It started out innocently enough.  The temperatures here have been very hot this week and frankly, I haven’t been knitting a lot.  I’m not even halfway through this week’s blanket panel and I haven’t done much of anything else.  Last night, I told myself that even if I didn’t want to work on the blanket, Dulaan items needn’t be large or weighty or cumbersome to work on so get going!  Okay, okay, already :) My conscience is a Jewish mother - also a Tartar!

I went through stash and grabbed a ball of blue yarn intending to make my standard toddler/small child sock and cast 28 stitches on to size 5 needles.  I noticed as I cast on that the yarn was barely twisted and quite a bit thicker than I had initially thought - say bulky-ish rather than worsted weight.  But I continued on and knit a couple of rows of K2, P2 ribbing before I realized that a ball of bulky yarn wasn’t going to have enough yardage to make a pair of socks.  Well, my brain temporized, Make short socks then - the cuff doesn’t need to go on exactly forever, you know!.

This seemed like sage advice even though it came from my brain (which I’m convinced consists mostly of silly putty) so I decided, somewhat arbitrarily (or so I thought!), to work 6 rounds of ribbing and then 6 rounds of stockinette - 12 rounds total.  It would be a very short cuff and perhaps be more useful as slippers than socks, but that would be fine.  Then I would start the heel flap.

So that’s exactly what I did, eyeing my rapidly shrinking ball of wool all the while.  In fact I was a bit alarmed by the rate at which the yarn was disappearing.  I shouldn’t have been - I mean I did realize there wasn’t a lot of yardage here which is why I was altering the pattern in the first place!  After the heel flap was worked and the gusset stitches picked up I was even more nervous about the yarn so I decided that once the gusset decreases were done, I would work only 12 more rounds for the foot (instead of the 16 rounds this pattern calls for) and try to save a little yarn that way.  It was ridiculous of course :) When I had worked the 12 rounds I could see that what would result might be suitable for a puppy’s paw, but not really workable for a human foot with actual toes on it :)

Then, I had the thought that I could change colors and work the additional four rounds the original pattern required, proceed on to the toe decreases and everything would be fine.  So I dug out another ball of comparable weight yarn, this one a darker bluish-purple tweed, joined it and finished the sock.  It wasn’t until then that I realized I had another couple of 12s going here.  The gusset decreases take place over 12 rounds - 6 decrease rounds with 6 knit rounds in between.  Also, after the color change, another 12 rounds are worked to the end of the sock - 4 plain rounds, 3 decrease rounds with 3 knit rounds and then another 2 decrease rounds = 12 rounds!

So there isn’t so much a pattern here as a mnemonic device :)

6 rounds ribbing + 6 rounds stockinette = 12 rounds.
*Heel flap
*Turn heel
*Pick up gusset stitches
Decrease gusset stitches: Decrease round + plain round (6 times) = 12 rounds.
Stockinette - 12 rounds
Change color
4 rounds stockinette + toe decreases [(3 decrease + 3 knit rounds) + 2 decrease rounds] = 12 rounds.

*See How to Make a Little Sock for the particulars.

Because of the thickness of the yarn used, this sock is a little bigger than usual and would probably fit a medium child - maybe even a small adult.  While not inflexible and not, as far as I know, bullet-proof, it is very thick and sturdy :) And, last but not least, you can whip it out in a evening.

Come one, come all and bring your yarn,
And join us here in the knitting barn.
Come knitters and spinners - there’s plenty of room
For the weavers to even bring their looms!
Crocheters welcome and bring your hooks -
I promise there won’t be any dirty looks :)
There’s plenty of space for everyone
So join us tonight - it’s a lot of fun!

I have missed sharing recipes since the inception of the diet because what I’ve been eating has been pretty...well...plain.  Not that I don’t enjoy it - I actually do!  In particular, the serious rise in fresh fruits and vegetables in my daily intake has been enlightening.  And delicious :)

When the weather is cold, I don’t really want to have cold food.  Things like salads pretty much go by the board in the winter but come spring I start to crave them.  And a couple of nights ago I started fooling around with salad ideas.  I eventually came up with this, which we had for dinner to night and which I’m tickled to be able to pass along.  I’m picky about salads - I want them to taste good - not just be filler.  This tastes great - looks pretty too :)

For each person (make it a hungry person - this is a sizeable salad!), start with 2 cups of shredded Romaine lettuce.

