Happy Halloween!

After the Whacking

This is the beginning of my alpaca scarf, using the skein that I dunked in hot water/dunked in cold water/dunked in hot water/whacked against the wall:


It DOES look different from the swatch I made from the undunked and unwhacked alpaca (below), but it's not entirely a controlled test. (Different pattern, the second swatch is washed and blocked, etc.) However it seems less hairy, and I didn't ruin my yarn, so I'll take what I get. The idea is, I guess, to very slightly full the yarn so that the hairs don't stick out as much. I should have taken pictures, but I was too terrified of felting the whole skein to think about anything else! The whacking against the wall is very satisfying, for the record.

I like the top pattern -- it's Ann Norling's Diagonal Ridges -- better (just like Kathy said I would:) but I think mine is too narrow (only 5.5 inches -- the pattern calls for 6 and I think maybe I want a little more than that) so I'm going to start over. Pooey.

EDITED TO ADD: Never mind. I dug out the scarf in this pattern that Kathy made for Will and it is the same width and it looks fine. Onward!

Forgot to take a picture of the new, improved socks I started for my mom and today it's pouring. But I think I'm starting those over too. I missed a cable, and I want to try the new size needles I ordered from Knitpicks (the larger size 1s, which fall between the regular U.S. 1 and 2 sizes.) Last time I knit a sock on 1s it drove me insane, but I would like a slightly finer fabric.

That was my blog break, back to spring fall cleaning!

p.s.

I pulled out the box of scarves, gloves and hats this evening. Fun to see all the handknits in there. Not THAT many, not compared to many of you who are far more prolific than I am. But it still tickles me to have made any practical items at all.

One Done

Finally, I finished something! Even better, finally I finished this shawl, this endless endless shawl. As you can see from the picture, the edges need blocking (I hope that works -- can you block superwash and have it stay that way? Otherwise Aunt Fran is getting a seriously wiggly-edged shawl.)

This was a straightforward knit, but I got bored -- the pattern is either too busy or too abstract so that I couldn't see it forming as I knit, which made it less fun for me. But I like the way it looks, and it is a nice three-dimensional pattern, very warm and snuggly. It was good TV knitting.

Against doctor's orders, I stopped after 55". (Though if it hadn't been for the advice I got, I would have stopped 10" earlier than that, so I'm not completely unresponsive.:) My great-aunt is very small, so I didn't want it to overwhelm her. I may be wrong, though.

The Cascade 220 Superwash was very nice to work with, though a less solid-colored yarn might have helped with the boredom.

Pattern: Cozy, from Knitty
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, about 3.5 skeins
Needles: Knitpicks Options US 9
Modifications: Shortened it.

To Do (Maybe)

Inspired by Teal, I made a To Do List. I make these for myself all the time, but not so often for my knitting. But I realized I was crazy to be thinking about knitting Koigu socks for myself when I had so many other projects on deck. (I *never* knit holiday presents, but this year I wanted to, which gives me actual deadlines!)

And then I couldn't resist starting one of them ...

That's the beginning of a Ruffles scarf, from Scarf Style, for my 11-year-old niece. I'm using Trendsetter Scoubidu yarn, which is a nice squishy cotton blend. I really wanted something with Noro-ish stripes, but couldn't find anything soft or low maintenance enough. I know some people say knitting Ruffles drove them crazy, but I find it hugely addictive. It is GREAT TV knitting (and should be great carry-along knitting) -- the pattern is easy to memorize and it is so much fun to watch the spirals grow. It was especially good for keeping me calm as the Cubs went and eliminated themselves from the playoffs, losing their third game in a row tonight at HOME. Look how many spirals I got done!

So, here's the lineup, actual and potential:

In Progress:
Cozy, for Fran. Deadline: Hannukah? Status: Almost finished.
Jo Sharp Bridget cardigan for me. Deadline: None. Status: Swatched.
Ruffles scarf for Kira. Deadline: Hannukah Status: Started.

Planned:
Scarf, for Nada. Deadline: Hannukah Yarn: Alpaca Handspun Pattern: Undecided!!!
Something for Talia? Deadline: Hannukah
Socks for my Mom. Deadline: Hannukah *or* Feb. 8 (her birthday) Yarn: Regia Silk (ordered) Pattern: Undecided.
Scarf for Auden's teacher. Deadline: Late December. Yarn: Louisa Harding.
Kippah for Eli! Deadline: None.
(Socks for me ...)

