Annie Knits

More Morning Musings

Clicky. So sweet and just wow.

Write About What You Know

When I was working on my degree, we used to do a writing exercise.  We would read a piece of literature and then try to write something in that author's voice.  You know, try to divine what words that author would use in which situation.  This exercise is a great vehicle for discussing both an author's choices in the piece at hand and writing in general.  We didn't write very long pieces, but we'd try match things like tone and verbosity...  try to achieve the timbre of that person's voice on the page. 

I was never very good at generating the pieces as I have a pretty strong voice -- I tend to drop big words and put thoughts into the middle of other thoughts and I do it a lot and seemingly without the ability to stop myself -- but I enjoyed assessing them.  It's pretty easy, don't you think, to tell when something doesn't ring true?  Can't you tell, in a piece of writing, when one word or a phrase is kind of, well, a clinker?  Gosh, who remembers what the name is for writing about writing,  or maybe it's for studying the act of studying... I know there is a name for this kind of belly button gazing.

As a result of my bizarre 4:15 a.m. schedule as of late, I've got a lot of time to surf the net.  You have to be quiet at this early hour.  Laundry is right out as my machines are near the bedrooms and make a lot of noise.   The sound of unloading the dishwasher is likewise disturbing.  The quiet clicking of a keyboard seems fine as does quiet knitting while listening to a book on the iPod, so I have a few hours of forced quiet time each morning.  Lovely.  (I sure wish I could figure out what is disturbing my sleep at the same time each morning...)

One morning, I was reading a blog wherein the author was discussing some fan fiction she had written and posted.  Don't ask, it was a link through a link, and I'm sure I couldn't find this particular blog again.   She wanted feedback and was trying to kind of cross pollinate her audience after a fashion.

Fan Fiction?  I'd heard of the stuff.   It was kind of what we used to do in graduate school, right?  I clicked the link and read a little.  Holy buckets. 

First of all, there are tons of this stuff -- hundreds of thousands of pieces on just the one site.  Probably millions of hours worth of writing and revising.  Well, more writing than revising from the looks of it, but still.  Pieces written in response to books and songs and movies and TV shows and comics and anime... just gobs of it. 

I clicked around, interested and still with an hour to kill, finding some pieces written in response to books I've read lately.  The Outlander series has inspired lots and lots of what fanfic writers call Lemons.  I looked up the term in the Urban Dictionary and it is a reference to a decidedly NC17 manga series -- umm right.  The Outlander pieces were full of absolutely foul language and and seriously perverse and pubescent sexual scenes; so out of keeping with the original that I had to stop reading.   There was no hint of a brogue anywhere, just lots and lots of hay romping and sword play.  Which I suppose is the series at its essence, but the overlay of the author Gabaldon's voice makes it all very palatable. 

Then I clicked over to the the pieces inspired by the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer.  There hundreds of categories for this stuff, with hundreds of entries under each category.  And this again was just on one site.  This pairing of human and vampire has inspired so much imagination and generated so much writing, that just the sheer volume of it begs the question:  How much homework is going undone, the time spend instead melding these characters to do one's own bidding?

Most of what I found was obviously written by teens who were fantasizing about hunky hard body boyfriends who could read parental impulses and stay over night in your room with you.  As absolutely chaste as the books themselves are, the reality (well the imagined reality) of this situation seems irresistible.  I kind of get it.

**SPOILER ALERT FOR BREAKING DAWN**  Stop reading now if you don't want any hints.

I remembered that as I had listened to the final book in the Twilight series, the one where Edward and Bella are finally married and consummate the union, I was left feeling two ways.   First,  boy was I glad that there was so little of the explicit nature of the wedding night in this book as my teenager was reading away at it in her bedroom as I was listening.  But second, and this was the more powerful I'll admit:   OH COME ON!  Tell me what happened there!  At least a hint!  Don't just fade to black and leave it all to my imagination.  

**OK, its' safe**

This disappointment I think is a direct result of the skill with which Meyer's draws her characters in these books.  Oh, yes, it's YA and a bit tedious here and there with all the Trig class and Gym class and plot exposition about vampire attacks.  But the characters and the back stories?  Genius.  I couldn't get enough, I'll admit it.  And I can't wait until her new book, Midnight Sun arrives in book stores.  It's the first book in the series, the one in which the main characters meet and fall in love, but from the vampire Edward's point of view. 

