A Little Change

Having reassured you all yesterday that I do still knit, I'm changing directions on you again. I've gotten a request for Marbleous Ornaments. All right, the woman thought my daughter made them (this despite the fact that she was in England at the time, but there it is) and wanted to know if she would make some this year. These are fun, not particularly difficult, a little time consuming but always different. I agreed.

I usually make a 10 or 12 of these. Taking the answer for granted but wanting to give at least the semblance of courtesy and cooperation, I asked, "How many?"

Three dozen.

Well, it will give me something to do while I try to figure out a few small knitting projects to keep you all entertained while I work in the background on the big stuff.

After all, I'm sure you want to hear from me sooner and more frequently than you would if I held off until I had actually finished the shawl and sweater. Right?

I said, "Right?"

There Was Even Some Knitting

I can hear you in my mind's ear. "Well, so. You've been busy. That's all well and good. But this is a knitting blog. We come here for the knitting. Surely you have something to show us?"

Yes and no. That elusive object, that will-o'-the-wisp, that ignis fatuus, a finished piece of knitting still escapes me. Yes, it's kind of getting on my nerves, too. That's the "no."

There has, however, been progress on two fronts.

Behold, a bit less than 3 skeins worth of red cabled shawl. Only 12 more to go. Which sounds dire, except there's only about 87 yards per skein.

I've settled down with the Classic Elite Ariosa in Lipstick Red. (I'm having the dickens of a time getting the color and the stitch detail in the same photograph. Check WEBS to get a better idea of the color). The yarn splits if I cross my eyes, but it is soft. I'm running the pattern along the length of the shawl, so the cables will be on the top and bottom. The large cables are the mirror imaged angular figure-eight knots from Elsebeth Lavold's Viking Patterns For Knitting. I've centered them between two two-stitch cables twisted to the right on every right side row.

Behold some more. Almost two skeins of Marco Blue sweater. That's the gull stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's First Treasury of Knitting Patterns (the blue book).

Those are the "yes."

Perhaps it's time to add some smaller projects to the mix.

Once Is Enough

Where to begin?

Well, there are the bookcases that went to Texas (twice, I think).

There was the Science Fair Experiment (7 jars of plants, six pollutants, 3 soil tests to be run for each jar every other day, each test requiring mixing and a 5 minute reaction time, 7 soil extractions run on days when we weren't actually testing the soil).

There were parent teacher conferences. Twice.

There were days off. A lot.

Then the bookcases (there are three of them) made it here from Texas. So there was bookcase assembly followed by the reading of the note in the manufacturer's instructions informing me that natural cherry bookcases will darken over time and not to put anything on or in them for two weeks unless I wanted to permanently mark the wood. The two weeks will be up next Wednesday.

There was the plumber. Twice. I have not quite gotten hot water to run full blast in my kitchen, but it's better than the mingy little trickle I've been coping with.

Oh yes, I made three trips to the hardware store in order to complete the reclaiming of the dining room. Necessitated by the generally inconvenient location of electrical outlets in my charming but antiquated condominium, the three prong plug on one of the audio components, the lack of compatible extension cords and outlets and my refusal to run cords across the doorway between the kitchen and the dining room.

Somewhere in all that we went to the Symphony (Lang Lang and friends) and a high school open house (when did my youngest get to be in eighth grade?).

The best, though, is the one thing that only happened once. We had a Confirmation (part of having one's youngest reach eighth grade). Admittedly the one event involves a deal of concomitant running around (it may have had something to do with the Great Dining Room Reconfiguration).

A Confirmation requires one sister (his) home from college for one celebration. Don't they clean up nice?

Which in turn required (and be prepared to reclaim your eyeballs after they pop out at this picture)

One fabulous cake. I want one for my birthday.

There you have it. Or most of it. At least, what of it I can remember. I should almost have time to catch my breath before Thanksgiving.

