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!

Pink Overload

You know that I love pink. I love red even more, but I seem to knit with pink more than I knit with red. But I think that I finally hit the pink limit.

Exhibit 1: Barbie pink Dayflower Daydream shawl. I like this pattern a lot. It's not very repetitive, so working on it doesn't get boring. Can you believe that I considered frogging the whole thing this weekend? Ever since I started knitting I kept thinking that the "solid" bits were too airy and that the flowers didn't show up well. But I plowed through because I'm stubborn I wanted to finish enough of the pattern to truly see what was going on. So, after finishing two repeats of the pattern I pinned out a section. Thankfully, I think I like what I see! Do you? Can you see the flowers clearly?

Edit to and random babblering a la Rachel to push down the text below the photo. Is this enough yet? How about this? When I was little I had a dog named Winnie. I also had a rabbit named Fiddle, a hamster named Fuffy (not Fluffy!), and a nameless baby chick that was hatched in my mother's lab. I think that's enough now.

Exhibit 2: Raw materials for the Lotus Cardigan. I can't believe I bought this. I have been eyeing it for half a year. But it has steeks! stEEKs! I considered buying the magenta colorway, but Peter said that pink was better and I now know to trust his tastes in clothes for me.

I read through the pattern last night and it was a little unnerving. This pattern is very intimidating to me. I expected more hand-holding and coddling. Of course, that was an naive expectation. The Dale of Norway people have been churning out patterns like this for ages. They can assume that knitters know what they are doing. Perhaps I need to find a fair-isle expert to do the hand-holding and coddling.

I'm not sure when I'll start Lotus. Curlicue needs to be finished and then the Dragon Hoodie for Eva. Also, depending on what the swatch gods say, I may need to wait until my US size 3 Addis are freed from the Barbie shawl.

More Meme-age
I can't decided whether or not I like memes. Some of them are fun, but I worry about boring people and I'm a little wary of tagging others. But this meme came to me via Cordelia and I know that I tagged her before, so I should be nice and play along.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they aren't very good. But the songs must be ones that you're enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs. Then, tag seven other people to see what they are listening to.

1. The Brady Bunch theme song (I received the 1st season on DVD as a Christmas gift)
2. "Last Midnight" from Into the Woods (I'm particularly fond of the "boom, squish" part)
3. Elgar's Cello Concerto in e minor (There's never a time that I'm not into this "song.")
4. "Oh What a Circus" from Evita (I like musicals)
5. "Popular" from Wicked (Did I mention that I like musicals?)
6. The Firebird Suite by Stravinsky
7. "New Horizons in Music Appreciation" by PDQ Bach (I don't listen to it often, but it is too funny. Scroll down for a link to an audio clip.)

Happy New Year!

It's the Year of the Dog! What great things happened in past years of the dog? My father was born in the year of the dog. I was born in the year of the dog. (Those of you with not so advanced math skills and some knowledge about me can now figure out how old I will be this year.)

Niecephew will be born in the year of the dog. Three generations of dogs in one family. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Dad is thrilled out of his mind.

Though I don't care much for astrology, I always find it amusing to read about the traits that I supposedly have. I think at least some of those traits are correct. (Can you say, "stubborn?") One good thing about being a dog: I could get a job here if I wanted one.

A Cure for the Knitting Blues (or Purples as the case may be)

Thank you everyone for your advice and sympathy on my machine washable two-toned purple sheepie problems. As I said, I'm waiting to see what Chester Farms can do for me before doing anything rash. No matter what happens, I'm going to reknit the two-toned sleeve. It is insanely obvious. Peter could see it without me even telling him what he was supposed to be looking for.

So to banish this case of the knitting purples, I've started a new project!

My brother and SIL are expecting their second child in May. As with their first child (the adorable Eva), they are not finding out the gender of the child before it's born. I don't understand this behavior. I couldn't stand the suspense.

Anyway, I've decided to call this baby-to-be my Niecephew until it's born. Clever, huh? Like dear Eva, Niecephew is getting a baby blanket. Eva got a purple and white blanket and Niecephew is getting a teal one.

