Another post about socks...

I went ahead and finished the second Uptown Boot Sock, and they turned out fine...

Way too small for me though: they will go on my feet - but the cable pattern is all stretched. At least now I have a jump on my knitting for Christmas '08!

I am still in Florida, the state of four seasons in one day (thunder/rain/sun/fog), back up North for work on Jan 2. While not refereeing dogs/DS I'll be working on these:

I bought this sock yarn, Maizy - 82% corn and 18% elastic, at the Destin Yarn Shop. I can't resist unusual fibers. I loved the owner's explanation to a coworkers about how it's made "this big machine chews up the corn and spits it out and that stuff is spun into yarn". It has great texture - quite stretchy, though the ply separate very easily...let's see how far I get on the way back. Maybe it's time to start that sweater I've been threatening instead of all these 'instant gratification' projects?

Uptown Boot Sock

When I got tired of the Fetching I'd turn to sock making:This is the Uptown Boot Sock from "Favorite Socks, 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave."

I've one done, and have serious second-sock-syndrome. The yarn is lovely (another shout out for Whimzy Pinzy!) but the pattern, tiny repreating cables, is kind of boring. Maybe I need to stop using such variegated yarns with patterned socks - so have either an eye-catching yarn, or an eye-catching pattern, but not both?

Also - I made these quite small. They won't fit me so I am on the look out of a slender footed friend ;)

Fibonacci Fetching

En route to Florida I made a pair of Fetching.

I was disappointed in them though - the cables barely covered my wrists and the tops were very gape-y round the fingers. Now, seeing as these are the most popular pattern on Ravelry I've no doubt this is more to do with my technique than any deficiency in the pattern. Anyhoo, I decided to make another pair. I remembered the Knitty Gritty show on the Fibonacci number sequence: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and decided to make stripey gloves based on this. This required an additional 8 rows onto the Fetching pattern, so I added one cable repeat, and two more rows between the end of the cable and the start of the thumb:

They're tied here with a wee ribbon as they went straight to my SIL, but I think they turned out well. Also - they covered my wrists and so should be much warmer. Still pretty gapey round the top though - any suggestions how to avoid this? Smaller needles for cast-off maybe?

Knitted nativity

'Tis the reason for the season, so here's a picture of the wonderful knitted nativity my Mum sent me. She is so clever, a wonderful knitter and a really thoughtful person. Miss you this year Mum! Three Wise Men, two shepherds, 3 (CUTE) sheep (all with different fleeces!) Joseph, Mary, and baby Jesus. I was speechless. I love nativity scenes and have a smallish collection. Love you Mum!!

On the gift knitting side, I finished 2 pairs of Fetching and 3 hats. Not too (terribly) shabby. Pictures...coming (forgot my USB cable, aargh!).

I am half way thru one sock made with beautiful Summer Slushy 100% merino yarn from Whimzy pinzy. Yarn is great, pattern (Uptown Boot Sock, from Favorite Socks by Interweave Knits) kind of boring. Plus I made the child's size (why???) so now I have to look for a small footed friend.

Nollaig Shona, Feliz navidad, Joyeux Noel, Merry Christmas!

I'm dreaming of a bright Christmas?

I suppose a white Christmas would be very festive, but not for me. Seeing as Christmas is the generally the only time when I take more than two days leave together, I would rather have good weather for those days. Well - I had the good fortune to marry a Florida lad, so some Christmases are Floridian, like this:

He, in turn, had to good fortune to marry me. The downside is that some Christmases are Irish, like this:

And my good friend Heather, married a guy she met in Sydney, so her Christmases are like this!

This Christmas, we're going to Florida (me, DH, DS and two DD (dear dogs)) in rented minivan, hitting the road tomorrow. 1900 miles. Hope I don't forget to pack the valium.

Spreading germs

This year I am spreading germs along with my Christmas cheer:Knitted bacteria, pattern available here. Found the pattern for these on Ravelry (where else?). Little keyring attachments to make them 'useful.' I think I like the one-eyed guy the best.

