Knitting with cats

2006-06-30T02:44:00.000+06:00

Hmmm?

2006-06-30T02:25:00.000+06:00

will I ever be able to post anything?

Red, white, blue and gold

2006-06-21T05:13:00.000+06:00

I have a new header! This was a thank-you present from D#2 boyfriend for the afghan I made him:

on the occasion of:

My friend in Indiana made an afghan for D#2. That afghan is blue and gold. :-)

Knitting within your means

2006-05-23T03:36:00.000+06:00

I went to a gauge workshop last Saturday and was startled to find out that I have been knitting by the seat of my pants. I have never done a swatch in all my knitting life. Huh!

Gauge apparently tells you if your dreams for this yarn will come true. Coordinating the needles, chasing the balls that roll across the floor, shewing away the cats who want to play with the (slowly, jerky) moving yarn is not enough. You have to know that the stitches will measure across and up (or down) to the right size. I have made a handful of sweaters for my daughters over the years, especially when they were young. I'm thinking their continuously growing bodies saved me from despair, except when I didn't knit fast enough or conscientiously enough (and they grew bigger before the sweater was done). I made a sweater for my husband, I made a sweater on consignment! Do you really have to swatch if the arms end up being long enough?

I left the workshop, as the shopowner noticed, a little mad. The one bit of good news is the shopowner did not recommend making the swatch 40x40 so that I measure the 20x20 area (or 19x27 as the project I brought in required) in the middle of the stitches. She can make a swatch in 20 minutes. It took me more than 2 hours on Saturday morning to do my workshop homework. And I didn't finish the swatch.

Even socks - you are supposed to swatch socks? Afghans? Afghans aren't worn. Baby sweaters to be given away to charity that matches the sweater to the baby? The purpose of gauge/swatch is to make sure you have enough yarn to finish the project. I hate living within a budget.

The most interesting piece of information came when we were examining the pattern I was going to work (Interweave Knits, Summer 2006, Cambridge Cardigan). My swatch that I started on size 9, then 7, then finally 6, showed 17 stitches/4in (a long runner of knitting because I gotta do it my way). Supposed to be 19.5. I still don't know how this is possible (but she's the pro!) but my whining exasperation finally came to an end when I blamed the yarn - is it the fiber content? The pattern called for Cascade 220 (wool) but I have 20 skeins of Patons Canadiana (acrylic) that I bought for the Knitting Olympics. Acrylic doesn't have the finesse of a natural fiber. I am going to make a pattern that requires cotton. I made a swatch and it kind of matches the suggested gauge.

My gauge nightmare next time.

Knitting and cats

2006-05-19T04:45:00.000+06:00

I've been busy! I've been busy! Here is a pair of socks that I made:

I originally bought the yarn to make a pair of socks for Giselle, since I made a pair for Peggy one Christmas, but G likes black. This yarn seemed red, after I got it home. It languished in the stash for a while - couldn't use it for anyone in Indiana because of the wool content! I prefer more cheery yarn to knit for my socks. And maybe I could talk myself into thinking G would like it. Then my sister sent me a surprise from California - fresh strawberries! My sister thinks highly of strawberries as a gift - she brought them to us in Northern Ireland, even after the airport guy found them. Those were from our mother's garden. He must have been a soft-touch because he let the potentially lethal fresh fruit through. So I wasn't surprised to find the big juicy berries, packed in an egg carton in the overnight UPS package. The gift made sense.

My sister deserved a surprise back - I told her I was going to make her a pair of socks, though, because I needed her foot measurement. She didn't send this to me, but I remember that we wore basically the same size shoe, although different in taste. I was happy that the self-patterning yarn created such an obvious pattern. Recent forays into self-patterning yarn were defeated by not observing the correct gauge/needle size (chicken or the egg? I find out at the gauge workshop at Nana's Knits on Saturday).

