Thursday, January 29, 2004

I'm pretty good about not taking things for granted, but sometimes I am reminded of things for which I need to be grateful.  Driving down my driveway and out of my subdivision without getting stuck, for instance.  It was truly a pleasure to drive off to class this morning without having to get pushed or worrying about not being able to get back home.

Pause for big sigh and happy smile.

Busy teaching today, so no knitting progress.  But boy, let me talk about my classes!  I taught Preventing/Fixing Mistakes in the morning at Woven Art in East Lansing, and in the evening at my house.  I taught the class for the first time on Friday morning at The Yarn Garden in Charlotte, so it's still fairly new, but boy oh boy, I think it's a winner!  I've got students asking me if I'll add a page of testimonials to my website, so they can sing the praises of my Mistakes class.  A little scary, but very gratifying.  Remember how I was hesitant to start up my teaching again after the holidays?  Not a problem anymore.  Very pumped right now.  

Jenne reports progress on her TKGA Knit-along swatches!  I'd better finish Bed & Breakfast so I can get going on mine, eh?  Fortunately, I'm done teaching until next Wednesday, so I should have a little knitting time available . . .

Sharon wrote about how leaving comments on people's blogs is like leaving calling cards in the days of yore.  I have a a few problems with commenting, however.  I love receiving comments, and have grown so dependent on them that I check my blog way too many times each day, to the point where I think I should eliminate the comment function in order to preserve my sanity.  But then Sharon made her lovely analogy, and made me change my mind.  I'm never sure whether I should answer every comment that gets left on my blog, and whether I should answer in my comments, in their comments (if that option is available), or with an e-mail.  I tend to freeze up when faced with a choice like that.  My social skills are still developing.  And then, when I do want to leave a comment on someone else's blog, I either don't, because I would just be agreeing with everyone else, or I do, and then I almost always come across sounding like a bozo.  Which is something I usually try to avoid.

Speaking of sounding like a bozo . . .

I had a strange thought hit me yesterday that I thought I'd share with you, just because it makes me laugh.  I would have mentioned it in yesterday's post, but I was running on and on and on and on . . .

Anyway, remember how I described my subdivison as being a figure eight with two entrances?  Well, I've got a visual for you now.  Look here.  Mr. Peanut is shaped like my neighborhood, and his two legs represent the two entrances.  And where do I live?  Between the two entrances. 

That's right.  I live in the crotch of Mr. Peanut. 

Sarah

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Another snow day!  Not for grown-ups, though.

Okay, here's what happened.  My husband left for work in Lansing early this morning, which is within a half mile of where I was due to teach at 10:30 a.m.  He called upon arrival to let me know that the roads were good enough to get through.  At 10:00, I got in my car, drove down my driveway, and proceeded to get stuck in the exact same spot as last night.  Only today, instead of my husband (who wasn't home) coming to save me, a lovely young man saw my struggle and pushed my car all the way out of the neighborhood. 

I made it to class just fine, but dreaded coming home.  A phone call to the boys (who I had abandoned at home) confirmed that the snowplow hadn't yet made an appearance.  I made an elaborate plan to park in the driveway of a friend who lived a block away but was out of town, and whose driveway was being kept clear by a kindly neighbor.  And then I was going to walk home.  In the sub-arctic temperatures.  With all my knitting stuff from class.  Instead, thanks to a timely phone call from my husband, I floored it into our subdivision just far enough to make it into the first house's driveway, which belongs to some very dear friends who didn't mind a bit. 

The problem, you see, was that I had to get back out to take my kids to the dentist this afternoon.  And I did, but not before getting stuck in the road between the neighbor's driveway and the entrance to the subdivision.  A bit of highly skilled maneuvering (and no help from my heckling kids), and I made it the little way I had to and off we went to the dentist.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that between the morning's class and the afternoon's appointment, I contacted my evening students and cancelled the 7:00 p.m. class, due to the impassable road.

Have I mentioned that everyone else in the world owns an SUV and has no trouble at all negotiating the foot of snow in the road?  Except my husband, of course.  I don't know how he got through.  He doesn't know how I DIDN'T get through.

Anyway, to continue the long story, I borrowed the neighbor's driveway again on our return from the dentist (where I delivered the Hooded Scarf, incidentally, but I'll get to that in a minute), but not without some difficulty.  My kids thought the part where we went skidding sideways for about twenty yards was really cool.

I made arrangements with my neighbor to leave my car in her driveway overnight, so I could get back out (hopefully) to teach another class tomorrow morning.

Shortly after, my darling husband came home from work.  I heard the garage door go up, so I went to the front door to watch him drive his Passat effortlessly up the driveway and into the garage.  I couldn't believe it, and challenged him to go fetch my beloved Volvo and do the same with it.  "Which entrance would you like me to use?" he asked smugly.  I didn't care, as long as he could assure me that I could get back out in the morning.  Off he trekked to the neighbor's to fetch my car.  Too cocky, if you ask me.

A minute or so later I watched as he drove, effortlessly again, down the street, up the driveway, and into the garage.  And then I caught a glimpse of the street.  Apparently, the plow had come by when I wasn't looking.  My husband got out of my car with a big ol' grin on his face.  I said an unmentionable word and slammed the door in his face.  Should've locked it.

It was 6:30 p.m.  My students could have made it here after all.  Bummer.

Here's the scarf:

I think it looks kind of elegant, in an alien-see-through-head kind of way.  The blip on the top doesn't show when a human wears it.  Here's a back view, so you can see the shaping:

Um, things aren't all to scale here, obviously.  And boy, that plant sure looks healthy -- what happened?  Anyway, I'm kind of proud of my creation.  I think next time I'll make the hood about an inch wider on either side, for a little better ear coverage.  It's slipping back on Hedda, here.  She has no hair, you see, and is rather slippery as a result.  It's new owner was happy and will wear it skiing this weekend, over earmuffs and under goggles.  Should be a glamorous sight.

