I worked on this almost all day yesterday.

It was the cast on - always my Achilles’ heel when it comes to DPNs.  I got through the I-cord part just fine but getting those stitches on to the double point properly defeated me.  Then I had the brilliant (I thought) idea of casting on the whole circumference and decreasing down instead of increasing up.  Heh.  I tried that one two or three times too and couldn’t seem to be able to make the join without twisting the stitches.  I tried this so many times that I finally chopped off the few yards I’d been working with because they were beginning to get a bit shopworn looking.  Besides, I needed the psychological lift of using nice, new, smooth, straight yarn.

I decided to give the pattern beginning (as written) one more chance and lo and behold!  Just as Army of Darkness started - everything fell together!  I worked on it while laughing at Bruce Campbell’s antics and am very happy with the way it’s shaping up :)  The Spotlight cotton is perfect in both color and feel!

I also picked up some chunky wool the other day - because it was cheap and I liked the colors.

The wool has a nice soft hand and works up nicely.  I’m not used to yarn this size as I almost never venture beyond worsted weight so it feels odd to work with.  The label recommends size 11 needles but 10.5 was the largest I had so that’s what I’m using.

There are some light wisps in the image above; I assume that they’re flash artifacts.  I’m sorry about that; my camera is getting elderly and is inclined to be tempermental sometimes.  The upper right corner of the knitting should give you a good idea of the actual color which is a real maroon.  I haven’t seen this deep red-purple in a long time so I though that was pretty cool.  And boy, does the seed stitch pop when worked on this scale; the bottom and edges of the scarf look almost like brick-work to me :)  This one’s for the Dulaan bag. 

This has been a pretty busy week with a lot of running around so I’m looking forward to kicking back a little and I hope you are all able to do the same.  Have a great weekend!

Well, this didn’t get posted because the server was down all Wednesday morning and we were out all afternoon.  So I am going to expand the post to make up for losing the day :)  Don’t worry, the sundae is at the end :)

I started the Entrelac sock from Socks Socks Socks Tuesday night.  I found the instructions needed a bit of decoding (and I generally find that to be true with XRX publications) but do-able.  I did get a bit nervous when told to turn at the end of the entrelac row (Hunh?  I’m knitting in the round here!  What gives?) because no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t figure it out.  Eventually I just proceeded on faith and guess what?  It worked!

I know this is going to be utterly awesome when I find the right yarn for it, but the yarn in the above picture ain’t it.  For one thing, the color repeat is longer than I’d like for this and for another…well, I just don’t love this yarn.  It will be fine for “plain ol’ socks”, but not for these.  So this will get frogged.  And eventually I’ll find a good deal on something utterly sumptuous like Lorna’s Laces or Cherry Hill Farm and these will get made.  Now that I know I can figure out the pattern, it’s just a matter of finding the right yarn!

A couple of notes.  Working entrelacs on double-points is very awkward at first and I kept losing stitches of the ends of needles until I got my bearings.  Also, while I very much like the toe (cast on a few stitches, knit a few rows and then pick up stitches all around your little rectangle) picking up stitches on that miniscule scale almost drove me batty.  I finally enlisted the aid of a small crochet hook and that did the trick handily :)

On another subject entirely, I stumbled across the Cotton Chenille Boob pattern a week or so ago.  I think it’s quite clever - the back and front are made exactly the same way, but the back is done on needles one size smaller than the front is so that it will curve in and fit better against the chest.

I have been wearing a prosthetic in place of my left breast for about four years now.  And I wanted to pass along the link in case any of you out there in cyber-land might be interested in trying it for yourselves or a friend or family member in the same boat.  The idea of being able to make my own prosthetic that I can tailor specifically to my body and shape is absolutely exhilarating - maybe even empowering (not a word I use lightly or often).  Yes, insurance covers prosthetics but I love the idea of my left breast being something that I made for myself and I am very grateful to Beryl Tsang (who designed and knitted it) and to Crystal Palace for presenting it. 

Except I don’t want chenille :)  So I got this:

Spotlight cotton has been one of my favorites for a long time and when I saw this color, I knew I had found my yarn.

Now, on to the good (read: fattening) stuff :)

This has been an interesting summer, temperature wise, don’t you think?  Heat, heat and more heat.  The birds have all been flying around with their little beaks open - I imagine that’s their equivalent of panting - and every time you go outside you start to feel funny.  Partly that’s allergies to which Myria and I are both susceptible and partly it’s the heat.  Thank God the car has AC!

A week or so ago I had a craving for a hot fudge sundae.  The only problem was that it was about midnight at the time and I don’t usually have the fixings around the house - just too much of a temptation; all I did have was ice cream.  Standing in the kitchen and looking around, my eye lit on this:

You’ve heard me talk about Trader Joe’s before - an off-beat kind of grocery store.  They carry these candy bars in packages of three for $1.29.  This is dark chocolate, my absolute favorite kind of chocolate - and this stuff is good!  Rich, very chocolaty and not too sweet.  Heaven!  Now, how do I turn it into hot fudge?  Well….

