This Is Just to Say*

I chopped down the house that you had been saving to live in next summer.**
I finished Mariella. It is very cute when lying on my blocking board. Not so cute when on me. Expect a full FO report soon. (Note that “soon” is a relative term.)

I am sorry, but it was morning, and I had nothing to do
I only wish that I had nothing to do. Instead, work has been crazy busy recently. I used to knit 2–4 hours every day. Now I’m lucky if I can knit a single stitch. However, I’m still happy because busy means that my new company (of which I am president, secretary, and treasurer, and have the papers to prove it) is off to a successful start.

and its wooden beams were so inviting.
This summer’s Amazing Lace KAL is very inviting. It's a KAL with a twist. Not your everyday KAL. Although I’m not much of a joiner, I jumped to join this KAL. I intend to finish The Poor Neglected Barbie Shawl and do/start The Shaped Triangle Shawl from A Gathering of Lace and perhaps make a Flower Basket Shawl along the way. This, of course, depends on what’s happening with my work.


* Title from the famous poem by William Carlos Williams

** Subheads from the infamous spoof by Kenneth Koch***

*** Footnotes to show that I’m not plagiarizing.

A Fallen Woman

A public service announcement:
Thank you everyone for your compliments on the Cap-Sleeved Top and thank you for not completely shunning me after I made my dreadful confession. I promise not to slack off too much. I will keep my left-slanting and right-slanting increases and decreases in order and I will continue to bend over my blocking board until my back aches just to insure that each piece matches the schematic down to an 1/8th of an inch.

Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging:

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee may have been the first to call herself the Yarn Harlot, but she isn't the only knitter to exhibit whoring tendencies when it comes to yarn. Just last week, I had to admit to myself that I have begun to prostitute my knitting ability in exchange for free yarn. Exhibit 1.

Exhibit 2:

It's the beginnings Mariella from Rowan Tuscan Retreat. I'm knitting it as another display knit for Yarntopia. I went to the store last week to drop of the Cap-Sleeved Top and spent some time talking with Amy. One thing lead to another and I soon found myself in possession of more free yarn.*

Mariella is being knit out of Rowan's new yarn Holiday. When I did my review of Debbie Bliss's Pure Silk, Terby commented that she would like to see more yarn reviews from me. I'm not sure that this yarn is worth a full blown review, because like some of Rowan's other summer yarns, Holiday borders on being a novelty yarn. When it comes to novelty-type yarns, I think that knitters will either knit with the yarn or will not knit with it. No yarn review is going to help them choose between X novelty and Y novelty.

So here's a briefish review: Rowan describes this yarn as "a loosely constructed chainette yarn in a cotton blend." Weird, huh? The photo at right shows what the yarn looks like when you stretch it out and this photo shows what it looks like coming off the ball. I don't understand why Rowan likes making such intricately constructed yarns. I assume that the process must be labor intensive, yet the interesting construction of the yarn is not evident in the yarn as it is used or in the final knitted fabric. I guess the point is to make interesting looking yarn.

I was afraid that the big gaping holes in the yarn would make it difficult to knit with, but it isn't so bad. I do occasionally catch my needle in the yarn, but not nearly as often as I had expected to. Because it's a bulky yarn, it knits up quickly. Very much an instant gratification yarn. However, my gratification was tempered by the care instructions on the ball band: Dry clean or hand wash. Whatever. This baby is going into the washing machine. I'm not certain why I can't. Maybe I will try washing a swatch instead of completely throwing caution to the wind.

The fabric produced reminds me of terry-cloth without the fuzz. Or maybe it's cheesecloth. Or both. It's light and stretchy and I believe that it will make an excellent summer top that is perfect for the sweltering heat of Houston.

* To those who were wondering, I will get to keep these display knits eventually. They go to the store for a few months to entice people to buy yarn and then they come home to live with me permanently.

Cap-Sleeved Silk Top

Apologies for the craptastic indoor photo. I thought the light in the house was good. I would have more photos taken, but my photographer is grumpy right now.

Pattern: Cap-Sleeved Top from Debbie Bliss Pure Silk book, 3rd size
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, magenta, 7 hanks (pattern called for 8)
Needles: US sizes 3 and 5
Comments: Nice pattern with clever sleeve shaping. The little sleeves are worked by doing increases on the front and back pieces. The increases are lined up vertically (instead of added to the edges) creating a very nice looking fake seam. The increases also create a bias which allows the sleeves to curve over the shoulder. Though the pattern does not specifically say so, I used right-leaning increases on the right side and left-leaning increases on the left side. If you make this sweater I suggest that you do so, too. Little details like that result in a more professional looking garment.

A Confession: One process in knitting that I hate is picking up stitches for necklines, etc. Not only do I hate the process, I'm a little afraid of it, too. The knitting books I've read always warn about not picking up too many or too few stitches. Then, they show awful photos of the consequences of picking up the wrong number of stitches.

So, I prefer to work patterns that tell me EXACTLY how many stitches to pick up. When I have the magic number, I pick up stitches, pull them out, pick them up again, pull them out again, etc. until I get the right number at the end. I'm completely anal about it. (However, I'm completely anal about most things in knitting so this isn't very different.) I followed my neurotic method when I picked up the stitches around the neckline of this sweater.

But something happened to me when I picked up the stitches for the armhole edging. I got tired. I picked up stitches on one side of the armhole and I was TWO stitches short. I looked at the 50-something stitches I had already picked up and said, "eh, close enough." What? Who took me away and replaced me with someone lazy? I continued to pick up stitches on the second half of the armhole and didn't even bother to count. Seriously, what's wrong with me? I knit the armhole edging, bound off, and it was perfect. On the second sleeve, I simply picked up stitches in the same ratio as I did on the first armhole, didn't count, and finished the edging. Again, perfect. Sigh. I hope this experience doesn't lead me down the dark side of overly relaxed knitting.

meme-age

I saw this meme on Grumperina's blog a long time ago and I'm just now getting around to it.

The rules
- Your finds must come from knit blogs.
- You may not use a blog for more than one item - all items must come from different sources.
- Finds can come from current entries or archives.
- You must post your answers with the title of the blogs they were found on and a link to the blog/item (permalinks where appropriate) on your blog. If no permalink is available, give us the post date.
- Do not steal anyone’s bandwidth - which means you should not hotlink pictures.
- You need to comment on JenLa’s blog and let them know when you have completed this meme.

The sad thing is that I want to break the 2nd rule because there is one blog that can fit into many of the categories. But I won't cheat completely. If I list that blog, I'll list another as well.

1. A blog which you think people have not discovered.
Ingrid's blog Saltwater Purls is not very widely read, but should be. She's a wonderful knitter and she has interesting stories. Her mother is a fiber artist and a spinner. So sometimes Ingrid knits with yarn from animals that she knew!