Now that's a character exercise an English teacher can get behind. 

When You Shake Your Fist at the Universe

I'm forty-six years old.  I should know better shouldn't I .  You saw this coming I bet, didn't you. 

So now, yes, I have at least 7 inches on top of the mailbox, where yesterday there was just one.  And this storm isn't finished with the rest of you -- east and north east of here, from the looks of the weather map, you are getting hammered as I write.  Sorry, guys.  My bad.

Actually, there is nothing I like better than a good snow storm, a left over I guess from my days as a high school English teacher.  You see, teachers like the days off too, especially now, right at the beginning of a semester, when we had plenty of time to make up the missed hour or two.  The kids are home for the day as both schools were called off last night and the knit shop is closed.  I have plenty of lunch meat and hot chocolate.  I helped Dear Son get the sled down from the garage rafters yesterday in anticipation of just this amount of snow.  We are ready.

I made a good deal of progress on the birthday sweater yesterday.  This fist shaking did some good.  I've changed the construction of the thing, though.  As written, the pattern calls for the sides and the sleeves to be knit flat and sewn together.  Rrright. 

Two color knitting (there is even a tutorial about how to do this in the magazine, two handed and all) is something I do not enjoy executing  on the purl side of a work.  In fact, my gauge is terribly off when I try to purl two stranded.

 Time for another theory here:  I think knitting magazines dumb things down.  I think this happens especially when the technique is scary, like steeking, which I think is MUCH easier to accomplish than purling across a two color pattern...Elizabeth Zimmerman alludes to this practice on one of her books noting that when a magazine rewrote one of her fair isle patterns to be knit flat, it was the impetus for her to start School House Press so that she could have some editorial control over her intellectual property.    So, I'm knitting in the round, steeking the arms and neck, and then I'll pick up the arms and knit them down.  Really, people.  While it looks that way to muggles, this is not rocket science.  It's just cutting your knitting. 

Oh, goodness, I'm snarky this morning. 

In favor of the above deadline knitting, I did manage to ignore this Noro Scarf yesterday.  Did I tell you that this one is half Silk Garden Sock and half regular Silk Garden in the same colorway?   The combination makes for a much lighter scarf, one you can see through in places.  The edges have beguiling dimples where the gauge of the sock yarn is much smaller than the heavier yarn.  Gawd.  I'm smitten.  You'd think I'm simple minded or something...

And now that this baby knitting has been finished and gifted, I can put pictures of it up here, I think.  Bridgett, I thought I hadn't taken any pictures, but low and behold...  The pattern is a baby bunting, Mairead,  from Fighead Yarns.  I knit it out of Cascade Superwash in a turquoise tweed.    It is very sweet.  The XO cables in the chest of the thing are required design elements for baby things I think. 

I did (of course) tweak the pattern.  Instead of a satin ribbon tie for the bottom, I did an i-cord loop that can be tied but is just the same circumference as the bottom of the bunting.  It won't get lost in the wash or have to be re-inserted.   The pattern called for an attached i-cord neck treatment through which you string another ribbon.  I think ribbons under baby necks get yucky and are kind of ... well ... unsafe.  So I ribbed the neck opening and inserted a reverse stockinette button placket. 

And I knit the matching hat, sans pom pom.  Pom poms aren't manly, are they Leo? 

It's really just a baby sweater for the whole baby.  And it's so soft, and washable.  Just thing thing for a wee one born in January to parents who live in a 100 year old house, don't you think?  I'm hurting my arm patting myself on the back, aren't I?

An aside -- this stuff grows.  Like by nearly a quarter of it's dry knit/ pre-block size.  Superwash is like that, I think, but people... four words:  wash. your. gauge. swatch.  Lucky for me, though, I think, as Leo is no petite 6 lb girl.  He came out nearly a toddler.  I think it'll fit until the weather changes though.

Another aside -- I've decided to call the campus minister, who I think is a good, level headed woman with Dear Daughter's dilemma.  I trust this woman to keep us out of it, but to take care of the poor friend.  I can't do nothing.  I'll keep you up to date.

