Friday, April 30, 2004

Okay, maybe this entry will be more interesting.

Here's last night's Entrelac Design class, studiously working on their patterns:

That's Joan, Sharon, Judi, Kim, and Lois (hi, girls!).  Kim is a recent addition to the class.  She's a blog reader who e-mailed me with a question about joining Entrelac shoulders seamlessly -- and she just happened to be working from the exact same pattern that Sharon and Judi started with.  She drove down from Flushing, Michigan to join the class, and when she left, she already had one shoulder completed.  Mission accomplished!

Here are Sharon and Kim, trying to pick out the shoulder join on Kim's beautiful sweater:

Sharon didn't have quite as successful an evening.  Here's her story.

And this just in:

On Thursday, August 12, from 6-9 p.m., Yarn for Ewe in Okemos (Michigan) will be hosting a workshop with -- are you ready for this? -- MEG SWANSEN.

(pause while all the locals squeal with delight)

Meg will be teaching EPS, which is "Elizabeth's Percentage System", a popular (and brilliant) method of sweater design, developed by her mother Elizabeth Zimmermann.

I believe the workshop will be $50, and seating is limited, so sign up NOW.  To sign up, or for more information, call Yarn for Ewe at (517)349-9665 (oops -- I had the wrong phone number earlier today -- this is the correct one).

I would just like to add that Meg's workshop will be held two miles from my house.  I was feeling sorry for myself because I decided not to go to Meg's Knitting Camp this year, and now Knitting Camp is coming to me!!  Am I the luckiest knitter in the world, or what? 

You can all be jealous now.

Sarah

Thursday, April 29, 2004

This entry will probably be extremely boring for all but about two people out there, but it has to be done.

In my quest for crocheted steek perfection, and due to my lack of interest in time for swatching, I decided to use my Fair Isle Cardigan as a giant swatch, and experiment with the two different methods of crocheting a steek that I was wondering about.  Two armhole steeks = two different crochet methods.

Here's method #1, which involved crocheting UP the LEFT side of the steek, then DOWN the RIGHT side, resulting in two lines of crochet that lean away from each other (I crocheted with dark blue):

Here's method #2, which involved crocheting UP the RIGHT side of the steek, then DOWN the LEFT side, resulting in two lines of crochet that lean TOWARD each other:

See the difference?  No?  I could really tell a difference when I was cutting the steeks open (Ack!  The "C" word!).  Method #2 left a much narrower pathway for the scissors, which made me a little nervous about accidentally snipping a neighboring stitch.

Here are the edges after they were cut.

Method #1:

Method #2:

Both are secure, and both look just fine, although I'm partial to the look of Method #1's cut edge.

My conclusion?  I'll probably be using Method #1, because it leaves a little more room for cutting, and it comes more naturally to me -- I kept doing Method #1 accidentally when I was TRYING to do Method #2.

But when I finished my Mary Tudor sweater, I didn't do ANYTHING to the steeks before I cut them, and that worked fine, too.  So maybe I didn't need to figure out the crocheted steeks after all (yes I did -- I couldn't sleep until I figured it out).

I'd like to have a surprise ending, and show you my Fair Isle Cardigan with the completed border, and I DO have the stitches picked up and the first few rows knit, but then I remembered I have to teach the shoulder and sleeve portion of my Entrelac Design class tonight (Thursday), so I switched over to the Entrelac Jacket last night and fell asleep in my chair in mid-square.

And now I'd better get back to that half completed square, and figure out the sleeve shaping, or I won't have anything to teach my students tonight!

Sarah

Tuesday, April 27, 2004

So where did I go on Saturday, you ask?

Penny from New Zealand guessed that I went to Philosopher's Wool -- and she was right!  If you lived a couple of thousand miles closer, Penny, you could have gone too -- I think there was one empty seat on the bus!

Karen guessed that I went to Disneyworld.  I haven't met Karen, but I can tell that she's very "special".  Good try, Karen!

Here we are at Philosopher's Wool:

I'm over there on the left in the blue sweater and the scraggly hair.  The two little ones in the front are Annika and Noah (Anne and Eugene's grandkids), who live on the farm, and who helped with the tour.  You can also see Noah on top of the wool "bales" in yesterday's post, along with his dad Tom (son-in-law), who was explaining the wool business to us.  We (most of us) put on sweater models from the store for the "photo shoot".  And because it was, like, a million degrees below zero.  Celsius.  Dave the bus driver put on a sweater, too, but he was on the right-hand side of the group, and, well, that side doesn't seem to be in the photo, does it?  No matter.  More of the same.

