Sara + h

in a nutshell

I fell off the posting wagon for awhile there, didn't I?  For those of you who keep up with me on Flickr most of this will be old news.  For those of you who don't, here's the last two weeks in a nutshell.

Sunday before this last, I finished my Feather and Fan scarf.  I flew through the first ball of yarn in a day and a half.  The second ball took significantly longer.  The mindlessness of the pattern went from "pleasant" to "chore" pretty quickly.  I was relieved to be done with it when I was.  Even so, it turned out nicely.  Don't you think?

Last Tuesday, Dan left for Mexico for four days.  The trip was work related and fully half of his time away was spent getting there and back, so I wasn't jealous.  And he returned baring gifts; jewelry and some very fine tequila.  Yep.  He's a keeper.

While Dan was away, my Mom came to visit.  She not only helped us cope with Papa's absence, she kept us one or two clicks above simply surviving the experience and she left us with cookies.  She's also a keeper...even though she can be a bit of a nag sometimes.

Before Dan left, Lola developed a cough.  No fever.  No other symptoms.  Just a cough.  A really wretched cough, but one that didn't prevent her from going or wanting to go to school.  After seven days though, I decided a visit to the doctor was in order.  I was right, too.  Yes.  She has pneumonia.  Again.  She's had a case annually since she was two, which is alarming in and of itself, but twice in ten months?  The child has the crappiest lung Chi ever.  Excuse me while I go have a shot of tequila.  Not really...but the thought had crossed my mind.

a little feather and fan

As alluring as the title may sound (it does sound titillating, don't you think?), I'm talking about knitting and not about anything you would have seen Sally Rand perform at the 1933 World's Fair.  Sorry if that disappoints.  (I'm speaking to those of my readers who somehow stumbled upon me with a search for "up skirt pics."  Clearly they are disappointed with my content.)

Just as everyone seemed to be picking up their knitting needles again after a warm weather hiatus, I was putting mine down.  Since early September my needles have lain dormant and contentedly so.  Their clickety-click was replaced by the hum of my sewing machine's motor.  In the last few weeks though, my hands, really my whole self, have gotten twitchy without any yarn running through my fingers.

On Friday I placed an order so that I could get started on some holiday sock knitting but with that yarn's arrival not likely until the end of this week at the earliest, I began casting about for something else to cast on.   I settled on some Hempathy I've had sitting around since way back when (no, I still haven't written up that pattern) and the soothing mindlessness of Feather and Fan.   Together they've proved to be just what my fingers yearned for and I should have a finished scarf to show you sometime this week.  Oh, the joy of a quick knit.

anniversary socks

Pattern :: Anniversary Socks by Nancy Bush from Favorite Socks
Yarn :: Knit Picks Gloss in Cocoa, 70% Merino Wool, 30% Silk

I could say that the knitting of these socks was in honor of this anniversary but it wouldn't be true.   The timing works though.  Kind of.  But no.  There weren't any anniversaries in mind when I cast on.

I've been on a Favorite Socks jag (either Embossed Leaves or another pair of Uptown Boots Socks for myself are up next) and these were the socks I wanted to knit most the first time I flipped through its pages.  I waited to start a pair though because looking at them, they seemed as though they'd require mindful knitting, something for which I've not been up to lately.   While they're not a brainless knit, I found the socks not to be the mental challenge I anticipated.   A chart would've been nice (the written instructions were irritating at first) but the pattern is quite intuitive and easily memorize-able within a few repeats.   I'd even go so far as to say that these would make a good first foray into lace and cables.  They're also a quick knit owning to the fact that only half of the sock is patterned from cuff to toe.  The rest is a breeze of stockinette.

These pictures were all taken during our brief visit to my Mom's place up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (say "hey" to  da  U.P today, eh)  I hope to have more pictures from that trip up sometime in the next week.  It's such a beautiful landscape.  Remote waters and woods.

late, as usual

When I first read about One in Ten, the auction of handmade things to help pay a portion of Eireann's mother's medical bills, I immediately wanted to donate something, immediately thought of socks, and immediately was afraid to commit to something I might not be able to finish.  My little fear of commitment kept me from contacting Eireann but I continued to hold the thought in the back of my mind.

When we left for vacation several weeks ago, I only had the toe of one sock (that I've yet to show you) left to knit and no clear idea for my next knitting project.  I threw a ball of hemp in my bag thinking that I might finally sit down and write up the pattern for this.  I also threw in a ball of sock yarn and the copy of Favorite Socks my mother-in-law had given me for my birthday.

I cast on for socks.  I finished the first one in two days (vacation knitting is such a luxury) but stalled a bit on the second (distracted by the very same vacation).  Even so, I'd gotten past the gusset before we left for home.

With the end it sight, I contacted Eireann to see if she was still accepting donations.  I should have foreseen that once word of the auction spread, she'd be flooded with offers and have to start saying no to stave off becoming overwhelmed.   I'm nearly always late to join and consequently nearly always miss my opportunity.  It's a lesson I've yet to learn.

In true lemonade-from-lemons fashion, I'm going to try and auction off these socks here and then forward the money to Eireann.  I'm still working out how to make an auction work in this format but I'll come up with something in the next several days.  If you're interested in socks and supporting a good cause visit here on the 19th.  If you're interested in the cause but not the socks, the One in Ten auction goes live on the same date.

come out, come out wherever you are!

If anyone local would like to join me and a few friends while we knit in public this afternoon, we'll be at Patrick McGovern's (225 W. 7th Street) in downtown St. Paul from about 1:30 p.m. to ?.  We'll be the ones with the yarn and the knitting needles.

