooded Aran Pullover. Luckily, I got the Real Job before the Cotton Denim Aran yarn went up at elann.com, plus I had a chunk of store credit from a return some months ago. I dawdled and didn't buy it until mid-afternoon the day it went for sale, and the medium blue shade I was going to get had sold out already, so I'm knitting it in the lightest blue; but actually, I think I'm happier with the light blue than I would have been with the medium. I've knit both sleeves and most of the back. Again, I really want to have the finished sweater by the time it gets cool.

Oh, and in case I wasn't busy enough, I joined a rock band. All together now, everybody: "You did WHAT?"

2004-07-13T11:26:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking of coming out of my latest Big Black Funk. It started when I discovered that ThreadBear is moving to MICHIGAN. Then a few days later, CH and I sat down and did a real honest-to-goodness budget and discovered that I cannot make any more major yarn purchases for the next twenty years. I would like to blame this on the fact that our car insurance just doubled, no doubt due to our Misadventures in Driving over the last couple of years. However, that is really only the last straw after years of poor spending habits and chronic inattention to the state of our finances. So, I am looking for a Real Job to pay down the credit cards and free up some yarn money.

Meanwhile, I have started teaching my crochet class at River Wools and it is Big Fun. This week I am writing a scarf pattern with a simple lacy diamond insertion to teach my students how to read a pattern. I will post it here when I'm finished. CH has agreed to test-stitch it, bless his fuzzy little heart.

2004-06-08T16:35:00.000-04:00

Don't get me wrong–I love knitting, and I'm not going to stop. But I am having an affair. I am cheating on my knitting: with crochet.

I have finished the Summer Breeze cardigan except for a few ends, and over the weekend I crocheted a Fiber Trends Crochet Crusher Hat out of Provence as a shop model for River Wools. I ordered myself several new crochet books from amazon.com. Then I started a scarf out of Jamieson & Smith jumper-weight Shetland wool from the VKOG Crochet Scarves Book, and this morning I started the Sweet Treat cardigan from Family Circle Easy Crochet out of off-white Classic Elite Lush, which I found for $4 a ball at Susan's Summer Yard Sale of Yarn (a.k.a. Mass Avenue Knits). Not only can I not be faithful to my craft, I can't even be faithful to a specific project.

2004-06-03T22:06:00.000-04:00

More from KNN, your Knitting News Network...

The headlining crochet lace cardigan is from a free pattern I picked up at Hobby Lobby. Since Hobby Lobby only had the Spanish version (what's that about, here in Whitesville, IN?), I was afraid I was going to have to dig out my old Spanish-English dictionary, but as it happens, the Summer Breeze pattern was available in English online. I have the body finished, the shoulder seams sewn, the body edging added, and one sleeve done. I really, really need this finished so I can wear it over the spaghetti-strap Isaac Mizrahi jersey dress I bought at Target. (You can only get it online in black, but mine is hot orchid pink with blue-purple trim. It also goes nicely with my also-unfinished Charlotte's Web Shawl.)

2004-06-02T23:55:00.000-04:00

I am awash in knitting-related news items, so here are the headlines:

Hope and Lana have an Indianapolis Acquisition Expedition

Purple Cash Iroha obtained due to ThreadBear KFI clearance sale

Second sleeve added to Intricately Cabled V-Neck Pullover

Charlotte's Web shawl cast off and pre-blocked

River Wools opens in downtown Terre Haute

Crochet lace cardigan begun
Lana to teach beginning crochet class at River Wools!!!

2004-05-17T21:17:00.000-04:00

I have successfully set in one sleeve of the NGICVNP in only two attempts, but now I have to make myself do the other one. I've lost interest again because I discovered that this sweater currently fits me just fine. Yes, I realize that is customarily the goal of knitting a sweater; however, since the weather is now getting too warm for long sleeve sweaters, and I intend to be a yet-smaller size by fall, I don't know if I will ever get to wear it. Probably it will be okay with a reblocking, or I may even put it through the dryer (after experimenting on a swatch). Good thing I'm largely a "process knitter."

