Thank God for Knitting

I can't tell you how grateful I am to have knitting in my life. I've spent a lot of time at home this past week tending to the needs of my father, who is in very fragile health. He really depends on me to be his "private duty nurse" and he'll listen and comply with my requests many times when he won't do so for my mother. Mom needs time to escape the house and nuture her own well-being and I do my best to make sure that happens. Daddy is now at the point where he shouldn't be left alone so we take turns being with him. I've had a very long turn this weekend.

Things were going just fine from my perspective until about dinnertime last evening. That's when he refused to take the medicine I recommended for another bout of cardiac symptoms because it would be the 3rd time he needed it that day. He didn't like the idea of needing nitroglycerin for the 3rd time because it would look bad. Being the obstinate soul he is (I had to inherit the trait from somewhere!) I wasn't winning this war and I was exasperated. Fortunately mother came home and together we got the stuff down him and she went to work calming him down. I escaped to my knitting. Thank God for knitting!!! You hear folks talk about how soothing and relaxing it is, and I agree. Right now I mega agree!

As my stress antidote I added a lot of rows to my natural-colored MS3 stole. I let the stole languish while I worked on socks and, frankly, while I decided what to do about "the wing" on the Swan. I decided to knit the wing for the natural-colored version just to see how it turns out. I figure it's a learning experience...but... I did run a lifeline on the last row of chart F so I can frog back if needed. I won't knit the wing on the blue beaded stole, rather I make it symmetrical with the lace panel insertion at the center. I'm very confident that the blue stole will turn out great.

Lest this post sound like a downer I thought I'd end with a couple of very happy photos. The first is my great-niece Isabella who is a chubby, happy 1 month old. She has her father's eyes, but the rest looks just like mom--especially the red hair. I took the last photo, a Queen Elizabeth Rose, during my morning stroll in the garden. This is a very fragrant rose and is a favorite of mine.

Before... and after!?!

You see these pictures everywhere...the infamous "before and after" photographs. Usually B&A pix are used to show how much better a person looks after mega weight loss, or a makeover--be it fashion, hair, makeup, or a room in your house. Somehow we are addicted to before and after pictures. They seem to say to us--"omigosh, can you believe how much better this person looks now that they____________ (fill in the blank: lost 200 lbs on this weight loss program, learned "what to wear", gave up thift store clothes, or stopped wearing 6 six coats of mascara, etc.). You get the idea. We love the ugly duckling turns into a swan or they all lived happily ever after stories. This is one of those stories. The leading character (ahem) is a greatly improved knitter who has no money and desperately wants yarn to knit a great sweater that fits. Let's set the scene:


I am so motivated by the new issue of Vogue Knitting! After knitting nothing but lace and socks for 2 years now I want to knit a real sweater--one that fits this time (see exhibits A&B above for evidence of excessively large sweater UFOs). Being of excessively limited financial resources I began digging through my yarn stash to see if I had anything good that could be coaxed into an awesome sweater. Frankly, despite the size of the stash, there wasn't much there for a fall/winter sweater (lots of craft store acrylic and summery stuff though). Two of the 3 best choices were trapped in limbo in partially, yes even mostly completed garments that were so big that the front half of the sweater could almost wrap around my entire body. Let's just say I'm a much better knitter these days and I understand more about gauge and how knitted fabric stretches.


So I present my before and after photos. Exhibit A is a lace pullover in a gorgeous 4ply lambswool (I didn't even know what 4 ply was when I bought the yarn online). It was supposed to be 22" wide and it's more like 30". Exhibit B is a superwash Aran wt wool--my 1st real yarn purchase at my LYS. It was on clearance at 50% off adn i figured that machine washable was a good thing for wool. I had never knit with wool before. After a visit to the frog pond and some serious unwinding-rewinding time I now have lovely yarn (Exhibit C). Now I have some great, natural fiber yarn with which to knit a sweater--out of real wool--and this time it *will* fit! Oh boy!

Little Volunteers

It's been more than a week since I updated ya'll on my knitting projects, but what can I say? It's hard to have show and tell when you're un-venting a sock design and you don't want to show it just yet ;o) I'm certain it's an unvention, but I haven't seen this design in anything I've looked through recently, including the more than 200 sock patterns I had saved from online (free or otherwise) that I just burned to a CD_R disc. What I can tell you is that even taking a simple lace/cable motif and dropping it into a basic sock formula still takes work and lots of test-knitting to make sure that things like gauge and fit are all working together in harmony.


The first sock I knit was out of a multicolored yarn (Panda Cotton, of course! my new favorite sock yarn). The yarn is great, the colors are great for fall/winter socks, the design is pretty good too, but they didn't create that nice harmony as the colors overwhelmed the stitch details. I discovered that the sock was a bit too baggy too as the 64sts that were perfect for the stitch pattern were too many for a nice, snug fit over the ankle and foot. So I cast-on again using a solid color yarn and 56 sts this time. So far thigns are looking good, but I'm still working the gusset decreases so it's too early to know for sure.