Here are Eugene and Ann, saying good-bye to the busload of crazy knitters:

They were marvelous and gracious hosts.  This was my second trip to their beautiful farm, which they built from scratch. 

Larry from Pasadena California asked where, in what appears to be such an isolated area, do they do lunch?  Well, Larry, they're only a mile or so from Inverhuron Provincial Park on Lake Huron, where I've been known to dip my toes, and which I hear is wonderful for picnics (not the toe-dipping, but the lake-viewing).  Other than that, I suppose they have to cook their own food.  Weird, I know. 

And what did I buy, you ask?

No yarn, since I already have two completed Philosopher's Wool sweaters (you can see one of them here), a third on the needles (that you haven't seen yet, because it's been having a very long time-out), and a fourth waiting ever so patiently for it's turn.

So instead, I stocked up on some buttons, for which I'll have to buy yarn and knit a sweater (oh wait, they're purple -- surely I have some purple yarn around here somewhere):

And a toasty warm wool blanket, made in Canada, and being modeled by my lovely assistant Mica, whose fur matches the blanket perfectly (which was planned).

And what did I do during those many hours on the bus, you ask?

I finished the last strip-o-bobbles for Marissa's grandmother's afghan, but that wasn't photo worthy, being only seven stitches wide and covered with bumps.  More on that project later (much later -- I've got a backlog of things to blog about!).

Which leaves this "beauty":

Brown and pink, two of my least favorite colors, but they'll serve their purpose, which in this case is a swatch on which my Fair Isle Sweater students can practice sewing and cutting on Friday.  The vertical gullies are columns of purl stitches, which is how Philosopher's Wool sweaters are steeked. 

Of interest (to me, anyway) -- I knit the entire swatch holding both yarns in my left hand, a la Meg Swansen.  My one-handed two-color knitting definitely needs a lot of work, but it got a little easier as time went on, and my tension doesn't look too bad.  Still brown and pink, though.  That won't change.

And finally, Robin S had some questions about my personal grooming habits, but I answered those with an e-mail, to spare the rest of you the gory details.

Lots more to talk about, but it'll have to wait for another day, so if you don't have any further questions, I'll sign off.

Sarah

Monday, April 26, 2004

I had lunch with a friend today.  Here we are:

Me and Elizabeth Jane, aka "Sweaterbump"!  We had some tofu and veggies (in tasty brown sauce!) at Thai Kitchen in East Lansing.  Elizabeth slept through the whole meal, and for another hour afterward in the lobby (I couldn't put her down!).  What a perfect little sweetheart!

Oh yeah, Tracy was there, too:

"Mom, make that lady stop taking pictures of me!"

********************

On Saturday, I took a little trip.  It involved the following:

A (packed to the gills) bus:

A little stop along the way (Port Huron, Michigan):

A small purchase (very Valentine-y, don't you think?):

A large bridge (thanks for driving, Dave!):

A weathered barn:

Some hungry sheep:

An outbuilding . . .

. . . full of wool:

A house:

And a store:

Where did I go?

Sarah

Sunday, April 25, 2004

My husband is leaving on Thursday with his dad and brother for their annual golf trip down to Columbus, Indiana.  I checked to see if there were any good yarn stores in the area, and all I could find was this one, so I decided not to go along.  JUST KIDDING, ROB AND MATT!  I wish I could go to Columbus, but I've got two children to watch and five classes to teach, so I'll be staying home (pout!).  BUT, if anyone local wants anything from ThreadBear, let the guys there know and my loyal husband will provide free delivery back to Haslett.  Thanks, loyal husband!  And for those of us stuck back here, there'll be a four day knit-in at my house while he's gone -- WOO HOO!

I have LOTS of photos to show you.  I'm going to have to split this post into a couple days' worth of entries.  I'll go in chronological order.

On Friday, I taught a double shift down in Charlotte (Michigan) at The Yarn Garden's new location (hooray!).  Here's a photo of the PREVIOUS Friday's class at the OLD location:

See how we clogged up the aisle when class was in session?  The store was only nine feet wide (including the shelves of yarn).  Here was a view from the front door:

I wanted to take a picture of the same people in the NEW location, but I was so excited to be there that I forgot until most of them had already left.  Here are the stragglers, in the new CLASSROOM.  Yes, they have a separate classroom now!  With about a gajillion overhead lights!