Tune In Later

I had intended to spend some time today bringing you up to speed. Any and all of my attempts have left me staring blankly at what I wrote, wondering why it's not coherent. Sleep deprivation will do that to me, and we have just come off two very late nights finishing up John's science fair project. In fairness, let me note that my contribution was pretty much limited to hole punching. Oh, and I got to format the text for his safety sheet. I just couldn't bring myself to abandon a 14 year old to the wee hours.

Since unlike Inigo in Princess Bride, I find it's too much to even sum up right now, let me just note that I am still among the living by providing a little yarn pr0n. It seems I've lost track of my 7 Deadly S(p)ins, so I was surprised to get a shipment today.

It doesn't specify, but I think the sin is Avarice.

Tune in next week to see if I have managed to reacquaint my brain with the written word.

We Interrupt this Knitting Blog

"The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same Term, be elected. . . ." (Article II, Section I, Paragraph I of the Constitution of the United States).


Vote today.

It's Called Experimenting

I've been being sensible in spite of myself. After three failed tries at finding pattern and yarn compatible with my vision for a red shawl, I've admitted that all I've been doing is swatching.

The original yarn had a lovely weight and feel, and made the cables the size I wanted, but the alpaca content meant they (the cables) were rather flat. Further, this is the yarn that, when knit up, looked like something had spilled on it.

Paging through the holiday Knit Simple (the same one where I found out about the Special Olympics scarves), I stumbled across a bit about this yarn. There's a pattern for a cashmere sweater and the editors sensibly decided to include some suggestions for alternates.

This is a merino and cashmere blend, with so little cashmere it doesn't actually cost the earth, just a good size landmass.

This is how it looks knitted up on US size 9/ 5.5 mm needles.

The cables look nice, but the reverse stockinette feels really . . . firm. I'm also not sure I like how the pattern is playing out.

It was when I decided to frog this that I ran into trouble. This yarn is not plied. It is, in fact, barely twisted. I'm knitting with roving here, and roving (at least, this roving), doesn't take well to frogging, because roving (at least, this roving), splits when I'm not looking and tangles around itself. I end up with little bits fraying, pulling off and attaching themselves to other, random sections of the yarn. It behooves me to tread a little more cautiously here. Rather than rip this any further (I may still decide to use this combination of yarn, needles and pattern), I'm swatching for real.

Knit on US 10.75/6.5 mm (below the pin) and US 10/6 mm (above). I think I'm happy with the fabric on the size 10's, but I want to play a little more with the pattern before I commit.

And all the while, for some reason, "The Fair Maid of Amsterdam" is stuck in my head. "Oh I'll go no more a-roving with you fair maid, A-roving, a-roving, I'll go no more a-roving, Since roving's been my ruin."

I'd Rather Be Knitting

We are rather Luddite-ish in our electronic audio choices. The iPods tend to get used for cleaning sessions and car entertainment and hence are filled with songs you can sing, or at least hum, along to. We still have a huge collection of vinyl (although we are turntable-less and have been for longer than I'm going to admit here). We were late to the CD parade. This last is what I've been struggling with the past couple of days.

You see, the CDs sort of snuck in. They slipped through the door in ones and twos. Sidled into the occasional Amazon box. Smuggled themselves into Borders bags in dribs and drabs.

As they entered so slowly, storage options were not much of an issue; a stack here, a pile there, part of a bookshelf dedicated another where. This trickle, however, continued. The stacks and piles grew deeper and the parts of shelves more numerous. We indulged now and then in CD storage, but never often enough to bring any sort of unity or coherence. In a word, nothing matched, nor was it ever adequate.

Eventually,we succumbed to the lure of a good, basic music system. Not an audiophile's dream. Not a needs-its-own-room, mega-woofer, spend the children's entire inheritance, home-theater. We're technophobes living in a condo, after all. Something better, however, than the one-box, tiny-speakered, shelf systems we had been going on with.

Now the trickle grew to a fairly steady stream, fueled in part by the closing of Tower Records here in Chicago. We acknowledged that we had to formalize the storage for our now-burgeoning (for us) collection. In what I can only, in retrospect, call massive denial, we bought a couple of low shelves that could double as speaker stands. They weren't enough, so we reverted to our rather lackadaisical ways. CDs landed in baskets, piled on the dining room credenza.