I'm also knitting a little on the MS3 "Swan Lake". The unveiling of the theme and the asymmetrical final design caught most folks off-guard. I half expected the asymmetry since Melanie's last stole, Hanami, was her 1st asymmetrical design. Even still, the Swan Lake design seems to be quite distinct from what I can tell at this point. It'll be quite interesting to see how the final clues shake out. I've been knitting on the natural-colored stole and am planning to knit the "wing" although I haven't gotten to that point yet. I'm very skittish about grafting 2 halves of the stole together in the middle after I finish the knitting as my "Kitch" stitch is quite terrible as to nice even tension. I was pleased to get the email from Melanie today announcing a non-grafting symmetrical solution to the dilemma. I was racking my brain as to what to do for my blue stole, and this looks like an easy answer to me :-)


I didn't want to leave without sharing a few cheery pictures, so I thought I'd show you a few little "volunteers" that showed up in my veggie garden. The sunflowers were "planted" by the birds who love my birdfeeders. Did you notice the second sunflower picture? It's actually 3 small flowers blooming in tandem--2 in the back and one centered on top. Strange, huh? I planted a few seeds last year for a Zinnia hybrid called "Thumbelina" They are miniatures and are quite cute. Of note was the phrase last year, as I didn't plant any this year. No, they just came up along the edge of the lawn and next to the raised planter boxes. I just love the plants that liberally self-sow adn grow without any work on my part.

In the Nick of Time

I finished my Victorian Lace Socks this morning...just in the nick of time! The Six Sox deadline is today to be eligible for goodies or whatever--I really don't know being new to the group and all. Anyway, it was good motivation to get another pair of socks into the FO list. To celebrate the occasion, I headed out to my garden to shoot some creative pictures of my VLS.


Up first is perhaps my favorite picture. I love how the yellow of the socks stands out in contrast to the brilliant crimson of the Vinca. This was my first time planting vinca (the flowers, not the flowering vine--but I have some of that too that grew under the fence from the neighbor's yard). Actually, I didn't choose to plant vinca, my mother just brought a pony pack home one day and that was that. They were the puniest things for a long time, but just in the last week or so they finally filled out and started to bloom with abundance. They do look good in contrast to the yellow marigolds, especially when viewed from a distance.


The second picture shows the socks perched on one of my most favorite garden plants--lantana. I purchased two of the newer hybrids this year, one is a fragrant purple variety that is more of a ground cover. I planted those at the base of a young Natchez Crape Myrtle. The contrast of the white blossoms of the crape myrtle look great with the lavender lantana. but the socks are perched in a lovely yellow-peach-pink hybrid called Peach Sunrise. This hybrid grows vertically in addition to the lateral spread so they end up looking more like a shrub by fall. Cool!


Up next we find the socks in the yellow marigolds. Yellow socks--yellow flowers. Need I say more? I suppose not, so we'll move on to the mainstay of any southerner's late summer perennial border: the purple coneflower. Not only are these coneflowers very long-blooming, despite the heat, humidity, and this year--drought, but they are a magnet for butterflies bees and birds. There is nothing more beautiful to look at than a male goldfinch feeding on the seeds of purple coneflowers. I guess that's why I needed to take a picture of my yellow socks on the coneflowers.


And last, but certainly not to be dismissed or ignored is the brilliant purple petunia. No, my petunias are not planted in an onion patch, but they are in pots and raised beds all around the house. My mother adores the fragrance of petunias, especially in the evening, so I planted lots of them on the deck where she sits and relaxes early each morning and again in the evening. After all, it's my job to take good care of my mother :-) Love ya Mom!

Where did July go?

It's late. The almost full moon is a glowing orange tonight and I'm sitting here wondering what happened to this month. I swear it was the 4th of July holiday just the other day. I guess watching the Tour de France every day helped the month fly by (and what an exciting finish to the Tour this year?!?!) I guess I'll have to find something else to pace my morning knitting now that the Tour is over.

I'm knitting away on my Victorian Lace Socks so they will be done by tomorrow's deadline. The next Six Sox design is scheduled for release on Wednesday and I'm curious to see what the group will be knitting next. I frogged the oversized Jaywalker sock and wound the yarn back into a ball ready for a new, better-suited-for-me sock pattern to show up. I may frog the 1st sock tomorrow too. As for the MS3, I spent yesterday knitting on the blue version. I guess I have some serious knitting to do if I'm going to caught up and ready for the 5th clue on Friday. I'm trying very hard to finish my WIPs--a challenge indeed when my fingers are just itching to dive into a new project. I'm seriously considering giving a go at a sweater--one that really fits (gasp)...but then again, maybe I'll stick with lace knitting after all :-)


Since I haven't taken any new pictures on my current knitting projects, today's visuals are of my niece, Victoria's 8th birthday party. the festivities were held last night and included the ever-present pink balloons and chocolate birthday cake. Victoria is in to art and animals, so we gave her several "how to draw" animals books along with a sketch book for her to practice in. I recently introduced her to scrapbooking, which went over with a big bang, but she still isn't all that interested in needlework or fiber arts...maybe next year :o)

Better news

Now that I've vented about my fiasco with the Jaywalker socks I'm feeling a bit better about things. Or at the very least I'm ready to move forward to knitty success. I've been watching the Tour de France faithfully every day for 3 weeks. I've only been a Tour fan for a few years, but I don't suppose there ever was a Tour with more unexpected events--good and bad. And so it is with knitting I guess. The Jaywalker socks surprised me kind of like the 2 dogs the jumped out in front of cyclists during the Tour. Yup, twice it happened--once during the first week and again just the other day. And so I've had big socks. The Panda Cotton ones I caught early on and remedied, but the 2nd jaywalker was just a bad surprise. But the Tour and knitting socks must go on! Vive le Tour!


