Look Valerie! It's Finished!

Just last week I was showing you a cone of yarn. This week I show you a finished tank top. Oh, I had planned on blogging in between of these two posts. I had the entry planned, photos taken, rough outline in my head…then I got busy and that particular blog topic never happened. And it probably won’t happen until I get back from my trip. It will be an odd post in which I talk about the yarn and the knitting of a tank that’s already finished. (That’s assuming that I still think it’s a good entry.)

Please excuse crappy indoor photo. My photographer is taking the bar exam and the sun refuses to come out.
Pattern: Go With the Flow tank from Inspired Cable Knits, second size
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fine in Pink-a-boo (part of 1 cone) 80% pima cotton 20% merino wool
Needles: 2.5 mm (labeled US 1 by Addi, which is incorrect. US 1 is 2.25 mm)
Cat: Scout taking a bath
Modifications and Notes:

1) Knit in mini knit along with Valerie. She’s making a pretty red one--go look! This also counts as an Amazing Lace project because of the lace at the bottom.

2) After following the Salt Peanuts pattern to a T, I needed a bit of a challenge. I decided, contrary to my normal beliefs, to convert the pattern to be knit in the round. This really is a big step for me because (a) I love seaming and (b) I believe that seams give sweaters structure. I decided to deviate from my hard-headed beliefs because this tank is knit out of such fine yarn that I didn’t think the sweater would need the seams to give it structure.

3) But of course, I couldn’t simply knit the thing in the round—oh no! I decided to try a new trick. I put in phony seams ala Elizabeth Zimmermann. Yes, I am “the absolute boss” of my knitting! I was going to take photos of me actually making the phony seam as part of the planned entry, but when seam time came, I didn’t want to stop. I’m quite pleased with the seam--it's subtle but it makes me feel so much better about not doing a real seam (since I am still quite hard-headed about seams)

4) And of course, short row shoulder shaping and 3-needle bind-off. I think everyone should do short-row shoulder shaping even if they don’t do a 3-needle bind-off. It just looks so much better: no stair steps, no odd looking rows--just perfect!

5) I made the tank with even ease because it’s mostly cotton and I expect it to get a bit baggy with wear. I’m happy with the way it fits around me but…

6) I feel kinda chesty in it. The problem (for me) is a result of the way the armholes are shaped. The armholes cut fairly far to the center. I think 20 sts were decreased on each side--that's a lot even in fingering weight yarn. Having the “straps” set-in and narrow make my shoulders look broader, which makes me look wider. I guess I’ll have to remember that I prefer my tanks to have wider-set straps.

7) Interesting construction note: the larger sizes add length in the bottom border rather than in the cabled part.

Random close ups

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

No wait! They aren't pack and I'm not ready.

Peter and I are leaving for Alaska this weekend.

I have a mile long list of things to do for the trip, including getting the house and the cats ready for the house/cat sitter.

I have to finish all the work that is due in the next two and a half weeks.

Peter is taking the Bar Exam this week. (That's the test used to make sure people are competent enough to be a lawyer.)

Help!

The Best Laid Plans

The day after the Yarn Focus Challenge came to an end I gave in to my yarn buying needs. I rolled out of bed on July 1st, went to the computer, and ordered a cone of Brown Sheep Cotton Fine with which I intended to make the Go With the Flow Tank from Inspired Cable Knits. Then, I sat back and started dreaming of its arrival.

While waiting, I was struck with a great idea for a blog entry about my lovely cone of yarn-to-be. I would compare my mountain of yarn with the mountain of ice cream that was in my freezer. I even had puns ready about ice cream cones and yarn cones. (By the way, I don't normally have that much ice cream around. There was a sale. Then, there was a coupon and the sale was still on. Then, another coupon and sale. Ben and Jerry's for $1.50 and $1.13 per pint is not something to pass up! I somehow managed to buy 12 pints of ice cream in a week and a half. Yes, I know that there are only 10 pints in the photos. You know where the other two went.)

My yarn finally arrived on Friday. I had seen cones of laceweight yarn before and they looked mighty huge to me, so I imagined that a cone of fingering weight yarn (oh so much heavier than laceweight!) would be ENORMOUS. Hence, the planned comparison to the mountain of ice cream. I ripped open the package and . . . huh? . . . what's this? . . . is this enough yarn? It's puny! Even runty Scout towers over the cone!

Now, I normally don't panic about whether I have enough yarn for a project as I always buy extra. But just two days before I got my yarn, Valerie, who is also knitting the same tank top, started getting nervous about whether SHE had enough yarn. True, Valerie is using a different yarn and knitting a different size, but she had planted the seed in my head that perhaps the yardage in the book was underestimated. So upon seeing the cone I immediately jumped into panic mode. Luckily Ana was there to assure me that cones of Cotton Fine weren't that big but they did have 1,000 yards. (Later I realized that the size I planned to make required only 800 yards and that I had much more yarn than I needed, so all panic went away.)

