Stuff I Got!

So, last Tuesday (the Day of the Earthquake), I was going to hit FibreSpace to soothe my rattled neves with yarn. I left work at 5pm; the Metro, which was running at 15 miles an hour, got to King Street Station at 6:53. I can't move fast enough to get up the street to the store in seven minutes. So, on my way into work (late) on Wednesday, I managed to sneak in a side-trip. I found needles, yarn, and goodies.


The needles are Kollage DPNs, which I would love just because they're shiny copper-colored things, but they actually work really, really well. I got a set of size 3's for starting my OWL later this week, and with those and a pair of size 5s, I'll be making a pair of Flourishing Mittens. I'll be doing them with some Mini Mochi, which I last used as the fluffy green edge of the Serenity Baby Blanket, and some Dragonfly Fibers Djinni Sock in the Espresso Roast colorway. I think the bright colors and contrast with the deep brown yarn will work really well. And the fibre content is *almost* the same - and it's all washable, which is key for mittens of mine that aren't mostly black!!


note subtle favorite NFL team plug
The goodies are another Herdy keychain (already clipped to the strap of my current totebag) and a lovely Perl Grey shawl pin. It goes delightfully with my new StellaLuna Ravenclaw shawl (see last post)!


So, I'm now really, really set to start my OWL, I've got a potential OOtP project (or at least a class project), and classes start on Thursday. I'm pretty excited!!!

The Secret Hat Project (Post #300!)

First, go to DK's site and vote for which project you think she should work on next. (She can't remember what project is where, so I'm voting on the shiny bag at the back. Pick your favorite!)

Second, welcome to the latest crazy, the Secret Hat Project. I'm trying to make a lovely Karabella Supercashmere hat for my spouse (the "Hat Recipient"), with whom I live and commute to and from work - i.e., He Who Is In All My Knitting Spaces. I can only work on this hat at work, usually. Today is Day Three of the project. On to the chronicle!

Secret Hat Project, Day 1:

Managed to cast on at lunch, work several rounds, and determine sizing probably OK. Worked under desk later in the day. Realized hat would not be done quickly if only worked on at work. Smuggled hat and one ball yarn home under yarn for SotS-II. Worked on SotS-II during trip home. Hat Recipient unaware of extra yarn. Managed to work a bunch in between Hat Recipient's trips around house by having SotS-II draped over lap, hiding other yarn and needles as necessary. Also got a bit done on SotS-II, out of necessity. Had, by end of day, four inches of ribbing for hat. Need about a foot. Glad I bought two balls of yarn. Hat Recipient has big head.

Me, with flashlight and self-photo.
Lots of room on my head;
should be right size for Hat Recipient.
Secret Hat Project, Day 2:

Managed to smuggle hat back to work. In between reading "I Can Has Cheezburger?" and iTunes-ing my new Spanish-course CDs, I managed to knit right in the open at my desk. (It's slow during the mornings here right now; after lunch, WATCH OUT!) Boss-Who-Knits came out at one point, and we discussed the projects about to hit, and I kept knitting. Thankfully, I can work a k2/p1 rib without looking, so I was able to maintain "I am hearing what you're saying" eye contact, and still keep going on hat. She understands the importance of Warm Knitted Things for family; she has a son in college in inland Maine right now. (Maine = coldest northeasternmost tippy-tip of the USA. About even, latitude-wise, with Helena, Montana, with the extra bonus of winds from both Canada *and* the North Atlantic. Not somewhere to go for the winter, unless you REALLY like snow.) Got 5.5" done, then nothing. Spouse did not go to bed early as expected, so no knitting at home.

Hat, late Thursday afternoon.
Secret Hat Project, Day 3:

Almost finished with first ball of yarn. Knitting openly at desk now. Wish I'd found 16" size 3 circular needles last night, but can't look for knitting gear w/o inquisition from Hat Recipient. Don't want him to inquire as to why I need needles. He can tell when I'm winging an explanation.

Got to second ball of yarn at lunch. Will get k2p1 ribbing to 10", then begin decreases for crown. It's 66 stitches around. Figure decreasing 6 st/round every other round makes it all go away in 22 rounds. Hrm. Every 3 rounds? 33 rounds. Yeah. Then the rim can go double... GAK. I'm at 44 rounds total right now... but as the hat goes 'round, it will take less yarn... GAK.

