Wednesday, September 17, 2008

One of my WIPs

So here's the half-done first Garter Mitt. The project is similar to Ann Budd's wristwarmers from Weekend Knitting in the sideways construction with short rows, but Ysolda Teague adds an ingeniously constructed thumb. The pattern is written for sport weight yarn, but I wanted to use Jo's handspun so they would be in the same yarn as my scarf. The yarn is fingering weight, so I doubled it and I was getting pretty close to the pattern's gauge, but the resulting fabric was too dense, and using up the yarn too fast.

So I went up two needle sizes and the fabric was much nicer -- still firm enough to keep out wind and precipitation, but drapey enough to be comfortable. Unfortunately, the stitch count was now off, which I expected, but I didn't adjust for it enough (hand was too short, wrist/arm was too long). Frog! So the third time I was very careful and, except for having to tink and reknit the thumb a couple of times, it's worked out much better.

Have I mentioned how yummy this yarn is? The colors are so rich and deep, and the garter stitch makes it feel even smooshier and lovlier.

I've taken a break from the scarf to knit these up, since I don't know how much yarn I'll need. If I run out before the pair is finished, I'll rip back the scarf a little. It's plenty long already, so loosing a few inches won't hurt it.

I'm so glad the weather is cooling off and it will soon be time to wrap myself in wooly goodness!

Quote of the week, from Rose. She said to me yesterday morning, "It's Fall now!" I said, "Yes, Fall is coming soon." "No," she said, "Fall is when the children go back to school, and I'm going back to school today [after the weekend], so it's Fall today." :) According to Rose logic, we'll have Fall once a week until June.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Fall Startitis

It got cool for a couple of days and I got a pretty bad case (for me) of Startitis.

To wit:

One pair of Christine's Baby Booties for Jamie's baptism (nearly finished).

Mom made my nephew Noah's baptism outfit, and now Jamie is going to wear it. She told me she couldn't find the bonnet or booties, though. Luckily, we were gifted with a hanky bonnet, and, well, booties are never a problem for a crazy knitter! I love the pair Jo sent me so much I used the same pattern with some white yarn I had left over from Jamie's sweater.

I also started a pair of Garter Mitts. No photo since I've started over about four times to make various adjustments for gauge. Also since it's been raining and the light is lousy for picture taking anyway. I think I've finally figured out what needles and stitch count are going to work for the yarn I'm using, so there should be a photo or two in the next post.

I also bought enough yarn (and then some) for the Tangled Yoke Cardigan from IK Fall 2007.
Rachel and I attended Ewe-Nique Knits annual Fall sale and I promised myself I'd only buy yarn if I had an actual project in mind for it. I've known that I needed to knit this sweater since I first saw it a year ago, but I was waiting to start until I was wearing pre-pregnancy clothes again. Then to find all this Silky Wool on sale! The only thing keeping me from casting on is I have four projects on the needles, which is one more than I normally like to have. I can't wait (but I'm going to)!

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

My Big Girl

Rose started preschool yesterday.

She was so excited. We'd visited many times (the preschool is in the same building as our church offices) and she never wanted to leave after we peeked in. Finally, she was there to stay for the whole morning!

When we went in, her teacher asked if she'd like to paint. Boy howdy, you'd have thought she offered her a million chocolate chip cookies.



My last words to Rose as I left: "'Bye, baby. I love you."

Her last words to me? "'Bye, mommy. Have fun." No tears, no hesitation, no glance back, nothing. She was too busy painting.


When Andy and I went to take her home at noon, she didn't want to leave. After we had lunch, she was ready to go back. We had to tell her she had to wait until the next morning. I think she had a good time.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Oh my goodness

Two weird yarn-related items:


#1 The Bizarre Case of the Exploding Knitting Needle Old news, but who ever said I was on top of current events?


#2 Crocheted Mythbusters I can think of no better reason than this to pick up my crochet hook again. :D


And look, I've made it past the heel of my first Charade!

I may yet finish this pair of socks this year.