I've started knitting the tank. The yarn is great. Knitting off a cone is great. But did you know that fingering weight yarn is thin? Perhaps I am insane after all.

Lacey and Owie

Thank you for you kind words on Salt Peanuts! As promised, some close up photos of the lace ribs in the sweater.

First, the bottom ribbing plus some stockinette to show the colors of the yarn. I am thrilled with the way the yarn knit up. The subtle shifts from pink to red give the sweater an interesting look and texture. Many people commented that this color looks good on me and Christina even said that I should wear red more often. Well, I do wear red quite a bit, but I don't seem to knit with red very often. Why not? Two reasons. First, I like to knit cables, and I feel that cables pop more when knit in light colored yarn. Hence, my obvious preference for pink yarn. Second, I'm very picky about reds. I dislike reds that have an orange tone to them or reds that are dull looking. Very few yarns come in a red shade that I like, but they almost always come in a pink or a purple that I find acceptable. So, no red yarn is bought!

This is the collar on Salt Peanuts. The collar shaping is ingenious. The collar is knit at the same time as the fronts and short rows are used to give it curves. The lace rib pattern is also reversed when the collar is worked so that it will show correctly when the collar is turned out. Of course, working the collar, the neck shaping, and the armhole shaping all at the same time made knitting the fronts quite exciting. I actually used tick marks to keep track of where I was. (Normally, I just remember what I'm doing or use a row counter and mental math to keep my place, but this time I was nervous about getting lost.) If you're thinking about this sweater, make sure you aren't disturbed while working this section!

OWIE!
Last week I decided that I would start riding my bike in preparation for my hiking/biking/rafting/dog-sledding trip to Alaska next month. I've been training indoors, but the nice, wide, cushy seats of the recumbent stationary bikes in the gym don't numb ones tush like a real bike seat does. So, I felt that I needed to get my tush in shape so that it doesn't rebel in Alaska. I strapped on my GPS watch, jumped on my bike, and started riding around my neighborhood. After about 7 miles with no tush numbing and no heat exhaustion. I was feeling pretty good about myself.

Then, a car passed me. I looked up at the car as it went by and then look down at the road again just in time to see my front tire hit a rut. Yes, I wiped out. So much for feeling confident. A woman walking her dog rushed up to me and said, "That was my neighbor's car that went by! I know she's a bad driver, but I hope she didn't hit you!" It seems funny now, but at the time I was too concerned about find a way to stop my knee from bleeding.

Salt Peanuts

Pattern: Salt Peanuts by Veronik Avery, Interweave Knits Spring 2004 (also available as a PDF online to IK subscribers), second size
Yarn: Malabrigo in Vermillion (100% merino wool), 5 hanks
Needles: US size 9
Comments:
1) Another 2-week sweater for me! All that stockinette made the knitting fly by. Grace was my other 2-week sweater. I love this sweater as much as I love Grace. And I predict that this sweater will pill just as much as Grace does! Such is the fate of merino wool.

2) I LOVE the shaping of this sweater. It doesn't make me look like a frumpy log. The non-batwings sleeves help, too.

3) At first I thought that I was going to have problems making the collar lie flat. Elizabeth said that she had to tack the collar of her sweater down, so I knew that was an option, but I didn't really want to do it. So once I assembled the sweater, I arranged the collar and steam-blocked the heck out of it. To do this, I cover the entire collar with a damp cloth and held a hot iron on the cloth so that the iron was barely touching the cloth. I did not press down at all. Just enough contact to cause the cloth to steam. Now the collar lies flat without any additional help.

4) I think adding more short rows in the collar would have helped the collar lie flat. But it's not something that you can predict until you put the sweater together. If I were being anal, I would have ripped the fronts to add at least two more sets of short rows to each short-row section. But I decided not to be that anal...this time.

5) Yes it's an indoor photo. I'm not so dedicated to this blog to take a photo of a 100% wool sweater in 95ºF weather.

(Sorry no close ups at this time. The batteries in my camera died. I'll add more photos later. the lace-rib pattern is quite nice!)

Knitting First, Icky Afterward

On Knitting
Smokey asked:
On a recent Chicago trip I bought some malabrigo for a turtleneck I'm planning. I would love some feedback from somebody (such as yourself!) who has knit a sweater with it. Are you alternating skeins of the yarn every couple of rows? The skeins I bought are sufficiently different that I think I'll get a stripe-y look if I don't. I would love to hear how you're handling this pressing issue of knitting!

I am not alternating balls of yarn in my Malabrigo sweater. When I bought the yarn, I tried to pick hanks that were closest in color, but some color variations still exist. The dominant red color is the same throughout, but ratio of pinkish-red and orangy-red varies from hank to hank. However, the color variations that I saw in the hanks (where the colors are all grouped together) are much less obvious when knit up (and the colors are dispersed).

