The Frog Pond

I dutifully knit up a swatch for the "Henley with a Twist"(after starting it and ripping it twice). I cast on after swatching and deciding that I should have not ripped out one of my false starts. Then, I've proceeded to cast on and rip it out another 4 times, prompting the husband to ask "What is wrong with it NOW?" So, rather than making myself crazier than I already am, I have set aside the lovely "Henley with a Twist" to rest for a bit while I finish this little lovely "Estonian Lace Sampler" from my hand spun wool. So, I'm going to try to get myself and my projects out of the frog pond and back onto my needles.

Fall is in the air. Labor Day came and suddenly fall/winter was here. My garden is winding down and the thought is of sweaters and baking and knitting. Perhaps the frog pond will freeze over for a while :)

Swatch-it

Rarely do I do a real swatch. Often times my projects are small enough that I just cast on and knit a few inches and measure my gauge. But I've decided to knit Anne Hanson's "Twisted Henley" and rather than put a sweater's worth of knitting and find out that it's just not going to work. So here is my four inch swatch. (Just like Anne did with hers, I actually copied her from her blog). I think that it will work.

We shall see.....and now...swatch on my friend.

My life in stitches

So at some point I started this blog thinking I'd post about my knitting projects and really I'm kinda spotty about posting about my projects. I decided for a few friends of mine that I would chronicle my year in knitting over on my FB page. Perhaps at the end of the year I'll roll that little tome into a post here. Suffice it to say so far this year I've knit something like half a dozen fish hats, the sweater vest pictured here, a vest for my daughter and some other odds and ends, but for the most part it's been those hats. I'm tired of those hats.

I ordered a sweet little spindle from Thomas Creations (Threadsthrutime) over on Etsy because apparently I feel that I don't have enough projects to keep me busy for longer than I can imagine. And just for yucks, because the tiny was was so wee and sweet and tiny in a day or two a medium one should be showing up. Then I think I'm done as far as spindles go. Oh, I did sign up for a class and they specified a "top whorl spindle". My sweet new spindles are of the Turkish variety (my favorite to spin on)....while I'm no expert, shoot you probably couldn't even class me in the beginner category as far as spinning is concerned (my husband thinks that I'm at least an intermediate spinner, but what does he know?), I have fiddled around with a couple of different types of spindles and I really like the Turkish variety. So, being me, I've bought these nice lovely Turkish spindles and for the class? I dragged the husband down to Home Depot where I bought a dowel and a disc (actually it's the wooden thingy you use to hold the pole up in the closet) and we fashioned a top-whorl spindle (I forgot to grab a cd when I dragged him to the store, so we improvised). I plan to bring my top whorl (which will drive me crazy to spin on) and my Turkish spindles with me to my class. We'll see what I learn.

But lately, while I've thrown myself into spinning, I feel like my life is spinning....out of control and I'm fighting to get it back to something more manageable. I have one kid going into braces on his teeth. Not earth shattering, but boy are those things expensive! The boy could go visit Europe....twice on what we're sinking into what will be a lovely smile. I have another kid going into a back brace to try to slow the growing curve in her back. That one is more earth shattering. I'm not even going to mention the expense on that one (in part because I know that we don't have insurance coverage for the mouth braces, and I have no idea what will be our share on this back brace). I just know that the doctors get all excited to see us coming we do contribute to their bank accounts these days.
But for now I'm going to enjoy the sunshine and try to not think about spinning out of control. I will concentrate on spinning a nice yarn, and perhaps a tale to go with it.

Disappointments

First let me say that I have a love/hate relationship with Colinette Jitterbug Yarns. I love the colors, I love the feel of the yarn (that said, I think it knits up into a very very warm pair of socks, not something you'd ever feel and say "gee, this feels summery"). There's just something that I love about the yarn. But there's a dark side to it too. For some reason it seems to be skimpy on the yardage. I've knit a total of two pair of socks from Jitterbug and the others I've had to frog back because of this (see photo above). Yes yes yes, I could always knit my socks from the toe up, but I prefer a top down sock having never gotten a toe up sock to fit quite right. So there you have it, a lovely sock from Cookie A's first sock book, knitted to the toe, where I ran out of yarn (after I took this pic I knitted several more rounds just to further convince myself that I'd run out). So now this lovely yarn has been rewound is will be a finger weight "Traveling Woman" shawl-ette/scarf/something pretty that will be seen.