2. A blog whose author lives close to you physically. Just get as close as you can, it’s all relative.
Either Monkee or Meredith is closest to me. I haven't actually plugged their addresses in to mapquest to find out who is closer. But Monkee will be leaving for Dallas in the fall, so Meredith wins! Elizabeth is also in the area, as is Drew, Amylovie, and Sheryl. I haven't met Elizabeth or Drew yet, but I hope to some day soon!

3. An unusual or weird animal picture.
Karma's cat Lennon is unusual to me. Not because he like hairdryers, but because I think he looks a lot like my Elly. And of course, chicken photos are always a bit weird. But I shouldn't pick on these chickens. After all, they produce the most tasty eggs that I have ever had.

4. An entry that made you laugh and got you strange looks from family or co-workers.
I'm always getting strange looks from Peter, so me laughing at something doesn't usually get noticed by him. However, there have been some (ok many) entries that caused Peter to give strange looks to the computer. The two I can think of off the top of my head are Monkee's Starfish hat and Knit and Tonic's Stash Flash. Peter even had a comment about the Starfish hat, but I typed it in wrong.

5. An idea you wish that you'd thought of.
Cabling without a cable needle Grumperina style. Learning it made my life so much easier!

6. Something you’d like to knit.
The Song of Hiawatha Stole here completed by Janice. Two things draw me to this stole: the name and variations in the lace pattern. One lace pattern over and over again is a bit boring for me. I like how this pattern changes. However, I already have two rectangular stoles and I'm not convinced that rectangular is the best shape for a shawl-like thing.

7. A picture of something you consider beautiful.
I love looking at Elizabeth's nature photos. She has many on her blog. I wish I could take photos like these. I try but rarely succeed. Perhaps Elizabeth has a way of talking to plants and bugs.

8. A blog whose author you’d like to one day meet in person.
The two knitbloggers that I would love to meet are Valerie and Rachel. I want to meet Valerie because we have some spooky things in common and because she's a troublemaker. And I want to meet Rachel because she makes me laugh and I feel like I've know her for years.

9. A blog of someone you have already met in person.
Whoops! Didn't I already list them back in question 2? Ok, I've meet Monkee, Meredith, Amylovie, and Sheryl. And here's a weird one: I kinda sorta met Cordelia before. I say "kinda sorta" because we went to college together and even played in the same orchestra, but we don't really remember each other. I remember her slightly better than she remembers me because she played the harp and there was only one harpist in the orchestra. Oh, and when I say "before" I mean before either of us were knitters and before blogs were all the rage. Yeah, a long time ago.

RAK Happy

Goodies have been arriving at my house from my Knittyboard friends. Valerie sent me some bunny yarn from her secret yarn seller. Just a drop in the bucket compared to her haul and Karen's haul. This yarn is Anny Blatt Supreme Angora--100% Bunny. Not much yardage, but oh so pettable! Perhaps to become Nakiska?

Also, Susann sent me some chocolate from Germany: Kinder Eggs and Mozartkuglen. (She also sent some knitting related things, but I can't share that with you right now.) She thought that I was silly for wanting the Kinder Eggs. "They are just chocolate," she said. But no! Kinder Eggs are all about the toys. The chocolate had a hard time in the Texas heat:



But the toys were just fine! My favorite thing about Kinder Egg toys is that they often need to be assembled. For "free" toys, they are fairly good quality. Not like the crappy "toys" that you get in Cracker Jacks these days. (I had Cracker Jacks a couple of weeks ago. I regret that I didn't take a photo of the so-called toy. I seriously considered buying more Cracker Jacks so that I could show a comparison photo, but then I worried that doing so would mean that I was taking this blog thing a bit too far.)

Time to play!

Finally, Monkee presented me with two very unusual things last night. A fun fur scarf and a CD of songs that I've never heard before. I asked her if the scarf was something that she knit or something that someone else knit and sent to her or something that someone else knit and sent to her to give to me. This was her answer: *stare, blink blink, shrug, look away* So I'm assuming that Monkee herself murdered a muppet made this scarf. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. She has a history of giving me hot pink things. As for the CD, uh ... well ... no comment.

Bias Corset: My first published knit!

Remember when I was working on a secret project? I later admitted that I knit it for Annie Modesitt. You can finally see the whole piece now (sorry for the small photo):


Pattern: Bias Corset by Annie Modesitt, Summer 2006 Interweave Knits, smallest size, A-cup
Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Zarina (100% Merino) and Filatura di Crosa Luxury (100% silk)
Needles: US size 2 (or did I use 3s? I can't remember anymore)
Comments:
* The first version of the pattern produced a much longer top. Annie shortened it after she saw it.
* The top is easily knit in one piece. (Except for the straps. So I guess it isn't technically one piece, but there is no real seaming involved.)
* The pattern has instructions for different sizes AND instructions for different cup sizes (A, B, C, and D cups)--you can mix and match to get the perfect fit. I personally think that this will be flattering to many body shapes.
* I'm surprised at how high the model is wearing the top. I though that it would be worn lower so that the diagonal row of eyelets would go below the breasts.

What will those crazy kids do next?

First a note on the last entry: The fabulous Michael from WormSpit informed me that the DB Pure Silk is spun silk and not a reeled silk. Michael is the author of the recent Knitty article on silk. He says that reeled silk yarn will not have a halo, so now I want some reeled silk yarn. Michael has actually spun his own reeled silk yarn from his own cocoons! How nifty is that? Do you think he will give me some? (I doubt it.)

Now the crazy kids bit: My alma mater's blog reported that some current students made their own music video. I watched it for kicks and to see images of the beautiful place that I used to call home. The video is very entertaining. Not only does the college president dance in the video, but what appears to be a knitting club also shimmies along with knitting needles in hand. What a Feeling!

For the Love of Silk

In which Laura reviews Debbie Bliss's Pure Silk and seems to dislike it, but in reality, she loves it.

I love silk. Of all the fibers out there, silk is my favorite. I love it more than angora and more than cashmere. Silk was the first luxury fiber that I ever owned. When I was a small child, my parents bought me a jacket similar to this one. Similar in that it was silk, quilted, had a mandarin collar, and had a similar "spotty" design. Otherwise, it was red, had fancier frog closures, and was sized for a little girl. I loved that jacket, but was allowed only to wear it for special occasions. Around that time, I was also given a silk fan, which I still have. (I was given a choice between this fan and a fan that had a duck on it. No surprises on which one I picked, huh?)

Ever since I started knitting again I have been dreaming of knitting with 100% silk. But 100% silk is expensive! I couldn't justify buying any silk yarn. I was reduced to petting and gazing longingly at silk yarn in the yarn store. If only, if only....*sigh*

So when Ms. Amylovie gave me the opportunity to knit with Debbie Bliss's new Pure Silk yarn I jumped at the chance. I love this yarn. I may not love everything about the yarn, but I can forgive all its flaws because it is so heavenly to touch.

