I had to stop and pick up a prescription on my way home yesterday afternoon.  This enormous bird was circling over the plaza.  I’m not sure who he was.  We do have hawks around here, more all the time but they are small-to-medium sized.  I also know of some turkey vultures a few towns over - frankly the size makes me suspect vuture.

But there have, once in a very great while, been eagles sighted, usually down by the river.

A girl can hope :)

The trip to Maine a week ago was great fun.  Myria and I haven’t done anything like that for a long time and we had a wonderful day.  She got her hair trimmed, I dished with the hairdresser, we shopped, we had dinner and just enjoyed ourselves enormously.  What we didn’t get, were ocean pictures.  The town was absolutely jammed with day trippers - something we had not expected - and the parking lots were still charging exorbitant fees and were crammed full in any case.

Sigh…

But we’ll be going up again around the end of October (if not sooner!) and I don’t expect the ocean will be going anywhere in the meantime…

I did purchase some undyed wool to play with in the dye pot, Paton’s Classic Merino which I have used before and really is a nice, basic wool.

I promptly skeined two balls of this (200 grams - about 440 yards) and used the same color combination on it as I had on the unacceptable pink wool last week.  The only difference was that this time I used a base of strong tea rather than just plain water.  Where the previous dyeing project had given me a lovely copper/auburn (see this post), this time, with no other color underneath, I got a lovely, slightly orangey gold.





The two colors will coordinate nicely and I have one more yarn I’d like to throw into this mix.  You’ve seen it before (though not for a while).  I found it in a thrift shop nearly a year ago but never found a project for it.





This is Pingouin Angelique - fingering weight, 50% wool, 40% angora and 10% nylon.  It’s as soft as a baby bunny - not surprisingly :) I want to dye this but having never handled angora in a dye pot before, I consulted an expert - Chris over at Woolybuns (do go see her rovings and her bunnies!) who knows all there is to know about dyeing angora.  Armed with her generous and enthusiastic advise and encouragement, I’m going to go for it :) I had hoped to have this done by now, but you know how the world loves to insert itself when you’re making plans.  So I’ll probably soak it overnight and do the dyeing tomorrow.  I’m aiming for a darkish red with a very slight orange component.  Wish me luck!

I’m in the ending stage of the current blanket project, finishing the final rounds and sewing them together as there are enough for each row.

This is the first combination of colors - grey center, blue “petals”, grey border and blue edging.  The second combination will have blue centers, grey “petals” and blue borders and edging.  This should, hopefully, be done in another week or so.

I had toyed with using yellow for the centers and even made up a square that way.  I quite liked it as the strictly blue/grey combination seems cold to me.  However, I knew dad probably wouldn’t care for it, dad not being big on yellows.  To my surprise, Myria didn’t think the yellow worked either so, after thinking it over, I chucked the idea and stuck to the blue and grey.

However, I found a legitimate way to use the yellow after all.  Dad’s new sofa is not his only new piece of furniture.  There is also a new recliner.  Its labeled color is sisal and right now he’s got it covered with a red and cream afghan that has sun-bleached stripes of orange where it lay in the back seat of his car for years.  It has to go :) So I started this…

...which dad doesn’t know about yet.  I’m using the same basic pattern as the Little Boy Blue blanket except sized for a recliner.

The yarns for both blankets are Red Heart Supersaver in Country Blue and Light Grey for the sofa cover and Linen and Cornmeal for the Recliner.  No, it’s not the most elegant yarn in the world, but it’s perfect for someone who absolutely has to have easy care items, comes in just about every color you could want and is sturdy beyond belief.  Just the thing for my father :)

Autumn is beginning to show up around here - not obviously, not yet.  But things are beginning to show the merest hints of color and leaves are beginning to fall.  I love autumn - it’s my favorite season.  Temperatures go down, trees start showing glorious colors, the air is crisp and dry and freighted with the scent of the world beginning to wind down for its winter’s rest.  Okay, a poet, I’m not :) But I love this transitional period - watching things change.  I love spring almost as much, also transitional, also colorful.  Just the palette is different :)

See the “Knitting Chatter” button on the side bar for more information.

Chatters is on for Saturday evening - come one come all :)

Little Boy Blue

Materials:

4 skeins Caron Simply Soft, worsted weight yarn - about 1320 yards
Size 8 US (5.00 mm) circular needle - 40” is probably the most convenient length
Size 8/H (5.00 mm) crochet hook
Stitch markers if desired.