My life in Fish Hats

So at the beginning of the year when I decided that I would photograph and keep track of all of my knitting (there are people out there who actually do this. They catalog everything that ever appears on their needles. I have always been fairly lazy about this...it's on the needles, then it's off the needles and out of my mind until my sister says "hey, I love those socks! What pattern is it?"). But really I've knit so many of these hats since January 1 (5 of them so far!) that I don't really feel compelled to note the pattern (dead or alive fish hat) or the techniques I used to knit it (whatever entertains me at the moment, same with my color selection....I'm more governed by whatever odd skeins I have hanging around).

A friend asked if I'm tired of knitting these hats, and the answer is yes......and no. I've knit so many of them now (I've knit a total of 8 or 9 of them) that it's a fairly mindless knit and they're quick to do....which is good as I still have 4 or 5 more of them to knit for gifts.

I remember when

I have been a knitter for most of my life. I can remember when it wasn't "cool" to knit. It was okay that my mother knitted sweaters for me, I preferred her knit sweaters to match my school uniform to the scratchy uniform sweaters. But I remember being that age when knitted gifts were looked down upon. You know, like in "A Christmas Story" when Ralphie's aunt made him that Bunny costume for Christmas. Doesn't everyone have a gift like that costume? For me it was a woman my dad dated, she gave me this lime green sweater. She didn't knit it, a friend of hers did for me. It was horrid. I thanked her for it and wondered what in the world I would ever do with it. (for the record, I did wear it. It was warm and perfectly suited for wearing around the house and in the yard).

This whole thing crossed my mind as I asked my son's friend what kinds of things he might like for his birthday, since my son is invited to his party and, of course, a gift is customary. Several of the boys in my sons class have asked for a hat. So when asked this boy piped up "A fish hat". The party is day after tomorrow, I got the invitation yesterday. I know, I know I could just go buy a nice gift to give the kid. But I already had started another fish hat because I knew that if I could get a fish hat or three or four ahead that they would make perfect gifts. So, I'm madly knitting away on this hat and wondering how it is that now hand knit items for the middle school set have become so popular?

So life has slowed down my knitting a bit, it feels a little bit like the last couple of weeks have been a blur of activity and work. But I still have managed to squeeze in a little knitting time. This guy here needs eyes, he's for a friend who wanted one for her daughter's birthday. As soon as I talk to my friend about whether or not this guy gets "live eyes" or "dead eyes" (a button in the middle or an "X" in the middle), I'll give him eyes and be on to my next project....which is actually on the needles right now. Socks. For me. From yarn my friend in England dyed and sent me. Socks I am hoping I'll have done before I go to visit her next month. Of course, soon, very soon, another fish hat will be on the needles. I'm thinking I shall call 2011 the year of the fish hat.

Another birthday, another fish hat.....and a slipper

So these fish hats have become quite popular with my youngest son's friends. Makes birthday gifts easy (time intensive, but easy and because I knit them from odd skeins of yarn they are relatively cheap gifts). Now when I'm at the school his friends tell me when their birthdays are and what their favorite colors are. I should probably write down this information, but really I could more than likely just knit up several in whatever color combination entertains me and the kids wouldn't care. It was fun going on a field trip with his class and seeing my hats on several of the children. (well, several being three...counting my son).

My daughter has been hounding me for some slippers. She admires the ones she sees up town. You know, the big fluffy ones that make you think of the 1960's and the moccasin style that was so popular in the 70's. She likes the socks with the non-skiddy stuff on the bottoms of them. She doesn't discriminate....she wants any sort of slipper, any sort at all. So we were perusing Ravelry and we came across this pattern perfect. Lord knows I have enough yarn laying around and it's a quick knit. She all but stood over me waiting for them to come off the needle, then just about sat in my lap helping me to sew them together.


