knitabit

Bumper Sticker

I saw a great one today:

Dear Lord, help me to be the person that my dog thinks I am.

Koigu Diamonds - Second Attempt

We are in the ICEBOX in Colorado today! Sub-zero temps at our house this morning and heavy fog at times. That's not snow on the tree - it's FROST. Brrrr!

I'm almost back to where I started on the Koigu Diamonds sock. This time, I'm picking up the chains around the edges properly, and it looks much neater:

I'm weaving in the ends as a I go (it doesn't look like it in the picture - I'll trim them all once I've completed the current 'round' of modules.) The pattern suggests you work toe-up on this sock, leaving holes for the heel and toe, completing the ribbing at the top, and then going back and putting in the heel and the toe. I think after this round, I'll go ahead and put the toe in now, just so I get a better sense of how this sock is going to fit (and thus, who it will belong to once completed.)

As you can see in the photo, there are quite a few stitches that need to wait around on stitch holders. The split rings I'm using are not satisfactory, so I will pick up some knitter's safety pins when I'm in town today.

Snowbound Knitting

Well, not really, but it snowed enough to give the general impression of being snowbound.

Yesterday afternoon, I did laundry, knitted, watched The Godfather (it seems like I have a compulsion to watch those movies whenever they come on), and then watched the unfortunate Bronco's game. Multitasking - nothing makes me happier.

I finished the Bearfoot socks:

These socks are beyond comfortable - they are just heavenly. They are hefty without being bulky; very warm; very soft; and they fit close to the foot and ankle without being tight.

Sadly, the one sock has a serious color pooling problem:

You know, these socks are so comfortable I don't even care about the pooling. Still, I'm a little disgruntled about the yarn changing so drastically midway through the skein. At $18, I shouldn't have to put up with that kind of problem.

Onwards and upwards to the next sock: the Koigu Diamonds pattern. I ordered this pattern from the Yarn Barn of KS. The author of the pattern has a website, www.heartlandknits.com. Although you can't order her patterns online, she has a nice selection of mostly modular knitting designs.

I have Vivian Hoxbro's book, and more than a year ago I tried a couple of her practice projects. It was interesting but for whatever reason I didn't pursue it beyond making a potholder. I'd heard that modular knitting can be addictive and now I'm here to tell you YES, IT IS! Woo-eee these socks are FUN.

I realized at just this point in the sock that I've been picking up stitches around the modular blocks incorrectly - I was picking up through one loop when I should have gone through both loops of the chain. So I'm going to start again and I'm not the least bit sad about it - it's just so mindless and fun to knit these little squares and assemble them together into the shape of a sock.

I'll check the gauge - the pattern is for a size 7 1/2, which would fit my mom just perfectly. My only concern is that these socks won't have as much stretch in them as I'd like. They might end up being "socks as art" as opposed to "socks as attire" but what the heck, I'll have hours of fun along the way.

Roscalie is still sitting alone, ignored. Perhaps once the sock fever has abated I will return to her first sleeve. Then I need to get on top of that baby sweater...

Holiday Shopping

Of course, it's done the Knitabit way - sitting at home waiting for the UPS delivery. I got my shipment from Yarn Barn of KS on Wednesday:

That's 3 pairs of socks in different varieties of Maxi Ringel; the two Koigu sock patterns; and the Baby Ull for the baby sweater. The sock yarn comes with reinforcing thread for the heels - something I've never used before, so that should be fun. The Maxi Ringel is pleasantly obnoxious.

Roscalie has been roundly ignored this week. I'm forced to be antisocial when I'm working on the sleeves, so I thought it best to focus on socks instead. I can actually hold a conversation while working on a sock.

These socks are turning out luciously. I'm somewhat annoyed that the skein had a knot midway through it, and the yarn obviously switched to a different dye lot at the break. Oh well, at least the feet will match and that's pretty much all anybody sees of my socks anyway.

