Monday, June 30, 2003

No knitting at all today, but I did put a LOT of stitch markers together (they're on their way Rob!).  I neglected to take a photo of them, but I need to for my website, and for posting here.  Maybe tomorrow. 

I taught Session 3 of Beginning Knitting at Woven Art in East Lansing this evening.  The knitting lesson took about fifteen minutes to cover, but I managed to spend an additional hour and a half talking about different fibers and about the information to be found on yarn labels.  Here's a glamour shot of the cotton version of the class sample (photo was taken on my back patio, pillow has taken up permanent residence at Woven Art):

The colors are portrayed fairly accurately in the outdoor light.  What you can't see is that grass has taken over my flower beds.  I fear I'll have to give up some knitting time for some gardening time -- and not the fun kind of gardening, either.

Also on my back patio:

A very disoriented and bescruffled chickadee, after we finally got him out of the garage.  Notice the bald spot on the top of his head -- I think that's from repeatedly flying into the light bulbs hanging from the ceiling.  How do you tell a wild bird to fly LOWER so it can get out through the open doorway?  We never figured it out.  The webhamster was finally able to trap it, pick it up, and let it out.  "Did you tell them about how I trapped it with my bare hand?" he just asked.  Yes, dear.

I'm a chapter or so away from hitting the halfway point of Harry Potter, so off I go.  I'll leave you with my favorite line from the book so far:

"Ah well . . . wand still in your jeans?  Both buttocks still on?  Okay, let's go."

Sarah

Sunday, June 29, 2003

Who's a happy, pretty doggy?

I had my magic knitting earrings on again this weekend!

I finished the second sleeve to Sicily on Friday night (no photo, since it looks just like the first one!), and started right in on the left front, which I just finished this evening:

Don't be too impressed -- remember I had the bottom zig-zaggy part of each piece done already.  Notice that we've got a little more ribbony flower action going on here than on the sleeves.  It just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?  Wait until you see the back!  I'm really getting anxious to get these pieces done and blocked and to get this thing put together.  I still think I can do it before I leave for Knitting Camp on July 10th, if I can stay on task.

Um, and here's my secret knitting project (so much for staying on task!):

That's Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater, The Sequel!  It's hard to tell here, but I've re-knit the entire body using just the sheer stitch and my original color.  I changed the neck finishing a little -- I tried Sally's way first but liked my way better.  The sleeves were already done, but were too tight around the wrist and weren't quite the right proportion for the armhole, so I'm re-knitting those as well, from the top down this time.  I'd like to get this done before Knitting Camp, too!

And since I was being so good working on Sicily this weekend, I started swatching my new icy lavender Cotton Classic:

Can you tell what it's for?  I'm thinking of using it for a Paulina tank, but I'm not sure.  I'm hitting gauge as is, unstretched, which means I should probably starting going down needle sizes until I can block it out a bit and still hit gauge.  Have you seen Bonne Marie's Paulina (scroll down to June 10).  Hers is definitely more relaxed than mine.  Maybe the Cotton Classic isn't a good substitute.  No matter -- can't start anything new right now anyway!  Gotta stay focused!

Oh, and I swatched my beautiful cotton/rayon woven ribbon from Blue Heron, too, for either ChicKnits' Boat Neck Shell, or the Shapely Tank Top by Joan McGowan-Michael.  I'm dead on gauge for either of those. 

See how well I'm staying on task?

Sarah

Thursday, June 26, 2003

Don't try this at home . . .

What on earth is this?  Why, it's the lovely Daphne, executing the extremely difficult four needle bind off with the crochet hook variation (so, technically, that's the three needle and one hook bind off, then.  Whatever).

We finally got around to completing Part Three of the two part (yes, you read that right) Introduction to Fair Isle class.  Tonight's lesson included seaming the sides of our pillow covers via the three needle bind off, but Daphne's pillow cover involved a bit of an overlap, resulting in the need for improvisation.  And lo, the four needle bind off was born!  It worked great, too -- I forgot to take an "after" photo, but go check Daphne's blog -- I'm sure she'll accommodate us (we need a back view, too, Daphne!).

Oh, and get this:  While Daphne was here, my webhamster and I wanted to show her what her blog looked like from our computer (see yesterday's post), and when we brought it up, it was perfect!  Of course that would happen when she was standing right here!  The security software was on and everything was enabled, so it should've looked just like it did yesterday -- nothing but text -- but NO, it was fine!  The only thing that's different today is that the cable guys came and buried the cable for our new service -- that couldn't have fixed the problem with Daphne's blog, could it?  It didn't fix the problems with Wendy's or Knitdad's.

So Knitdad, hop on a plane and get your buns to my house, so you can stand here and make your comments work!