That seems like enough for now ...

The Family That Winds Together ...

makes cake. :)

Even Will got into the act -- in fact he probably wound most of it, once he got into it -- but I forgot to get a picture.

I luuuuuurve my ball winder and swift. And winding yarn outside was the perfect knitting activity for another summerlike day (sorry Kathy!)

Now one of these days I need to actually knit something ...

Slow Start

That title could refer to this post, which has been sitting in limbo for some time, but I really mean my Jo Sharp Bridget sweater. I got this far:

(Notice this is not the yarn I bought for this sweater in my last post -- the DAY after I bought that, someone was destashing the EXACT yarn called for in the pattern on Knitter's Review ... and I couldn't resist. It's Silkroad Aran in Beach, which is less white in person than in pictures, but very beautiful. I have gotten as far as swatching. (The pattern calls for using US 8s but I got gauge on 7s, which is the first time I have ever had to go down a needle size, but perhaps I have suddenly become relaxed knitter. And person. HA!)

Anyway I haven't gotten my act together to actually START the sweater yet, and I've been distracted by constantly thinking I'm almost done with my Cozy shawl, and yet not being. And by trying to figure out which scarf pattern to knit for my brother-in-law for Hannukah ... right now it is a tie between A Scarf Askew and the Red Herring Scarf, but I would prefer something reversible. And by obsessing over all the things that are not perfect about my daughter's kindergarten experience, and and and ...


I would also like to start a sock, so that I have something to carry around with me. I went up to look at this Koigu to see if I wanted to sell it, and instead decided I like the colors, they are cheerful and amusing. But I have no idea what it will look like knitted up, and I don't know what pattern to use. These are the criteria:

1) It must not pool! and 2) I don't want something "fancy" like the Monkey Socks. I want something more like a "plain sock" but I think not entirely plain. Maybe just ribbing. Do you have any suggestions? I haven't knitted Koigu socks before, actually, so I don't know how it will behave.

The other thing that is distracting me, in a good way so far, is the Cubs! Apparently there is a Lorna's Laces colorway "Cubby Bear" but I can't find a picture of it to post in honor of the Cubs winning their division and heading to the playoffs. Go Cubs! I think we're due.

Fiber Festivities

What was I thinking not taking my camera with me to the Finger Lakes Fiber Festival? There was bright sunshine and perfect fall weather, alpacas and sheep all over the place, wheels and spindles, spinners, knitters, and of course, endless, overwhelming amounts of yarn. Also, this:

Can you tell what it is? It's not roving. It's naturally maple flavored and colored cotton candy, very yum. Lots of double-takes as people went around the fair eating what appeared to be bags of wool. The bag I brought home was very quickly very gone.

And yes, I bought yarn. *sigh*

After wandering around happily for several hours, I ended up spending all my money in one place, at Times Remembered, from Slate Hill, N.Y. (They don't seem to have a website, but I have their email ...) There were lots of alpaca vendors, but I thought Times Remembered had the best combination of soft and reasonably priced. I wish I had a picture of all the gorgeous colors! Chocolate and nutmeg and camel and musk ... I can't remember the others, but they were all beautiful.

I bought two skeins of sport weight musk without a particular plan (*guilt*)

and then I came back and bought four skeins of their worsted alpaca/wool blend for my Jo Sharp Bridget sweater:

and some sock yarn for, well, socks. (I wish I were a lace knitter because I think a lace shawl from the fingering weight alpaca would be stunning.)

The sock colors are a little richer than they look here, but there's a heathery purple merino, a gorgeous sand-colored alpaca (I couldn't resist!), and a natural white silk-merino blend to try again on socks for my mom.

Thank goodness the festival is just once a year!

The New Red

Pattern: Farrow Rib Scarf, from the Little Box of Scarves
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky, 2 skeins
Needles: 10.5
Made for the Red Scarf Project.

This was a fun, satisfying knit. Nice to use big, wooden needles for a change, not to mention soft super-squishy yarn. (I love this yarn! I wish I'd bought more when it was on sale. The kids loved it too, and immediately demanded their own scarves in the same pattern and color. I reminded Eli that he has a Harry Potter scarf and doesn't need another one, but I may make one for Auden.)