Terms:

K - knit
P - purl
K2togB - Knit two together through the back loops
P2tog - Purl two together
KFB - Knit in the front of the stitch and, without removing stitch from left needle, knit again into the back of the stitch (creates a second stitch) and then let the stitch drop from the left needle.
Sl - Without working, slip purlwise the number of stitches indicated

Note:  The K2togB and the SSK are interchangeable is this pattern.  I usually use the SSK (which is why I wrote the pattern that way) but the K2togB is sometimes faster and easier.  To my eye there isn’t much difference in the result so use whichever pleases you :)

Instructions:

Cast on 99 stitches.

Starting triangles:

P2, turn
K2, turn
P3, turn
K3, turn
P4, turn
K4, turn
P5, turn
K5, turn
P6, turn
K6, turn
P7, turn
K7, turn
P8, turn
K8, turn
P9, turn
K9, turn
P10, turn
K10, turn
P11 - do not turn.

The first triangle is complete.  Create another triangle exactly the same way and continue to create triangles until you have used up all of your cast on stitches and have nine triangles.

First tier blocks:

Starting side triangle:

P2, turn
K2, turn
KFB, SSK, turn
P3, turn
KFB, K1, SSK, turn
P4, turn
KFB, K2, SSK, turn
P5, turn
KFB, K3, SSK
P6, turn
KFB, K4, SSK, turn
P7, turn
KFB, K5, SSK, turn
P8, turn
KFB, K6, SSK, turn
P9, turn
KFB, K7, SSK, turn
P10, turn
KFB, K8, SSK - do not turn.

Tier One Broken Rib Blocks:

Pick up 11 stitches down the side of the first triangle, turn

1.  Purl 11
2.  K1, *P1, K1* 5 times, K2togB.  The K2togB consists of the last stitch of your block and the first available stitch on the left-hand needle.
3.  Sl1, Purl 10, turn

Repeat rows 2 and 3 until you have acquired the last stitch of the first group on the left-hand needle.  Do not purl back.

Continue making blocks this way in the broken rib pattern until you have ten of them.

Ending Side Triangle:

Pick up 11 stitches.

Purl 11, turn
K9, K2togB, turn
P10, turn
K8, K2togB, turn
P9, turn
K7, K2togB
P8, turn
K6, K2togB, turn
P7, turn
K5, K2tog, turn
P6, turn
K4, K2togB, turn
P5, turn
K3, K2togB, turn
P4, turn
K2, K2togB, turn
P3, turn
K1, K2togB, turn
P2, turn
K2togB - don’t turn

Tier 2 Stockinette Blocks (there are no starting triangles on this tier)

First Block:

Pick up 10 stitches, purlwise (plus one stitch left over from previous row = 11 stitches)
1.  K 11
2.  P 10, P2tog, turn (P2tog consists of the last stitch of the block and the first available stitch of the next block).

Repeat rows one and two until last stitch of available group has been acquired (final P2tog) - do not turn.

Second (and each remaining) Block:

Pick up 11 stitches, purlwise (plus one stitch left over from previous row = 11 stitches)
1.  K 11
2.  P 10, P2tog, turn (P2tog consists of the last stitch of the block and the first available stitch of the next block).

Repeat rows one and two until last stitch of available group has been acquired (final P2tog) - do not turn.

Repeat the procedure for Second Block for the remaining eight blocks of this tier.

Repeat Tier 1 and Tier 2 blocks, alternating until you have the length you want - about 45” - ending with a first tier row.  The blanket measurements, of course, aren’t hard and fast - you can work any length and width you like.  Something smaller than this will require less yarn and something larger will need more.

Ending triangles and bind-off

With 1 stitch on left needle, pick up and purl 10 stitches along the side of the next block, turn.
Knit 11, turn.
P2tog, P8, P2tog, turn.
K10, turn.
P2tog, P7, P2tog, turn.
K9, turn.
P2tog, P6, P2tog, turn.
K8, turn.
P2tog, P5, P2tog, turn.
K7, turn.
P2tog, P4, P2tog, turn.
K6, turn.
P2tog, P3, P2tog, turn.
K5, turn.
P2tog, P2, P2tog, turn.
K4, turn.
P2tog, P1, P2tog, turn.
K3, turn.
P2tog, P2tog, turn.
K2, turn.
P1, P2tog, turn.
K2, turn
P3tog.

Repeat this procedure for each required ending triangle.  One stitch remains.

Insert crochet hook into the remaining stitch and ch2.  Work a round of hdc (half double crochet) evenly around the blanket edge, working three hdc into each corner.  Bind off.  If desired, more than one round of edging may be worked; more yarn will be needed, in that case.

Patern is also available as a free download from Ravelry.

Clearly, a clever post-title is beyond me today :)

I hope everyone had a pleasant holiday weekend.  Dad is doing better - even finding some of his appetite again.  We had headed out to our favorite diner yesterday, only to find that while it indeed had been open, we had missed it’s abbreviated holiday hours by about 20 minutes.  So we wound up at Friendly’s, across the river.