This is the start of Oat Couture's Curlicue Coverlet. Before you all start leaving comments about Grumperina's problems with this pattern, let me say, "I know." I also know that Betty and Christy have made flat Curlicues. And I also know that Grumperina never attempted to block her Curlicue into submission because she didn't want to force the baby's parents into blocking the blanket after every wash.

This blanket is staying in my family. If it doesn't lay flat after washing, my brother can just ship it back to me and I will block it. Or we can all just live with an imperfect blanket. Niecephew will be getting other handknit stuff for the rest of his/her life. Who cares if this blanket isn't flat? Niecephew won't be flat either.

You'll note that I managed to get Elly into this photo. Some people at my SnB actually thought that I had only one cat because Scout is such a camera ham. But I do have other cats. Elly (on the right of the photo) and Cleo. Scout just gets most of the blog time because she follows me around like a puppy and is always handy when I'm ready for a photo shoot and because she's very good at sitting where I place her and behaving herself during the photo shoots. Elly and Cleo tend to wander off or attack the knitting props.

Phooey!

It gets worse. The other sleeve does not match the body of the sweater. It matches the lighter part of the two-toned sleeve. The body matches the darker part of the two-toned sleeve. SIGH!

I called Chester Farms today and explained what happened. They don't have any more of the dye lot. (Not that getting more of the same dye lot would insure I had matching colors. The yarn that I have supposedly came from the same dye lot.) The nice woman on the phone asked me to send a sample of the yarn that I wanted matched and that they would do their best to match it.

So, I sent of my scrap of yarn with a polite, yet sternly-worded letter. We will see what happens next.

Until then, Rogue will wait unfinished.

From Whew to Grrr

Do you see what I see?


About 4 inches above the cuff? Where I changed to a new skein of yarn? Don't tell me I'm imagining things or that it doesn't look as bad as I think. It doesn't show up very well in this photo. I could easily see it in my dimly lit guest room.

Immediately checked the ball bands. All the same dye lot. Checked the body/hood. No distinct line, but the top of the hood is definitely lighter than the body.

What should I do???!!!!

Whew!

I finished the sleeves for Rogue in a knitting frenzy over the weekend. I was very paranoid about running out of yarn despite PumpkinMama's assurance that I wouldn't. Thankfully, she was right! But it was close:


In this photo you see: the front/back/hood of Rogue blocking, what's left of my yarn, and Scout (for scale). According to my pre-yarn order calculations, I should have had 170 "extra" yards of yarn to play with. That's why I didn't bother to order and extra skein of yarn. However, that little ball of yarn is only 0.75 oz--less than 40 yards! Not much left and I still have to use some of that yarn for the seams.

The truly scary part is that I did a couple modifications that significantly reduced the amount of yarn that I needed. Had I knit the pattern exactly as written I would have definitely run out of yarn. Instead of reading about my relief, you would be reading about my panicked phone call to Chester Farms in which I begged for another skein from the same dye lot as the order that I placed in mid-December.

I'm pretty surprised that I cut it so close with the yarn. Usually, I never have problems using more than the required amount of yarn for a project. I doubt the yardage estimates on Rogue are off because so many people have knit the sweater. However, I won't try to speculate what happened this time because everything worked out in the end!

Progress and a meme

I finally did something significant! I finished the hood of Rogue. I even grafted the cables at the top instead of cheating and doing a 3-needle bind off. I'm very, very bad at grafting. My typical grafting process: Find several different grafting instructions. Pick one set of instructions. Start grafting. Pull out. Start grafting. Pull out. Grab second set of instructions. Start grafting. Pull out. Start grafting. Pull out. Throw second set of directions across the room. Pick up third set of directions. Start grafting. Pull out. Start grafting. Pull out. Get second set of instructions from across the room. Spread all three sets of directions in front of me. Pick the one with the best pictures. Study pictures. Start grafting. Ignore mistakes. Keep going. Declare grafting done.


I tried to get a cute photo of Scout in the hood, but the photos didn't show the cables well. By the second photo shoot, Scout didn't want to sit patiently inside the hood any more.

