No one at the HSS3 seems all that excited about showing pictures this time - I have no idea why. Maybe they are all on Ravelry looking at other stuff. Anyway, I am happy to report that I am working on King's Cross Socks. I am doing them in Lane Cervinia Calzetteria in a color to go with my pal's Hogwart's House. I Ravelled the designer and she did name them after the station, so I figure that is a good connection - they really do look like train tracks. I'm going to try to get a 9 3/4 in there...
These socks are a breeze so far. Well, the part I have knit twice and am about to start a third time is a breeze. 12 rows of 2 by 2 rib, and then you do a little massive cabling for one round, and then another 12 rows of rib. Moreover, the cabling manages to look like you did it twice, when actually you only did it once. Very clever!
I think I have isolated the problem - the cables cross over 4 stitches, and virtually the whole row is cabled at once, so instead of going way down in needles size as one might normally do for rib, one uses a larger needle than could be believed. At least, this one here seems to need to. In my case this is a whomping US size 2 - I normally use nothing bigger than a zero for sock ribbing, and have been known to use much smaller. Well, alas and alack! I am up to the size mentioned in the pattern! This usually only happens when it is like, size 13. But this is hardly the pattern's fault; it is a very nice pattern, and I love the designer's ravatar. Little feathery t-rex there...
When there is more of this to show, it shall be shown. I could not be bothered to photograph the wool. Especially since I should probably make it black and white so if my partner happens to be scanning blogs and trying desperately to figure out who I am, she will not guess... But when there is actually something to show that seems like it will fit...
I am working on the Toddler Moc-A-Socs for a three-soon year old boy. I am also using Calzetteria for that. The first one of that ALSO came too small - I think stress is getting to me and making me knit tighter or something. Well, and the child does take after his mother an have wide feet... This is a pattern you pay for and I think I got my money's worth - it is very clear, and the one question I had was answered by the designer within 24 hours of my sending her a Ravelry message. Can't ask for better service than that! There were one or two spots I got momentarily stuck on and then unstuck myself from with no major to-do. I am planning the cuff part in some nice green Kroy I have had marinating in my stash for a while.
Something else I am thinking about... The spring pattern book Make it Modern has a cute, cute sweater called Feather and Fan Cardigan. I may use the yarn I frogged from the two dollar sweater to knit it up in- a wool single, just a bit tweedy, in a green. I can wear it over my burgundy Henley and look like Gryffindor and Slytherin are fighting it out on my person.
I may be stuck thinking of colors in terms of Hogwarts Houses for life, people. I still think of SU every time I see International Orange, and it has been over 25 years since I had to wash that color acrylic paint out of my hair...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Misfit Cocoa Swap
A little while ago Grace, of Lovincomfortknits.blogspot.com , ran a small swap for people who had missed out on the cocoa swap. It was only ten people. I think they were all regular posters of Grace's, and, well, Grace is one of my favoritest people, so I threw my hat in the ring. Even though I was still knitting furiously on my Hogwarts sock, I figured that since I didn't have to actually knit anything for this one, I could fit it in too.
Well, my terrifically sweet swap partner, Alana, ( stringsandpurls.blogspot.com ) has already long since posted what I sent her, but I have been sitting on the pictures of what she sent me, which is totally unfair, since she sent me one of the best swap boxes ever. So here it is, finally, in almost all its glory.
First, everything in it came beautifully wrapped. I did not have the patience to grab the camera before I started wildly unwrapping everything. This may give you some idea of the pretty paper, and the frenzy...
Of course, the paper was covering terrific stuff. As a whole, it looked like a page from some upscale giftshop catalog - this would clearly have been the deluxe box, suitable for CEO's and VERY important clients...
It included some very terrific knitting goodies, some of which I had specifically asked for - like the fantastic pin-and-needle cushion. I use a lot of multiple zero needles, and I need a place to park them - replacing them is starting to run into serious numbers! I have lusted after one of these since the first time I saw one in the Patternworks catalog - back when Patternworks was in NY. Can't be much more than ten or twelve years that I was slobbering, but now I have one!