By the way, can anybody explain why the row gauge of the front and back were altered by blocking, but not the row gauge of the sleeves? I had to re-knit the sleeve caps as a result. Also, note that the sleeve shaping given in the pattern is just plain WRONG: the specified gauge can't possibly yield the measurements from the schematic. I had to change the number of stitches at the armhole and recalculate the rate of increase.

Meanwhile, I have been cranking away madly on a Koigu Charlotte's Web shawl in sunset colors. I ran out of color #4 and had to start #5 early, so I'm hoping I don't run out of #5. But if worst comes to worst, I have another three skeins of #5 in the house in a different but similar dye lot which I could use for the edging and fringe. They were intended for socks, but I can rob a half-skein without causing problems.

Oh, and a bonus: I did some Actual Paying Work last week, so now I have a little yarn money to spend. :)

2004-04-25T23:07:00.000-04:00

Hooray!

I finally pulled out the Norah Gaughan Intricately Cabled V-Neck Pullover and finished the last few rows of the back. Now, this is not as simple as it sounds, because those last few rows included the shoulder and neck shaping, and since I am Certifiably Insane, I found it necessary to convert the shaping to short rows. I have done this many times for shoulders, but this is the first time I have simultaneously used short rows for back neck shaping. It was a Giant Pain but I am in fact quite pleased with the results, and having a smooth castoff edge around the back neck will make it much easier to tack into place the little extensions from the front that form the neckband.

I have got to get a cheapass digital camera so I can put up pictures, but I am right in the throes of one of those periods where I feel guilty for every nickel I spend on my own amusement.

2004-04-18T22:54:00.000-04:00

Contrary to rumors, I was not eaten by an alligator on my way to the Orlando airport. I did in fact return home safely from Florida three weeks ago. And when I got here, I had a box from Woodland Woolworks with my Reynolds Morocco in Field. So in spite of the seven hundred projects I have in progress, I immediately started the Sunburst Pullover, a Norah Gaughan design from the cover of IK a couple of years ago. I knit the front and back medallions and the side gussets, which are the interesting part, so of course I then immediately lost interest.

After that, I knit a pair of socks. That's right, a WHOLE PAIR, with TWO WHOLE SOCKS. Now... who are they for? I'm not telling!

2004-03-21T17:06:00.000-05:00

On March 5, I not only abandoned my blog; I abandoned my entire Real Life. My Mom called me at 11:00 a.m. to tell me that my Dad was being whisked off in an ambulance for immediate emergency open-heart surgery, and by 2:00 p.m. I was on my way to the airport with my brother to catch a plane to Florida. Dad is recovering at home now, and doing well, after six-count'em-six coronary artery bypasses. Here's his Well-Wishes Web Page. I am still in Florida, struggling to teach my parents how to eat healthfully and yet deliciously.

I did manage to throw half a dozen balls of yarn and my Denise needle set into my carryon, but haven't done much knitting, even in the hospital. I was just too tired most of the time.

2004-02-28T12:09:00.000-05:00

When I'm behind on my blogging, you know there's a pretty good chance I've been knitting like the crazy knitting fool I am. And so I have. I just finished sewing up the Reverse Seam Pullover from Classic Elite's spring pattern collection "House Party." I finished the Manos model for ThreadBear twelve days ago, and of course I had to deliver it in person. I showed up shortly after the Classic Elite shipment, so I went home with twenty balls of "Vineyard" Isabella, the cotton-blend cousin of Beatrice, fresh from the box. And now I have a nice cushy pink spring sweater. Um, okay, I have a sweater with 31 ends hanging down inside. Mind you, that's AFTER weaving in 31 MORE ends. This yarn had an absolutely outrageous number of broken plies.