I also cast on for the sleeves and allowed paranoia to attack me. I have just over two skeins of yarn to use for the sleeves. According to my calculations when I bought the yarn, I need only 6.19 skeins to finish the entire sweater. So, I ordered 7 skeins breaking my normal habit of always buying an extra ball/skein/hank. Now, of course, I'm convinced that I'm going to run out. Is 420+ yards enough for two sleeves? Brain says "yes." Panicky voice inside me says "heck no!"

Meme, courtesy of Helen who just made the CUTEST kitty latch hook rug.

4 jobs that you have had in your lifetime (in order, but leaving out many, many jobs)
* waitress and ice cream counter clerk at Happy Joe's
* research associate and lab manager in a molecular biology lab
* camp counselor
* high school chemistry teacher

4 movies that you could watch over and over
* Singin' in the Rain
* Hoosiers
* E.T.
* any other movie that involves singing and dancing

4 places that you have lived (in order, omitting most current places of residence)
* Hiawatha, Iowa (why I'm interested in knitting the Song of Hiawatha Stole)
* Williamstown, Massachusetts
* Oxford, England
* Chicago, Illinois

4 TV shows that you love to watch
* Lost
* The Amazing Race
* ??
* do re-runs count?

4 places that you have been on vacation
* The Philippines
* San Francisco
* all over Western Europe
* Jamaica

4 websites that you visit daily
* Gmail
* Knittyboard
* Bloglines
* Yahoo

4 of your favorite foods
* Butterkase (umlaut over that a)
* Plain chocolate Hob Nobs (the ones in the red container)
* Crab
* Pad Thai

4 places that you would rather be right now
* on a beach in the Caribbean
* someplace with fluffy white snow that I don't have to shovel or drive in
* in the mountains
* any place where Peter is

4 bloggers who you are tagging
* Valerie
* Mer
* Amy
* anyone else who's interested!

Distracted

Can you believe that I haven't finished Rogue yet? I started way back in December and now it's the middle of January and I haven't finished the hood yet. And I still need to make the sleeves. Don't I knit faster than that? Well, truthfully, my knitting time has be much more limited recently because of my job and my desire to quit my job.

On top of the nonknitting distractions, I have had a few knitting distractions. First, I needed to reknit the Dad Hat. I thought that it was huge when I made it, but I was counting on Dad's unusually large head to fill it. Silly me, I should have trusted my instincts on the hat size. Mom sent the hat back to me and (much to the delight of Scout and Cleo) I frogged the whole thing. I reknit the hat using one less pattern repeat. The hat now fits me and Peter, so I think it will fit Dad.

But wait there's more! More distractions, that is. Monkee gave me some Barbie Rose laceweight for Festivus. Thank goodness I didn't have to perform any Feats of Strength to get my present. It's very pink. I wonder how she knew that I liked pink? Naturally, I couldn't let this lovely (pink!) yarn sit around for too long. I started working on the Dayflower Daydream shawl from Knitter's Magazine Shawls and Scarves book. Monkee's present couldn't have been better timed--I have been itching to do some lace and was thinking a circular shawl would be a good challenge. Like all lace shawls it doesn't look like anything right now.

See the dayflower?

Contest Winners!

Thank you to everyone who sent in poems for the Ugly Ball of Yarn Contest! I received a lot of good poems and selecting winners was tough. Members of my SnB helped with the judging.(Prior to judging, there was some discussion about the "political correctness" of calling yarn ugly. An ugly ball of yarn was compared to an ugly baby: It isn't nice to call the yarn or the baby ugly and no yarn and no baby is truly ugly. I can't say that I agree with the second half of that sentiment. I think yarn can be ugly and I once knew an obstetrician who said that every baby is ugly when it's born.) I'll admit that I was mostly attracted to the very silly poems but some SnB members were not. I wish I had more prizes, because there were many more deserving poems!

Congratulations to the winners. Ladies, your prizes will be sent soon!