For this pair, I used the half-twisted cast-on; 3x1 ribbing on the leg and instep; a heel flap; and a short-row toe that grafts across the toe 'knuckles', not at the tip. This might become my new sock recipe.

Speaking of knuckle[head]s, I've got a nomination to submit for the Silliest Politically Incorrect and Possibly Bigoted Remark by a Family Member at a Thanksgiving Gathering.

After dinner, my father-in-law turned on the TV so he wouldn't miss Jeopardy. He said, "hey, that Mormon guy is still winning." And my husband's elderly aunt said she wasn't entirely sure he was Mormon because "I haven't seen him walk yet, and you know those Mormons have big feet."

Ding-ding-ding-ding! I think we've got a winner here!!

A Pleasant Weekend

For the first time in a long while, we had a weekend with no commitments, no schedules to keep, and no obligations to fulfill. It was heavenly. And the weather on Saturday was awful, meaning it was a good day to stay home and knit.

But before I get to that, if you have any interest at all in elegant finishwork for fair-isle steeks, don't miss Alison's November 19 posting with a simply gorgeous finish on a cardigan buttonband. Inspiring!

Although this doesn't look like much progress on Roscalie,

it actually represents what I was able to accomplish AFTER I charted where all the sleeve decreases are going to go, AND after I finished the buttonband steeks per Alison's excellent post. Might aren't as neat and pretty as Pam's, but then again I didn't trim my steeks quite so close. I've made a mental note that I need only make narrow steeks in the future, crochet them with a fine-gauge yarn, cut the steeks, and then blanket-stitch the raw edges. Remember class, we LEARN by DOING.

But I set Roscalie aside so I could start another sock. Wait, what about the ugly Regia sock? Oh, it's going to sit in limbo for a while. It's too boring. I stopped in at the new yarn shop in Loveland last Thursday, and had all of 2 minutes to spare. I picked up a skein of Bearfoot and ran out the door with promises to the shopkeeper to return soon (a lovely, lovely shop by the way; "Woolen Treasures" - no web site.) I cast on yesterday morning and had this accomplished by bedtime last night:

Yes, all the way to the heel flap! I'm not doing shortrow heels this time - just a plain ol' heel flap. My parents were here for dinner last night, and mom hinted that she needs another pair of handknit socks. Perhaps these will be for her.

Shopping List

Knitting has taken a back seat this week to a bunch of paperwork (bills, soccer team registrations, etc.) So I will satisfy my knitting needs by ordering a bunch of stuff! I'll be placing my order with Yarn Barn of Kansas. Their web site isn't much to look at, but their print catalog is my most favorite.

First stop: socks! My sock knitting has gotten very boring lately. My current pair is with some ho-hum grayish Regia yarn. It's not motivating me at all! Here's some yarn that will be much more fun, I think:

It's Maxi Ringel by Blauband. I'll get two or three different colors.

Next: a sock pattern for the Koigu I've already got in the stash:

Some Dale Baby Ull for the pattern my sister-in-law picked out:

I'll also be ordering some Peace Fleece to make the Rogue hoodie (I think I'll order that yarn direct from the manufacturer), and I want some more Bearfoot sock yarn - it's just so soft and comfy (I'd prefer to buy that yarn from a shop so I can touch before buying.)

I'll have to look at the checkbook to make sure my spending spree is not depriving my children of Christmas gifts.

Major Progress

After cutting the steek, I picked up stitches all around the front bands and the neckline. Per Wendy's recommendation, I knit the band in the round by creating a steek to attach the two bottom edges. It makes a bit more bulk when it's finished, but a small price to pay, I thought, for not having to do fair-isle in purl stitch.