Meanwhile, I can now purl like a Norwegian (in spite of Figure 2 being just plain WRONG), although it fouls up my tension sufficiently that I doubt I'll use the technique. But I'm oh so happy that I know how.

2004-02-11T23:06:00.000-05:00

Oh! Oh! I am so excited that I am beside myself. I bought the spring IK today and it has an article by Beth Brown-Reinsel which contains the number one piece of knitting knowledge that had so far escaped me: the Norwegian Purl. I haven't tried it yet, but I will probably have to do so before I can sleep.

How I acquired said magazine: the sun was shining, my hands were tired from knitting cotton, and I was in the mood to go Someplace New, so I packed up my knitting and drove up to Lafayette to River Knits, where I had never been before. It took me about an hour and a half to get there (once you subtract the time I drove around in circles in West Lafayette/Lafayette– apparently they have rerouted US 231 since my map was printed). I met shopowner Elizabeth, who I had encountered on the indianaknits mailing list (Hi Elizabeth!) and bought grey Peace Fleece with flecks of purple, teal, and gold, two balls of Fixation, two skeins of Jawoll Sport in a purple/green/blue jacquard, and IK.

Afterwards, I went clothes-shopping on the east side. I went first to the Tippecanoe Mall. I got very excited for a minute when I saw that it had a store called The Alpaca Shack, but sadly, they did not have any yarn. I also went to Super Target and got a vanilla latte at the in-store Starbucks on my way out, which is why I am still up.

That reminds me, I have to go purl like a Norwegian.

2004-02-09T20:11:00.000-05:00

Am I the only one who is bothered by the fact that the Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf begins with a triangle, but ends with a trapezoid? I found it particularly disturbing because it was very easy to adapt it so that the ends are symmetrical.

Last week was a Good Knitting Mail week: I got two new magazines on the same day! One was Cast On, which I have a subscription for; the other was an unsolicited free "try me" issue of Knit 'n Style. As usual, there was precious little in the KnS that interested me, but hey, free knitting magazine!

Meanwhile, I have started a spring sweater: Intricately Cabled V-Neck Pullover, from a 1998 Classic Elite leaflet that I got from elann.com. It's one of Norah Gaughan's creations with amazing wandering cables. It was originally designed in Provence mercerized cotton, but I'm using a light lavender shade of Premiere cotton/tencel blend from stash. They only gave gauge "in pattern" (grrr...) so I started with a sleeve, checked that I was getting row gauge (essential for this design), and held my breath. I finished the front this morning and had no trouble blocking it to the specified width dimensions, hooray! It is a little longer to the underarm than I had expected, but I don't think that will be a problem. If it is, it wouldn't be hard to take a couple inches off the bottom below where the main cable chart kicks in.

I confess I am tickled to be knitting the middle size instead of the largest.

2004-02-01T20:49:00.000-05:00

Oh! Oh! I almost forgot, I have actual Real News: my SIL is finally pregnant again! They have been trying to have a second child for, um, probably about six years now. Let another round of Baby Gift Knitting commence!

2004-02-01T20:32:00.000-05:00

Good heavens, what a busy knitting week it's been. Since last Sunday, I've finished the Celtic Dreams sweater AND knitted a San Francisco Vest (from Nancie Wiseman's recent book Classic Knitted Vests) from start to finish, using Noro Silk Garden #34 which has been marinating for about a year. I wore the SF Vest over to ThreadBear yesterday for a Glorious Outing with CH, where it was so well received that Helen had to buy book and yarn.

I left the SF Vest with The Boys as collateral while I finish off the Manos shop model. I woke up early this morning and put the front bands on it, and miracle of miracles, they came out perfect on the FIRST TRY. Now I am chugging along on sleeves again.

Meanwhile, all of the other things I was supposed to do this week went straight out the window.