More cookies, more yarn, another gift

Cookie swap # 2 tonight. I mis-counted the number of people, or the number of cookies, or some damn thing. So some people are getting 5 cookies. With cranberries instead of raisins. Ah well.

WIP: I've become the 975th person to start the Knitty Fetching pattern. Sooooo pretty. I'm also putting the finishing touches on the knitted Salmonellae for my co-workers (I am a microbiologist ye see). Can't link just now for some reason but both patterns on the wonderful Ravelry. Pictures coming.

Also augmented the yarn stash at the KnitWits Boutique sale (509 Main st Laurel, MD) this weekend. 15-30% off everything! I was very restrained, considering. Got some teeny tiny size 0 sock needles, and a couple of other circular pairs, 4 skeins of sock yarn, and the makings of a huge scarf - 9.5ft long!* Very nicely laid out store, friendly folks working there (aren't they always!) The sale goes on till Dec 31 - go on, treat yourself!

*The yarn harlot was right - crochet is 3x faster than knitting - but takes 3x more yarn. Four balls of yarn it took to make this scarf. But it took maybe 4 hours! And its lovely and twirly. And did I mention it's 9.5ft long??OK neither of these are great pictures, but trust me - it's long, and a cinch to make. Here's my (own) pattern:

MC - Gray Encore Mega

CC - Reg/Gray di.Ve Starship.

Size P/15mm crochet hook.

Make a chain 180 of stitches with MC. Make a treble crochet in the 4th stitch from the hook, and make treble crochet in every stitch to the end. Cut yarn.

Make 2 double crochet in each treble crochet with CC. Cut yarn.

Make 2 double crochet of CC in the base of each original treble crochet. Now there is a ladder of MC with thinner ladders of CC on both sides.

Add single crochet MC to each double crochet CC. Weave in ends.

No need for tassels - this scarf is long, and twirls because of the difference in tension between the foundation chain and the crocheted stitches.

Wrap round and round your neck and keep warm!

Ravelry Swap loot

Look what was waiting in my mailbox yesterday, from katanknits in Philly -

Over 500 yards of beautiful sock yarn...I may make something other than socks from it actually - a cardi from this yarn would be wonderful!

Thank you katanknits!!

mmm, crunchy

You really can get the oddest things in DC food carts these days

Check out the red and yellow sign...

cookies and knitted hats and more yarn

Firstly, hats off to Stacey for hosting a very fun cookie swap on Wednesday night. Instead of terrorizing the local Border's the Columbia Sip n Knit group all went over to her house. She never told us she was Martha Stewart's cousin; the place was beautifully decorated, holiday music playing softly, comfy seating, punch, coffee, and cookies on every surface...

There's me in the red stripes (these are Pheelya's pics from the Meetup.com site, thanks Hon!) Stacey even made up cookbooks of all the recipes -I have another cookie swap Monday, I may use something from this book instead of to my usual recipe which is :

Raisin Ginger Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup dark Karo syrup

1 egg
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 cup raisins, washed

Directions
Cream together butter and sugar and then add Karo and egg. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients and then add to creamed mixture. Blend well. Stir in raisins. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in brown sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Makes 30-36.

These went quickly, which was very gratifying, till I remembered I packed them in handy wee snowman bags which also could hold cookie overflow.

So between eating, drinking and chatting I finished up the hat I was working on (for FIL) and started another (for MIL).

I will model them another time - I think these may actually fit the intended recipients though! I also went home with a great big tin of cookies (tin also supplied by the wonderful Stacey) and an overflow bag.

In other news - this week I was the lucky recipient of a sweater's worth of yarn from my neighbor -
Paddy is keeping guard. The yarn is from the UK, a Paton's brand, named Wendy. Black with flecks of color, absolutely beautiful. So once Christmas knitting madness subsides I am going to (drumroll) knit myself a sweater.

The three little bears syndrome...

I have a problem with gauge. I usually knit smallish things like socks/scarves/hats that work out well when I use the needles specified. But this is starting to come back to haunt me...

I already catalogued the debacle that was my first clapotis, an item that I did complete but will never wear (unless homeless-lady chic comes back in style) as it's too blanket-like.