A friend of mine has gifted me with yarn. In some of the yarn I was gifted was some fluffy lace weight stuff that just said "knitted flowers" to me. I'm sure that to other people it would say "Shawl" or "lacy something", but really what I heard was "you'll have a nervous break down because this stuff grabs itself and knots like crazy" But I have a skein of it and I'd pull it out every now and again and pet it and think of how pretty it would be knitted up into something that wouldn't make your eye twitch. Perhaps something small, the yarn is pink it's got a nice halo action going for it.....I know!! A knitted rose!! Small, quick, a nice easy peasy way to discover that a big project with this yarn might drive your family crazy. Actually the rose was a quick easy knit, the yarn is not easy to work with, but not too too bad for this project. I'm actually thinking of making several more and donating them to our school's senior luncheon in November.

So, just to keep tabs on what I have knit (and finished) so far in 2011 (yes, I realize that we're only 2 weeks into the new year but the fish hats birthday recipients birthdays were Jan 9 and 15. Kinda made my year start out looking all ambitious like!) 2 dead fish hats, one pair of slippers and one brooch. (I finished a cowl for girl child that I started back in November, but other projects needed to be finished first, but it is still on the drying table)

Can we sit by the fire and knit

Husband left for a business trip this morning. So we were up just before 5 so that I could drive him on the snowy icy roads to meet his ride to the airport. The thermometer at the bank said it was 2 degrees. At home it tells me that it is 3 with a wind chill factor of 17 below. The thermometer in the house swears that it is 67, but my feet are so cold I'm sure they'd beg to differ. School has been canceled and it feels like a good day to hover around the pellet stove and knit. Of course I still have to take the trash out to the curb and I just noted that no one told me that we were low on dog food. I find myself looking into the bin and wondering if we have enough to last until Wednesday when I go into town again.

I'm nearly finished with another fish hat. This one if for a boy who is red/green deficient. Yes I have some rust in there, but I'm knitting from my stash and I'm not exactly sure of what he can see color-wise. I know that he'll enjoy the hat, regardless of the colors.

So my second project of this year is nearly finished.

knitting in the new year

So my new years resolution, such that it was, was to keep track of my knitting this year. I know people who catalog all of their knitting projects, the needles, the yarn, the gauge, etc. I knit whatever I fancy and when it comes off the needles often it goes to whoever it is knit for with nary a picture or thought about it. After forty odd years of knitting I have no clue as to how many things I've knitted. At the end of the year two friends mentioned that their sons birthdays were coming up and how the boys love my sons fish hat. So I begin my year with the fish hats.....just as I ended the year with the fish hat. As I type this I have several skeins of yarn sitting next to me because my second project for 2011 will also be a fish hat (done in blues this time). Then perhaps I'll break the fish hat streak and knit socks, or a sweater or.........

New Years Eve 2011 or is it still 2010?

Here we are at the end of 2010. As my New Year's "resolution" was to keep track of everything I knit in the New Year I thought perhaps I'd get a jump on things. I do have a cowl nearly finished on the needles, but I had knit this hat for one of my son's friends birthdays. As I neared getting it finished my son deemed it "too girly" for either of his two friends I have committed to knitting hats for. The daughter had been begging me for a mosaic knit fish hat since I had knit one to donate to their school's senior luncheon, and she'd been watching me knit this hat and wanted the same mosaic pattern/colors/etc. So now the hat is hers. And this wraps up my knitting adventure for 2010 (no, I don't remember all of my projects from 2010, I probably should......but I don't).

So here jumpstarts my projects for 2011. We'll call it "Mosaic Fish hat for girl child". Happy New Year to whoever may stop by here. May your 2011 be full of good health, happiness and wonderful things.