2004-01-22T17:05:00.000-05:00

Phoenix was kind of a mixed bag. Yeah, sure the weather was great. But downtown Phoenix is pretty useless. There are a couple of museums and a half-empty outdoor mall, and otherwise it's all office buildings. There are hardly any pedestrians except for homeless people. Most of the restaurants only serve lunch because their clientele are the office workers. Oh, and the bus system is decidedly NOT tourist-friendly: there were no schedules posted at the stops, and the Desert Botanical Gardens was over a half hour walk from the nearest stop. It would have taken an hour and a half to get to the big yarn shop by bus. I wish we'd stayed in the suburbs and rented a car.

However, I did get to see several old friends, and the restaurants we ate at were all pretty good, and when we finally got there, the Desert Botanical Gardens was smashing. I especially liked the display of mutant succulents ("X-Cacti"). And I really enjoyed buying a souvenir T-shirt for myself in a regular rack size misses XL.

The other souvenir I brought home was a cold, which I probably caught on the plane. So I haven't done any tremendously interesting knitting since we got home. I did finish a pair of Opal socks for CH, and today I got a sleeve finished on the Celtic Dreams. Right after I put it on to check the length, the Schwan man showed up. He seemed a little disturbed that I only had one sleeve, but I waved my needles at him and assured him that I'm knitting as fast as I can.

2004-01-09T01:18:00.000-05:00

Hey, guess whose hotel has free high-speed internet access. :)

I am in Arizona for a Giant Geekfest. There are six thousand mathematicians assembled in downtown Phoenix for this shindig. The part I came along for was the Knitting Circle, which CH and I just got back from. Grand fun. Would you believe there are actually other people who like to reframe knitting problems as mathematical questions? One of them is trying to organize a session of talks about mathematics of fiber arts and next year's conference, and I volunteered to talk about picking up stitches as Diophantine equations. Plus some of my old friends from math grad school were there and we got a chance to catch up a little.

2004-01-07T06:39:00.000-05:00

I'm off to warm, sunny Arizona for a few days. I was a good girl and did not pack All the Knitting in the World, although I wanted to. I admit, so I did pack a sweater project instead of an appropriate-sized travel project. So I guess I wasn't all that good. But I couldn't put the Celtic Dreams sweater aside right now. I've finished the body and picked up for one sleeve. My sweater and I have been having many exciting adventures over the last few days, which I will have to recount later so I don't miss my flight.

I know you were thinking about sneaking into my house and pillaging my stash while I'm gone, so let me remind you that since this is Indiana, my neighbor will shoot you. Cheerfully. (Seriously, I made sure the neighbors knew the make and color of the housesitter's car.)

2004-01-03T23:05:00.000-05:00

I suppose I should have done something more profound for New Year's Day, but instead I cleaned up my kitchen. At least I was knitting when the ball dropped.

This week I've made two slinky scarves from Crystal Palace Splash and knit about 9" of torso (in the round) of the long-dormant Celtic Dreams sweater. Lest you think I have been delinquent by setting aside the Manos shop model, it is stalled out awaiting the arrival of more yarn, since two of the skeins from the original kilo turned out to be spun at a significantly different gauge than the rest. How annoying. Meanwhile, I blocked the sleeveless portion, and now that it is dry, I think I will go ahead and put the front and bottom bands on, and crochet around the armholes, so that it can be displayed as a vest.

By the way, Sylvester Stallone's attempt to pretend to knit in "Demolition Man" is PATHETIC. Somebody should have set that boy down and taught him to cast on.

2003-12-30T12:56:00.000-05:00

Fortune cookie from Bon BBQ Buffet in Columbus, IN:

"Every excess becomes a vice (in the yarn shop)."

Hmmm.

2003-12-25T23:42:00.000-05:00

What a lovely Christmas celebration we had this year. I knitted for hours on a
Multidirectional Scarf out of Noro Silk Garden #39, and then CH and I met Matt and Rob for a Traditional Jewish Christmas, i.e. Asian restaurant and a movie. We had half an hour to kill between the sushi and the movie, so we all got some knitting done except for CH, who still hasn't learned to bring along a contingency project on supposedly non-knitting excursions. Alas, poor Rob ran out of yarn halfway through the film, but he seems to have survived. We also met a college-age (and, incidentally, Jewish) crocheter in the theater who crochets scarves for profit and has been trying to teach herself to knit. Rob gave her a business card, so we'll see if she turns up at ThreadBear.

