It's Done!

The Hemlock Ring throw is done...you may have seen it peeping out beneath Tracy's chenille scarf in my last post. Here it is in all its glory, blocked and ready to go. It's about four feet in diameter, I'd guess, scalloped all around and with a lace bind-off.



I truly enjoyed the process, so much so that I may cast on another soon. Maybe in washable wool next time, or a linen/cotton blend...we'll see.



I've also dragged out a couple of UFOs (unfinished objects, my dear non-knitters) to see if I could could knock those out in the next few days. I've decided not to kill myself before Christmas, though, so anyone out there expecting these for a present, don't hold your collective breaths. Above is my brown Tuscany shawl, pattern from No Sheep for You; below is the Clarence border scarf from Victorian Lace Today.

My New Favorite Scarf

As a knitter, I hardly ever get knitted gifts from other people. In fact, I'm trying to remember if it's ever happened, and I'm beginning to think it never has.

That's what makes this gift so special - my dear friend Tracy, who will swear up and down that she can't knit, blah, blah, blah...made this scarf for me, from her own two hands.

I absolutely love it and I can't wait to wear it. Chenille, even - the bane of my knitting existence. Plus, with added fringe, which I'm usually too damn lazy to add myself. Thank you Tracy - I love it!

Knit, Bind, Block...Repeat

In case it seems like all I do is knit...here I am knitting WITH PEOPLE. The Infinite Knitters came by on Monday night for a little dessert party, but as you can see even chocolate can't distract these ladies from their needles! I had no idea my shoes gleamed like that, by the way.

That night I was working away on the Hemlock Ring, which is now about halfway bound off and heading for Blocktropolis hopefully later today. And below, a FO: an autumn gold Calorimetry with a copper button - the result of that $2 ball of yarn from Knitting in La Jolla!

Desperate Times

I'm in such a hurry to finish as many Christmas knits as I can that I've turned to my pile of hibernating WIPs (works in progress, you non-knitters). This Falling Leaves shawl has been sitting in a drawer for the past eight months, only to be resurrected, ends woven, steam blocked, and hung neatly for possible giving. I don't even know who I'd give it to - but it's ready.



Today Fiona and I were in Coronado at an NCL tea for her class. I dreaded going to this...taking time out at a very busy time of year for a tea. But you know? It was fun, and I got to eat scones with clotted cream (I am so trying this.). And since I came home and, psychologically at least, finished an entire shawl today, who can complain?

A Bandwagon Knit

Quick, to the point, one evening of knitting - can't beat that with a pointy pair of sticks. No wonder the entire known knitting universe is whipping up a Calorimetry for Christmas!

The yarn is a partial skein of Lang Thalja in a beautiful blue green. It's a DK/sport weight, but I'd read that the pattern knits up big for many people and since I tend to have that problem with every pattern I just went with the smaller gauge.

For me, the button makes this. I found it at Knitting in La Jolla, which was also the scene of the crime as far as where that skein of Thalja originated too. I still have about 1.5 skeins of this same color, and today whilst button shopping I scored a $2 ball of it in a really pretty Autumn gold (and it may be the very first yarn I've ever bought from a sale bin, because my subconscious equates "sale" with "not for you"). For you locals, I'm sorry, but I think I took the last one!

Sunflower Tam

My needles are on fire. I'm furiously trying to knit as much as I can before the Christmas deadline, laying away as many little items as possible so I can pull gifts out. I've given up the idea of giving everyone a handmade gift, but some people might just luck out.

Right now, I've got the tomten still on the needles - one sleeve finished (well, if you, like I, generously call knitted but not seamed "finished") and the other sleeve ready to start.

The Hemlock is still flying along; it's what I take with me in my bag for on-the-go knitting. It's big, but there's an awful lot of mindless stockinette between the feather-and-fan rounds. I anticipate being finished before Christmas, but I think this is a present for me.



I've finished the Sunflower Tam you see above, and Anna has claimed it. It's from Knitting Nature, which I recommend as a very inspirational book, and I think I may cast on another in some Koigu Kersti I have.