Here's the first swatch (of many) for my Entrelac Design class, to see if I like the Noro Silk Garden in color 74 (unblocked):

What's all that brown doing in there?  And look at all the pretty colors in the skein that I didn't even get to yet.  Hmm.  If you've been paying attention, you'll know that I don't do brown.  At all.  I'm thinking of making an exception for this yarn, though.  Any opinions? 

And finally (finally!): 

Keiko LOVES the fireplace.  I think she'd curl up inside it if we'd let her.  Which we won't.

That reminds me of the time (back when we had a REAL fireplace) when my dearly departed cat Sidney (who wasn't dearly departed at the time), who also loved to sit by the fire, came up to me and started meowing VERY loudly.  I looked down at him and saw a burning ember on his back.  Poor kitty!  We got the gas log soon after that.  Gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Honey, would you put the cat out?"

If you've made it this far, I thank you.  And now I'll let you go.

Sarah

Tuesday, January 27, 2004

Snow day!

That photo was taken at noon.  Snow fell steadily all day long.  I shoveled about six inches of snow out of the driveway at 3:00 p.m., and at 5:00 it seemed like there were another three inches or so. 

I left for the knit-in at Tracy's at about 7:30 p.m., and returned home promptly at 7:32 to fetch Husband Number One (I've always wanted to say that!) to push my car back up the driveway and into the garage.  For some reason or other, my little stretch of road isn't on the snowplow's schedule, or so it seems.  I live between two entrances into our subdivision.  The plows come in one entrance, go around the little figure eight that constitutes our neighborhood, and out the other entrance, leaving the road in front of my house unplowed.  To be fair, I don't know if the plows even came today, but I'm just telling you how things usually work. 

Regardless, I missed the knit-in. 

Pout.

My husband put the snowblower to work at about 8:00, so the driveway is clear for now.  We'll see what it (and the road) looks like in the morning.  I need to get out to teach a class on the other side of Lansing.

I had to work on the Hooded Scarf, since I need to hand it over tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon, so of course I procrastinated by working on other things. 

I whipped up one of the swatches from my Preventing/Fixing Mistakes class so I could take a photo:

There are some twisted stitches below the purl ridge (blue, blue, and white).  Between the purl ridge and the black yarn, there's a dropped stitch (white), a purl stitch where there should be a knit stitch (blue), and a split stitch (white).  Above the black yarn, there's a hole from a yarnover (white) and another from an "accidental" short row (blue/yellow).  Thanks to Katherine, I now know how to "write" on my photos, so I can point them all out to you.  There were other "issues" with this swatch, but some of them are supposed to get fixed as you're knitting, and I couldn't leave them all in place.

I also started a swatch for my Entrelac Design class, but got smart and put it down to work on the Hooded Scarf.  I'm tearing out less than I'm knitting now, so that means I'm making forward progress.  I just gave up for the night, though, because I'm getting tired and I made a really dumb mistake, and my wrists are hurting (not good).  I think I've got an inch left to go, and then a three needle bind off and I'm done.  Or I get to rip out the last three inches for re-shaping.  I'll have time to do that tomorrow before the 3:00 deadline.  I hope.

Sarah

Monday, January 26, 2004

Thanks for all the nice comments about Snowfall (again!)!

I got a ton of work done today, despite some frozen pipes that precluded any laundry from getting done (darn!). 

I cleaned out my kitchen cabinets, cleaned off the top of my desk, picked everything up off of the laundry room floor (in anticipation of pipes bursting), and took care of a few of the piles of paper that have been lining the walls.  Oh, and I read about a third of Emma.  Mr. Knightley was about to get back into town when Son Number One got home from school, so I had to stop for a while.  I'll finish it up before I go to bed.

I finished the hood portion of the Hooded Scarf, only to tear it out again (too narrow, and needs some shaping).  I was knitting blind for that first version (not unlike photographing blind), but now I have a plan.  Good thing, since it needs to be done by Wednesday afternoon.

I'm a few inches from finishing the first sleeve of Bed & Breakfast.  Here it is, atop the acres of navy blue that are the bottom of the Einstein Coat:

Regarding the size of the Einstein Coat (46" vs. 50"), Sweatergirl (bless you, Tracy!) asked: 

46" should be enough - how big is your purple coat-sweater?

Excellent question, Sweatergirl!  Why didn't I think of that?  My purple coat-sweater is enormous -- 27" across, and therefore 54" around.  I don't think it looks too huge on me, however, so the medium (50") size of the Einstein Coat should be fine.  Besides -- when I said 10" of ease for the small (46") size, I was NOT thinking about my hips, but I should have been.  Forty-six inches will not allow enough ease around the hips.  Enough said.  Medium it is.  Thanks again, Tracy!

(Now I'm getting paranoid.  Why did Sweatergirl ask how big my purple coat-sweater is?  Does it make me look enormous when I wear it?  Oh, geez.).

"Wow!  You've accomplished a lot today, Sarah!"  You bet I did!  Wanna know why?  Because I'm not having fun sewing black velvet ribbon onto the edges of the Jacket with Velvet Trim, and that's what I really should be doing.

I started a new class on Friday.  It was a one session workshop, which isn't the way I usually teach.  And there was no project to take home at the end, which is also against my rules.  It was, however, very fun, and (I've been told) very successful.  The class?  Preventing/Fixing Mistakes.  I'd had students asking for a class like this for ages, and I finally came up with something.  We spent two hours making a swatch, filling it with all kinds of mistakes, and by the end of the class had torn it back to nothing.  To make sure my students could remember all they had learned, I had 14 pages of detailed class notes for them to take home.  I'm teaching it again on Thursday morning and evening.  I'll try to get a shot of one of the swatches before it gets corrected and torn back.  They're pretty scary.

That's all from here.  I wonder how long it will be before I have to go over to the the neighbor's to use her washing machine?  With temperatures in the teens and single digits (°F), I don't expect my laundry room pipes to thaw out anytime soon.

Sarah

Saturday, January 24, 2004

Say hello to new TKGA Knit-along member Larissa.  Hi, Larissa!  It's never too late to join!