Oh, and I smirk: The pseudo-Starmore sweater I bought for $30 at T.J. Maxx fooled Rob, who asked me when I had knitted it. Bwa-ha-ha-ha.

Merry Whatever, everybody.

2003-12-23T21:58:00.000-05:00

I LOVE to shop. Sometimes the only thing that keeps me from buying more clothes than I can wear before changing sizes is to hold up the garment under consideration and ask myself, "Do I want to buy this more than I want to buy more yarn?" We all know the answer to THAT question, most of the time. I've placed two orders to elann.com in the last two days.

The Manos shop model goes well. The pattern is "Evergreen" from Design Source Collection 2: Serendipity. The body is completely knitted and joined at the shoulders, and I've got a sleeve started. I have quite a list of gripes about how this pattern is written, most of which are related to the sizing calculations, but my biggest complaint has got to be the sleeves. The cuffs are the same circumference (7.5", although the schematic says 8") for all sizes. That's probably okay for the smallest two sizes, but not for the finished 44" bust size I'm knitting. I really didn't want to make any significant changes to the pattern, since this will be a shop model, but I just had to add a pattern repeat to the sleeves in order for them to fit.

2003-12-15T19:02:00.000-05:00

Alas, I had a sock-tastrophe yesterday. I discovered that the sock-in-progress I had been keeping in the back seat of CH's car was no longer attached to a ball of yarn. Apparently at some point, the ball rolled out the door. As an extra annoyance, the working needle was stuck in the ball. So if you happen to find half a ball of brown Trekking with an aqua #1 Pony Pearl dpn lying around anywhere in Indiana, it's mine. Meanwhile, the sock was only about 40% done, so now I haven't got enough yarn to finish the pair. I mourn.

2003-12-09T10:21:00.000-05:00

At long last, I have FINALLY managed to brew a drinkable pot of cofffee! Thanks for the early Christmas present, Mom.

Since I have only seven hundred and four projects-in-progress, I started a new one yesterday: the Aran Sandal Socks from the Knitter's Magazine sock contest book. In my defense, they are intended to be a holiday gift, and since sock-knitting time is rarely interchangeable with sweater-knitting time, they shouldn't interfere with getting the Manos model done. I keep making mistakes in the Mirror Cable (even after downloading the errata), which is aggravating, but it's still a very entertaining pattern. I particularly enjoy the cross-stitch cables, and look forward to each round #3.

In spite of the rain, I'm off to ThreadBear, with Hope's shopping list in hand. See ya after lunch, boys.

2003-12-08T10:27:00.000-05:00

I didn't actually get the fringe put on until after breakfast this morning, but the Eros scarf is finished. Looks real good with my purple nightgown. :)

My MIL has recently rediscovered knitting thanks to a co-worker who gave her a ball of Eros to play with. She was cheerfully cranking out slinky scarves while I was at her house in Minnesota over Thanksgiving weekend. She took me on a jaunt to an area yarn shop to get more Eros along with my BIL's wife, Karen, who formerly did not knit. But, we fixed that. She got the hang of it immediately and knit two-thirds of a nice warm cuddly scarf (two strands of Plymouth Encore) in less than two days. She's probably finished it by now.

What I'm really itching to start right now-now-now is the Manos model I'm going to knit for ThreadBear. My favorite dealer says he has a kilo waiting for me. But I can't go get it for another day or two.