My measuring tapes run for the same black hole everyone else's do, so I really appreciated the fancy covered one (She did that herself too, folks,) and she also made the stitch markers. You can't appreciate how gorgeous they are. I have slipped them on earwires and worn them as earrings already. I tried to take a picture of them on my ears, but it turns out my ear and neck did not do them justice, and, well, what if any of you had been eating when you saw the picture...I want to be kind to my friends, after all. So you will have to take my word on how nicely they look on my ears until I get a better photographer than I to minimize the neck and maximize the sparkly goodness.
The needles - I have been aching to try those Harmony double points, and they did not disappoint. I am not a huge fan of wood needles, or bamboo needles - they are not usually quick enough for me. These, however? Just as perfect as everyone says. I am planning to get them in a few other sizes...
And the little cardboard tubes...you have no idea how I heart the little cardboard tubes. I was WANTING them, precioussss. They work exactly the way it says they do in the catalog, and have already been useful. They make the sock sitting around on its needles look very well-dressed, too - note illustration sock in photo.
Of course, it was a cocoa swap, so there was plenty of edible goodness. The Dove bar wrapper looks a little funny because...well... we all know what happens to good chocolate when a knitter's box is opened, right? Do I really need to explain? But there were also chocolate covered potato chips, which vanished in a FLASH. Yum. Not even the box was left. And there were FOUR kinds of hot cocoa! Yummy warmness till spring! (I am mean, and do not share! : - ) )
But, of course, it was KNITTERS swapping cocoa - and what is sending anything to a knitter without the yarn? Alana is clearly psychic. I adore SWS and am always almost buying myself enough to do something. Almost, because I am very very cheap with myself over these things. I keep waiting for the day I will have 7 Michaels coupons and seven friends in the van with me, which is probably unrealistic as I don't think I have seven friends in this half of the state. I did, however, once buy myself the one very most gorgeous color, and make a pair of fingerless mitts from it. Guess which color it was?
That's right - the same color as the three skeins she sent me! *Faintsplat!*
And the sock yarn is all the very best colors for me! If I planned an entire wardrobe around the colors in this yarn I would be looking happy and healthy every single day till it all wore out and fell apart. In fact, maybe I should do that...
So, Although it has taken me a while to post it, I have to say that my swap partner did an amazing job! And she is fun to correspond with. In fact, I have to go send her some pics of something else right now.
Thanks, Grace!!!! You ran a fantastic swap!!!!
Well, my terrifically sweet swap partner, Alana, ( stringsandpurls.blogspot.com ) has already long since posted what I sent her, but I have been sitting on the pictures of what she sent me, which is totally unfair, since she sent me one of the best swap boxes ever. So here it is, finally, in almost all its glory.
First, everything in it came beautifully wrapped. I did not have the patience to grab the camera before I started wildly unwrapping everything. This may give you some idea of the pretty paper, and the frenzy...
Of course, the paper was covering terrific stuff. As a whole, it looked like a page from some upscale giftshop catalog - this would clearly have been the deluxe box, suitable for CEO's and VERY important clients...
It included some very terrific knitting goodies, some of which I had specifically asked for - like the fantastic pin-and-needle cushion. I use a lot of multiple zero needles, and I need a place to park them - replacing them is starting to run into serious numbers! I have lusted after one of these since the first time I saw one in the Patternworks catalog - back when Patternworks was in NY. Can't be much more than ten or twelve years that I was slobbering, but now I have one!
My measuring tapes run for the same black hole everyone else's do, so I really appreciated the fancy covered one (She did that herself too, folks,) and she also made the stitch markers. You can't appreciate how gorgeous they are. I have slipped them on earwires and worn them as earrings already. I tried to take a picture of them on my ears, but it turns out my ear and neck did not do them justice, and, well, what if any of you had been eating when you saw the picture...I want to be kind to my friends, after all. So you will have to take my word on how nicely they look on my ears until I get a better photographer than I to minimize the neck and maximize the sparkly goodness.