44 rows of k2p1 rib
There won't be much knitting over the weekend, as I expect Hat Recipient to be fairly glued to my side all weekend, espeically during the Family Stuff on Saturday. So, he likely won't get his hat until Tuesday... unless everyone leaves me alone for the next hour and a half, and stops interrupting my knitting...!

Save the Ears!!

I don't watch 24, but I found this a bit startling, looming out of the darkness of the train platform last night...



Thankfully, it seemed to be related to a lottery jackpot, rather than how many hours I had left on Earth.

This morning, it got cold enough to merit coat *and* sweater, so The Cat Sweater made its first foray into the wild:


Yay! Warm sweater, actually done about a year from when it was started, in time for Actual Cold! (We have actual cold in DC right now. I was wearing sweater, coat, hat, and thermal mittens. Some people were looking at me like I was crazy - but I was warm, and, unlike every single one of them, my ears and nose weren't red, and I didn't have my arms wrapped around myself as I hugged myself to keep warm.)

Exciting yarn news today: I found two patterns via Ravelry yesterday. Oh, my heavens. I must stitch up a Moss Stitch Beret. Of course, for the one I'll do, the ribbing will be a warm, nutty caramel brown, and the beret-part will be a nice, rich chocolate. Because then, after all this time, I will have - AN ACORN HAT!!! BWA-HA-Ha-hahahaha!!!

*ahem*

Here's the yarn I got for that:


... and here's the yarn I got to make a warm hat for my husband, who cannot presently find a hat that actually covers his ears:


Yes, the Karabella Supercashmere is still 50% off at Stitch DC Georgetown. I got the last two balls of Manly Dark Navy Blue Color. I'll be doing the Warm Ribbed Winter Hat by Lucy H. Lee, and I'll be doing it via STEALTH. I kept the yarn in my desk downtown, and snuck my size 3 DPNs out of the house this morning. I hope to present him with the hat by the weekend. (Yes, I know, I'm not supposed to start any new projects this year, and I've already started and finished a canvas piece this week. But his EARS are COLD. I cannot allow this to continue whilst it is within my powers to save him!)

Winter Twilight Mitts

So, I began Wednesday with a completed Thumb #2 and 68 rows total finished. I managed to get two more done on the ride in to work - just eight rows of colorwork left, and back to only 48 stitches per round. If I could just finish those eight rows, and then the one k1 row, then the two decrease rows, then the four k1p1 rows then the k1 row then the bind-off, I'd be DONE! So easy, right? Never mind that it takes 15 minutes per row, if I was lucky (and not distracted) for a colorwork row, and I wasn't likely to have ANY spare time at my desk (since I was supposed to be working and all that), and that the ride home has been really knit-unfriendly lately, and that I probably wouldn't be home until 8pm at the earliest, and I stayed up WAAAAAAAY too late Monday and Tuesday, so I was sleep-deprived.

Thus, I managed to eat Low Sodium Wheat Thins and Dr. Pepper for lunch, whilst sitting on a bench in the sun for my entire lunch hour. Remember, I was sleep deprived. On the other hand, I got some knitting done. Lots of knitting. Heaps and heaps of knitting - otherwise known as The Rest Of The Colorwork. By the end of lunch, I was down to just the regular knitting stuff in just one color!

I also managed a SUNBURN.

Yep, after being all careful all spring and summer, I managed to get a sunburn this year in October. Just on the left side of my face, mind you (that's where the sun was, despite the supposed protection of the little tree between me and it) and my left ear. My arm must've gotten enough sun over the past six months that it's fine, despite also being in the sun. Hopefully, my hair will lighten up on that side, too, which would at least be a bit of a silver lining.

Anyway, there was lots of knitting done at lunch. And on the bus-ride cross-town to where my husband works. Thus, he was able to help me take these:

Huh. My eye looks oddly hazel. It's actually grey.

Yep, that's finished Winter Twilight Mitts! They fit perfectly, and are snug enough to wear under coats without fear of gloves-coming-off-in-sleeve, which is annoying, and doesn't much help if I'm planning to wear the mitts all day. But they're done! They're done! Yaaaaaaay!!