The yarn is amazingly shiny, soft, and slippery. (I am trying to resist saying that the silk is silky but that does seem like an appropriate word.) I think the silk is reeled silk, but I am not sure. Whatever it is, it more closely matches my image of silk than Reynold's Mandalay does. However, the yarn has a halo (click for photo) that is very obvious. Normally I don't mind a halo on yarn, but the halo on this yarn mutes the shininess of the yarn. The halo becomes more pronounced with washing, which makes me wonder how I will care for the sweater once it is finished. Quite frankly, I was horrified when I saw how much fuzz developed when I washed my swatch. Happily, the fuzz was much less noticeable once the swatch dried.

The yarn comes in 125 m hanks (that's 136.7 yards to you nonmetric types) and after winding one ball, I immediately began wishing that it came already balled. Did I mention that the yarn is slippery? The yarn did not always want to stay where the ball winder placed it. Some of the yarn always slips off the ball resulting in not so pretty balls with loops of yarn sticking out of the bottom. That's not the inside end of the ball--that's yarn from the middle that didn't wind properly. But I was still able to wind the yarn into usable balls, but I do pull the yarn from the outside instead of from the inside. I'm afraid that, if I use the yarn from the center, the ball will explode into a mess of tangles.

Knitting with the yarn is a dream and a nightmare. It's a single ply, loosely spun, and it slips quickly and easily through my hands and over the needles. Pure indulgence for me. However, silk fibers are extremely thin and lack the grabbiness of wool. You know what that means, right? The yarn is splitty. So splitty that I don't take my eyes of my knitting. I have to watch every stitch to make sure that I haven't separated a few tiny strands from the rest. But hey! I love to watch the yarn and I am savoring every minute that I work with it, so looking at it all the time is not so much of a hardship.

Also, the yarn has occasional "slubs." I'm not sure what these slubs are. A group of fibers improperly spun in a short segment? At first I thought the slubs were fuzz stuck to the yarn, but they are attached and pulling on them doesn't work. So I have been carefully knitting through the slubs and then using a crochet hook to pull most of the fuzz to the wrong side of the work.

The knitted fabric is very drape-y and has a nice shine. I wish it had more shine, but the halo gets in the way of that. It doesn't not have very much stretch lengthwise, which I hope means that the fabric won't "grow" like cotton fabric does. My swatch survived a bath in cold water with mild detergent and mild agitation though, as noted before, more of a halo appeared after washing. The yarn is marked machine wash, but I would be hesitant to put it in a washing machine because I wouldn't want too much friction on the surface of the fabric.

The yarn looks good in stockinette and in lace, but not so good in cables. The cables are very flat and rather uninteresting. I'm highly surprised that the patterns published for this yarn include three heavily cabled garments. I was suspicious of using silk for cables and I'm sad to see that I was right to be wary. This silk does not have the body needed to make cables pop. When I look at the cables I made, I don't even think they look like cables. They look more like a texture than a structure. (Also note that the Pure Silk book has a few ribbed patterns. I am not sure how successful ribs would be in this yarn either. I suspect that silk ribs will behave like cotton ribs--not ribby)

One other thing: the first ball that I used had THREE knots in it. I think it was an anomaly though. I've wound five other hanks and did not find any knots.

At my limit

I have always said that I can have only two projects on the needles at one time, three if one of the projects are small. Over the last few months I have learned that I was completely wrong. The truth is, if I have three projects on the needles, one is completely neglected until I finish one of the other two projects.

Take the Dayflower Daydream shawl as an example. I started it back in January. Since then I have completed Rogue, Sweet Girl Socks, Curlicue, and the Dragon Hoodie and have made significant progress on the 1930's style dress that I am sample knitting for Annie Modesitt. When ever I had three projects going, I would cast the Dayflower shawl aside, not knitting a stitch on it and not even taking out of my knitting bag. The shawl is now officially renamed "The Poor Neglected Barbie Shawl."

When I finished the Dragon Hoodie last weekend, I gleefully grabbed The Poor Neglected Barbie Shawl and knit round after round. I felt so happy to be making progress on it again. I even finished the third repeat of the pattern. Finishing three repeats may not seem like a lot, but each repeat is 40 rounds and by the end of the third repeat I had over 400 sts on the needle. So it is a lot.

Then on Thursday, the yarn for the sample knit that I am doing for Yarntopia arrived at my doorstep.* Debbie Bliss Pure Silk to be made into the Cap Sleeved Top. I looked longingly at the pretty yarn realizing that if I cast on for the project, I would stop working on The Poor Neglected Barbie Shawl. What do you think I did?


That's right. The Poor Neglected Barbie Shawl got its name for a reason. Some day, little shawl, I promise to finish you. For now, I have pretty, shiny silk to play with.

Tune in next time when I discuss the pleasures and pains of pure silk. Here's a preview: Silk + Cables = Meh

* For those who are interested, and I'm speaking to you Yarn Focus Challenge people, I did not screw up and buy yarn! No money was exchanged for this yarn. The yarn still officially belongs to the store. I agreed to do this sample knit over a month ago, but the yarn took a long time to arrived from the distributer.

And with this purchase...

...I'm done buying yarn. At least I am for awhile.

Yesterday I went to Yarntopia*--the place where yarn dreams come true. My yarn dreams certainly came true! What an amazing store. Houston-area knitters are in for a treat. A fabulous yarn selection that beautifully displayed. A feast for the eyes and an assault on the wallet. But seriously, they carry many may yarns that aren't carried in other Houston stores including Fleece Artist and Malabrigo. And speaking of Malabrigo:


Six hanks of Vermillion destined to become Salt Peanuts unless I change my mind before I start. I can't seem to photograph the colors well. Rich reds and pinks with tinges of orange. Even Scout loves this yarn. She was rolling around in it when I was trying to take photos.

Now that I have purchased this yarn, I'm not going to buy any more yarn for the next three months or more. I mean it. As you saw when I flashed my stash this weekend, I have several sweaters worth of yarn. I don't need any more yarn for awhile. I'm set for the Yarn Focus Challenge!

(For those of you wondering why I didn't reset my yarn ticker--the Yarn Focus participants get one free day per month to purchase yarn. Yesterday was my free day for April. I do not plan on using my free days in May and June.)

* The easiest way to get to Yarntopia from Houston is to take the Westpark Tollway out to Katy. Exit on Mason Road, turn north (right), drive for a few miles until you get to Cinco Ranch Blvd. The store is in a strip mall on the northwest corner of the intersection and is not very visible from the road.