The needles - I have been aching to try those Harmony double points, and they did not disappoint. I am not a huge fan of wood needles, or bamboo needles - they are not usually quick enough for me. These, however? Just as perfect as everyone says. I am planning to get them in a few other sizes...
And the little cardboard tubes...you have no idea how I heart the little cardboard tubes. I was WANTING them, precioussss. They work exactly the way it says they do in the catalog, and have already been useful. They make the sock sitting around on its needles look very well-dressed, too - note illustration sock in photo.
Of course, it was a cocoa swap, so there was plenty of edible goodness. The Dove bar wrapper looks a little funny because...well... we all know what happens to good chocolate when a knitter's box is opened, right? Do I really need to explain? But there were also chocolate covered potato chips, which vanished in a FLASH. Yum. Not even the box was left. And there were FOUR kinds of hot cocoa! Yummy warmness till spring! (I am mean, and do not share! : - ) )
But, of course, it was KNITTERS swapping cocoa - and what is sending anything to a knitter without the yarn? Alana is clearly psychic. I adore SWS and am always almost buying myself enough to do something. Almost, because I am very very cheap with myself over these things. I keep waiting for the day I will have 7 Michaels coupons and seven friends in the van with me, which is probably unrealistic as I don't think I have seven friends in this half of the state. I did, however, once buy myself the one very most gorgeous color, and make a pair of fingerless mitts from it. Guess which color it was?
That's right - the same color as the three skeins she sent me! *Faintsplat!*
And the sock yarn is all the very best colors for me! If I planned an entire wardrobe around the colors in this yarn I would be looking happy and healthy every single day till it all wore out and fell apart. In fact, maybe I should do that...
So, Although it has taken me a while to post it, I have to say that my swap partner did an amazing job! And she is fun to correspond with. In fact, I have to go send her some pics of something else right now.
Thanks, Grace!!!! You ran a fantastic swap!!!!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Do you know these people?
If you are an Elannite, or, as Betsy calls us, an Elannimal, you probably know these people:
Baby has not knitted anything yet, but I maintain this is just because she's been too busy eating, pooping, and sleeping.
Baby has not knitted anything yet, but I maintain this is just because she's been too busy eating, pooping, and sleeping.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
LYS goes to hell
This is actually only partly about the LYS. It is also about my own stupidity, and also about that I have a user pic! Finally!
That is a Gryffin holding a ball of yarn. If you do not think it looks like a ball of yarn, then I invite you to argue with the Gryffin. Personally, if something with toenails like that tells me he is holding a ball of yarn I will believe it, even if that "Ball of Yarn" smells like Limburger cheese, but hey, your results may vary...
(Copyright free clipart by the way - I am totally pure on this one.)
Now about my own stupidity...I must remember that no matter how many times you walk past the sock yarn display in the local yarn store, New Yarn Will Not Appear Now if I were the sort of person who could multiply loaves and fishes, ok, maybe, but I am not. I am lucky if I can find what was there to begin with.
I must say that what was there to begin with was more than they had when I started knitting. There was some Regia Stretch, and some Trekking, and some Step, and one skein of Adirondack, and a bunch of Colinette...except that the Colinette, the salesgirl was honest enough to tell me, is really only enough to make a pair of socks if you make them short. Otherwise you need two balls. Well, it wasn't for me and I did not want to take chances.
I had intended to dye my own for this sock exigency, in fact, and dye I did. I had a partial skein of KP essentials BARE and I dyed it with purple Koolaide, and it almost worked...I should have used a little more water. I should not have added the turquoise. Well, I can always try to overdye it.