Nothing to write home about, I guess, but reasonably good.  Dad managed about half of his clams and cole slaw which is a whole lot better than he’d been doing.  And I had something I haven’t tasted in years - a hot fudge sundae with peppermint ice cream.  Heaven!

I am terribly relieved that dad is finally showing some signs of improvement but it is a mixed blessing.  He’s much less obnoxious when he’s not feeling too chipper :)

His new furniture arrived Saturday morning and he is very happy with it.  I have begun work on his afghan and right now, I’m a little concerned about being able to find enough of the Country Blue color.  So far, I’ve only located (and bought) 2 skeins of it.  I’m going to need a lot more than that!  The Light Gray is plentiful so that color won’t be a problem.

Yup, this is the same blanket I made for both Myria and myself earlier this year (there should be links to the pattern on both of those pages).  What can I say?  You don’t mess with a winning formula.  There are only two colors this time so the whole will be a bit simpler than either of the previous two incarnations.  It will be rescued from complete tedium by inverting the color scheme on alternate squares.  We live exciting lives around here :)

While I am trying to focus almost exclusively on the blanket, an alternate project is sneaking in now and again for a few minutes once in a while.

This is the wool/mohair lace weight I found last week.  I’m liking it so far.  It’s not bad at all to work with and works up nicely.  This is just part of a garter stitch triangle - what should have been the beginning of a new entrelac design.  Unfortunately, this is the second try and it still isn’t right.  That doesn’t have anything to do with the yarn; apparently I have forgotten how to count.  The first time I cast on I wound up with way too few stitches because I had mis-remembered the number of stitches for each lace unit.  It should have been, for four units of 25 stitches, 100 stitches cast on.  For some totally inexplicable reason, I thought the lace units were only 21 stitches across… I got the count right the second time - or thought I did - but I suspect I’m going to have to rip this back too because I keep coming up with extra stitches.

Oh yeah - and this frogs just as you would expect any mohair to frog - reluctantly.

But I did discover something totally neat :) I have had good luck, when casting on for entrelac, using a needle about 2 sizes larger than the one I want to work the piece with.  So, using the above piece as an example, I want to work with a size 6 US (4.25 mm) needle.  I did the cast on with a size 8 US (5.00 mm) needle...and suddenly realized that if you’re using circular needles (I was) and further, if those circular needles belong to an interchangeable set (they do) then all you have to do, making sure the cast on stitches are all safely on the cable, unscrew the larger needles and screw in the smaller ones!  Yee-hah!

I also did some dyeing a couple of days ago - how long has it been?  I had used 4 balls of pink Peer Gynt wool to make the Here, Kitty, Kitty scarf and I had 4 balls of it left.  The pink was not a color I loved and I’m trying to move away from that anyway - so I dyed the remainder.

As this was drying, I kept thinking what a nice hair color it would make :) For 200 grams of wool, I used (Easter egg dye tablets) 4 yellow, 3 orange, 1 red and about 1/4 to 1/3 blue.  Standard Crock Pot procedure, wash, rinse and hang to dry.  I really like the color but it is a bit more vivid than I was going for.





That’s because I’m sill working out just how much of the damping color (in this case, the blue) to use in order to mute a tone.  Too little and you wind up with something that may just be vivid - or may scream it’s head off.  Too much and you’ll wind up with mud-colored yarn.

Myria and I are headed up to Maine tomorrow and hope, for the first time in a long time, to make a day of it.  I plan on bringing my new camera and filling its little memory card with pictures of everything under the sun, but especially the ocean.  I love the ocean :)

And I love my camera :)

If I don’t make it back to the blog this week…

See the “Knitting Chatter” button on the side bar for more information.

...Chatters is definitely on for Saturday night.  Bring your knitting (crocheting, tatting, what-have-you!) and drop in for some pleasant conversation!

Captain Cranky is home and, for the moment, maintaining.  Doctors appointments and tests are still going full bore though - we’ll be heading back into the city on Thursday.  At least things are stable for now :)

He has ordered new furniture - a sofa (which he refers to as a divan) and a new recliner.  It’s long since time that he replaced the pieces in his living room which have no more than sentimental value now.  I stretched out on his sofa once last week and honestly, it felt like it was stuffed with rocks!  The new one will be a medium dark dusty blue and the new recliner is a medium antique gold. 