Dragon Hoodie Finished

Pattern: Dragon Hoodie by Marnie MacLean, size medium
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Worsted, held double for red parts
Needles: US sizes 9 and 10.5, Crochet hook size J
Personal Challenge Met: I knit the whole thing continentally--just to prove that I could do it
Resolution Achieved: I accomplished goal #1. The others are going well, too!
Comments:
1) I'm still concerned about the size of this thing. I guess Niecephew can wear it if it is too small for Eva.

2) The seams are very bulky even though I used only one strand of yarn to seam. I should have sewn only half of the edge stitches into the seam. I wish I had heard that hint BEFORE I finished seaming the sweater.

3) Zipper installation was an adventure. It's not perfect--you can see the zipper when it is closed, but I think it's pretty good for a first attempt. The first time I tried sewing one side of the zipper, I sewed too far away from the teeth. I completely missed the zipper tape in one spot and had to rip out the whole thing.

4) I shortened the zipper by folding the excess zipper down at a 90-degree angle, sewing the folded zipper together, tacking the folded bit to the sweater, and then snipping off the excess zipper. Not the greatest way to shorten the zipper, but I didn't have much choice. The zipper is plastic so I couldn't move the zipper stop. The zipper is so fat that I couldn't fold it over at a steeper angle.

5) Unfortunately, a couple of zipper teeth poke through the front of the sweater. But I think it's better than poking into the baby's neck.

6) The crocheted spikes have a definite right side and wrong side. But I think they both look fine. I wish I had taken the time to figure out how to crochet the spikes directly onto the sweater, but I was too lazy.

7) The crocheted ears that I made up look pretty good.

8) Scout still doesn't care to wear the sweater...

I'm a Flasher!

Yes kiddies it's that time of the year again. The 2nd Annual Stash Flash. Although my stash has grown considerably since last year's flash, I'm still not close to SABLE. I do make efforts to keep my stash under control by trading and giving away yarn that I know that I won't use. In fact, I have hardly any of Mrs. Stranger's stash left at my house. Most was given away (a lot went to Monkee and her mother) and some was used as prizes for the Ugly Ball of Yarn contest. So, without further ado, I present my stash! All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Group shot, not very scenic. This photo was actually taken after all the other photos were. As I finished taking photos of the yarn, I'd carefully pack the yarn in nice zippered bags and then toss them in this pile. Scout is not sure what to make of all the yarn.


Cool Cottons

Cottons and cotton blends here.
* The jewel-toned cakes in the top left are the remnants of the unfinished sweater that I showed last year. Helen wanted the laceweight from the sweater, so I frogged the sweater.
* The two large skeins in the top right are from Mrs. Stranger. 500 yards per skein! I think it's destined to be baby stuff.
* The pastel balls in the front right are leftovers from Moni. Moni was just a bunch of yarn in last year's flash.
* The rest are leftovers from Curlicue, Rosa, Rebecca Pirate Sweater, Arrowhead, and Elspeth.

Furry and Fancy
Some of my nicer yarns--most of it fuzzy. Clockwise from top left:
* Pleasure is almost certainly going to become Starsky. The gauge and yardage are spot on--almost as if the sweater was written for this stash yarn.
* KFI Angora Extra: I overestimated how much I would need for Berkshire Breeze. So, I bought another ball so that I would have enough for another sweater. Clever, huh?
* Texas mohair: To become a Flower Basket Shawl eventually.
* Cotton and tussah silk from Mrs. Stranger's stash. Certainly enough for a sweater, but I haven't found a suitable pattern. I may design my own.
* Kid Silk Haze from Reversible Rib Shawl. I think it will be Marianne from Rowan 37.

Yarn DOES grow on trees! (or at least some plants)
Karaoke (tofu yarn) Twize (bamboo yarn) and Euroflax Linen. Apparently, I like plant fibers in shades of purple.

Thin Stuff and KnitPicks
From the left:
* Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace. An impulse buy. I haven't picked a pattern yet.
* Barbie Rose laceweight. Someday it will join the other hank in the Barbie Shawl.
* Tiger sock yarn to be made into a stuffed tiger--not into socks.
* Random leftover sock yarn
* A variety of KnitPicks yarn that I bought for swatching.

Woolies, part 1
Daletta yarn for Lotus and Cashmerino. The Cashmerino was supposed to become Tempting, but I changed my mind.

Woolies, part 2
Odds and ends of wool and wool blends from various projects. I always buy extra and I always have extra leftover, funny how that works. For some reason the leftover Cestari (aka machine washable purple sheepies) from Rogue didn't make this photo.

Novelty and Petroyarns
Lest you think I'm a complete yarn snob, I am displaying my yarn consisting of mostly human-made materials. I made baby stuff with a lot of this yarn. Let's face it--acrylic yarns yarns are perfect for babies that are going vomit on their clothes and then outgrow them in 2 months.

Need more yarn p0rn? Check out the other stash flashers!

Yarn focus challenge

Have you seen Rebekah's challenge? I just signed up to participate. The details and rules of the challenge are here. Thank goodness we get one free day per month. Yarntopia is opening next week! If all goes as planned, after I purchase my Malabrigo from Amy, I won't be buying yarn for a long, long time.

Now I have to figure out how to make a ticker that's acceptable to me. This one from the Ticker Factory is ok... I wish could find a narrow one to go in my side bar. Even something that simply counts up numerical days would be good--I don't need a slidy thing. Help, hints, suggestions? Please?



Edit: I found this javascript counter. Seems to work ok. I had issues formatting it to look nice on my blog, so I'm still open to suggestions.

Edit 2: reset my ticker for the start of the challenge

Hi, Remember Me?

Thank you for all your advice my biased swatch. I was happy to learn that it's wasn't my fault--it's the yarn's fault. Thanks to Elizabeth, Grumperina, and Jes, I now know that crooked knitting can happen when the twist of the yarn isn't quite right. Grumperina even sent me a link to an article that explains how yarn can be unbalanced. It's interesting reading. If you spin, you should read the article.

Dragon, almost...
If I sat down to figure out how long it's taking me to finish this BABY sweater, I think I would be embarrassed to find that I have finished adult-sized sweaters in half as much time. I guess I wasn't enjoying knitting this sweater very much. When I finally finished knitting and seaming, I had to crochet stuff--which meant putting the whole thing aside and teaching myself the necessary skills. But look! Now it has a spiky spine! Fresh off my crochet triumph, I decided to make up some crocheted ears because crocheted fabric is much stiffer than knitted fabric and I wanted to be sure that the ears stood up nicely. Here the sweater is modeled by a stuffed dog. I don't have a teddy bear that I can dress up in baby clothes. I attempted to put the sweater on Scout, but she didn't like wearing the hood (or the rest of the sweater for that matter.)