Merry Merry Happy Happy and other thoughts

Every year around this time it's always the same, or at least it is at my house, I don't know about yours. I run around like crazy muttering things to myself like "next year more organized", "didn't I swear last year that I'd be more organized?", "never again" and "What was I thinking when I said I'd bakeknitvolunteerdecorate for namethatobligation". This year as I look at the pair of socks that I was planning on knitting my sister and at this point one week before Christmas I have one sock 3/4 done (with a mistake in it which will have me doing sock #2 as a mirror image). The only way her Christmas present will be done before Christmas is if there is a horrible accident while she's on vacation (she's coming home the day before Christmas) and she loses one leg....and even then without magic the socks would not make it to her door because there's no way I have time to have them done and in the mail by day after tomorrow.

Yep, Merry Merry Happy Happy stress free holidays. Lucky for me my sister is my sister and suffers from a great many of the same afflictions I do, so we all know that Christmas happens in December....or January....or February...shoot, she and I give each other until Easter. Same with birthdays we can drag those on forever.

So I sit here contemplating the holidays and the making of New Year's resolutions (which for the most part I don't do, because really what is the point?). But even tho I don't make New Years resolutions I was thinking that perhaps this year I could get off my butt and chronicle all of my knitting projects throughout the year. I often take a picture here and/or there of my knitting, but a great deal of it flies under the radar. On the needles, off the needles and to the recipient with nary a picture to show that I ever touched it. Perhaps this year I'll keep track here and on Ravelry the things that reside on my needles. I remember a few years ago I counted the number of pairs of socks that I knitted during the year. (I haven't looked back to see, but I think it was something like 13 pairs)

So there you have it. If I remember in a couple of weeks that will be my New Years Resolution.....what better resolution could there be than to knit?

I am so woefully behind on blogging/journaling or whatever you want to call it. I'm sure I'm behind on my knitting, but really who can tell? I am forever hearing "I just don't have time to knit", "Where do you find time to knit"....well, my friends, I don't have a very active social life aside from knitting. Oh, yes, I'm at the Y a couple of times a week exercising while the kids take karate, I'm at the school working or volunteering....but as far as hanging out with my friends? Thursday mornings are it (Hi Enid!! Hi Shelly!!) Besides. I like to give knitted gifts (to those who like to receive knitted gifts). And as with the senior luncheon at our school, often I am asked if I can donate a knitted item (or more) to a worthy cause...and really who can say no to that?

So, here's what I managed to knit up for the senior luncheon this year. I'd planned more, but it was a loooonnnnggg way off and it seemed like 15 minutes later it was next week! Two scarves. I still have some of that yarn, one skein each of a few different colors, so trying to come up with a scarf pattern that used just one skein and worked with this fuzzy yarn. I really like the key hole idea since it really does keep the scarf from slipping and sliding everywhere and besides that key hole area there would be awesome to show off a fancy pin.....I'm thinking vintage 50's here.

That fish hat......what a fun knit. I'd not really planned to donate it for the senior luncheon, thinking it might have been better suited to the Santa's breakfast which would be full of children who love crazy hats. But the powers that be used it as a senior luncheon door prize. Apparently they read a crowd better than me as the winner of said hat hunted me down (okay, it wasn't really much of a hunt, I was in the school office) she came up to me and thanked me for the hat and said her granddaughter confiscated it right away....she was thrilled to win something knitted by someone she knows. My kids were the only ones on the playground at the school with those silly fish hats and I have had a lot of requests for them.

Knit on my fiber addicted friends :)

A Dainty Chevron cowl

"A Dainty Chevron Cowl"

When it gets cold I love having the option of something other than a scarf. Sometimes I just don't want to fiddle around with the wrapping of the scarf or dealing with the ends. I want something I can just pull over my head and go. Of course I am such a style trend setter that I'm known, much to the embarrassment of my children, to pull my cowl up over my head as a makeshift ear cover or hat (okay, sometimes I pull it up over my face like a mask and chase them around). Here is one that I knit as a gift for a friend.