Cool Gadget o' the Week

Okay, so, not much knitting on Monday, but Tuesday went much better. During lunch, I was able to sit across the street in our Shiny New Park and knit for an hour:


Our new park rocks. Comfy benches, and the airplanes overhead are loud enough
to drown out all the chatter from nearby annoying office drones without lives.
They do have lives, actually, they're just really boring.
This got me within four rows of being able to finish and cast off the thumb. And I got to hear all about Terry (that's what the other girl called her) and how, in middle school, y'know, you'd like a guy, and, like, even if he was a total jerk and hated you, you'd, like, still like him, but thank God she was past that, and if That Jerk (didn't catch his name) wasn't going to call, she wasn't going to waste any time thinking about him. And then Terry and her bench-buddy spent at least forty minutes dissecting every conversation Terry and The Jerk had had over the past three weeks. *eyeroll*

Oh! While I'm thinking about it, this is the Coolest Thing Ever. This is my new Clover row counter:


It has a space to be suspended off a cord (not included), but who needs that? It fits in my pocked, AND IT LOCKS so the numbers don't change unless I want them to. This works for me much better than other row counters I have tried (oh, so many varieties!), and I totally would not be able to knit my Winter Twilight Mitts without it. This isn't regularly-patterned colorwork, where once you figure out a row you just keep going; it's high-concentration-follow-the-pattern stuff. (I have lots of extra yarn, since I didn't realize how little I'd be using; the matching hat I'll be starting in January, when I'm allowed to start new stuff, will at least be eight repeats of the same complicated thing, so I won't be *quite* so pattern-attached.)

Anyway, cool new gadget that Solved That Problem. Yay!

A good weekend!

Today's a work day for us - for most folks, I think, except for the banks and the federal government (otherwise known as "the two groups of people that might call our firm on any given day"). Still not sure why we're open today, but we are. My husband was super-sweet and drove me right to the door this morning, so I was able to have my favorite fountain soda (ever so-not-attainable in the city) with breakfast, and have it to slowly sip on all day.

Saturday, got to go to the Fall Festival in Old Town Fairfax for an hour or so (which was time to find all my favorite vendors and buy loot. And fudge at Ben & Xander's. REALLY GOOD FUDGE. Then there were errands, a nap, then a dash to Nature's Yarns to get The Last Spindle and some navy blue fluff. (The amazing Alex is sending me some orange fluff to play with; if you've ever heard me rant about my favorite football team, you know why I got the navy blue as well. PS, she's dIZZY sPINNERY on etsy.... pretty stuff!!)

Sunday, we got to see my husband's sister, who was in town for a few days to see our grandma, who'd had a bad turn. We just talked for hours and hours, which was fun, and I got to knit while we talked.

Thus, I got Something Accomplished, knitting-wise! Winter Twilight Mitt #1 had some problems when I cast it off the first time:

So very, very wrong.

You can see there's a problem. Even with k1p1 ribbing, it rolled. A LOT. Worse than most stockinette - plus, it was, somehow, mysteriously, four times wider than it needed to be. The colorwork part? Just fine. Fit perfectly. Snug. Like a glove, one might say. So - RIIIIIIIIP. Turns out k1 around, followed by one row of k4-k2tog around, followed by one row of k6-k2tog, k1 around then cast off worked. SEE??


Then I had time to get up to row 42 (of 78) of Twilight Mitt #2!


So, I got to buy cool stuff, hang out with cool people, and actually accomplish knitting. A good weekend, definitely!!

A bit of knitting, and a RANT.

Sonia Rykiel's Sonia collection (Autumn Winter 2008) had some cute stuff. The only thing that really hit a chord with me, though, was this:


I wanted a dress almost exactly like this (I think it was green stripes) during my brief flirtation with Preppydom in high school. (Things *do* come back in style, see?) Plus, that new study that came out? Horizontal stripes, if placed properly, make one look THINNER - verticals make you look BOXIER!! (I've always noticed this myself, so I tend to wear horizontal, but it's nice to know that I was actually RIGHT.) I thought about it - and it would be SUPER easy to knit something similar. So, if I ever finish half the stuff I'm working on, I'll make one for myself. Without the scrunchy forearms, most likely, and probably just a *wee* bit longer...!

Anyway, actual knitting content. Um. I stayed up waaaaaaaay too late last night. I didn't actually finish much, but I'm now past the thumb (well, I guess that's finished) and about 12 rows from the end of my Mitt.