But my sister doesn't know she gets lumberjack socks. You might notice that one sock ends with a grey stripe. You know that one foot is a different size? That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Just so you know how seriously I took these socks, I made them from the top down. I really like the toe-up method but the two pairs I have made using that method don't have a gusset - the area of the sock where the decreases happen to ease the heel back into the flow towards the toe or would ease it into the ankle. There is a poof of sock that doesn't lie flat - or maybe that is because I didn't block the socks. I just thought of that because when I went to get the blue socks that I also made since last posting, to take a picture for the blog, there isn't that poof, maybe because I wore them recently. Hmm - gauge and blocking. Maybe these chores are useful after all.

And to end with the other half of this blog:

Someone put this baby seat in the laundry room, for general give-away. Oz liked to sit in it, chilling while away from the rest of the family so we brought it upstairs. There's nothing listed saying it has to be picked up by a family with a baby! Oz won't have anything to do with it but now Lupin and Dingle like to take their naps in it - the winner gets to it first.

To make a mother proud

2006-04-25T02:20:00.000+06:00

We are in church yesterday, looking to the left where all the action is going on. I shift and look at D#3 who asks - "Do you think she made it?" I thought she was asking about the woman in front of us who had just changed seats because not every pew has a kneeler. The woman was wearing a jacket made out of a panoply of ugly green/orange/white printed fabrics. I shook my head. D#3 says "No - her" and points to the woman sitting in the next section over. That woman was wearing a fabulous white poncho: 5 panels of moss stitch/full cable repeat, ending with moss stitch panel that seemed to be made on large needles in a rectangle and then maybe BO to a variation on the moebius strip.

I had already wondered the same thing -

The apricot socks on the chair

2006-04-23T02:36:00.000+06:00

For the record, the last thing I would do after coming home from work is sit down at the computer. And I actually feel guilty loading my blog during work hours. If only I would remember to take the camera to work, I could do this after 5pm at the office. Recognize the difference?

I mixed rye bread in my legacy crock and baked it:

I have finished my apricot socks and recognized my chair on the cover of Cable Knits: 20 Designs. Here is a glimpse at both:

Not such a good picture of the chair, but if you want to fill in the details, look up the book Inspired Cable Knits: 20 creative designs for making sweaters and accessories.

DH has been out of town over the past couple weeks:

so I have also been going to soccer games galore, as the D#3 starts her freshman year soccer season. Not as bad as travelling team but still, why did we play Highland Park? The van's battery gave up the ghost in Highland Park. Even after jumping it with the excellent Honda van, it wouldn't keep going. So after the tow by Pro Towing on Skokie Valley Road to Harlem/Bryn Mawr and a new battery so generously installed by Maya's dad, it is up and running. Good thing the Grizzlies tied because then the trip would have been just a really expensive trip to no where. A tie is better than 0-1!

MIL visits this week so I might be putting more entries up after 5pm after all!

2006-03-20T08:30:00.000+06:00

I find a nice long rest is always needed after an endurance event. I trained for a 5K in 199* and haven't been running since. I worked out with the masters swim group last year up until the swim meet against the UIC group, swam my favorite events of 50 fly and 500 free, and really haven't gotten serious about the water again. Knitting has been a little different - I took off a couple weeks but now have needles and yarn in hand again.

I posted my rambling rows afghan last summer, when I first started. I put on a couple more blocks:

Curiously, I am working the afghan right to left. I got excited about the green and so went completely out of sequence and added the vertical rectangle over on the left side. That's square 22 and I am only supposed to be on square 13 (to connect the blue varigated with the lavender and the wheat). We shall see what trouble I am borrowing. I think the author warns about working out of order.

Then I have also completed a pair of socks. Toe up (the pattern is from Wendy found in a comment by Monique at the sockbug blog). The toe is much nicer than just about all I have done, except the pair I made for Emily, but the heel is poofy. I think of this as an apricot sock- I don't like orange, the green stripe isn't very pretty, but the combination is cheery:

I cast on the toe and worked through the complicated parts for way too long Thursday night, so I could take it with me to Pittsburgh on Friday. The flight was very short but I had a chance to knit in the airport when we waited to catch the plane back that evening. I finished it off this weekend as I watched many, many basketball games.

Now for sock #2

2006-03-01T21:29:00.000+06:00

Without further ado...