 

monica(s)

pattern :: Monica from the Spring 2007 issue of Knitty
yarn ::   Shine Sport by Knit Picks in Apricot & Butter and Aquamarine & Green Apple

The knitting preferences of designers usually become apparent the more familiar you become with their patterns.  Debbie Bliss, for example, prefers to knit flat and piece garments together.  How else can you account for putting a seam up the back of every (or very nearly every) hat she's designed?  I suspect the same might be true of Christine Schwender, the designer of Monica, but having never seen or knit any other of her patterns, I can't say for sure.  Knitting things flat, however, is not my preference.  I vastly prefer knitting in the round and have what some might consider a phobia about seaming knitted pieces.  I'm slowly working through that issue but even so, after reading through Monica once I saw no really compelling reason not to knit it in the round.  So, that's what I did.

I knit Monica in both a size 4 (for Astrid) and a size 6 (for Lola) and simply began by casting on twice the number of stitches that the pattern called for.  The only other modification I made to the body of each sweater was to increase the length which I found to be on the short side, especially for my lanky five year old.

For the ruffle, I again cast on double the number of stitches called for.  I'll admit that knitting the ruffle this way did make for some long and rather boring rows, but I don't think it would have been much less boring to knit it in two pieces.

I chose to join the ruffle and body together using the main color partly for aesthetics and partly to cope with a shortage of yarn.  Because the pattern called for one skein of each color for sizes 2-6 , it was a bit of a guessing game substituting a yarn with a different yardage.  The operative question was how much of the Cotton Fleece was left over after finishing each size.  I guessed right for the size 4 but not for the size 6.  If you're smarter than me, you'll buy more yarn than you think you'll need and return what you don't use.

On Lola's sweater, the second of the two I knit, I altered the ruffle by casting on 3x the number of stitches specified for the body and decreased by knitting *k2tog, k1* across rather than *k2tog* across.  My primary reason for doing this wasn't because I was worried about running out of yarn (although I should have been) but rather because I wanted to decrease the weight of the sweater.  Even though I shortened the straps by an inch on Astrid's sweater, the bulk of it stretched them out to the degree that the top of the sweater dropped below her nipples, a rather risque look for a two year old (or anyone, really).  Since the ruffle accounted for nearly a third of the sweater's weight and was a chore to knit, I decided to fiddle with it.  I should've just shortened the straps more since upon comparison, I prefer the look of the fuller, heavier ruffle.  Still, it looks pretty sweet on.

the solution

More on the whole sweater in the next day or so.

one yard shy of a sweater

Maybe two, but definitely no more than two.

This is what happens when the first three sizes of a pattern call for one skein of the main color and one skein of the contrasting color, each skein being 190 yards, and you're substituting a yarn that comes in 110 yard balls and once you start knitting (after, of course, you've already purchased your yarn...from an online store) you decide to modify the pattern in such a way that you're using more of the main color than the pattern originally calls for.

There was much swearing going on in my house at midnight last night.  Under my breath so as not wake anyone but still, a lot of swearing.  The air in the living room had a blue tinge to it.

Now I have to decide whether to

a. suck it up and order another ball of yarn, hoping that the dye lot isn't too different
b. embrace my idiocy and go with the quirky solution of finishing the two remaining inches of shoulder strap with the contrasting color
c.  finish the sweater with something in my stash or from one of my local yarns stores that's a close match

-OR-

d.  come up with a better solution than the three I've already thought of (I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any).

The good news in all of this?  I knit a gauge swatch.  I've apparently learned that lesson.  I'm hoping I learn to buy enough yarn sometime soon.

seeing patterns

A simple idea... time spent thinking... time spent knitting... a little more thinking and knitting... writing...  Hoping the sum of all this will equal something folks are willing to pay a few dollars for.  We'll see.  I'll be looking for a few test knitters in the not too distant future.  I'll let you know when the time comes.

caps for a wee pilot

pattern:: pilot cap by Little Turtle Knits
yarn:: Premiere by Classic Elite

I knit these for a new babe named Elliot.  I'd only intended to knit him one cap but since I was using a different weight yarn than the pattern calls for and I didn't knit a gauge swatch (told you I wouldn't remember), I wound up knitting two.  The blue cap is for now.  The brown cap should fit him in the fall.

This was my first time knitting one of these pilot caps despite having purchased the pattern about two years ago, before I'd knit even a garter stitch scarf.  It's a simple pattern (anyone who's turned the heel of a sock could figure out something similar, I'm sure) but it's got a few ingenious details.

First is the rolled edge along the sides of the cap that are created by slipping the last three stitches of every row.  I'm sure the technique isn't revolutionary but  it's clever and I'd never encountered it before.  Second was the seamless i-cord that runs up one side, across the front, and down the other side of the cap.   The sides are achieved by slipping stitches as I described and the front by decreasing until there are three stitches on each needle and then knitting an applied i-cord.  Once you reach the three stitches on the left hand needle, you graft them together with the stitches on the right to create a seamless join.  Again, not complex but still quite clever.

Things I didn't like about the pattern?  The instructions have you M1 stitch in the middle of the set up row for the increases.  I did so when I knit the first hat but ultimately didn't like the way it looked.  For the second hat I simply cast on an extra stitch.  Also, there are mistakes in the instructions for the decreases.  Like I said though, I purchased the pattern two years ago.  I would imagine that the mistakes don't exist anymore.  At least, I would hope so especially given the fact that I checked the site and didn't find any errata.  Has anyone out there purchased this pattern more recently than two years ago?  I'd love to compare my version to a more recent one.