I would've been much further, but sitting out in the park by the river in the allegedly fresh, open air - there was a ranger using Nutri-Air or OUST or some other toxin that causes a pretty bad reaction in my poor little lungs, so instead of burning off the extra non-billable time from work by sauntering in a half-hour late, I ended up in a bit early for slightly less bad air.

<RANT>
I HATE, hate HATE the chemical they're putting in that 'fresh air' crap - Fabreeze, OUST, Nutri-Air and all their little clones have it. It says, right on the spray can, listed below. They tried it in the BATHROOMS of my work building - I had a bad reaction, they didn't stop. One of the Rich Tenants got rushed to the hospital; it's gone. Pisses me off that me getting sick wasn't enough, y'know? The Bed, Bath & Beyonds here have started using it throughout the stores, so they've lost my business. (I've let them know this in no uncertain terms, and I'm waiting for the class-actions to start rolling in. They already have, but not against the major retail stores yet. I give it about ten years, and the whatever-it-is (I have the chemical name written in my phone so I can check stuff before buying) will be banned in the US.
</RANT>.

Here's the actual warning:

Active ingredient: Triethylene Glycol (6.0%)
Inert ingredients (94%)
Warnings: Avoid contact with food and utensils. Avoid contact with eyes. Before using product throughout your home, use in one room and wait 24 hours to ensure that no one has any physical reactions to the product. Extremely flammable-- keep away from fire, sparks and heated surfaces. Do not puncture or incinerate container. Exposure to temperatures above 120 F may cause bursting. Asthma and allergy sufferers should consult their physician befor using this product.

Ranger-Dude and his nasty little spray can of death better not be there during lunch. That's all I'm sayin'.

A wee bit of knitting.

Well, the stock market free-fall on Monday (which was continued on Tuesday!) will have some "interesting" ripple effects. A lot of small boutique and specialty stores tend to fall victim to hard economic times first - like LNSs and yarn stores. Support your local LNS if you can, so it will be there later!

The BBC is running a "Your Pictures - the sartorial sins of your childhood" photo gallery right now. I don't think that many are all *that* bad, since I spent every day of my early childhood in a red turtleneck, red corderoy pants, red sneakers and little red hair-ribbons. My favorite is the following:


I like the idea of Grandma covering all her loved ones with her job lot of maroon wool.

I would've gotten a lot more done on my Twilight Mitts, but the Twilight Author, Stephanie Meyers, has this new book, The Host, which I happened to snag from the library. And, per usual, can't put down. So, no knitting yesterday at lunch...


... and not much on the ride home. Or once *at* home. Thanks to a bit of knitting this morning, on the ride in, I made it to row 60 (of 83).


Can you see any difference from yesterday's photo?
This is a Very Slow Mitten. Having to frog every so often because I've lost my place in the pattern, and kinda winging it on the thumb is lining up some interesting challenges doing Mitt #2!

Soooooo soft...

Tuesday, during Mice Will Play Day, I managed to scoot over to Stitch DC in Georgetown to see if - just maybe - they had yarn that - just maybe - could be used for Laura Rintala's Winter Twilight Mitts. I like the stained-glassyness of this pattern, but wasn't sure about using a varegated-type yarn. I was looking for a good, solid deep purple. Preferably in something really soft, that would be both warm and gentle on my paws.


As you can see, I found something! It's a soft something. Very soft. Merino and cashmere blend soft. Sooooooooooo soft.

As of this morning, I'd managed to figure out that I needed to resize the pattern a bit (as always) since my yarn is just a scooch larger than called for, and since my hands are small, and since I knit really, really loosely.


Finally figured out why I knit so loosely, by the way. I don't put any tension whatsoever on my yarn. At all. I started to get "normal person" stitches in one or two places on my Fairy Tale #3 socks - where a long string of beads was hanging straight down. So, I'm considering finding small fishing weights (pretty easy, since my dad's a professional fisherman, really, at this point) to put on my yarn. We'll see if the magic "gauge" becomes easier then. Not these mitts, though, since I NEEDED THEM THIS MORNING OMG IT WAS COLD OUTSIDE AT 5 a.m.!! I totally shoudl've worn my Star of the County Down Tam, it was cold enough!