Here's a bit of math for you:

+

=

Yup, I caved.

Even my neighbor is ashamed of me:

Sarah

Wednesday, June 25, 2003

Oops!  I meant to flip yesterday's photo around so the labels were facing the right way.  Oh well.  I get distracted very easily these days.

I've been having a little trouble with viewing other people's blogs and comments, and I've come to realize that it started when we got our speedy new cable modem, along with the security software we installed along with it.  Here are three examples:

I am unable to view comments on (for example) Knitdad's blog and the new Knitting Bloggers' Reading Group page (what books are they talking about reading?).  When I click on the comments, I hear that little knuckle-cracking sound, but nothing happens.  I see "javascript:void(0)" at the bottom of my screen, where I usually see hyperlink information (the address I'd go to if I clicked on whatever my mouse is pointing to).  I am able to read comments on most of the blogs I read, however.

I noticed on Wendy's blog that I don't see her Wendyknits button anymore (although I do see her blog etiquette button) -- there's just a space under "Link me, baby" before the magic scrolling buttons.  I never did see the Smooch button she added.  There's also a big space between the words "Visit my homepage" and "Mouse-Along Gallery" -- I don't know what's supposed to be there, but I don't see anything.

On Daphne's blog, I don't see any pictures, buttons, or photos of any kind.  I do see boxes with red "x"s in them, everywhere a picture or button or photo should be.

What's going on?  If we turn off the privacy control portion of the security software, I can see everything on Daphne's site just fine.  If we turn off the ad blocking portion of the security software, I can see Knitdad's comments.  Nothing we do lets me see the missing pieces of Wendy's site -- even turning the security software completely off doesn't help. 

Maybe someone who can see everything could look at the properties of the Wendyknits button on Wendy's site (I can see it on other people's blogs) and tell me if there's anything unusual there, or how it differs from her blog etiquette button. 

There are some spaces here too, between the Knitted Wings and blue blog buttons, and between the blue blog and Mama Kate's buttons.  And maybe after Pioneer Woman's button too -- there's a space there.

I wonder what else I'm missing?

Sarah

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie.  Who's addicted?  Holler "I"! 

I-yie-YIE-yie-YIE! 

"I" bought some more yarn today.  I begged my children to stop me from driving to the yarn store, but they just looked at me and went back to their backseat squabbling.  It all started when I saw a single skein of the palest lavender Cotton Classic change hands at the Knitters Night Out at Yarn for Ewe two weekends ago.  I tried to ignore it, but it haunted me every day until I just couldn't stand it any longer.  I had to have it!

Look how innocent it looks:

Of course, I won't touch it until I finish up a few other things . . . oh, please disregard the fact that I've already wound up a ball of it.  I don't know how that could have happened!

Sarah

Monday, June 23, 2003

Warning:  This one is wordy, and I go off on lots of tangents, so you'll have to work hard to keep up.  It's been a long day.  Mondays are rough.

Michelle commented, referring to Sicily,  "OMG, I hope you are being rewarded handsomely for this."

You be the judge.  I'm knitting Sicily for a woman I barely know, whose name is Virginia.  Virginia is paying me to knit for her, but I charge her about half my normal fee.  This is the third sweater I've knit for her.  All three have been intarsia, which is really, really my least favorite kind of knitting to do.  When she called me about Sicily, she told me that she knew I didn't like intarsia, but that only the bottom third of the sweater was intarsia, and the rest was plain purple.  I figured I could handle that.  She told me it was knit using U.S. size 2 needles.  I immediately translated that to a 0 (I'm a very loose knitter -- keep your comments to yourself, please), and figured I could handle that, too.  Knitting a lot of purple stitches sounded like a good thing to do mindlessly -- I need mindless knitting.  So I met with Virginia, and she pulled out the kit, and the first thing I noticed was that not only was the bottom third of the sweater intarsia, but so were the top two thirds.  "I know," said Virginia.  "I thought the rest was plain, but I was wrong."  Big sigh.  "No problem," I said.  Size large, Virginia said.  No problem, I said.  And so I'm knitting Sicily in a size large, on itty tiny needles, in intarsia. 

Virginia is a knitter.  She used to work at a local yarn store (now out of business) in the evenings.  She got a store discount, and bought a lot of kits.  She likes intarsia.

Virginia has Parkinson's disease.  I think she is still knitting, but this intarsia knitting is too much for her.  I'm helping her to knit up her stash. 

I hope someone will help me to knit up my stash, if I ever need help.

So yes, Michelle, I think I'm being rewarded sufficiently for this.

Intarsia is still my least favorite kind of knitting to do, though.  And this is still one strange looking sweater (in my opinion).  My Uncle Ralph once told me that I could say anything I wanted as long as I finished it up with "in my opinion".  Great advice.  I use it often.