Impending deadlines, workshops, classes and holidays have made it necessary to rearrange some of my knit-by-color projects.

I'm going to see how many of them I can have finished by the end of the month, and will hopefully have all new ones in February.  Probably not, though.  Here's a re-cap:

Bed & Breakfast:  haven't gotten any farther on this one -- still have to do the sleeves.  I think they'll go quickly once I get to them, though.

Have Fun! Scarf:  FINISHED!

Miles of i-cord:  FINISHED!

Jean's afghan:  FINISHED!

Einstein Coat:  I'm almost done with the humongous expanse of garter stitch that is the bottom of the coat.  I was planning on making the medium (50" around), but am thinking maybe I'll make the small after all (46" around).  I'll have to think some more, though, because I've been consistently making things too small lately.  Forty-six inches is about 10 inches of ease, which is a lot, but it's a coat, and the yarn is thick (Reynolds Lopi), which means the inside circumference won't be as big as the outside circumference -- a problem I encountered with my 3xChic sweater.  Hmm.  Fortunately, both the small and the medium start with the same number of stitches on the coat bottom, so the piece I'm working on will work for either size -- I just have to figure out when I need to stop knitting.

Lucy Bag:  postponed.  I haven't had any luck finding a suitable lining fabric for the Lucy Bag, which is all it needs, so I'll push that down on the list and keep my eyeballs peeled in the fabric shops.  Oh, and the Lucy Bag will reappear as a pink project, because I have an excess of purple projects but am running out of pink ones.  The Eggplant Hat will be a quick knit, so I can finish it before the end of the month.

Hooded Scarf:  I've got the scarf part done, and will be figuring out the hood shortly, I hope.  It's for my dental hygienist, who's going skiing next weekend, and we have dental appointments on Wednesday afternoon, so that's my deadline.

Felted Bag:  postponed because it's not something I'm looking forward to working on.  I'll save it for one of Yarn for Ewe's Knitters' Night Outs (Knitters' Nights Out?) since the people there watched me turn the skein of lovely brown yarn into the pile of lovely brown i-cord that it currently is (that's a badly structured sentence).  Instead, I'll finish the lining on Your Basic Bag, since that can be finished before the end of the month.

Jacket with Velvet Trim:  I think I just have to sew the velvet trim around the front and neck bands, and reinforce the buttonholes, and then that will be done.  I'm trying to finish the Hooded Scarf first, though, since that has a deadline.

Marissa's grandmother's afghan:  Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to get to this before the end of the month, but there's no deadline on it so that's okay.  I think it will go fairly quickly once I get to it, since I just have to do a few narrow panels and then sew it all together.

No new photos of the current projects, since all I've really accomplished lately is more black ribbing for the Hooded Scarf and more garter stitch on the Einstein Coat (a great take-along project for my sons' basketball games).

New photo of an old project though.  The in-laws came down for the day, and look what my (step)mother-in-law was wearing:

She loves it, and it looks great on her!  Maybe I should have gotten a standing-up shot of her, so you could see how well it fits, but she looked so comfortable that I didn't want to make her move.  And I took the photo from my chair, too, so I didn't have to get up either.  What lazy bums we are!  She brought her knitting and we sat and knit and talked for hours, while the men-folk did man stuff (went to Home Depot twice, tore apart and put back together a Sony Playstation 2, made creme brulee . . .).  It was great fun (and the creme brulee was quite yummy)!

If you behave yourself, maybe tomorrow I'll tell you all about the new class I taught on Friday.

Be good!

Sarah

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

I have to stay away from the blogs tonight and tomorrow until I get my notes written for a new class that starts Friday morning.  I thought I had another week to prepare, but apparently not.  Oops!

Marcia C. confirmed that lunch is included in the $45 for the Philosopher's Wool bus trip.  Here's what she said:

It did include lunch and depending on how many warm bodies we get, it may include dinner too! If not, it will include a stop for dinner. Mary Maxim is expecting us at 9:30ish. The bus will leave from the White Water Tower at Frandor (in East Lansing) at 8. We'll leave packages in Port Huron and pick them up on the way back so we don't have to deal with customs.

Sounds good to me!  Oh, and people could get picked up and dropped off at Mary Maxim, if they were originating from the east side of the state!

Oh (again), and where the heck is the white water tower at Frandor?  I've lived in these parts since 1979 and I've never noticed one.  I guess I'll have to pay closer attention next time I'm over there.

Sweatergirl had my fuschia Pomfret (yay, Sweatergirl!), so the snowman hat repair will commence as soon as we see each other again.  Don't you just love a happy ending?

Sarah

Tuesday, January 20, 2004

That sweet kitten of mine, Mica (of whom I'd post a photo if I could find her -- she knows what's good for her and is currently hiding) had a little snowcone snack this afternoon.  She ate a huge chunk out of my snowman's hat!  Look:

Pout.

This is, like, the eighth or ninth knitted item she's eaten.  My previous yarn-loving cat coveted balls of wool, but would only collect them.  Well, he did more than that -- he would steal them when we weren't looking, run downstairs and put them in his (dry) food dish, and then he would meow loudly until we came to retrieve them -- he wouldn't actually chew on them.  That was tolerable, and highly amusing at times.  My current little darling, however, has a taste (literally) for finished knitted items.  I'm becoming quite adept at repairs, and I thought I was keeping everything out of sight, but apparently not.

At least it's at the top edge, where it's just rolled stockinette stitch.  BUT, the yarn was from my treasured stash of Brunswick Pomfret, long discontinued.  Last I knew, I still had a couple of skeins of this color, but when I went to look for them today, they WEREN'T THERE!!!!!!  I'll have to keep looking, but just in case -- hey Sweatergirl! -- do you have any of this color in YOUR secret Pomfret stash?  It's very fuschia-y.  I had to lighten the photo, so it's not exactly what you see there, but pretty darn close.