...Break (or chop) about half a candy bar (dark chocolate works for me but you use what works for you) into a microwave safe container.  Add about 2 tablespoons of half-and-half (or light or heavy cream - whatever you have) and a couple of teaspoons of sugar if desired.  Put this into the microwave at 50% power for 60 seconds.  Don’t nuke it on high or you’ll wind up with a curdled mess; ask me how I know :)  Take it out and stir well to mix things together.

Now in all honesty, this is more like a hot chocolate sauce than a hot fudge because it’s not very thick.  On the other hand, the flavor is a lot better than most commercial chocolate sauces and it is actually hot, after all :)

If you have it available, you could add whipped cream and a cherry.  What I had available besides the candy bar was a handful of pecans which I gleefully dumped on top.  Nope, it’s not a real hot fudge sundae, but as an emergency fix, it ain’t too shabby :)

And, next time, I may try adding coffee to the chocolate to melt with.  Mmmmm…mocha!

Well, I managed to annoy my right shoulder sufficiently that I couldn’t knit comfortably this weekend,  so nothing got done, played with or experimented upon.  We did, however, go to the Stone Zoo (part of Zoo New England) yesterday so I can share a few of the better pictures with you.

We didn’t see a lot of the animals because it was a hot day so many of them were holed up under bushes or in a rock crevice.  Those that were out, like this cougar and leopard, were sleeping or close to it :)

Of course, that held true for some of the indigenous wildlife as well.  This fellow and a few companions were napping under a bush by the side of one of the picnic areas.  It was amusing to watch people walk within a foot of them and never notice they were there.

The aviary is enclosed and so somewhat better climate controlled.  These terns actually have the run of the place and we watched them flying around.  Those little white feathers on either side of the beak actually curl up like a moustaches and give them a sort of “Snidely Whiplash” appearance :)

Interestingly enough, these fellows are also housed in the aviary, though they aren’t birds.

These are bats and they are fantastic to watch.  In body size, they’re probably roughly equivalent to a medium sized cat but their wingspan can be 6 feet or more!  We arrived at their enclosure right around feeding time so we got to see them moving around and greedily enjoying their supper which consisted of grapes, apples, pears and bananas.  In all cases (there were probably half a dozen bats in the enclosure) the grapes went first!

This fellow gave me the hairy eyeball as we went by.  I love the red patch on his head!

There were tons of these guys around and they weren’t particularly shy either.  Zoo visitors probably leave enough crumbs behind to feed any number of sparrows very comfortably.  Without the shadows for contrast, this one would blend in very nicely with the log she’s perched on.

These guys were great fun to watch though, like many others, they slept through most of the afternoon.  Myria was able to get this only because we checked back around suppertime and they were most eager to be fed so they were up and around.  I wish I had the ability to relax and have fun the way these guys seem to.  Makes you feel good just watching them!

And that’s about it for now.  I’ll see you Wednesday, hopefully, having gotten some more knitting done and with a tip for making an emergency hot fudge sundae :)  Stay cool!

Morning all, happy Friday!

I worked some more on the Tee yesterday.

It takes me quite a while to get across the row, but things are progressing nicely, I think.  I also discovered that despite swatching heavily and measuring carefully, that a pattern repeat is bigger than I had determined.  Which means that this piece is quite a bit wider than I had expected it to be.  By the end of the day, I’ll have determined whether that’s a fatal flaw or not - but I don’t think it is.  I think there are a couple of things I can do that won’t entail ripping it all out and starting from the beginning again.  On the other hand, re-starting would mean I could drop a substantial number of stitches which would seriously improve my time.  I mean, that picture?  That’s about three hours work since the last time you saw it.

Yes, I’m a slowpoke :)

Pursuant to yesterday’s post about Socks Socks Socks, in particular to the entrelac socks, I cast on last night to try out that toe - a new (to me) method of starting a toe-up sock.  The pattern has you cast on a few stitches and then work back and forth until you have a small block.  Then you pick up the stitches around the sides and increase your way up to foot circumference.

I hadn’t realized the bright red yarn would be so funky to photograph, but this method (which I think is what Nat was trying to explain to me last week) is simple, effective and no sweat at all.  Also there are no gaps, nor do I have to worry about short-row wraps and whether or not to pick them up, leave them lie, dance with them or cook them for dinner.  Ahem…

I love the concept of toe-up socks because you just knit until you run out of yarn and you don’t have to guess about how long to make the leg.  This toe is the rat’s behind and will probably become a staple of my sock-knitting repertoire!

I finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this morning (at around 2:00 AM, to be precise!).  Did anyone besides me find this to be rather…um…lackluster?  Lukewarm?  Rowling getting bored, maybe?

On the other hand, we watched National Treasure the other day and despite the critics panning this into the ground, found it to be thoroughly enjoyable and great fun.  I particularly like the ending which was satisfying in a way adventure films haven’t been in 30 years and which was not obviously setting up for a sequel - something I get real tired of.  Make popcorn - definitely recommended :)

Have a wonderful weekend all!