I did consider alternating balls every two rows to even out the color variations, but when it came time to knit, I decided to live with the color variations. As a result, some parts are pinker and some parts are oranger. However, I don't think it will be terribly obvious to the casual observer because no distinct line exists when a new ball is added. The color variations help camouflage the line.

Also, the hanks of yarn are HUGE--215 yards, I think. That means that you can get a lot of fabric from one hank. I had to add a new ball only once when knitting the largest piece of the sweater (the back). So you wouldn't have to worry about several different shades appearing in any single part of a sweater--it wouldn't appear "striped" at all.

So my advice to you Smokey, is to knit up a swatch half and half with yarn from the two hanks that you think are most different in color. Hand the swatch to a neutral party and ask them what they think. If they can see a color change with no prompting, then perhaps alternating balls will be necessary. If they can't see a color change, knit away with one ball. If you're still nervous about doing this, pair up the hanks by color and use "matching" hanks when knitting any particular piece.

On Icky
Monkee, that odd knitter that I know, is celebrating her 2nd blogaversary with an odd contest. A two part-er, no less. One part is not icky but the other part is. But I'm doing the icky part because I don't think Monkee expected me to do it!

Take a picture of some food that you believe is disgusting, barf-o-licious, or flat out nasty but will willingly eat anyway. If it is particularly disgusting, no need to actually show you eating it. I’ll take your word for it that it’s edible.

Corned Beef Hash--raw. Corned beef hash may not be icky to everyone, but it's very icky to me because I hate beef. I won't eat the finest cut of steak. I think steak is icky. But I will, on rare occasions, eat raw corned beef hash because it's something that my father eats and eating it reminds me of him and of home. But it's gross. And raw. (When I bought this can for the photo I decided to read the label to see if it was okay to eat raw. The label didn't say anything about serving it raw. The ingredients say "beef and cooked corned beef." Does that mean that the beef is not cooked? I don't want to know. Do not leave a comment telling me that the beef is raw. Thank you.)

Scout seems to think that the corned beef hash is her food.

WIP it up

A certain reader complained that I didn't show any in-progress photos of my last two FOs so this post is specially for her.

I have two new projects on the needles. I started both of the last week after finishing the Tiger, so they are still in their "infancies" as far as WIP go.

First up: Salt Peanuts using the lovely Malabrigo that I bought from Yarntopia. Salt Peanuts (for those two knitters out there who don't know) is a pattern that was published in Interweave Knits a few years ago and is now available for free online for IK subscribers.


I finished the back and the fronts and have cast on for the sleeves. It is knitting up wonderfully fast (yes I did all this in one week) and is looking great. I picked this pattern because I wanted a pattern that was mostly stockinette to show of the yarn, but I didn't want to do anything boring either. The funky collar shaping kept me happily entertained. I'm looking forward to finishing by next week.

Second: Shaped Triangle Shawl


According to my spreadsheet, I am exactly 4.96% of the way through this shawl. (Don't you love spreadsheets? I have knit 3,424 stitches so far. No, I don't look at my spreadsheet after finishing every row.) Quite different from my progress on the sweater. However, I don't intend on knitting on this very much until August. My big Alaska trip is at the beginning of August and this shawl is my travel knitting. I don't want to get too far into it before then so that I won't be working on insanely long rows and won't have a huge shawl to tote around.

Is the shawl working with the handpainted yarn? I don't know. I'm reserving judgment until after the thing is blocked. I do love the colors a lot and I enjoy having the colors change as I knit, but I'm not sure that it will all work out in the end.

Happiness is...

...a thoughtful gift
A couple of month ago, when I was wasting time in the Knitty chatroom, Monkee showed off a map from this website. I don't remember which map she showed, but it was probably a map of some place in Texas. I started poking around on the website and found this map and immediately declared that I wanted it. I wasn't kidding either. I really did want the map. I even bookmarked the page so that I could order it at a later time.

Imagine my shock and delight when Monkee and MonkeeMom gave me this as my birthday present:

Honestly, I was speechless. I immediately looked for some of my favorite buildings on campus. First, I found Dodd, my old dorm--still the Williams Inn at this point, of course. Then, I started searching for my home-away-from-dorm (Thomson Chemistry Lab) and found that it wasn't there! In the photo at right you can see the future home of the Science Quad. West College and Morgan are both clearly visible, but none of the other buildings are there. What's more, a strange building labeled "Kellogg Hall" (at the end of the pencil) is in the Quad. I was also surprised to find no trace of the Freshman Quad (is it called the First Year Quad now?). I guess I had thought that Williams and the Thompson buildings were older than Morgan. Now I know that I'm wrong.

