Progress Update

I promised a few pictures of some finished objects. Here’s the hat (which I REALLY like). I am sure that I look like a dork when I wear it. But, because:

It is BFL wool. (I’m almost positive I bought this Gypsy Knits from The Loopy Ewe-see link on side.)

I made it extra long so when I fold it up it covers my ears completely with two layers.

I love the colors.

I wear it anyway. It keeps me really warm. This was most welcome when our temperatures were 10 below F in the morning and I was out feeding horses. Unfortunately, I didn’t have it finished when our temperatures were 20 and 30 below. Next year. If we are still here. More on that topic at a later date.

Next up, the scratchy socks. Not so scratchy anymore. I have worn them a couple of times and they have softened up so much that now I am afraid they will wear out quickly. Oh well. Quick knit, inexpensive wool and they do keep my feet warm.

I ended up buying enough yarn to make two more pairs in two different colors. All self-patterning. The yarn was on sale, so it ended up being less than $10 for one pair and about $12 for the other pair. Boring knit. Nice socks.

The sweater is still a work in progress. The Knitpicks needles did eventually arrive. I like them. But, the cable that comes with the set isn’t really long enough to knit both fronts and the back. I struggled for a couple of nights, then went ahead and ordered all three sizes of longer cables and harmony wood tips in sizes 4-7. Man, I wish I owned that company. They have us knitterly types pegged for sure.

Do you like the color combo?

I don’t know how true to life the colors in the picture are because this combination changes color in every light. Sometimes I love it; sometimes it’s hideous. Occasionally, I think that when I finish this and wear it, it will look so elegant and will totally reflect the pattern’s intended Chanel influence. I picture myself all tall and thin and drop dead gorgeous in it.

Then, reality sets in. Who in the **** am I kidding? Short, chubby, old lady in obviously handknit clothing. People will catch a glimpse of me out of the corner of their eye, forces beyond their control will rocket their head around so they can get a better look at this freak as the thought streams into their consciousness: “My god woman, do you know what you look like? GET A LIFE!!”

Hmm. Frogging in my future?

Yarn is Dream in Color Classy from The Loopy Ewe in Ruby River and a navy Kid Seta from Bonnie’s Spinning Wheel in St. Cloud, MN. I do like the broken rib pattern on the front. I’m following the JaspeRed pattern from Knitter’s Fall 2007.

And of course, here is the progress update that is most interesting:

As you can see, some things have not changed. She’s still a little hellion. But, she has GROWN!!! Get a load of those legs in the picture below where she does the “dog” thing to Jakob. Do they have to do that?

And here she is making sure our large feline, Ida Rose Parker, doesn’t eat her food:

Ida Rose likes to eat. She and I have some common personality traits; she likes mice the way I like chocolate. The resident non-knitter finds this particular trait, the mouse eating, more endearing in cat than I think he would in me. So, we are thankful for small things. Ida Rose put on winter weight again; but, we are hopeful she will trim down to a svelte 12 or 13 pounds in the summer. Who are we kidding? Like me, this cat will never be svelte.

No posts for the next week while we travel in northern California. Can’t wait! We’re flying into Eureka, traveling south to Port Arena, heading inland to Cloverdale and then north to Trinidad Bay and home. Wine anyone?

Oh sad day

I guess it was bound to happen. A hole.

This was pair three. Socks that Rock lightweight in Grandma’s flower garden color or something like that. I finished them in the fall, and they have seen a fair amount of use. But, so did pair four, the Shibui Bamboo Rib Bark socks. They are still going strong. Pair two, the Trekking XXL done in the Mossy Cottage pattern also saw a tremendous amount of wear; but, maybe not quite as much as the other two. I never put any of them in the machine. All washed by hand.

I tried to come up with an estimate on the total number of days worn. My guess would be close to 50. Possibly as few as 40. I wore them in everyday shoes. I also wore them a lot with my Crocs around the house. Maybe these got worn a little more than the others. I do love this color!

I guess I need to figure out how to repair them. Since these were made with a toe up pattern, I used almost all the yarn. I just have a tiny little ball left and I presume I should repair both socks while I am at it. Hints?

And tell me this: why is it that all the extra emphasis goes into the heel stitch and no extra work goes into the sole of the heel which, as this pair shows, is where I wear my socks out? Everything I read when I knitted my first pair of socks indicated that the K1 slip one stitch pattern helps the socks to wear better.

I don’t get it. Is it “wear” as in feels more comfortable when wearing? Or is it “wear” as in wear out?

Someday, maybe next winter, I’ll have so many pairs of socks knitted that I won’t have to put the socks to such heavy use. The three pairs I had were in quite a rotation. On. Off. Wash. Hang to dry. Next pair on. Off. Wash. Hang to dry. Last pair on. Off. Wash. Hang to dry. First pair on. off . . . .

On the positive side, I finally got on top of keeping that hideous mauve sink in the master bath clean. If I had only come up with a way to wash them in the shower I might have been able to keep on top of the mineral and soap buildup in the hideous mauve shower.

I may have to add a category to this blog for bathroom fixtures. I sure seem to talk about them a lot lately.

Some things are easier than others

I don’t know why that last pair of socks were so hard. No worries now though. They’ve been frogged and the yarn is resting. Meanwhile, I wait, and wait, and wait for the KnitPicks needles to arrive. I need them for The Loopy Ewe Dream In Color Sweater KAL.

I presume that most every one who is participating in this KAL has their yarn and has started now-except me. I ordered the needles on 27 February. I have been checking the package’s progress. It went from Ohio to Colorado to Ohio to Colorado and then it hit the wall. Somewhere in Denver.