2003-12-07T21:33:00.000-05:00

I've been reading the latest Knitter's Magazine and I just have to say that I feel terribly sorry for Perri Klass. Apparently the opinions of strangers are more important to her than knitting. She wrote an entire tedious column about places she doesn't dare knit, almost all of which are places that I do knit. She "doesn't want to be anyone's eccentric." I guess that's her choice. I have had a lot of delightful conversations with people who found me interesting because I was knitting in some atypical situation, and I don't give a hooping funt if someone thinks I'm eccentric.

2003-12-07T21:25:00.000-05:00

I used to have a blog. But then, I got distracted and neglected it for weeks and weeks. Funny, the same thing tends to happen to my knitting projects.

I did manage to knit myself an entire sweater from the Beatrice I bought at ThreadBear in October before losing focus. If you don't believe me (and there's no reason you should) you can see my pic wearing the finished item on Rob's blog, if you rummage around in the archives a bit for November's Third Thursday wrapup.

Today I am knitting a scarf from Plymouth Eros in (big whopping surprise) pinks and purples. I thought I wasn't interested in novelty yarn, but I decided I wanted an entertaining accessory to wear with the lush but plain black velvet outfit I bought for choir concerts. I need to finish it before I go to bed just in case I'm out of the notion when I wake up tomorrow.

2003-10-26T15:38:00.000-05:00

Fueled by recent trips to ThreadBear Fiber Arts Studio, I have been knitting nearly every single stinkin' minute. CH and I packed up and drove over for Third Thursday, where I devoted twenty Flexpoints to Rob's desserts and a nice chunk of change to twenty skeins of Classic Elite Beatrice, freshly arrived. We stayed over in a nearby cheap-but-not-seedy hotel, which is a good thing because I forgot my credit card at TBFAS, so we had to go back the following morning. This turned out to be the nicest part of the trip because we got Matt and Rob practically all to ourselves for a visit. Plus, Matt makes really good coffee! (I was inspired to go home and buy a bean grinder myself.)

2003-10-13T13:54:00.000-04:00

I finally couldn't stand it any more, so I got in my car on Wednesday and drove to Columbus to see m'boys at ThreadBear Fiber Arts Studio. Since this summer's consulting job paid me in TB store credit, I got to bring home some lovely things: Elsebeth Lavold's new book, Jamieson's Book 3, a set of Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needles, and a whole dye lot of Koigu Kersti in greens and purples.

Of course I immediately abandoned all current projects, spent a day swatching, and commenced on a boatneck raglan-sleeved pullover. It has the same style of neck as the ribbed raglan in The Purl Stitch, but all the shaping is different and mine is a seeded rib (K all RS rows, K1 P1 across all WS rows). I finished the first sleeve this morning.

2003-10-07T17:26:00.000-04:00

I boxed up the Horstia Tweed and sent it back. Life is too short to knit with unfun yarn. While I was in town, I had time to kill between a Weight Watchers meeting and a haircut, so I swung by the Hobby Lobby and stumbled onto their big Lion Brand sale. I bought a couple of balls of Kool Wool to play with, some dpns, and some Cotton-Ease from clearance which happened to be the same dyelot as my remnants from Secret Baby Gift Knitting. Gotta love a little Cheapass Yarn Adventure.

Meanwhile, I have knit an entire garment since last I posted. I knit up an Asymmetrical Vest from The Knit Stitch out of the Colinette Prism I bought on clearance at Bonnie's in Pittsburgh this summer. It's a little more asymmetric than intended; the back neck is 7" but the fronts are supposed to be 5 1/2" each, which would give a 4" overlap. Instead, I knocked off on the left front after 3 1/2" (conveniently, just as I finished a skein), which still gives me a 2" overlap, but at the left side. I like this effect from a design perspective, but also I think it is more flattering on me this way anyway because the longer front now covers most of the tummy bulge. Now I just need to go on a quest for three swell asymmetrical buttons.

Oh, and about that haircut– I had it whacked. I took in pictures of McKenzie Westmore ("Sheridan" on Passions, who is, by the way, NOT DEAD, big surprise). Now it is cute and flippy and looks GREAT with hats, heh heh.

