Slip, sliding away...

The time before Christmas is slip sliding away, faster than a speeding bullet! Although it seems that I have been knitting 24 hours a day, I don't seem to have made much progress. I enviously follow other knitting bloggers who seem to rack up finished sweaters, lace shawls, pairs of socks and afghans while I have struggled to finish a few hats. What do they do that I don't??
Actually, I've made three more hats of which I don't have photos. You see, I got this great idea for Christmas. I would make everyone patterned tams. I found a great pattern by a local knitter, Amy Anderson. I purchased lots of Cascade 220 and limited quantities of Noro, Mountain Colors, etc. and I cast on. My enthusiasm waned when both daughters proclaimed that they would never wear tams and those hats better not be for them. Don't you know, mom, that tams are not stylish! And, who ever looked good in a tam anyway.

At this point I changed course. I decided to knit hats, mittens and scarves that I WANTED TO KNIT. I have no specific recipients in mind. Rather, I will put all intems into one large wrapped box and people can select an item. Or not. They can reject all the items. I don't care. I will donate the remainders to Dulaan or the local homeless shelter. I will photograph all of hats for my scrapbook. If some of my family members end up with no Christmas present from me, tough for them! I'll give them a gift certificate to Wal-Mart!!! Ha! Ha! That will teach them!!!

Here's a hat I experimented with. It is a take off on a watch hat from Charlene Schurch's book Hat's On! I removed the ribbed "cuff" and substituted applied I-cord (in honor of the Elizabeth Zimmerman collection I had just seen!) While knitting the color pattern I thought, "What if I switched the foreground and background colors?" So, I did. Can you see? the effect wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it might be, but it's interesting--I guess.

I also decided to make my dad some mittens. The colors in this photo aren't true to life--in reality the colors are black, loden green, and a loden green/black twist--all Cascade 220. This is a pattern from Mostly Mittens, also by Charlene Schurch. My dad has wide hands, so I used worsted weight yarn rather than sport weight. Turns out, the mittens are 15" tall!!!! I think I'll felt them so that my dad's hands stay really, really warm! He is diabetic and has poor circulation. He also cut off the tips of two fingers 20 years ago while using his table saw. Felting the mittens for extra warmth will be just the thing!
My hat/mitten/scarf projects were interrupted by the birth of a baby in my husband's department. The mother is the only female professor in his (science) department, so I thought I'd make the baby a little sweater--the Elizabeth Zimmerman baby surprise sweater. I used Baby Ull and some decorative thread with little balls of fluff. the thread is not elastic at all and it was difficult to knit with--had to work at each stitch when holding the thread with the Baby Ull. !! I used applied I-cord for the edge. After washing and blocking it, I realized the neck opening is too tight. So, I will need to remove the I-cord from the neck and figure out something quick to enlarge the neck. Under all those folds of fat around baby necks, aren't the necks scrawny??

My Christmas knitting was also delayed by family crises, necessitating knitting. As you may recall, my 45 year old brother suffered a debilitating stroke in mid September. I finished his Aran sweater in time for his departure from the hospital but, his wife told me, he has not even tried it on. Don't know what's going on there. I've been walking his dog every day and transporting him to various appointments and work. He's not said anything. Oh well. He did comment that he is cold all the time. So, I knit him a warm grey wool scarf. It's very unexciting---although I used the brioche stitch for the first time. Maybe he will like the scarf. I'm sure that life is so overwhelming for him right now that the last thing he needs is to think about is trying on the aran sweater.

One of my sisters had neck surgery two weeks ago. She lives in colorado. She had some of the vertabrae fused and will be wearing a stiff brace for a while. So I knit her a multidirectional scarf using a space dyed LaGran mohair and a solid color of alpaca. I alternated the strands every other row in alternating triangles of the scarf to stretch the mohair. It turned out beautifully, I assure you, but somehow it got shipped to Denver before a photo was taken. I love this scarf pattern and have made it several times, always, it seems, with yarn that I need to stretch! Alternating rows of solid and multicolored mohair works beautifully.

Meanwhile, while not knitting, I have been slowly working on end of the semester assignments for my graduate courses. Which reminds me, I better get back to Digital Libraries!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to all, a bit belatedly, and happy knitting!

Elizabeth Zimmerman-ia

It's been two weeks but the event is fresh in my mind. On October 29 the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin inaugurated an exhibition about Elizabeth Zimmmerman and the Schoolhouse Press!! In attendance were Meg Swansen, Cheryl Oberle (www.cheryloberle.com), Amy Detjen, Lizbeth Upitis, Joyce Williams, Wendy Easton and about 300 knitters who basked in their brilliance. (I am using an Apple computer and, for some reason, cannot make links!! But, you can go to Amazon and look up books by these wonderful knitters and designers.) We also basked in the glory of the original items knit by the hands of EZ herself, notes and letters she wrote, items from her famous early Knitting Camps, and on and on. You can find the virutal exhibition at www.newschoolknittingexhibition.org.