The first thing I did after throwing the bad jaywalkers in the frog pond corner was grab my yellow Panda Cotton socks. I'm knitting the Victorian Lace Socks along with the Six Sox group and it's a pretty nice knit. It took a while to get used to the Mini-Melon lace stitch, but once I mastered that things went pretty well. Of course I sort of altered everything else about the pattern except the top-down start and the lace pattern, but it was all minor things really. The best part is I just finished turning the heel on the 2nd sock and I'll have another great pair of PC socks to wear in a day or so. This is very good since I ***LOVE*** Panda Cotton yarn. I'm already plotting and planning to knit several more pairs out of this awesome yarn.

Party Grrrl

Let's see, I was looking at my blog yesterday and I realized it's been more than a week since I posted last. Yikes! Yes, I've been knitting but I've also been partying! Hey, I haven't been a party girl in years so this is a good thing! I spent most of last weekend with a bunch of folks I haven't seen in decades--three to be exact as it was my 30 year High School Reunion. Excluding the celebrations surrounding my graduation last May, I haven't talked so much or had so much fun in practically forever. There's something quite fascinating about meeting up with people you knew and loved as a kid and finding them all grown up and mature! While we had a small representation of folks who never grew up or who drink too much or...you know the list, but for the most part, my classmates turned out really great. The neatest part for me was how encouraging they were when I told folks what I'd been through the last 10 years. I walked away with my "batteries" recharged and feeling once again that the world is filled with such good people. That's pretty amazing ;-)

I had so much fun at my reunion events that I didn't even touch my knitting--during the parties or even much at home. Let's face it, I was exhausted! But I didn't stay away for long. Melanie posted a huge chunk of clues for the MS3 and I knit on the natural colored one a bit this week. I'm up to 250 rows completed on the natural one and 200 rows on the blue beaded one. This is good, but I was beginning to feel like I was neglecting all my other knitting projects--like socks! So I got on to the socks and finished the 1st Victorian Lace Sock and the 2nd Jaywalker. Then I dug out a simple ribbed cuff sock from my sock basket and had another party Wednesday night--a "kitch" party. I hate grafting up the toes of my socks, so I had several accumulated just waiting for the Kitchener stitch magic finish. Part of the reason why they accumulate is that I can never seem to remember how to get starting grafting and I have to read the instructions. Once I get rolling though, the 2nd and 3rd socks are simple :-)

Once the "kitch" party was done something scary happened. I'll show you a picture: see the pink Jaywalker socks? Can you see what's wrong with this picture? Oh BAD! Everything is wrong with these socks. Not only did I practically lose my mind while forcing myself to knit the 2nd sock, but in the end the darn thing ended up being enormous! Yes, I used the same size needles, the same pattern, same yarn, same everything, but these socks are anything but the same! OK, in fairness I knew I had knit 5 or 6 extra rows on the cuff of the second sock, and there were a few goofed decreases here and there--nothing major or worth tinking for, but nothing to merit this fiasco! Then, to top it all off, the color of the 2 socks ended up being different too! I know that's a risk with fancy dyed socks, but they came from the same dye lot and the 2 skeins were even tied together when I purchased them at my LYS. This was my 1st experience with Lorna's Laces yarn, so I was even more disappointed because I know LL has an excellent reputation.

The bottom line on my jaywalker socks: everything bombed out here. The plan: FROG POND! There's no sense wasting beautiful (expensive) sock yarn on ugly socks that don't fit. Lessons learned: 1)Listen to my gut instinct sooner. I would have frogged long before now if I had. 2)Compare sock 2 to sock 1 at intervals while knitting sock 2. That way I'll find out sooner rather than later that the 2nd sock isn't matching up. 3)Six inch cuffs are too tall for me. Stick with 4" cuffs for most things and never exceed 5" The jaywalkers are sitting in a corner along with a pi shawl waiting to be frogged. I've returned to knitting more Panda Cotton socks and the MS3. I'm done partying for awhile and I'll never go Jaywalking again!

Cruising

I'm cruising right along on my MS3. After knitting the last couple of rows on the 2nd clue of the blue stole yesterday morning, I dove right on into the 3rd clue and finished it up this afternoon. I love how Melanie seems to know how to incorporate lace patterning and motifs in such a way as to make the knitting interesting without making it difficult or complex, yet the final results is anything but simple looking!