2003-09-28T22:22:00.000-04:00

I finally wove in the ends of the Mandalay Medallions sweater and wore it this weekend. I confess I haven't blocked it, so I hope nothing dreadful happens when it gets wet.

If you were thinking about ordering the Horstia Tweed "Try it, You'll Like It" special from Knitpicks, forget it! They had 31 skeins left and I bought them. Unfortunately, although the yarn looks and feels beautiful in the ball, it shed horribly when I swatched with it– so much that I'm actually thinking about sending back the other 30. I think it's particularly aggravated by being knitted continental; it's a loosely spun Z-twist single, and it nearly untwists as I knit.

2003-09-17T22:18:00.000-04:00

I seem to have more or less recovered from last week's jolly adventures in endodontics. This is the first time I have ever looked forward to the novocaine shots! The root canal itself was practically blissful compared to the Four Days in Hell that preceded it. Afterwards I had only a mild bite tenderness for several days. And impressively, I did not have to rip out as a result of KUI (Knitting Under the Influence), in spite of large quantities of Percocet.

Meanwhile, I still cannot get motivated to weave in the rest of the ends on the Mandalay Medallion sweater. I'd better get at it, because by spring I expect to have to reknit the body. I've done the ends in the stockinette, but the 36 ends of the crochet section really annoy me. In particular, I get grouchy every time I think about the fact that if this pattern had been written a little better, the medallions could easily have been joined as they were made, so that there would only be 18 ends to weave in. Their very gratuitousness irks me.

2003-09-09T22:24:00.000-04:00

Bleah. I got my Mandalay Medallions sweater finished (yeah, yeah, except for some of the ends) but I'm not going to get to go to the Women's Club Coffee tomorrow where I had planned to debut it. Instead I am doped up and awaiting emergency dental surgery Thursday. The Happy Fun Pill I took a while ago is starting to kick in, so I had better go lie down lest I throw up.

2003-09-01T23:09:00.000-04:00

I have been knitting MADLY for four days and have just finished the body of the Mandalay Medallion sweater out of green Rowan Summer Tweed. (I went kind of psycho with new projects this summer). So of course I am wearing it around the house, with a sleeve and a half hanging on circs. I really like this business of knitting circularly from the top down. It has been grand fun to try this thing on as it grew. CH encouraged me to stop at the point where the bottom of the sweater ended just above my nipples, but I persevered to a length more appropriate to wear to the Women's Club Coffee next week.

2003-08-26T13:27:00.000-04:00

To all those who have said, "How the h--- come you never update your blog?": The problem is that my blog is underfunded. I have been spending my computer time working on an Actual Paying Gig. If you will just send me your donations, I promise to update my blog more regularly. Cash and yarn are fine. We are not set up to accept credit cards at this time, but you are welcome to purchase gift certificates to ThreadBear Fiber Arts.

2003-07-24T22:40:00.000-04:00

I am still reeling from yesterday's adventures in yarn acquisition. CH and I were in Indy for Borders Knit Night and the knitting group got a phone call. Turns out one of the local shopowners had SEVENTY-FIVE BOXES of yarn from a gourmet knitter's estate spread out on the back porch of her shop, and we were invited to come over and go through the boxes. We spent two hours pawing through stuff, and then dickered on prices for whatever we'd piled up. I got over 160 balls of Really Good Stuff for $70!!! I couldn't begin to list it all, but the twenty matching balls of Filatura di Crosa Missoni (aran weight wool/mohair, with multicolored plies) were worth more than that all by themselves.

In addition, I had been to a store earlier in the day that was having a buck-a-ball sale. I got enough Noro Implessions to make a jacket for myself, and thirty balls of other stuff as well. So now I must beg to disagree with Hope about who has the Best Stash in the World...

This trip beat the heck out of my last Indy Wednesday, on which a tree had the audacity to run out in the road in front of me. Well, okay, it didn't exactly run, but it fell there. And it didn't belong there. So my car got into an argument with it. The car lost. It is in the shop now, getting a new windshield and a new air conditioner condenser coil and probably much putty and paint.