Some notes on the weekend's progress:

• At first, I tried to crochet the steeks (using the red yarn) to prevent them from unravelling, but it was way too bulky and created a waviness in the steek fabric. So I ripped out the crochet business and decided to just ignore the steeks for the time being.
• I had to adjust the number of stitches to pick up because I had lengthened the sweater. In retrospect, I think I may have picked up too many because the band around the neck edge doesn't lay all that flat. Oh well.
• The buttonholes turned out pretty well, and the buttonholes on the band actually line up with the buttonholes on the facing! I put tiny little stitches at the corner of the buttonholes to secure the lining to the band more securely. By the way, rather than casting off to form the two-stitch buttonholes, I passed stitches over instead.
• The hemmed bottom band is bulkier than I imagined it would be. Next time I do a fair isle, I'm going to look for a ribbed bottom band instead.
• I started out trying to backstitch the facings, but it was too hard to catch the stitch in the underlying fabric, so I started over again using a whip stitch. This worked much better. I used about a billion pins to make sure I didn't warp the facing but even then I had to rip back once in a while and get everything straightened out again.
• When it was all said and done, I was still worried about the steeks unravelling, so I went ahead and crocheted the steeks but this time with some fine-gauge sock yarn. That seemed to do the trick, and I was able to trim the steeks a little closer.

Of course, you can't really try on a sweater that's still got a steek in place of a sleeve, but I'm a little concerned about the fit and future wearability of this sweater. The sweater is REALLY boxy, and the v-neck shaping is pretty deep, making the sweater appear too oversized. Even Wendy's finished sweater (which she admits is at least one size too big) has this appearance. Still, I will have no regrets because this has been an incredibly fun learning experience, and the cardigan will be another valuable addition to my cabin wardrobe.

Next dilemma: buttons! Suggestions are appreciated.

Cutting the Steek

I finished the body of Roscalie, grafted the shoulder seams, and contemplated the cutting of the steek:

(click on the image for an appropriate sound effect)

Then I got out the scissors and did it:

(The red you see underneath the scissors is a magazine I placed under the knitted fabric, so fearful was I that I was going to cut into the back side of the sweater by accident! Sorry for the blurry photo, I was in a state of heightened panic at the time!)

All went well.

The instructions suggest that you move on to the sleeves next, but I'm following along with Wendy's archives. When she knit up Roscalie, she did all of the finish work on the body of the sweater before moving on to the sleeves, and that makes sense to me. I would get nervous having the back neck stitches on a stitch holder, flailing around with all the turning and spinning you do while going around on the sleeves.

I had to pick up more stitches on the neckband/button band than the pattern called for, given that I extended the length of the sweater considerably. So before I start the sleeves, I'm going to weigh how much yarn I have left in each color. When I finish the first sleeve, I'll weigh my leftover yarn again and then I should have a pretty good sense of what I'll need to reorder.

Before cutting that steek, I finished the Baby Surprise Sweater only to find a major error:

(I "posed" it so you could see its odd shape on the left, and the way it folds into an actual sweater on the right.)

As you can see, I forgot to do the decreases for the neckline. And you know what? I'm not going to go back and fix it. This sweater is just too ugly to be worth the effort. It looks very homemade. I fault the yarn - it's nice enough yarn, just not right for this project.

Baby Surprise Progress

I decided to finish the Baby Surprise Jacket today. I've only got about six rows to go, and then it's a couple of simple seams:

This pattern is from Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitting Workshop" book and consists of a single short and sparse page of instructions. I've given up on reading ahead; I just don't get what she's saying until I get to that point with my knitting. Still, it all seems to be working out okay. This has been a nice substitute for sock knitting the last few weeks.

It's been an interesting week in knit-bloggerland, hasn't it? First Crazy Daisy gets ripped for posting her political opinion in her very own blog. Then Wendy pulls the mask off a vicious commenter.

Here's what I think. If you normally go into people's houses and rip 'em a new one because you don't like a magazine on their coffee table or because of the Kerry sign in their front yard, then it's probably okay to leave mean and vicious comments in blogs. If it's your normal habit to make anonymous crank phone calls and call people names right to their faces, then it would be consistent for you to do this in cyberspace, too. But if you don't normally do these things in your "real" life, then maybe perhaps you ought not to do it in your "virtual" life either.

I find it oddly hilarious that this behavior is occurring amongst knitters, for cryin' out loud.