In lighter news, I went to my local sewing and vac shop today, to drop off my mom's old Sears Kenmore sewing machine that I "borrowed" from her when she was in the hospital (okay, what actually happened was that my dad just gave it to me because she doesn't use it anymore, but we didn't want to tell her that because imagine if you were in the hospital and your family started giving away your possessions -- you get the picture) (Side note:  Hi Mom!  Glad you're okay now!  I have your sewing machine!).  ANYWAY, I dropped it off for a tune-up, since it hadn't been used in a gazillion years.  The young man at the sewing and vac center (why are sewing machines and vacuum cleaners sold and serviced in the same place?  I don't get the connection). 

Where was I?  Oh yeah.  I dropped my mom's sewing machine off for a tune-up, and the young man was questioning me about frequency of use, frequency of maintenance, etc. etc.  Probably over twenty years since it's been touched, I told him.  He told me it would be two to three weeks before they could look at it, and apologized.  I told him "no problem" (my theme song), and told him I had a "primary" sewing machine, and that this one was more of a sentimental "secondary" one, being the one I learned to sew on (on which I learned to sew, but I digress.  Again.). 

He asked whether I was a quilter, and I told him I was a knitter.  I paused, then hesitantly started to explain that when one knits, um . . . (I stumbled for something he would understand, and came up with . . .) Norwegian sweaters, you . . . (I paused again).  He said, joyously, "You sew up the front and cut it open!" while making a big upward zooming motion with his hand.  I believe my jaw dropped and my eyes bugged out (I'm sure it wasn't pretty).  In retrospect, I wish I had asked him how he knew that.  In retrospect, I wonder if I would have been as shocked at his understanding if he had been a woman.  I ended lamely by saying that I taught knitting, and that it would help to have two machines.  He asked me if I wanted to teach classes there.  "Knitting classes?" I said, surprised.  "We're always looking for teachers," he said.  "Or we could advertise for you," he said.  I declined (not really sure why -- stunned, I guess) and left.  Very weird experience.  I'm still recovering.

I'm not going to reach my goal of having three pieces of Sicily done and ready for tail-weaving tomorrow night.  I should have both sleeves done and ready, though.  I had forgotten how busy Mondays were.  No significant knitting was accomplished.  At least, not on Sicily (big wink!  I've been cheating on you!).

My car thermometer registered the heat today at 95°F.  My home thermometer registered it as 88°F, but the sensor is in the shade.  That's just too dang hot.

In my opinion.

Sarah

Saturday, June 21, 2003

Spent three hours at Barnes & Noble last night waiting for our copy of Harry Potter #5.  They finally let us get it at 12:45 a.m.  I staged a knit-in at a reading table in a corner for most of the time, while the kids and the webhamster roamed the stacks and participated in the festivities.  The copy I ordered for my dad for Father's Day arrived in the mail today.  I could have ordered two and just waited at home instead of being swallowed up in all the hoopla, but Son Number One wouldn't have been pleased.  He's already a quarter of the way through the 870 pages.  I have to wait my turn.

This is why I'm not planting a vegetable garden this year:

Maybe next year I'll be motivated to put in a little fenced in garden.  This year, I'm relying on the kindness of my neighbors and on the plentitude of the local farmer's market.  My perennials are lovely this year, though.  I've been knitting on the back patio with a pitcher of peppermint iced tea, enjoying the flowers and birds.  Oh, and the radio blaring over across the street where the neighbors are getting a new roof.  And the other neighbor's son practicing his drums outside.  Ah, the sounds of summer!

I've got the baskety part of Sleeve Number Two of Sicily almost done (two more rows!).  I'm hoping to have the two sleeves and one of the fronts finished by Tuesday evening, so I can weave in the ends at the weekly knit-in. 

I used a 50% off coupon from Joann Fabrics and got an Ott floor lamp today. 

For those of you who are "in the know", we put it behind my knitting chair in the "knitting/sitting room".  Now I can work on Sicily into the wee hours of the morning.  And maybe now I can see the symbols on my chart properly!

Sarah

Thursday, June 19, 2003

Well, this summer schedule is really cramping my style.  Who can blog intelligently after a full day of playing Mom's Taxi Service?

True to my word, I've been working diligently on Sicily.  Here's all but a few purple rows of the first sleeve:

And a close-up, so you can see all those tiny stitches:

Once again, I have to say that I don't know what the designer was thinking when putting these patterns and colors together.  The green stems and leaves barely show up against the dark purple background.

I'm also a little miffed at the designer for using chart symbols that are a little too similar to each other.  See this chart?