Last week, in growing exasperation and in an attempt at dealing with reality, I decided I had had it and ordered up a shelf that would hold what we had accumulated and still leave room for expansion. I have no spatial sense, so it was bigger than I expected, and the wall that I thought was five feet wide is four. I have reconfigured my dining room three different ways just since yesterday. I still haven't reclaimed it. On the plus side, there is not a single dust hippo, and the baseboards haven't been this clean since we refinished the floors.

If you remember the pantry incident, you already know the rest of this story. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."*

*George Santayana, 1863 - 1952.

Tickled Pink

I am recovering from plague - one of those where your brain hurts so badly everything seems to ache. Wearing my watch hurt. Annoying, although it does explain why last week felt so grueling. I intend to huddle up with my knitting and Harrison Ford until the boys get home from school. Before I do that, though, I thought I'd check in, since I have something nice to tell.

I was a good person (Stop snickering, I am sometimes, you know). I was one of those who sponsored Amy Artisan when she walked here in Chicago for the cure for breast cancer. She offered a prize, but I had used my favorite pseudonym, Anonymous. (As Virginia Woolf observed, "For most of history, Anonymous was a woman." I figure I'm continuing a fine tradition.) I didn't think I had a chance. Imagine my glee when Amy announced I'd won. The yarn arrived yesterday.

This is Hill Country Yarns Sweet Feet Sock Yarn in their, appropriately, Breast Cancer Awareness colorway. I have 400 yards of 100% merino wool to play with. There was a time when a skein of sock yarn would have left me feeling pleased but bemused, since I don't knit socks. That was back when I thought you had to knit everything according to Hoyle: baby things out of baby yarn, cables out of Aran yarn, socks out of sock yarn. I know better now. I can make scarves out of sock yarn and fingerless mitts and afghan squares. Something from Knitting Little Luxuries seems particularly suited for this.

Good deeds may be their own reward, but sometimes, if you're lucky, you get yarn, too.

News. Really.

First off, in the interest of full disclosure and all that, I probably should report that short rows alone will not solve your triangular problems. So much for the scientific method and isolating your variables. Someone should let people know that "scientific method" is just a fancy way of saying "do it again."

The latest "do it again" added back 6 extra increases, one done every other row at the start of the reverse stockinette. This got them all out of the way before I had to start the cable pattern. It also placed them immediately next to that single knit stitch detail - a good place to hide a M1P, since this organic cotton yarn seems to show everything.

Yesterday, as this emerged, it was all I could do not to run over here and beg you all to hold my hand, first pleading, " Does this look like it's working to you?"

then exclaiming, "Is it working? It is, isn't it? Look, it's working!"

After all the alarums and excursions I've been through, I knew - no matter how many thousands-year-old Greeks stood behind me -- that this wasn't supposed to work either. If you wonder at my crisis of confidence, let me refer you to this. Oh, and this. Also this, this, this, this, and, oh yes, the one that started it all. There's more, but you get my drift. Trust me, however sick you are of this project, I am more so.

Having achieved triangularity, there is no way on God's green earth that I am knitting this two more times. By a conservative estimate, I figure I have already knit 99 of these. I'll knit it once more for an even hundred. This baby is getting the blanket with light blue corners. That's it. No expostulations, challenges, arguments or objections will change my mind.

(But it worked.)

Biting the Bullet

My delft blue yarn arrived today. All of my other projects are making rude noises at me. I suspect circumstances of combining against me.

The red yarn pools in such a way that it looks like something spilled on it. Knitting it in wider sections doesn't really help. Diane pointed out that alternating skeins usually fixes this type of problem. Except, if I alternate every row I'm going to end up trying to cable from the wrong side. And knitting two rows at a time just makes it look stripy, which is different than pooling, but not, by any argument that I'm willing to entertain, better.