Knitting buddy Marcia C. is putting together a bus trip to Inverhuron, Ontario to visit the farm of Ann and Eugene Bourgeois of Philosopher's Wool.  The date is April 24, 2004 (a Saturday), and we'll be going there and back the same day (a long trip, but hey -- we'll have a driver, and think of all that knitting time!).  We'll probably make a stop at Mary Maxim in Port Huron (Michigan) before crossing the bridge.  I believe the cost will be $45 (um, not counting yarn purchases), and I think I heard that includes lunch, but I could be wrong.  When Marcia reads this, she'll e-mail me and I'll post the facts/corrections.  Right, Marcia?

Interested? 

Sarah

Monday, January 19, 2004

Lots of knitting (finally)!

I finished weaving in the tails and delivered Jean's afghan to Jean in Howell today.  Here it is draped over a loom at Stitch in Time, where I spent most of the day:

Here's a close up so you can see the stitch pattern:

While in Howell today, I wanted to work on a project using yarn purchased from Stitch in Time (not a requirement of the shop, but a courtesy on my part).  Since I didn't have anything suitable on my current WIP list, I made the executive decision to start something else, which, being blue, will take the place of the Maidenhair Shawl, which I hadn't started yet (sorry, Kathy!). 

Here are the first 60 ridges (out of 167) of the bottom half of the Einstein Coat (complete with female buttonholes):

It's from Sally Melville's The Knit Stitch, and is the last pattern I wanted to knit out of that book before I start in on The Purl Stitch.  I actually started it last night while watching a video, and managed to knit up one skein of yarn (Reynolds Lopi) then, and a second skein of yarn at the knit-in today.

I can't figure out why the ridges look like they're running perpendicular to the needle in this photograph.  They're actually running parallel.  Wierd. 

Thanks to Teresa C., I looked for a copy of the new Vogue Knitting Magazine today, and read Meg Swansen's article which had suggestions for how to tighten up those loose stitches in the knit columns of our 2x2 ribbing.  Talk about timely!  I've got a couple more ideas to try now, and then I'll give up and just knit the damn swatches.

When I got home from Howell, I took Bed & Breakfast off of the blocking board, finished the shoulder seams with a three needle bind off, and added the neck:

I'm hoping I made this sweater big enough around.  I was shooting for perfect fit in the shoulders, and just enough ease around the body.  I hope it's not as snug on me as it is on Sheila Dummy.  I can always add side panels to flesh it out if I have to.  I'll decide after the sleeves are done. 

I haven't sewn the side seams yet -- they're just pinned for this photograph.  I tried it on (the shoulders do fit well) and showed my family (in case they were interested).  Son Number One declared it to be a poncho (remember -- the side seams haven't been sewn yet).  Son Number Two said, "it looks like one of those things old people wear."  My husband looked at me to see what my reaction was going to be.  I smiled sweetly at my son and said, "You mean a doublet, like medieval people wore?" 

"Yeah, that's it," he said. 

And so the sweet child will live to see another day.

Sarah

Sunday, January 18, 2004

TKGA Knit-along progress reported from Pam!  New website from Teresa C.!  Yippee!

I'm reporting progress on the front and back of Bed & Breakfast (without the flash):

And the first sleeve (with the flash):

I'm having the same issues with loose knit stitches on the left hand side of the ribbed columns in this Bed & Breakfast sweater as I had with my first TKGA Level 1 swatch.  That's why I've postponed the swatches until I get this sweater done -- I don't want to solve the problem (yeah, right) and have my gauge change before I finish all the sweater pieces. 

I'm also wondering if a more tightly plied yarn might help mask the loose stitches?  Hmm. 

And here's progress on the Hooded Scarf:

I'm almost done with the split, or keyhole, and then I have about ten more inches of the scarf part to finish.  Then I get to figure out how to do the hood.  And THEN we'll see whether or not this reversible rib was such a good choice.  I like it so far!

Tomorrow is our guild's annual knit-in at Stitch in Time in Howell, Michigan.  If you're going, I'll see you there!

Sarah

Thursday, January 15, 2004

Weird experience of the day:  I was long overdue for a hair cut (I had cancelled an appointment right before Thanksgiving, and then had forgotten to reschedule, called yesterday, and they had a cancellation today).  I went in this morning for a "neatening".  I cycle between long hair and short hair.  It takes years to grow it out, and then I cut it all off and start all over again.  Gives me something to do, I guess.  I'm on a growing-out cycle right now.  ANYWAY, I went in today, took my glasses off (I can't see anything without them), and chit chatted with my hair dresser (sorry, "stylist") while he snipped away for an hour.  Then he handed me my glasses and said something like "I was able to add about an inch."  I looked at my hair in the mirror, and my jaw dropped -- it was longer than when I came in!  How did he do that?  "Magic," he said.  Apparently the little bit of wave in my hair eats up a lot of length, and after cutting it, he blew it dry (blow dried it?) straight for a change, resulting in longer hair.  And straighter:

I feel a little strange posting this photo, but my hair will never look like this again, unless I can hire someone to stand behind me with a brush and a blowdryer.  Or a blowdrier.  Hmm.  How about a blow dryer?  Blow drier?  Spell check liked those last two, but not the first two.  And now they all look wrong to me.

Oh yeah -- knitting!

I'm one row away from finishing Jean's afghan, which I'll do while watching ER in half an hour. 

I'll also work on the Hooded Scarf.  It's currently 22 inches long, and I think it's at about the halfway point.  To round everything to the nearest foot, I'll make it four feet long total, then add the hood.  I can work on that during ER, too, and tomorrow morning I'll figure out where to stop and make the slit.  I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease for the first time ever.  A requirement for the hooded scarf is that it be machine washable.  It's very soft, and will hopefully be very warm with that little bit (20%) of wool in it.  Ooh!  The label says "A Soft, Warm Blend of Lamb's Wool and Easy-Care Acrylic."  Soft AND warm.  Proof right there on the label!

I miss having just one chin. 

