What WAS I thinking??

Christmas knitting in full swing.  I don't have a spreadsheet as does the Yarn Harlot.  I have a list of items in my head and periodically I review what remains to be knit and I panic a bit.  I've been wrapping the hand knit items as I finish them.

I intended to take photos of the finished objects before wrapping.  However, I remembered this AFTER wrapping a retro mohair scarf and beret. Here's the box.

Use your imagination to see the multidirectional diagonal scarf knit out of LaGran mohair in three colors including Spanish Olive!  And a mohair tam/beret to match.

I remembered to take photo of the Francie socks before wrapping them!  I fell in love with the sole-arch shaping.

I started these socks in September, then I fell ill and was hospitalized for 8 days in October.  Lots of down time, but no energy or mental fortitude to work on knitting that required following a pattern.

Although it is now December, apparently my brain fog continues.  The first sock I knit on size 2.25mm needles--my go-to size for all socks.  For some unknown reason, I made the second sock on size 2.5 mm needles.  The socks are now two different sizes. 

What WAS I thinking? 

Brain Fog!

Starting All Over Again

How time flies!!  I've been neglecting my blog for four years and it's time to get back into the blog-o-sphere.  I find that Facebook is not sufficient for saying much of import.  Not that I have much of import to say!  But, at least here I can expand on my knitting projects!

The Yarn Harlot admitted to having at least four unfinished projects.  I have been going her one better by proclaiming all of my unfinished projects on Facebook, one at a time! 
I made a knitter's vow after Christmas  that I will finish all of my incomplete projects before starting a new one!!  Thus, far I have almost stuck to my promise.  Here is where I stand.

1.  Sipsy's Folly.  Designed by Amy Detjen.  Available on Craftsy.  
Excuse for not completing: 1.  Charted the poetry for the inside hem five times, and knit the poetic hem three times.  I'm not doing it again.  I have to live with the fact that the letters are upside down.  2. The hip/waist shaping is too dramatic for me, a woman of a certain age.  I have ripped back to the hem and am starting anew.  

Where it stands now:  In time out, once again. 

2.  Lingerie Socks.  I promised these socks to a friend for her birthday, back in August 2013.  I finished them after taking my vow on February 14, 2014.  I think the socks are beautiful, but they remained incomplete for a long time due to: 1) intervening Christmas knitting; 2) the need to carry a pattern with me at all times.  Status: friend loves them.

3.  Lengthen beanie made for Daughter #1 years ago.  Status: Done!!  Excuses for delay: 1) needed to find matching yarn in my yarn bins; 2) Ripped out two different extensions that were unsatisfactory. 3) acceptable to Daughter #1. Status: The Black and Blue corrugated ribbing was a successs!  Ears warm.

4.  Make Shawl for church auction, Exception #1.   For this, I needed to violate my vow; I started this as a new project post-vow taking.  I know, Knitter's Vows are not really worth much, but I felt this was for a good cause.  At least I used yarn already in my stash.  I whipped this up as quickly as possible and it sold for $60 at the fundraising auction!! Yarn used: Noro Taiyo sock yarn.  Pattern: Simple Yet Effective Shawl, with applied lace edging.  

5.  Socks for purse knitting, Exception #2.  Ok, I admit it.  I made another exception to my vow.  Purse knitting.  Easy knitting for which no pattern is needed and that fits in my purse.  Knitting I can do at a stop sign, while waiting in line at the grocery store, when I need to really pay attention to the friend with whom I am talking.  I can't carry my incomplete projects with me at all times, so I need a bit of a project for my purse.  Besides, I need to replenish my sock drawer.  Status: happily living in my purse.

6.  My Wonderful Mittens.  I started these Winter Wonder Mittens before Christmas, using Fresco yarn., made of wool, alpaca and angora!!!  The ultimate in soft warmth.  Excuses for not completing: 1) Intervening Christmas knitting.  2) Finishing Lingerie socks, above.  3) not really NEEDED.  4) items for me tend to go to the bottom of the heap.  Status: Knitting completed.   Now I am looking for supple white leather to put on the palms so that I don't wear holes in them due to driving, etc.  This is Wisconsin, people, mittens are not worn just for show!!