Since receiving this wonderful gift, I have been comparing the 1889 map with the current map of the college. I sort of wish that I had my old 1988 map of the campus so that I could see how much had changed since my residence in Williamstown. Some interesting things I discovered: The Congregation Church (at right) looked very different from the beautiful church that I admired every day, large building called "The Graylock" is located at the future site of the Graylock Quad, and Mark Hopkins lived in an area near Mission Park--not in the current President's house. Also, the mountain that I know as Pine Cobble seems to be labeled Smedley's Height. Or maybe I'm not looking at the map properly and Pine Cobble is Hudson's Height. Either way, it has the wrong name.

This map will be displayed in a place of honor. I adore it.

...goofy Japanese stuff
Not long ago, I stumbled upon JRS's blog while surfing around the internet. It was a case of good timing because the day that I found the blog was the same day that she was running a contest. The prize of that contest--goofy Japanese stuff. Now, everyone needs a little goofy Japanese stuff in their life, so I entered the contest. (How could I possibly survive without goofy Japanese stuff?) Apparently nearly everyone who entered the contest got the answer correct, so JRS decided to send all of us goofy Japanese stuff. That's the way to spread the love. Here is my little haul:
A Hello Kitty drawstring bag, Hello Kitty pasta (yes pasta!), chopsticks with lucky cats on them, socks with some strange rorschach test design, and--my favorite--a sushi eraser. The back of the pasta bag has some strange recipe on it. I think it says: (1) boil water (2) cook pasta (3) cover with soy sauce. Now that I have goofy Japanese stuff, my life is complete! Thanks so much JRS!

Lions and Tigers and Bears...

...or just one tiger.

Pattern: Tiger Cub from The World of Knitted Toys
Yarn: Opal Tiger sock yarn obtained in a swap with Susann and Jawoll superwash sock yarn in ecru
Needles: US size 2
Notions: Polyester fiberfill and stick-on goggly eyes

Modifications:
1) I worked the legs, tail, and ears in the round to avoid seaming.
2) I made the tail much longer than the pattern stated. It looked too stumpy so I kept going.
3) I used self-striping tiger yarn instead of changing colors to get the stripes.

Comments:
1) I love the way the stripes turned out--especially because I didn't have to do anything to make them happen.

2) I'm not so happy with the way he looks. I think the legs are too big and the nose is too pointy. After working this tiger and the panda before, I'm very suspicious of the patterns in this book. I don't think the published patterns were used to make the models in the book. I think the models were made and then the patterns were written to reproduce the animals in the simplest way possible. Or I'm just very bad a finishing stuffed animals and making them look cute. But I like the reason in which I blame someone else for my disappointment.

Peter's Comment: It looks like Cleo!

So I tried to take a photo of the Tiger with Cleo. She was okay for the first few shots and suddenly:

See Monkee! The tiger that you rubbed all over your face last night had been in Cleo's mouth! And Scout's too, but I wasn't able to snap a photo because I had to rescue the poor tiger from her.

Loganberry Sweater #1

(hee hee, you can see that I'm planning on making more than one sweater for Loganberry)


Pattern: Basic Baby Sweater by Elizabeth, smallest size
Yarn: Tahki Cotton Twist in white (2 hanks) and royal blue (1.5 hanks), also from Elizabeth. I think this is a discontinued yarn because I can't find any information about it. It is a worsted-weight 100% cotton yarn.
Needles: US sizes 4 and 6
Cat: Scout refusing to look cute for the photo. (Scout was very cute in one photo, but it wasn't a good photo of the sweater. Hopefully, Scout's vanity will not be hurt by posting this less than ideal photo of her.)

Comments: Quick and easy, down and dirty knit. I came up with the color-block pattern myself. I thought I was being so clever until I steam-blocked it. The blue ran a little bit into the white. Before I knit the yarn, I tested for colorfastness and thought that I was good to go. But apparently my test was not very accurate.

I need to wash this sweater before sending it off to Loganberry. Can anyone give me some hints on how to wash it without changing all the white to blue? How can I set the dye? (I hear vinegar in the wash water works, does it?)

Peter's Comment: Babies are small.

More Finished Objects!

Thanks and Answers
I am overwhelmed by all the comments that I received about the Barbie Shawl. Thank you so much! I am happy that the shawl is done and I'm thrilled at how nicely it turned out in the end. There were a few questions of general interest in the comments, so I thought that I'd answer them here.

1) The yarn was Handpaintedyarn.com's Pure Wool Lace yarn. I had two hanks of the pink stuff, and I used about 1.5 hanks (or about 150 g or 1,275 yards). The yarn was not evenly colored, but it wasn't supposed to be. That's a feature of the kettle dying process. The shawl itself shows slight variegations in color, but the variegations do not distract from the lace at all.

2) The final diameter of the shawl is 52" (about 132 cm), so it isn't huge, but it's not exactly tiny either.