Sarah

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Kathryn and Shannon join the TKGA Knit-along!  Welcome!

Kate has been swatching -- hooray!

Sharon reports a wee bit of knit-along progress, with earnest intentions of more serious progress to follow!

I don't have much photo-worthy knitting going on. 

I have 11 rows left to knit on Jean's afghan.  I worked on it at Tuesday night's knit-in, and during my kids' breakfast and homework sessions (I need brainless knitting to work on in between spelling words). 

I got a second start on the hooded scarf, this time in black (you never saw the white version, so don't try to remember):

Oooh.  Black ribbing.  Pretty exciting, eh?  Actually, it's "Mistake-Stitch Ribbing" (Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns, page 40).  It's a 2x2 rib worked over an odd number of stitches, and I added slip stitch edges.  After the scarf part is done, I'll pick up stitches in the middle and make the hood.  I have a sample to work from, an old, worn, store-bought version (in white) which my customer (my dental hygienist!) wears when she skis.  My job is to re-create it, this time in black.  She'd like the scarf part to close in the front.  I'm thinking of just using a "keyhole" opening on one side through which she can pull the other side of the scarf.  Think that'll work well enough?  If it turns out fabulously, I'll add it to my free patterns page.

Here's what the Jacket with Velvet Trim currently looks like:

Except for the cat, of course.  Geez, I hope that neckline isn't really as crooked as it looks in that photo!  (Don't worry, it isn't!)

That's it from here.

Oh, and in case any of today's students are reading this -- thank you VERY MUCH for braving the raging snowstorm today to come to class.  You guys are incredibly devoted, and I hope your class was worth the drive.  Now go knit something!

Sarah

Monday, January 12, 2004

For the local blog-readers and knit-in-goers, please note that Tuesday's knit-in will be at Cheanne's house instead of Sheila's.

I've put my TKGA Knit-along swatches on hold for a few days -- I suddenly realized that my "invisible" increases on Swatch #1 had been twisted twice (no wonder they were so nice and tight), so I'm definitely going to have to start from scratch.  I'm still trying to figure out tension issues, too.  I'll definitely keep you posted.

In the mean time, I got a burst of knitting energy and have been working on a bunch of different projects.

The front of Bed & Breakfast is about halfway to the armhole.

Jean's afghan only needs about 30 more rows and it will be done.

I cranked out (literally!) some i-cord this evening, thereby using up the last of my yellow yarn.  Here's eveything shortly after I got started:

There's definitely skill involved in using this i-cord machine.  I always seem to have a few false starts in the beginning, and then manage somewhere along the way to lose the "rhythm" and get the stitches messed up -- that only happened once this time, thank goodness (hence the crochet hooks, for purposes of stitch retrieval). 

The end result:

A blurry ball of giant "yarn" to use for in-class demonstrations.  Cool!

I'd like to introduce you to the last two projects on my new "What I'm currently working on" list.

Pink -- Jacket with Velvet Trim from Poetry in Stitches.  Isn't this gorgeous?

I'm putting this together for it's owner, who did an excellent job with the knitting.  My job is to attach the sleeves, cut the neckline steeks, put some kind of a backing on the vertical blue bands on the two fronts (the pattern calls for fabric -- I'm thinking of knitting a backing instead), and sew a black velvet ribbon around the border.  I've already got the neckline steeks sewn and cut, and the sleeves attached.  I'm wondering if I can get away without putting a backing on that blue -- it's thinner than the rest of the body because it wasn't worked with two colors, and I'm sure the purpose of the backing is to beef it up a bit.  I'm still doing some thinking about that.

White -- Marissa's grandmother's afghan.  The white project was originally supposed to be a hooded scarf (another knit-for-hire project), but it's owner decided the scarf should be black instead of white, so that project moved in line ahead of Tokyo.  The replacement white project is to finish an afghan that Marissa's grandmother was working on when she passed away.  It's done in panels, and the main ones had already been completed.  My job is to knit the narrower panels and sew everything together.  Look what came in the mail this weekend:  

I actually stopped breathing when I saw this box.  Isn't it beautiful?  Old, old, old.  And inside?

The yarn to finish the afghan with (with which to finish the afghan!).  Also old, old, old.  It will be an honor to work on this project.  I can't wait to get started, but I have to finish the projects with deadlines first. 

So I'm going to go do that.

Sarah

Friday, January 9, 2004

Pam joins the TKGA knit-along!  Welcome!

I took most of the month of December off from teaching knitting classes, and I have to admit I was getting used to the idea of having more time to spend on other things, like cooking, being a wife and mother, and getting the house under control.  I was a little bummed about starting my busy teaching schedule again in January, and was actually a little relieved that a few of the first classes had to be cancelled due to low enrollment.  The three classes that did start this week, however -- Beginning Knitting at the Little Red Schoolhouse and Introduction to Entrelac and Fair Isle Sweaters, both in Haslett, have gotten me psyched about teaching again.  I have the greatest students -- eager and talented!  So I'm back to normal.  And the house is going to be a mess again, which means it'll be back to normal, too.  All is well.  Life is good.

Knit-along stuff (if you don't care, then you're done reading for today!):

I added a TKGA Level 1 Archive button on the top left of the screen (see it?), so any interested parties can find all of my knit-along commentary in one place.  I've also added a link underneath the pretty TKGA Knit-along button that Teresa made.

I'm now of the opinion that my purl stitches are just fine, and that the loose stitches I'm experiencing are from the knit stitches at the beginning of my ribbing rows, rather than the purl stitches at the end of my ribbing rows.  I can snug the loose stitches up by tugging on the edge stitches next to them.  You know how the edge stitches look like a series of knots and straight lines?  If I tug on the straight lines, my uneven knit stitches in the second column snug right up.  Hear that, Wendy S.?  I cannot, however, figure out how to snug them up during the knitting process. 

So I give up.