Now that I've finished the 3rd clue (200 rows) on the blue stole, I've picked up the natural-colored one and started to work on it. The natural stole knits much faster because I omitted the beads, yet the result is a slightly larger and thicker fabric because of the loftiness of the merino. The pattern is the same, but the 2 stoles are quite different!

We had guests over tonight so I knit a few more rows on my jaywalkers too. My fibro and PMS have been acting up today and I was in no mood for company so I was grateful to have my knitting. It's frightening to think what I might have said or done If I hadn't had those pink socks to focus on!!! I'm finally at the point where the end is in sight, so I'm motivated to get these babies done! I have to take my father to a doctor's appointment tomorrow, so that should give me some good knitting time. I'd like to go back to knitting new socks :-)

Indecision

I really hadn't planned on knitting the Mystery Stole 3 this soon. I was going to be good disciplined and finish the Hanami Stole first. But then I saw the Yarn Harlot's post and felt the energy of all these knitters, and remembered how much I enjoyed my summer evenings sitting on the deck knitting the MS2 last year, and well--I caved. But in giving in to the stole knitting thing I had to figure out what stuff to use. Economics had already vetoed buying new yarn, so that meant knitting out of my stash. No problem as my lace weight yarn stash is healthy, but what to use? And that's where the indecision took over. To make a long story short, I've ended up knitting not one, but *two* versions of the stole: one au naturale in natural and the other in chambray blue with cobalt AB beads.


I finished knitting the second clue on the natural one a couple of days ago and the blue version this morning. Not bad for starting a full week late! As you can see, with 2 clues completed things are looking good! I love them both, so I guess I'll keep on knitting on both of them until I can no longer keep up, or decide I don't like one after all, or I finish them both. Now wouldn't that be cool?

With all the MS3 knitting going on, my sock knitting didn't get much attention this week. I decided I needed to finish the Jaywalker socks before I lose my mind, so they have been the focus this week. I finished the gusset decreases and started the foot yesterday, so I don't have far to go :-) Once I'm done with the Jaywalkers, then I can go back to SOS 2007 and Six Sox knitting

My Favorite Things

I've had a such a fun weekend enjoying a few of my favorite things. What things? Well, knitting socks and lace and watching Wimbledon Tennis and the Tour de France on TV. I've been so looking forward to the Tour de France, not because I have a clear-cut favorite rider this year like I've had the last several years, but because it's like going on a trip to France and getting to see the countryside, but without actually being there. Don't get me wrong, I would *love* to be there, but this is the next best thing. Since the recent champions (Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis) are now retired, I'll be watching Levi Leipheimer closely along with a few others. Wouldn't it be cool if an American won again? The odds are not as good this year, but it's possible. There's one thing I do know, that is knitting and watching the Tour de France on TV are excellent companions :-)


And so, speaking of knitting, I've been a busy little thing. Thanks to a little sale at KnitPicks, I've got several new books on their way to my house. I picked up EZ's Knitter's Almanac, Alison Jeppson-Hyde's new book Comfort Shawls, and the new book by Koigu. I ordered a few needles and some sock yarn while I was at it (the things I really needed ;-) to qualify for free shipping. Then I hit Michael's to buy a few balls of LionBrand's CottonEase on sale. Yes, I'm going to try again to knit a cotton sweater that fits--but don't hold your breath as I've not succeeded yet. I'm more confident, though, as my knitting skills have vastly improved since my last sweater attempt. To finish off my shopping spree I hit the Yarn Haven to pick up 2 more balls of yes, Panda Cotton! I've have intentions to design some anklets, but I needed a solid color, so I grabbed some pink this time around. Sandy got some more Kid Merino in stock and I spied a purple and green ball called violets that just screamed my name. I even grabbed the size 7 needles that Jane Sowerby knit everything Mohair in in VLT and knit a (gasp!) swatch to see how it worked up. I haven't measured my gauge, but it looks to loose for my tasted so I will most likely use a size 6 needle when I start a real project.

Speaking of real projects, I took some pix of what's up in my knitting basket. I went back to work on the 2nd Jaywalker and am almost done with the heel flap. I really want to get these things done as I'm quite tired of knitting them. But the Jaywalkers don't count for my SOS KAL, so I'm also knitting my 2nd pair of Panda Cotton socks, this time using the Victorian Lace pattern from the Six Sox KAL. Gotta love knitting socks in the summer!


I printed out the 1st clue from the Mystery Stole 3 KAL last weekend, but I had no intention of casting on until after I finished the Hanami Stole. That was before I did some blog reading and caught up with the the Yarn Harlot. Yes, even our famous and beloved Stephanie Pearl-McPhee succumbed to the crowds and cast-on the MS3 using some yarn out of her stash. That was when my resolve faltered and I did some stash digging myself. I cast-on Friday night using KnitPicks Bare laceweight and some 8-0 Champagne Silver-lined seed beads. Choosing the beads was tough because nothing really looks good with natural colored fiber. Or at least I never found anything that worked when I was tatting with beads. I felt good about my choice in the lighting of my bedroom, but when I hauled the lace outside yesterday it looked just awful. So I had a dilemma. I was half way through Chart B so I didn't want to frog it, but I needed to get rid of the beads without damaging the yarn. Being the risk-taker that I am (NOT!) I took a hammer to the beads and crushed them. Even better, was I didn't cut the yarn because the beads were so completely shattered. Cool!