Yet another aside -- and I'm going to be cryptic but those of you concerned may guess.  More baby knitting is in the offing.  Squee.  Don't ask me, my lips are sealed. 

Theories

Actually, this first part is not a theory, but a fact.  Bridgett's Leo is a beautiful baby.  I've held him in my own arms, so I've got first hand knowledge.  Go see for yourself.

• Theory the first:  It must snow a lot more in other parts of St. Louis than it does in my neighborhood.  I've got about an inch of snow on the top of the mailbox outside my kitchen door (my makeshift snow gauge if you must know).   It is currently 18 degrees outside.  Are the roads slick?  Probably a little.  Is is necessary to close down every school in the metropolitan area?  Probably not.  It's January, people.  It's the Midwest.  It snows and it gets cold.  What are you, new here?  More to the point, I think, is that school districts build in a certain amount of snow days and they want to use them.  So,both kids are home for the day today.  At least I don't have to scramble to find a sitter.
• Theory the second:  Being a teenage girl these days must be harder than it was when I was a girl.  Dear Daughter has, well as far as I'm concerned had, a friend.  This girl is a year ahead of Daughter in school but in activities with her etc. and the girls began to pal around this fall.  This child has slept in my house a number of times.  I've fed her countless meals and driven her to the mall.  Her mother has done the same for my girl.  A week ago, in conjunction with the March for Life in Washington D.C which this girl wanted to attend but couldn't, it came up that Hubster and I support President Obama.  We discussed politics ad nauseum over many dinners at our kitchen table this fall, and Daughter supports him too, in the way that teens support anything I guess.  Which is to say she talks a good game.  This girl flipped.  The text messages got hateful fast("Baby killer" was the least offensive of them), so hateful in fact that I intervened with one of my own asking that she not send any more.  Dear Daughter is distraught and mystified and feeling persecuted.  Within the context of a tearful conversation last evening, it came up that this girl has scars from cutting on her arms and thighs-- Dear Daughter asked about cutting and what it entails and why someone would do it.  We poked around together on the Internet and talked for a long time.  As a high school teacher I was a mandatory reporter of such behavior, and I still have the inclination to at least call school and give them a heads up...  Daughter and Hubster are mortified at this inclination, by the way.  School is closed today so I have a day to cogitate.
• Theory the third:  The closeness of a knitting deadline is inversely proportional to my inclination to cast on new things to knit.  I think I have that right.  What I mean to say is that  as the number of days left before I should have completed a project decreases (Hubster's b-day is in 19 days), the desire, no compulsion to cast on something else increases in proportion.  If I could find my camera (believe me, I tried... it's got to be somewhere...) I'd show you the 13 inches I have of this sweater completed.  It's an easy, quick  knit on size 11 needles.  I guess quick only applies if I actually knit it.  Meanwhile I've gotten 30 inches of another Noro Striped Scarf completed.  Did I say another?  I meant my fourth.  I am weak.  And I lack intestinal fortitude and persistence.
• Theory the fourth.  Something must happen outside my house every week day at 4:15 or so in the morning.  I'm guessing this because I pop up around then every morning and can't get back to sleep.  I guess it's a good time for reading or blogging, but I might prefer the two extra hours of sleep.
• Theory the fifth -- added an hour later -- :  The USDA is checking food more carefully in the wake of recent taintings of Chinese milk.  I subscribe to the USDA recall list serve-- don't ask me why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.  I used to get like one recall email a month, usually for some obscure local product.  It was not something I worried about too much.  In the last month however, the recalls have gone from rare to about 12 a week.  Really.   And they contain recalls from companies I recognize like Smuckers, Trader Joe's  and Kroger.  Yikes.  This begs the question:  Is tainting more common now or were we just unaware of earlier problems?  No way to find out, I guess, but things like this make me jumpy. 

One Helluva Week

Hello, preciousss.   You've been calling me, haven't you.  I've been thinking of what to write to you in the night, at work,  in the car, while Dear Son played WOW hogging the computer. 

Today, dear Blog, you are more of a diary of my week than you are a method to deliver my musings to friends and family.  Voyeurs are welcome.