We had a fun day up in Maine.  We didn’t get back home until about 9:30 PM and I didn’t knit a stitch all day.  That is, however, more than compensated for (as many things are) by a book.  I had first seen it about two years ago and have been kicking myself ever since for not picking it up.

Understand that when I first saw this, I had yet to knit my first sock and was still relatively certain that socks would forever be beyond me :)  But this book really fired my imagination!  Look at these:

And these…

These completely knock me out.  Simple, almost rudimentary ribbing, toe and heel and tons of beautiful tiny knitted tiles for the leg and foot.  I am absolutely going to try these babies - as soon as I stop drooling over the picture :)

There’s socks that are just plain fun…

I confess I probably won’t try this one - or at least not for a while.  But c’mon, piggies for your piggies!  How irresistible is that?

And socks that are pretty fancy…

You could wear these under your wedding gown, were you so inclined.

It’s not so much having these patterns, though that’s a very good thing, it’s the boot in the imagination they provide, going from gentle variations of standards to totally outside-the-box color and construction.  My mind picks up these things and races away with them, speculating about further variations and constructions.  If you can only have one toy, a mind is a wonderful thing to play with :)

I have barely let this book out of my hands since we got home last night and I suspect Myria thought I was going to sleep with it :)

So today it’s back to the Tee and tomorrow, providence willing, there will be progress!

I finally quit fooling around and cast on for real with the Paradiso last night.  157 stitches and I got it right the first time!!  Heheh…

Off and runn…er…knitting

The front and back will both be done in the modified razor shell pattern.  The yoke and sleeves may or may not be straight stockinette - I haven’t decided yet.  It may also depend on how much yarn I have left at that point.

I’ve been knitting backwards instead of purling in the ordinary way and I’m finding it a lot easier and faster than regular purling.  Part of the reason is that the knitting backwards gives me a better grip on the yarn and needles which is important in this case because the yarn is cotton and the needles are metal (my only size 8 circular with the necessary length).

Cotton + Metal needle = Slick

But it also just goes faster.  It’s a nice feeling, zooming through those wrong side stitches :)

I’m calling this the Mourning Dove Tee because of the colors of the Paradiso.  And towards that end, I grabbed this cotton - Classic Elite Spotlight - as an accent color.  Mourning doves have a dusty turquoise ring around their eyes.  This yarn is pretty close to that color and ties up the dove idea nicely, I think, though I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to use it just yet :)

Mourning dove colors

We’re off up to Maine today so I gotta dash for the shower.  See you tomorrow!

Good morning!  I’m feeling fit and feisty this morning due to having gotten a great deal of uninterrupted sleep last night - an unusual occurrence in the summer.  Of course I was up until 3:00 AM reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, but I’m sure that has nothing to do with it…much :)

Over the weekend, I acquired a Creative Commons license.  You can see it at the bottom of the sidebar on the left.  Click on the button to see the terms of the license.  It applies to the entire blog, including the patterns and tutorials.  A Creative Commons license is a free and legal alternative to full copyright that allows you (the author) to reserve some rights.  Tailored to creative works, it’s intent is to protect while providing for flexibility.  The process is very simple.  A list of multiple choice questions determines how free or restrictive you want to be.  You are then presented with a bit of code to paste into your blog that provides a clickable button and a statement that your site is so licensed.  I’d urge any of you who are also publish blogs to check it out. 

I did some more experimental swatching this weekend with the Paradiso in variations of the Razor Shell pattern and on various sized needles.

This was done on size 6 needles.  The diagonals are nice and clear and the single, straight-up-and-down stocking stitch between them makes a nice, but not obtrusive, dividing line.

This one looks messy to me (please forgive the color quality - or lack thereof).  I think, given the irregularity of the yarn itself, that it really benefits from a wider repeat.  The 3-stitch dividers simply muddy the pattern further - in my opinion.  This was also done on size 6 needles.

I’ve come to the tentative conclusion that I don’t like the wide divider although I do very much like the wider razor shell.  The real relevance of this swatch though, is that it was done on size 8 needles with no real detriment to the pattern’s appearance.  This is interesting because the yarn is labeled as a DK weight.  In practice though, it’s thick and thin nature varies from sport weight to worsted weight.

My feeling is that the pattern in the first photo is the nicest, but that I would probably work it on size 7 or 8 needles.  I’m going to keep all the swatches, of course, until I know whether there’s going to be enough yarn to do what I want!

I also tried this Retro Throw square pattern.  I very much like the idea of the square starting from the outside and “smalling” down to the center.  I also like the bands created by the decreases - very attractive.

It’s really very easy to do to, though you’d never know it by me :).  The initial attempt was made at full size on a circular needle.  Of course I twisted the join and didn’t really accept that until I was 10 rows in. 

Sigh…  Frog… 

I began the second, scaled down version on DPNs and had better luck.  Once I had things established, I switched to the circular and finished things up magic-loop style.  While an afghan is an interesting idea (and not at all our of the question, some day) it occurs to me that this square might be a useful base for other things as well or, if not this square, then something else with a similar method of construction.

I’ll have to play with that idea a bit :)