Now, for the most scary part--installing the zipper. I have a zipper and it is too long. I know that I can shorten the zipper, but I don't know how. I have a sewing machine, but it refuses to sew in straight lines. I have read the zipper-installing tutorials again and again. But I am still not convinced that I can do this. It doesn't look too bad without a zipper right? Who cares if the baby gets cold? Just kidding. I will put the zipper in as soon as I can.

Am I boring yet?
Yesterday, while I was staring at the too long zipper, Peter commented that I wasn't finishing very many knitting projects. Yes, that's true. Then he asked, "Aren't your blog readers getting bored with you?" Hummm...I don't know. Are you?

I haven't been knitting much lately. And when I do have a chance to knit, I've been working on a couple of projects that I can't blog about. Hence: not much blog fodder. I hope to pick up the knitting pace again soon.

I have discovered becoming a freelancer is actually starting my own business. I've been busy working on filling out small business paperwork, straightening out finances, and managing communications with clients, networking with other freelancers, and then trying to find time to do the work that I've agreed to do! Sure I can stop and knit whenever I like, but now if I'm knitting during "work hours," I'm not earning money. So, I'm less inclined to knit "just a few rows" on my "breaks" like I used to do when I was a salaried employee. Ah well. I'm still glad that I quit my other job. I will get used to being on my own and I will eventually have the free time that I dreamed about when I first decided to go out on my own.

Tell me why

I've knit a couple of swatches with Louet Sales MerLin (merino and linen--clever, huh?) and both swatches have a weird bias to them. See? Please, knitting and yarn experts out there, tell me why this is happening. No, I'm not twisting my stitches. This happens when knitting flat (as seen here) and when knitting ribbing in the round. Is it the way the yarn is made? Is there anything I can do to avoid it? I'm highly confused because I have never seen anything like this before.

Update: Dragon Hoodie parts are done. Now I have to get up the gumption to sew them together. This weekend involves teaching at LYS on Saturday (assuming that I have students) and watching Peter run the Seabrook Marathon on Sunday. I don't see much seaming happening on either day.

Good News: I'm going to Alaska! Alaska! I have wanted to go to Alaska since I was a kid. Peter and I just booked a Backroads Trip. We will be hiking, biking, rafting, sea kayaking, and DOG SLEDDING. (I'm ignoring the fact that the dog sleds are going to be on wheels.) We will be going in August when the heat of Houston will be unbearable. There are still several spots open on the trip. Anyone care to join us? Come on, where else can you buy qiviut yarn in a museum store?

You know that you've been out of the blogosphere too long

when you have 111 unread entries on bloglines and you don't subscribe to very many blogs in the first place.

Look:

It's proof that I have been knitting (and a photo of Elly's rear end). Unfortunately, I haven't been knitting very much. What you see are four of the six pieces need to make a Dragon Hoodie for Eva. I have been wanting to make this sweater for a long time now, but never got around to it because I could never find yarn that I liked. I finally settled for Plymouth Encore even though the gauge is wrong.

For some reason, this tiny sweater is causing me great anxiety. I ripped out the back (or part of the back) three times for various reasons. I worry that it won't fit Eva because I have no idea how big an 18-month old is. I worry about how the parts are going together (the hood construction is a bit baffling to me). I worry about installing the zipper. Heck, I worry about FINDING a zipper. I worry about making the crocheted poky things to go along the spine. I worry that it will look too plain without the spots. I worry that no one will know that it's a dragon. I worry that the colors aren't right. (I picked red and gold because I thought that Eva should be a Chinese dragon because she's more Chinese than I am. But do people know that Chinese dragons are red and gold?)

To make this sweater even harder on me, I decided to knit the entire thing continental style. Why? To prove to myself that I can do it and to make knitting a mostly stockinette sweater a bit more interesting. I am primarily an English knitter, but I learned to knit two-handed fair isle very early in my knitting career. So, I can easily knit and purl with both hands. However, increasing, decreasing, and binding off continental style are challenging for me. I know the benefits of continental knitting, but boy oh boy is it uncomfortable for me. I think this will be the end of my experiments with continental knitting. That is, until the next time I want to experiment with continental knitting again.

In regular life:
My last day at my job is Thursday. Today, I'm waffling between "I'm so happy!" and "I'm so sad!" I'm happy to escape from the chapters that I have been editing and re-editing for years, but it frightens me that someone else is going to edit my chapters. I guess I can't have it both ways. Meanwhile, I already have two freelance jobs lined up. *Whew!* I'm not unemployed after all.

I'm also entertaining myself with my new computer. It has a built in webcam.


click for giant Scout

Sweet Girl Socks

Pattern: Spring Melody Child's Socks from 2006 Knitting Pattern-a-Day Calendar
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Baby Stripe, 1 hank
Needles: US size 0 DPN (yes, DPN!)
Pattern Errata: Before I started this pattern, there were no errata posted online. I found several mistakes and communicated them to the designer. I'm not sure if the designer passed the mistakes on to the publisher.
1. In the "Make Heel" section, repeat rows 1-4.
2. In the "Shape Heel" section, row 6 should read: p10, p2tog, p1, turn
3. The "Foot" section should read: Continue knitting in stockinette until foot measures 1.5 inches less than desired length.
Modifications: I did a normal slip-stitch heel flap instead of following the directions.
Comments: The socks are pretty darn cute, but those beads were a bear. Should I ever do beaded knitting again, I'm going to try the crochet-hook method.

I showed SG one finished sock this weekend. I also showed her that I was working on the second sock. I didn't even have to tell her that the socks are for her. She figured it out on her own. She was very shy at first--she didn't even want to touch the sock. But once I convinced her to hold it, she got very excited. The first thing that she noticed were the beads. So, of course, putting the beads in was completely worth it!

Random, unrelated weirdness
because Monkee asked....click of you dare.

Oh yeah! It's me.

You Are Dr. Bunsen Honeydew

You take the title "mad scientist" to the extreme -with very scary things coming out of your lab. And you've invented some pretty cool things, from a banana sharpener to a robot politician. But while you're busy turning gold into cottage cheese, you need to watch out for poor little Beaker! "Oh, that's very naughty, Beaker! Now you eat these paper clips this minute."

The Muppet Personality Test

Like butter scraped over too much bread

I love that ^^ quote ^^. It's a great analogy and it describes exactly how I feel: "all thin, sort of stretched."

To say that I've been busy is an understatement. Not much knitting to show off at the moment. I finished one sock and am working on the other. I'm seeing SG and her father tomorrow. They are running in a race with Peter. Well not with Peter, but at the same time as Peter. I'm not hoping to have the second sock done by tomorrow because I want SG to see me actually knitting a sock. However, I'd like to finish knitting the second cuff, knit the heel flap, and turn the heel before the start of the race. Doing that during the race will be a pain. Plus it's only a 5K which means that Peter will be done in 16 minutes or so. I don't usually take knitting to such short races.