As of Monday the 19th, husband had been gone for a solid week.  An unexpected opportunity came up (a proposed theme park) in China and he hopped a plane.  Really.  Well, and cooled his heels in a luxury hotel in Hong Kong waiting for a visa, but then spent 5 days negotiating.  The 14 hour time difference meant once a day conversations, made halting by a weird 2 second delay. 

Tuesday, the 2oth, crashed over me in waves.  January 20th was the 8th anniversary of my father's unexpected fatal heart attack.  Over the years I've lived this day so many different ways.  I've been numb, fragile, weepy, optimistic, and hell, I even forgot it once, remembering and wallowing in guilt three days later.  This day began with tears.  As I drove home from Dear Son's school at 7:00 a.m., having dropped daughter off even earlier, the tears slid down my face in the gray dawn's light.  The tears are almost always for my mom, who is strong and who misses him still with urgency I can only imagine.  Today they were for me too.  Thanksgiving with my mom this year had been so satisfying and I grieved what Dad and I could have become too.

I got home that morning, and turned on the TV.  I cleaned the kitchen and listened to breathless reporters and commentators gush hopes and fears.  I watched the gathering millions shiver in the National Mall.  I searched the crowd shots for hand knits.  At 9 a.m., I called Bridgett's house.

Her mother-in-law answered the phone, which I hadn't expected.  I had hoped to leave a message asking Mike how Bridgett and baby were and leave it at that.  I kind of stuttered, and greeted MIL.  I had helped her shop for a Christmas present for Bridgett last year. 

"Bridgett had Baby Leo this morning," she told me.  "He's 9 lbs 1 oz and he's doing beautifully.  So is she."

This convergence hadn't occurred to me.  I think I compartmentalize my life too much.   I knew Bridgett's due date -- hadn't I been knitting toward this date for months?  And I knew the baby would be Edward Leo and that they would call him by his middle name.  But to hear it spoken on this day was surprising and, well, powerful.  My dad's name was Leo. 

More tears.  Jeez.

I settled in to watch Barak Obama take our highest office, his beautiful wife and children, and yes even his Mother-in-law, at his side.   With FriendAmanda on the phone, I cried some more at the sheer glory of our nation.  The simple, elegant transfer of power and the crowd that stretched shoulder to shoulder for miles was overwhelming, wasn't it?

The rest of the day I shopped, carpooled, cooked, and knitted, all in kind of a fog. 

Late Tuesday or early Wednesday, Friend Julie (she comments here periodically) lost her mother to cancer.  Mommie had been given a week once she began hospice care, and her passing, while not unexpected, is still devastating.  She attended our church, worked at the Fish Fries, and crocheted prayer shawls for my fledgling Prayer Shawl Ministry.  She was full of wit and determination and faith.   Her funeral is later this morning...

Today I'll attend this cold January funeral.  I'll remember my father's cold January funeral.  I'll remember the drip, drip from the tip of the corporal's nose, his face a mask of chivalry under the shiny black brim of his hat, as he snapped the flag which had been draped on Dad's casket into a crisp triangle and presented it to my mother, seated at my side.  I'll ponder Edward Leo in his newborn perfection and try to feel him in my arms (you know Bridgett will let me hold him as much as I want.)

Husband is home again, asleep in our bed.  My kids slumber in theirs as well.   The gray dawn peeks in through my kitchen windows.

Something Old and New

Remember the Mrs. Beeton ruffled wrist thingys from Knitty?   It's going pretty far back, and I always wondered why someone would knit such a thing.  Why not just knit gloves or mits or mittens?  Why stop at the wrist?

Well, as referenced in my last post, now I know.  Warm wrists equal warm(er) hands.  And when you have only a limited amount of yarn you really want to savor, well, the idea is a perfect one.

 

Inspired by the Mrs. Beeton cuffs, these ruffled things are knit from either end of the last little ball of my Dance Mistress handspun.  They were done on needles slightly smaller than would be strictly called for, I think, which makes them firm and warm.  No ribbing as there was certainly not enough yarn.  I had, after using the K2, K2tog bind off for extra ruffle, only a foot of yarn left. 

I wore them to drive to school this morning, over my leather gloves.  It was 14 degrees outside, but my hands were happily toasty.  