The needles were supposed to be delivered on Saturday and I made a special trip in to town to the post office to pick them up. But, they weren’t there. I called yesterday to see what is going on and KnitPicks told me they can’t do anything about the delay until Thursday. On Thursday, if I still haven’t gotten them, they will reship the order. Great. And how many days will that take?

While the sweater languishes, I decided to “play” with some other yarn I wound up last August or so in preparation for the resident non-knitter’s socks. Back then, when I started to cast this yarn on, he told me there was no way he could possibly wear socks made from anything this rough and scratchy. Hmmm. This is Austermann Step infused with jojoba and aloe vera. It’s a delight to work with and is very soft. I could see the challenge facing me with his socks. Oh well, they’ll have to be my socks. bummer. yeah. real upset.

Anyway, the wound balls sat into rest mode until this past weekend. On Friday, bored with the complete and total lack of sweater progress, I cast on 68 stitches and started a 1-stitch ribbing. Why 68? I don’t really know. I had looked at some pattern that used 2 mm needles and that’s what it called for. I did an inch of K1P1 ribbing. Looked OK. Switched to cable needle and tried them on. Fit over heel.

Good.

Now that I had started, I decided to look for a pattern. I discovered that the Milanese Lace pattern used here calls for a 6-stitch repeat plus 2. Well, that would work. Next thing I know, I’ve got 6 inches of the leg on one sock knitted and the other is moving along nicely. I love the texture of this pattern.

While I’m at it, I should show off my Knitzi.

Not only do I have a slotted Knitzi and a custom Knitzi bag, I have an unslotted Knitzi for my crochet hook, extra needles, etc. It’s great! No more bent needles and everything fits very nicely together for transport. I haven’t lost a tapestry needle since I got it.

I recommend this product to anyone who travels with their sock knitting. As you can see, it packs up very nicely with both the slotted and unslotted Knitzi’s, my glasses, a tape measure and a small bag of stitch markers, which are, by the way, not really needed. Somehow, they just ended up in the bag and they haven’t found their way back to the knitting storage yet. It’s a little more compact to just put the stitch markers I need inside the unslotted Knitzi. Even if you don’t travel with your sock knitting, check out the Knitzi site for the nice sock pattern they offer.

Lest you think that the little caps did me in and we got rid of the devil dog, here’s proof we still have her.

She adds a certain element of fun mixed with utter and total hysteria to our household. The resident non-knitter gave me a break this morning and took her with him. It’s so quiet here today. How can one, very small, 5-pound creature completely turn a normal house into a mad house/freak show/carnival/MESS?

Little caps

All week, I’ve been finding these little caps in various spots around the house. They are not very big. Maybe an inch across by an inch tall and they are solid plastic. What could they be? There were four all together, and when I saw one, I would just pick it up and set it somewhere. One on the guest bed, one on the kitchen counter, one on the bathroom counter, and this morning, one in my office on the desk. Next to the crackers and tea mug and almost on top of the project I’m working on. I’ve touched them, set them down and variously went about my way.

Yesterday, I was on my way into the kitchen to grab some almonds to snack on when I found one on the floor. That’s the one I set on the kitchen counter. No worries. We’ll figure it out sooner or later. So, I grabbed the almonds and munched my way back into the office.

I figured sooner or later I woud realize what they were and probably I was placing them close to their source. Curtain rod ends? No. Probably something to do with the resident non-knitter’s tools for the window replacement project (which is finally finished! but that’s another post.) Maybe they are the caps to some tool ends or something. I knew Opal was involved in this. Whatever they are.

Finally, this morning, she proudly carried into my office the toothbrush I use to scrub the hinges on the toilet seats. I had it shoved into the toilet brush keeper which is stored behind the guest bath toilet.

It dawned on me. Those little caps? Those are the caps that go over the bolts that hold the toilets to the floor. Gross. I’ve been touching them, setting them on the counter, eating after I touch them: yuck, yuck, yuck.

Thank goodness I also have some hand sanitizer on my desk.

Jinxed

Could it be that this pair of socks is jinxed?

Don’t you just love the colors of The Knittery yarn? It is so soft! It’s really a lovely yarn to work with.

Perhaps Chris in Germany has it right, I am not supposed to knit with this yarn now; instead, I am supposed to be knitting the Boyfriend Socks. She suggests this because she knitted a pair with yarn I sent her. They are lovely! I have the same yarn in my stash and wouldn’t it be fun to have a pair for me too!

But, I was dragging my feet because the cables scare me! Instead, I thought, a nice quick lace pair first. If you’ve read prior posts, you saw that I struggled with Anne Hanson’s pattern. Then I thought, OK, a top down with something less than 60 stitches would be better. I took the lace cuff from Evelyn Clark’s Girlfriend Socks, added an extra knit between repeats to make it a 7-stitch pattern, then transitioned into a 14-stitch repeat lace pattern from a sweater I liked. I eliminated the knit row between pattern rows to make the lace more compressed. I just liked the way it looked.

So far, so good. But, I took it off the doublepoint needles and put it onto a cable needle to try it on. Good idea. Won’t fit over my heel. Not easily anyway. Hmmm. 60 stitches too big. 56 stitches too small. Back to the drawing board.

I did like the way they were turning out. I guess I’ll just have to save this idea for another yarn, another time.

Meanwhile, here’s wicked dog:

That’s my sleeve in case you are wondering. She is a willfull little beast. Sometimes we tell her “NO!” and she gets so angry she isn’t being allowed to do what she wants, that she will stand there, stare into your face, and bark right back at you.

What a funny little creature. In spite of the occassional wicked moment, we will miss this stage after she grows out of it.