The winners are:

First Place: Tabby Tuxedo
I’m an Ugly Ball of Yarn

I’m an ugly ball of yarn.
I don’t know who planned my color.
My ball band calls me oxidized copper,
But in my opinion I could not be duller.

I’m an ugly ball of yarn.
Although “novelty” is more politically correct.
I’m a little eyelash and a little ribbon,
And a whole lot more than you’d expect.

I’m an ugly ball of yarn.
I’ll squeak as I run across any needle.
Acrylic, modal, plasticey
I may also be made of mashed beetle.

I’m an ugly ball of yarn.
Don’t even try to frog me.
I’ll make a tangle so big and so fast,
You’ll get discouraged and shout, “I’ll be…”

I’m an ugly ball of yarn.
I could be super cheap or pricey.
Lionbrand, Red Heart, Gedifra or Berrocco,
My future production is rather dicey.

I’m an ugly ball of yarn,
And yet I’ve found a place in your stash.
What you were thinking when you bought me, I don’t know,
But Ack, what a waste of cash.

Second Place: Stariel
I'm an ugly ball of yarn

I sit here, in the corner
of the darkened closet
waiting.

Finally I spy
a crack of light.
Could she really
be coming for me?

But alas, no.
The hand reaches into the box,
brushing lightly along my outermost strands,
and passes me by for another.

One more colorful,
or soft
or beautiful
than I.

But still, I wait patiently for my day to come.

Third Place: Cindy
I'm An Ugly Ball of Yarn

I'm an ugly ball of yarn
And I don't know what to do.
I want to make a pretty scarf
To look so nice on you.

I know that you can help me.
You'll find a better way
To make me look more beautiful
For you to wear each day

Maybe you could mix me
With something from your stash
Then I'll look much better
And won't go in the trash.

I've heard about this felting
Would you consider that?
And then when you're done knitting
I could make a lovely hat!

Or maybe make a sweater
For a little dog to wear
And then before you know it
I'll be covered with his hair.

My warmness is an asset
Forgive me if I'm bold.
So even if I'm ugly
I'll make sure you won't be cold.

So think some more about me
Come up with something great!
I know you'll be creative
When you decide my fate!

Fourth Place: dkswife
I’m an Ugly Ball of Yarn

I’m an ugly ball of yarn
I have no natural charm
And live within the depths of my madam’s stash

When I work my way up to the top
She always drops jaw and gawks
And states “What the heck was I thinking?”

I’m an ugly ball of yarn
Would never cause hands any harm
But still no one wants to hold me.

My inner beauty, well, it’s inside
Sandwiched between those smooth 6 plies
Just waiting for someone to see it.

I’m an ugly ball of yarn
Was raised in a barn
One day someone will need me.

Random Things

Secret Partially Revealed
Did you see? Yes, that's the secret project that I was working on in December. A camisole for Annie Modesitt herself. When I was knitting the piece for her I also thought that it was much too long, but I knit it as directed. I assumed that I didn't know exactly what Annie had in mind. Would I have been out-of-bounds as a sample knitter if I had mentioned to a designer that I didn't think a pattern was working out? Obviously, I communicate pattern errors to the designer, but commenting on the look of a piece seems like something I shouldn't do.

Not So Selfish Anymore
I submitted my bunny yarn sweater to Magknits for publication and it was accepted. Quite honestly, I'm terrified! But my terror is not going to stop me. I have the Laura-size of the pattern written up and I will work on writing up a range of sizes. Then, I have to figure out how to estimate yarn requirements for the other sizes. And I suppose I need some guinea pigs test knitters. So much to do!

I WON!
Becky over at Knits & Bits had a guess-my-age contest on her blog and I was one of the winners. I will never disclose the sneaky tactics that I used to find the correct answer. As a prize, she sent me two hanks of Knit Picks Sock Garden. Perhaps they will become mittens? Who knows.

Ugly Ball of Yarn Contest
The entries are rolling in! Thank you to everyone who has entered so far. Judging will be tough. I wish I had more ugly balls of yarn to hand out. If you still want to enter, remember the deadline is midnight CST on January 10th (or thereabouts. I don't plan to be up at midnight to determine the last eligible poem.)