This is my first charity knitting. I'm so slow that usually I think they'd rather have my money, and I'd rather have my time. But this project, and the associated fund, really spoke to me. I think it is distinctly possible they are going to be overrun with scarves again this year, so I am making just one, to satisfy my romantic impulses – and then I made a donation and bought a gift card to send with it.

The big news around here is that Auden started kindergarten, enthusiastically and apparently without reservations. Her mother has a few reservations, but has kept them to herself, and largely they have been banished by Auden's overwhelmingly positive attitude.

Here they are on the first day of school:


And here's Auden in class on her first day:

A Sweater for Miss Katie's baby

Ready to go, except looking at these pictures I am thinking I might put a white border around the earflaps, too. The ladies at the new Village Yarn Shop persuaded me to get the multi-colored buttons instead of the dark blue ones I was originally going for. I'm not quite sure they work as well with the color of the sweater, but they're pretty cute.

Pattern: Garter Stitch Cardigan from Knitting for Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton, color: sage. About 2 skeins (I used three, so I'm not sure if I could have done it in 2 or not.)
Needles: KnitPicks Options 7 and dpn 5 and 7s for the arms.
Modifications: This yarn was bulkier than the pattern called for so I knit the 3-month size to get the 9-month sweater.

The hat is loosely based on the L'il Devil hat from kittyville. I cast on 60 stitches I don't love the way the stripes and the garter stitch came out.

This sweater took forever to dry, because I was following the directions on the new skein of Organic Cotton I had that said hand wash or dry clean. I just noticed that the old skeins say you can machine wash (on warm!) and tumble dry until damp ... that would have made life a lot easier. I'm giving those directions to Miss Katie!

Aaaargh!

Anniversary Socks from Favorite socks, for my Mom. A somewhat fussy pattern that I've already had to rip back to the ribbing once because I'd lost a stitch somewhere. Slightly splitty yarn (Brown Sheep Wildfoote).

But once I'd ripped back, it was smooth sailing back to the end of the first 12-row repeat. Pause to admire my work. Of course it was then that I noticed the cables were all bunched together on the leg pattern (hard to see in this bad picture, but the cables at the top by the needles are much closer together than those in the ribbing, at the bottom of the picture) – and only then that I thought to check the errata. And there is one, of course: there are two extra cables that aren't supposed to be there. Grrrr.

I could leave them, but I'd have to add even more cables into the pattern if I wanted it to match, and the cables are (for me) the fussiest part, especially with this yarn and these needles. (Susan Bates – are KnitPicks sock needles pointier?) Or I guess I could switch to the correct pattern now and just leave this as a memento. I don't know.

At least if I rip it out I'll get a chance to try it on. But I'm also wondering if I should switch to a nicer yarn for my mother. Sigh.

Anyone have any thoughts on Regia Silk vs. Lorna's Laces? Or this ...

Almost Finished Object, and Some Yarn ...

Baby sweater, almost done. Kathy was right (but of course!), it looks very sharp with the white border. Auden and I went button hunting yesterday and I couldn't find anything perfect ... the blue buttons they had were too shiny, or something. We ended up with this (her choice):
but I am not committed. I am also wondering if the buttonholes, what with the yarn being cotton and bulky-ish and SO soft, are going to stretch like crazy. Should I sew around them, somehow? Or should I get little toggle buttons, which might stay put even if they do stretch? I had also thought of sewing the buttons OVER the buttonholes and using snaps ... I'm not sure.

On a separate note, any non-yarn-buying resolve I may have had was completely wiped away by knit2purl2.com's Going Out of Business sale (pretty much over now; aren't you glad I spared you the temptation?) Lorna's Laces and Malabrigo at 50 percent off ... I am far too weak to resist that. From top left to bottom right: two skeins of Malabrigo in Emerald Blue for a so-called scarf (I'd never used Malabrigo before! and it was on my list! And I have a purpose for it! How much responsible can you get?), two skeins each of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Fresh Stripe, Periwinkle and Denim, and one skein of Malabrigo in Paris Nights.
That last single skein of Malabrigo is the only thing I'm not sure what I'll do with. Originally I had ordered two of Paris Nights, but there were only two left from different dye lots, so I switched to the Emerald Blue (which I think I may like better anyway: the Paris Nights is VERY dark, though perhaps not as dark as it looks in the picture, where you can't even see it!) But I couldn't resist getting one skein of the Paris Nights anyway ... I'm sure I'll find SOMETHING to do with it.