Lastly, if you don't count numerous projects I have in various stages of hibernation, I have a candle flame scarf in progress. I've finished about three of the nine repetitions, so I may have that done in time as well. Look at Snoopy - he's so cold right now. It's a good thing we don't live where it actually, like, snows. I shudder to think what would happen if the outside temp dropped below 55.



If you are knitting for the holidays, I wish you good luck and speedy needles!

Our Yearly Giant Scarfathon

This last Saturday was our yearly holiday hands-on meeting for our NCL chapter, and we had lots of hands-on philanthropy projects for people to do. We filled candy bags for Monarch School, made fleece blankets for Senior Community Center, created holiday cards for Meals on Wheels, and of course, everybody's favorite: knitting scarves!

We knit pink scarves for Susan G. Komen, we knit scarves for St. Vincent de Paul, we knit scarves for the Salvation Army. And if you've been looking for Homespun at the San Diego Michael's, good luck. I think our chapter must single-handedly wipe out the inventory every November because that's by far people's yarn of choice. I personally would rather knit with snakes (although - I actually like snakes! Especially - heh heh - gartere snakes! Get it? Garter Snakes! No Purling!) but hey, to each her own.




I usually opt out of knitting any kind of long skinny rectangles of acrylic, but I do like to knit baby things for Salvation Army's Door of Hope. I usually crank out a few pairs of booties or little caps every year.



This year I made up a new little pattern for the more adventurous beginners. Those who are afraid of circular needles or doing decreases or anything like that. I threw in a YO so they could learn something new, and followed it with a K2Tog just to really spice it up. You can see Anna above knitting away on one...she started this about a half-hour before I took that picture and is almost done with hers. I can only wish I knit as fast. And, p.s., witness Fiona up there scheming with her cousin about how soon they can leave the NCL meeting and go hang out somewhere where they won't have to do any good deeds. But I digress...



I think they came out pretty cute, so if you feel like knitting for a local charity, grab some washable worsted and have at it! The image down below shows a schematic - the drawstring hat is on the bottom half of the page and the World's Easiest Baby Hat - truly! - is at the top.


Drawstring Baby Hat

This super high-tech design consists basically of a rectangle with some holes along one side of it. Your gauge isn't that important, since babies are variable in size...The finished dimensions are about 7x10". Make the holes every inch or inch and a half or so, just making sure you end up with an even number of holes for lacing up later. Six or eight will work fine.

If you're afraid to wing it, here are some more specific instructions.

You'll need to be able to:

1. knit plain garter stitch (knit every row)
2. do a YO (a yarn-over, which will open a new world for you, and which you can see a tutorial for here - scroll down to the bottom - you probably want the English version)
3. follow that YO with a K2Tog (knit two together, which is just what it sounds like, and which you can see here)

Using a washable worsted-weight yarn, CO 30 sts and knit 2 rows

Row 3: k8, yo, k2 tog, knit to end
Knit 11 rows.

Row 15: k8, yo, k2 tog, knit to end
Knit 11 rows.

Continue in this manner, putting in a lacing row every 12 rows, so that:

Rows 27, 39, 51, 63: k8, yo, k2 tog, knit to end
and all others are knit plain.

After you have 6 holes and have knit approximately 9 - 10 inches, get ready to finish.

Rows 64 - 70: Knit

Bind off, fold piece in half and sew the cast-on edge to the bound-off edge. Weave in ends.

Make a lace: braid some yarn, use ribbon, etc. Thread through the hole, draw tight and tie securely. Trim if too long.

Click on the schematic below for a larger image of the Drawstring Hat as well as a folded-over garter rectangle hat.



Copyright 2007 Lydia McNeil - You may not use this pattern for profit or reproduce it for profit; you may use it to knit hats for yourself, for others, or most certainly for charity, but not to sell.

Lots on the Needles!