I decided that he needed a new afghan to go with his new furniture.  I mean, there are plenty of ancient afghans hanging around the house but really, they should all be taken out and buried!  I wanted him to have something new and nice and especially his.  However, his likes and mine differ.  Where I couldn’t wait to have a wool blanket all my own, he doesn’t want any part of one.  Acrylic or nothing.  Sigh…

Still, it’s inexpensive, easy to find, comes in every color under the sun and is sturdy as hell.  It could be worse :)

What free time I’ve had, I’ve devoted to working on swatches for this beast, hoping to come up with something new and brilliant.  Hah!  I finally realized that if I want to get this to him any time before Christmas, I had better crochet it.  And I would like him to have it as soon as possible - it was only about 60°F this morning when I got up.  While I found it pleasantly invigorating, dad would find it uncomfortable.  I don’t want to think of dad being uncomfortable in our unseasonably cool weather - and I don’t want him nestling under the ratty, god-knows-how-old afghans he’s got floating around the house :)

I’ve also been thinking out a stole - entrelac, of course :) As it happened, I lucked into the yarn for it (or at least for the prototype) at the Classic Elite Mill Shop this morning.

It’s called Kid Mohair and is a product of Twinkle Handknits.  It’s only 35% mohair, the balance being mostly wool with a soupçon of acrylic.  It has a nice hand which will, I believe, be even nicer once it’s been washed.  The color is French Grey - a light sort of grey/beige.





This is definitely not in my normal range of colors - in fact I would ordinarily think of this as more of a condition than a color :) However, it was the right price, comes 310 yds/ball (I got 4 balls) and will go with anything at all.

That’s not all I came away with either - and Opal? This is all your fault.  Flagrantly posting about spinning merino tencel like that - what did you expect a poor girl to do?

This is Classic Elite Miracle a 50/50 blend of alpaca and tencel.  I had the good fortune to work with a single hank of it several years ago and let me tell you, nothing feels like this.  That time, I ooohed and ahhhed over it so much that Myria suggested we get a room :) I got all they had of this color - which, admittedly, I adore.  I have been trying hard to move out of the exclusively pink/purple range but the only other color available was a sort of sick-looking (to me) olive and I really didn’t like it.  On the other hand, its presence only encouraged me to grab the good color - so perhaps the olive isn’t all bad!  I’m thinking a scarf/hood type thingy for winter - which, given the temperature tendencies, seems to be around the corner!

These projects will wait, however, until dad’s blanket is completed.

Maybe :)

The last bit of news is that I have a new camera.  It’s small enough that I can easily tuck in my pocket or drop into my purse.  As these things go, it’s not terribly fancy and it wasn’t expensive but it’s about 10 times better than my old one and was 1/7th the price.  That picture above - the mohair close-up?  If I had tried that with my old baby, all you would have seen was a jumbled, grey blur.  Now that’s progress :)

Jade just adores the cool weather and becomes exceptionally affectionate in the fall and winter.  She does, however, feel that this entitles her to unlimited lap time and, well, sometimes it just isn’t convenient.  Sometimes I can knit around her, but if Myria and I are gaming on-line, having to lift an 8-lb weight to launch my Firebolt is a little much.  Fortunately for me, Jade is a pissy little thing so all I have to do is jiggle her a little and she goes off in a huff…

...sometimes a minute and a huff :)
(Thanks Groucho!)

Well, at least he called me this time.

Dad is back in the hospital.  He called me yesterday afternoon and asked me to come drive him in to the VA in Boston - which I did.  His blood pressure was so low I couldn’t believe he was still kicking.  But he’s tough and sounded better when I called this morning.

I really only have a couple of things to tell you.  For the time being, I’m not going to be posting regularly as the situation with dad seems to be gradually worsening and it’s likely I will be going back and forth to Boston on a regular basis for the immediate future.

Second, I have converted all the patterns on Ravelry (Ravelry name: Robbyn) to .pdf format and all are now available as free downloads from Ravelry.  The service provider for my blog has made some changes that make accessing the blog somewhat problematic for some folks at some times and I felt this was the best way to insure that those patterns remained available to those people who wanted them.  Any future patterns will be handled likewise so that even if the blog is funky, the patterns are obtainable.

I hope the world is treating you all well!

I’ve been running dad around this week so not a lot of knitting has been done.  What knitting there has been has revolved around swatches like this…

And this…





These are Elsebeth Lavold type cables though I don’t use the increase method she does.  These cable have been running riot in my imagination for a while now and I’m determined to find out what they want with me - since they are apparently not going to leave me alone :)

I’ve also been working on afghan pieces…

...for an organization that collects pieces, makes afghans and sends them to wounded veterans.  If you’re interested, you can find out more about this at The Handmade Afghan Project.  These don’t take a lot of time and are a wonderful fill-in project for odd moments.





See the “Knitting Chatter” button on the side bar for more information.

Chat is definitely on for Saturday evening.  Come one, come all - it’s a blast :)

Hope you all have a splendid weekend!