I used Newman’s Own Low-Fat Sesame Ginger dressing on my salad - probably a quarter cup.  Myria preferred to have Fat Free Ranch dressing on hers.  I would also have added either red or green (spring) onions to my salad if I had remembered to buy any :)

The whole shebang comes in at around 400 calories, give or take a little depending on what kind of salad dressing you’re using.  It tasted absolutely wonderful and it’s a pretty fair amount of food so you don’t go away from the table feeling like you still need to have dinner!  It also looks very pretty and the combination of colors and textures is very appetizing.

Semi-Asian Salad

Per person:

2 c shredded Romaine lettuce (16 calories)
2 plum (Roma) tomatoes, quartered lengthwise (22 calories)
8 ears baby corn, drained (21 calories)
1/2 cucumber, peeled and chunked (17 calories)
1/4 c sliced mushrooms (5 calories)
1/4 c Mandarin oranges, drained (18 calories)
2 oz sliced water chestnuts, drained (28 calories)
4 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast, seasoned as you prefer (180 calories)
1/4 c Newman’s Own Low-Fat Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing (70 calories)

377 calories, total

I used calories counts from the 3 fat chicks on a diet website.  You can, of course, substitute any kind of lettuce you prefer (I adore Butter lettuce and can’t wait to try this salad with it!) and add things you like or subtract things you don’t.

We had an interesting weekend that included three movies!  An unusual thing for us, but every once in a while… We saw Superman Returns which, despite most critics’ enthusiastic recommendation, we thought was just dreadful.  It was badly cast, the action sequences were easily twice as long as they needed to be and using archive footage of Marlon Brando as Jor-el was just creepy.  We also saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.  It wasn’t up to the level of the first PotC film but it was entertaining never the less and Johnny Depp was a delight, as always.  Finally we saw Monster House.  This is the only one of the three I thought was really good.  It’s carefully crafted and very well cast.  Without going into the story line (which is coherent and has a beginning, a middle and an end!) I will tell you that this is an old-fashioned ghost story - the kind told around campfires on long summer nights.  It has the horror and pathos necessary for that type of tale and manages a little humor as well.  Caution:  it’s a pretty intense film (though there’s no blood) and I wouldn’t recommend it for children much under 12.

I also had my first fresh mango this weekend and found it wonderful!  I have had the fruit in packaged fruit cups before but never fresh.  Myria picked out a couple when we were shopping Friday - just out of curiosity.  I really loved it; it was incredibly sweet and juicy.  It also had (neither of us had any idea what to expect) a large, teardrop shaped pit inside.  The flesh is fibrous and clings tenaciously to the pit so eating the thing is a bit of work and somewhat sloppy - well worth it though.  Oh - and the juice stains (ask me how I know!) so, of course, I’m wondering how I would go about using this as a dye :)

And, speaking of dyeing…

Finally, since I don’t knit in theaters (I’m always afraid it will be distracting to the people around me and that seems terribly unfair - especially given theater prices these days) I didn’t do a lot of knitting over the weekend.

I did finish the second blanket panel though, and start the third.  I wasn’t thrilled with this week’s offering from the lace sampler group, so I went through my books, etc in search of a lace pattern.  I finally came up with this one last night:

I hope you all had fun and enjoyable weekends :) Onwards!

I have no real notion where the idea for this originated.  Well, you all know it was supposed to be a pair of socks - but that got sidetracked :) Some small part of my utilitarian, pragmatic soul wanted something that was feminine and pretty.  And not just feminine but over the top.  That made me think of the Victorians who elaborately decorated everything and then decorated the decorations!  If I could have infused this yarn with attar of roses, I would have :)

I also wanted to start using some of the yarn I’ve been so enthusiastically dyeing over the last couple of months but it didn’t seem that this splendid pink should go for something hum-drum and ordinary.  There was also the idea that it might be fun to insert a design element into the purl troughs of the ribbing (letting no potential decorative space lie fallow!) and, finally, that off-setting that with the design element on the knit panels would present a pleasing sort of symmetry to the eye.

Dana Victoria

100 grams merino wool, fingering weight (I used hand-dyed KnitPicks yarn in Tea Rose)
Four size 1 US (2.25mm) needles (or five needles if you prefer, or two circulars, or one magic loop - whatever method for knitting in the round best floats your boat!).
2 stitch markers (I used a couple of silver jump rings left over from my beading days because size one needles are skinny!)