3) No you can't have it. If you send me your addresses and FedEx account numbers, I'll just throw out the addresses and abuse the FedEx numbers. You'll be amazed at how much stuff I send FedEx!

Now on to the Finished Objects!
But wait, you say, where are the photos? Other people posted them for me!

First, Annie Modesitt posted a photo of the dress that I knit for her. And here it is! She asked me to send the pieces to her and let her do all the finishing. I was a bit unhappy about sending it like that because it didn't look very nice that way. I would rather present a client with a beautiful finished piece rather than unblocked parts. But that's the way Annie wanted it. I'm so happy that she likes the finished piece and I'm thrilled that it "cleaned up nice."

Then, there's the secret project that I alluded to a few days ago. The project was a baby afghan, or Chatghan, for Shetha and her baby-to-be. I worked on this project with 10 other regular inhabitants of the Knittyboard chatroom who I conned into contributing ...uh, no... were unfortunate enough to be in chat when I hatched the plan I asked to help. The Chatghan is beautiful and I'm tickled pink that it was so well received! (I was going to write a big long blog entry about it to give credit to everyone who contributed, but Shetha took care of that for me!)

Barbie Shawl

Pattern: Barbie Shawl (aka Dayflower Daydream) by Eugen Beugler from Shawls and Scarves: The Best of Knitter's Magazine
Yarn: Handpaintedyarn.com Pure Wool Lace Yarn in Barbie Rose
Needles: US size 3
Comments: Peter said, "You have been knitting that longer than you've knit anything else." He's right. Shame on me. The sad part is that I liked knitting this shawl so I'm surprised that it took so long. The pattern has long repeats so that kept it interesting, but still...I got distracted by too many flashier projects along the way.

I wish the shawl was a bit bigger, and I debated adding a repeat to it, but decided against because I wasn't sure that I would have enough yarn. Looking at my remaining yarn, I think I made the right decision.

More photos:
Cat Doily!


Blocking:

I used a string to keep the radius of the shawl even while I pinned it out. I wish I could claim that I came up with that brilliant idea myself, but I didn't.

Random close ups:

Grateful

Remember when I whined about wanting more yarn? Apparently I whined so loud that people all over the country could hear me. Look what came in the mail! A pack of cute cards and skein of Koigu for Jennifer, a bit of Cotton Fleece from Helen (and Ana), a bunch of Tahki Cotton Twist from Elizabeth. The Cotton Fleece is for swatching so that I can see if it will work for the cabled tank top that I so desperately need want. Elizabeth also sent me a baby sweater pattern that she wrote herself so that I can make a sweater for the little Loganberry. Thank you all so much!

But unfortunately for me, this last week and half has been one of THOSE weeks and a halves. I've been insanely busy with work and have had little time to pick up the needles. So yes, Elizabeth, I was able to get gauge--now I need to get time. I plan to cast on for real this week.

But I did manage to finish the two big knitting projects I have been dragging along: one Barbie and one secret. Barbie is blocking. The secret is on its way to its future home. FO reports later this week!

Amazing Lace Challenge #2: Xtreme Lace Knitting

I have to admit that, when I first read the second challenge for the Amazing Lace KAL, I had no idea what I was should do. (click the photos to make bigger!)

First, I thought I'd go for the gratuitous cat photo:

Xtremely Cute Lace Knitting!

Then, I thought I could show my true nature:

Xtremely Geeky Lace Knitting!
(For those who are less geekily inclined, that's a screen shot of a spreadsheet that I made to keep track of my progress as I knit the Barbie Shawl's edging. It keeps count of the repeat that I'm on, the row that I'm on, the number of stitches in each row, the total number of stitches knit in the edging, and the percentage of the edging that is finished. And, by the way, I've made significant progress since I took that screens shot. I am now 93.75% finished.)

Next, I thought about getting into the pure spirit of Xtreme sports:

Xtremely Dedicated but Crazy Lace Knitting!


Finally, I decided to show my freakish side:

Xtremely Flexible Lace Knitting!
(I don't actually think the fact that I can put my face on my shins to be very freakish, but Peter claims that I am a freak of nature when I do it. I think he's just jealous.)

Xtreme enough for you?

Edit to Add: Oh ye of little faith! I would not offend or disgrace Scout by Photoshopping her into an image for the sake of laughs. The only adjustment that I made to the photo above was to make it a wee bit darker because it was rather bright and a tad overexposed. As proof--here are the outtakes from that photoshoot: one, two, and three. See? She moves!

Book Review: Inspired Cable Knits

Inspired Cable Knits is the first book by designer Fiona Ellis. The designs in the book are contemporary in style, so if you are looking for a book that has traditional Aran sweaters, this is not the book for you. In fact, many of the designs show off Ellis’s talent in showcasing cables in unique and unexpected ways. The cable patterns she uses often have long repeats, undulate and travel, and appear somewhat asymmetrical. Sometimes she beautifully morphs one cable pattern into a different one. Ellis also expertly combines cables with lace work, knit and purl texture, or Fair-isle knitting in several designs.