See how the diagonal lines in the top two sets of horizontal bars point to the left?  See how the diagonal lines in the bottom two sets of horizontal bars lean to the right?  Well so do I . . . NOW.  I had one of those forehead slapping, "Oh my gosh I can't believe it" moments yesterday when I realized that I had used the wrong color for the top two sets of horizontal bars -- on ALL FIVE sweater pieces.  They're supposed to be that dark pinky color that intertwines with the gold around the "basket", instead of that medium pinky color.  Poop.

In the interest of maintaining the miniscule amount of sanity I have remaining, I'm leaving it the way it is.

My main fear now is that I'll run out of that medium pinky color when I do the "baskets" on the other four pieces, but I think I might be okay.  If not, I can do some cutting and pasting, also known as cutting out the boo-boos, reknitting those sections with the proper colors, and kitchenering everything back together.  I've done it before, so I can do it again if I have to.  Don't want to, though.

What's really scary is that I'm starting to really get into this intarsia business (pause for shivers running down spine).  My dream intarsia project is Vogue's Map of the World Afghan, which I couldn't find a photo to link to, except the one in the pattern they e-mailed me, which you can request here.

My dad traveled a lot when he was working as a geologist for U.S. Steel.  We had a map of the world on our wall at home (still do, actually), into which we'd stick a pin for every spot he visited in his travels.  As my sisters and I got older, we started to have our own pins added to the map -- each person had a different color.  Now that we all have families, there are loads and loads of pins on the map -- my sisters and their husbands are very well traveled.  My pins are mostly in a few concentrated spots in the U.S., although I managed to make it to Brazil and Venezuela, plus a couple of cruises in the Caribbean that may not have rated pins. 

So the Map of the World Afghan would be cool to have, as long as I don't have to knit one for everyone on the map (so to speak).  It would probably be easier to knit than Sicily.  Maybe someday . . .

I caught Mica dreaming of far off lands tonight:

Ooh, check out those glowing eyes in her reflection.  Creepy.

Don't look for an entry tomorrow -- we're going to a Harry Potter party at the local Barnes & Noble, from 10:00 p.m. Friday until 1:00 a.m. Saturday (the newest book will be available at midnight Friday night).  We'll be warming up with nice long naps Friday afternoon, and following up by sleeping in 'til noon on Saturday.  That's my little fantasy, anyway.

Nighty-night! 

Sarah

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

 Sweatergirl have newSerial Knitter and homes -- I've updated my links, girls!

I survived the first day of summer vacation yesterday -- barely.  I'm hoping that was the busiest day we'll have.  I was running from 6:45 a.m. until 9:15 p.m.  Today was better, and Mica kitty and I even found time for a nice long nap in the late afternoon.  Tomorrow is another doozy.  I can take my knitting to some of the places where I have to sit and wait, so I can be productive, at least.  Have I always been a multi-tasker?  I wouldn't have thought so, but now I feel like I'm wasting time if I'm only doing one thing.

Speaking of only doing one thing, I'm getting off track on my knitting.  I'm chasing my tail, and not getting anywhere.  I was doing much better when I would only let myself work on Sicily.  I think I veered off course this weekend, when I had to pick something more mindless (Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater) to take to the Saturday night knit-in, and then I took it to my father-in-law's on Sunday, and to the Tuesday night knit-in tonight.  I think I'd better put it away for a while, since after all that work, I just tore it out again.  The blending didn't work, because the color variations just don't work together.  The two substitution colors looked fantastic together, but not with the original color.  I had a brainstorm today, which I'm going to try next, but I'm not going to discuss it until I see if it works -- I've posted about everything I've tried on this project so far, and it's all failed, so I think it must be unlucky to talk about this particular project on-line.  No matter -- I've got lots of other projects going on.

On Monday night, I taught at Woven Art (for the first time!), using the new and improved Beginning Knitting pillow design (for the first time!).  Here's a picture of the two Beginning Knitting pillows (old version on the right, new version on the left):

I took this photograph on my front steps.  You can see Keiko's foot on the top -- I'll have to do a little cropping.  I was trying to take a nice shot to use on the pattern whenever I get around to writing it.  I think this one might work.  You can finally see what the colors really look like.  My friend Karin test-knit the preliminary pattern for the striped version and showed me the finished product tonight.  It looked great, and she said it was fun to knit.  Hooray! 

Karin is going to Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp with me in July.  She already has her knitting projects packed and ready to go.  I haven't been able to figure out what to take.  Should I start something new?  I'm tempted to take the De Colores Jacket from the Fall 2002 Knitters Magazine, now that I have all the yarn (thanks ThreadBear!), but I'd better finish a few things before then.  Do you think I can get Sicily done?  