And as I sit and type today, my wrists and palms are not touching cold stone, but are encased in warm wool.  Ah, much better.  Actually, I can't stop admiring them.  I'm obviously easily amused or coffee deficient.

Now that I've gotten these darned distractions out of the way, I can get back to baby knitting. 

OMGIAAD!

That's Oh My Gosh I Am A Dope for the uninitiated. 

All of your lovely comments have been going to spam and I haven't checked via the blog tab because, well I hadn't been blogging.  Sheesh people.

Thanks for the names, well wishes, compliments and general hubub.  I love you all.  I just didn't know you were loving on me.  Now I do and it's all settled.

Hopefully I've got that corrected.  Now, on to the important stuff.

• I had thrown in my hat (and 20 bucks) to the Illinois vacant senate seat ring, but now the dufus has gone and gotten himself impeached.  So much for my political ambitions.  Hey, before you say anything, my dad was born there and I live nearby, I'm as qualified as anyone....
• I think I've said this somewhere else, (coffee maybe?  Or the shop?) but anyway... I've been reading one book and listening to the other and the combination of the two has made me think we've dodged a bullet.  For at least 4 years.  The Rose Labyrinth is a conspiracy theory book a la The DaVinci Code, except instead of Catholic villains, it's got Fundamentalist Christian villains who are high up in American government and are trying to goad the Rapture and the Apocalypse into happening now.  Hmm, fermilliar  much?  At the same time I'm reading A Handmaid's Tale for book club.  Another cautionary tale about Fundamentalist religiosity and women and well, yikes, people who will do any evil to further their idea of good.  It is the juxtaposition of the two is keeping me up at night.  Really.  Something in the universe wants me pondering government, religion, women's reproductive rights, and sex.  All alongside each other and tossed together.  You try it.
• I love my job.  Except when I don't like it very much.  Yesterday a fellow knitter brought in gorgeous socks in just the colorway of Silk Garden Sock on which I've been fixating.  Loved seeing them.  Friday someone used two hours of my time and asked my opinion at least 64 times about various combinations of sale yarn for a scarf and bought approximately $9 worth of yarn -- it's all good, that's why I make the big bucks and all, but it makes the time drag.  Yesterday I taught a new knitter to read her stitches instead of counting across 32 K2p2 ribbing stitches to see what comes next and that was very rewarding.  
• They've closed a part of the highway I use to get Dear Son to school every day.  Added about 20 minutes to my round trip time.  Road rage hovers at the edges of my consciousness all the time now...  Karma is a bitch.  Remember last year, before we had decided Dear Son needed to switch schools (and so did I!) and I jested about how all the whiny butts in the county needed to get a life and that closing that highway wouldn't impact me in the least?  Yeah.  Those words are biting me in the backside hard for more than an hour every morning and afternoon.  I'm absolutely raw.

And finally, a shorthand I've just learned in the Rubbernecker group on Ravelry (but it is, apparently quite old, 2005 at least) that applies exactly to this post  ; )

Teal Deer!  Words put to the shorthand "tl; dr!" which stands for "Too Long; Didn't Read!"  How appropriate.

Carnivale

The Carnivale season has begun here in St. Louis.  Of course, Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent are more than  a month away, but at the knit shop, we celebrate the time before Mardi Gras with King Cakes, beads, a Mardi Gras tree, and lots of purple, green, and gold yarn.

In honor of the season, I cast on some of my handspun BFL (roving from Rachel at Dyeabolical in the Dance Mistress colorway, Navajo plied to keep the color progression mostly intact) and knit up a Beechwood Cowl right quick. 

Actually, it's just the chart from the Beechwood.  I didn't want  mine as large and floppy, so I only cast on 92 instead of the 108 or so called for.  But my yarn is much bigger than hers, this being knit on 9s, so it's likely a wash. 