Meanwhile, I have been doing a little work on the Barbie Shawl (Dayflower Daydream) but it has reached the point of lace-blobbiness so attempts at photos have failed.

But alas, the demands on my time have been keeping me away from my knitting needles. I'm still at my job (my last day is the 16th) and I have lots to do before I leave. Most of what I have to do is get ready to leave. I've accumulated a lot of stuff that needs to be organized and sent to the office before my last day.

As I prepare to leave one job, I'm also preparing to start my own freelancing business. I started networking, brushed up my resume, applied for independent health insurance, looked into forming an LLC, and ordered a computer.

Also, I have been working part time at a LYS. I teach classes and mind the store occasionally. I have some things to say about teaching knitting, but I'll save that for another time.

On top of all this, I have agreed to make two more sample knits. A big project for Annie Modesitt (at the bottom of the linked post) and a smaller project for Amylovie's store. I am a crazy woman.

But wait, there's more! I joined a kickboxing class. That's right--this girly-girl now has boxing gloves and spends her evenings hitting and kicking a big bag. The class meets EVERY weeknight so I have only snatches of time to knit at night. *Sigh*

And today, another distraction. Look! A toy! It's a MacBook Pro. One of the new Macs with an Intel chip. I want to play with it. Shiny!

Lessons Learned

1. When the first line of a pattern is "string 450 glass beads onto yarn," don't expect to have too much fun. Stringing the beads was a pain. Pushing the beads down the yarn as I knit was more of a pain.

2. When a pattern specifies a certain bead size and the store doesn't carry that bead size, buying a different size believing that it is "close enough" is not a good idea. I had trouble stringing my beads and I think the beads look a little small on the sock. Also, some of the beads like to shift places.

3. When a you have pretty beads that are clear with colored holes, don't expect that color to stay after pushing the beads down the yarn a lot. I strung blue beads and pink beads on my yarn. The blue beads' color lined the holes of the beads. The pink beads were solid colored. I ended up knitting with clear beads and pink beads. The clear beads don't show up as well. I wonder if I should just string pink beads onto the second sock?

4. When you have yarn that is half blue and half pink, and you want it to appear more pink than blue, the yarn is going to appear more blue than pink. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Baby Stripe courtesy of Jennifer. (Thanks Jennifer!) I was actually hoping that this yarn would pool into blue and pink blotches. No such luck. Perfect stripes.

5. When you think there is an error in the pattern, and you can't get an immediate response from the designer, just make something up. There are a couple of errors in the heel instructions. The errors are probably quite obvious to any experienced sock knitter, and because of my VAST experience* with socks, I felt confident making up instructions for the heel. To be fair, the designer did send me the pattern corrections in a reasonable amount of time, but I was too impatient. I wanted an instant answer.

6. When a pattern says "knit until sock is 0.5 inches less than desired length," and you have no idea what the desired length is, ask for help on your blog. Using this size chart, I'm guessing that SG's shoe size is 11 or 12. Using this shoe size to foot size chart, I'm estimating that SG's foot is 7 to 7.33 inches long. But how do I translate this information to a "desired length?" Should the sock be 7 inches long? 6.5 inches long? 6 inches long? Please help me!

* for those who don't know, my "vast experience" with socks is pretty much nonexistent.

Niecephew's First Knitted Gift

(click for bigger version)

Pattern: Curlicue Coverlet from Oat Couture
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% wool) in Oriental Jade, 6 skeins
Needles: US size 5
Modifications: provisional cast-on, grafted seam
Cats: Scout and Elly, getting along for once.
Catless photo: here
Comments: I was a little worried about whether the blanket would be flat when I got ready to take this pre-blocking photo. I needed to tug and smooth quite a bit to get it to be flat-ish. But when I got the whole thing wet and put it on the bed to block, it wanted to be flat. No tugging required. All I had to do was pull it out to shape.

I love the shape and the curvy lines of this blanket and I'm very happy with the way it turned out. Hopefully, Niecephew will get a lot of good use from this. However, I think I liked the Pinwheel Afghan better than Curlicue. I liked the lace edge better, I like the reversibility better, and I liked the lack of double-sized short rows better.

I'm not sure how quickly I'll be getting this shipped off to my brother and SIL. Niecephew is not due to make an appearance until the end of May. (However, I'm encouraging SIL to wait until the first week in June so that the baby can have the same birthday as my brother or me. My birthday is also their anniversary. Wouldn't it be great to have three super events to celebrate in one day?) I intend to send a sweater for Eva (Niecephew's older sister) along with the blanket, but right now that sweater looks like several balls of yarn in a plastic bag. I wonder when it will magically transform into a sweater?

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain

By George, she's got it!*

Not long ago, I wrote about how bad I am at grafting. Nearly all my attempts at grafting resulted in several "do overs." Part of my troubles with grafting was my inability to understand which way the tapestry needle goes through the loops. I tried using several sets of written directions. I tried following drawings and ignoring the words. But it didn't sink in. Until now. I found Interweave Knits's article titled "Grafting Made Easy."** These directions make so much more sense to me. Instead of saying put the needle in knitwise or purlwise, the article says put the needle down or up through the loops. Plus, it describes how to graft different edges and stitches. I get it now. No do overs this time.

Look, I'm grafting! I did a provisional cast-on for Curlicue so that I wouldn't have a seam on the outer sections of the blanket. Overall, I'm satisfied with the graft. However, the grafted bit has one more stockinette rows between the garter stitch ridges. The extra row is the grafted row, of course. When I started this thing, I thought that I should do one less stockinette row because I knew grafting would add an extra row. But I would have had to fiddle with the short rows if I had knitted one fewer row and, at the time, I didn't want to think about it too hard. So now I have an extra row. At least I expected it.

For the seam on the inner sections I did what I'm calling a half-graft. I attached the live stitches of the last inner section to the edge of the first inner section. (Do you like how I'm assuming that everyone who reads this is familiar with the pattern? No? Neither do I.) In this part of the blanket, I had to start over once because I forgot to pick up the short row wraps as I grafted, and then I had to start over two more times because I didn't properly line up the live stitches to the rows on the other side. When I finished, I had a huge hole in the middle. Thankfully, I was able to close it up without any puckering.

I can't decide if grafting was worth it for this blanket. In theory, grafting should make the seam invisible. But in reality, I think the seam is MORE visible on the right side than it would have been if I had simply sewn it. I think I could devise a way to make a grafted seam that was invisible on the right side, but I don't have that kind of motivation right now.

* Isn't it odd that Henry Higgins uses such poor grammar?