I know why you're all here. Ladies and gentleman, the gold medal of the 2006 Knitting Olympics.

I didn't finish, forgetting that I can't drive 4 hours round-trip to Delphi, sweep up mouse droppings and knit at the same time (which might be a good thing), I completely overestimated my free time and psychic energy (February? 45 applicants on campus?), and I have kind of a boring pattern but since I signed up, I am a winner. The Yarn Harlot says so:

Finally, for my chosen knitters, those who did not finish...
My deepest thanks and greatest satisfaction in the knitting olympics comes from you. Without trying there is no improvement or learning, without difficulty there is no striving. It was the sheer volume of knitters that gave this the incredible momentum, velocity and significance it has had for all knitters (and quite a few non-knitters who really were stunned.) More than anything else this ended up being about an international community of knitters...and there are no losers at the Olympics. Even if you dropped the pattern in a puddle the first day...even if you grossly overestimated your available time, or if you got to rock a baby instead of knit...you still made the Olympics memorable. It takes a village to freak out non-knitters...and there is strength in numbers.

What a good coach.

There are no pictures of the sweater (yet). I want to post pictures of us rearranging the dining room to accommodate the hutch and buffet first - that's another story.

2006-02-23T05:11:00.000+06:00

To all my loyal fans - I am sorry that I fell during my performance, thus taking me out of the competition. The Knitting Olympics turned out to be too much for me. In fairness, I have been preoccupied with helping my sisters clear out my mother's house, incorporating new stuff with our old stuff, and then also WORK - 45 applicants visiting this week to interview for 9 spots. The admissions meeting is going to be long.

Turns out the battery wasn't dead, just limping along so I will get some progress pictures up so at least you can that memory of my Knitting Olympics. Go Team Dian*!

We don't have any batteries

2006-02-18T00:51:00.000+06:00

The batteries in the digital camera are dead. These are the batteries that we bought in Copper Harbor MI last August when we were camping so this is all part of a pattern. I think a blog without photos is just a rant but here are my thoughts on my knitting -

Knitting under pressure takes all the fun out of it. I am gazing longingly at a needlepoint project that I have had stretched and on the stand since before my daughter started dating her boyfriend. They celebrated their 12th month anniversary (because the goofball boyfriend celebrates every month - ahhh) in December although it should have been Oct/Nov. Get the picture? I haven't been paying any attention to the Windy City Santa since I messed up his mitten but it looks like a lot of fun now.

I called my friend in IN a couple months ago moaning at the 11th hour about my red sweater. Starting a project is exciting - getting to the trim is dull. Having to assemble is just tedious so the good news is I am still making the KO sweater in one piece.

I need a new repeat. The diamond within a diamond was OK for the first two sequences but now I have to correct a mistake made early on in the count (didn't repeat a purl but the diamond is OK and unobtrusively at a side seam). I think it's time for a transition and then a new motif. Not exactly the olympic spirit but I think that is over rated. I wouldn't call myself Michael Weir (the bus was late?!?!), more like Michael Savoie - working beautifully but at my own limit. I like the old moves with a new twist, as Dick Button kept describing Savoie's skating.

Now, what about that snowboard cross? Honestly - I want to see a US gold in the biathlon. That is a winter endurance sport. I don't ski and I don't shoot so there isn't a bias here. That guy who drops out of helicopters onto an Alaskan mountaintop is the product of too permissive parents as he and Marigold the mom describe - allowing him to jump on the yellow couch!

OK, see, no pictures and this turned into a rant. I will carry on with the blue sweater.

The flame is lit

2006-02-11T21:06:00.000+06:00

Literally - I have lit one of the candles that I got for Christmas; my Olympic flame.

I spent a minute with the existential dilemma of when I was eligible to begin knitting but as I am at work when Torino is in full swing, I decided to cast-on right at the moment those mammoth metal Olympic rings were raised. The sweater has begun.

I made an adjustment to the pattern of working from the bottom up in the round - the whole sweater is on a circular needle. And wouldn't you know it - all those socks I have made - I twisted the stitches. But you can't begin your routine again so I adjusted and it looks fine. I guess that will be the mistake I make - ha!