I've been doing a little research, and have gotten some good hints from some good people (thanks to all of you!).  Here's what I've found, and I'm sure there's lots more:

Nanette blogged about "Things to Remember for the Master Knitter Program in her 9/22/03 entry, and also had some good information in her 9/16/03 entry, including links to the masterknit-usa yahoo group, which I've already mentioned as a resource, and to Flory's So you want to be a Master Knitter, which I was just directed to today by Debbie in St. Louis.  Flory also has some other good links and information useful to the Master Handknitter program (she's on the judging committee). 

Nanette also mentioned the TKGA's message board with a section for Master Knitter discussions -- that should be a good source, since this is a TKGA program we're working on, right?

Archived on the TKGA Members Only site are some of the On Your Way to the Masters articles, including one on tension problems, one on yarn tails, and an excellent one called By Hand, A Personal Testimony.  Worth looking at.  If you're a TKGA member, the log in information is on the membership card that was mailed to you.

While researching a solution to the loose stitches in my (and Wendy S.'s) ribbing, I was led to Annie Modesitt's Combined Knitting, which I experimented with for a little while, and which is worth looking into, but I don't think I can make the switch as long as I'm teaching knitting classes.  It consists of wrapping your purl stitches backward, and knitting into the backs of stitches to compensate for the twisted stitches (caused by wrapping your purl stitches backward).  I'll be playing around with that some more.  Does anyone know how to pronouce Annie's last name?  That's been bugging me.

Ann had uneven knit and purl stitches in her ribbing, too, and blogged about her solution in her 8/27/03 entry.  It uses a mutation of the combined knitting, which could be worth trying. 

So maybe I won't give up just yet.

That's all for now. 

I'm off to work on Bed & Breakfast.  I want to finish up the projects that are on needles, so if I end up changing the way I knit due to this silly (not really!) TKGA Knit-along, it won't affect any works-in-progress.

Sarah

Thursday, January 8, 2004

Turns out Mari is the creative genius behind the skull and crossbones version of Cameron's Cap, as well as a TKGA Knit-alonger (knitter-along?) who has gotten started on her swatches.  Good job on both counts, Mari!

More projects of color, although they're boring and depressing (but not necessarily in that order).

Black -- Tokyo: 

To summarize, I paid way too much money for the Hanne Falkenberg kit, did a beautiful job knitting the sweater (thank you very much!), washed it, and it grew.  A lot.  It sits in the bag of shame, waiting to be deconstructed.

Brown -- Felted basket:

Yeah, I know I said it would be done by the end of the year.  So I lied.  It's still on the list.

Like I said, boring and depressing.

On to TKGA Knit-along stuff now -- don't read any further unless you're interested.

I started Swatch #1 today.  Why, after thirty-plus years of knitting do I suddenly doubt every stitch I make?  For example, I prefer the long tail cast on, so that's what I used for my swatch.  I don't use a slipknot when I start -- I just twist the yarn around the needle and begin casting on.  After about an inch of the required 2x2 ribbing, I stopped and looked at my cast on row, and realized that without a slipknot, I don't have a well-defined corner -- something that's never bothered me before, but makes me nervous now.  So I tore out my inch of knitting, made a slipknot, and started again. 

Here's my swatch, unblocked because I'm not happy with it yet:

I'm not at all happy with that first column of knit stitches in the ribbing (on the right).  Wendy S. commented Monday that she was having trouble with the tension of that column (I think that's what she was referring too -- I'm waiting for confirmation).  Either she jinxed me, or I've always had that problem but never realized it.  After intense scrutiny, I've decided that I must be creating a loose purl stitch at the end of every row (the second to last stitch, actually), which, on the other side, translates into a loose knit stitch in every other row of that column.  Clear as mud, right?  Maybe you can see it better here:

Or maybe not.  This photo was actually taken to show my wonderfully invisible increases.  Can you see them?  They're invisible from both sides, too, which I feel is a great accomplishment.

I think I managed to work the garter stitch without incident.  I could be wrong.

Sarah

Wednesday, January 7, 2004

Wendy S. reports progress on the TKGA Knit-along!  So does Teresa!  And Barbara C.! 

And lookie here (scroll down until you see the hat)!  That's Cameron's Cap, embellished with a cute little skull and crossbones.  How cool!

Way too many exclamation points!

I'll stop now!

Sarah!

Monday, January 5, 2004

Due to a distinct lack of any kind of knitting effort today (too busy enjoying having the house to myself!), I have decided to entertain you with a couple of knitting-related quotes I stumbled upon recently.  Each was discovered when I was looking for something else -- the best way to find something, I think.

And thank you in advance for allowing me to say "and I quote" in a snooty voice before each one.

Quote #1 (be patient -- most of this paragraph has absolutely nothing to do with the quote):  I was re-knitting the front of Bed and Breakfast yesterday when I realized I had knit past where the neck shaping was supposed to begin, and would have to tear back quite a few rows.  Ever the opportunist, I decided to turn the front into the back, which meant I was just where I needed to be, ready to do both the neck shaping and the shoulder shaping.  On the front, the neck shaping is completed before the shoulder shaping is started.  On the back, they occur simultaneously (or AT THE SAME TIME, as patterns like to trick us with).  I'm changing the pattern to use short rows instead of binding off in stair steps for the shoulder shaping, so I did that, but I still bound off for the neck shaping.  Then I wondered if I could have used short rows for the neck shaping, too.  I started looking at all of my reference books for "short rows" and "shoulder shaping", and happened to see this in Maggie Righetti's Knitting in Plain English (page 81) (and I quote):  "Like virginity, once elasticity is lost it can never be regained."

Maggie was referring to putting neck stitches on holders rather than binding them off, which has nothing to do with short rows or with shoulder shaping, but are words to live by nonetheless.

Quote #2:  I was looking through a book by June Cotner called Family Celebrations -- Prayers, Poems, and Toasts for Every Occasion, in the hopes of finding a toast suitable for New Year's Day.  There are 188 pages of toasts and well wishes for every conceivable occasion (and then some -- A Tooth Fairy Toast?), but the one that caught my eye was in the dedication of the book.  It's an excerpt from Room Enough for Love by Ralph Fletcher.  I'm going to excerpt it further, and just tell you the part I liked (and I quote): 

". . . soft but strong

and snugly knit

with room enough

for love to fit"

Nothing to do with New Years Day, but wouldn't those be the perfect words to include on a little card with each hand knit item you give to someone you love?