Anyhoo, I bought "Not just socks" by Sandi Rosner, a book I really like (and what's the first thing I made from it? Socks) and decided to use some stashed sock yarn for a beanie for my brother (age 34). Cast on (120 stitches or so), with more than a month to go till his birthday. Gauge shmage I don't need no stinkin' gauge... Knitted happily away on my wee size 2 circular needles.

"But it was too small"

Long story short - it just about fits my 3-year-old. And of course he won't wear anything on his head - the 5 milliseconds it took to get this picture were the height of it...

Last week I decided to give the pattern another go. And this time - yes! - made 2 gauge swatches. I have size 2, size 4 and size 9 16 in' circular needles, forget the size 2, they already let me down, but the size 9 seemed close. Maybe a small bit larger than a 4 in' square swatch but that's ok right? I used Bernat Naturals "Cashmere" blend (5% cashmere...) in black and in white, and some red wool from a frogged pair of mittens (darn Twiceknit and her influence ;) ). Ah yes, I thought, as I knitted my way through a fuzzy cold, this'll be great, a hat for my FIL for when he goes skiing in the New Year.

"But it was too big"

Here I am modeling the hat..comes way down over my ears - I flipped up the bottom rib for the top picture, but even still, pretty goofy. I mean, lookit that bottom picture. Stick a couple holes in it and you have a tea-cosy...I actually wore it to work on Monday (I know...), and two non-knitting friends said to me "did you make that?" not "You didn't make that did you?" (Lyn!). So unless any of you know of a giant-headed person who needs a hat...

Ah, but never deterred, I've started on "just right." An inch or two to go, pictures tomorrow.

Ravelry package arrived!

Well, I'm still waiting on mine - but GingerLucy got hers from me today, and she had lovely things to say about everything.
Cheers m'dear!

Christmas meme

Both idea and meme shamefully lifted from AmyDe at Ignore me - it's easier
Her responses were remarkably similar to mine...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper
2. Real tree or artificial? Um...neither! Am never in my own home for xmas. But, as Dad is a forester, have to go with real.
3. When do you put up the tree? see above
4. When do you take the tree down? if I had one - 8AM New Years Day.
5. Do you like eggnog? In shot-glass sized quantities only
6. Favorite gift received as a child? "Super girls World" - this doll head that you could do hair and make-up on. I was about 8. Something like this - only the early 1980's version
7. Do you have a nativity scene? yes
8. Hardest person to buy for? My Dad
9. Easiest person to buy for? My sisters
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? probably clothing... can't be more specific than that - but nothing handmade!
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? All handwritten at the weekend, and mailed today
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Willy Wonka (this is a Christmas movie in Ireland). Since I've moved to the US - A Christmas Story.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? September...
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Usually unwanted gifts end up at Goodwill.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? My Mum's Christmas cake (it's a fruitcake, with marzipan and white icing mmmmmm)
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? white
17. Favorite Christmas song? Angels we have heard on high. Silver bells (sung by Elvis)
18. Travel for Christmas or stay at home? Travel, always travel. Maybe stay home next year and you can all come to us?
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Dasher and Dancer and comet and cupid and donner and blitzen and rudolph? Have I missed someone?
20. Angel on the tree top? Alas, no tree
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? I am v v v strict about this - Christmas morning!!!
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Trying to think of things to buy for people who don't need, or want, anything.
23. What I love most about Christmas? Being with family. The music.

Right! I need to hear from you all :)

Christmas to-do list

I'm a bit late mentioning this, but the fact that there is no gift-giving at Thanksgiving, is a huge reason to be thankful. Since I've got back into knitting I've fallen into the same trap so many others have mentioned. Unreasonable Christmas gift plans. I have yarn in hand (well - in stash, hand is not that big) for 5 hats, 3 clapotis and socks for the whole family. For this Christmas. In addition, I have a full time job (with a commute of up to 7 hours ahem), a little kid, a fairly understanding husband, and two dogs who believe they could use far more attention.