And there may, just may *cough* be another shipment from knit2purl2 on its way ...

Greener Grass

Now that I know it's out of print, this is the pattern book I absolutely must have:

Jo Sharp Hand Knitting Collection: Number Two

I love the Bridget Cardigan, despite its resemblance to the sweater I just made. I like it better!

It doesn't seem to be available anywhere, so if anyone ever runs across a copy (or has one to spare) I would love it if you could buy it for me. (I'll reimburse you, obviously!)

I just checked to see if coveting knitting books you can't have was one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Apparently not, but I'm sure there's something sinful about it just the same.

Ravelry

So I got my Ravelry invite yesterday (think of all the time I will save not obsessively checking the waitlist anymore!)

I have to say, my first reaction is that Ravelry meets all the needs I got a blog for in the first place -- a place to keep track of my projects, stash, project ideas etc. -- and much better than I can do.

But I've become attached to my blog and my many several loyal readers ... I still wish it were more conversational (LiveJournal-ish, but I can't see making a switch now. (Does anyone know if any of the other blog sites offer a feature where you can answer posts right at the blog and the responses get emailed to the posters?)

I also sometimes wish I used this blog/had another blog to work out things I'm thinking about other subjects -- city schools and public education, my parents getting old, books I'm (not) reading. Some people weave that in seamlessly with their knitting, but I'm always so tired and rushed by the time I'm posting that it's all I can do to get out my knitting updates.

Anyway, I'm Hilary at Ravelry ... I haven't figured out how interacting with other people works yet. But I am sure that I will be able to use up all my stash now that I can see how everyone else is using their yarn. Ha ha ha ha.

Here is a horrible picture of my baby sweater in progress. (Progress has stalled somewhat since getting home from vacation, what with the piles of un-put-away JUNK staring accusingly at me. Not to mention our 12-week free trial of the daily New York Times hanging over my head each day!) The picture of course does not capture the best part of the sweater, which is the incredible softness of the Blue Sky Organic Cotton. I am wondering, though, after seeing pretty blue buttons in Virgina Beach, and Kathy's beautiful blue and green baby sweater, if the border should be blue, not white. Could I dye the white Organic Cotton? with Kool-Ade? I have some time to think about it, so flood me with your opinions! :)

Socks on the Beach

One pair of Monkey Socks, done. Amazing what you can accomplish in a few long car rides! These kept me busy the whole way to Virginia Beach, where I finished them off. I didn't do a huge amount of knitting in Virginia because of, you know, the beach (and after seeing how long it is taking me to get the sand out of my daughter's swimsuits, I'm glad my knitting went nowhere near the actual beach!) We had absolutely perfect beach weather, and I actually did some reading for a change.

Auden entered the world of knitting in Virginia, courtesy of a Mushroom Knitter from her Aunt Kathy. She caught on right away, made several I-cord necklace thingies (Kathy and I quickly got her to appreciate the advantages of Socks That Rock over the cotton yarn the mushroom came with - it's never too early to create a yarn addiction!) and is already bugging me to teach her to "knit with needles." Personally, I love the Mushroom. It is a version of spool knitting, which I had never done, but I find very soothing and addicting. I had to stop myself from picking it up and knitting on it after she went to bed at night!


I got started on my baby sweater and made some serious progress on the way home. I'll try to post a picture soon, because I need advice on the border.

There was also one quick trip to the delightful Ewe Knits where I picked up a new (to me, anyway) sock yarn, ShiBui.
It's much more vibrant than it looks in the picture ... I guess one of these days I should learn how to tone my photos, *sigh*. The color is called "Wasabi" and it has a beautiful spectrum of greens.

