Honest to God, I have no idea what’s happening here!  Yesterday I was reading about doing stranded knitting in the round (Hmmm - no purl rows?) and the next thing I knew, there was this:

I feel like I’m channeling Alice Starmore!  Stop me before I strand again!  LOL! 

Really - I was playing with this last night.

Me:  This can’t be me doing this! 

Myria:  (Looking over, observing that it was my hands on the needles and yarn and my drawing that the pattern was being worked from)  It’s you.

I can’t tell you how strange and awesome this seems to me.  This wasn’t something I thought I had any interest in doing.  Even if I had been interested I would have told you I severely lacked the necessary dexterity to pull it off.  And yet, watching that pattern come off my needles last night was incredibly exciting.  It’s almost as though the back of my brain had been putting things together without the front of my brain being aware of it.

Starting the piece was interesting.  I got 80 stitches cast on and joined on the circular and knitted three rounds plain.  Then I added the pattern color - and promptly forgot how to count.  I must have ripped that first row 6 times before I got it right - but after that things just…I don’t know…sort of flowed.  I felt as though I had finally reached the enlightenment of Zen knitting! 

Oh, and look at this!

You can actually see the pattern on the back in the strands!  How cool is that?

I have no idea what this piece will become - if anything.  I can see a change I’d like to make in the pattern (the small motifs are too thick on the sides) so I’ll probably just bind it off and work out something else.  I just hope that whoever’s using my hands to knit this stuff doesn’t go away just yet - I’m having too much fun!

I’m not neglecting Bella either.  Bella is TV work because there really isn’t anything terribly complicated about it.  The stranding stuff I work on when there isn’t anything around that’s going to haul my attention off of it.  The first sleeve is about halfway done.  But you know, when I picked it up last night, after working on the stranding piece, it didn’t feel like plain old stockinette.  Some of the excitement and awe had rubbed off.  I kept thinking (as I was knitting and purling back and forth): This is the basis for it all.  This is where it starts and, apparently, you can go anywhere from here!

And this morning I keep wondering why it isn’t always like this.  I guess you can’t learn something new every single day, where the light bulb goes off in your head, you feel this incredible rush of comprehension and your whole consciousness yells “I’ve got it!!!”

But wouldn’t it be nice?

Have a great weekend!

I wanted to pass on these links which I stumbled upon yesterday.  They’re French, but even if your French is of the “plume de ma tante est dans l’oeil de mon oncle” variety, you should be able to muddle through.  You can get from one to the other, but I’m posting both because the link may not be clear.

La Tricotheque

and

Mis a jour

There’s tons of stuff here, including patterns, techniques and charts.  You could wander around there for hours :)

A bientt!

Monday, Dad and I headed up to Maine to our favorite seafood restaurant - Lord’s Harborside in Wells.  It closes for the winter on the third Thursday of October and re-opens on the third Thursday of April.  As we drove up to what appeared to be an empty building, we spotted a sign that announced they would be opening for the season this Thursday - the 29th.  Oh well…

We drove back down to Kittery and had a very late lunch at Warren’s Lobsterhouse.  They have a huge, fresh and quite varied salad bar which is worth the trip all by itself.  But I had maybe the best shrimp I’ve ever had there.  Not the big, relatively tasteless gulf shrimp, but the little, local, cold water babies - sweet, tender and incredibly flavorful.  Ahhhhh….

We’ll hit Lord’s for our birthday dinner next month.  Dad’s birthday is on the 17th and mine is on the 18th.  We always go out to celebrate and Lord’s will be a splendid place to do it :)

On to knitting content…

I finally decided how to handle the sleeves - I know, you’ve been holding your collective breath, right?  Heheh…

Bron was right.  I hadn’t thought about it really, but I did want something a little lacey for the sleeves.  Unfortunately, the several small lace patterns that I swatched didn’t please me much.  I even did a big feather and fan swatch.  That would have worked, but I couldn’t manage to feel anything but lukewarm about it.  So…

I think this will work just fine.  I love the way these two yarns set each other off.  The plum, by itself, can look more grey than I prefer and the variegated looks a bit dull on its own.  But together, the plum looks like plum and the variegated just glows.  I think I’m going to forgo the ruffles entirely, both on the sleeve and at the neck.  I’ll probably leave the sleeves alone and I’m thinking about a simple collar for the neckline.  I’ll do that with the variegated yarn - maybe in seed stitch or, maybe that’s where the lace should go?  I’m a ways from that just yet so I’ve got plenty of time to think about it.

