I haven’t been posting because

I was getting ready for a major trip, and then I left for that trip, and now I am away on that trip. Now that I am here — here being close to Carlton River, Tasmania, Australia — I have time to do things like work, knit and perhaps post on the blog again.

I am house sitting for a woman who owns 80 acres out in the country. She has a very nice home with a wood stove (an important item because it is winter here) and lovely ocean views off in the distance. I am caring for her dog, her pet mouse and her two horses. There is a nearby neighbor who I see occasionally, but, she’s working nights now.

Here’s my view:

And the mouse, and the dog and the horses:

He's a sweet little fellow

Also a very nice guy to be around

They thought they could push me around, but I've had none of it from them, especially the little mare. She's so mare-like.

And here’s the nearby beach, where the neighbor took me the other day. Lovely.

The weather has been fantastic, especially for winter!

The resident non-knitter is back in Colorado caring for our two horses, two dogs and our cat. He’s handling all the lawn care, house upkeep and the like. Thank goodness it’s him on that end! I got my fill of those duties when I was there and he was here. It’s the only way we could do the house sit, swap turns as it were. It was a lot more work on that end, and not only because I was preparing for the trip. There it’s summer and there is grass to be mowed, weeds to pull and all my work right there.

It has been a nice respite so far. I’ve been asked a number of times what I do with myself to occupy my time. Well, this morning, I talked to the RNK on the phone three times. Granted, this was a bit unusual, but he was setting up Skype to make unlimited phone calls to the land line here. Normally I only talk to him twice.

I called one of the Tasmanian knitters I met on Ravlery, and who I did a magic yarn ball swap which I will post pictures of someday. Haven’t quite gotten them off the phone and onto the computer yet. I spoke to the sister of the woman who owns the house. I talked to my mom.

Meanwhile, I’ve been trying like the dickens to get this post finished so I can get on to work. Several projects in the running right now and I just realized, I need to have the RNK check my cell phone messages for me too. I’ve got two web pages to build, two to update, a feature article to write and a newsletter to layout. Hopefully, I’ll get much of this out of the way before I have to start on the newsletter for my gorilla client right after 6 July.

When I’m not working or caring for animals or myself, I’ve been knitting. I’m working on a very subversive project. A pair of socks that were confiscated by not one, not two, not three, but four Qantas flight attendants. I pointed out when they challenged me over this terrorist act of knitting on the plane, that I was in fact using size 0, bamboo needles and a toothpick would be more deadly. With a straight face, the lead attendant, a man, replied, “yes, it is the very size of the needles that is so worrisome.”

I’m still pondering that one. I just can’t, for the life of me, figure out what is worrisome about a set of bamboo needles that are so fragile that I was in fear of breaking them as I worked. Stick them in a flight attendant’s hand as she passed me my beverage? Hold a fellow passenger hostage with a knitting needle at their neck? In either case, a sharp brush of the hand would have rendered the implement useless and I would have been disarmed. Oh yeah, there are five needles. It would take five swats to completely disarm me. Maybe six if they missed once. And it could be muscle under all my fat. I could be a deadly assassin, hidden by the demeanor of a slightly overweight, flabby, middle-aged woman who looks out of breath even while engaged in the strenuous act of sitting in an airplane seat.

On the other hand, perhaps it was the color of the yarn they found offensive. I picked up this Opal Neon on sale a while back for $10.50 a ball. The colors are brighter in person than they were on the web site. I was a bit shocked when I opened the package. It will be a garish pair of socks. Not for the squeamish. Dangerous stuff.

Perhaps the enforcer steward feared I was going to flash the completed socks at the pilot and blind him. No worries. Wasn’t there a flight en route to the UK just the other day on which the pilot died of a heart attack mid route? I think the co-pilots carried on and the flight attendants continued to serve beverages and meals and not one of the passengers was any wiser until they saw the ambulance greeting the plane. Garish as these socks are, I think the co-pilots would have had the good sense to avert their eyes and carry on with the flight.

Ah well. I will carry on with my subversive activities. Hope to finish them soon and them move on to a tamer project. Cromarty* anyone?

* From Alice Starmore, “Fisherman Knits” or some such title. Ravel it. There are some lovely examples out there.

Note: Pattern row will be worked on the WS

The Textured Raglan looked like a nice easy knit from the picture on the Shibui site. Heck, I had just finished the Refined Raglan (about halfway down the page) and how different could they be? Ahh, gentle readers. One little line in the pattern says it all:

Note: Pattern row will be worked on the WS except for this left side portion.