So I should be satisfied now that the beads are gone, right? Well, yes, i love the look of the natural colored yarn, but I'm so disappointed to not have beads in my project. I had some amazing deep blue AB beads in my stash that looked great with some light blue lace yarn. I had 3 skeins of Alpaca Cloud in a light smoky blue, but I was afraid I'd run out of yarn so that wouldn't do, but I also had a cone of super skinny cash/merino/viscose from ColourMart. A single strand was too skinny, so I went through the hassle of turning it into a center-pull ball of double-strand. I had a little bit left over, which I double stranded into a tiny ball and decided to cast-on and knit a swatch (gasp again!) in pattern with the beads. Oh pretty! So now I'm knitting 2 Mystery Stoles, one with and one without beads--and I like them both. What a crazy fool I am for doing 2 at once!

Knitting, not blogging

I guess I've been too busy knitting because it's been 5 days since I last updated my blog! Oh my! Meida's Sock has contined her travels around town, accompanying Daddy to cardiac rehab at the UT Heart/Lung Institute and going to Church on last Sunday (where a few more rows were added during the worship service).


On Tuesday the Sock went to campus for the Phenomenology Research Group meeting at the College of Nursing. A few more rows were added during group, then the Sock paid a visit to the iconic Torchbearer that watches over UTK. The Sock tried to fit the Torchbearer's foot, but as you can see, she was far too small. Let's face it, the Torchbearer is a very big statue! But the little sock was not discouraged because she was destined for smaller feet anyway--all she needed was her companion sock which was well-underway.

I finished Meida's socks on the 4th of July--and you thoughts all those parades and fireworks were celebrating something else? Nah--it was the socks! And can I tell you how much I love this pattern and the Panda Cotton Yarn? Well, I do--and so does my pal Ewe-nice!




I love FOs. It's so nice when I complete a project as I tend to specialize in WIPs/UFOs. But now that my 1st pair of SOS socks are finished, it's time to cast-on the next pair. Given my current passion for Panda Cotton it's no surprise that I'm using it again, this time in yellow. I'm knitting the Victorian Lace Socks from the Six Sox KAL group. I cast-on and knit a couple of pattern repeats on Thursday, but once again, my version was too large. So I frogged and restarted with only 56sts instead of the original 64. This will help me to know what I need for my next idea--to design a summer anklet out of the Panda Cotton. I live in cotton anklets, so this could be a very useful pattern for my sock drawer!

Just a Quickie

It's getting late and I'm tired an a bit grumpy tonight, so I'm just posting a quickie here to update my progress on all things knitty. I've been focused mostly on knitting Meida's Socks (from IK Favorite Socks book) the last few days as I'm quite smitten with everything about them: the pattern, the yarn, and even the periwinkle color! I finished the 1st sock last night, using the non-kitchener toe closure in the pattern. I'll admit it is a heck of a lot easier than grafting, which I hate to do, but I'm not sold on the final look just yet. Maybe the easy toe is a good thing, but I'm not certain of my opinion at this point.

I did have to add a couple of pattern repeats in the foot to make the socks long enough, but they do fit quite nicely. The fit is snug, but not tight; however, I will most likely go up to a 2.75mm needle the next time I knit this pattern. My success with this sock was especially joyful because knitting a good summer sock out of cotton/blend yarns is challenging. This experience affirmed my suspicion that I like Panda Cotton Yarn. In fact, I plan to cast on another pair of socks out of PC as soon as Meida's socks are finished. Kathleen left a comment on my blog the other day telling me about a great pattern from the Six Sox KAL that she just finished knitting out of PC. The pattern, Victorian Lace, is totally my style, so I joined the KAL to access the pattern. I dropped in at my LYS yesterday and picked up a couple of balls of the PC in a butter yellow so I'm all set to cast-on the Victorian Lace socks next. Thanks Kathleen for the great tip!

Sock Visits Smokies - pt. 2

We left our story of The Sock as she was being called to the head of the class for daydreaming at the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Of course, being a special sock, she did not get in trouble. Rather the Professor commented on how pretty her periwinkle dress complimented the rather drab interior of the old Schoolhouse and looked remarkably like the little flowers that bloomed in the forest in April and May. Before long the bell rang and school was let out for the day. The Sock gratefully escaped out the front door and headed down the rocky road that led towards home.

At the top of the steep slope above the schoolhouse, the little Sock paused to catch her breath as she looked over the small cemetery that adjoined the schoolhouse. So many of her friends were buried there! She was glad she had been strong enough to not succumb to the last epidemic that swept through the hills.

It's a long walk home, but the Sock didn't mind so much today as the birds were singing and the recent rain left everything green and fresh-smelling. The Rosebay Rhododendron were in full bloom and there were thickets of the big white fluff balls everywhere she went. Surely she was the luckiest little sock ever to live in the Smokies!