When I took that photo, the back door (through which you can find a lovely courtyard and a PARKING LOT) and some huge windows were behind me.  To my left, a real bathroom (I can't tell you how thrilled I am about that), a kitchen, the owner's office, and a washing machine -- for felting!

I walked through the doorway in that white wall, and took a panoramic series (vista vista!) starting at the left:

The frou-frou (novelty) yarns will be featured between the vertical posts.

Down the center:

Look at the light streaming in through those windows!  Kim (the owner) still has a little unpacking to do.

And to the right:

And from the front of the store looking toward the back:

That's Kim at the (brand spanking new) register.  If you stare at her long enough, she'll look up and wave hello (can't you just picture it?)  You can see the "window" to her office at the back right, the classroom to the back left, and the back door to the back, uh, center.

I couldn't leave empty handed, so I got these:

They're for the Duck Hood and Bootees from Kid's Knits for Heads, Hands & Toes by Debbie Bliss (1992), which Son Number One picked out for his math teacher's baby gift.  I'm gonna have to cheat on my project list and get quacking -- I mean cracking -- on this little project.

I quack myself up.

More tomorrow . . .

Sarah

Thursday, April 22, 2004

First, responses to some comments:

Thank you for all the encouraging words about my parents' health issues.  My mom (with her new hip and immobilized shoulder) was moved from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility today, which she and my dad were both very impressed with.  Here's to a speedy recovery!   

Heather in MA asked for more details about the "cut and paste" job on the blanket repair.  I'll repeat my answer to her here for posterity (I delete comments when I move things to archives).

I was given extra yarn, and I could have dealt with the broken ends, but as soon as it dawned on me that I could just cut out the holey rows and kitchener everything back together, the job got a whole lot easier.

I inserted a long circular needle all the way across in a row above the holes, and another long circular needle all the way across in a row below the holes, tore out what was between the needles, and then kitchener stitched (grafted) the remaining two pieces together (over 300 stitches!). The repaired blankie is about six inches shorter than it was before.

Laura said, "Love your definition of a "simple cut and paste" job!  Does this librarian even realize what amazing feats of surgery you just performed?"

Yes, she knows what was involved.  She's a knitter herself, although a rusty one.  She's eager to retire so she can take some of my classes!  And I was bored doing all that kitchener stitch at home, so I took the project to the elementary school and finished it in the library!  Got a few strange looks, but most of the staff know me and weren't surprised.

Allison was very helpful and told me that the stitches of her crocheted steek faced away from each other, which is what I'm seeing on mine.  I can't tell from the photos on Lisa's site or Meg's site if that's how theirs look.  Hey, I know -- I'll e-mail Lisa and see what she says. 

Son Number One and I spent a busy day together.  After we sent Son Number Two out the door to school, we ran out to the yarn (oops!  I mean YARD) and cleaned out garden beds so we could fill the yard waste dumpster before the yard waste dumpster truck thingy came by.  We did laundry, printed out notes for today's and tomorrow's classes, and skipped breakfast because we ran out of time (typical of my normal work day).  Looked through my patterns and picked out a hat and booties to knit for the math teacher, who is expecting a little fraction soon.  Loaded the car with recyclables and took them to the recycling place, got our underarms waxed (well, one of us did, while the other listened to their CD player in the waiting area), and had a strange but yummy lunch at a new BBQ restaurant (the menu includes "meat" and "sandwiches" but doesn't list what KIND of meat or what KIND of sandwiches).  I taught my class at Woven Art while Son Number One looked at Melanie Falick's Kid's Knitting and Judy Ann Sadler's Corking, and started a blue alligator from the second book (corking is another name for spool knitting).  Then we grabbed some ice cream on the way home, arriving just as Son Number Two was getting off the school bus.  We finished up with some on-line banking before we had to take Son Number Two to basketball camp at the MAC, where I spent an hour on the indoor track, thereby adding $5 to my laptop fund (woo hoo!).

His favorite part of the day?  When I was teaching.  His least favorite part?  Laundry.

A boy after my own heart!!

Sarah

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

I got back to Michigan on Monday afternoon, went straight to bed, and woke up on Tuesday morning.  My mom is healing, and my dad is doing fine.  There was a brief moment there when my parents and my two sisters and I were all in the same room -- an extremely rare occurrence.

I've been in a pissy mood since I got back -- I don't function well when I feel like I'm nine years old.  Hence the silence.

I took easy hospital knitting:

And thinking projects for the evenings, when I was the only one awake (I'm the only night owl in the family).

Thinking project #1:  The Fair Isle Cardigan.