Here's that Squatty Sidekick, all done and ready to wrap up unless I decide to line it (Hey, did I hear laughing? So what if I'm lazy and/or self-indulgent? It's Christmas!). It was quick to knit but took a long time to dry because we had some rain here, so I had to wait on sewing the closure, which is just a large glass bead I bought here.



In other knitting, I'm still working on the tomten. I knit an inch or two onto that sleeve every day, and then I go do something more interesting, like this:



This is the Hemlock Ring lap blanket, in a Cascade 220 Heather (can't remember what they call the particular blue - Denim maybe?). Anyway, I'm almost through one skein and at row 11 of Jared's charted portion, of the 57 rows on the chart. Doesn't seem that far away until you realize there are more and more stitches as you get to the outer part of the wheel! I'm enjoying it, though. Isn't the middle pretty, even before all its lacy goodness is revealed by blocking?



I'm also working on a few other things, including an easy baby hat to share with our National Charity League group this weekend, inspired by the Zeebee but designed for people afraid to face short rows, ribbing, or purling at all (i.e. people who just learned to cast on and are already worried about how it will all end). Hopefully I'll have a prototype to share by tomorrow.

What is It?

No, it's not a red elephant mask. It's a Squatty Sidekick, knitted from almost one skein of Malabrigo in Amoroso and woven in but not yet a FO. Here it is blocking:



And yes, I'm still working on the tomten, not to worry. I just had to give in and cast on something else. And now that this is done, I'm also working on one of these. And some smaller stuff will have to follow in rapid succession, because starting tomorrow, it's 12 Days of Presents, baby.

Sleevage in Progress

Normally I don't show photos of my works in progress. I prefer the big bang of a FO at the end, a fait accompli if you will. But the tomten wasn't built in one day, so a WIP you will witness. I did consider casting on a small project just to have blog fodder but I'm resisting.



So there you see how the Unikat looks next to the Malabrigo on the sleeve - it's really wonderful. I'm using the technique suggested in The Opinionated Knitter, so I didn't bind off the underarm sts; I placed them on scrap yarn and now that it's time to knit the sleeves I've got them on a dpn. As I work the sleeve back and forth in garter, I consume an underarm stitch at the end of each row by k-ing2tog so I won't have to go back and seam that portion. The added bonus? When those sts are gone, I will have knitted the appropriate number of ridges before I have to start the sleeve decreases so hopefully I won't forget.

Coming up: Do I knit the sleeve in the round, necessitating purling? Or do I knit flat, necessitating seaming? Shall I edge with sideways garter ridges, or knitted-on i-cord? Which is the right side, because I actually like the "wrong" side of that sleeve stripe quite a bit? Decisions, decisions.

Glad I Waited

We had a lovely post-Thanksgiving day yesterday. Coffee at Rebecca's, a little browse at the Grove, and an afternoon movie before getting together for leftovers.

Look what I found at the Grove: the most perfect yarn to edge that Tomten! I knew all the holdups that kept me from finishing the hood were for a reason. If I'd finished sooner, I would've used something else.

This is Unikat Merino in the Peach & Purple colorway, and it is scrumptious. I think the Grove has less yarn inventory now than they used to, but what they have is primo. Interesting yarns and textures, and the whole place is full of inspiring objects and books.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This is not my Thanksgiving dinner. We're eating the real thing, along with stuffing, cranberry-orange relish, mashed potatoes, Sharman's Yummy Yams, peas, Jackie's Brussels Sprouts, corn pudding, creamed onions with gruyere, and four kinds of pie from the ovens of chez Windansea. My sister Betty and I split the cooking: she's the turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberries; I'm the yams, corn, onions, pies (apple, pumpkin, pecan, mince); our friend Jackie brings some very awesome Brussels sprouts; my sister Nancy brings frozen peas (that's middle child syndrome for you) and maybe this year some cauliflower, I think she said.



Saturday John and I had a date...you know how other couples have date night? We have date groceries. But that's not John in the photo, of course! That's my local friendly Trader Joe's manager. Isn't he great? Right after John snapped that shot, Turkey Man plunked that hat on my head. Maybe I need one of these next year.