I pondered this. I even asked fellow knitters what it meant. Of course, they scoffed. Anyone who has followed a knitting pattern knows that more often than not, something has little or no meaning until you are actually doing it. In the doing, it comes together. In the reading, it does not.

I was doing and suddenly, this boring little 2 row repeat with the raglan decreases all happening every other row on a K row, and the pattern, a KKKPKP just going round and round and round . . . got turned on it’s ear.

Perhaps, there those of you with more knitting experience are having a little chuckle right now. You grasped the implications of that little “Note:” in the pattern right off.

For the rest of us, let me illustrate. The “different” stitch marker shows the start of the round. You can see the neck stitches bound off, creating that cute little scoop neckline that looks oh, so comfortable:

A schematic explains how the knitting shifts from round and round to back and forth:

Oh, delight is mine!

The pattern has become new again. With a two-row pattern and the start of the round in the “middle” of the back and forth, not at an edge, this turns the pattern partially backwards, and partially in side out. For me, the decrease row on the left side of the sweater is now most easily accomplished by knitting backwards. On the right side of the sweater, the pattern KKKPKP becomes PPPKPK.

No big changes. It simply requires the knitter to start thinking. Try doing what you’ve been doing backwards for a while, then try it inside out. Too much fun!! I am easily amused.

None-the-less, this is especially exciting because the sweater has long been in Stage 4 (see prior post), the hating phase where I believe the most appropriate finishing touch will occur when I light the match. At least the knitting is fun.

All of this “new” stuff at the very last part of the pattern. It makes me want to look at other patterns designed by Kirsten Christianson.

In fact, I did. Isn’t this a cute little sweater? I think I might like it better in a longer length. Can you imagine the fun of taking a cable pattern, and then looking at it inside out and backwards? Do you suppose this happens at the start of that V-neck?

Such simple pleasures knitting brings.

Let’s get artsy

If you are reading this blog, chances are you read other knitting blogs. Me too. If you’re like me, I’m sure you find many of the knitting blogs out there in blog-land to be highly scintillating.

Last week, as a means of avoiding work (did I really put that in writing?), I was surfing about on all the blogs I’ve bookmarked over the past two years and I deduced these facts about what makes a knitting blog scintillating. These items are of course, in addition to, great knitting. That’s a given. In my mind, a successful knitting blog should interest, if not downright inspire, the reader to knit. In addition, a great blog, and by great I mean “way beyond good,” must also contain:
1. Superlative writing.
2. Gorgeous photography.
3. Some combination of the above.

Duh. Nothing like stating the obvious. Bear with me; putting the obvious in writing helps me process information. My brain sifts and categorizes and thinks things over in the background when I’m doing all sorts of other things. And this is what sifted to the top after a leisurely holiday weekend of knitting, hiking, knitting in the car, watching movies, knitting while watching moves, relaxing and knitting while relaxing (I got some knitting in!):

You can’t beat the Yarn Harlot for good, entertaining, knitting blog writing. Simply put, she’s the best: she’s witty, she’s interesting and she expresses the nuances of a knitting obsession so eloquently that I enjoy me more after reading her blog. What a gift! The photography isn’t bad either.

For some of the most sumptuous knitting photography on the web, there’s brooklyn tweed. His closeups of stitch patterns and stitch definition knock my socks off. And, the writing isn’t bad either — I always end up chasing down a link and learning something in the process. I will someday knit that spiral yoke pullover. I will. (Ravel it for even more inspiration.)

I know there are dozens and dozens and dozens of other wonderful knitting blogs out there. Really, I mean I know. I looked at most of them instead of working last week. At the end of the weekend these two stood out in my memory as the two I should keep in mind for inspiration. You, gentle reader, may be stuck reading this blog for a few more lifetimes until I get it right, however.

Meanwhile, here are some photos of the recently finished Sixth Sense Socks with an attempt to emulate (the sincerest form of flattery) the lovely photographs (after the first one) of brooklyn tweed.

I doubled the yarn for the bottom half of the heel and then tapered away the “double” after the garter stitch portion of the pattern. The result is a very cushy and not-too-bulky heel that should wear very nicely. Knitting good. Not great; but good. Photography needs some work. I must resolve lighting and flash issues before this blog moves up a notch.