I'd better go work on it...

Sarah

Saturday, June 14, 2003

I put on my lucky knitting earrings this morning, and boy howdy did they ever do the trick!  I got a lot of work done!

I worked hard on the Sicily sleeve, and got through the "basket":

I don't know what those red and gold things on either side are supposed to be, so don't ask.

I spent a long time putting some stitch markers together:

But I'm out of split rings, so they're not quite done.

I took Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater to Yarn for Ewe's Knitters' Night Out and tore out the part I was planning on tearing out.  Then my friend Faina (welcome back, Faina!), of Forest Path Stole fame (Interweave Knits Summer 2003), made an excellent suggestion for working with all three of the yarns I've got (Yarn #1 is the original Periwinkle yarn, Yarn #2 is the new Periwinkle yarn (same color, different dye lot), and Yarn #3 is the new lighter colored yarn that I had hoped would blend with Yarn #1).

Faina's suggestion is to do the following (the bottom of the list is the bottom of the sweater):

• Yarn #3
• Yarn #2 blended with Yarn #3
• Yarn #2
• Yarn #1 blended with Yarn #2
• Yarn #1

The darkest color is at the bottom, and the lightest color is at the top.  We will have gradual shifts of color.  I will have enough yarn.  Cool.

I decided to go for it, but decided that Yarn #1 should extend above the "sheer skirt" into the "opaque body" before it blends with Yarn #2.  That meant that I had to re-knit the part I had just torn out, in the same color it had been.  No problem.  I can handle that.  So I re-knit a few inches, stopped to look at it, and decided that I really should make the first color change happen where the sheer turns into opaque.  That meant that I had to tear out the part I had just re-knit, back to the point I had torn back to when I first picked up the silly project (bad sentence, I know).  So I did.  Big sigh. 

Then I blended Yarn #1 and Yarn #2 for about three inches, and switched to Yarn #2 alone.  Got a few ridges of that done before everybody got sleepy and decided to go home.  Here's what it looks like now:

Probably hard to see the color differences in this photo, but in person it's pretty obvious.  I think it might work.  I'm hoping it will.  I'll take it with me tomorrow to work on in the car on the way up to see my father-in-law for Father's Day. 

If you're reading this, Daddy, Happy Father's Day!

Sarah

Friday, June 13, 2003

If I'm going to skip a day of posting, it should probably be a Friday or a Saturday.  Since I post so late, those are technically my Saturday and Sunday postings, and no one seems to read or comment on the weekends.  Not that I'm doing this for attention (yeah, right), but it's good to know someone is out there.  I'd post every day if I could, but life happens and I was too sleepy Thursday night.  And I'm sorry, but I skipped Sicily and worked on Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater instead, and that's just garter stitch in a single color.  Not too exciting visually.

LynnH invited me over for tea on Thursday morning.  What a treat to see her in her home, surrounded by the things she loves.  Just lovely.  We chit-chatted and knit-knatted, until I had to leave for an appointment.  Thanks for the licorice tea and the relaxing morning, Lynnie!

I worked on Sally's Favorite (as mentioned above), but fruitlessly, as it turns out.  I have decided not to use the second color, which I bought in order to have enough yarn for the project.  Instead, I decided to locate and order some more yarn (Cotton Twist) in the original color (Periwinkle).  My UPS man threw it at my front door this afternoon and was back in his truck before I could make it to the door (the neighbors and I call him "Smiley").  The dye lots are drastically different, but I'll work every other ridge in the new dye lot and hope it all blends together.  Which means, if you haven't figured it out yet, that I have to tear out what I've gotten done and start again, but just from the place where the needle size changes.  I'll work on it at Knitters' Night Out at Yarn for Ewe tomorrow (Saturday) night, since I bought the original yarn there.

I worked 19 new rows on a Sicily sleeve today, realized I'd made a huge error, and tore out 11 rows.  Do you know how nasty it is to tear out 11 rows of intarsia that has been knit on size 0 needles?  Pretty darn nasty.  I rallied and re-knit 5 rows (correctly, this time).  Big sigh.

Well that's embarrassing.  I just noticed that I've had the date wrong on all of my entries since Thursday.  Geez.  I'll have to take remedial calendar-reading classes this summer.  Oh, yeah, it's officially summer -- as of noon today, the kids are OUT OF SCHOOL. 

Sarah

Wednesday, June 11, 2003

My bud Joyce McMorran grew up across the street from me in Pittsburgh.  Her mother passed away a number of years ago.  Shortly afterward, my mom brought me a "lemon lily" from Mrs. McMorran's garden.  I planted it where I could see it from my window, all those years ago.  It has reappeared every year, but has never bloomed, which always made me feel sad. 