Woman on the Edge

Remember how I'm thinking about what I'm going to edge the Tomten in? I'm about halfway through the hoodie portion, so the question of a contrasting yarn is going to come up very soon - probably today - because I'd like to start the sleeves in a few rows of the contrast.

I've already looked at the available Malabrigo in my neighborhood, and I've looked through my stash - nada. So yesterday I took myself over to Knitting in La Jolla and wandered through the yarn with the Tomten-on-Needles held out before me like a divining rod.

I came up with two possibilities: the Manos you see above in a beautiful orange-yellow hue, and the jewel-like colorway here (which I've used before and really like):



Later today, if I get through the hood, I will add a few rows of the jewel-toned Manos to the beginning edge of the sleeves to see how it goes with the body color. If it works, voila. If not, I'll frog and try the yellow-orange.

Miles to Go Before I Sleep

It's a long stretch of garter stitch, that Tomten. I'm combating the boredom by imagining what I will edge with. The Kureyon? Or will that be too, um...colorful?

I'm past the sleeve holes and getting ready to join the shoulders back onto one needle again...then it's the hood, then the sleeves. The second skein of Malabrigo, in Bergamota, by the way, will take me through the body. I'll have to join yarn for the hood, and will hopefully have enough for the sleeves. I consulted with Mary about the hood versus collar option, but she likes a hoodie.

Norovember

It's Norovember, and who can resist a reason to stock up? A little Kureyon is the perfect way to end the week. I have no idea what I'll do with it yet - perhaps a scarf, for a change. All I know is I've got the garter stitch blues right now. I'm on ridge 32 of the tomten, and I'd be super excited about getting past the halfway mark on the body if it weren't for the prospect of knitting the sleeves. I love how the garter stitch looks, but it's a little dry.

So dry, in fact, that last night I cast on some Cascade Eco-Wool in black for a 3-spiral hat. And when that didn't help too much, there was nothing to do but go yarn shopping. Luckily I have two LYS very nearby, including the wonderful Knitting in La Jolla.



The Berroco Ultra Alpaca above and below will probably become some gift knitting. So see? I was super productive today...really.



And as for the Kureyon, even Snoopy thinks it was a good idea.

November in Paradise

This happened last year too - right when I should be in the thick of knitting, we're hit with a heatwave right around Thanksgiving. Not to mention - I ask you...who feels like baking pie and roasting turkey when it's 80 degrees out?

On the other hand, look where Mary and I got to spend the afternoon.

Plus I'm even knitting:



The crummy cellphone photo depicts me working away on a tomten, round about ridge 28. It's taking a loooong time to get through those ridges, too, because my apparent inability to count caused me to cast on 128 sts rather than the recommended 112. What does that matter, you ask? EZ says you can cast on any number divisible by 8....but then, all the proportions have to change, too - so instead of knitting to ridge 40 and starting the sleeve areas, I'm going to have to go to 48 ridges. Oy. I had to get a spreadsheet out and enter formulas and draw diagrams and everything just to figure out my knitting.

Stay tuned to see if it works. Until then, I'm shaking the sand out of my wool and knitting on with confdence.

Well Worth It!

Okie dokie, so I haven't started any holiday knitting yet...but I have finished the February Baby Sweater, and I recommend it wholeheartedly as a great project and satisfying FO. I especially love that garter stitch yoke.

Because I don't want to seam unless I have to, I worked down the yoke to the spot where the directions ask you to start the sleeves, which are worked flat. Instead, I popped the sleeve stitches on some waste yarn and finished the body, then came back, picked up the 28 live sleeve sts knit up 14 more under the arms and motored on down the sleeves on dpns.