It was fabulous to have EZ's knitting receive a very formal museum-like display. Although she is a guru of the knitting world and her knitting camps (now operated by Meg Swansen, Amy Detjen and Joyce Williams) annually "baptize" more of her followers, there has never been an exhibition with all these wonderful items in one spot.

Meg Swansen was her graceful and lovely self, reading from her mother's writings about purchasing their second (now famous) old one-room schoolhouse. I was able to sit next to Lizbeth Upitis herself and talk to her about her Latvian mittens and "my" knitting group in Barcelona.
On November 16, if you are close enough to Madison, you can come to knit in the gallery, surrounded by EZ's originals are hanging!!! I plan to be there working on an EZ pattern.

I'm late, I'm late, I'm late

OK, I finished my Socktoberfest socks within October, but didn't post them before November. Hope that doesn't disqualify me from whatever fame and glory I would have received with a timely post. I made these socks with Melenweit sock yarn using Lucy Neatby's Mermaid Sock pattern. I love how the diagonal pattern makes the socks look like mini entrelac.
I'm also late to post a Halloween photo of Daughter #2 carving her bat theme pumpkin. She decided she was too old (15) to trick or treat, but she loved carving the pumpkin and handing out candy!!
This next photo is crappy, I know. The photos with flash were just as bad as the photos without flash. It is ANOTHER FINISHED OBJECT!!!! It a completed cardigan for ME, the one I started about one year ago, using the now discontinued Sisik yarn. I am posting the lousy photo so that I can check another project off of my unfinished object list!!!! I've been wearing the cardigan for several weeks now and it is warm and comfy.

Yes, I'm making progress working through my seemingly unsurmountable pile of unfinished projects. Now, my mind and the house feel less cluttered. I can take a big knitterly sigh of fresh air, free from the pollution of moldy old projects!! I'm not completely done with my list...... the shaped shawl from Meg Swansen's lace book and the dale or norway for my husband. But, since I've made such good progress, I've started Christmas presents. Whoopee!!! More new projectys on the needles.

But, the most important completed project is in the last photo.
The completed Aran cardigan for my brother. He gets out of the hospital tomorrow!! Sweater was completed 10 days ago. The weather is warm, so he won't need to wear a coat over the sweater for his ride home. In case you haven't been following, my brother had a stroke a month ago. I pulled this unfinished cardigan from my unfinished object stash and got down to business. I started it for him as a Christmas present, FOUR years ago!! I couldn't believe it!! I hoped to knit him into good health by finishing the sweater. At least I've knit him out of the hospital. He still hasn't learned to walk without a walker and without great effort. But, he can move his legs into a lurching walk, with all muscles clenched tightly. He still can't see well, but he has clear sight for very short periods; thus, he hopes that his double vision will resolve at some point. He has very limited energy, but he is very, very excited to be going home. Welcome home, younger brother!!!

Socktoberfest

It is definitely fall here in Wisconsin. How can I tell?? Well, the sumac is turning brilliant red.

The farm markets are laden with pumpkins, squash,

and apples of all types, colors and sizes.
The islands in the mighty Mississippi are turning dry and brown,
and wool socks are starting to bloom on the mums!
Oh, no! Wait a minute! That's a Socktober fest sock entry placed strategically on the mums for maximum photographic effect. It's trying to compete with the photos displayed by the Knitting Iris.
Sock pattern "Mermaid" from Lucy Neatby's Cool Socks Warm Feet. I love the pattern and I love the yarn from Mellenweit!! This fall mermaid is anxiously awaiting a pair, but it will have to wait for a long time. I'm busy with a more important project--a matter of life over death, you might say.

On Saturday evening my 47 year old brother suffered a stroke. He and his wife live in the same town as we do. He had just finished cleaning the falling leaves out of the gutters--meaning he was tramping around on his pitched roof for severa hours--and he came in to shower. Just as he came out of the shower, he felt an incredibly sharp pain in his neck and collapsed on the bed. He called out for his wife to call 911. After spending two days in the intensive care unit, he was moved to the neurology unit and now he is on the intensive rehabilitation unit, learning to walk, to swallow and to coordinate his body. Fortunately, his mind has not been affected. We are deeply thankful that the stroke did not occur while he was on his roof! And, we are deeply thankful that his mind wasn't affected.

I started an aran cardigan for him years ago. It is on my "let's finish all the unfinished projects" list. It got moved up today to the top of the list. I thought he might like a cozy sweater to welcome him home, when he comes home. I figure if I finish the sweater quickly, that will guarantee that his recovery will come along quickly as well.