Possibly the best feature of the book is the fact that all cable patterns are shown as a chart and written out as line-by-line directions. I personally will never read the directions, but I have know that there are knitters who dislike charts as much as I dislike written directions for cables and lace. The charts are large and clear and would not need to be enlarged for ease in reading. However, the charts are printed in a light green ink that I suspect will not photocopy very easily. (I always photocopy the patterns that I work so that I can write on the pattern without defacing my book or magazine.) In addition, the two Fair-isle charts are printed in the same green ink and use varying degrees of shading to distinguish between the colors. I’m sure that this monochromatic printing makes the pages attractive, but please! It’s a color-work chart! Use colors!

For the most part, the photography in the book is excellent. It has clear, well-lighted photos of the designs and includes at least one nice detailed shot of the cable pattern used in each piece. There are also several gorgeous nature photos that show where Ellis got her inspiration for the designs. Unfortunately, a couple of the more interesting sweaters are not well photographed. In the description of what I think may be the best men’s sweater in the book, Ellis says, “The cable used in the center panels is asymmetrical, leaving areas of reverse stockinette stitch. This allows each cable to infringe on its neighbor, making it difficult to see the vertical breaks.” Sounds intriguing, right? Sadly, you will not see a clear photograph of this cable pattern anywhere in the book.

At the beginning of each pattern, Ellis describes her inspiration for the design and briefly describes the design itself. I enjoy reading these descriptions even though I found some of the supposed inspirations a bit flaky. At the end of each pattern is what Ellis calls a mindfulness pointer. These pointers are supposed to give you something to think about while you are knitting. The value of these pointers will probably depend on the attitude and mood of the person reading them. They can come off as thought provoking and interesting or pretentious and silly.

The one significant flaw of this book is the omission of yardage information for the yarns used. While some people are comfortable making yarn substitutions by using only the weight of the yarn, I like to calculate the yardage needed and purchase yarn based on that calculation. Thankfully, Ellis has responded to this complaint by giving more detailed yarn information on her website. She also gives substitution suggestions of a discontinued yarn.

Overall, I think this is a wonderful book with many beautiful and elegant designs. I’m not certain that it will appeal to everyone, but if you love cables you must have this book. More cables, please!

The Knitty Gritty:
144 pages, including index
11 women’s sweaters (1 sleeveless)
3 men’s sweaters
2 baby/toddler sweater
5 accessories, including a yoga mat bag and a pillow cover
Photos of some of the projects can be seen here. (Click "View Inside Pages")

When the Challenge Becomes Challenging

When I joined the Yarn Focus Challenge, I didn't think it would be very challenging to me. I had already promised Peter that I wouldn't buy yarn over the summer because of all of our job-related changes. (Read previous statement as: because we both quit our nice, cushy, salaried jobs.) I even declared that I wouldn't use my allotted "free days" for May and June. The last time I bought yarn was on April 3rd during Yarntopia's grand opening.

April and most of May passed without much yarn-buying temptation. Sometimes I would think idly about yarn that I wanted to buy, but never went so far as to look up the yarn on the internet. Then, everything changed in a week's time.

First, nephew Logan came into the world. He paid me the great disservice of not being a girl. All the sweaters I knit for his big sister Eva are rather girly. I can't expect him to wear a hand-me-down pink hoodie, now can I? So I started making a list of things that needed to be knit for him. A Heirloom Baby Sweater, Devan, Cargo, and of course, a Loganberry Tart hat. Suddenly, I needed yarn. A lot of yarn. But I can't have the yarn! Oh cruel Yarn Focus Challenge! Oh Careless Me for making such a cavalier promise to Peter.

Then, to make my yarn longing even worse, my birthday showed up and my brother gave me Inspired Cable Knits by Fiona Ellis. I had looked at the book in the store and thought it was nice. Boy did I underestimate the book! It's more than nice--it's superwonderfulfantastic! After studying the book at home, I decided that I personally needed at least 5 sweaters in the book and maybe as many as 9. And then there are a few sweaters that are gift candidates. It's the best pattern book ever! (At least it's the best ever for me. I like cables. More cables, please.)

For example, I have to make this tank top. The sooner I can get to it be better. Cables, lace, a miniscule gauge of 29 stitches/4 inches--what's not to love? Yesterday, I spend an hour looking for suitable yarn for the tank. After much searching, I think I'll end up using the recommended yarn, Dale of Norway Stork, because I can't find a cotton-blend yarn that has a similar gauge. I had hoped to find a cotton blend because I'm not a big fan of cables in 100% cotton. Oh well. I can't buy the yarn anyway. I think I will regret this challenge and my promise for a long time. Perhaps in July, I will make sad puppy-dog eyes at Peter and start tearing up because I so desperately need yarn. I wonder if he will cave?