Above the cowl is a double moss stitch piece with side fringe knit in.  I'll hopefully have enough yarn to make a kind of cowl out of this as well.One that buttons down the side.    Don't you love the colorwork in this roving?   The bands of gold?  Good work Rachel.  And it has that lovely heft and sproing particular to handspun yarn.  Good work Annie.  ; )

When I finished the cowl last night, I tried it on and it is warm, warm, warm.  I commented as such and Dear Son, who was sitting here at the computer playing World of Warcraft in a sweatshirt and a down vest  asked to try it on.  Fast forward to 10:30 p.m., where I am taking it off of over his head while he sleeps the deep slumber of the late evening.  : ) again.  Guess if I made him one, he might wear it.  At least to play computer games in the cold house.  (It's not that cold in here, it's just that the computer table has a Silestone top, which gets cold this time of year, and when you type, your wrists sit right on it.  I think it cools your blood.  Which is great in summer and shivery in winter.  I've knit myself wrist warmers for just this reason... I guess I should share them.)

What to Call These Mits?

I've made several pairs of the things, and I'm teaching a student how to make them which is making me think over the pattern carefully.

See how I've fiddled with the increases to rise from the ribbing?

Not exactly rocket science, but finally to my liking.   

This pair is on knit from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in the Argyle colorway.  They are for dear daughter as a special request and are extra long in the arm.

The pattern is very simple up to the thumb.  Cast on 60 stitches in thickish sock yarn on size 2 1/2 US needles and work in K2P2 ribbing to desired length.  Mine are 6 inches, daughter's are 8. 

The thumbs get a little dicey.  I'll try to put them to words here, though.  Oh, hell, how about the whole pattern.  Here are my mits again, with one of my holiday presents... a studio of sorts with a camera stand and a kind of tentish thingy and lights.  Might help my photography.  ; )  Might not.

 

Annie's Fingerless Mitts

 Materials

• 50 grams of Silk Garden sock (shorter mitts)
• size 2 1/2 US double pointed needles
• marker
• large eyed needle for weaving in
• stitch holder or bit of stray yarn

Size:  One size fits most

Lifted Stitch, right leaning (LSR):  Insert left needle tip, back to front, through the stitch below the stitch you just worked; knit or purl this stitch through the back loop.

Lifted Stitch, left leaning (LSL):  Insert right needle into stitch below the next stitch on the left needle, lift it onto the left needle, knit it as usual.

Cast on loosely 60 stitches.  Join to knit in the round being careful not to twist your stitches.

Work in K2P2 ribbing until the tube measures 6 inches from the cast on edge.

Begin thumb gusset with these rounds:

Round 1:  Knit 1; work an LSR lifted increase in the stitch below the stitch just knitted; work a LSL lifted increase in the stitch below the next stitch, knit 1, place marker.  You've just increased two stitches and the four stitches on needle one before the marker will be come your thumb gusset.  Finish this round.  (4 gusset stitches)

Round 2:  Knit round two in K2P2 ribbing, knitting the four stitches before the marker.

Round 3:  In the stitches before the marker:  Knit 2; work an LSR lifted increase in the stitch below the second knit stitch, but purl it; work an LSL lifted increase in the stitch below the next stitch, but purl it;  knit 2.  Slip marker, work the rest of the round in ribbing. (6 gusset stitches)

Round 4:  K2P2, working the thumb gusset stitches as they present themselves.

Round 5:  In the stitches before the marker:  Knit 2, purl 1, work a purled LSR lifted increase in this first purled stitch; work a purled LSL lifted increase in the 2^nd purl stitch, purl that stitch; work the rest of the round in K2P2 ribbing. (8 gusset stitches)

Round 6: K2P2, working the 4 purled stitches in the thumb gusset as they present.

Round 7:  In the stitches before the marker, K2, P2, work a knit LSR lifted increase in the 2^nd purl stitch, work a knit LSL lifted increase into the third purl stitch, P2; work the rest of the round in ribbing. (10 gusset stitches)

Round 8: K2P2, working the thumb gusset stitches as they present themselves.

Round 9:  In the stitches before the marker, K2, P2, K1, work a knit LSR lifted increase into the 2^nd knit stitch, work a knit LSL lifted increase into the 3^rd knit stitch, K 1, K2P2 the rest of the round.  (12 gusset stitches).

Round 10: K2P2, working the thumb gusset stitches as they present.

Round 11:  In the stitches before the marker, K2, P2, K2, work a purl LSR lifted increase in the 2^nd knit stitch, work a purl LSL lifted increase in the 3^rd knit stitch, K2, K2P2 the rest of the round.  (14 gusset stitches)

       Round 12:  K2P2, working the thumb gusset stitches as they present.