Rogue
The front and back are complete. Scout says, "hi!"

Blog Birthday Contest

I'm not exactly sure when my blog birthday is. I signed up with blogger in November of 2004, but didn't do much with it until Jan 2005. So, I'm saying that sometime this month is my blog birthday. Let's celebrate!

Contest Background
I like to amuse myself by looking up the search phrases that have led people to my blog. The three most common search phrases are "stream of consciousness," "reversible rib shawl," and now "lady eleanor." But the funniest search phrases have been "hated knitted sweater," "it's huge laura," and "I'm an ugly ball of yarn poem." I'm not kidding.

After much laughing and inspiration from Monkee, here are the
Contest Rules:
1. Write a poem titled "I'm an Ugly Ball of Yarn"
2. Email the poem to me at MiniLaura(at)gmail(dot)com with the subject line "Ugly Ball of Yarn"
3. You may submit only one poem.
4. Poems must be G or PG rated. I don't like naughty words and I don't want to read about any sexual activity involving a ball of yarn. (I wonder how using the word "sexual" will affect my search engine traffic?)
5. Entries will be accepted until midnight CST on 1/10/06. (Unless I extend the deadline)
6. I will do the judging, but may enlist the help of friends. So yes, the judging will be subjective.
7.The winner or winners will be announced when I'm ready but will be announced before the end of January. Winning poems will be posted on this blog.
8. The winner or winners will get their choice of the prizes shown below.

Prizes!
Naturally, a contest about an Ugly Ball of Yarn has to have Ugly Balls of Yarn as prizes. The prizes are some yarn from my stash that were acquired in different ways. I actually don't think any of this yarn is inherently ugly, just different.

From the top left, going clockwise:
* Austermann High Collection Opera This is a chenille and sorta eyelash yarn. I looked up Austermann on Yarndex and their yarn definitely falls in the "not cheap" category. If you aren't into the eyelash-bit, you can easily separate the chenille ply from the eyelash ply. 10 balls!
* Ilse Wolle Carola Cotton/viscose/linen blend. Black, white, tan, and pink plys. I thought this would grow on me but it didn't. I think it will knit up to produce a tweed-looking fabric. 14 balls!
* Schoeller Esslinger Coruelia mit Silberfaden Acrylic/viscose. Those German words mean "with silver thread." It doesn't really have a silver thread, but it does have one shiny ply. The yarn is soft and would make good baby stuff. 4 balls.
* Regia Sock 4-ply sock yarn Left over from the stripy baby sweater. One full ball of the jacquard and a partial ball of the gray (34 g of the original 50 g). I thought the gray ball was a whole ball until I pulled it out for the photo. I know one ball of Regia isn't enough for a pair of socks (unless they are small or short socks), so perhaps someone could use the gray for contrasting toes, heels, and/or cuffs.

Pinwheel Afghan for Kelly's Baby

Pattern: Pinwheel Afghan by Oat Couture
Yarn: Plymouth Encore Colorspun (75% acrylic, 25% wool) in color 7115, 5 balls
Needles: US size 8
Final dimensions: about 41" in diameter
Recipient: Kelly baby #2
Notes:
1. Blocking makes the points lie flat, but I think they are destined to be curly. I'm not sure why. They are garter stitch so they should be flat. I think the points curl and stay curl after they are folded over when handling the blanket. They don't curl spontaneously. Perhaps a different mix of fibers would produce points that didn't stay curled after folding.
2. I made a mistake and didn't correct it even though I probably should have. I was LIVID when I discovered that I had made the mistake. I wasn't mad about the mistake, I was mad at something completely different. But I couldn't concentrate enough to figure out what was wrong. So I kept going. Lesson learned: don't knit while you're mad.
3. I half grafted the seam by joining the live stitches of the last wedge to the cast on edge. I think the seam looks ok, but probably would have looked better if I had taken the time to do a provisional cast on and grafted the seam.

Overall a great pattern and a fun knit. I can definitely see more Pinwheels in my future. Perhaps I will try the multicolored version--but that version is not reversible.