A full review of Inspired Cable Knits to come soon!

(Apologies for the photograph of a book page. I'd rather scan such things in, but I had to return my company-owned printer/copier/scanner/fax when I quit my job. I think I miss that machine more than I miss my salary. Almost.)

Pardon Our Dust

For our collective birthdays, Peter and I got a new digital camera. (Actually, we were given an Amazon gift certificate on his birthday and I have been spending the months since then researching and stressing about which camera to purchase.) The camera, a Canon A540, arrived at our doorstep yesterday. My old digital camera is an ancient piece of junk that came free when we bought a desktop several years ago. Over the years, I have been able to coax some nice photos out of the old camera--but doing so has not always been easy. Naturally I thought that getting a new camera with tons of bells and whistles would infinitely improve my photos with a touch of a button. [We pause here to give everyone a chance to laugh at me.]

The new camera came with SEVEN manuals. Granted, three are in Spanish and are repeats of three that are in English, but finding seven booklets stacked on top of my tiny camera was a bit intimidating. I've taken many photos already and have read 1.5 manuals but I still can't get a decent photo without using the flash. Of course, the sun hasn't been cooperating with me--it's either been behind clouds or on the other side of the world the entire time that I've owned this camera. At least I can blame my less than spectacular photos on the weather and not my lack of photographic talent.

So anyway, please bear with me for the next few weeks. The photos you see may not be the best ever, but I'm trying my darndest.

Barbie Border!
For many months, the Poor Neglected Barbie Shawl resembled a hot pink jellyfish and any progress that I made on it was unnoticeable to the casual observer. Not anymore! I started edging over the weekend and visible progress is evident as the edging grows longer. This is my first time knitting a perpendicular border/edging on a lace shawl. My only other lace shawl had a crocheted edge. Because of my lack of experience with knitted-on lace edgings, I was overly optimistic when I started this edging.

When I finished the last round of the shawl's center, I naively thought, "Yay! Just the edging is left! I'm almost done! No more long rounds!" [We pause again for a second burst of laughter. Wipe the tears from your eyes. Are you ready to go on now?] Then, I knit one repeat of the edging and stared at it. "So narrow? How many more times do I have to repeat this?"

Despite Barbie's insistence that Math Is Hard, I did some mathing. The last round of the shawl had 576 stitches. Each repeat of the edging "ate up" 12 measly stitches. I needed 47 more repeats of the edging. Because I was in a mathing mood, I did one more calculation. Each repeat of the edging has 540 stitches total. One repeat of the edging was almost as much work as the last round of the shawl! 540 x 47 = Nowhere close to being done. *sigh*

The Niecephew Has Landed!

Niecephew is a boy! His name is Logan Bailey. (Does the name remind you of a loganberry? I think I'm going to send some loganberry jam to the proud parents.)

Exactly like this, only different

I'm sure that my faithful readers (assuming that I have any) have noticed that I haven't been blogging very much recently. For a few weeks, I wasn't blogging because I was very busy with my work. Then, I wasn't blogging because I had nothing to blog about. Since I finished Mariella two weeks ago, I've been furiously knitting on the skirt of the dress that I'm knitting for Annie Modesitt. No offense to Annie, but the skirt was so boring that it hurt. Stockinette in the round. Starting with almost 200 stitches and increasing to over 400 stitches of STOCKINETTE IN THE ROUND.

Luckily for me, I can knit stockinette in the round without looking at my hands. This ability saved me from committing hari kari with my knitting needles. (Of course, I probably wouldn't have succeeded in the act because I was using blunt-tipped US size 8 Addis.) I watched several hours of TV. I read the entire DaVinci Code in one day. I would have taken the thing to the gym if it weren't so incredibly huge.

Anyway, I finished the dress this weekend. Naturally, I can't show it to you, but I want you to understand just how enormous this project was. So I found a dress in my wardrobe that has approximately the same dimensions as the knitted dress. For your reference, the cat tree is approximately 6 feet tall. The knitted dress is exactly like this dress, only different. (1) The knitted dress is one color. (2) The knitted dress has a scoop neck and short sleeves. (3) The top of the knitted dress is more "blouse-y" (4) The skirt of the knitted dress is not pleated but increases to about the same fullness. (5) The skirt of the knitted dress is 1 or 2 inches shorter. Stop for a minute and think, just think, about knitting something this size. It's crazy and I'm crazy for doing it.

The dress gets shipped off to Annie today. Poor Neglected Barbie Shawl is neglected no more.

The Amazing Lace: Challenge #1

Meet the Team
I intend to have at least two and perhaps three teammates this summer. I will be starting the summer with The Poor Neglected Barbie Shawl. Barbie and I have had a long history together, which is quite surprising because I am normally driven by the need to finish projects before starting a new one. Not so with Poor Barbie. But let me start at the beginning.