7.  Heirloom Blanket.  I don't recall when I started this blanket, but I fell in love with the motif, swatched it, and started knitting with Kauni yarn in long lengths of purple to blue to green.  I am still deeply in love with the project.  But, it has been marinating in the knitting bag for a LONG time.  Excuses for not completing: 1) This is a 5.5ft by 4ft blanket people!! 2)  I'm using size 3 needles!!  3)  The Kauni yarn does not pull evenly and gets stuck on my fingers, for pity sake!!  The knitting is a slog.  Status: since taking my vow I have knit 12-14" and it is now about 4 ft long.  

8--????.  More incomplete projects.  I actually have more incomplete projects, but I am too exhausted from having confessed my knitterly sins and from the daunting task ahead of me.  I'm not sure when I can ever start a new project.  Clearly, being bored and thinking that I can just whip out a small project without affecting progress on larger projects is misguided and has landed me in an ever deepening abyss of Unfinished Projects!

Stay tuned for more, unless this also makes you depressed!!

Struggling towards monogamy

I have been trying, for about 20 years now, to establish a clear pattern of monogamy--in my knitting, that is. [Although sometimes my dear husband seems like he is trying to drive me away from monogamy--such as when he puts dirty dishes on the countertop above the empty dishwasher, and when he........But that's another story.]

Back to knitting monogamy. I'm afraid that I have a limited attention span for any particular project. I need different projects for different situations.

For example, I like to have an easy project that I can do in the dark of movie theaters, in the back pew at church, while at stop signs, etc. Typically this is a simple sock project.
Like his one. The fake cables on the side are two twisted stitches, side by side. The yarn is Trekking. This projects fits in a zip lock sandwich bag in my purse.

Then, I usually have a repair project or two. Such as duplicate stitching my mittens where they have worn out on the palms and inner thumbs, from driving I believe. Or such as this little breach of knitting know-how.
My dad is diabetic; his feet and lower legs swell during the day.I made him these socks, using the short row garter stitch heel as shown in the bottom. Lucy Neatby advocates using more than half of the total stitches for the heel. Usually her advice is excellent, but in this case it failed. The resulting sock had a heel big enough for an elephant with swollen feet. My dad's heels don't swell--his ankles, foot and calves swell. These socks bulged out over his shoes, creating other problems. He wore the socks as a dutiful father, but they were clearly uncomfortable. So I simply cut off the cuff, frogged the foot and heel and made my typical flap heel on half the stitches. The new (upper) sock fits perfectly. Now I need to do the same thing to the lower sock.

I also love to have a lace project in the works. To give me a little challenge. For when I have alone time to focus only on my knitting. My current challenge is Sivia Harding's Shetland Garden Faroese Shawl. Challenge is an understatement. This shawl brought me sobbing to my knees last week!!! But, I'm over that now.

You can't see in this photo, but I added a lifeline on row 151. (If you click to embiggen you can see the blue lifeline.) My bravado of knitting without a safety net failed me. No mistakes thus far, and I'm 2/3 of the way through the last pattern segment!!

Usually I have at least one present for someone on my needles. I long to knit cute little things for children, such as grandchildren. Alas, my dear husband and I do not have any grandkids, despite having children aged 42 and 32. The 17 year old has no business reproducing yet! So, we've "adopted" some surrogate grandkids: two little boys aged 6 and 4. The 6 year old started kindergarten this year, so in August I decided to make him a shawl collared cardigan for school. Well, Christmas knitting intervened and I never finished it.
Here are the back, two fronts and most of one sleeve. The project has languished because the ribbed pattern makes the pieces look as if they will never fit a real human. I'm hoping blocking will solve the problem. (don't we all!! ) The pattern is from Sirdar's Sweet Pea Knits. I've been hoping that this 6 year does not grow in girth this year!! I've added this project to my car knitting so that I can finish it for Valentine's day!

But, I would throw over all of these projects to concentrate solely and monogamously on this one:

It's for me. I thought I had lost it. I searched the house from top to bottom four times--in secret because if Dear Husband or Dear Daughters caught me searching for a lost project, I would be subject to long recriminating lectures about organization, too many projects at once, etc., etc., etc. Finally, when a pair of mittens fell to the closet floor I noticed this army green zipped bag from Knitting Camp. I opened it--my long lost love, waiting for me!!! A bag of discontinued Tiur. Two partially finished sleeves! A Dale of Norway yoke necked pullover for me. In my favorite color. In my favorite yarn. It is calling me. It has seduced me.