** This article can be found in Beyond the Basics in the Subscriber-Only Content part of IK's website.

Linkage

Knitted graffiti--the Houston Press did a story in December and now it's the Chronicle's turn. I never thought that the Chronicle would ever follow in the Houston Press's footsteps. Suddenly, I have an urge to knit with fun fur. I think my Mini Cooper needs a fun fur antenna cozy. I need to find sparkly red fun fur.

And from Cordelia, knitting in hyperbolic space.

The Ellyversary

Last Friday was the 8th Ellyversary. Eight years ago, Elly came to live with Peter and me. Before Elly became a part of our family, Peter was a confirmed dog person. He only agreed to get a cat because we lived in an apartment that was too small for a dog. But Elly completely changed Peter's mind about cats.

We found Elly at the Town Lake Animal Shelter in Austin. When we first saw her, she was sitting in the back of her cage, trying to stay warm. But when I opened the cage, she came to greet us and happily allowed us to hold her. After seeing how loving she was, we quickly filled out the adoption papers, and Elly became our little Princess.

Peter go used to having a cat as quickly as Elly got used to having people worship her. At the time, Peter was a graduate student and I was working full time. So, Peter and Elly had lots of time to hang out together. They played games (fetch was their favorite), and Elly sat on Peter's lap or on his desk while he studied. Peter quickly learned that having a cat was like having a dog, only easier and better.

For the first few years that we had Elly, she would follow us from room to room. She didn't like staying in a room unless a person was present. Although she doesn't do that anymore, she is still very sweet, affectionate, and cooperative. She has never bitten or scratched a person (not even the vet!). She allows strange children to pet her for hours. When we need her to go into her cat carrier, we just put her in front of the door and she walks in a sits down. She does this despite the fact that nothing good ever happens when she goes into her carrier.

So Happy Ellyversary Princess Cat! I'm so happy that you are our #1 baby girl. And your sisters thank you for softening up Peter so that they could have a home, too.


(Did you notice? I finished knitting Curlicue. Now I need a couple of uninterrupted hours to graft/seam the edges together.)

The Power of Cuteness

After knitting my first pair of socks, I admitted that I wasn't so enamored with the process. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. After that, Rachel and I decided to form an Apathetic Sock Knitters Club. We didn't actually do anything as club members, we just agreed not to knit socks. Well, Rachel caved. She's going to knit socks. I tried to act appalled when I read about it, but truthfully, I was on the verge of adding a pair of socks to my knitting line up. What happened to melt my resolve? Cuteness happened.

A couple of weeks ago, Peter and I went to our friends' house for a mellow Super Bowl party. I took my knitting with me because I wasn't particularly interested in the game. The hostess of the party quilts and crochets so she doesn't mind me knitting in her house (she started quilting during the game). At the time, I was just beginning the 3rd and 4th sleeves of Rogue.

Our friends have the cutest, sweetest, most well-behaved girl in the world. I know everyone thinks that they have the best child in the world, but I know for a fact that this girl is the best child in the world because I'm saying that as a non-parent and a non-relative. Anyway, while I was knitting, Sweet Girl came to sit next to me. After watching me for a minute she started asking questions:

SG: What are you doing?
Me: I'm knitting.
SG: Why do you have two sticks?
Me: I have two sticks because I need two sticks. Your mother only uses one stick because she crochets. This is different. This is knitting.
SG: What are you making?
Me: These are the sleeves to a sweater.
(Of course, they looked nothing like sleeves at this point, I had only about 3 inches finished.)
SG looks doubtful.
I put one of the sleeves around my wrist.
Me: See? This is the start of the sleeve. I have to knit for a long time to make the sleeve go all the way up my arm.
SG is still not convinced.
SG: Can you make socks?
Me: Yes, I can make socks. I made a pair of socks before.
SG: Can you make socks now?
Me: No, I can't make socks now. I don't have yarn to make socks with me. I'm making sleeves now.
SG: Then you can make socks?
Me: I guess I could make socks afterward.
SG: I want to see you make socks.
Me: Well, I need to finish this sweater first.
SG: When will the sweater be finished?
Me: In a week or two.
SG: Will you wear the sweater the next time I see you?
Me: Yes I will. I promise.
SG: And you will make socks, too.
Me: Ok, I will.

Yes, I'm a pushover. Now I want to make socks for this little girl. But where to find patterns for socks that fit a five-year-old girl? I have no idea. Google help me find a few, but only one appealed to me (the middle on on this page), and it's too small. Yes, I know that I could just size it up, but I really have no idea how much bigger to make it and I'd have to figure out how to turn the heel on my own, so I'm a little nervous about it.

Then, I flipped through the only source of sock patterns that I own: 2006 Knitting Pattern a Day calendar. I found the Spring Melody Socks pattern (scroll down). They might be a little big, but they are so cute and girly and BEADED. Yes, now I have an excuse to knit socks despite my membership in the Apathetic Sock Knitters Club--the beads. I have been thinking about trying some beaded knitting, but wasn't sure what to make.

Now, all I have to do is convince Peter that I need more yarn. In anticipation of my job quitting, I stocked up on lots of yarn for various projects. So now Peter thinks I don't need anymore yarn for the time being. Do you think he will buy "SG really needs pink, beaded socks and she's so cute and she wants me to make socks" as a reason?

Randomness
Last night at the SnB, Monkee accused me of not linking to her blog enough. She said that even though she knows that I link to her blog more than I link to any other blog. I link to her blog so much because I see her in person practically every week. So, members of the SnB: this is Monkee's blog. Monkee goes by a different name in real life. Monkee's real name starts with an M. I'm sure that's enough hints for you to figure out who Monkee is. Oh, and this is Meredith's blog.

Knitting Barf

Ok, not the most pleasant title. But this wasn't the most exciting or enjoyable knitting experience. I just produced this thing without caring for it at all. It makes me resent the time I took to make it.


Pattern: Noro scarflet, based on the Lady Eleanor pattern
Yarn: Noro Kureyon (yuck) in color #40 (with yucky brown), two balls
Needles: US size 8
Final Dimensions: 45 inches long, 7 inches wide after blocking
Cat: Scout
Comments: This is a sample I made for a entrelac class that I will be teaching at a LYS. I was tempted to stop at one ball because I hated it so much, but decided to continue. I didn't even bother to take a good photo of this thing. Click on the image for a slightly bigger view.

The following is NOT knitting barf:

Thanks for all the kind comments on Rogue! I was overwhelmed by all the responses that I got. I wanted to answer them all, but life is getting in the way. Less time for knitting, even less time for blogging and playing on the computer.

I was also tickled by all the anti-Noro comments. If I were at all adept at graphical design, I would make a "Just Say No to Noro" button. But alas, I'm not so gifted and I don't have time to learn.

The Hard Road to Rogue is Over!

