Lookee What I Found!

So, after frogging the plum sweater and despairing the loss of my mojo, I decided to organize the needles -- finally -- they've been a disaster since we moved.

While going through the stash box where most of the needles lived during the move, I found a WIP I had completely forgotten about. Completely! I must have started it about two years ago and put it aside goodness knows why.

So, I give you, The Tucson Ribbed T:

The pattern is Bob from the Spring '03 Knitty. I cannot for the life of me explain why it is I put this down. The pattern is simple, the outcome is a flattering, comfortable T (if the comments on Ravelry are any indication), and I really like the yarn I'm using. Guess this poor sweater was simply a victim of WIP-overload at some point. Perhaps I started it when I was going through a bout of startitis -- it strikes every once in a while.

Anyhoo, why "Tucson Ribbed T"?

Don't even know how long this one's been discontinued, but it ain't even on Yarndex. I do love the saguaro for the "t" on the label, tho.

So, I have a project, and so far it hasn't bitten me. I have split for the raglan decreases and almost finished the front. Just the back raglan and the sleeves left to knit, so this one should be done well before it's too warm to wear it.

And That's Just the Sock Yarn!

So, I've finally sat down and explored Ravelry and started inputting stuff. There are now 51 yarns in my stash (Ravelry link), and -- with a couple exceptions -- they're all sock yarns or other yarns destined to become socks. Oh my word! I haven't even started on the stuff out in the garage (which is a perfectly acceptable place to store yarn when you live in a dry climate). Don't worry, it's all in plastic tubs.

Anyhoo, I got this email from Knit Picks and decided I had to have this cardigan. Okay, so maybe I'm totally acclimated to life in the Southwest, but it seems strange to me that they are touting this as a warmer weather sweater but the yarns they're recommending are all worsted-weight wool or wool blends. Doesn't that seem a wee bit warm, even for cool spring evenings? Or am I really a child of the desert now?

Well, there's no way I'm making it in wool for my life here. And M nixed the idea of buying any new yarn for it when she found this

in the stash. It's somewhere near about 8 pounds of light worsted cotton.

So I swatched

and it looks like the gauge should be about right. I'll probably cast on later today or tomorrow.

What about project monogamy? Well, the Kimono Jacket now looks like this:

No, it doesn't really spend its days hanging around in the shrubbery, but it felt like taking in a little sun. And that would be why this little beauty is going into hibernation (though it's called estivation when it happens in the summer) until fall. There's just no way I could finish it before the weather got just too darn warm to wear it.

And then I must do something with these:

Many, many, many moons ago, I made us a scarf using Eros and 24K. Recently M wore it work, and a friend fell in love. So, these two balls are destined to become one for her, in her colors (red and black). It'll be a nice, mindless task that.

How Do You Handle Auditions?

Some knitblogger needs to take this and run with it:

Smooch Back At Ya

Well, I had a eureka moment over the first row of smooch (it's a six stitch repeat, not five stitches), though I still have no clue what the "one st on right needle" means. After that, I motored along on the back -- simple lace pattern, some waist shaping, and a lot of pink stockinette. At 17 sts and 24 rows to 4 inches, this thing isn't going to be a long project.

The front is done up to where it is split for the neck. Well, I had nearly finished the left side of the front neck and then had to frog the whole thing. I've decided this is one of the more poorly written patterns out there. I've figured out how I'm going to do the front neck, and it should at least look like the picture in the book.

I do have to admit I'm liking the fact that the neck and arm edges are left raw. The front neck is kept flatish with a slip stitch edging, and the arm holes are allowed to do that stockinette curl. No stitches to pick up!

When smooch is done, I get to start on this:M's school has a big fundraiser at the end of the month and part of the evening is an auction. This is our donation. We're hoping it is at least as popular as the hedgehog M made for last year's auction (it went for $100 -- yes $100 for a stuffed hedgehog!).

Then, I get to do something (guess what) with my Easter present:Yes, more Peaches & Creme in (left to right) 159, pink lilacs; 186 lemon-lime; 186 shades of green. We don't usually get each other big gifts for birthdays, holidays, etc, and this is just perfect (they're even Easter-ish colors). It will most likely, of course, all become dishcloths.