Look what I found today:

Today was a very good day!

One and a half more days of school, and then the fun begins.

Sarah

P.S.  Ends are woven in on Sicily.  Tomorrow I venture into new, charted territory.

Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Blog entries are boring to write when you're only working on one project.  At least I have proof of progress:

That's the wrong side of the back and one of the fronts, showing that all the ends are woven in -- except for those long tails wound up and pinned to the corners -- I'm going to use those for seaming.  I still have to weave in the ends on the other front and the two sleeves, but I think I want to get on with the knitting of these two pieces first.  I'll save the tail weaving for "public" knitting, when it's not practical to work from charts.

I didn't touch Mary Tudor (ooh, that sounds kind of bad), so she's not finished yet. 

I'm starting to work my way around the knitting bloggers ring again -- I've only made it around once before.  There are so many!  It's a little easier this time around, since we have a cable modem now (did I mention that we have a cable modem now?  Yippee!).

I "Googlized" my name (thanks to Daphne).  My most favorite:  "sarah is good for soup".  Other good ones include:  "sarah is autographed and up for bids on ebay", "sarah is so cute when she's drunk", and "sarah is planning to take some time off work until next february".  Scary ones include:  "sarah is at home and expecting" (is that why I'm planning to take some time off work?) and something about being a cute blond prostitute, the rest of which I can't repeat, but it's immediately followed by "sarah is 5 years old".  Apparently, I'm a five year old cute blond prostitute who got drunk and knocked up, and I'm currently trying to sell myself on ebay as an ingredient for soup.

Yup, that about sums me up.

Sarah

Monday, June 9, 2003

I'm two plain stockinette stitch rows away from having the back of Sicily halfway done.  I'll be able to finish those two rows before I go to bed tonight.  No problem!  Then tomorrow I get to do my favorite thing in the whole wide world -- weave in the ends -- before I'll allow myself to start the top halves of each piece.  I think I'll start by finishing Mary Tudor, so I can wash it and get it on the wooly board.  Stay tuned for photos!

I've decided to rearrange my Finished Projects page by completion date, rather than alphabetically.  That way the most recently completed stuff will always be at the top of the page.  I was going to insert the photos onto the page so you wouldn't have to click on the descriptions to see them, but my webhamster tells me that would use up more memory.  I don't have unlimited memory available, so you'll just have to click.  I wonder what will happen when my memory gets used up?  I guess I'll start forgetting things.

Only three and a half more days of school, and then I become Taxi-Mom for the summer.  I'm counting on you guys to help me regain my sanity each night.  Thanks for being there!

Sarah

Sunday, June 8, 2003

The knit-in at Woven Art was lovely.  I met some really interesting people there, and saw some old friends.  Nancy had found some buttons for the pillow cover, so I sewed them on.  The pillow looked great when it was totally finished, and of course I forgot to take my camera, so no pictures.  I'll have to remember to take some the next time I'm there.

I panicked right before I left for Woven Art -- what knitting should I take?  Nancy doesn't care whether you've purchased your yarn at her store or not (how refreshing!), so that wasn't a factor, but I'm not currently working on anything that doesn't require a chart or some serious thinking.  What to do?  Start a new project?  VERY tempting, but I was SUCH a good girl -- I took Mary Tudor and wove in almost all of the ends!!!  I need about another half hour to finish up and to fix the underarms (I have huge gaps there, for some reason -- nothing some serious snugging won't fix).  Whoowhee!  (How the heck do you spell whoowhee?  Woowy?  Woowee?)

Scattered throughout the day I worked on Sicily.  I'll definitely be weaving in ends by Tuesday night.  Probably by Monday night, actually.  Then I can start the lovely flower baskets on the top halves.  Wait until you see them.  I would just like to remind everyone that this sweater is for a customer -- I didn't pick it out. 

Oh, and KnitDad -- I can't access your comments.  Lynn and I would love to see you here.  Better yet, send us some plane tickets and we'll come see you!

Sarah

Saturday, June 7, 2003

I've been very focused and have only been working on Sicily.  I've gotten the back well on its way:

It looks remarkably like the fronts and the sleeves, except it's about twice as wide (and therefore takes twice as long to knit!).  I'll have to work hard to reach my goal of having it halfway done by the end of the weekend.  You can see the tangle of contrasting yarns here.  Well, goal number two is to be weaving ends in at Tuesday's knit-in at Sheila's, so I guess that gives me one extra day of knitting. 

I find it a lot easier to work with 2 yard lengths of yarn rather than having lots of skeins or bobbins hanging from my knitting.  The shapes in this pattern each use close to a yard of yarn, so I get two shapes out of each length.  They rarely get knotted up -- I can just pull them out of the mess when I need them.  If the shapes were bigger, I would probably switch to small balls or bobbins.  I'm glad the shapes aren't bigger.  I like my 2 yard lengths.