The sweater completion was stalled because I changed the pattern a bit. The original pattern had dropped shoulders. My brother is a bit stocky and I didn't want to have so much aran bulk under the armpits. So, as you can see, I bound off a few stitches to make an armhole. Good plan? Well, I couldn't figure out how to shape the top of the arms appropriately. I have fiddled and faddled and nothing has worked out. I'm bound and determined to have it finished and fit by this weekend. Wish me luck. And, keep my brother in your thoughts and prayers, if you would, please.

Knitter Self-Analysis

I've seen many knitting bloggers tell 10 knitterly things about themselves that no one knew. I don't jump on many band wagons, but the information posted by all the responders led me deep into self-analysis. What kind of a knitter am I anyway?

1. I am a process knitter. I love doing the techniques, the structural aspects, the stitch variations, the shaping variations. But, I really don't care if I ever finish the item!! That's why I have so many unfinished projects around the house, hidden in corners, boxes, drawers, closets, etc., etc.

2. I am a knitter down to my central core being. It identifies who I am. I've been knitting since I was 13. I really can't remember life without knitting. I knit before EZ started knitting camps. I knit with ugly acrylic yarn because it was the "new thing." I knit when it wasn't cool to knit because it epitomized how downtrodden and homebound women were. No self respecting professional woman in a predominantly male profession would ever acknowledged that she knit, much less wear something that she made in public.

3. Sometimes I knit to avoid having to do things I really SHOULD be attending to. Sometimes I fear that I knit so much so as to avoid reality. Is this bad or good?? I don't know.

4. My favorite knitting projects are those I make for other people. It could be a garter stitch wash cloth or an intricate cabled aran cardigan. A piece of my being goes into every stitch. And the recipient darn well better appreciate it!!!!

5. I am extremely proud of everything I make. I crave laudatory comments. I just purchased "mary jane" type shoes so that my hand knit socks can be seen when I wear long pants. I want everyone to see what I made. To be impressed. I want to walk up to strangers and say, "See, I knit this with my own hands. Every single stitch. Aren't you impressed??"

6. I love teaching people to knit. The magic of those loops making a fabric. I tell new learners that there are no mistakes, only techniques in places you don't want them. I particularly like teaching kids to knit. My elementary school after school knitting club has been my favorite activity. the only thing that give me more satisfaction is raising my girls.

7. I firmly believe that if world leaders knew how to knit there wouldn't be wars. If we could just assemble knitters from every country and every religion there would be no more hatred.

8. I purchase more yarn and pattern books and bamboo needles than I can afford. I need to stop. But I don't. This is part of my addiction--the bad part of knitting. We can joke about having a stash to last two or three generations, but I could use that money better elsewhere. I resolve to try harder to control myself. I still have enough fabulous yarn to last the rest of my life.

9. I take it personally that my husband never wore the socks I made for him. They were beautiful. He even lost them. I don't understand why he didn't appreciate them--just knowing that I made them.

10. I hope that I can knit until I die. That I don't get arthritis. That I don't lose my sight. That I don't lose my mental ability to make things. My recent bout with amnesia made me realize that our mind is a blessing. I pray that I don't get Alzheimer's Disease.

so, Knit on! As Elizabeth Zimmerman said, through all of life's crises!!

Yahoo!! More projects done!!

Whoppee!! Yahoo! Yes!! Two more FO's on my list!! First, my pride and joy, the lace alphabet blanket from Debbie Bliss' " The Baby Knits Book" (link two posts ago). I used some old Pingouin Mousse yarn, now out of production. The blanket is for one of the twins expected by my daughter's church choir director--a vibrant young woman who already has a 2-year-old. Gender is unknown--therefore, I added the white lace border so that it could be appropriate for either gender--at least, I hope so. After searching the internet and e-Bay, I found some more Pingouin Mousse in turquoise. I will use that for the second blanket. If subsequent ultrasounds show the twins to be girls, I may add some pink lace trim. Or, maybe I'll stick to white trim on both blankets and just forget about colors being tied to gender.
Another of my FO's is the second sock of a pair of Mermaid Socks! Pattern used is from Lucy Neatby's book Cool Socks Warm Feet. (link two posts ago) The socks fit wonderfully, even thought the ankle looks a bit skinny in this photo. It is skinny in real life also. However, the winding ribbing makes for a snug fit that keeps the sock cuffs up and prevents them from falling down. I modified the pattern by making a 30 stitch garter stitch cuff, rather than a 15 stitch cuff. I used an Opal yarn and I don't know the color # because I threw the band away. I was afraid that one skein would not be sufficient, however it was!! I have enough left over for a pair of baby bootees!
My last photo is one of me and my older daughter on her 30th birthday. I remember my 30th birthday vividly. her father gave me Willie Nelson's "Stardust" album (a vinyl record, this was before CD's everyone) with the notation that it was "goldie oldies for a goldie moldy!" Since we are from the generation that believed no one over 30 was to be trusted, turning 30 was a life-shaking event. Sigh. I'm not really old enough to have a 30 year old daughter; nevertheless, she went and turned 30 anyway. I have been blessed to have her living in "my" same town for the past 3 years. This coming January, however, she will move to New Zealand to pursue graduate studies at the University in Auckland. I will miss her very, very much. Letting go of our children is the hardest job parents have. We raise them to be wonderful independent adults, and then they thank us by leaving the home nest!!! My daughter deserves every exciting moment she can squeeze out of life and should be free to follow her dreams wherever they lead. But I will miss her.
For the perceptive readers, you have noticed that I am wearing my Violets by the River shawl, designed by Hazel Carter and made out of silk/merino laceweight from Blackberry Ridge. The color is true to life. The best lavender/violet every made. I love their yarns and their patterns. Lucky for me, their mill is about 30 miles from my home.