Crocus Blocks

[Sorry for the crappy picture. It's predicted to be gray and gloomy here all week.] The Crocus Tank is on the blocking board. I had to crack into ball #7 about 1/3 of the way into the armscyes on the front. M asked if I might need an 8th ball (remember, the pattern called for 6). I think I can probably make it with 7, though.

One comment about the pattern, however. On both the front and back directions, when you get to the neck shaping, it calls for working across the first shoulder, joining a new ball of yarn, binding off the center stitches, then working the other shoulder. From here you work the two shoulders at the same time. This works just fine for the back, but by the time you get to the front neck shaping, chances are you've already cracked into the last ball in the bag, right? And with June (which is wound around a cardboard center) you don't even have the option to work from both ends of a single ball. Don't pattern writers get this?

I should have had this blocked this weekend and finished last night, but M and I have embarked on a 14-day spring detox regimen (we were both feeling gross after the winter), and my body is still adjusting. By yesterday afternoon (day 3) I was weak and achy all over -- kinda like I had the flu only I didn't feel sick at all. Today I'm much better, and I predict by tomorrow I will feel fine. The tank should be done in time to be delivered on Thursday or Friday.

I'm off to take it easy for the day and maybe get some other knitting done. The Queen B has taking it easy down to a science:
Perhaps she'll give me lessons.

What a Difference a Week Makes

On the first day of Spring, you remember the views. Now Spring is springing (just ask my sinuses), and the views are much different.
THE VIEW showing greening fields and just a small remaining pile of very dirty snow.

Daffodils peeking their little leaves out through the piled leaves which have kept them warm all winter.

The first gently unfurling leaves of a hollyhock (uncovered for their closeup then quickly recovered for protection).

Some volunteer tulips -- I believe they are last Easter's tulips stuck in the garden when it was an overgrown mess last spring (I spent two consecutive weekends last fall ripping out unwanted vegetation, including some inkberry tubers bigger than my forearm) and forgotten about.

Something -- I'm guessing more daffodils -- growing beside the back steps. One of the joys of watching a new-to-you house in the spring is seeing just what grows where.

What aren't pictured here are all the irises I separated last fall (they hadn't been lifted in probaby 10 years) and replanted. Because of the very mild early winter, I do worry a little for them, though I see signs that some of them are sprouting, so there's hope. If not for the ones I planted, perhaps for the dozens of bulbs which spent the winter in cold storage in the shed (there were enough bulbs after I lifted them to plant six gardens).

And there are crocuses blooming from my needles.

I picked up an extra ball of yarn yesterday as I am now convinced it'll take more than the six balls the pattern calls for. I cracked into the fourth to finish the back, and this isn't one of those deep v-neck vests.

I also picked up some yarn for Mom while I was at WEBS yesterday. Since she's paying me back for it when I take it to her, it doesn't count, right? Besides, what are you supposed to do when your mother calls and says, "I got the WEBS sale flyer yesterday, can you get me some yarn?"

And the loom is moved!
Mom, those placemats may make the trip to Maine with us later this spring, really.

PS. What I ferried from the hotel to the shelter yesterday was nothing more harmful than linens. Though you never know what might be hidden in the middle of a large bag of clean sheets. Best not to ask too many questions....

Rainbow Socks

They're done, and they're great!

Pattern: Toe-up sock with magic cast-on, short-row heel, and a 2x2 rib on the top of the foot and up the leg. 64 stitches, leg and foot.
Yarn: Regia 4-ply Nation Color #5399, 2 balls
Needle: 40" #1 Addi Turbo, magic loop style, both at the same time

I do have to admit that I need to frog the bind off and redo it. I plan on using this method thanks to Grumperina. Of course, that obstacle did not stand in the way of starting these:
I needed something to knit at church yesterday. Yes, I knit in church. I also knit in class in college and graduate school (with the professor's permission, of course), and I knit in meetings when I can get away with it. I blame it on ADHD. If my hands aren't engaged in something, I can't pay attention. [BTW: I have asked the pastor (aka my wife) if she minds my knitting in church and she doesn't.]

Is the pattern obvious yet?
I've been wanting to make Jaywalkers for a while now, and they've finally come to the top of the pile. Yarn is Regia 4-ply Mini Ringel #5217, and I'm doing them both at the same time magic-loop style on the same Addi I used for the rainbow socks. I'm really loving the two socks at once thing. I'm also loving the fake yarn bras I appropriated from one of my mother's dolls; they are perfect for holding 50g balls of sock yarn.