The comment from rams was correct -- to solve my shoulder issue, I needed to reverse the last narrow peerie pattern on either the front half or the back half.  I was concerned that it would look bad on whichever side I switched, because every other peerie band points the opposite direction, and this one wouldn't.  But it was the only solution, so I went ahead and did it, and it looks just fine.  I wish I could get my hands on Meg Swansen's cardigan again so I could see what SHE did, but I decided not to go to Knitting Camp this year (pout!).

Then I started crocheting the steeks, but couldn't remember which direction to go on which side (up on the left and down on the right, or vice versa?), and I didn't have the right books with me.  I went to Lisa's site to look at her description, and found Meg's description at Schoolhouse Press, but I'm still not sure I'm doing it correctly.  My lines of crochet are leaning away from each other, and I suspect that they're supposed to lean toward each other.

Thinking project #2:  The Entrelac Jacket.

I did it!  Using Sidna Farley's explanation in the Summer 1992 issue of Knitter's Magazine, I Entrelac-ed my way across the shoulder without a seam (thanks for the help, Gwen, but I promised my students there wouldn't be any sewing!).  Fortunately I wrote everything down, because I have yet to complete the other shoulder.  Then we're on to the sleeves!

Thinking project #3:  A bit of a mess.

The librarian at Son Number Two's school has a grandson, who has a favorite hand-knit blankie, which had some issues.  She snuck it away from him so I could do a little emergency surgery.  I worked on the smallest hole first, and got it knit most of the way back up -- most of the strands were unbroken.  I started looking at the larger hole, which included a huge, multi-strand knot which defied untangling.  Hmm.  Then the low watt bulb which is my brain turned on.  All of the problems were in the same horizontal area, exactly the size of one pattern repeat -- why not do a simple cut and paste?

So I did.

While using my dad's dial-up connection, my blog took forever to load, thanks to all the photos.  Sorry about that, all you dial-up users.  I'll try to keep the older entries cleaned out, but I'm obviously not going to stop posting lots of new photos (see above).

The one photo I didn't post today, unfortunately, is the one I wanted most to show you.  I took my camera to the Guild meeting last night, hoping that Sweatergirl would be bringing Sweaterbump to meet everyone.  She did (Sweaterbump is just PERFECT!).  I, however, was so overwhelmed by her exquisite babyness, that I forgot I even owned a camera, and didn't get a picture (you, however, can now picture me whacking myself in the forehead).

Sorry.

Son Number One has chosen to spend "Take Your Son/Daughter to Work" day with me tomorrow.  We'll begin by getting our underarms waxed at the salon at 11:00, followed by a "business" lunch, and then run over to Woven Art for a knitting class.  I reminded him that my work also includes cooking and cleaning, so we may actually "Mop the Floor" or "Plan and Prepare a Meal". 

Stay tuned . . .

Sarah

Thursday, April 15, 2004

I spent an hour and a half at the gym today, but I was sitting on my butt reading Anna Zilboorg's Simply Socks while watching Son Number Two's basketball camp, so I don't think I can count it toward my laptop fund.  Followed by three big oily slices of pizza from Bell's Greek Pizza.  Maybe I should subtract $5.00 from the fund for inactivity and poor dietary choices.  What if I have a vegetable to counteract the pepperoni?  Hold on while I go get some chocolate.  That comes from beans, right?  So it counts as a vegetable.  And if I eat a chocolate egg, I've got the protein covered, too.  Too bad I don't like milk chocolate, or I'd have dairy taken care of, as well.

I'm off to Pittsburgh for a long weekend, with hospital knitting in tow.  My mom fell and broke her collarbone and hip earlier this week, and had surgery for a partial hip replacement this afternoon.  I'll probably be back on Monday.  In the mean time, go read Nanette's blog, there's tons of great information for you TKGA Knit-alongers there. 

Send good thoughts to my parents -- they need them!

Sarah

Wednesday, April 14, 2004

Here are the photos I promised of my current projects.

First, the Entrelac Jacket.  I need to figure out how to attach the shoulders seamlessly, and then I'll be ready to cruise along on the sleeves.  Here's the front:

And the back:

Next, the Fair Isle Cardigan.  I made it to the shoulders and did one shoulder "seam" using the two stitch i-cord three needle bind off (say that ten times fast!):

But then I had to stop, because my shoulder doesn't look like the picture in the book.  Here's a shot of the top of the shoulder -- the dark blue line in the middle is the three needle bind off:

The narrow pattern straddling the shoulder seam is supposed to look arrow-y like all the other narrow patterns.  But it doesn't.  I'll have to figure out what I need to do differently.  If anything. 