A question.  I was chasing around the web yesterday, trying to figure out what a peerie pattern is.  I know it’s a tiny, fair isle-type of pattern and I was able to find out that “peerie” means small.  But I couldn’t find out if there was anything specific about them.  Are they just little patterns which are repeated?  Do they have to conform to certain conditions as to size and or color?  Does anyone know or can you point me to a resource?  I really should have had that curiosity gland removed a loooong time ago :)

Anyway, while I was chasing around, something in the back of my head clicked.  I can’t express it any better than that.  I have never had the slightest interest in fair isle work having always thought of it as the knitting equivalent of brain surgery.  And, in general, while the colors can be fabulous, the all-over patterning is too busy for my taste and - let’s be honest - for my shape.  In a fair isle sweater, I’d look like a camel wrapped in a Turkish carpet!

So imagine my stupefaction when this happened:

It felt as though either I or my needles had been possessed and the next thing I knew, there was this little swatch.  And while it certainly felt odd at first (and a bit awkward) I can’t say it was terribly difficult.  And it got easier as I went on.  But it really is very strange.  I keep looking at this thing, wondering where it came from.  It’s all a little scary…

And it occurs to me that this technique needn’t be restricted to all-over patterning.  A bit here or a bit there, a border perhaps - just a little something to add a soupon of interest.

Fluffy and Goldie seem to be waiting for us to clear out today.  I suspect planned mischief!

Happy mid-week, everyone :)

I’ll start with the bad.  I woke up very early Friday morning from a nightmare about floods, collapsing buildings and people missing and dead.  I don’t usually remember my dreams once I’ve woken up, but this one wouldn’t leave me alone.  I eventually had to get up and turn the light on before I could begin to relax and even now I can still feel the department store falling out from under me.  Urk….

That seemed to set the tone for the weekend.  I’ve been kinda tense for no particular reason.  I am pleased to say that I’ve managed not to yell or be unreasonable - which is very easy for me to do when I’m feeling edgy.

On to the funny…

Last night I decided an English muffin, all toasty and buttery would make a good before-bed snack.  So I got one out of its bag and plunked it into the toaster whereupon an edge, about half an inch wide and about two inches long broke off and plummeted to the bottom of the slot.  No biggie.  I unplugged the toaster and began fishing around to get the piece out.

It wouldn’t come out.  So I removed the muffin halves and turned the toaster over to shake it out.  A veritable snow of breadcrumbs hit the counter as I shook the toaster - but no MF (no, not that - muffin fragment!).

Hmmmm…

I looked into the slot and the MF was just lying there.  Turned the thing over again and shook some more.  Another cup of bread crumbs - no MF.  So I got a knife and broke the piece up, hoping that would help.  And it did…a bit.  The next turn and shake got another cup of breadcrumbs and a couple of MF pieces.

But there was still a piece stuck in the bottom of that slot and nothing I could do would dislodge it.  It, apparently, felt it had found a new home and intended to squat there permanently.  All right, fine.  Go ahead and cremate!  So I put the muffin back in, plugged the toaster in again and pushed the lever down.

Then I looked at the counter - which had virtually disappeared under an avalanche of fossilized breadcrumbs.  I mean there was enough there to feed the birds for a week!  What would have happened if I had kept turning and shaking?  It was like the toaster had an inexhaustible supply of this stuff.  I might never have to buy bird seed again!  Did some part of it reach into that black hole dimension that socks disappear into?  Was it an exchange sort of thing?  Get a cup of bread crumbs for every sock?

“Honey?  How long have we had this toaster?  Did we have it before we moved?”  We moved into this apartment about a year ago.

“Yes, and I’ve cleaned it several times since.  You can never get everything out.”

I’d figured that much out thanks to the MF, now merrily turning black in the bottom of the slot and scenting the kitchen with essence of burned bread.

I did eventually get the drifts of crumbs cleaned up off the counter and the floor and retired with my snack to ponder the mysteries of the universe.  What would you have to offer the black hole, for example, to get, say, yarn back?  And how would it manifest?  Would it just show up in your closet, as part of your stash or would you have to watch for it to drop out of the light fixture in the bathroom?  Inquiring minds want to know!

Okay - now for the mediocre…

I worked on the shawl most of the weekend.  It looks just like it did in the last picture except a bit larger so I won’t bore you with another photo right now.

