Guess what I'm doing!

At the end of August, my friend Rachel and I spent a weekend in west Michigan and attended the Michigan Fiber Festival.

I bought a spindle!



Madder-dyed Coopworth



My first ball of singles



I had a terrible sore throat and was weak with a fever, and had no resistance against the wily spinner/vendor from Handspun by Stefania. He asked me if I was interested in a demonstration and before I knew it, I was carrying this beautiful spindle and a ball of red/pink wool out of the booth.

I also somehow ended up with this gorgeously smooshy skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Peru.

Alpaca, merino, and silk. Purrrrrr...

Colorway is "In The Navy" and I intend it to become a Gretel, and there's enough yarn in this skein for me to make a second hat or even a matching neckwarmer or mittens.

In the meantime, I'm loving the change of seasons. Fall and the start of a new school year always make me feel like a fresh start, and maybe that feeling will even inspire me to blog more!

Did it!

Cast on yesterday during coffee time, finished i-cord ties last night around 9pm.

Given to expectant mommy, along with the Baby Mine sweater and a box of diapers this morning!

Here's the little heart on the back -- isn't it adorable?

Baby Mine and a hat

So I finished up the Baby Mine sweater. What a quick, cute little knit!

It looks a lot more complicated than it really is.

I decided at the very last minute to knit a bonnet out of the rest of the yarn.

It's Elizabeth Zimmerman's Heart Hat. By last minute, I mean that I decided last night to knit it, I cast on this morning, and I hope to give it to our friend tomorrow. morning.

So I'm going to stop typing and start knitting. Wish me luck!

What have I been doing?

Working and making merry, mostly. But also knitting.

Apparently after my last post (from mid-November, sheesh, what have I been doing?) I was about to bind-off and block my Kiri shawlette. Well, here she is, unblocked:
Drying on the blocking board:

And finished!You may want to note that the decorations changed from fall finery in the first pic to Christmas greenery in the last. I have nothing to say about that.

Work proceeds slowly on the Rugged Vest. I have to say, I'm not really loving working with this wool. And I love wool. But this is some crunchy wool. It ought to be a handsome vest, though, if I ever knit more than an inch per week.

And here are my Nana's anklets. This project really should have taken 2 weeks, 3 at the most. But really. I hit a snag and immediately the project goes on the back burner. The snag, in this case, is that I'm trying to get a pair of anklets out of one skein of Koigu. So in my eagerness to save yarn, I started the toe of the first a little early. Nana and I have about the same size feet, even so, when I tried it on and it was a tad uncomfortable in the toe area, I thought, "It's very possible that her feet are, in fact, smaller than mine by just enough for this to feel okay for her." I clung to that until she tried it on herself and confirmed that yes, it was too small. Then it sat in my knitting bag until I finally, weeks later, picked out the grafting and ripped back the toe to just before the increases started. First toe is now being re-knit on dpns, second sock (on magic loop) is currently just past the heel turn. Please, please, please the yarn will last until both socks are done.

These, however, were a quick and delightful little knit. A little-girl-sized version of the Easy Legwarmers from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, a Christmas gift for my niece.

This is a beret for my mom, kind of a gag gift since I intend to put a pom-pom on top. I'm going to knit one for Rose, too.For some reason, Mom and Rose have a running joke about pom-poms. I can't explain it, because I don't understand it.

And last but not least, Baby Mine by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. A sweet little lace baby cardigan for a new girl, soon to be born to a dear friend. I love this sweater, and the pattern is very well written. I'm not crazy about the yarn. It's a cotton and acrylic blend, so it's quite inelastic, and it also happens to be very splitty. However, it's knitting up nicely, and the fabric feels good, and it's machine washable and dryable, so that is also a good thing.

So that's what I've been doing, knitting-wise! I hope I've learned my lesson: if I post more often, I won't have to upload umpteen pics and write and edit for an hour!

I think she likes it.

My darling Rose, modeling her blue hat. It's about time I got around to it. She's had her little blue mittens and scarf for a year and a half (although the scarf is AWOL at the moment, grr). She'd been very patient with me during my pregnancy-induced aversion to knitting and the exhaustion that followed.

I wish the speckling had come out more random, but I think I know why it happened, and when I knit another, I think it'll turn out better. Yes, despite the wicked k3togs, I'm probably going to knit this pattern again. We both like it a lot.

Some actual knitting content

...since this is, after all, a knitblog. Mostly.

I'm working on the Brioche Helmet Hat from Interweave Knits Fall 2005 for Rose. It's such a sweet little hat, and once I finally got going on it, it seemed to fly along. Until last night, but more on that later.

It's knit with two strands of sport or DK weight yarn held together, and you change one of the strands to a different color after an inch or so to get the speckled effect. I wish my speckles were more random, but I think that lighter stripe happened because I was not sure I wanted to change from solid blue. So I threaded a lifeline in case I didn't like the color change and tried a few rows without cutting either strand of dark blue. Brioche stitch is not difficult, but, for me, it was nearly impossible (no, it was impossible) to get the doubled strands back on the needle after frogging a row or two on my first attempts at this hat. I didn't even want to face that fiasco again, so a lifeline was necessary. When I decided I liked the color change, I snipped the unused strand of dark blue and took out the lifeline. Apparently, something about having that other strand attached affected how I held the doubled strands and made the light blue stand out more. You can totally see where I made that change. I've decided I'm fine with it. It's a design element, yeah, that's the ticket.