Yeah, I've gotta do something -- that's really bothering me.

Here's Anjuli, after one complete repeat of the color pattern, plus a couple of rows:

You can sort of see my color coded cheat sheet underneath.

And here's what I've been keeping from you:

Exciting, isn't it?  It's another shop model for my Beginning Knitting class, which means it will be a pillow when it grows up.

I caught Mica doing this weird thing she does, where she lays down with her hind legs stretched straight out behind her, although it's funnier when she stretches her front legs out too:

So what color would YOU say her eyes are? 

They're not yellow, and they're not brown.  And her fur isn't grey or brown.  She defies description. 

But isn't she cute?

Sarah

Tuesday, April 13, 2004

You know, if you're gonna pop out a brand new knitter on Monday morning, the least you could do is bring her to the knit-in on Tuesday night.  Don't you think?  Geez.  I can't believe Tracy didn't show up with the baby.  I think 36 hours is plenty old enough to be out socializing with your mom. 

I had my camera at the ready, but there weren't any babies to take pictures of.  There were however, lots of finished projects on display.

Here's Mary's sweater from my Seamless Sweater Design class. 

She wanted to make a v-neck instead of the scoop neck I usually teach, so I did a little research and gave her some options.  Here's the result:

Perfection!  And while we were doing our photo shoot, in walked Joan wearing her Philosopher's Wool Mandala sweater from my Fair Isle Sweater class:

Ta-da!

Isn't it gorgeous?

And Jeanine was putting the finishing touches on her first pair of socks, from my Basic Socks class:

The beautiful yarn she used was hand-dyed by Nancy McRay of Woven Art in East Lansing.

Tomorrow I'll show you MY knitting, but I just had to stop and brag about my knitting peeps!  Great job, ladies!

Sarah

Monday, April 12, 2004

I was going to show you progress on my Fair Isle Cardigan, my Entrelac Jacket, and Anjuli, as well as another project I'm 2/3 done with but haven't even shown you yet.  BUT, a couple of (dozen) things are in need of my attention first.  So I'll tell you about all that tomorrow.  Hopefully.

What I WILL tell you about today is that Sweatergirl had her baby this morning!  Hooray!!!!!  The new little Sweaterbump is a healthy baby girl, and it sounds like both she and Tracy performed their assigned tasks admirably.  I'll let Tracy fill you in on the baby details when she gets a chance. 

CONGRATULATIONS, SWEATERMOM!!!!!!!!!

Sarah

Sunday, April 11, 2004

Okay, this is the story as I understand it: 

My East Coast sister and her husband were at the Vatican this morning (I'm not kidding -- I live vicariously through their travels), standing in line to get in to see the Pope give his Easter blessing, dreading having to stand through the three hour service.  My Brazilian brother-in-law started chit-chatting with a bunch of Brazilian nuns who were waiting nearby, who happened to be from a town near where he grew up.  Next thing they knew, one of the nuns handed over two tickets for SEATS, which my sister and her husband gratefully accepted.  My sister says this is the second miracle she's witnessed involving her husband. 

I wonder if having a saint for a brother-in-law will get me better seats at the next Pistons game?

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

The South Central Michigan Knitting Guild is hosting two classes with Beth Brown-Reinsel, an excellent teacher and the author of Knitting Ganseys.  On Saturday, August 14 she'll be teaching "Textured Twined Knitted Mittens" ($55.00), and on Sunday, August 15 she'll be teaching "Aran Pullovers from the Neck Down" ($55.00).  Classes will be held at Schuler's Restaurant (the original!) in historic Marshall, Michigan.  A Continental breakfast is included (do we have to eat with our left hands?), and there will be an hour lunch break.  Classes are limited to 20 students each, (and I'm signed up for both so that only leaves 19 spots), so enroll NOW (deadline is July 1)!  Contact Pat at (269)749-4140 to register or for more information.   

I started garter-stitching along on Anjuli, but kept losing my place in the directions.  I just spent the last forty-five minutes making a color-coded row-by-row cheat (spread)sheet in Excel, complete with buttonholes and armhole, neck and shoulder shaping.  This project shall henceforth be know as Anal-juli.  Okay, maybe not.

Tonight marks the end of Spring Break.  I hope you all enjoyed your break, or holiday, or weekend (whichever apply).  If the Easter Bunny came to your house, I hope he didn't leave any baskets on top of heating vents like he did at our house.  'Cause when it's 37°F on Easter morning, the furnace is definitely running, and that makes for one messy pile of chocolate eggs.