In my effort to grab some artsy photos of Jakob, little Opal cast her magic spell once again. Sorry Jakob, that nose of yours challenges my photo skills. A first stab:

And then, a much-improved attempt, at least from a composition and lighting standpoint:

She is such a cute little shit.

Do you ever get the blahs?

As in, everything feels OK physically, it’s just that the whole world feels a little off-kilter from your current perspective. Or maybe a better description would be that everything feels a little unsettled, like every aspect of your life is wrong. Hmm. Maybe that’s more than a little unsettled. Anyway, today is one of those days.

The good news. I am confident it will pass. The bad news. Who knows when.

Meanwhile, I’m chugging along with work and finally have caught my breath enough to fit a post in. That doesn’t mean the office is clean. Hah! Far from it. It looks like wild banshees had a paper-throwing contest in here and I lost. Not only do I have papers scattered in little semi-organized piles EVERYWHERE, the little wildebeest, Opal, found some business cards in my customer sample stash. She did her best to shred as many as she could drag out of the stack before I caught her. 16 pt card stock. Nice heavy chewing weight. Little tiny pieces.

Meanwhile, as a means of calming her down so I can get some work done (i.e. she trained me) I have been letting her use my nice comfortable padded chair while I sit on the hard wooden one. I even washed a thick fleece blanket so I could wrap her up in it after she settles. Here’s how it looks:

“Now calm yourself!” I tell her. As if she responds to commands.

“You are getting sleepy, very sleepy.” Sometimes it works.

Meanwhile, I have gotten some knitting done. Here are the last two pairs of socks:

The pair above used The Knittery cashmere merino yarn. It is so soft!! Lovely stuff. The pattern is Embossed Leaves from Winter 2005 Interweave Knits. If the top looks all stretched out on one sock, that’s because I wore it every time I worked on the other sock. I am not one for delayed gratification.

The pair that follows used Evelyn Clark’s Girlfriend socks pattern. I’m not wild about the frilly hem. Oh well. I did it and I am wearing them. The yarn is Sundara’s sock yarn in Ocean that I won in a contest on Cara’s JanuaryOne blog.

And because I haven’t put a picture of them up before and they are so wonderful, here are two pairs of socks knitted by the lovely Chris in Germany and sent to me as gifts. Doesn’t this help to make up for the fact that I fell so woefully short of my summer of socks goal!

She made a tiny little sock that I have on my keychain that matches The Joker pair. But alas, I forgot to take a picture of it. So, that will have to wait until another post. Which I presume I will do. Someday. Maybe even with a shorter time lapse between posts.

I am currently working on a pair of socks using the Sixth Sense Socks pattern I got via the Six Sox Knitalong. Designed by Susan Pierce Lawrence, this is a very soothing pattern to knit and it looks great in the Jojoland Melody yarn I am using. Nice subtle color changes and pleasing in spite of the fact that the colors are not all that similar between socks (a challenge for my anal-retentive side). Fortunately, they are not unpleasantly dissimilar either.

And finally, one last parting paragraph on the election. Are you as angry as I am that one of the vice-presidential nominees is dumber than a bag of rocks? Can you believe she thinks the earth is 6,500 years old and that she doesn’t believe in evolution? If they get elected, and if she trips McCain on a steep flight of stairs–don’t put it past her–can you picture how that will go over with foreign heads of state? “Hi there, had any moose meat lately? Got any soccer moms in your country? Joe six-pack’s doing great over here except for the fact that he doesn’t have any beer money any more. Spent it all on gas.” OK, I exaggerate–but only slightly!!! Could this be attributing to my general malaise? I guess November 4 will tell.

Way back in May

I set a goal of knitting 10 pairs of socks between then and the end of September. Meanwhile, I promptly abandoned all sock knitting and went on to sweater knitting. I think this is an incredibly graphic reminder to myself that I like to set goals and promptly sabotage them. All by myself. Weird.

Once again, it just underscores how knitting teaches you more than how to make things from skinny little wound up fibers and a couple of sticks. Or not. I’m already thinking of ways to redefine that goal to make sure I “meet” it. For example, is there an equivalency relationship between a sweater and pairs of socks. Could I count the sweater as 3 pairs? Maybe 4 or even 5?

But really now. Isn’t this all moot? I set a goal. As soon as I set it, I abandoned it and went on to something new. I didn’t seem to learn anything from this process except that I’m weird and perhaps, (note to self here) that I shouldn’t set goals for my hobbies. Food for thought.