My UFO list is shrinking. I need to do the lace edging for my Dale of Norway cardigan for myself and the second sock for my Pomatamous pair. I need to work on my husband's Dale of Norway multi color ski sweater. And, I need to finish my brother's aran sweater that I started 3 years ago. And, I need to finish that lace shawl for myself made out of yarn I bought when I attended Meg Swanson's Knitting Camp in 2002-- Joslyn's Fiber AngleHair. the colorway is a deep, deep cherry that doesn't seem to be made anymore.

Hmm, this isn't a short list, is it. Don't tell anyone that I already cast on for a new pair of mermaid socks that will be a Christmas present. I am using Meilenweit colortweed, color way 1001. If you can find theyarn, use it. It is the colors of a fall sunset.

Lucy Neatby, my hero; and progress!!

I love Lucy Neatby's patterns. She is creative, whimsical and interesting. A Lucy Neatby pattern is never, never boring. Knitting the item may take forever, but the experience is never boring. I have completed the first of her Mermaid Socks from Cool Socks, Warm Feet (see link in previous entry); they provide the best fit of any sock I have made to date--and I've made at lest 60 pair. It would help, however, if I followed the pattern! She clearly and unequivocally says to cast on 15 stitches for the sideways garter stitch cuff. Somehow, I was convinced that the pattern said 30 stitches. 142 garter stitch rows on size 0 needles (2 mm) was tedious and boring, but I had faith in Lucy. I wondered why my garter stitch cuff looked so much bigger than hers, but I figured she folded hers down, like the bobby socks days. When I checked the pattern today to begin sock #2, I realized that I had totally misread the pattern. My mistake completely. Forgive me, Lucy, for ever doubting you!!!
Do you think I can count these two as a FO of a pair of socks?? Or, do I need to make two more socks, and then have two FO's????
This, however, is definitely a FO. It is the accursed vest that I described in my previous blog. It was made out of Mission Falls wool, and is the Main Vest from Quinte Scrapbook. (link in previous blog.) I think it turned out very well, and just in time for Wisconsin Fall.
And, I love my buttons. They are pewter teapots and cups! In my non-knitting life I collect teacups and saucers--antique and new.

Above is a recent FO that I forgot to list in my UFO list in my previous entry. It is a wide ribbon yarn from Phildar that I purchased this summer at Galleries Lafayette in Paris! It made a thick vibrant scarf--I used a wrap and drop stitch so that the fabric would be more flexible. I had finished knitting the scarf weeks ago, but never worked in the ends. I ended up taking a sewing needle and thread to sew the ends to adjacent stitches--to avoid frayed edges sticking out.
My Debbie Bliss lace alphabet baby blanket is nearly done. (link to book is in my previous entry.) I absolutely love, love, love it. As you can see, I have completed the entire inside alphabet of the blanket. I am using a smooth white yarn for the lace edging.
I have completed three sides of the knitted on lace, and have one long side to go. I hope to have that side completed by the end of the week--for a third FO!!!! Then, I will start alphabet blanket #2. My daughter's choir director is having twins!!!!!
Oh no, wait, wait. I made a vow. No new projects on needles until I finish all of my UFO's. That means, I will need to work on the Dale of Norway sweaters--one for myself and one for my husband. Rats!! I really like working on these baby blankets!!
It is fall here in Wisconsin and the Monarch butterflies are on their way to Mexico, passing through.
And, the Thai Pavillion in our botanical gardens is a glowing contrast to the fall colors in the garden. Here it is reflected in its pool. That's real gold leaf that covers it in its entirety.

And, a photo from the garden's kaleidoscope. The lens is pointed at a revolving dish of plants.

Keep finishing those UFO's!!