In frustration, and desperate for success and blog fodder, I went all the way back to last year when I was trying to knit the sea. I don't like this color combination either, although I despise it somewhat less than anything else I've tried, so perhaps I'll finish it and add it to the charity box. (Dream in Color Classy in the off-dye-lot of Cloud Jungle that only I, in the whole wide world, possess, this time with DIC Classy in Gothic Rose as the contrast stripe.)

What is it about this yarn that it changes every color I've ever tried to combine with it? The Gothic Rose looks all reddish brown wound up, until I sandwich it between the off-lot Cloud Jungle and it turns purple.

Bottom line? I suspect the knitting gods want me to work on this.

This scarf is going to be one of the longest projects I've ever knit. (For the record, the yarn really does squeak. At least, it did while I was casting on.) I think Cathy put it very well in her comment. I am going to align myself with her as a discerning knitter, and I am going to knit this (and knit it well) despite myself.

Oops

Dang. Knit Simple had the colors for the Winter Games wrong. Rather, they had the right blue, but the wrong white. Special Olympics want scarves made with 885 Delft Blue and 311, White (not Soft White).

Now you can order your yarn.

Can You Knit With Acrylic?

If you can, the Special Olympics wants you.

You may already know about this, but it's the first I've heard about it, so I'm sharing. This year the Special Olympics wants 5000 scarves for the World Winter Games, which will take place February 9 through 13, 2009 in Boise Idaho. That's one for every athlete and their support team, as well as the various dignitaries who will attend. Knit Simple reported in their latest issue that as of press time, the committee had 1000 scarves in hand.

The stumbling block is that, as Coats and Clark is sponsoring the project, the scarves have to be knit of Red Heart Super Saver yarn, specifically in 885, Delft Blue and 316, Soft White, the official colors of the winter games. If we buy regular size skeins, that's just 320 yards of worsted weight acrylic yarn. If we bought one each of the economy size skeins we could maybe even share. I could knit one and send the rest of the yarn on to you.

Anyway. Scarves have to be submitted by January 15, 2009. Send them on to:

Special Olympic Scarf Project
3150 West Main Street
Boise, ID 83702

Knit Simple has a pattern. So does Coats and Clark, but you can use any you like. Yes, it is acrylic, but it's only a scarf. Just one scarf. If I can do it . . .

The Special Olympics motto is, "Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt." Come on. Be brave.

Planning Is Its Own Punishment

I bet you've been thinking that I've been showing an astonishing level of knitting monogamy lately. I bet, as you discreetly hide your yawns, you've been wondering what's come over me. Little do you know what machinations and plotting have been going on behind the scenes.

After her field trip with us at Stitches Midwest, my mother had expressed a desire for a shawl. Both her knitting daughters thought this was a Good Thing. My sister has already completed one in beautiful shades old rose, gold and pale olive (it's the pastel version of La Boheme - N.B. There's another reason to go to Loopy tonight). While that was still in the works, I asked my mom what other colors she'd like. Mom said she's always liked red (which surprised me, since she tends to choose lighter colors for her wardrobe, but hey, her choice).

I admit, I may have gone a little overboard. I decided on a Faroese shawl. I pored over Folk Shawls and A Gathering of Lace. I bought Best of Knitters, Shawls and Scarves. I searched online and found patterns here, here, and here and a website with worksheets and graph paper (because it involves, surprise! Math).

I got to work. I opted for a diamond motif, but didn't like any of the work-ups in any of the resources. I decided on the method from Folk Shawls and 2 of the diamonds from A Gathering of Lace. I charted my little heart out. I ordered the recommended yarn from Schoolhouse Press. I held the actual knitting out as a reward for finishing the current Project That I Am Studiously Ignoring (which no, is still not finished, and no, I still don't want to talk about it). I cast on my 421 stitches using the cable cast on. I placed stitch markers, some to keep the count straight, more to mark the borders and gusset. I was ready to roll.

We had a chance to see my Mom this weekend. I brought my -- admittedly minimal -- knitting to show her. She liked the color. All the rest? I believe her reaction ran something like, "Oh, just knit it and be done with it already." There may have been a comment to "Forget the lace, just plain knitting, all of it." I think there may have been a recommendation to "Just be fast, already." That's a lot of "justs." There may have been a few more "Ohs" in front of them.