Meanwhile, contest update: Vicki has agreed that the person who wins the prize she donated in the contest (scroll down a few posts to read “It’s a Contest Now” and to enter) can choose either two cat toy patterns or a lace pattern. She’s on Ravelry as SimpleKnits. Great patterns by the way!

Photo spree of yarn spree

Even though work has been hectic and I haven’t had much time to post, that hasn’t kept me from having a few yarn sprees. The highlight took place on a trip to St. Louis to visit mom. We went to three yarn stores: Knit and Caboodle in downtown St. Charles, a small knit shop very close to my mom’s house where I bought her some nice needles and . . . drum roll please . . . The Loopy Ewe!!!

I was too excited to remember to take my Little Loopy inside for pictures and I had a hard time conversing with people–such a shame because everyone was so nice!! I was so overwhelmed at all the choices. Take a nerdy, computer-geek knitter into a the mecca of sock knitting and the ability to interact like a normal human being vanishes. Oh well. As you can see, the inability to speak does not correlate with an inability to shop.

I got some lovely Collinette merino blend and Claudia Handpaints sock yarn at Knit and Caboodle. [Note: Opal's tail in the photo. She can't stand me paying attention to anything other than her!]

There are a couple of skeins not shown because these are for Chris in Germany and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. Chris is quite an enabler. She told me about The Knitting Goddess in the UK who has a lovely Yak/Merino sock yarn (the three skeins on the left). She also packages up same difference yarn which has two smaller skeins in the same colors but different (two same difference yarns shown on the right).

I also heard through one of my knitting lists about a special sale on qiviut/merino at Cottage Craft Angora Mills in Quebec. I hope I have enough to make a sweater:

Oh dear, when I went to check their URL I saw that they now have a qiviut/angora blend special introductory offer. Sounds wickedly nice!

And finally, there was a fiber festival this past weekend just a few miles from home and I came home a happy shopper with yarn, books, heel salve, patterns and gadgets. How’s that for a home-town spree in the yarn-barren San Luis Valley!

They, Crazy Monkey Creations, sold the two big 840 yard skeins as closeouts for $6 each! The blue one is an alpaca blend. I really liked the feel of their 65% Merino/35% bamboo sock yarn too. What fun!

Lest you think I have not been knitting, here’s the latest two pairs of socks:

This last pair is a DK weight merino I received from Kim in the Knitter’s Tea Swap 4. The pattern is Rainy Day Lace from MagKnits. I tried to find the link for you because this is a fun pattern to knit. Alas, my google skills are weak this morning. I’ll see if I can find it and post it later.

I really enjoyed the knitting with the colors in Kim’s yarn. She did a great job of dyeing this skien. The picture just doesn’t do it justice. I picked the Rainy Day pattern because all the soft blues, grays, purples and greens reminded me of light summer rain on garden flowers. I am thinking of these as “slipper” socks because they are so soft and cushy. I may even try to find some soles to sew on to protect them so they last a long time.

Well, the most exciting knitting project will have to be on hold for later this week. A clue: it involves a small dog and a sweater.

Diving dog

The sweater is finished and put away for summer:

The strangely ugly Austermann Step socks are finished:

Although these are about the most unattractive socks I have ever seen, I am in love. They are extremely comfortable. I think it is the combination of the Milanese Lace pattern which makes for a very cushioney feel and the Austermann Step yarn which is infused with jojoba and aloe vera. I wore these inside my work boots when I scooped horse poop in the coral yesterday. A delight!! (The socks, that is. Not the poop.) The work boots have a seam near the top of the foot that usually makes a little red spot on my foot by the time I take them off; but, not yesterday!

I even started a new pair of socks. Can you tell I had a nice relaxing holiday?

I specifically picked this yarn, even though it is by far NOT the most exciting in my stash because it will be a very quick knit. I set a goal for myself: 10 pairs of socks knitted by the end of summer. I am counting September as a summer month even though here in the Valley it usually feels much more like fall. But hey, it’s my goal; I’ll make the rules. I am counting the ugly Austermann’s as pair 1. So, if I can average two pairs a month, I should make it. However, many other projects tempt me. Another sweater perhaps? A shawl? Lyra? Too many choices, so little time.

I have some amazing sock yarns in my stash now: a wonderful yarn gift from Chris in Germany (right), a lovely skein of Lisa Souza yarn (center–too bad the subtle color doesn’t show very well–it’s mother of pearl and it is so beautiful!), and I had to compare the Lisa Souza hardtwist petite to some Sock Pixie yarn (left) because the yarn base looked so similar. I just wanted to see them together. Of the three, the Handgefaerbt from Chris feels the best. It has an amazing sheen to it and is very, very soft. Of course, I don’t mean to diminish the other two gorgeous yarns in any way!