Safely at home after such a big adventure, the sock continued to grow and grow! The lacy edges curve upwards like the leaves on the Rhodies in the Park. Soon, the little sockwill be finished and ready for a companion!

SOS - 1 week down, 12 to go

The 1st week of the Summer of Socks KAL has passed. That means there are 12 weeks left to go for those of you into math and counting :o) Our fearless KAL leader asked us to report on any revelations we've had and report our triumphs and defeats. My immediate reaction was I am *never* defeated. That's right, never! That's because I refuse to accept defeat in my life. I firmly believe in the 3 Ps which enable me to never fail in my chosen endeavor: Persistence, Patience, and Plaas (that's me!). I try to be very choosy about what I do and I know that if I work hard and stick with it and I'm patient with myself and my limitations, there isn't anything I can't accomplish. I can't do everything, but I can do anything that I really want to do (there is a big difference).

So there's that answer, but what about the revelations? Well, I learned that Panda Cotton is a fat fingering yarn that isn't likely to want to knit at 9 st/". I also learned that it is rather splitty and can be a bit of a pain to knit with. But PC is also soft and has a nice amount of stretch to it and should make perfect socks. So, in the spirit of never defeated, when my 1st Panda Cotton sock didn't turn out what did I do? I went to my LYS and bought 2 more balls, this time in a solid color, and cast-on again. I chose a different pattern too, and guess what? This time my socks-in-progress look fabulous!

I cast on Meida's Socks late Tuesday night and yesterday they went on a little day trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. My vacationing this year will be, out of necessity, limited to short, local jaunts. But then hey, lots of folks drive for hours/days to see the Smokies and spend their vacation time there. I'm just lucky enough to live here!

The first stop Meida's sock (aka the Sock) made was in Townsend, TN, also known as the Peaceful Side of the Smokies. We like to patronize the facilities at the Visitors Center there before we head into the park.
Here the Sock became a part of the historic Tennessee Heritage Trail!
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park is a very busy place in June, so local experts like us know just where to go to get our "mountain fix" without the crowds. The sock promised to not tell the whole world about our secrets, so I took her in through the "side door" on Wears Cove Road. This little gap in the mountain ridge open up to a lush bog where I have taken many of my finest wildflower photos in the past. The sock was impressed by the wild roses and Rosebay Rhododendron, but she didn't know about the hundreds of other flowers that live there in other seasons. There are many things the sock doesn't know about the Smokies, so I took her to school. Here you see her perched on a desk in the front row at the Little Greenbrier Schoolhouse in the Park.

The best part about sitting in the front is that the Sock had a seat by the window. It was hard to concentrate on her lessons with the beauty of the trees and creek just outside the window! Everything looked so green! But the little sock was happy to be inside as it was starting to rain and she didn't want to get wet.





Of course daydreaming in class can get a girl in trouble, so she is called to the head of the class by the Professor! Lucky for her the professor is also her grandfather. She is the apple of her grandfather's eye so she doesn't get in trouble for not paying attention.

To be Continued!

Getting my act together

WHEW! It is so nice to be able to finally feel like I am starting to get my act together once again. The whirlwind of the dissertation and graduation quickly spun into visiting relatives and friends and a neglected garden complicated by the daily challenge of supporting my parents as my Father's health continues to deteriorate and my Mother struggles to cope with it all. I've had neither the time nor the energy to put my own little corner of the house in order so to speak. But at last, the time has finally arrived and I'm digging through the piles of papers and dust and whatnot at last. It's really scary how fast life turns into chaos when one doesn't have, or take the time to keep things in order.

While I filled the big black bags full of trash and shopping bags full of things to donate to charity, I had plenty of time to rethink my knitting projects and priorities. Like my overloaded desk, I think my knitting plate is a bit overloaded too. How easy it is to get caught up in the spirit of the sticks and yarn and commit to this KAL and cast-on that project! Being a process person, I love starting things but don't always finish what I started. Yet with my knitting I almost always *want* to wear or use the finished item, so I am more motivated to persist through to completion. So with one KAL just started (SOS'07) and another about to get underway (MS3), I had to stop and think about what I'm doing. I made some choices and hope that I will be able to work through them with some efficiency.

My first serious decision was about my Bugs Shawl that has been sitting in limbo while I agonized over what to do. I love the yarn, but I hate how the lace designs turned out. After a nice sit 'n knit session with Sandy at the Yarn Haven yesterday afternoon I came to the conclusion that to frog and reuse the beautiful yarn is better than trying to force myself to complete something I dislike. I will take the shawl into the Yarn Haven and us the swift and helping hands there to help me get the task done without having to do the unthinkable and cut the yarn.