But I kinda got stuck on Bella.  I started the first sleeve and got a few repeats of the lace done before I realized that I didn’t like it.  In worsted weight yarn, it just looked - I don’t know - kinda clunky?  So I ripped it all out and now I’m not quite sure how to proceed.

I could do a plain stockinette sleeve with a seed stitch border - like the body of the sweater.
Or I could do a cable embellishment.
Or I could try another lacy type pattern - feather and fan maybe?

What do you all think?  Or do you have any other suggestions that might do the trick?  I know this isn’t rocket science but it sure is making me feel stupid :)

Remember yesterday, when I said I’d be casting on for Bella’s sleeves?  I lied.  Well, not intentionally, but I didn’t get that far.  In trying to finish off the right front last night, I ran into a count problem and wound up frogging.  Then I ran into a twisted stitches problem and wound up frogging again.  I finally got to bind the thing off and that was all the knitting I wanted to do on that.  Patience with my own idiocy is no more one of my strong points than coordination is :)  The sleeves, or at least the first sleeve, will go on this afternoon.

The Meadow Flowers proceeds apace.  It will probably become my regular Monday night project - assuming I can keep track of my yo’s.  I like the way it’s coming out though and the fabric is very soft and nice feeling.  Of course I’m getting bored with the simple lace pattern, but attempting to vary it now would be courting disaster, I fear.  And, even though it’s unexciting to work, it is pretty.  Besides, how reasonable is it to get bored with something that gives me so much frogging practice? :)

I’m having a rather unmotivated day - you know, the kind where you just want to go back to bed?  I’m supposed to go out to dinner with a friend tonight and I really don’t feel like it.  Oh I’ll go and chances are we’ll have a great time - we always do.  But right now?  Feh…

I suppose it’s spring fever and I’ve seen the same kind of thing popping up all over Blogdom.  Creative, talented, intelligent people feeling…blah, unmotivated and unsure about themselves, their projects and their blogs.  I know this will pass.but I want it to pass NOW (see above statement about patience)!

There have been a lot fewer squirrels visiting now that the weather has warmed up.  In the winter we had, it seemed, and endless string of them coming and going all the time.  Now we only see one or two a day.

Now we have pigeons :)  Two distinct flocks visit to eat the corn.  One is pretty sizeable - 20-30 birds at any given time.  The other is quite a bit smaller with only 6 - 10 showing up, usually in the late afternoon.  They sit on the roof of the building next door and watch.  And wait.  Myria thinks that once the chestnut outside the kitchen window has leafed out, the pigeon influx will diminish.  I kinda hope she’s right because they tend to scare away the smaller birds.

I went to a local knitting group on Monday night.  It just started two weeks ago and it was fun!  It’s at the caf in the Borders bookstore in Nashua, NH from around 7:00 PM till closing.  If you’re in the area and interested, please drop In!  It was the brainchild of Kat :).

Of course I brought Meadow Flowers with me and proved - again - to myself what I should have already known.  I have never been able to walk and chew gum at the same time so I don’t know what ever gave me the idea that I could knit and talk at the same time.  Coordination has never been my strong suit so current progress on the shawl is being measured backwards.  But I am not daunted :)  No pair of sticks and hunk of string is going to boss me around!

Bella is coming along.  I expect to cast on the first sleeve this afternoon.  Right now, the two fronts look like they’re about 4” wide as the sides have rolled in.  I confess I’m a bit concerned as to how to prevent the rolling when the sweater is complete as there is no button band and the fronts aren’t edged - at least they’re not in the pattern.  As I’m using acrylic yarn, blocking probably isn’t going to work.  Any hints?

Of course Tuesday was replete with the usual running around and I was tired all day to boot.  Ever want to lay down in the middle of Wal-Mart and take a nap?  Oh - and the best part was when I got all my groceries and assorted ephemera to the checkout, got everything rung up and then pulled out my debit card only to have the !@#$%^&* machine tell me I was not a recognized card-holder.  It later proved to be simply a glitch in my bank’s network. Unfortunately, because I only had a dollar and change in my wallet, I had to leave everything much to my humiliation and the cashier’s annoyance.

We saw several Chipping Sparrows on the porch roof under the feeder.  They’re smaller that our house sparrow regulars and really, really cute!  Like juncos, they prefer to eat off the ground rather than from a feeder.  Now that we know they’re there, we’ll throw a handful of seed on to the roof so they can eat comfortably.