Also, THESE. I don't use this kind of stitch marker - long dangly things on my needles drive me nuts - but man, if I did? I'd totally have bought all three sets of these things (that were available this morning at 7:45 a.m. yes I'm working long hours right now). I wonder, though, if they'd be heavy enough for the "tension" thing? They'd be cuter than fishing weights... hmmmm....

Finished Objects - and another "medal"!!

Okay, very quick update. I did, in fact, finish my A Pair of Hearts Socks this afternoon! Thanks for all the encouragement, everyone! Here they are:

Ooooo, pretty!

Can you see the hearts up the side better here?
They're harder to photograph than I thought they would be.
The hearts really stand out in "real life"!!
And here's proof that I finished two of them:

So, I finished the last thing I expected to finish for the Ravelympics; I finished one entire pair of socks for Summer of Socks (yep, same socks, double duty!), and the UFO count is now 59!! I'm under 60 again! Woooooohoooooo!

It's ON!

Friday, and let the Ravelympics begin! Woohooo!!!


I started my A Pair of Hearts Socks from Random Knits promptly at 8am (that's 8pm in Beijing), and will work on those as my "travel around" project. I'm using the Tofutsies I picked up when I found the lovely Orange Merino that will be Secret of the Stole III. I'll restart my Forget-Me-Not Shawl tonight when I get home -assuming I can find it. It an The Cat Sweater are hiding somewhere. But I'll find it, and keep going while watching the Opening Ceremonies. Yaaaaaaaay!! Wooohoooo!! Progress pics shall be posted as I go, and the theory is that in two weeks, both these projects will be finished - along with the two sweaters entered in WIP Wrestling - and my UFO count will be under 60 forever!! Woohooooo!!!

Getting ready for Ravelympics...

So, with the Ravelympics due to start at the end of the week (that's Friday, kids), and with me really, really not wanting to go over 70 UFOs (since I was such a good bunny to get under 60 at the start of the year), I really, really need to finish stuff this week. I started last week, and the making of the Giant Chart of Projects, at 66 UFOs. This includes thirty-four (34) cross-stitch projects (including hardanger and specialty-stitch samplers), three (3) cross-stitch sets, two (2) latch hook projects, two (2) crochet projects, twelve (12) knitted projects, eight (8) quilts or mini-quilts, five (5) canvaswork items and NO (0) sewing projects. Sixty-six.

As Karen so succinctly put it: "Oh my God."

That is a lot, and as both Secret of the Stole III (August 15th) *and* the Ravelympics (FRIDAY!!!) start soon, I need to finish something. Just one, tiny, itsy-bitsy thing. (Why just one? Because when I checked my list, I'd never actually taken the Forget-me-Not shawl, my Ravelympics project, *off* the list. *Phew!*) I knew about this "finish something" last Wednesday, when I struggled mightily to finish at least half of the Sekrit Projikt - and lo, I succeeded at that. Mostly.

I discovered that "finishing" might take a bit longer than I've got - but UNDOING - that goes pretty fast!! So, I went through the barely-started pile of stuff, and made some choices. First up, there's a latch-hook rug I've started - and not gotten terribly far on - where the colors are just Messed UP. Seriously. So, pull tug tug tug, it's all unhooked, to be started again someday when (a) I feel like it and (b) have time to cut up a bajillion pieces of Caron Supersoft yarn (which, by the way, works lovely for nice, soft rugs). HA!! A UFO goes off the list!

More knitting got done, of course, this time on my Ninja Arm-warmers, because it's just silly to be two rows of ribbing from having the first one knitted - and it's a heck of a lot easier to do all the duplicate stitch on them when they aren't attached to a bunch of sharp, pointy, size 0 needles. See?


One Ninja Armwarmer, with Skull (and someday snowflakes)
Next, I was crocheting a huge filet-crochet blanket with my my new family name and a giant heart on it after I got married. A white blanket. If you've ever seen my decor - or house - you'll grasp, quickly, that "white" as a color in decor... just isn't gonna cut it. I haven't taken it off the list before, because I couldn't find the bloody thing... but this past weekend, I found where it had been hiding, and unraveled it. I now have a TON of slightly sparkly white yarn. I'll eventually be making something like Jared's Hemlock Ring Blanket out of the yarn... for my mother's house.