More colorful knitting projects:

Blue -- Maidenhair Shawl -- this is from Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting.  I haven't actually started this yet, although I did swatch for it.  You can look at the pretty yarn, though:

Sister Number Two has been patiently waiting for this shawl for a couple of years now, but she's going to have to wait another month or so to allow me to finish a few other knitting-for-hire projects first.  Here's a close-up of the color, which I believe is called "heather mist":

Purple -- Lucy Bag -- no, I'm not done with it yet.  It's still all goofy looking.  Here's a reminder:

Because the mystery yarn wasn't all wool as I had thought, but a blend of wool and non-wool, it only felted in parts (the pink ones).  The purple bits remain completely unfelted.  I'm convinced I can save this bag with the perfect lining fabric (which I have yet to find) and a little work on the straps:

I'm going to fold in the sides and machine-stitch them down to provide more stability.  I was going to try to hand sew them using leftover yarn, but I decided I wanted them to be flat and not tubular, which I wasn't sure I could accomplish without my trusty sewing machine (I use the term "trusty" very loosely, since my sewing machine and I don't really see eye to eye -- ooh -- "eye to eye" -- get it?  I made a funny!).  Stay tuned to see if the Lucy Bag doesn't somehow end up as a cat bed (now THAT might be a good idea!).

In TKGA Knit-along news, I did absolutely nothing today, but progress has been reported from Karen and Bren.  Hooray!  I'm putting little "+" signs next to the names of people who let me know they are getting something accomplished on their TKGA swatches or questions -- even if they're just burning up some brain cells thinking about it. 

That's still progress, right Debbi?

Sarah

Sunday, January 4, 2004

My family thinks it's hilarious that it's pouring down snow right now, thinking that means a snow day, which they believe would ruin my plans for tomorrow.  Little do they realize, I can ignore them just as easily when they're in the house as when they're out.  It's a highly specialized technique I've perfected over the years.  I'm welcoming the snow, as it makes the world outside of my windows beautiful (and school won't be called off -- this is Michigan, after all).

Thank you for supporting my knitting-by-colors scheme!  Maybe I'm not as wacky as I thought (dang -- I'll have to try harder!). 

Morgan pointed out that there's a Bed & Breakfast Knit-along in progress, so I've joined in and added that cute little button to my "Knit-alongs" section. 

Here are the next two colorful entries:

Yellow -- Miles of i-cord -- I'm having to get creative to come up with yellow projects, since I don't really have any, nor do I ever expect to.  Case in point:

I intend to turn this lovely skein of yellow acrylic into as much i-cord as I can, to use for "teaching yarn" -- giant i-cord yarn I use with giant needles when demonstrating a technique in front of a group of people.  I already have lovely orange and lovely blue i-cord yarn.  This will remove the lovely skein of yellow acrylic from my stash and turn it into something useful.  But still yellow.  I just have to find a nice long movie to watch, and I can fire up the ol' i-cord machine!

What does "case in point" mean, anyway?  It sounded like the right thing to say, but when I wrote it down it didn't make any sense.

Green -- Jean's afghan -- this is a knitting-for-hire job:

The pattern is called "Pleated Afghan", and I believe it's a Plymouth pattern.  This photo doesn't show off the very cool texture particularly well.  I was asked (by Jean, who was tired of knitting on this project) to work one more set of the three colors.  You can see the beginning of a dark green stripe on the left -- that's what I've done so far.  Only 100 rows to go!

And now on to TKGA Knit-along progress!  If you're not interested in the TKGA Knit-along, you can skip the rest of today's post.

Yes, I said PROGRESS!  Betsy and Debbi have made progress -- congratulations!!!  I haven't knit a stitch yet, but I'm ready to, so that counts as progress, too! 

My intent is to work on one swatch (of 16) and one question (of 14) each week until everything is done (the blocking report counts as two weeks' worth of questions).  Sixteen weeks from start to finish.  Give or take.

Here are my supplies so far:

Three skeins of Plymouth Galway in a lovely light blue -- I intend to use the same yarn for all of the swatches, and Plymouth Galway is the nicest and most reliable wool I know of.  The TKGA directions call for a smooth, light-colored worsted weight yarn.  I chose wool because of it's wonderful block-ability.

I already had a box of "tie-on tags" , so I'm going to try to use those.  They're Avery 11012 Marking Tags (Strung) from Office Max.

No three ring binder yet, until I see how thick it needs to be.

To provide an atmostphere of good karma for all this knit-along stuff, I'm keeping everything in the bag I got from Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp this past summer.

I finally sat down and compared the three versions of TKGA instructions that I had copies of -- May 2002, May 2003 and October 2003.  After about half a page of three-way cross-referencing, I got smart and threw out the May 2002 version, since that's way too old.  The only difference between the May 2003 and October 2003 versions was a fairly major one -- Question 12 is completely different.  It refers to the Craft Yarn Council of America's (CYCA) Standards & Guidelines for Crochet and Knitting, which was provided with both the May 2003 and October 2003 TKGA instructions, and was dated April 2003 in both cases. 

After reading through the instructions thoroughly, here's my initial take on everything:

Question 1 has to wait until Swatches 1, 2, 3 and 14 are done, so I won't be working on Question 1 this week.  I'm wondering, though, why Question 1 ends with a question about garter stitch ridges, when they have nothing to do with anything else discussed up to that point.  Unless it relates to counting rows for gauge.  Whatever.

Swatches 1, 2 and 3 are supposed to be "Ribbing, Basic Stitches and Gauge", but there's a catch -- Swatches 1 and 2 include increases, and we'll have to figure out which increases are the best ones to use in each situation.  It's strictly a matter of opinion.  Swatches 1, 2, 3, and 14 must be blocked before answering Question 1.