Fundamentals are important

P.S. I have decided I am on the Diane team (and variations thereof - not like the arbitrary split between figure skating/ice dancing, downhill/slalom, short track/long track speed skating, biathlon/other skiing with weapons) so if you read this after getting an encouraging (I hope) post from Diane H Chicago, IL - that's me. Go Dian*!

2006-02-08T04:52:00.000+06:00

My yarn came today - I love my long distance local yarn store! 14 glorious skeins of Patons Canadiana, denim. Or as dh says, 1/2 of a nano. Swatch tonight!

Since I can't knit yet, I should introduce my new cat - 5 is too many but he is just so darned cute! I found Scotty, originally known as Scaredy Cat because we weren't going to keep him and once you name the animal - I found Scotty under the van, lured him with sweet words close enough to grab him and then put him in isolation on the front porch.

Now he is fat and fluffy. He has lost that very sad look in his eyes too. He is soon to meet Dr. Wake, however.

And what the heck, here is a picture of a couple of the other babies. I took this picture especially for my sister who would be really annoyed to see the cats in the dresser. Nanny-nanny boo-boo - you aren't my boss -

Training delayed due to lost sponsorship

2006-02-07T00:28:00.000+06:00

Can I be a knitting olympian if I don't have yarn? My sponsor has gone belly-up on me so I might have to pay my own way. Translation: D#3 has lost interest in the details so I am going to have to pick the yarn and pattern and hope for the best. I have the pattern: Eleanor . I am going to knit it in one piece from the bottom up to the sleeves, split for the front, back and then knit the sleeves in after sewing up the shoulder seams. D#1 suggest I buy the ugliest blue yarn I can find and that will be perfect for her sister. Is there an ugly blue?

In training

2006-02-01T23:49:00.000+06:00

First we need a pattern. My fall-back sweater pattern is a neck-down raglan - once the markers are set to remind me where to increase for the fronts and sleeves, I can work the knitting in my sleep. Workman-like yet boring and I don't think worthy of the Olympics. My all time challenge is the aran but can I pick out cables, count stitches, and center everything by Feb. 9?

Bluish with hearts - this might call for something Norwegian - duplicate stitch? a knit/purl relief? We'll see. I have pointed her to Heirloom and Brown Sheep Lambs Pride at The Yarn Exchange. I just don't know how bluish is her blue -

Knitting olympian

2006-01-30T01:05:00.000+06:00

I am in the knitting olympics and I am on the knitting harlot's list of athletes! Feb. 9 I will cast on to make a bluish sweater with hearts for daughter #3 because she asked for it. But she gets moved up the list of projects because she is wearing the green sweater that I made some time ago and whoever I made it for just made a face and never wore it. D#3 thinks I made it for her but I think I made the sweater even longer ago than anyone wants to admit and it was for D#1.

In order to wear the green sweater D#3 asked to have an opening made - another challenge but I had recently read in Cottage Creations "Toddler's Norske Sweater and Cap" where Carol Anderson talks about cutting through knitting - horrors - to make a neck opening. This is a real technique with the term "steek" and what I think of as duplicate stitches and scissors - but it worked and I have since washed this sweater and dried it (rot gut acrylic yarn) - she likes the contrasting working yarn and didn't want me to tuck the opening under:

I took a class

2005-08-25T03:04:00.000+06:00

I am a self-taught, solitary knitter. Knitting is release from the noise of life but I also can't split my brain between talking to my husband and daughters and keeping track of C4F or make b1 (turn the page and then back to the chart). In an enthusiastic surge of energy, I signed up for a class at the Michigan Fiber Fest, held last week in Allegan MI. Knitting arans from the neck down.

The class was fantastic. I got there a little late, because Allegan is 3 hours and a time zone from home so I missed the beginning chit-chat. We got right to the provisional cast-on for the shoulder saddles and then step-by-step through the rest of the mini-sweater. I did it - if I were to finish the sleeves and sew it up, I would have an aran knit from the neck down.