2003-07-07T16:51:00.000-04:00

I've been chugging right along on Scamp, with front and back finished and joined at the shoulders, and the neckband on. Since I'm dreadfully impatient, I had to go ahead and put the partial garment through the washer and dryer to see if it would shrink the specified amount. It retained its original size right up until the very last few minutes in the dryer, and then lo and behold! It shrank exactly as much as it was supposed to. So now I am knitting away without fear on a sleeve.

I took a little break last week and dragged out some UFOs. First I worked on a little girl's cardigan (from a Sirdar book, but I'm using LB Cotton-Ease). All the pieces are now knit except the interminable lower edging. If I ever get the urge again to knit something with a separate sewn-on sailor collar, somebody please take my needles away and jam them in my eye. I did eventually get the collar sewn onto the garment, and the collar edging half sewn onto the collar, before I stuffed it away again.

2003-06-30T22:38:00.000-04:00

I joined Weight Watchers tonight. When I told the leader that I wanted to lose weight so that I could knit myself sweaters faster with less yarn, she looked at me like I had two heads.

2003-06-26T23:25:00.000-04:00

I've finally managed to drag myself out of the funk I was in after the ThreadBear Open House on Sunday. Now, mind you, I had a marvelous time, as usual. I bought eleven skeins of Koigu and some other sock yarns, and Matt even wheedled me into sitting down at the spinning wheel. But, they are moving forty minutes' drive farther east, so I won't be able to attend Third Thursdays on a regular basis. I'm very, very happy for m'boys, but I'm sorry I won't get to see them and their entourage as often.

When we got home, I started a new project to console myself: the Summer in Kansas Shawl by Two Old Bags, in elderberry Zephyr. I knit on that in front of the TV for a while, then CH and I each had a couple of drinks and did the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle.

Anyway, I am okay now. I finished assembling Haiku last week, but it awaits buttons. It seems serendipitous, since I just got invited to a birthday party for a little girl the right size to wear it. After that, I started Scamp from the Rowan Pipsqueaks book (also the big Rowan Treasury) for my nephew. I had knit the whole back of that, and a few inches of the front, when I started the SIK Shawl.

2003-06-17T00:41:00.000-04:00

I didn't explain my Haiku "mistake" very well-- for sixteen rows, ALL the knit stitches should have been purled and vice versa. Since box stitch is reversible, I was making the right fabric texture, but at one shoulder seam, the box stitch sections met like this:

vv**|**vv
vv**|**vv
**vv|vv**
**vv|vv**

while the other shoulder met like this:

**vv|**vv
**vv|**vv
vv**|vv**
vv**|vv**

Today I discovered that I had joined in a new ball of yarn right after the offending box stitch section, so I picked out a row, unraveled and reknit only that section, and grafted the sweater back together. Tee hee. Now the little shoulders match. And I grafted on a sleeve, too, so it it meets the armhole invisibly.

BTW, did anybody else notice that if you follow the Haiku directions as written, your sweater ends up an inch narrower across the back than across the front? The overlapped garter panels on the front are 5" (6"), but the center back garter panel is only 4" (5").

Perhaps instead of actually knitting hats for Christopher Judge (which, as Hope pointed out, would likely end up somewhere else other than on his beautiful shiny head), maybe we should do a picture gallery where we use PhotoShop to take pictures of finished hats from people's blogs and paste them onto CJ photos?

2003-06-15T22:34:00.000-04:00

And by the way, what was Christopher Judge doing last night, wearing a knitted hat that said "ONeill" on the front? Does he not have a hat of his own? Perhaps I should knit him a hat. Perhaps we should ALL knit him hats. They shoot in Vancouver and the boy is BALD, surely he has use for more than one hat. I say, let the Christopher Judge Knit Hat Project commence.