I think the Easter Bunny needs a vacation.

I know I do.

Sarah

Friday, April 9, 2004

April 9th already?  That means I missed my friend Laura Lee's birthday.  Oops!

I seem to have gotten a lot of knitting done today -- hooray!

I'm ten rows away from finishing the body of my Fair Isle Cardigan.  For some strange reason, I stopped at that point to work on other projects, or I could have finished the knitting and gotten the shoulders seams done tonight.  Sometimes I wonder what's going on in that big empty space between my ears.

Next I finished the two seams on Marissa's grandmother's afghan, and started the next bobbly strip.

And then I remembered that tomorrow (Saturday) night is Knitter's Night Out at Yarn for Ewe, at which we are asked to work with Yarn from Them.  The only project that qualifies that I have on the needles right now is Anjuli, so I decided to deal with the (lack of a) buttonhole and get it ready to work on again.  It must have been marinating in my knitting bag long enough, because when I pulled it out, I thought "Oh!  I'll just drop those stitches down and make an eyelet buttonhole!"  So that's what I did.

First I had to take out all the ends I had woven in (that teaches me to weave them in as I go!).  The buttonhole was supposed to be started three stitches in from the right, so I put the first three stitches on a holder to keep them nice and safe.  The pattern asked me to bind off the next three stitches on the fourth row, then to cast them back on in the fifth row.  I'm not a big fan of that kind of buttonhole.  I would have had to drop a total of four stitches all the way down in order to create a three-stitch buttonhole, and I probably wouldn't have had enough yarn available to do the mid-row cast on.  I went with my favorite eyelet buttonhole instead, which is made with a yarn over followed by knitting two stitches together.  I only had to drop two stitches down, and had exactly the right amount of yarn waiting for me.  Here's what it looked like after dropping the stitches: 

Then I started knitting my way back up, until I reached the top:

Except for a couple of bumpy stitches, which I'll fix later, it looks pretty good!  But where's the buttonhole?  Right here:

Nifty!

Sarah

Thursday, April 8, 2004

Rats!  I hate when my comments aren't working!

I received some very nice comments and e-mails regarding my new health club membership.  Thank you for the moral support!  Stinkerbell mentioned the importance of staying motivated.  I've been thinking about that today, and decided to dangle a big carrot in front of my out-of-shape self.  Inspired by Michelle's Abra fund, I'm going to start a similar system for something expensive but useful that I wouldn't normally get for myself.  I don't NEED a laptop, but I've been WANTING one, so I think that'll be the carrot.  If I assume a minimum of $1500 for a laptop, and if I "pay" my laptop fund $5 for each hour spent at the health club, it'll take 150 two-hour visits to hit that minimum.  If I manage to go three times a week, that would mean about a year's worth of visits, which sounds like a good milestone to reach, worthy of a reward.  So there you have it, and there it is, in the sidebar at the right.  You'll notice there's already a balance there -- I was a good girl today!

And finally, something to do with knitting (did you think I'd forgotten that this was a knitting blog?  I don't blame you):

I'm sewing the first bobble panel in place, between two larger panels knit by Marissa's grandmother (for Marissa's grandmother's afghan).  I got bored sewing the first seam, so I started the second -- kind of like doing both sleeves at the same time (except this doesn't have any sleeves, 'cause it's an afghan).  As if it makes any difference -- it's still miles of mattress stitch!

Each of the three panels shown above is a different color.  There is a cabled panel (on the left) that is the darkest, a honeycomb panel (on the right) that is lighter, and the yarn I was sent to finish it with (for the bobble panel in the center) is the lightest of all.  I'll wash the whole thing once it's completed, and I'm hoping the colors will even out a little then.  There will be fringe, too, made out of the lightest color, which will help to tie everything together, I think.  I still need to knit two more bobble panels, since there are another cable panel and another honeycomb panel left to sew up.

Only three days of Spring Break remaining . . .

Sarah

Wednesday, April 7, 2004

Today's adventure involved something I've dabbled in from time to time, with limited success, but little to no real interest.

No, it wasn't crochet.

Knitting is a sedentary activity, wouldn't you say?  I would.  While my fingers and wrists are slender and fit, the rest of me has been widening and softening by the day.  I weigh more today than I've ever weighed in my life.  My son likes to play with the pudge around my middle (Look, Mom, your tummy is getting bigger!).