I have been so enjoying the return of the birds this spring - especially the bird song.  I surfed around a bit this morning, trying to identify a call I’ve hearing over the last few days - two high, measured tones followed by four, faster, lower tones.  I haven’t discovered who’s singing this song yet - but I will.

A few years ago, when we went out and walked every morning, we often heard a two tone call.  You know Nelson?  The little thug on the Simpsons who laughs: HA-ha?  It sounded just like that.  I took me days to track down who was doing it because of a fundamental mis-understanding.  Birds have songs, right?  They also have calls which may sound very different.  If I’m understanding things correctly, a call is a “Here’s food!” or “Bad-guy alert!” kind of thing rather than an “I’m available for mating” announcement.  Very few sites which post audio files include calls - just song.

It turned out to be the call of a black-capped chickadee - our state bird - which I always think of now, as the Nelson bird.

Thank you all for your funny and kind comments on the Doggie Bag.  It was no more than a fortunate confluence of circumstances.  I had started a small project with the idea of knitting a square and then picking up edges and continuing in the round.  It was intended as practice in picking up stitches and circular knitting.  Into the middle of this, dropped Marcy’s hilarious post and…

If you haven’t seen the most recent post over at Purls before Swine, go take a look - you’ll laugh your socks off and that’s not a bad thing for a Monday morning!

This tickled me enough to rise to the challenge.  Well…rise may not be le mot juste, you’ll have to decide for yourselves.

I know, I know - another Monday, another bag.  Think we’re establishing a pattern here?

This is about 5” in diameter, 7.5” tall and about 20” in circumference (when full!).  It will easily hold a grocery bag full of dog leavings and it has a shoulder strap for hands-free carrying.  But wait - there’s more!  It also has a secret weapon!

That’s not just a piece of cardboard you see here, that’s our patented smell-well component.  Alright - it’s two pieces of cardboard with a dryer sheet sandwiched between them.  It gives the bag a little more shape and it helps it smell nicer :)

If you don’t have a dog and don’t need a ka-ka carrier, you could use this for a lunch bag - but you should probably leave out the dryer sheet :)

Doggie Bag

Materials

Worsted weight yarn
1 pair straight US 8 needles
1 16” long US 8 (5 mm) circular needle or set of 5 double points.

Terms

C4B - Place next 2 stitches on cable needle and hold at the back of your work.  Knit the next two stitches.  Knit the two stitches from the cable needle.

M1 - Insert left needle, from front to back, under the running stitch between the needles.  Knit into the back of this stitch.

With the straight needles, Cast on 20 stitches.

Knit 40 rows.

Switch to the circular needle and pick up 20 stitches along the side, 20 stitches along the cast-on row and 20 stitches on the other side.  80 stitches on needle.

Mark the beginning of the round and knit one round.

1.  K8, *P1, M1, K2, M1, P1, K16; repeat from *, end K8
2.  K8, *P1, K4, P1, K16; repeat from *, end K8
3.  K8, *P1, K4, P1, K16; repeat from *, end K8
4.  K8, *P1, C4B, P1, K16; repeat from *, end K8

Rounds 5, 6 and 7:  K8, *P1, K4, P1, K16; repeat from *, end K8
Round 8:  Repeat round 4.

Repeat rounds 5-8 until you have done 8 cable twists.

Repeat rounds 5-7.

Next round:  P9, *C4B, P18; repeat from *, end P9
Next round:  P9, *K4, P18; repeat from *, end P9
Next round:  P1, *[yo, P2tog] 3 times, P2, K4, P2, [yo, P2tog] 3 times, P2; repeat from *, end P1
Next round:  P9, *K4, P18; repeat from *, end P9
Next round:  P9, *C4B, P18; repeat from *, end P9

Repeat rounds 5-7

Bind off loosely.

Make a tie in whatever style and of whatever material you like.  Thread it through the eyelets starting with the first eyelet after a cable by inserting the tie from the front.  Doing it this way will keep the cables from being covered up.

Measure the bottom of the bag.  Mine came to about 4.5” x 4.5”.  Cut two squares of cardboard just a hair bigger than that.  Snip a dryer sheet so that it fits nicely between the two pieces without sticking out anywhere.  Place it between the cardboard pieces and fit this into the bottom of your bag.

Happy Monday!