1 skein Happy Feet sock yarn
16 or 24" circular needle size 6
Marker

gauge, while gauge is not vitally important here, I mean chances are a little tighter and you'll still be able to wear it, a little looser and it will be more cowl-y.

Gauge: 22 sts to 4 inches

Cast on 120 stitches and begin to knit in the round as follows. Place marker to mark where your row begins and ends (but you already knew this).

Knit one row
Purl one row

Begin lace pattern:

Row 1 (and all odd rows) knit
Row 2 & 4: *ssk, k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, k2tog, k1 rep from *
Row 6: *yo,ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k1 rep from *
Row 8: * k1, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k2 rep from *
Row 10: * k2, yo, sl 2-k1-p2sso, yo, k3 rep from*


That sl 2-k1-p2sso......slip 2 stitches together as if you were going to knit them together, knit the next stitch then pass the 2 slipped stitches back over the knit stitch. This type of decrease makes the middle stitch more prominent in the pattern.

Work rows 1-10 8 times
K one row
P one row
Bind off as follows k2, sl sts to left needle k2tog tbl, k1, sl 2 sts back to left needle, k2tog tbl. continue to bind off this way until the end.

I am currently working on this and will post a picture and if I can figure out how to post a chart I'll do that too.

Happy knitting!!

I finished this cowl a couple of weeks ago and decided that it needed something besides a tank top and shorts, that perhaps it would be more suited to a fall outfit, or maybe even something more wintery. So I got it blocked and decided I'd try it with a jean jacket and a t-shirt....much much better than my summer outfit (of course what you can't see in the jean jacket photo is that I have shorts on and am barefoot...since it is still summer after all!).

The pattern is Mill Creek Cowl by "Exercise before Knitting" I used just shy of one skein of Panda Silk and a size 7 needle. It was a quick knit and would have been a fairly easy knit if I knew how to count to 10 more than once or twice.

Happy Fall (which is not really here yet either, but seriously...doesn't the jean jacket picture look fallish?)

Still here, still knitting still crazy

I've not been much of a blogger anywhere as of late. Oh, I post here and there on FB, or Ravelry. I'm spotty at best about taking pictures of my knitting. Depends upon the project, the battery in the camera and my mood (and if the planets align up etc etc).

My sister loves hand knit socks, after years of teasing about how one can just buy socks at the store, she admitted that a pair of hand knit socks would be welcome. So I knitted her a pair and so began her love affair with hand knit socks and me having my hobby financed. Over the years I've knit her countless pairs of socks (I think we're close to a dozen). The pink pair in this photo had near to no wear on them when she developed a hole in the toe. I'm not a competent darner so I picked the toe out and re-toed them. and darn it (pun intended) if the new toe didn't develop a hole in no time (I am not impressed with this yarn and did the second re-toe in Wildfoote which I swear is indestructible). Lucky for me she doesn't care that the toe doesn't match. The green sock I knit while on vacation. Eventually I'll finish writing up the pattern and post it here. It's pretty basic and so I should have no problem finishing it's twin since on any given day if I'm wearing socks they (usually) match.

So yes, I'm still here, still knitting and still crazy.

I love to knit lace

I love to knit lace. Well that's kind of silly because truly I love to knit. I find the repetitiveness relaxing and meditative, calming. That said, I am always amazed at how just the act of making loops in yarn, or string, you can manipulate the loops to make such beautiful designs. With only 2 stitches, knit and purl, one can knit countless designs. I am trying to teach girl child to knit. She sits with great concentration and has gotten the knit stitch mastered...more or less. She still has a tendency to start knitting in the wrong direction making an impromptu short row and periodically holes and great loose yarn ends appear, but she knits back and forth learning to tension and make loops. I do remember that part of learning to knit, even if I have no memory of actually learning. I do also remember my first sweater it was blue, garter stitch. I knit it my first year in high school and I wore it to death. There have been many many projects since and a great many of them have not stuck in my mind quite like that first "real" project that wasn't potholders or blankets for my dolls, and such began a lifelong love of knitting.