Take a class! I am the newly converted and want to spread the word. There is a weirdness to this though - there is a subcurrent of competition. Knitters are loving and giving but when I saw all those others moving on to the next section when I had to tear out the cable, my blood pressure went up and I started to hate my classmates. But then the teacher comes by and sooths my stitches back into place and I remember that tight knitters make tight stitches -

The cats I knit with

2005-07-29T03:59:00.000+06:00

2005-07-29T03:14:00.000+06:00

I'm trying to figure out how much is too much. My apartment is small and filled with the accumulation of almost 20 years and 5 people growing, stretching and not discarding. We have 3 lockers in the basement where we stashed the stuffed animals, very cute baby clothes and the broken furniture.

However, this is about knitting. Over Christmas, I had such a relaxing time that I decided to clean the dresser in the hall. I found an astonishing 43 sets of knitting needles. This was the matched sets (by manufacturer). There was another good handful of needles that could be matched by size if not color and maker. I also rediscovered more than 20 crochet hooks; the little tools we use to make cables and put knit fabric together; needlepoint kits that were passed onto me by neighbors moving to better circumstances; and many many skeins and balls of yarn.

This got me thinking - where is that other yarn I have? I found yarn in my closet in the pink duffle, in the plastic store bags on the shelf, in the box with an unfinished afghan, in the basket which is my bedside table, and finally in a box that was used to send birth gifts when our 14-year old was born. This is definitely too much.

Thanks to the magic of online groups, I found a home for the assorted needlepoint kits and the unmatched knitting needles. I felt sleazy sending these obviously discarded knitting needles to the December project but I know that some of this stash of needles resulted from a time when I had even less money and was combing the thrift store for craft supplies and often bought bags of needles for $2.50. I was thrilled to have something to work with then. I hope I was able to make someone happy to have needles to work with.

The yarn: this is what pushed me to eBay. Turns out people will pay money for what I have. I have reduced my horde of yarn to only the pink duffle and 2 bags by selling bits of this and that over the last 6 months on eBay. I am amazed. I buy stuff on eBay, and who knows why individuals are selling what I buy, but this great aid in getting rid of stuff is a wonder! You don't need to know the prevailing price of what you are selling so much, as you need to find the people who want what you have. eBay is great! I fail miserably at garage sales because no one wants what I have - but target your audience on the world wide web and you just might carve out a clean spot!

I accumulated this yarn in the first place because I like to knit. About the same time I rediscovered my stash, I found a yahoo group called All Crafts 4 Charity. If you have exhausted your supply of knitting and crochet recipients, this is a great place to use as an outlet for your nervous energy, loving handwork and positive thoughts as each month the group sponsors a hospital or private charity that distributes baby items or other clothes for those in need. There are now more than 1400 members nationwide. As a result of this list, I have perfected my neck-down sweater making; tried out some really cute afghan patterns (after experiencing the initial heartbreak of seeing how small a preemie afghan can be) and in the meantime worked through a bag of Patons Encore. Each of the members contribute to at least one project a year (many contribute to more) in whatever way works best, as you can see from my contributions (still not smart enough to figure out how to format these pictures into my text).

Some frogs in Lafayette

2005-07-29T03:12:00.000+06:00

I'm not smart enough right now to figure out how to format this better - there are many more frogs to see -

To the third buoy

2005-07-03T02:14:00.000+06:00

Knitting with cats can mean sitting quietly for a long time. With a full skein of yarn, the remote and a full afternoon of PBS, once the babies are settled around my chair, why move? I keep my elbows high as the cats decide where to sit. Dingle wants to get as close as possible to me. He starts on the left front of the chair but that is where the pattern and yarn sit. He moves over the top of the chair but the back cushion is squishy so he picks his way around to the right. If I have relaxed and dropped my elbows, in the groove of pick, wrap and down, he gets the prized spot, sitting on the right arm rest with his back to me but leaning into my arm. I let him stay until I have to pull more yarn from the skein or I have to flip the afghan over or he starts to fall into the chair. If he falls or is moved unwillingly, he tends to dig in with his claws so everyone is punished.