So then I put 8 packets of cherry in the water, and put a four ounce skein of yarn in. In the past, when there has been a lot of cherry and not so much yarn I have gotten a sort of burgundy. In this case, apparantly, I needed more than 8 packets. I got very nice red yarn. Electric red. NEON red, if there is such a thing. The person this yarn is for does not like bright colors. This is why I was in Smiley's yesterday. This is why I was in LYS today. I was seeking the perfect answer to a simple question.
It is far too late for the simple answer, which would have been to have ordered the yarn from my friend's favorite dyer.
Well, eventually I will make a decision. But I can tell you right now, the decision was not in favor of the Colinette.
I have to say, though, that this LYS is going to the dogs. Very Upscale store, very upscale clientele, for the most part, and very pricey yarns. Why are they letting them hang from hooks in the walls with strands hanging down from them? Why are they piling yarn in plastic bags here and there, instead of using the shelves I know used to be there? Why did it seem so DARK?
When I feel that something is messy people, believe me, it is long past time to do something about it...
That is a Gryffin holding a ball of yarn. If you do not think it looks like a ball of yarn, then I invite you to argue with the Gryffin. Personally, if something with toenails like that tells me he is holding a ball of yarn I will believe it, even if that "Ball of Yarn" smells like Limburger cheese, but hey, your results may vary...
(Copyright free clipart by the way - I am totally pure on this one.)
Now about my own stupidity...I must remember that no matter how many times you walk past the sock yarn display in the local yarn store, New Yarn Will Not Appear Now if I were the sort of person who could multiply loaves and fishes, ok, maybe, but I am not. I am lucky if I can find what was there to begin with.
I must say that what was there to begin with was more than they had when I started knitting. There was some Regia Stretch, and some Trekking, and some Step, and one skein of Adirondack, and a bunch of Colinette...except that the Colinette, the salesgirl was honest enough to tell me, is really only enough to make a pair of socks if you make them short. Otherwise you need two balls. Well, it wasn't for me and I did not want to take chances.
I had intended to dye my own for this sock exigency, in fact, and dye I did. I had a partial skein of KP essentials BARE and I dyed it with purple Koolaide, and it almost worked...I should have used a little more water. I should not have added the turquoise. Well, I can always try to overdye it.
So then I put 8 packets of cherry in the water, and put a four ounce skein of yarn in. In the past, when there has been a lot of cherry and not so much yarn I have gotten a sort of burgundy. In this case, apparantly, I needed more than 8 packets. I got very nice red yarn. Electric red. NEON red, if there is such a thing. The person this yarn is for does not like bright colors. This is why I was in Smiley's yesterday. This is why I was in LYS today. I was seeking the perfect answer to a simple question.
It is far too late for the simple answer, which would have been to have ordered the yarn from my friend's favorite dyer.
Well, eventually I will make a decision. But I can tell you right now, the decision was not in favor of the Colinette.
I have to say, though, that this LYS is going to the dogs. Very Upscale store, very upscale clientele, for the most part, and very pricey yarns. Why are they letting them hang from hooks in the walls with strands hanging down from them? Why are they piling yarn in plastic bags here and there, instead of using the shelves I know used to be there? Why did it seem so DARK?
When I feel that something is messy people, believe me, it is long past time to do something about it...
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Back at the spinning group.
This is National Spin More Month at Ravelry and perhaps elsewhere. I joined. This was easy, as I have had very little spinning the past few years and almost any spinning is MORE than I've been doing, so...
The meeting last night was really nice, and Many Wonderful Things were said about the shawl my mother made for me last spring. They all liked her taste in yarn, thought it was terrific and it is making my group's newsletter. WTG, Marmee!!!!
The much discussed Hermione socks are so much closer to seeing the light of day that if I really wanted to I could probably figure out exactly how many stitches I have left to do...Only I don't want to.
But I do want to go knit on them now!
So I am
The meeting last night was really nice, and Many Wonderful Things were said about the shawl my mother made for me last spring. They all liked her taste in yarn, thought it was terrific and it is making my group's newsletter. WTG, Marmee!!!!