My widget tells me there are 17 days left till xmas day, and many of my family and friends are far-flung, meaning that these hats need to be posted off in about 15 minutes in order to reach their destinations this side of the 25th.


So - I think I'll keep my Christmas to-do list, but strike out '2007'. I still plan to make these hats for the people I love, by stressing myself out to knit, and shortchanging the rest of my life, is not the reason for the season.


On that note, I'm going to pay the dog some attention. Look what she does when she's ignored...

In case the picture is a bit wee:

Background - slipper I've had since 1999.

Foreground: cheeky wee Boston Terrier.

Middle: stuffing from slipper...

Is it only Wednesday?

To describe how my week's been, take today. I left the house at 6:40 AM, and got back at 7:10 PM. I only clocked in 5.5 h at work. Yep, 7 hours travelling. I went to my local office. You see, it was snowing. Barely. On the plus side, I got to listen to 3 episodes of the Cast On podcast (I am up to episode 22 now) and about an hour's worth of "Queen Lucia", recently downloaded from Audible.

By the time I got home I just couldn't face getting back into the car, not even to go to my wonderful knitting group in Border's (Hi Columbia Sip and Knit! Love you guys!). But I did finish my socks tonight, yay!

These are a keeper. Not just because a girl can never have too many knitted socks, but because the left one is half a pattern repeat longer than the right. Ahem.

I'm a bit disappointed in how they turned out though - these are the Waving Lace pattern, by Evelyn Clark, from Favorite Socks by Interweave. I used OnLine Supersocke 100 yarn. The lace pattern hardly shows up at all, so this lovely variegated colorway is kind of wasted. A solid, paler color probably would work better. Ah well.

In other news, mailed my Ravelry yarn swap yesterday. The "crab yarn" was the unanimous choice, and to go with it I made some stitch markers, because my swapee mentioned on her blog that she needed some . I found a great instruction site here. Aren't they cute?

Plus, I got to use up some of the bead stash. (In addition to a yarn stash, I have a bead stash, a scrapbooking stash, and a book stash). There are many theories on stash: I believe that when I supplement my stash I am promising myself the time to use and enjoy whatever it is I'm buying. Though with 7 hour commutes I'm not sure when that will be...

Do you have a stash theory, or - are you in stash denial?

Off home soon

Isn't it funny, even at this stage of my life, with a house full of family, pets, books and yarn, a great job, mortgage and credit card debt, I still regard the place where my parents live as home?

I just booked a trip back to Ireland at the end of January, with my 3-year-old, to celebrate my sister's 30th birthday. My parents live near Sligo, a very beautiful part of the country. You can see what I mean here, here and here.

No wonder Yeats wrote so much about the place. The Lake Isle of Innisfree and the poem below are two of the only poems I can actually recite.

THE SONG OF WANDERING AENGUS
by: W.B. Yeats
I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;

And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And some one called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

This is my 'nephew' Frodo, taking a walk in the very hazel wood where Yeats was inspired to write this poem.

Back to regularly-scheduled knitting-related issues tomorrow.

Ravelry's Yarn Gift Exchange

I signed up for a yarn gift exchange on Ravelry. Basically, thru Elfster we are assigned someone to whom we'll send yarn or yarn-related items ($12-$16). I can't say who I got on the off-chance she comes across this blog, but we had actually exchanged messages thru Ravelry already, small world eh! I am excited. The thought of getting "free" yarn in the post I guess. Plus I get to make up a yarn package for someone not unlike me :)

So yesterday I stopped by All About Yarn and picked up these beauties:

The first is some Opal sock yarn (100g ball)- the toucan stripe (the tiger pattern is officially discontinued, boo), Ella Rae mosaic (merino/nylon/kid mohair mix) (3x50g), and Tofutsies sock yarn (100g) a wool, soysilk, cotton and crab chitin mix!

The "naturally antibacterial" claim raises my eyebrows a bit (I am a microbiologist after all), but the whole crab link is very appropriate given that I am in Maryland. Not that they're local crabs - the yarn was made where else - China.