Pupper wants to know why Mommy keeps putting all these socks on his couch and taking pictures of them.

Haulage and a New Project

Saturday I had to drop off Baby Surprises 5 & 6, and I got caught. There we are (M was with me -- the kiss of death), in a yarn store (okay, in what some term THE yarn store), and we just couldn't help ourselves. I want to send a special thanks to LA for pointing us to the new sock yarn in the warehouse.
Clockwise from upper left: Regia 4-ply Ringel Color #5047; Regia 4-ply Stretch Color #119; Regia 4-ply Mini Ringel Color #5219; Trekking XXL #90; RYC Classic Soft Lux #007 (enough for a jacket); Laines du Nord Dolly Baby #81 and 181 (for a hat); Regia 4-ply Mini Ringel Color #5220; Cascade Fixation #9843 and 6388 (I succumbed to my envy of M's pink socks); and Regia Stretch Crazy Color #115.

All except the Trekking and Fixation are closeouts, and as far as I can see, only the Soft Lux is on the website right now. They're a little backed up, so I would expect that the sock yarns will be up shortly, but if you're in the area and itching for sock yarn....

Since the Soft Lux and the Dolly Baby are for M and all the rest are sock yarns, I really don't feel too badly about breaking the "no new yarn" vow. Sock yarn doesn't count, right?

Of course, I also picked up this little beauty while I was there:
It's a tank in Nashua June, and it's a sample, which means store credit, which means money with which to buy more yarn (this will probably go to weaving projects, however). I cast on and have gotten this far:
The yarn is surprisingly soft and easy to work with. I was a little worried about the four thin plies in something without a lot of stretch or stickiness, but it really hasn't shown a tendency to split. The pattern is straightforward and easily memorized (the main lace panel has a 16-row repeat). I am a little worried about the amount of yarn it's going to take, however. The pattern calls for 6 balls for a medium. I'm about half an inch or less from finishing the first ball, and I have about 4 1/2" of the back done. I'm getting both stitch and row gauge (a miracle) in the textured rib, so I guess I'll have to trust that it'll work out. [Sorry about the washed-out color in the picture -- darn flash. It is a very soft sage green, but not quite that blah.]

We also made a little side trip to the library:
Clockwise from upper right: The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved by Sandor Ellix Katz (an exploration of our unhealthy relationship with food creation and the food economy); The Discomfort Zone by Jonathan Franzen (I like memoirs by people who know how to write and how not to take everything so seriously); Exit Strategy by Michelle Cromer and Remember Me by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen (both modern explorations of death and funeral customs and how they are changing -- no reason other than a fascination with ritual in general and M's professional interest in the funeral game); and Misquoting Jesus by Bart Ehrman (a lay introduction to New Testament textual criticism).

That should all keep us busy for a bit, no?

Right now there is a man in my basement cleaning my furnace and vacuuming the heating vents. The thumping and bumping in the walls is a little wierd, but it'll be so nice to have the dust gone.

They're Heeeeere!

Hooray! The FedEx truck came yesterday and dropped of these beauties. Pupper has been duly warned that even a contemplation of coming close to these with his teeth might result in his nice warm fur coat keeping someone else warm for the rest of the winter. Mommy is just very jacked at the utter loveliness of her new foot joy.

Pupper seems calmer to be spending his time alone in his kennel. I think he feels safe in there. And when he's in there, he knows we're not home so he doesn't have to worry about looking for us. You see, Pupper is deaf. Not completely deaf, but enough so that he doesn't hear us speaking to him, and he can't figure out where we are in the house by listening. For this reason, he gets nervous when he can't see us and starts looking around the house for us. I think it's when he can't find us that he gets scared and starts digging through the trash cans or chomping on shoes. If he's in his kennel, he knows he doesn't have to keep track of us and he can relax. Usually we come home to find him asleep in the kennel. And like I've said, he goes into the open kennel and naps in the mornings when I'm in the office.