I know what I need to do -- eat right and exercise.  

I eat nutritionally excellent meals (not counting this week's fast food bonanza), but my portion sizes are way out of whack.  I'll have to start a food journal again to keep me aware of the amount of food I'm putting in my mouth.  I can do that.

I do not exercise.  Never have, except for a year at Curves, after which I quit because I didn't like a) the inward-facing circle of sweaty bodies (I accidentally wrote "sweater bodies" first -- oops!), and b) the chit-chat and cheerleading (literally -- I was asked to carry pom-poms around the circuit with me one day, and to shake them on command.  I don't THINK so!).

So guess what?  We joined a health club.  A REAL health club.  One with swimming and basketball and weight equipment and racquetball and cardio stuff and yoga and lap pools and personal trainers and a whirlpool (ahhh!) and Pilates and a track and tennis courts and a restaurant (yum!) and EVERYTHING!!!

I went to my first complimentary training session this morning, and learned how to use a lot of the equipment.

So now I have a plan.  I can eat right, and I can exercise.

But I'd still rather be knitting.

Sarah

Tuesday, April 6, 2004

I know you've been dying to hear about what I did today.  Being the multi-tasker that I am, I did a little of everything!  Started the day with paperwork, then took the kids to Subway and to see Scooby Doo 2 (I liked it just as much as the first one, which was NOT AT ALL!!), then returned home for a whirlwind clean-up before the knitters arrived.  Couldn't decide what to do about supper.  Son Number One wanted Chinese, tracy_a shouted for pizza, so I went ahead and ordered both.  We'll be eating leftovers for the next week (yum)!  Except for tomorrow at lunch, when we'll be going to Burger King.  What's with all the fast food, you ask?  Well, one of the piles of paper I've been going through was in my purse, where I discovered a bunch of gift certificates, so we've been eating for free at all these fine establishments!  And hey, it's Spring Break, and the kids are mad at me for not taking them to Disneyworld or on a cruise (but ALL the other kids are going, Mom!), so what the heck.  (And no, they're not ALL going.  But a large proportion of them are, which I find very disturbing.)

Laura was lovely and sent photos of the buttonholes of her Anjuli, which have convinced me that that's the way to go.  Thanks, Laura!

Larissa sent an e-mail a while back that made me smile.  In reference to the completion of her first TKGA Knit-along swatch (hooray!), she said:

It's kind of stretched (the blocking was not right on), but I have
decided that if I'm a perfectionist I'm never going to finish.  So I'm
just doing these as well as I can, trying for a sort of "gift to someone
I like" standard.

A "gift to someone I like" standard!  I love it!

Am I the only one who can't send e-mail to anyone with an aol.com address?  I complained to Comcast (my non-work e-mail) who replied that aol thinks my computer is spreading a virus and suggested that I update my virus software and install a firewall.  My virus software IS up to date, and I DO have a firewall.  So I guess I'm stuck.  I can send to aol.com addresses from sarahpeasley.com (my work e-mail), but I can't use attachments with that system.  So my solution is for everyone with an aol.com address to switch to something else so I can e-mail you.  There!  That was an easy fix!

Coming tomorrow:  something new and scary and totally out of character.

Stay tuned . . .

Sarah

Monday, April 5, 2004

Well, in my effort to avoid tackling my e-mail backlog, I managed to get through a whole bunch of paperwork that had been piling up on my desk, my kitchen counter, my dining room table, the dog's kennel, the shelf in the laundry room . . .  I'm not done yet, but the rooms are actually looking bigger.  Bron reminded me recently to pay attention to what I normally accomplish in a day.  I tend to obsess about the many things I have yet to do, but she's right -- on a day-to-day basis, I get bunches and bunches done.  Thanks for the reminder, Bron! 

I took a small break for lunch at McDonald's and to go bowling with my sons.  I bowled a 169!  I never break 100, but I bowled a 169!!!!!  Okay, the bumpers were guarding the gutters, but I didn't hit them very often.  Honest!  169!  Look!

Son Number 2 wants me to mention that during our second game, I only bowled an 85 (half!), and he whooped me with an 86.  Isn't he a sweetheart for bringing that up?  Son Number 1 beat both of us with a 90, which was pretty pathetic since he'd had a 134 in the first game.  But I beat their bottoms that first game, yessirreebob!  I'll be gloating about that for weeks.