So what do you think? With the $$ limitations I can only send one of these - which would you prefer? My swap partner is "international" and wouldn't normally have access to US yarn - which should I send her?

All About Yarn also sells back issues of knitting/crochet mags for $1.50! I got 3 Interweave issues, yay. More things I can add to my Ravelry queue...

Entrelac - not just an infant formula

I've always loved the look of Entrelac, and Denise's beautiful Lady Eleanor Shawl tipped me over the edge. HAD to learn. The Spring 2007 edition of Interweave Knits has a how-to article. I dug out some Lion brand Wool-ease in pink and brown, and My first attempt wasn't great

see how lumpy and uneven the joins look? - I couldn't figure out how to pick up the stitches along the selvedge edge - I had to pick up 8, but there were many more than 8 to pick from...then Lyn at my wonderful Meet Up group, who was also bitten by the Entrelac bug, told me I should slip the first stitch of each row. Aha! Much better - thank you Lyn!!

So here's my finished little square:

Has to be blocked obviously, ends tucked in etc, but I'm pretty happy with it. No idea what I will do with it though - maybe knit a stripey square the same size, sew them together and make a wee cushion? Really seems like I should be working on the long list of Christmas knitting I set for myself...

Teaching to knit

Last weekend my 9 year old niece was in town, and very interested in my knitting. Her family has, of course, been the recipient of both knitted and crocheted items (mostly baby blankets) from me over the years, and she thought it was time to get in on the action herself. I took her to Jo-Ann's, where she proceeded to set quite the ambitious Christmas gift-making schedule for herself...scarfs for Mum and brother#1, hat for brother#2, gloves* for Dad...
She picked several balls of yarn in various shades of green, including a few balls of very impractical stuff to knit with...being the excellent auntie I am I let her get all she wanted of course. In addition to all the greenery, she also wanted Auburn colors to make herself a scarf, and good ole Red Heart obliged.
So I showed her how to cast on, and garter stitch, and at her request introduced the second color for stripes. We cast on 18 stitches, and she was up to 25 per row after an hour or so, but she did get the hang of it. She fell asleep with the needles in her hands that night (yay we have a convert!)
Harrison asked about patterns for young knitters - I think that scarves with stripes/fun fur etc. would be best - very uncomplicated stitches and those yarns hide mistakes well. Plus they knit up fairly quickly. There's a good thread about this on Ravelry. Voxmama suggests donating all those partial skeins and leftovers cluttering up the stash to the newbie, and see what she can create!


*I told my SIL that my niece asked me how to make gloves. SIL heard "make love." And so a family joke begins...

So how did you learn to knit?

This is my favorite ice-breaker question for other knitters.
Some people (e.g. Harrison), stagger me with the response "I taught myself". I just haven't got that kind of patience or comprehension. Hat's off.
For most people it was Mum/grandma/some other older female relative. I was taught by Sr. Canice, at National School in Callan, Co. Kilkenny, when I was in 1st class (3rd grade or so). All us little girls learned how to cast on, plain (knit) and purl stitches, and cast off. We knit cats. Rather abstract cats, given that they were, simply, two haphazardly shaped rectangles stuffed with Mammy's ripped tights and sewn together, button eyes, ribbon tied round the "neck". Boy was I proud of that cat.
My next project was a tie for my Dad. Pattern: Cast on 4 stitches in Kelly Green yarn. Knit one row. Repeat till Dad gets home from work. Cast off. Present hopefully, receive praise modestly. Observe said tie hanging in wardrobe till you move house some years later, when movers steal it.
So what's your story?

A Starter for Ten...

Here I go with my knitting blog. Maybe no different to all the others out there, but different enough because how many knitting/microbiologist/Boston Terrier-lover/Irish ex-pats are out there? (Hey, if there's more than one of us, let me know). I've become more and more into the blogs of the knitting community, and find myself posting ever-longer comments on their blogs. So why not get 'em all together in one place I say.
I've hesitated for months now to develop this blog, imagining myself running out of steam in a month and being one of those folks who never updates. But I'll try to avoid that, hey nothing ventured etc.
So here goes :)