I also think there are more than a few blog readers out there with a sad misunderstanding about the nature of blogs and our freedom of speech. Not a single one of us is compelled to conform our blogs to any standard whatsoever. If you don't like what you're reading, move along please. No need to vandalize the place on the way out.

Yet another Blast from the Past

My knitting efforts from my college years were better than I thought. I saw my sister this weekend, and she returned to me a cardigan that I had knit for her sometime around 1980.

I had knit a similar cardigan for myself, and she liked it so much she asked me to knit one for her. I remember the pattern being from a magazine.

Too bad it's made of acrylic. Other flaws: the buttons are cute but too small for the buttonholes, the sleeves are too long, and the seaming is bulky. Still - the tension and the stitches are very nice, and this is back when I had a very inefficient and painful way of grasping the yarn and the needles.

I have really enjoyed all the political posts on the other knitting blogs this week. I feel like I'm in good company with the knit-blogger community (for the most part...some of the commenters over at At My Knits End are mean-spirited.) Turns out that most of my favorite blogs are in blue states or Canada. Keep up the good work, all of you!

The Political Wrap-Up

A commentary on the election results.

OK, my candidate lost.

I think the Dems had a particularly undistinguished group of candidates at the outset. I never warmed up to Kerry. His Vietnam experience, though admirable, was over-emphasized to the point of okay, enough already. His acceptance speech at the convention was the first hint of trouble. Later missteps included the Mary Cheney remark and the duck-hunting photo-op. But I don't know which of the other candidates would have been better - certainly not Edwards or Dean. I hope the whole batch of them disappear into obscurity, and that they take Hillary with them.

But you know, it obviously doesn't matter which Democratic candidate you put up against Bush when so many in this country are casting votes based on our country being on the "wrong moral track."

I feel alienated from my fellow citizens today. I understand and respect Republican philosophies about limited government, less taxation, and free markets. I don't necessarily agree, but I respect it. But this stuff about being on the wrong moral track and looking to the government to fix it - well, you lost me on that one.

I expect that during the next four years (or maybe longer), while they shove their "morals" down my throat, I can also look forward to pre-emptive attacks against non-Christian countries, deficit spending, increasing health care costs, gay-bashing, more death penalty verdicts, and maybe even creationism curriculum mandates and a return of the draft. Some morality.

But worst of all, the leader of the free world is a complete idiot, unable to form coherent sentences, admit an error, or conceive an original thought. May God have mercy on us all.

Fortunately, there are a few gems among the ashes:

• Ken Salazar won our open Senate seat, and his brother John was elected to the 4th District House seat. They are such neat people with such interesting roots; I wish them well and am proud they represent Colorado.
• The Democrats overtook BOTH HOUSES in Colorado. Totally unexpected, and quite unbelievable. With a Republican Governor, we're in for complete legislative gridlock, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. At least we don't have to worry about wacky concealed gun measures or school prayer or pledge of allegiance crap this session. Maybe they'll actually look into the fiscal mess we're in.
• Weld County has the best voting system ever! It rocks! All of Weld County's votes were tabulated and online by 9:30 last night. (By contrast, Boulder County is STILL counting votes from their brand-new, $1.3M piece of crap system more than 24 hours after the polls closed.) In Weld County, our ballots are on a single oversized heavyweight page - printed front and back, and we mark our votes by coloring in ovals with a felt-tipped pen. Here's the cool part: after the ballot is marked, you insert it into a machine (maybe 4' high, 2' square) that instantly reads your ballot. When the polls close, they hook up the machine to the phone line, and the machine sends its tabulated results to Greeley (the County Seat.) The paper ballots remain inside the machine, which is then transported back to Greeley. Upon arrival, they re-run the ballots through another machine to check for errors, and refer to the paper ballots to resolve any discrepancies. So simple, so effective - so much better than all the touch-screens, punch ballots or other voting machines you read about.

I was too depressed to knit today. I expect to resume tomorrow.