Meanwhile, little Opal is getting much bigger. Here she is at five months:

I find her antics terribly amusing. Ever the proud mom. This weekend, I was washing out the tea pot and there were a few stray green tea leaves floating about. Since the dogs needed water, I just poured the water with the tea leaves into their bowl. This fascinated Opal to no end. First she tried scooping them out with her foot.

Then she tried diving for them, submersing most of her head into the bowl and making bubbles.

I finally took her outside with the bowl because she was making such a mess. Done diving? No way!

I had to toss out the water and replace it with fresh to get her to stop. What a little goof.

The learning curve

Ten days, cast on to kitchner. This is a very cool thing.

Let me digress for a moment. I started knitting socks last year. My first pair has not been documented in photos because they are un photogenic. And in my normal, fitting two pounds of shit into a one-pound bag way (as the resident non-knitter tells me I am prone to do), in addition to learning sock construction, I also taught myself magic loop and knitting socks on two cable needles. If that wasn’t enough to throw at my first pair of socks, I tried two different heel styles, ripping out the first, a Dutch heel, and settling on the second, a German heel. Plus, to top it off, I started teaching myself how to knit continental style.

Whew. No wonder they aren’t photogenic. Pairs two through five were all still on the steep learning curve. Modify pattern for size? You bet. Toe up, top down? No worries. Tiny cables, lace patterns, traveling stitches. Continental-style, American-style. I threw the book at my sock making and in spite of it, all four pairs turned out OK. However, every one of them took ages to complete because of the extreme amount of frogging required to get through the patterns.

Pair six, I started to wise up. Buy a good pattern and more important, follow it as written. Duhh! This pair took far less time to knit and turned out even better than the others.

Pair seven was the pivotal pair even though no one would ever be able to tell it by looking at them. I posted this pair as my first quarter Loopy Ewe challenge knit because this was my first pair of socks knitted without a pattern and now that they are done, I realize this pair has made a bigger difference in my understanding of knitting than any of the other projects I have worked on. Sheri is probably thinking I missed the point of the challenge entirely! (Really Sheri, I didn’t. It’s just hard to show the “challenge” behind this pair in a picture.)

Simple, self-patterning yarn. No fancy stitches. Easy top-down construction. I used what I learned in all the prior pairs to shape the heel and toe. Having no pattern to follow was the only aspect of making this pair that held my interest. In the main, these socks were flat-out boring to knit–stockinette, simple top-down construction, basic heel. uhhg. But, after washing, the yarn softened, they fit very well, and they look nice. What a concept.

A light bulb went on. Simple can be better! Elegant knitting can be also be easy knitting. Good knitting isn’t a skill display; no fancy stitches required. Good knitting involves making something that fits well, serves its purpose and looks nice. The skill comes in knowing what to do, when to do it, executing what you do well, and making it look simple in the process. Design should enhance knitting, not hide it. I get it. Wow.

So, with that, back to pair eight. 10 days. The entire process, from start to finish was enjoyable, easy and fun. And if I do say so myself, well done.

And pair nine, which I actually started before pair eight, is going really well too. I just set them aside because of the metal needles and the airplane thing. That little bitty cable needle wasn’t really much fun and I didn’t want to risk having my metal DPN’s confiscated by the airport security crew.

So, without any further ado, I present pair eight. What do you think?

I am pleased with the way the stripes line up, making these only slightly fraternal socks, and the differences only showing up at the very toe, where for some reason, the yarn no longer matched up. You can barely see the tiny cable pattern that runs down each side, splits around the gusset and then resumes on the foot.

I loved the way the yarn looked more in the skein than it does knitted up. But, really, that’s my only complaint on this pair. I did some heel reinforcement which looks a bit ugly on the inside. I’ll work on that for the next pair. That’s what I love about knitting. There is always something else to learn.

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?

Completed socks!

I haven’t been posting; but, I have been knitting. I finished the resident non-knitter’s socks:

I used the Yarnissima “Firestarter” pattern as an inspiration. You can grab that pattern for free from The Loopy Ewe (see Favorite Yarn Stores to the left).

I also finished mom’s socks:

For this pair, I used the Evelyn Clark Twining Leaves pattern. It’s a lovely pattern to knit. You can purchase it here
.