I am longing to commit myself exclusively to this seductive garment. The solid color body is worked in a knit and purl pattern stitch to hold my wandering attention until I get to the multi colored yoke.

However, the other projects are closer to being finished. They have entertained and occupied my knitting time and are close to fruition. Should I toss them aside for true love? How fickle am I?? Should I finish the socks for my dad, and the shawl for my mother and the cardigan for the little boy?? Or, should I selfishly focus only on myself and my heart's desire??

I am caught in a web of anguish of my own creation. If I were a monogamous knitter, I never would have started so many projects. I would have gone sensibly from one to the next, only after complete exploration of each relationship.

Ah well, now I need to clean the kitchen, mop the floor and put away folded wash. I'll think about the situation.....

On the Road with Cat Bordhi

The week before Easter found us (me, hubby and daughter #2 age 16) driving around Indiana, Michigan and Ohio looking at colleges for daughter #2. Daughter remained very positive all throughout the trip, even though she kept checking her "facebook" to check the progress of her friends who were on vacation in Florida, California, the Virgin Islands, Barbados and other warm, sunny, sandy locations. We, on the other hand, had cold and chilly temps and rain. Only one day of sun. But, I digress from knitting.

Fortunately, hubby is the anxious sort and likes to drive. So, I was able to knit. Although I can make the standard sock recipe blindfolded (flap or short row heel) I thought I should stretch my knitting wings and try Cat Bordhi's gusset-less sock from her new book "New Pathways for Sock Knitters." I had a lot of car knitting hours and I wanted a project that was small but interesting.

I chose the cedar architecture and modified the slipped stitch version because I had only one color of sock yarn with me on the trip.

I decided to do slip stitches in the rows after the most intense colors ended--the bright pink, green and blue. Given the color way, I thought that the result was little spring flowers. Although, this may have been a mere fantasy dream of mine, since there were no little spring flowers poking up their heads in Michigan, Indiana OR Ohio!
The sock ended up being quite long because of the placement of the increases for the ankle of the sock. I put a pin where I began the increases--there are four increases every 20 rows!
The number and placement of the increases did not work for my foot and ankle. I have a narrow ankle and heel. Therefore, if you look closely at this photo, you can see the gap of excess fabric in the sock just above my heel. In the second sock, I plan to delay the increases, to put them closer together, and to delete the last row of increases. I also plan to concentrate the increases on the instep of the sock, rather than distributing them around the circumference of the entire sock. We'll see if that works better.
I've not made star toes before, preferring to do a toe that is shaped to my actual foot. However, the star toe on these socks is rather pretty, I thought!
Here's the bottom of the foot flap that is used for the shaping of foot. The blue stripe below the ankle shows how wide the sock is before you begin to shape on the bottom of the foot. This pattern was fun to do as a diversion from the standard recipe. But, it has fit problems for my feet. I'm not sure that I will do this particular architecture again, unless I was making some type of pattern that I did not want to interrupt when working the heel.

Daughter #1 saw the sock and decided that she liked it. It fit her foot better than mine. So, I will make the second sock for her and try another of Cat's patterns for me. Now I know the fitting pitfalls to anticipate and maybe the second pair will be better--for me. The Coriolis architecture is calling!

Daughter #2 and I are happy to be home. Today is her first day back at school. I'm sure she will come home with lots of stories about friends who had relaxing vacations in sunny and attractive locations!!

There Will Be Yarn

Ok, what have I been doing during my long absence from my blog? Follow me through my life since Dec. 11. Don't despair, there will be yarn--just not much of it. It seemed that I was knitting constantly--but I didn't achieve much.