The much discussed Hermione socks are so much closer to seeing the light of day that if I really wanted to I could probably figure out exactly how many stitches I have left to do...Only I don't want to.
But I do want to go knit on them now!
So I am
Monday, December 31, 2007
And so it is New Year's Eve...
New Year's Eve, and I thought I ought to share a thought or two....
I had no knitting resolutions last year, so I had none to break.
This year, I resolve to
put up one of my sock patterns here, which means I have to write it down,
and to
Put in Steady Progress on Mama Lorraine's shawl. I am sure she thinks she will never see it done. I would SOOO like to prove her wrong, in a nice way!
Best of luck to all of you,
Whatever you resolve to do.
I had no knitting resolutions last year, so I had none to break.
This year, I resolve to
put up one of my sock patterns here, which means I have to write it down,
and to
Put in Steady Progress on Mama Lorraine's shawl. I am sure she thinks she will never see it done. I would SOOO like to prove her wrong, in a nice way!
Best of luck to all of you,
Whatever you resolve to do.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Veteran's Day, observed
Yesterday was 11/11, the anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War One. (Which came beore World War Two, for all those of you who might not have been sure..., so,almost 100 years ago, but not quite.)It is a day on which we celebrate Veterans of all wars, and, to me, (I'm not exactly sure how the wording of the offical paperwork goes) of all times of "peace."
Because it fell on a Sunday, we are observing the holiday today, which, in America, of course means department store sales and sleeping late.
However, I would like to take this space and this moment to thank all Veterans, knitters and non-knitters alike, for their service.
I don't care if you did paperwork or crawled on the front line. I don't care if you were drafted and couldn't get to the border fast enough or enlisted of your own free will. And I am not the least bit surprised if you want to tell me that you hope there is never a need for another war again.
Veterans, after all, are not people who went out and caused a war. They are people who faught a war our country was already in, or served in peacetime as part of the military force which presumably and hopefully keeps other countries from looking at us as easy pickings. Either way, they served us.
Today is not hero's day, is not celebrities day, is not success day. Today is not just for people we traditionally think of, although they are certainly included.
Today is a day to honor all veterans, living and dead, wartime or peacetime, charming or obnoxious. It is a day for all veterans, whether they carried or carry Flintlocks or M-16's, horse reins or flight clipboards, walked a picket line or a deck, held a clipboard or a pen or a stethoscope or a purchase order.
So today, to all veterans, but if especially to any then especially to my knitting veteran friends, a salute from this civilian, and I hope from all who read this, and a deep and sincere thank you, from the bottom of my woolly little heart.
Because it fell on a Sunday, we are observing the holiday today, which, in America, of course means department store sales and sleeping late.
However, I would like to take this space and this moment to thank all Veterans, knitters and non-knitters alike, for their service.
I don't care if you did paperwork or crawled on the front line. I don't care if you were drafted and couldn't get to the border fast enough or enlisted of your own free will. And I am not the least bit surprised if you want to tell me that you hope there is never a need for another war again.
Veterans, after all, are not people who went out and caused a war. They are people who faught a war our country was already in, or served in peacetime as part of the military force which presumably and hopefully keeps other countries from looking at us as easy pickings. Either way, they served us.
Today is not hero's day, is not celebrities day, is not success day. Today is not just for people we traditionally think of, although they are certainly included.
Today is a day to honor all veterans, living and dead, wartime or peacetime, charming or obnoxious. It is a day for all veterans, whether they carried or carry Flintlocks or M-16's, horse reins or flight clipboards, walked a picket line or a deck, held a clipboard or a pen or a stethoscope or a purchase order.
So today, to all veterans, but if especially to any then especially to my knitting veteran friends, a salute from this civilian, and I hope from all who read this, and a deep and sincere thank you, from the bottom of my woolly little heart.
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