Fine.

Well, after all, the woman is 83. Considering how long it's taking me to get the PTIASI done, she may have a point.

How about this?

Except in red. In a different yarn (Alchemy Wabi Sabi is pretty thin on the ground).

Without all those twining cables in the middle. Maybe cables just at the top and bottom instead. With maybe a 2 or 4 stitch cable on each side.

Yeah. That could work.

Ooh! Ooh!

Okay okay. Sorry for all the squealing, but, Ooh! Ooh!

I told you about my insane purchase of their Donegal sock yarn at Stitches Midwest 2007.

I told you about my Christmas present from my sister didn't I? Yes, I did. Guess what, guess what? They're coming to Loopy! With a trunk show! My "Loopy News" said so, right here:

"Mark your calendars and don't miss out on the Handpainted Knitting Yarns Trunk Show on Wednesday, October 15th from 6 pm to 9 pm. Handpainted Knitting Yarns offers 24 different yarns in 20 colorways in the most gorgeous fiber blends. Loopy currently carries the Handpainted Donegal Sock Yarn that has been an instant hit among the sock knitters. This is your opportunity to see all that Handpainted Knitting Yarns has to offer...."

Are you excited? Be excited. Admittedly, this is on a school night, so my chances of actually getting there are slim to the point of almost non-existent. Still, there's no reason you shouldn't go.

On another, less exuberant, front. Did she make it? Well, no. No, she didn't.

I've got a good start on the next campaign, though.

I wonder if I can get a sitter for Wednesday?

I Will Get There From Here

Chicago has been a good place to be a knitter this weekend. Loopy hosted Anne Shayne for their grand re-location party. YarnCon also included a Mason-Dixon book-signing event. I am probably the only knitter in Chicago who missed both. (I do love my son. And his science fair project. I really do. Planting things so we can maim them with household chemicals is fun and way worth missing Anne Shayne. Twice. And not getting both my Mason-Dixon books signed. Twice. Really.) You'll just have to read about it elsewhere. Good thing I have other things to write about.

You know, I really like knitting. I like reading about it. I like planning it. I like blogging about it, setting out whatever I'm thinking as I form stitches and rows. I spend way more time day-dreaming about it than I probably should (fantasizing about a sweater while navigating I-55 does not, perhaps, make me the driver you want to be around). I like the act itself.

Therein lies the rub. Once in a while, not unreasonably often, I like to have some actual knitting completed. On some few rare occasions, I like to write about a knitting success. This experience has proved elusive in the past few months. I realize that some of that is because we had a lot of life happening here at Chez WoolGathering. I have, however, been attempting to take Elizabeth Zimmermann's advice to "knit on."

Meet my latest attempt. This is the Orphan's for Orphan's sweater from Knitting for Peace, Take 2. The heavier yarn is supposed to make it a) warmer and b) larger without having to knit significantly more stitches.

The cable up the middle front is the one from the pattern for the sleeve variation (and I'm glad to know before I start that in this yarn -- Malabrigo Chunky Merino -- that cable is going to be way too big for any sleeve). This needs to be done soonest, because the sweaters for the afghans for Afghans youth campaign have to reach California by this coming Tuesday. At the moment, this seems unduly optimistic. The poor thing isn't even half-way there. Even if I do finish the actual knitting, I'm thinking this yarn is so heavy, blocking it could take days. Memo to self - do not overwhelm the stash with additional purchases of bulky yarn.

This sweater is supposed to serve a further purpose. It is supposed to steel my nerves renew and refresh me enough to try that short-row thing with the Blessingway triangle. I've decided -- since none of you has actually howled, "No-o-o-o-o! " or otherwise waxed eloquent on the general futility of the scheme -- that the idea might work. Okay, none of you has fallen over yourself lauding the brilliance of it either, but I trust you're not here for the sadistic fun of seeing me make a complete idiot of myself over knitting. (At least, not solely here for that.)