So last night I made it to the decrease rounds. The pattern tells you to knit 3 together. The 3 stitches it's referring to are a stitch with a yarnover straddling it, a regular stitch, and another stitch with a yarnover straddling it. That's how brioche stitch works. There's a lot of slipped stitches with yarnovers over them, and it makes for a very cushy, thick fabric. Very nice for a warm hat. But the problem is, with these straddling stitches and the fact that the yarn is held doubled, for the k3tog, you have to actually get your needle through and knit 10 strands of yarn. Can you imaging knitting 10 together? It's terrible. It was killing my hands. I ended up having to use a crochet hook to pull the yarn through and replace it on the other needle.

Otherwise, I love this pattern and now that I've figured out the crochet hook trick, I'll be likely to make it again.

Here's another story. I ordered some mediumweight Socks That Rock to make something that I can't share quite yet. I wanted the Narikama colorway, but they sent me the Nyame colorway. It's absolutely gorgeous, but it's not what I wanted. I e-mailed them, and got a very quick response apologizing, letting me know that the Narikama was already in the mail, and telling me I could keep the Nyame! I am so amazed, and excited! Blue Moon Fiber Arts rocks!

7 Quick Takes Friday

With thanks again to Jen, for letting me participate.

-1-

I started a hat yesterday. Twice. I have to start it a third time this morning. Here's to hoping it goes better today.

-2-

I have to keep a notepad nearby to jot down any thoughts throughout the week that I may use for 7 Quick Takes Friday. My mind seems to go absolutely blank when I sit down in front of the computer to write. The same thing happens on Facebook when I go to fill out my profile information. "Interests? What are my interests? Do I have any?" Ridiculous.

-3-

Blogger won't remember me. When I check the remember me box, I still have to enter my e-mail and password the next time I come back to make a post or check my blogs. Google remembers me just fine, so what's wrong with Blogger? If anyone has any insight, please share.

-4-

I've been following Flylady for about 3 years now, on and off. Lately it's been off, what with the expected disruptions to our routine that a newborn brought. But now that we're settling into a new normal around the house, I've been re-incorporating some of her ideas back into my housekeeping. I don't follow to the letter, but I can really live with the idea that a little bit of work every day is better than killing yourself cleaning like a crazy woman a couple times a month.

-5-

I want to strongly recommend this book: The Green Beauty Guide (here's a good review). Even if you're not heavily into organic buying (I'm not) and even if you just check it out of the library (I did, but I'm going to buy it soon), it has some very important information about how the beauty items you use can affect your health. If you are a parent, I must even more strongly recommend reading it.

-6-

Our little downtown bakery closed earlier this fall, and I'm still sad about it. They were so wonderful there, they knew us by name, and their breads were simply beautiful. Someone has since taken over who doesn't even bake, they have all their breads and pastries shipped in. I went in once since this new management and haven't gone back. It smelled like smoke in there, cigarette smoke! and he didn't even know what pumpernickel bread was! I said, "Brown bread, dark brown bread." "This is brown," he said, motioning to the wheat bread. Wheat! Wheat is nothing like pumpernickel and you run a bakery? Argh!

-7-

The good news is, we kept in touch with the lovely woman who made the cakes there. We've always gotten Rose's birthday cakes from that bakery, and when we learned they were closing, we made sure we asked Amy for her number. She is going to make Rose a blue cake. Rose has been hoping for a blue cake since right after her last birthday (her favorite color is blue). So it's going to be blue frosting with four white roses and some holly. I'm so glad.

7 Quick Takes

I finished a Christmas gift this morning.

***

I finished this a few weeks ago. Can you guess what it is? Is it a Batty Bat?

Nope, it's a cute little hat!

Unfortunately, everytime I've put it on him, it's made his eczema flare up. :( Maybe his skin will clear up by next winter, and he can wear it then. There's certainly enough room for growth.

***

It's a snow day today. I love being married to a teacher. We're supposed to go carolling downtown tonight, but if things don't clear up, well, I wouldn't complain if we got to have a night at home.

***

Rose had her very first Christmas program last night.

Her class did great! They recited a little piece about Mary and Joseph looking for a place to stay, and then they sang a song about Santa.

***

Some geek jokes:

How can you tell that a mathematician is an extrovert? When he talks to you, he looks at your shoes and not his own.

A neutron walks into a bar and asks the bartender, “How much for a martini?” The bartender says, “For you? No charge.”

If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the precipitate.

***

I've been feeling very nostalgic lately. I don't know if it's the season, or if it's because I've reconnected with some good friends on Facebook that I never thought I'd be able to find again, but I've been thinking a lot about how I used to be, how my life was, and how my life has turned out. It's a strange sensation, not unpleasant, but strange.

***

I always seem to forget in December that there's another month and more activities to follow after the holidays. In the past it hasn't been such a big deal. But Rose's birthday is on January 3, and having the family over is something that I don't like to throw together at the last minute. Somehow this year I have to start getting ready for that sooner.

Green Beret, take two

Well, it worked... I knitted it using the small instructions instead of the large, and I went down a needle size. The fabric of the other hat was a little too drapey; I think this one will be more winter-proof. It fits much better, although I wish the top was roomier. I'm not going to push my luck, though!

I guess I was a little surprised that the first version of this hat was so very huge, only because I was getting 18 stitches to 4 inches (compared with the pattern's 17 stitches). I either miscounted or followed the directions wrong. I also have a 22 1/2 inch head, so I thought that knitting the large at a slightly tighter gauge would fit perfectly. Oh well. [ETA: No, Jo, I am not going to grow a bigger head :) my current one is big enough!]
Peg, thanks for your suggestions. I've seen at least one of your berets; that's what made me want to knit this one. I love this color, too. The yarn is called Kathmandu Aran, and it's a wool-silk-cashmere blend. It was a little worse for wear after being frogged, but not so badly that you can tell in the finished product.

Next post: Kim steeks!