Gauge

About 9 sts per inch in pattern

Terms

K - Knit
K1b - Knit through the back loop
P - Purl
M1 - Increase by making a backwards loop
Inc3 - Increase by K1, yo, K1 into the same stitch.
Dec3 - Centered double decrease.  Slip 2 together knitwise. K1. Pass the slipped stitches over and off the needle.
YO - yarn over
MB - Make bobble - Inc3.  Turn and P3.  Turn.  Lift second stitch over first and drop off the needle.  Lift next stitch over and off.  One bobble stitch remaining on left needle - knit it through the back loop.
pm - Place marker
sm - Slip marker

Notes

This will make a glove which will smoothly fit a hand that is 8” in diameter (around the palm below the base of the fingers).  That’s because both Myria and I have large hands :) However, the wide ribbing has lots of give and take so it should fit a fair range of sizes.  To size it down, eliminate one of the repeats (12 stitches).  If this would make it too small, try going up a needle size.

I won’t fib to you, at this scale the bobbles - even if you like them - are a mite fiddly to work :) However, you may enjoy working them anyways.  I had a mini-party in my head every time another one popped of the needles successfully!  If you would rather not have bobbles, simply substitute a purl stitch when the pattern call for a bobble to be worked.

The pattern is named, in part, for the sweet daughter of a dear friend who is having a “pink” year and in part for the elaborate and decorative Victorian era.  In fact it occurred to me as I was finishing it up that knitting the first and last three rounds in black would have only enhanced that association.

Pattern

Cast on 72 stitches (multiple of 12) divided on three needles.  Join and work three rounds of *K7, P5*.

Preliminary rounds

1.  *K1, K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SSK, K1, P5*; repeat around
2.  *K7, P5*; repeat around
3.  *K3, Make Bobble (MB), K3, P5*; repeat around
4.  *K7, P5*; repeat around

Now you can continue with the written directions directly below or skip them and go down to the chart.  Repeat this sequence for desired length to base of thumb gusset.  Work through round 2 of pattern.

Commence pattern rounds - Written

1.  *K1, SSK, yo, K1, yo, K2tog, K1, P2, Inc3, P2*; repeat around
2.  *K7, P2, K3, P2*; repeat around
3.  *K7, P2, K1, yo, K1, yo, K1, P2*; repeat around
4.  *K7, P2, K5, P2*; repeat around
5.  *K7, P2, SSK, K2tog, P2*; repeat around
6.  *K7, P2, K3, P2*; repeat around
7.  *K1, K2tog, yo, K1, yo, SSK, K1, P2, Dec3, P2*; repeat around
8.  *K7, P2, K1b, P2*; repeat around
9.  *K3, MB, K3, P2, K1b, P2*; repeat around
10. *K7, P2, K1b, P2*; repeat around

Commence pattern rounds - Chart

Chart notes

Since this piece is worked in the round, all rows (rounds) are worked in the same direction.  The chart should be read from right to left for each round.

The boxes shaded in blue represent the leaf chart which is to the right of the main pattern chart.
The top row of pink boxes aren’t part of the pattern sequence, but are there to show how the bobble-lace flower and the leaf patterns fit together.

We are going to take over the first flower lace panel and use it to create the thumb gusset.  So…

Next row:  K3, pm, M1, K1, M1, K3 - and proceed with the rest of round 3 as usual.
Next row:  K3, sm, K3, sm, K3 - and proceed with the rest of round 4.
Next row:  K3, sm, M1, K3, M1, K1 - and proceed with the rest of round 5.
Next row:  K3, sm, K5, sm, K1 and proceed with the rest of round 6.

Starting with round 7, you’ll increase every three rows while working the rest of the mitt in pattern (increase in the first row, knit the next two rows plain).  Do this until the gusset is as big as you need it to be - for me it was 10 times total.  If you find you’re getting the width you want but not the length, work a few more rounds plain (without increases) until you’re ready to close the gusset.  Try to end with round 9 of the pattern.

Next round:  K3, bind off all gusset stitches, M1 and join to the opposite side.  Knit 3.  You should now be back to your original 7 stitches for that panel and on round 10.

Work one more repeat of the bobble lace flower and then one more leaf.

Then work three rounds of *K7, P5* and bind off in pattern.

Now, make another one and grace your arms with your beautiful work!

For anyone who happens to stop by between 11:17 PM ESt and midnight, my profound apologies.  I’ve had a very long day and need to get some rest.  Hope to see you next week!