Questions 2 and 3 can be done any time, so I'll probably start with those.

Question 4 has to wait until Swatches 1, 2, 3, 4 and 14 are done.

Swatches 4, 5 and 6 are increase swatches.  Remember to read the paragraph preceding the instructions for these swatches.

Questions 5 and 6, theoretically, should be answered after Swatches 4, 5 and 6 are done, but don't really have to be.

Swatches 7, 8 and 9 are decrease swatches. 

Questions 7, 8 and 9 should be answered after Swatches 7, 8 and 9 are done.  Question 9 is a good one!  It's going to force me to see a difference between SSK and SKpsso, which I've always sworn are exactly the same. 

Swatches 10, 11 and 12 are yarn over increase swatches.

Questions 10 and 11 are easy ones!

Swatches 13, 14 and 15 are cable swatches.

Question 12 is different in the October 2003 version of the TKGA instructions.  Make sure you have a current copy to work from -- TKGA will send you updates for free!

Question 13 is another good question -- I need to become more confident when substituting yarns.

Question 14 -- another good one, about joining new colors of yarn.  This will be a good learning experience for me!

Swatch 16 goes with Question 14.  This one makes me nervous.

The blocking report can be written any time -- I may do this early on, since so many of the questions have to wait until the corresponding swatches have been done.

And finally (whew!), the bibliography.  I pulled all of my knitting books from all over the house and organized them in my "knitting room".  Here they are:

More than any knitter needs, I think, but they make me happy.  The bottom row consists of notes from classes I teach and classes I've taken, my feeble and sporadic attempts at documenting some of my knitting projects, and binders of loose patterns, sorted by category.

I seem to have 31 of the 51 books listed in the TKGA bibliography.  Oh my.

I've been asked about chat rooms and about the masterknit-usa Yahoo group.  I'm not going to set up anything official, although I may put my TKGA related posts in a separate archive for easy reference in case anyone is interested.  The masterknit-usa group will be a wonderful resource, as its intended purpose is "for people enrolled in the tkga's master knitting program to ask questions and seek support from their fellow learners". 

My reason for hosting this knit-along is purely selfish -- if I know someone else is doing it, I'll be motivated to start the swatches and to keep working on them.  It's as simple as that, and it's already working.

Cool.

Sarah

Saturday, January 3, 2004

WARNING:  Sister Number Two, please don't read any further until after you've opened the package you'll be getting from me after I mail it on Monday, okay?  Thanks!

This has been one looooonnnnngggggg holiday break.  The kids are going back to school on Monday.  Will I be able to stand having the house to myself?  Do I remember how to behave when I'm all alone?  Hmmm.

At least part of tomorrow (Sunday) is going to be spent going over my TKGA Master Level 1 stuff to make sure I've got everything.  What????  Why????  Because it will be January 4, which just happens to be the beginning of the TKGA Master Level 1 knit-along!  Knitters, start your swatches!  I'll just be gathering materials tomorrow, and will start the actual dirty work Monday or Tuesday.  Has anyone else started yet?  How's it going?  I'll send a nagging e-mail in a day or so.

As promised, my new knitting philosophy:

Ahem.

I've always wanted to try knitting my way through my stash one color at a time.  First all of the red projects (ooh -- red!), then the orange (of which I actually have more than one would think), then . . . oh, but you get the picture.  But I have lots of really pretty purple yarn that I wouldn't get to for a REALLY long time, which is just totally unacceptable.  So that idea won't work.

What might work, at least for a while, is having one project going of each color.  That would allow me to flit between projects as my mood shifts, but more importantly, it would allow me to have, like, ten projects going at one time (not that I don't already, but it would give me a Good Reason to have ten projects going at one time).

So that's what I'm doing.

I'm not sure if I'm going to try to finish all ten projects before I assign ten new ones, or if I'll fill in the blanks as they open up, or what.  I've been kind of stressing out about that, so I've decided to worry about it later.

I've also been stressing out about all the projects I had listed over there on the sidebar, waiting patiently for their turn on the knitting needles, so I decided to delete all of those lists, except the new color-themed one.

So that's what I did.

The new list starts with the TKGA knit-along swatches, which will be made out of a very lovely blue wool, but which won't count as the blue project because of some reason I'm having trouble putting into words that don't sound like an excuse to have just one more project going.  Um . . . yeah.  So now there are eleven projects, and two of them are blue.

Okay.

The rest of the projects on the list are in the following color order:  red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black, brown, pink, white. 

I'll tell you about the first two today:

Red -- Bed and Breakfast -- here's what it looked like before:

See the line just above the underarm shaping where the color lightens up considerably?  Well, here's what it looks like now:

Looks better, eh?  I'm much happier now.

Orange -- Holiday gift for Sister Number Two (who had better not be reading this before she gets her package) -- this is my first finished project of 2004, and I finished it on New Year's Day!

I took these:

I don't have any labels, but I can sort of remember what most of these are.  Starting at the middle left (9:00) and moving clockwise, there's Trendsetter Dune, an alpaca boucle, something soft and fuzzy from Mountain Colors, the leftovers from an Ironstone kit, and a wool boucle from a booth at Stitches Midwest a few years ago, that I can picture but can't remember the name of.

I turned them into this (please excuse Sheila's lack of suitable clothing.  Is it any wonder she's wrapped up in that scarf?):

It's another Have Fun! Scarf from Sally Melville's Knit Stitch book.  I really enjoyed watching these colors move under my fingers.  I have enough yarn left over to make another one for myself, even though these aren't good colors for me.  My car is about the same color as that alpaca boucle up in that other photo, although maybe a little lighter (it's called "coral metallic").  Here's a close-up (of the scarf, not my car):

Okay, that's a long enough post.  More soon.

So, how nuts am I for coming up with this knitting-by-colors scheme?  And how long do you think it will last (the color scheme, not my nuts-ness -- that's incurable)?

Sarah

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