First, my husband retired , ending a 42 year career as a college professor. As a true professor/scientist, however, he continues to go to work everyday. His last class lecture was in mid December. But, he can always find tasks to occupy him in his office, which he gets to keep until he dies or the department needs it. Our 16-year old daughter and I attended the last lecture and presented him with flowers at the end. A true bittersweet moment for him. He loves teaching. (I knit during his last lecture.)
Next, I attended numerous concerts. Just as the Yarn Harlot documented, mothers love their children's concerts. I have attended dozens of concerts of dear daughter #2. She is terrified of solo performances, but loves being part of a chorus. So much so that she participates in four choirs. Here in the US, or at least here in Wisconsin, schools seem to have December concerts without mention of Christmas or Christmas trees or presents, etc. Although we feel festive in attending the concert, the concert is distinctly non-sectarian to the core. We had the all-of-the-school choirs winter concert and the jazz band and choir concert. Here's daughter #2 in a small choir of 10 girls, five juniors and five seniors, who sing wonderful madrigal type music. (I knit during the concert, except when my daughter was performing!)
Daughter #1 is tool old for school concerts, but she demanded attention due to the slow, slow progress of her scuzzy condo renovation. It has been three steps forward and two steps back since September. One major step back is that the dryer is 3/4" too wide to fit in the alloted space in the kitchen. Now it holds court, unplugged, in the second bedroom which is the storeroom/office. (I couldn't knit when helping with the condo--I only have two hands!! Rats!!)
Back to another concert with daughter #2, this time in our church where appropriate seasonal music (for Christmas type holidays) was sung. However, also sung were festival of lights type music and Solstice type of music. We are ecumenical. (I couldn't bring myself to knit during the service, even though I had project in my purse calling to me!!)
We also struggled through low temperatures (below 0 F) and lots of snow. Daughter #2, an avid photographer, donned warm clothing on the coldest day to document ice on every pine needle. (I knit while she was outside. I wasn't stupid enough to frostbite my cheeks out there!!)
And then Christmas was upon us. Who decorated the tree all by herself?? Who did all the shopping for presents all by herself?? Who did all the grocery shopping and cooking and baking all by herself?? Who wasn't able to knit while doing all the above activities?? You guess.

The holiday was wonderful. My parents spent a few days with us. My mother does the most beautiful present wrapping, while recycling. She takes old Christmas cards, cuts out the drawings, and tapes them to plainly wrapped packages. The result is spectacular!!


Yes, I knit a number of Christmas presents, including two Wallaby sweaters for our surrogate grand children, a pair of socks for my mother, a six foot long scarf for daughter #1 made out of cobweb lace yarn and size 2 needles, a hat and mittens for a friend, a hat and mittens for daughter #2, a scarf for my father and a basket of scarves and mittens for friends and other family to choose from.
And, I put together a 1,000 piece jig-saw puzzle. I am now the only family member who observes tradition by putting together a jig-saw puzzle. I can't abandon the tradition. It used to be a way for family members to communicate, to laugh and catch up on the year. Daughter #2 helped out periodically, offering "new eyes" to the pieces that just didn't seem to fit anywhere. And, as usual, the empty spots were filled at the end even though I swore that the company failed to pack two essential pieces!!!
Then, my Fiber Arts Group, held a service project day during which we cut and sewed 106 hats for cold children's heads!! One of our group member has orchestrated the making of 10,000 hats in the past few years! She is a force of nature. We were swept in for only one day.
Our local knitters' guild has set a goal of making 500 items to donate to various local charities. January was "baby sweater" month, so I made an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket. I started with some self-striping worsted weight yarn that did not stripe, and quickly ran out. I switched to white Red Heart yarn. The charities require yarn that can be machine washed and dried. My changes to the standard pattern were two: 1) use an I-cord bind off and 2) pick up stitches along the cuffs of the sleeves to extend the sleeves to the wrist. (Check out our charity blog at http://mkgckc.blogspot.com!
I gave up on the socks I was making, using a pattern definitely NOT appropriate for self striping yarn.
I experimented with my my fave--Lucy Neatby's mermaid socks pattern. This pattern enhances the allure of self striping yarn. Much, much better. I frogged the ugly sock and made another matching mermaid sock. Success. Finally something for myself.
Now, I've been catching up with requests made at Christmas time. My dad finally realized that hand made socks are great for the feet of diabetics. So, he requested another pair (the first pair I made for him were made 4 years ago; he finally got around to wearing them!!). Daughter #1 didn't find anything in the basket that she wanted for Christmas, so she selected some yarn and has ordered socks. Daughter #2 decided that full, hand made wool socks were perfect to wear in the fake-Ugg boots she got for Christmas. So, she also, requested a pair of socks.

Christmas knitting fall out will last to mid-February I figure, when I will finally start a project for myself!! What oh what shall I make???

A little of this and a little of that

I've not been blogging much lately as you may have noticed. The end of the summer has turned me into an isolationist. How did the summer come to such a precipitous ending? It was just June and now it is simply September. My mind is still back in June, when possibilities are endless, when the sweet summer smell convinces you that all is within reach. And suddenly, September springs on you from its hiding spot--evenings are shorter, the heat of August dissipates and the projects planned in June are embarrassingly incomplete.