So the Bugs is bugging out. Next up was the Panda Cotton socks. While I was at the Yarn Haven yesterday I looked at all the cotton yarns with sock-making potential and decided that I still like the Panda. I found several patterns that I felt were a better match for the yarn, but the lace was too complex for a multicolor yarn. I especially fell in love with Meida's Socks from the new IK Favorite Socks book (another KAL I joined). If I did this design I could meet the needs of 2 KALs with one project--COOL! So I purchased 2 balls of Panda Cotton in a one of my favorite colors, periwinkle, an I cast-on last night. As of this moment I'm on my 4th repeat and things look great! My knitty pal Ewe-Nice says they are a perfect fit!

I'm also trying to finish a couple of WIPs so I can wear them and move on to other things. I finally finished the cuff on the 2nd Jaywalker sock and am about to knit the heel flap. I am *so* ready to be done with Jaywalking! There are "funny little places" all over the place, but none of them are especially visible once you put them on, so I'm not tinking to fix them all. In fact, I chose to leave some as a sentimental reminder of when they were knit--like while waiting for my graduation rehearsal to begin or keeping company with my Dad at the hospital. Sometimes mistakes have meaning that would be a shame to repair.

I'm making faster progress on the Hanami Stole now that I'm into the eyelet section. It's a pretty stole and I will enjoy it, but I suspect the softness of the silk will always leave it with curled edges. Perhaps adding beads will help weight things, I don't know. I have my doubts about the silk holding a good blocking too, but I won't know for sure until I'm finished. I think I will stick to garter stitch lace for fine silk like this in the future. I'm planning on finishing Hanami before casting on the MS3. The will give me time to see what the design will be and make decisions about yarn and if I want to use beads, etc. or, for that matter, if I even want to knit it right now.

So that's the way things are here at beadntat. The place is getting clean, the knitting is moving along, and I looking for a *real* job for the first time in years. Life is good--very good.

Ewe-Nice says "Now this is a sock that will fit!"

 

Adventures in Sock Knitting

I wear socks every day. I'm a "house-sock" person. Where some people wear slippers or "house shoes" I wear socks. I wear socks to bed. In fact, I can't sleep if I don't have my socks on. They are my ticket to regulating my erratic body body temperature. Too hot? Take the socks off. Too cold? Socks on! It's almost magic really. For the most part I wear simple white cotton anklets--you know the kind I mean, the ones they sell at Sam's Club, Walmart, or Costco in bags of 6 or 10 or 12 pairs. I *need* those big bags of socks because they wear out fast and because Miss Emme, my little dachsy, has this thing for my socks. She picks them up (yes, plural, she wants them both in her little doggy mouth) and hauls them away to all her favorite hiding places in the house.

After Emme chewed a hole in my 1st handknit sock I became very careful to keep them well out of her reach but I don't really care that much about the Sam's Club socks. As long as I have a clean pair to wear when I need them, it's OK. I didn't cry over the 1st handknit sock either as they had, er...well, let's just call them fit issues. Let's just say that size 3 needles recommended in the "how to knit socks" booklet I used for guidance are too big to knit a good sock out of fingering wt. sock yarn. I had worn the heels thin in those socks in months. That was my first lesson in sock knitting--small needles are your friend if you want to wear your socks for any length of time. Oh, and, keep them out of the reach of dogs!

So, I got carried away with the illusion of "free time" that I would have this summer now that the dissertation is done and I'm a "free" woman. I signed up for a bunch of KALS--too many KALS really. My fault was not in signing up and enjoying the camraderie and the designs, but in thinking I would actually be able to knit them all on time with the groups. I'm not a speed knitter. But the official start date for the Summer of Socks 2007 was last Thursday so I dutifully cast-on a new pair of socks that would be just perfect to wear in the summer. Why would they be perfect? Because I would be knitting them from Panda Cotton, a blend of cotton, bamboo, and a bit of elastic to keep the sagging in check.
So I did the logical thing and went to the Crystal Palace website to find a pattern to go with the yarn. Crystal Palace has great pattern support for their yarns, and the best part is many of those patterns are free for the downloading!

I found this great pattern by Adrienne Fong called Fly Away Home which sort of looks like ladybugs. Ladybugs, summer, cotton yarn--this sounds great. I grabbed a bunch of dpns and started in. The design called for a picot cuff which I think looks awesome, but I had never knit before. No time like the present, I thought, to learn a new technique. I found some waste yarn to do a provisional cast-on and I was off. that "off" didn't last long once I had the provisional undone and 2 sets of dpns, including my favorite KnitPicks super slippery 2.5mm ones, dangling in strange ways as I tried to get it all to come together into a cuff. The needles slid, I dropped stitches, I switched to bamboo and aluminum, I hissed, I found my dropped stitches and went on. At last, I had a very nice picot-edge cuff, a very stretchy cuff. I made a mental note to learn to Magic Loop before trying this technique again, and proceeded to follow the pattern.


Knitting on, I loved the ladybug lace motif. I also loved how fast my sock was growing. I tried it on and was surprised to discover that it fit quite nicely over my exceedingly curvy calf. This sock was fitting where no sock had fit before! Maybe there is something to this elastic added sock yarn after all. One pattern repeat down things were looking good, the same with 2, but by the 3rd repeat I was beginning to worry that this sock was too big. I added some needles and did a try on. Big indeed! But I could just knit a really long cuff and get away with it this time, I thought. Of course that would most likely mean I would need a 3rd ball of this skimpy yardage yarn. Then it hit me, I had to make the heel and foot smaller if it was going to fit--much smaller! I was already working on 2.25mm needles and somehow I didn't think going down to 2.0mm would be adequate to the task.