A word of caution if you decide to do this yourself - knit up 16 sts under the arm if you decide to do this, and on the first round of the sleeve, which I suggest be one of the knit rounds rather than a pattern round, k2tog & ssk the first and last of the 16 sts along with the first and last live sleeve sts to get a nice round with no gaps where you added the underarms. Also - give some forethought to where the end of your round is going to land, so you don't have a jog on the front of the sleeve when you get to the garter stitch cuffs. I'm sure knitting into the stitch below or something like that would eliminate the problem, but I'm lazy.

I am on an EZ jag, too - I am planning on ignoring my exploding stash of doom and heading over to Knitting in La Jolla today to acquire some more wool of some sort to start a Tomten. I don't even know who will get it - I'm just going to knit me up one anyhow. Somewhere, some baby will fit.



This weekend I am suffering two major holiday slaps in the face. Last night Fiona and I attended the Nutcracker Gala benefiting City Ballet. Can't get much more Christmasy than the Nutcracker, can you (and by the way, if you are in San Diego in the early part of December, I highly recommend City's production at the Spreckels Theatre...intimate, opulent, elegant...)? But then today we are heading over to hear Fiona sing at Adelaide's for their holiday open house! Maybe hearing Over the River will scare me enough to prompt some gift knitting...one can only hope.

Festivus Freakout

I interrupt this regularly scheduled blog posting for an important public service announcement.

The holdays are tomorrow. Not literally, but if the rate at which October disappeared was any indication, I have roughly 23.5 hours before Christmas Eve. Gifts and decorations are waiting to be started, or at least thought of.

Dear readers, t's time to get off our collective lazy knitting asses. And if this doesn't apply to you, I apologize for assuming and you're free to go on your efficient and timely way. I myself need a cold slap and a kick in the rear.

In knitting news, I am done with the body and halfway through the first sleeve of my February Baby Sweater. And Sarah-Hope sent me a link to the English directions (with charts here) of the Revontuli, which is a definite to-do. I wonder if I could get one done by Festivus, or if it will just be one more topic for the Airing of Grievances.

32 Stitches

32 stitches...to start a cuff? K4P4 ribbing perhaps? Nope! The other kind - the kind you get in the ER when your hobby involves lots of RPMs and sharp propellers. John sliced his hand open but good last night working on one of his planes when his sleeve caught the throttle by accident, and 32 stitches later he's bandaged up and pretty darn sad.

In fact, he was in such bad shape today, mostly from the hangover he got from the pain meds, that he missed the homecoming preparations completely. There's Anna up there with her date...her first date to a formal! You get to see her without a handknitted hat on!

And here's Fiona with hers. I missed Fiona & her date completely because Anna's date's mom and I went and had dinner while the young couple ate at a different restaurant, so Mary took pictures for me. Not bad for a nine-year-old. Maybe I'll let her write for the blog pretty soon.



I have to say, both these boys are so nice and polite. I'm off to sit down on the couch and start the night of waiting up. I hope they're having fun.

Yarn in the Landscape

I was at Knitting in La Jolla earlier this week and picked up some beautiful fall yarn. It fits right in with the succulents adorning my courtyard.



This Cascade 220 Heather in color 9459 pictured at left is being turned into the February Baby Sweater I spoke of earlier. It's very soft, and I love the muted olive-y green. I've finally gotten a handle on the gull pattern and the sweater is coming along; I hope to have the body done in the next day or so and the sleeves shortly after that, and then I'll have to find some earthy buttons.

The best part is I'm knitting in the evenings while watching the Knitter's Workshop DVD I ordered. Even though I thought I'd skip straight to the more advanced parts, I've been watching the early episodes and learning plenty For example, I skipped EZ's way of starting a long-tail cast-on (with no slip knot - this might be it here) when looking at the book, but I happened to catch it on the video and was fascinated! What a great trick.

I also love how EZ describes herself as a slow knitter, and how absent-minded and awkward she can be. It's very endearing, and the homespun video makes you feel like she's there with you, having a conversation about knitting.


This Red Rocks Fiber Works superwash merino in a colorway aptly named Fall Back.

Which reminds me...if you're in the US, this is the weekend. What will you do with your extra hour?