Tomorrow is the Second Sunday knit-in at Woven Art.  A lot of my local knitting friends have mentioned that they're going to stop by.  I'm going to try to be there right at noon, and will stay for as long as I can.  I dropped this off there on Friday after lunch at Woody's with Sweatergirl:

It looks kind of crooked in this photo -- why didn't I notice and fix that before I took the picture?  I still haven't finished it off -- the sides are open.  I decided to give Nancy (the owner of Woven Art) the choice of finding buttons or having me seam it shut.  I'll see what she decided and finish it off on Sunday at the knit-in.

Gorgeous weather today.  Went to a graduation open house next door in the afternoon and a Lugnuts game this evening (they won!), complete with fireworks.  It's now 11:41 p.m., and I should be thinking of going to bed, but I think I'll work a few more rows on Sicily first.

Keiko is asking to go outside, but I know she just wants to go bark at something.  She never ever barks except when she's outside late at night, or when my sons' friends come to the door (they're very loud).  I think I'll ignore her and let my neighbors sleep.  They can thank me in the morning.

Sarah

Thursday, June 5, 2003

I had a lovely day off today!

Keiko napped on her pillow all day long:

Mica napped too, on the Spiderman blankie, but she didn't like it when I woke her up for her photo shoot:

Okay, so she was really taking a bath, but it looks like she's sticking her tongue out at me, doesn't it?

I took a nap too, but not until I had finished the first half of the other Sicily front, and started on the back.  My goal is to finish the first half of the back this weekend, and then to weave in the ends before I start all the top halves. 

Here's a photo of the completed Beginning Knittng pillow cover, in all its buttony glory:

The colors look horrendous in the photo -- they're not quite so ghastly in real life.  Now I just have to re-write the class notes to incorporate the new pattern. 

The first Second Sunday Knit-In at Woven Art in East Lansing (210 Abbott Road, upstairs) will be this Sunday from noon-4.  Parking is free on Sundays in the city lot behind the building.  I hope to see you there!

Sarah

Wednesday, June 4, 2003

Progress today:

• Completed first half of left front of Sicily, started first half of right front of Sicily.  I can't believe how quickly this is going now that I'm actually working on it.
• Taught morning and evening sessions of the Fair Isle Sweater class.

Nothing photo worthy (actually, in retrospect, I should have taken photos of my students' sweaters-in-progress.  Darn!).  But I've been waiting for an opportunity to post this:

Remember the Mary Maxim Bubble Blossom Cardigan I finished for a customer?  I mentioned that she had called to tell me how much her granddaughter liked her new sweater -- a phone call which really made my day.  A few weeks later I received this photo in the mail.  Looks like she does like her new sweater!  What a thoughtful person her grandma is, to follow up with both the phone call and the photo!

On the schedule for tomorrow:

• Absolutely nothing!

And for Friday:

• Not a thing!

Can you believe it?  TWO DAYS OFF IN A ROW!  Whatever shall I do? 

Sarah

Tuesday, June 3, 2003

Not much to report today, but I wanted to check in.  Between a sock class here this afternoon and the Tuesday night knit-in here this evening, I was busy cleaning and cooking most of the day.  No knitting.  I don't have anything in progress that I can work on in a roomful of people. 

I finished sewing the buttons onto the wool pillow cover during breakfast this morning, and have decided to just sew the cotton one shut, which I'll probably do during breakfast tomorrow.  I don't knit while I'M eating -- we have three breakfasts each weekday morning.  First I watch Son Number One eat, make sure he's ready for school and shove him out the door.  Then I wake up Son Number Two, watch him eat, make sure he's ready for school and shove HIM out the door.  Then I take a deep breath, and if I'm lucky, I have time to make myself some breakfast.  I don't eat with my kids because I'm constantly jumping up to get lunch money or check for homework papers, or whatever.  My webhamster doesn't eat breakfast, in case anyone was wondering.

I think I'll add a blurb about the webhamster on the side somewhere, for those who aren't "in the know". 

The knit-in went very well.  The knitters came, they ate, and they left.  Kind of like locusts, except a lot more fun.  Ann was kind enough to bring whipped cream in a can, which I promptly sprayed all over Tracy (sorry!).  What kind of fun games do you play at YOUR knit-ins?

Sarah

Monday, June 2, 2003

I didn't quite make my goal of completing the bottom half of the first (left) front of Sicily, but I'm pretty close:

I don't know what the designers were thinking when they put these colors together.  Wait until you see the rest of the colors in the top half (later!). 