PS. The second pink sock is done, and M is wearing them to school today. Now I hope to get these finished for me:
They're my first foray into two socks at the same time on one circ (I'm loving it), and only my second into toe-up socks (also loving knowing I can make them as long as I have yarn). The yarn is Regia 4-ply Nation Color in #5399; needle is an Addi Turbo 40" #1. Pattern is a very simple 2x2 rib on the top of the foot which will be carried up the calf. I'm about one color stripe away from the short row heel (they would be fine on me now, but M has these long narrow feet, so to make it possible for her to wear them, I have to make them a smidge too long for me).

I have to say I love the reaction these socks get when I knit on them in public. Knitters see the closed toe at the beginning and wonder what I'm doing or how I did it; non-knitters just can't get over the size of the stitches. After last night's Lenten Study/Art Appreciation lesson I was surrounded by people asking questions about the yarn, the pattern, the needles, and how the heck I could knit two socks at once and on only one needle. I just can't wait to have them done so I can wear them.

What I Did With My Snow Day -- by The K-Man

So, in the house we lived in when we first moved out here we had a wood stove. A very nice wood stove which was inset into a gorgeous (it's why we loved the house) stone fireplace and chimney. K-Man's favorite place in this house was as close to that wood stove as it was possible to get. It seemed he could not get warm enough. Now, we haven't such a luxury, though we have what may be the next best thing: forced hot air heat -- that means that there are these things in the walls and floor which blow hot air sometimes, and the kitty is addicted.

So, here's where K-Man spent much of the morning of the Valentine's Day Blizzard:

What you can't see (or maybe you can -- it's to the left of the bag) is that under the baker's rack where this bag (our paper recycling depository -- yesterday was dump day, so it's nearly empty) lives is one of the heating vents. Often Mr. K can be found worshiping at the altar of the baker's rack, but this pose was new.

Later (after we'd gotten the mail and finished the newspapers so the bag wasn't so empty), we found this:

What you may or may not be able to see is that he's leaning (with one "arm" on top, like it's a bar) on another heating vent behind a chair in the living room. It reminded me of this picture that I took of him shortly after we adopted him. I call it his "little man" pose.

What did Mommy do with her snow day? Mommy got cranking on this:

It's Fantine from French Girl Knits in Rowan Big Wool #31. Color is fairly true in the picture. It's a quick knit and quite warm. Poor M has had to doff her sweatshirt to try it on a few times today (it's for her). She keeps claiming it's too small, and I keep reminding her it's a little jacket-ette. We'll see when it's done what she thinks.

Christmas Present #1 - check!

Okay, it's a small thing, but sometimes you need little victories. And it is a Christmas gift ready for the giving.



Pattern: One skein toddler socks free with purchase from Plymouth
Yarn: Plymouth Yarns Jelli Beenz #217
Needles: US5 Bamboo (probably Crystal Palace)

Now, to get to work on the penguin sweater to go with.

Doesn't Everyone Freeze Their Yarn?

So, after "purchasing" for my favorite price (FREE) a green and brass baker's rack for the workroom (You gotta love small town D*U*M*Ps and their swap sheds -- the perfect bentwood rocker in my workshop was $5.00 in our previous town.) I set about reorganizing some yarn, and what should escape one of the tubs of wool but a moth. Ugh!

So, in a week, when we have the Sunday School over here for the annual picnic, and it gets hot and someone goes into the chest freezer anyone who knows us knows is where they will find the popsicles, they might get a bit of a surprise. Doesn't everyone keep their yarn in the freezer. I know at least one knitter who does. Alas, I do not believe that the damage is all that serious since this yarn was all stored in the same place in our old house and the same tub since being packed to move here, and not long before we moved I knit a felted stuffed hedgehog (yes, one of those) for my niece from some of that yarn and encountered no problems.

Of course, the rest of the workroom had to be sprayed down once again with lavender spray, so it's a little smelly in here. Good thing I like the smell of lavender.

So does Mr. K. And speaking of the beast, this is what happened when I tried to take a picture of the ribbing on my niece's penguin sweater:


All yarn and yarn accessories belong to the K-man. There are no exceptions, even for my dear (and irreplaceable) Brittany walnuts (yes, I realized I messed up the ribbing and will have to frog -- oh bother!):


Oh, well. We love him, and at least he isn't out on the streets doing 'nip and chasing the lady cats.