Tomorrow I can either continue battling the paper piles (especially that laundry basket full of many years' worth of school papers that we've been tripping over), or I can cook and clean for the knit-in that's at my house tomorrow night.  We'll see what mood I'm in when I wake up.  Don't worry, we can always order pizza or Chinese food, and the knitters would probably be shocked if my house was too sparkly clean, anyway!

So no knitting today.  Lots of knitting related paperwork got done, though.

I think I'd better go answer those last few e-mails now . . .

Sarah

Sunday, April 4, 2004

We now return you to your regularly scheduled knitting blog.

Here's the Alpaca Scarf for my sister-in-law, all washed and blocked:

No, I'm not going to write up the pattern, because it wasn't particularly fun or interesting to make.  It's a lace stitch (your choice) worked for about a foot, then stockinette stitch until the ball of yarn runs out.  Make two, and kitchener them together.  Two stitch attached i-cord finishes it off.

Here's Marissa's grandmother's afghan -- the part I'm working on, anyway (Keiko is helping -- can you see her foot?):

When Marissa's grandmother passed away, the four main panels of this afghan were complete.  All that remains is to make two 15-stitch-wide panels and one 7-stitch-wide panel, and then to sew everything together and add fringe.  Bobbles appear every 4 rows in each of the panels I get to knit, and I need to make each panel about 460 rows long.  Nod your head if you think that's a lot of bobbles.  Ha!  Now we're ALL a bunch of bobble-heads!

Here's my Fair Isle Cardigan, two rows after I realized I had forgotten to start the neck shaping:

It's already been corrected.  Thank goodness I caught my boo-boo so early!

As promised, here's some more information on the lace stitch pictured in my March 29 entry, which described the Margaret Radcliffe workshops I had just attended. 

Theresa asked whether it was in one of Barbara Walker's stitch treasuries.  It's in the first one (the blue one -- A Treasury of Knitting Patterns), at the top of page 185 (pictured on page 184).  It's calle "Turkish Stitch", and is SO easy.  Ready?  Knit 1, *yo, k2tog; repeat from * to the last stitch, knit 1.  Every row is the same, and except for those edge stitches, it's a two stitch repeat.  Easy as Turkish pie!

Larry asked how alpaca's tendency to stretch would affect the lace pattern.  Used for something like a shawl or a scarf, it wouldn't matter, as those garments are able to be stretchy (Margaret modeled a shrug knit with this stitch, which was very drapey and luscious).  Used for a cardigan (for example), you would want to have firm seams and firm edges to help the garment hold its shape (bound off vs. live stitches at the neckline, i-cord or stockinette stitch vs. ribbing at the edges).  That was the whole point of that workshop -- how to deal with those "designer" yarns!  I feel like such an expert!

Stinkerbell asked what I was going to make with the Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn I bought last week.  Socks, of course!

Cathi asked if I had done all the Entrelac knitting in the photo in my March 25 entry.  No, just the purple/green/blue/silver one that you can see the most of (camera hog!).  The others are being knit by (going clockwise from nine o'clock) Sharon, Judi, Joan and Lois, who are taking my Entrelac Design class and doing INCREDIBLY WELL!  Hooray!  I should probably get back to work on my Entrelac Jacket, eh?

I still haven't touched Anjuli, although I got lots of great feedback from you guys.  I didn't like the buttonholes shown in the pattern photos, but Laura said hers look great so maybe I'll try Chris' idea of tearing back just the stitches above the (lack of a) buttonhole and trying to create one after the fact.  Not the same as the afterthought buttonhole Swatchy reminded me of, but still doable at this early stage of the game.  I'm not ready to deal with it yet, though.  I think it needs to marinate a little longer.

Okay, that should get us caught up here in blog-land.

Tomorrow, I'm going to tackle my e-mail in-box.  

Sarah

Saturday, April 3, 2004

I didn't wear my coat when we went out to lunch this afternoon in the beautiful, sunshiny 60 degree (F) weather.  There were people out washing their cars, mowing their lawns, working in their gardens . . .

This is the scene right now, at 10:25 p.m.:

You've gotta love Michigan.

Sarah

Thursday, April 1, 2004

And so it begins . . .

Spring Break. 

The kids will be home for ten straight days.

At least I won't be getting any phone calls from the teachers, right?

In other non-knitting news, I was driving along to who-knows-where today, congratulating myself on how well I had adapted to my new bifocals in such a short time.  I seemed to be turning my head in just the right way so that everything stayed in focus, and I didn't even have any problems seeing the driver's side mirror.  And then I caught a glimpse of myself.  Wearing my prescription sunglasses.  That aren't bifocals.

What a geek.

Sarah

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