Lupin doesn’t want to sit on my chair. She likes to lie on the floor, right next to the footstool, out of my eyesight but where she can watch Dingle. Lupin doesn’t like to be touched. When she wants my attention, she meows. If I have been sitting too long, very close to feeding time, she meows more than once.

No one should sit too long. What can a knitter do for exercise? I resent the treadmill runners who have the option of a headset or a TV screen while exercising. If that were the best entertainment, no one would have warm blankets or winter sweaters. Knitters have to put the needles aside, do the dirty deed, and get back to the comfy chair. I suggest swimming in Lake Michigan.

The Chicago beachfronts and public pools open Memorial Day weekend. All lifeguards have it easy that first day. Memorial Day weekend in Chicago is inclement. After Father’s Day, though, the water has warmed sufficiently that seasoned swimmers can take the plunge and newcomers can dip their toes. I have been able to get wet 4 times so far. On the first try, the first 90-degree day in Chicago, the water was too cold to put my head under but finally today, I swam to the third buoy and back. Rolling with the swells, I stretched all those muscles that stand at attention for so long as I move my arms, wrists, fingers. My legs kicked, back muscles moved up and down, neck muscles twisted. I feel tall when I climb up the ladder to the time-worn limestone embankment.

No knitting zone

2005-06-28T20:36:00.000+06:00

I am numb. I spent last Thursday and Friday at a workshop discussing very important procedures and filings done as part of my workaday job but I couldn't bring my knitting along! Instead I toted a 15lb notebook full of powerpoint slides, following along almost word for word during the presentations. I had to pay attention though, because just every so often a nugget of information would be dropped in the conversation, jolting me awake with joy, knowing this would simplify my job immensely. And these are all great weapons to use in defense of my office against the mean gatekeepers who try to impose their accounting will. I can rebudget stipend into tuition and zero-out the account. Yoo hoo!!!

I convinced my co-worker to ditch a session on Thursday and tour the downtown area where painted frogs are on display. Having enjoyed the creativity and surprises of the cows in Chicago a couple years ago, I was really looking forward to seeing these inspired art works. They were all wonderful. Some were repetitive on a theme but I am grateful for all the individual work that went into the pictures. If I ever figure out how to post pictures, I will get those up.

Life has intruded and this posting has been sitting in draft stage for nearly a month. Now blogger.com has an easy way to post pictures so here are some of the frogs -

the long arm of UC

2005-06-21T03:59:00.000+06:00

My husband and I travelled to DeKalb to drop our youngest at soccer camp last Wed. We got there early because there were essentials to buy still, at WalMart. Before travelling, I found the local WalMart, mapped it to the camp, and then extrapolated a route from the tollbooth - just to drive my husband mad. We drove down IL 23, Lincoln Hwy, through the main street area of the town. Very sweet - found some interesting restaurants so we stopped back that way for dinner before heading back home. Well! Also found a used bookstore right next to a yarn store! My return trip was planned for Saturday.

Again, explored the internet before heading out, for the yarn store, this time. I forgot to plot a route to DeKalb to avoid the unstaffed toll booths! Beware! Toll booths in the outer reaches do not have change makers! Just the phone number to call within 4 days, the recording at the other end of which informs you of the address you are supposed to mail your change!!! I have 3 tolls to pay, all taped to paper in exact change! I have also signed up for a transponder.

The Yarn Exchange is wonderful. I bought some of the Cottage Creations books, which were new to me, but evidently I didn't buy the very best one, Wonderful Wallaby. That's next. I have started the rambling rows afghan. Excellent instructions on making a patch/scrap afghan without having to assemble. Never assemble! You are making the article twice!

The point of all this is: upon giving my address to the proprietor of the yarn store for her database, because I intend to order more from her, she immediately knew the area of Chicago where I live. She lived in the exact same building 21 years ago! She gave birth to child #2 one week after we moved in and then moved on to the rest of her life. We never met then but 21 years and 2 hours of driving later, now we have. I am still shaking my head. I think they had the very impressive rocking horse in the back bedroom - maybe that was the next family - but I was too flabbergasted to ask.

I drove back home along IL 38.