Interesting thing about the body of the sweater -- there's an extra "V" which you can see above (or below) the green designs in the photo above.  They're not in the sleeve photo from yesterday, because they weren't on the sleeve chart.  Nor were they on the sleeves in the pattern photo.  I've noticed a couple of errors in the charts, which I've caught soon enough to correct, fortunately (like leaving out one of those big pink bars), but the lack of an extra "V" on the sleeves seems intentional.  Again -- I don't know what the designers were thinking.

Michelle asked:

Maybe you've done this already, but, could you show a picture of the back of your intarsia knitting? Unless, of course, that's too personal.

Well no, it's not too personal, but it IS kind of embarrassing.  Here's the back of the left front:

Now it's time to admit that I'm not following any particular knitting technique.  This is the third intarsia sweater I've knit for this customer, and I've settled into a kind of rhythm.  I carry the main color in my left hand, and pick up and put down the other colors with my right hand.  I also always pick up the new color from underneath the old color.  It's sort of a Fair Isle/Intarsia mishmash, for lack of a better term.  All I can say is, it looks really good on the right side of the fabric.

I know that if it was just Fair Isle I would be carrying the main color in my right hand, since the color I carry in my left hand tends to become the dominant color (because of the way I knit).  But since I'm right handed, and since I'm twisting colors around each other, I think it's easier for me to manipulate all the other yarns with my right hand.  I'm probably making it way too complicated, but it seems to work.

I also know that this is a kit, and a somewhat old one, made up of Rowan yarns that are now discontinued.  Since I have a bad history of running out of yarn in kits, I'm trying to use as little yarn as possible, by leaving little tiny tails to weave in.  I'll probably end up having to use a crochet hook instead of a darning needle,  but I'll deal with that later. 

Here's a comparison shot so you can see how teensy the knitting needles are that I'm using.  Here's the size 2.0 mm needle (U.S. 0) next to a regular pencil.

And that's the larger of the two needles! 

Sarah

Sunday, June 1, 2003

Out of the blue, I decided to work on Sicily, an intarsia sweater I'm supposed to be working on for a customer.  I had one sleeve halfway done, which I posted about on April 9.  I started the second sleeve yesterday, and now it's up to the halfway point too.  Here it is:

This picture looks almost identical to the one from April's entry, but trust me, they're two different sleeves.  I should have put a pencil in for comparison, to show you how small the needles are.  The sweater is intended to be knit on U.S. 2's and 0's.  I knit loosely, and I almost always have to go down two needle sizes to hit gauge, so I'm using a 2.0 mm, which is a U.S. 0.  The ribbing was done on a 1.5 mm, which is a U.S. 000.  Do you see why I've been putting this off? 

Here's the chart for the sleeve:

There's a pot of flowers on the upper half.  My plan is to work the bottom half of all the pieces (it's a cardigan) first, since they're all alike.  Then I'm thinking it would be a good idea to stop and weave all the ends in (gulp) before starting the top halves.  Oh my.

I guess I started working on this because I'm stalled on everything else I was working on.

The Plymouth Stone Cotton for my Short Ribs Sweater didn't block out very well, probably since it's half acrylic.  Here's the blocked swatch:

Doesn't look very flat, does it?  Looks remarkably similar to the pre-blocked version from May 25.  I want the ribbed fabric to block out flat, so this yarn isn't going to work.  I'll return the rest of the skeins to the store and keep looking for the perfect yarn.  I saw some Rowan Summer Tweed in Howell that might work well, but they didn't have enough skeins in the color I liked.  I'll keep looking.

Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater is marinating while I re-think my yarn substitution.  I'm only a couple of ridges into the new color and I already think I should add one big stripe of it instead of two.  Hmm.

The swatch for my Cardigan with Crocheted Ridges blocked out fairly well, but not perfectly, and it isn't exactly to gauge, so the sweater, when blocked, will look better than it does now, but the size will be off a little.  I knit another swatch on a smaller needle last night and put it on the blocking board a little while ago, so I'll check it tomorrow and see if the smaller needle is a better choice.  Cross your fingers for me!

My pillow covers are both finished and on pillow forms, but lacking buttons.  I haven't sewn the buttons on the wool version yet, and haven't found buttons for the cotton version yet. 

My Lacy Alpaca Scarf is in need of the last few inches of crocheted edging, but I'm not thrilled with the edging so I threw the scarf in a corner.

Mary Tudor still has a gazillion ends to be woven in.  I'll save it for a Tuesday night knit-in (but not this Tuesday, because the knit-in is at my house and I won't get any knitting done).

See?  My projects weren't cooperating with me, which forced me to pull out an intarsia project on size 0 needles.  That's pretty sad.   

Sarah

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