Barbie and I first met in January. Monkee introduced us and I was immediately enamored with her. At that time, her name was Dayflower Daydream but because the yarn's colorway is Barbie Rose, I quickly renamed her the Barbie Shawl. At first Barbie and I were constant companions. She was, I decided, to be a long-term lace project that I would work on diligently without succumbing to my usual I-must-finish-now-or-else! attitude. I wanted to savor and enjoy her.

After a few weeks of doing exactly as I intended, I began to be unfaithful to Barbie. I cast her aside, leaving her at the bottom of my knitting bag as new projects lured my fickle attentions and were unceremoniously plopped on top of her. Occasionally, I would pull her out to knit a few rounds but then I would return her to her place in the bag, preferring to give my precious knitting time to garments and gifts. How I used Barbie as a mere "filler" project! It's a wonder that she kept taking me back allowing me to enjoy her pinkness, even if only for an evening.

But this summer, I vow to be a better partner to Barbie. I hope we can patch up the wonderful relationship that we enjoyed early in our relationship. I am committed to making our partnership work. I am looking to the Amazing Lace KAL to bring us closer together and help us fully understand each other. If all works out as planned, I hope to have her finished and blocked by the end of June.

For the last part of the summer, I plan to team up with the Shaped Triangle Shawl from a Gathering of Lace. This is a controversial partnership between me, a rather repetitive pattern, and some handpainted lace-weight yarn. The formation of this team is the result of a rather impulsive purchase. I always admire the pretty color combinations of handpainted yarns, but as a knitter who likes cables and lace, I rarely buy handpainted yarns because variegated yarns are not compatible with either cables or lace. But one day, during a 20% off sale, I couldn't resist the pull of a lovely hank of Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in Iris Garden. Pink! Purple! It had to be mine. So I bought it without any pattern in mind. Shame on me.

Over the next few months, I paid the price for my impulsive buy. I searched and searched for an appropriate pattern for the yarn. The search was difficult as I learned what I already knew: variegated yarns and lace are not compatible. I thought I had to give up on my pretty-but-possibly-useless hank of yarn. That is, until Rachel gave me an inspiration. She mentioned that, like a couple of her Knitting Olympics teammates, she hoped to make Ene's Scarf with some handpainted sock yarn. I studied the photos of her teammates and decided that Ene's Scarf DID look wonderful in handpainted yarn! I Googled and found Ene made with Helen's Lace--perfect! Except...the Helen's Lace Ene was knit with two strands and used more than one hank of yarn. So the search was on again, but this time I knew what I was looking for: A lace pattern with very small motifs and a lot of "air" between the motifs. From there, I didn't need much more to decide on the Shaped Triangle Shawl from a Gathering of Lace.

And finally, depending on how all the lacing goes this summer, I may also make a Flower Basket Shawl using the luscious lavender Texas mohair that I bought last year. So here we are: Team Purplely Pink!

Mariella

Pattern: Mariella from Rowan Tuscan Retreat
Yarn: Rowan Holiday in some bluish color--perhaps it's Rock Pool? I'm too lazy to look at the ball band.
Needles: US sizes 13 and 15 (!!)
Comments:
1. I'm going against my general rule that knitted garments look better when modeled by a person because I'm not pleased with the way this sweater looks on me. Or maybe I'm not pleased with the way I look with this sweater on me. I'm not certain if I'm displeased with the look because the sweater is ribbed (and therefore tight) or because the sweater is made with chunky yarn or both. Probably both. I think that chunky, tight sweaters make people look chunkier than they actually are.

2. When seaming this sweater (and when I was still thinking that I would wear it) I was worried about having too much bulk in the seams. So, I used only half the stitches to do the seams and I used left-over fingering weight yarn to sew up the seams instead of using the sweater yarn. I think the technique worked quite well--the seams are not bulky at all. But they aren't as neat as properly mattress-stitched seams.*

3. I DO think the sweater is very cute and would be very cute on the right person. Unfortunately that person is not me. However, I didn't spend much time on the sweater (one week) or much money (none) on it, so I'm not unhappy. Plus, this sweater will have a happy home in Yarntopia where it will hopefully help to sell lots of yarn.

*Edit to add: Okay, because so many of you complained about me complaining about my seams--look that the image. The seam is the single row of knit stitches in the middle. Half of that row of knit stitches is from the front piece of the sweater and half is from the back half. Notice how crooked the line is? Notice how the Vs of the stitches are not even? Some are small, some are large, some have a small leg and a large leg. Hideous! Hideous, I say! My dear readers, you should be expecting such anal behavior on my part. And Rachel--you should be praising my attention to detail and nodding furiously in agreement as you look at the photo. Not too long ago you were threatening to shun me if I became a sloppy knitter!

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!