Monkey Socks details:

Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight, color: Fire on the Mountain. Less than one skein.
Pattern: Monkey Socks, from Knitty.
Needles: Susan Bates 1s and 2s
Modifications: Picot Edge, from January One. I knit the edge and the toes on 1s and the rest on 2s. I decreased one more time before kitchenering the toes. I think if I did these again I might do a different heel and toes. The heel in particular looks strange to me, kind of poofy, though that mostly disappears when they're on. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this pattern!

Knittin' in the Car

You'll just have to imagine that there are cherry trees and Great Lakes and U.S.-Canadian borders (not to mention Niagara Falls and the giant SkyWheel!) out the window. I am not organized enough to knit AND take pictures en route.

My Monkey Socks kept me happily occupied most of the way from Rochester to Frankfort, Michigan, including one very slow border crossing. I didn't knit so much there, or on the way back, but they're coming along nicely. I ripped back the first one and am doing them both on 2s ... and I'm doing the full 6 repeats. I figure with the picot edge they will be shorter than the originals anyway. Hopefully I won't run out of yarn, or they'll have different color toes.

Speaking of yarn, I almost but didn't *quite* make it to the yarn store in Glen Arbor, home of the inimitable Cherry Republic. I know where it is for next time, though! I had already made a prophylactic stop at Knit A Round, a very nice yarn shop in Ann Arbor. It was just a few blocks away from our Red Roof Inn, so how could I not go? And then they had Koigu on sale, so how could I not buy some? :)

They also had Claudia's Handpainted sock yarn, which I got to to fondle for the first time in person (mmmm!) and lots of Bearfoot Mountain Colors (Mountain Colors Bearfoot?), also very lovely. But I was in a hurry, so the Koigu had to do.

A few Michigan cherry-picking pictures to prove I wasn't just knitting in the driveway:

Best. Teacher. Ever.

A little handspun prettiness to tide everyone over until my return, courtesy of my daughter's preschool teacher (who happens to have gone to high school with my husband, because it is a teeny tiny world.) This has been waiting patiently to be photographed, but now that I know she might actually be reading this blog, I figured I'd better post it. :)

She might not be thrilled that I did – an early effort, according to her, but since I've never spun anything in my life, totally impressive to me. SO soft. And beautiful muted colors – this photo doesn't do it justice. It's silk, wool and something else, and will make something lovely and warm, I just don't yet know what. It will be good fall knitting, maybe when I need something to comfort me after my baby disappears into the not-so-reassuring clutches of the city school district. :)

Seriously, she is an AMAZING teacher, in addition to being a spinner and knitter. If you know someone in Rochester looking for a great preschool, let me know.

I'm not yet sure if there will be any yarn stores on this trip. I tossed out the possibility of stopping at one in Ann Arbor and Will seemed amenable. He seems to have accepted the concept of a yarn store as an essential stop – like the gas station and Tim Horton's. (We're cutting through Canada.) There's also a great shoe store in Ann Arbor, though ... If I don't make it to a yarn store this week, I know there's one in Virginia Beach waiting for me at the end of the month.

Until next time! I'll bring chocolate-covered cherries for everyone. :)

Hilary See, Hilary Do

or ... just trying to keep up with Kathy! I swear, someone at the Knitter's Guild recommended Monkey Socks to me before I knew everyone else in the World on the Web was making them. Not that it matters, there is not a lot of crossover between my Real Life friends and acquaintances and the knitting blog world.

It's my first picot edge, and I'm suitably charmed by it. It doesn't seem very stretchy though ... is it going to stay up on my leg? I did the whole edge on 1s and was planning on going back up to 2s for the rest of the sock, but I stayed on 1s and now I'm not sure about that. It is very dense, and I don't think I love that. (The pattern is written for 2s, and I knit tightly anyway.)

So I think I'll start the second sock and do it on 2s for comparison (instead of ripping it out and then wondering if I liked it the first way better, which is what I was about to do.) What's a project without a little angst and indecision?

These are my car knitting for the trip to Michigan. We leave Friday, so I won't be posting for a while.

Happy Fourth to those celebrating!

Well ...

the stripey sweater is done. I was obsessed with finishing it, but couldn't bear to post pictures of it, which is why I haven't posted for so long. Plus I think there was a week or so where I didn't knit anything. *shock*

I still think this sweater is not the most attractive thing I've ever made. And I am bummed (this is like that "the food was terrible and the portions were too small" joke) that I didn't make it bigger. It is actually a little longer than it looks in this picture – I think it will fit through this school year, but not much longer than that. Which would be just one of those things, except that a) I didn't measure him and b) I deliberately made the body and arms shorter because the last Rowan pattern I made him was way too long! Stupid.