The hope here is that one success will breed another. Then I can go back to thinking about knitting, reading about knitting, blogging about knitting, planning and fantasizing, oh, and knitting, with a clear conscience.

5 Miles

That hole in my stash has been preying on my mind. That one where the bulky-weight yarn isn't. It just seemed I had a duty to fill that void. Nature, after all, abhors a vacuum. Who am I to allow such a precarious state to continue? Besides, I've been steadily slipping in the Yarn Marathon standings. Just under the gun, I took advantage of the "Power Boost" (a.k.a. double points) yarns for September, I made it to the 5 mile mark. Five miles means I get treats. I love it when I get treats.

Yarn samplings, a doodad/mini project bag, a sock pattern, and a Kitchener Kit by Knitcellaneous, complete with dog-tag (wasn't Kitchener a British general?).

Underneath that fun stuff - Malabrigo Chunky Merino in Velvet Grapes. Yes, Diane, I know it's purple, but it's purple that leans toward red. I'm thinking about another Knitting for Peace Orphans for Orphans Sweater, this time with a cable down the center front panel.

I may have gotten a little carried away. But I was really far down the list. Under the Velvet Grapes, more Malabrigo Chunky Merino. This lot is Verde Esperanza.

Maybe for the "Camping Out" sweater from the Yarn Girls Knits for Older Kids.

Now I've moved up in the standings to number 25. Only 21 more miles to go.

Check My Math

I was thinking about triangles last night and this morning (and the day before, and the day before that, and . . . but you get the idea). Triangles inevitably lead to geometry, more specifically, to Pythagoras. Let's review that basic tenet, the Pythagorean Theorem, the formula you need to find the length of the sides of any given triangle:

A-squared + B-squared = C-squared (sorry, no mathematical notation on my keyboard).

I'm trying to produce an equilateral triangle here, yes? So my A and B are going to be equal.

If my C = 26 inches/130 rows, what does my A have to be? The answer is not happy-making.

C-squared in inches = 676 = 2(A=squared)
A-squared = 676/2 = 338
The square root of 338 is 18.384477. Let's call it 18.4.
18.4 * 5 (my row gauge) = 92.

C-squared in rows = 16900 = 2(A-squared)
A-squared = 16900/2 = 8450
The square root of 8450 is 91.923881. Let's call it 92 (again).

Each leg of my triangle needs to be 92 rows long. I have 130 rows to work with along the hypotenuse. I need 184 rows along the edge of a piece that's 130 rows long. I suspect that I have found the source of my inability to get the piece up to 12.5 inches. It's not the body of the knitting, it's the edges. The sides can't stretch far enough.

Meh. I wonder if I have time to knit another sweater for afghans for Afghans. The deadline is October 14, and I don't have any bulky yarn in my stash, so probably not. Which leaves me with figuring out how to add 54 rows to the border. So, do I want short rows? Huh. That's 27 pairs, since I have to go out and back again. One at the apex means 13 along each 65 row side. One pair about every 5 rows. Would that actually work? And I could probably stop messing around with all those increases. Hmm.

No wonder I hate math. It's so reality based.

Don't Tell

I think I may be closing in on the triangle. I have, of course, thought this many, many times before. So I don't want to make any sudden movements. This particular project is, as I have found to my cost, easily startled. Noises -- exclamations of "Eureka!" or even the quiet sibilance of a "Yes!" -- have been known to send it fleeing into deep cover, not to re-emerge for days, weeks, months. Caution and quiet are the order of the day.

In a fit of unfettered pessimism, I've reverted to the light blue yarn. The theory is that I can rip it out as many times as I want without worrying about the effect on the final product. I was beginning to envision a blanket made with yarn that had been so "fuzzed" that it wouldn't matter if there were cables or not; they would be completed obscured.

I'm feeling some concern about the way this is flaring out. The body of the piece seems to be out-running the edge. I'm thinking about introducing a cable to go around the pattern. The theory being that it would (might?) pull in that curve a bit. It would also make a good place to hide increases.