In my defense, I plead a rush of family activity. I attended my 40th high school class reunion in mid August and all of a sudden school planning stared me in the face. Trips to Kohl's, Target, Macy's, back to Kohl's and two more trips to Target. My 16 year old had a hard time deciding what to buy--from folders and note books to tops, shoes and T-shirts. Unfortunately, she doesn't yet have her independent driving license so I have to accompany her on each and every indecisive trip.

Daughter #1 purchased a scuzzy condo earlier in the summer. She knew that a lot of work would be required to turn the disgusting place into something habitable, but she vastly underestimated the amount of work necessary. This wasn't her fault--she is short on cash, she bought a condo built in the late 1930's, in an up and coming location, that was cheap because it needed work--a lot of work. She had the eyes of youth and promise and saw through the scuzz to something beautiful. I (mother that I am) saw the scuzz and saw a mountain of work. It has been the entire Himalaya range of work. We are trying to do it ourselves. All of us are complete neophytes at ripping out carpet and installing a bamboo floor; at patching rotting concrete and plaster and painting over; at determining whether the wiring is good or rotten; at every possible task required!!!

Maybe this has something to do with my magnificent lack of good taste in planning an Elizabeth Zimmerman baby sweater for a new baby in my husband's department at the University. I decided to work from my stash--and I didn't have much good in washable baby yarn. I didn't have enough of any color to make an entire sweater. But, I held up some baby blue, some baby yellow, some white ------and some avocado green. Oh, I know, avocado green just doesn't go with the first three colors. But, I thought it might be funky, cool and creative. (note, I am a child of the 60's and 70's--decades of terrible taste in color and style). The yarn was fingering weight and I wanted to finish this little sweater fast, so I doubled the yarn. I had faith in EZ--nothing done in her style could possibly fail. Right?? Wrong!
The result?? An inflexible, ugly, ugly little thing, but I plugged on. I finished the first sleeve.

Finishing the sleeve didn't help. Both of my daughters told me the sweater was "just ugly, Mom". I stopped. Finally, I realized that I knew it was ugly from the get-go. I went back to the stash and found some pink yarn I purchased 17 years ago for daughter #2. I never finished that sweater. So, the pink yarn became:

Earlier in September I dug out the Dale sweater I started 18 months ago for my husband. I stopped and put the thing in the back of the closet when I became dissatisfied with how the lighter yarn showed through when I twisted it so that the carry wouldn't be too long. I had been trying not to carry more than three stitches.


Ugly, ugly, ugly. Something needed to change. Then the light dawned. At Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp she and Joyce Williams displayed some of their projects for their new book on Armenian knitting. I recognized my Norwegian sweater for what it was--an example of Armenian knitting where the floating yarn is "trapped" every few stitches. The result is a tweed-y texture. Now I felt better; I had used an Armenian technique for a scandinavian sweater. Why not return to a scandinavian technique of long floats?? So I frogged....

And I re-knit.

As you can see I did some trapping when the carries were about 7 stitches long. Much, much better.

Maybe I'll actually finish the sweater for this Christmas!! Two years after I "gave" him the idea of the sweater for Christmas!

The socks I knit for my Sockapalooza sock pal, inspired me to knit a similar pair for myself. Because I wear my home made socks year round, I need something suitable for summer. I made these short socks out of a cotton/wool blend using my favorite pattern of all time--Feather and Fan from Socks, Socks, socks. The snug fit, the cute little scallop on the cuff--perfect!

OK, a success. I decided to start another pair of socks for myself for the approaching fall. I like the self striping yarn, but I get bored with stockinette stitch. And, I just finished Feather and fan. I decided to do something new. How about Canal du Midi from Knitting on the Road?? Sure, let's go to France!
Next time, I'll go to France with a solid color yarn. The wonderful patterning of the travelling stitches is not shown off by the striping yarn. The stripes of the yarn are blurred by the traveling stitches, and the traveling stitches lose their definition due to the stripes.

Oh well, I'll make the second sock. The socks are for me and I like the pattern and the yarn.

Knitting is kind of like life these days--I take two steps forward, then one or two steps back with each project....

Hope your projects are perfect the first time!!