I learned a number of things from this project, including:

1. Teeny tiny little Debbie Bliss skeins leave you with many, many, MANY ends to weave in.

2. "Designing" on the fly is harder than it looks, and may not turn out as expected. Designing the sleeves separately from the body is not a good idea, especially with a raglan pattern.

3. I should not pick projects based solely on finding yarn on sale for a good price.

And many other things, I'm sure. The collar is not at all how I planned it to look, but I think it's kind of cute anyway ... and it just fits over his head. (Note for future projects: adding lining to collar makes it even less stretchy.)

Pattern: More or less loosely based on "Will" from Rowan Junior. (Modifications: added stripes, didn't make zipper, changed collar opening, made ribbing on collar shorter. The picture of just the collar is actually the closest of what this sweater was SUPPOSED to look like. But I didn't have enough yarn to make it solid.)

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Wool/Cotton. (Which I loved! but not the teeny tiny skeins.)

I'm just so glad it's done. On to fun, fulfilling projects!

In other creative efforts today, I helped with the "Swimming Pool Cake" for Auden's 5th birthday party at the Y today. (Pool party ... there's a theme here. Also Hello Kitty.) I made the little people and some of the other little stuff, like the beach towel and flip-flops, which you can't really see in this picture. Will made the cake, which was delicious (of course) and turned it into a pool. The party was a success, I think, and even though the Y was doing all the work, we're wiped out.

My Littlest Graduate

No knitting here at all, just shameless cute-kid promotion. That's Auden at her "Moving Up Ceremony" from pre-school today. Kindergarten, here we come.

The reason there's no knitting picture is I am making such a godawful mess of the ugly striped sweater. I believe have done everything possible wrong on the first sleeve I'm working on – increased in the wrong places, increased the wrong way, used random numbers of stitches etc. But I am so un-enthused about this sweater that I can't bear to rip it out, because I might never go back. (Plus, it's a ribbed sleeve, the mistakes aren't going to show, are they? That's my story ...)

I need to start something fun, and then use it to reward myself for progress on the ugly striped sweater. (Kathy's idea.) I am thinking Monkey socks in my new STR or Koigu (It was on sale! I couldn't help it!).

Back to real life ...

Our New Babies

This is what we've been spending most of our time watching lately.

It's a repeat performance by this robin family, which first nested in the rafters of our back porch several years ago, then came back this summer and built a second-floor nest on top of the old one. For weeks we've been watching Mrs. Robin sit in near-frozen stillness, waiting and waiting. Then suddenly on Sunday -- just afterthe chicks hatched at Auden's preschool and the falcons hatched atop Kodak Tower -- two babies! Babies are in the air, and it's endlessly fascinating.

From the ground, we mostly see their beaks, ALWAYS open, poking out of the nest like pointy flower buds. For several days I hardly saw them at all and never saw the mother. Then just when I was sure they were all dead, they poked out again (and just when I was sure they had been abandoned and were going to die, the mother appeared too. Overdramatic, me? I believe my husband was prompted to take these beautiful pictures in part by the need to prove to me that the mother was in fact around.:)

There's another great picture on Will's website and I believe they will be in the paper tomorrow too. Our babies! *sniff*

The kids love watching them. So do I. The babies seem to spend absolutely every waking moment with their beaks wide open, hoping food will magically drop in. I watched one fall asleep today. It was waiting with its beak open, pointing straight up toward the sky, then its neck drooped, beak slowly closing, head plopping over the side of the nest.

They are scrawny and strange-looking, but already much bigger than when we first saw them. There is ruffling of wings and jostling for position, soon they will be taking their first flights and then ... gone. And we'll hope for a return visit later in the summer, and next year, if we're lucky. I can't explain how heart-warming and moving I find it to have them back – to have another mother bringing up her babies in this house. We have a new baby oak tree in the front yard too, growing roots and growing up, and it all just makes this feel like home.

The part of me that still means where-I-grew-up when I say "my house"? This is the other part.