We are not calling this swatching, we are calling it caution - see above.

I especially don't want anything to alert the knitting gods to my slight tilt toward optimism. They have, after all, descended on me multiple times during the course of this project and it has never been good.

I Think They've Got the Wrong S(p)in Here

My 7 Deadly S(p)ins shipment came last week. The sin is Pride. The yarn, Unique Sheep Luxe (tussah silk and merino wool lace-weight) in Pride 1, Pride 2, Pride 3 and Pride 4. The designer is Merike Saarniit.

The goodies this month are stitch markers in the Estonian national colors (reflecting the designer's pride in her heritage), a clear project bag (to allow you to show pride in your work) and what looks like a mutated porcupine is actually a clever little mirror/hairbrush device (to reflect pride in oneself). The project, Syncopated Lace ( a work in which one will surely feel over-weening pride once it's been accomplished), is a lace shawl in a graduated color scheme (from warm roses to cool ones). The pattern is written and charted, so you can take your pick, or combine them, if you (like me) are a little nervous about a lace project.

I don't know, I think maybe I'm dealing with lust here. In fact, I, taking shameless advantage of my club membership status, am working on acquiring more of Pride 2. You, on the other hand, may have just cause for more Envy.

Be Jealous

Celadon. Lime. Spring.

It was another in what seemed a long succession of those, "The cosmos has pinned a 'kick me' sign on my back, hasn't it?" days.

Chartreuse. Leaf. Grass.

It was another day when, not unlike Xerxes lashing Hellespont -- and with about as much effect --I was railing and ranting back (patient and long-suffering not being my strong suits).

Jade. Jungle. Kelly.

At some level. though, the cosmos must have been listening. My knitting sister (well, she's my only sister, it's just my advantage that she also knits) decided to send me my Christmas present early.

Hunter. Pine. Moss.

Is it not fabulous?

Asparagus. Willow. Shamrock.

A Giant Skein in "La Boheme" by Hand-Painted Knitting Yarns, with whose yarn I fell in love at Stitches 2007. That's 12 skeins. 1440 Yards.

Are you emerald? Olive? Resembling Granny Smith apples perchance? I knew you would be.

Must Dash

So sorry, I'm much too busy to blog today. I'm having coffee with Ann and Kay (and there was only one copy left after I got mine, so some people may want to put a good foot under themselves or it will be Too Late and they'll have to hunt farther afield, or worse, wait for the next shipment.)

Now I don't know if I should race out and buy lace-weight mohair in two colors, a selection of Lorna's Laces Shepherd's Bulky, or the entire Highlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

Occam's Razor

"Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitas," or "Plurality should not be posited without necessity." So said William of Ockham in the 13th century and if it was good enough for William, it's good enough for me.

I've been fussing with the chart for the Seriously Modified Blessingway Blanket. It's those 6 additional increases I want to fit in - somewhere - that have me feeling all harassed and aggrieved. I debated placing them around the cables themselves, the theory being that the raised stitches of the cables would hide the flat, reverse stockinette increase stitches. Then I had to decide, one side of the cable? Both sides? I thought about doing double increases at the end of some of the cable rows. The problem, of course, is which "some." It got to the point where I could no longer remember which idea seemed best.

Then I looked at the knitting -- the actual piece, the de facto huge swatch -- I had almost completed before I found that I was short those 6 stitches. There is nothing like a good visual aid to clear up a muddied thought process. It occurred to me there was a very simple solution.

Isn't that sort of a mingy looking angle? A bit too acute? Too blade-like looking? Something that would devolve into the scalene rather than the equilateral? Wouldn't placing the increases in the rows before I start the cable obviate the general undue narrowness? Even better, if I scatter the increases in there, I don't need to worry about them, or, more accurately, forgetting about them, when I'm in the throes of cabling.