Pattern: Rogue, size 39"
Yarn: Cestari 2-ply worsted in lilac heather, 7 skeins (Hey! That's not pink!)
Needles: US size 7
Modifications:
1. I didn't bind off for the back-neck. I just put the stitches on a holder and then knitted them when starting the hood (and decreased two stitches in the process). This modification gets rid of most of the seam on the back.
2. I did a three-needle bind off for the shoulders.
3. I didn't make the 2" facing on the hem or the cuff. I used a provisional cast-on and then followed the instructions in the Rogue mods for altering the hem.
Comments: Everything has already been said about this pattern. It is wonderfully written, the charts are clear, and the little details and features are cleverly done. At first I was reluctant to jump on the Rogue-bandwagon, but now I'm glad that I did.
The traditional Rogue pose:

Queen Bee Yarn?

I'm trying some Noro Kureyon right now. I don't understand why so many knitters love Noro yarn. Ok, I see the beautiful colors, but why do all of the colorways have some icky color (or colors) that ruins the entire colorway? For example, look at #40. Intense blues and purples--pretty pretty--then BANG! ugly orangish brown. I want to cut that section out of the ball.

The quality of the yarn leaves much to be desired, too. It's not particularly soft. It has gigantic pieces of grass "spun" into it. I put spun in quotation marks because some sections of the yarn are not spun at all. The yarn splits. It's hard to frog. It can't make up it's mind if it wants to be fingering-weight yarn or bulky-weight yarn.


Here you see a very short section of yarn straight from the ball. That's a US size 8 needle for comparison. What the heck? How am I supposed to knit this? Some parts of the fabric are too loose, some parts are too tight, and some are just right. Phooey. If I really want a self-striping yarn, I'm reaching for Karaoke instead.

Obviously, I'm finding very little to like about this yarn. Yet, so many knitters love the stuff! They sigh over it. They drool over it. So, I started thinking. Is Noro like that super-popular girl in high school that everyone secretly hates but no one is brave enough to bad-mouth? Is Noro the Queen Bee of the Local Yarn Store? Come on fellow knitters! Take a stand against Noro! Noro only gains her power and popularity from us because we let her have it. If we don't give into the Noro-hype, her desirability will diminish and we will no longer be tempted to fork out $8+ ($10 at my LYS*) for a ball of icky yarn.

Rogue is finished. Rainy weather and a lack of a photographer are preventing me from posting a complete finished object photo and report. Stay tuned.

See the Knitting Olympics button on the sidebar? Keeping up with my not-a-joiner attitude, I didn't get suckered in to participating in the events that seem to be designed to make knitting stressful. However, perhaps these Olympics will be a good thing for the knitting world. The participating knitters appear to be challenging themselves, which is important for one to become a better knitter. But because I'm always on the lookout for knitting challenges, the Knitting Olympics didn't appeal to me. And I'm not a joiner.

*Thankfully, I didn't purchase this yarn and I'm not keeping the thing I'm knitting either.

You Need a Thneed

In the Lorax by Dr. Seuss, The Once-ler and his family knit thneeds from the tops of truffula trees. Thneeds, as you may recall, were oddly-shaped, multi-purpose. . .uh. . .things. Like snowflakes, no two thneeds were the same. As a child (and even now) I imagined that thneeds were knitted sweaters or jumpsuits that had a few extra sleeves. Behold the makings of a thneed!


One body with hood and 3.2-ish sleeves. Should I attempt to find places to attach the extra pieces? (Why did I ask that? Someone is bound to say yes.)

Yes, I finished knitting Rogue for the second time and I still don't have a complete sweater to show for all that work. The super terrific, wonderful, amazing people at Chester Farms really came through for me. Not only did they manage to locate yarn from the same dye lot, they made sure that it perfectly matched the sample that I sent. Then, they sent me enough yarn to reknit the discolored bits for free. FREE! No charge on the yarn or the shipping! And a note of apology, too. Let me shout it from the highest overpass in Houston, "The purveyors of the machine washable purple sheepies are the best!"

I'd better get cracking on seaming Rogue/Thneed together. The weather is supposed to be cold this weekend. It may be the last chance I have to wear a sweater before next winter. My orange tree thinks that it is already spring. (Click that photo to get a better look at the little oranges.)

Thanks and Answers and Other Stuff

Thank you for all your words of encouragement and support. I'll write my official letter of resignation next week and begin sorting through this crazy mess of an office that I have here. That should take most of my last month of employment.

And another big thanks to all who referred me to Eunny's Steeking Chronicles. I have skimmed through the articles, but will save doing a thorough read for when I actually embark on knitting Lotus. And thanks for all the votes of confidence on the fair isle, too. But please understand that I'm not worried about the actual knitting. After all, the first thing I ever knit was a fair isle sweater. It's the cutting that scares me. All my previous fair isle knitting were worked flat (fair isle purling--YUK!)

Answers:
Terby asked how large the dayflower motifs were on the shawl. Using my highly inexact measuring method (hold up knitting and guess) I'd say that each flower is 1.5 inches tall and 1 inch wide. If you look at the photo in this entry you can see a smidgen of my blocking board. The grid on the blocking board has 1 x 1 inch squares. So you can guesstimate, too!

Tasha asked if I could do anything about the "saggy, baggy" shoulders on Lotus. (Sorry Tasha, I can't get your blog url to work for me.) I guess the answer is: Maybe if I really thought about it, but I'm not going to. The body of the sweater is knit as a straight tube, the armholes are cut into the sides, and the sleeves are sewn in. So it is a drop-shoulder sweater and those types of sweaters are often oversized and/or baggy in some places. I have no intention to mess around with modifying my first steeked sweater.

Meanwhile: Curlicue continues to grow and is showing the expected puckering. (That's Elly's tail.) I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed with this pattern. With all the hubbabaloo about how horribly difficult it the blanket is to knit, I expected more of a challenge. But no, the pattern seems confusing when you first sit down to read it, but once you start knitting it make sense and is actually quite straight-forward. I rarely count stitches and I only count rows to find out how much farther I need to go. Click photo to make it bigger! (Look ma, I'm learning html!)

What have I done?!

Knitting content to return tomorrow...

I quit my job. After many months of talking about quitting my job, I called penultimate boss-man this morning and told him that I wanted to be gone by the beginning of March. Thankfully, I don't have to make the same call to ultimate boss-man. My direct supervisor (boss-man) has known since August that I wanted to quit, but he wants to quit too so he didn't tell anyone about my situation. (Yes, I have three supervisors, five if you count the two boss-women who also work on my project but are not considered my direct supervisors.)

I have been working for this company in some capacity since 1998. So, although I have been wanting to quit for some time, I still cried when I actually gave my verbal resignation. Overall, the company has been good to me over the years, but some recent developments have made it difficult for me to continue loving my job.

Starting next month I will be a freelance writer and editor specializing in science education print and electronic publications. So if you need a freelancer, contact me. I'm going to need the work!