 

 

Place thumb gusset stitches on the stitch holder or on a bit of waste yarn.

 

Cast on two stitches using the "Backward E" method to replace original thumb gusset stitches.  Work in K2P2 ribbing for 2 1/2 more inches.

 

Bind off in ribbing, purling 2 stitches together at every other set of purl stitches to tighten the top of the mit and hold it to your fingers.

 

 

Thumb:

 

1. Pick up 6 stitches across the top of the thumb opening, 2 in the purl column, 2 in the knit column, 2 in the purl column above each. 
2. Transfer the live gusset stitches to two other needles.  You have 20 stitches. 
3. Work in K2P2 ribbing for 1 1/2 inches or up to the base of your thumb nail.  Bind off as for top of mit to tighten the thumb slightly.

 

Just Stretching Today

My blogging muscles, that is.  I don't want to pull something... ; )

So much of my knitting for the last six weeks has been stealth knitting that blogging about knitting seemed, well, just empty.  And I got away from the routine of blogging itself, and we all know how easy it is to drop off of the face of the earth if one gets out of the routine of standing on it.

Getting back to it, then.  For Christmas presents, I knit:

• 1 large yellow blanket.

10 1/2 skeins of Plymouth Suri Merino on size 9 needles.  The blanket is 13 repeats of the lace pattern from Knitty's Spring Forward socks.  The throw ended up to be about 40 " by 60 ".  Mommy loves it.

• 1 pair of mittens for Sister #1 out of Claudia Handpaints.  Denims colorway, on size 2 1/2 US needles.  Sister loves them.
• 3 Le Slouch hats out of various Noro and Mission Falls yarns.  No pics, but Sister #2 and SILs loved them.
• 3 Noro Silk Garden Scarves.  Here are 2, the other's been gifted.

Each scarf consisted of 4 skeins of two different colors of Silk Garden and was done on size 7 US needles.  It became a bit of an obsession.  ; )  Dear niece loved the blue, red, purple, and teal one she got on Christmas Eve.  Please don't ask me about colors... my ball bands got terminally mixed up, but if you come to the shop, I can show you where each combination is on the shelf.

• 3 pairs of fingerless mits, only one of which remains here to be photographed.

This was the first pair, which I knit for myself out of Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn in a colorway I had been coveting.  Actually, I went and bought most of the rest of it and now I have to figure out what to do with 5 more skeins of the stuff.  Other than just look at it and fondle it of course... 

The pattern is my own, and although it's just a 60 stitch ribbed tube, I did fiddle quite a bit with the increases for the thumb so that they rise smoothly from the ribbing.  I'll write it out for you later.

I knit one of the pairs for my cross country running nephew in his school colors.  He was the picture of a worthy hand knit recipient.  He wore them for the rest of the evening, marveling at the fact that I had made them for him and just him...  So cute.  And 16 years old too.  I'll knit for that boy again, that's for sure.

• 2 candy cane striped hats for little nephews from the Itty Bitty Hats book.  I found a holiday kids book in which one of the characters is wearing just such a hat.  While these little guys have scads of relatives buying them presents, they've each only one Auntie who'll knit them hats to match the characters in their Christmas books.  So there.  The hats were done in Berroco Soft Comfort.  Really cute.  I wish I'd taken pictures of the hats before I sent them off.  Perhaps Sister will take pics and send me some... hint hint...

I'm busy banging out baby presents now, and those recipients read the blog too.  So, until the cute wee knits are gifted there will be no blogging about current knitting.  Unless I take two evenings off like I did this weekend and try something new with yarn I've been aching to knit with and/or a technique I've been dying to try...

Fiesta yarn (you know the rayon and mohair blend?) in the Taos colorway.  Moebius neck ring on size 9 needles.  I was hoping for a shoulderette, but it's really just a neck warmer.  Too few stitches and there's no ripping this stuff out.  The good news is that this is just shy of one skein and I have two more...  So today I think I'll cast on more stitches with the leftover yarn and try again. 

Don't have that baby yet, Bridgett, I'm distracted.