I have 24 rows to play with. If half of them are wrong side rows, and if I want to keep my increases on the right side (which I do), then I can do 2 increases in every other right side row. A simple formula, one even I can keep straight. I admit, I was less orderly about where I placed the increases. The first three I divided between the right and left side, the remaining three got kind of scattered. Still, thinking triangularly now, compare this:

to this:

Better, yes? Less squished-looking,from a desirably shaped triangle point of view?

As a modern day William would tell you, Keep It Simple S. . . . A dictum this particular project may yet manage to hammer into my head.

And You Thought I'd Forgotten

First, there was this:

Then there were these:

Then you have to imagine a light bulb. The one that goes off when it occurs to you to go check your gauge against the finished dimensions. It being rather difficult to know otherwise how many rows and stitches you are actually supposed to be working with. If you're getting 4 stitches per inch and 5 rows per inch, and the piece is supposed to measure 12.5" (that's the measurement for the stitches) by 26" (that's the measurement for the rows), you have 50 stitches and 130 rows to work within. Oh, out of those stitches, you are supposed to allow for 10 stitches worth of border. All told, that means that no matter how many times you graph it, if your motif is 60 stitches wide it is never, never, NEVER going to fit.

It simplifies things amazingly.

Of course, cables do pull it in a bit, don't they. The red pin is where I should be. Which means I'm 1.5 inches short.

I'm wondering if the 50 stitches should be my base, exclusive of the increases I'm doing for the cables. One way or another, I have to figure out where to space out 6 stitches worth of increases.

For the record? I don't think that first piece will ever shrink to 12.5" by 26", do you?

My Family Has a Unique Sense of Humor

You know how sometimes life just seems to be all "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" until you're just thoroughly fed up? You know how sometimes you think, would the sky fall and the heavens tumble if you could just have one pleasant thing happen, maybe cross your inbox or something? Anything?

I got this from Clare this morning. Good thing, too, because I don't have a post on Faroe Islands shawls yet. We'll have some Friday Foolery instead. (You may recognize the song from Mason-Dixon Kay's post back in January. Kay has a lot to answer for - the song is on multiple play-lists on every iPod in the house).



Well, I thought it was funny.

Finished

Well, at least I think I am. The sleeves are seamed (and the stripes all line up), the ends tucked in. It's had it's bath. That pre-bath neckline looks awfully huge, though, doesn't it?

Still, a check on Ravelry, while it did show some ribbed necklines, showed way more made according to the pattern. And while it took 3 tries with different and increasingly smaller crochet hooks (I may be a tight knitter, but I am a loose crocheter) to get a comparatively non-distorted edging (and thanks and a hat tip to YouTube for videos on how to crochet backwards - multiple decades of crocheting and I had never come across that technique), that's not why I'm leaving it as it is. One of the Ravelers noted that, once she made the ribbed neckline, her child had trouble getting her head through. I'm not going to risk it.

Thank you, thank you and an even bigger hat tip to you all for your comments on the previous post. While not all of you overtly advocated ripping, we were all agreed that the strip of solid along the bottom was Not The Way To Go. There was actually comparatively little ripping to do - I really did stop the knitting until you had a chance to respond. Gad, sometimes I'm smart.

It's blocking as we speak (heavy humidity here has extended the process). All that puffiness where the front and back meet the sides has smoothed away. Not only that, it looks like it might fit an actual child.

Details:

Pattern: Orphans for Orphans sweater by Jean Dykstra in Knitting for Peace. With some math because the yarn I used wasn't anywhere near gauge.

Yarns: Cherry Tree Hill Twisted in "Earth" (the variegated) and Cascade 220 The Heathers in 2453/Pumpkin Spice.

Needles: Addi turbos, size US 9/5.5 mm for the front and back panels, US 8/5 mm for the rest.

I knit the stripes down the sleeves to coincide with the decrease rows, so they're 4 rows wide each. The cuffs and the hem are K2P2 rib, changing colors every row - a feat I accomplished by that handy dandy old slide-the-stitches-back-and-forth-along-the-circular-needle trick that I mastered with the "My Way" shawl.

I'm sweatered out. Who knows a good pattern for a Faroese shawl ( I have Folk Shawls)?