First I growled, then I did a gauge check. How does 6 st/" hit you when the design called for (YIKES! I don't remember seeing this) 9st/"! I knew I was sunk and I pulled the needles in preparation for frogging. The stitch holder in the photo shows about how much I don't need of this sock for it to fit. The second photo is a little exercise in yarn comparison: Panda Cotton vs. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock or the fat sock yarn vs. the typical sock yarn. Lesson learned. Panda Cotton is more like Sport Weight. The yarn is now rewound and I'm searching for the next pattern to try. I have a couple of promising ones that call for sport weight yarn at a gauge of 5.5-6st/" I guess I'll be casting-on again soon :-)

Where did they go????

Let's see...the last I check there were 7 days in a week, 24 hours in a day. Yup, I think that's it...but then what happened to the last week??? Boy, that one went really fast! I guess that's what happens when you have kids. Being an Old Maid myself, I'm not too knowledgeable about these things, but I was Aunt Kristina all last week and I learned a few things: 1) I'm not used to "mothering" 7 year-old girls, even an extremely well-behaved one like Victoria; 2) Kids can wear you out to a state of fatigue previously unknown to an Old Maid; 3) The Knoxville Zoo is a very big place filled with animals that are usually interesting, sometimes creepy (snakes and spiders, etc.), and sometimes very stinky (can you say nausea?) and 4) Old Maid Aunts do things that busy Mothers don't have the time or energy to do so we are very fun ;-)


And speaking of Auntie things, I finally got some pictures of my newest great-niece Isabella. Are those the chubbiest cheeks you ever saw on an 8 pound baby? The new daddy, my nephew Tyler, is absolutely smitten with his daughter and I am getting "Baby Nurse" Aunt Kristina phone calls every 4 or 5 days with questions about joyful things like poop. Isn't it just grand to be trusted with such intimate questions? Heck, I answered the same questions for his mother when Tyler was born, why not do it again for the next generation?

I did get some knitting done in between my Auntie duties, though not as much as usual. I cast-on a new pair of socks on Thursday, the summer solstice, to mark the kick-off of the Summer of Socks 2007 KAL. Let's just say I had a learning adventure (very big laugh!) which I'll post about with all things knitty tomorrow. As for tonight, I think I'm ready to hit the hay a bit early. I think they call us Old Maids for a reason, 'cuz I feel very old tonight---old and worn out!

Slippery Stuff!

So I was knitting away on the Hanami Stole last night and I was feeling pretty proud of myself for being on the last repeat of the basketweave pattern (I did 8 repeats instead of 7 for added length). You know that feeling...like you finally arrived and can move on? Well, I was almost at the station when I realized I had goofed up on the row I was knitting. No big deal I thought, as I had tinked back on *many* rows in this design. Let's face it, this one is not for beginners as it requires intense concentration and counting like a crazy woman to keep on pattern. There's no room for error either because one mistake set's you up for disaster on subsequent rows.

So I knitting this thing in a deliciously smooth, 100% silk--double stranded--on super slick KnitPicks needles, right? And I'm shoving the stitches along the needle as I'm carefully tinking about 25 stitches when whoops! My hand slipped and about 10 stitches slid right off the end and promptly started to run. YIKES! It's going on 11 PM, so I'm a little tired, which didn't help either. I carefully lay the knitting on a pillow and grab for my little box with the stitch markers and safety pins. I catch up as many loose loops as I can find before jumping out of bed to find some dpns for the rescue job. Thinking I'm using 3.25mm needles, I grab a set of clover bamboo dpns in the same size, but the dull points and "fat" needles don't seem to want to pick up the silk. That's when I realized I was using smaller needles :-( So I ditch the clovers, and grab some smaller Crystal Palace dpns with the nice pointy tips and smoother surface and start to work.

Those little devils ran like crazy and I ended up tinking back about 6 rows, one stitch at a time because I had no lifeline and no way to put one in after the fact. (I still hate lifelines and won't put one in this project). It took me at least 1 1/2 hrs. to rescue my stole and get her back tot he point where I had all the requisite stitches back on the needles without holes or mistakes. I just finished knitting the last row of the 8th repeat of chart 1. I had hoped to have the transition section (chart 2) finished by now too, but I guess accidents do have a way of interfering with progress.

At least I only have a few rows of basketweave lace left to knit. Funny thing though, this afternoon I was watching the new PBS series, From the Top, on child prodigy musicians playing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Today they were featuring a youth orchestra playing Beethoven and the ambience stage lighting revealed a lattice pattern as a backdrop to the orchestra--and it looked exactly like the basketweave pattern in the Hanami Stole! I did a triple take to make sure I was just loosing my mind and starting to see strange images. i guess that's what I get for the nightmare I experienced last night >:-{