Knit on

A mom of a couple of girls in girl child's karate class is pregnant with her 6th baby. She doesn't know if it will be a boy or a girl so I tried to be as gender neutral as yellow and lavendar can be. I'm sure that baby (or mother) will not care about the color of the sweater. The pattern was easy peasy (tulip cardigan) kit from some yarn I picked up from a yarn outlet (great place, name brands marked waaayyyy down).

Meeting the not famous famous

It's funny when you think about famous people. We've all heard of wildly famous people....Robert Redford, Brittney Spears....you know movie stars, tv stars, rock or country stars, well known authors. But there's the not-so-famous famous people too. These "not-so-famous" people are well known in certain circles. I certainly don't know whose famous in my husband's line of work, but there are certainly people that are well known, but not famous. For me it was meeting Wendy Bernard and Leah Radford (and Mary Kay of Mamascrapalota fame)...and forgetting my camera. I had finished my "Slinky Ribs" from Wendy's book and wore it, it was a surprise to me while I was browsing around waiting for the thing to start to look up and see Wendy standing there and a surprise when she exclaimed "hey you're wearing the sweater from my book!" Perhaps it shouldn't have been such a shock, but I was so star struck. She's very pretty and funny and laid back and just the person you'd want to hang out with. I didn't chat with Leah Radford, but she too is pretty and seems like someone who'd be fun to be around.

So, that was my exciting evening. For a non-knitter perhaps it would be a huge yawn, but for me I practically floated home (it was cold enough when I left home I was concerned that it would snow, but it actually warmed up enough that nothing was freezing when I got home...so no worries). So, I returned to a check register for the PTO that needs some work before the meeting tonight and wine that had reached the "specific gravity" for the next step of stuff that needed doing, but even today collecting my things for the meeting and such I'm still floating.

Still puttering along (at a breakneck pace)

Summer sped by this year with a minimal amount of knitting. Actually when I look back I can't really think of anything that we did this summer besides doctor appointments (once the husband was employed again). We did manage to go camping a whopping three times, which I admit is better than not at all. The youngest son did keep us busy with his inability to remain healthy, I believe that we're on the right path and the poor little guy is doing much better.

I did manage to finish a little top for Girl Child out of Knit Picks Cotlin. It's a "Drops" design and is quite fetching I think on her. She liked the purple yarn, but so far hasn't really worn the top. I'm hoping that she'll wear it with a nice little turtleneck underneath it this winter, or perhaps next summer or at least wear it before she outgrows it. I wasn't enamored of the pattern and for some reason found it to be a tedious knit, don't know why, it could have just been my mood.

I also started (and finished) a little cardigan based on the "Tess" pattern by Marie Grace Designs. I had wondered what would happen if I just cast on for the neck of a sweater did a couple of rows of garter stitch and then added on for the front, back and sleeves just like I do for most of my sweaters. The result is a lovely little square neckline. The problem is my child is pretty narrow and I think that were I to knit another sweater like this (and I probably will) I would narrow down that neck a bit....and perhaps add some short row shaping to the back to bring the back neckline up just a wee bit.

I am nearing the end of a "Slinky Ribs" from Wendy Bernard's book for myself. Love the pattern, which for once I am following, but am already making changes in my head for the next sweater I knit....which I would say is going to be fro that pattern, but the changes I have in my head are so many that the only thing I appear to be planning on keeping is the rib knit stitch and the fact that it will be a sweater.

That's pretty much my life in knitting right now. I'm staring at several "obligation" knits...which, perhaps it's wrong to call them "obligation knits" when truly they are slated to be gifts. But I guess when the yarn is in the stash and it's not been cast on yet so there are still so many many possibilities for it except for the fact that if it's sock yarn more than likely it will be socks and when it's your mom's favorite color...well, those socks will be a gift for your mom...no, no matter how you slice it the yarn and project become "obligation knitting" of course I could do what she's done to me in the past and just wrap up the pattern, yarn and needles and give them to her for Christmas....