So, here's two little critters, undone, and off the list.

Nova (Starburst)  latch hook - was 10% done - UNRAVELED 8-2-08 White B. Afghan  crochet - Was 40% done - UNRAVELED 8-2-08

I also got a lot done on the Sekrit Projikt, too - having gotten myself to get going again, I did the Really Quick Part where Lots of Progress is Apparent on the ride into work on Friday, and then settled in to the part that doesn't go quite as quickly. (At least it's going faster than it would have been, now that I found my fifth size 1 Addi turbo steel-frame needle. Faster still when I figure out where I hid my circs from myself!)

The UFO Count stands at 64.

More on the Ninja Mittens

While out sick, I also managed to get a distance on my Ninja Mitten (right hand).




I've almost done another 40 rows since these photos... and they really don't look all that different. *sigh* The next photos, when they come, should be dramatic, because the Anti-Craft's Snowball's Chance in Hell glyphs will be duplicate-stitched in bright white down the backs. Should look v. cool!!

It's not all about the socks. Really.

Okay, so, in an effort to NOT post more pics of my Fairy Tale Sock Club #1 socks, here are two projects that needed pics over on Ravelry.

First up is the Ninja Armwarmer, which, once I figure it out (this is attempt #4) will (a) be a fun little pattern for armwarmers I can actually knit in and (b) be embellished with the "Snowball's Chance in Hell" motifs from Renée Rigdon and Zabet Stewart. Getting the bits around the fingers to work Just Right, and then still fit my hand? This has been a *major* challenge. I totally cheated with my Simple Top-Down Mitts without realizing it - they're ribbed the whole way down, so "fit" wasn't much of an issue. These Ninja-critters are ribbed on the digits, and across the palm (okay, it's still a bit of a cheat) and I still have to do some fitting down the side of my hand. Oh, and did I mention I'm knitting them on SIZE 0 needles? They'd better look bloody cool when they're done, or else!!


Second and final for today, the Forget-Me-Not Shawl by Shui Kuen Kozinski. This photo does NOT do justice to the true hot-pinkness of this fluffy, light, mohair yarn. It's like knitting with will-o-the-wisps, seriously! (That's not a bad thing. It's just indicative of its fluffyness.)


I am still knitting away on my FTSC#1 socks (Hilda, as Beautiful Sock is done), and hope to be able to start the decorating tonight. I was a very bad KAL'er, since I started them a wee bit before the KAL actually started (like an entire week), but I've had a LOT of fun knitting them!

Sock Fun!

Monday, Wendy gave the link to the a Knitting Font for MS Word that she uses to make her patterns. Talk about timely, since I have a...

       Squee of the week!

My dad showed some of his hiking buddies my Fern Lace Socks... and they want the pattern! Eeeek! I get to actually write a sock pattern! Fortunately (for me), it's a darned easy one. It will follow by the end of the week. And the lace pattern (which is a *wee* bit different than I think it's supposed to be, since, after all, it's me knitting) can actually have a chart to go with. How very cool!

Also, thanks to the lovely A, who told me in very tiny words I could understand how to get the blogroll going down the right side of my blog (so I can tell what are the new posts!). I really love that setup!!
NOW IT'S TIME TO STOP READING
IF YOU DON'T HAVE YOUR FAIRY TALE SOCK BOX YET!











I'm pretty sure anyone that reads this has theirs by now, and I'm still not giving away the theme, but it's time for Actual Sock Photos. To wit:


I managed to solve the gauge/fit problem I was having, as you can see. Beautiful Sock (above) is a lovely, fitted creature, as is Hilda (below). I have been making increases as I go every so often, since I'd like to be able to turn the heel and just keep going on up the leg with an appropriate number of stitches to keep the pattern going as it should. (Aaaaaugh, KNITTING MATH!!)


I expect to have most of the sock-part of the socks done over the weekend, since Saturday is "sitting around waiting for a wedding" and Sunday is "sitting around for at least twelve hours watching the Indy 500 and Subway 600". Monday's just a bonus!!

Fairy Tale Sock Club, Yay!

Oh, the squeals!! Yesterday, my husband went to the post office to check my PO Box for my Fairy Tale Sock Club package. It wasn't there. When I got home, though, it *was* in the parcel box of my house (which makes sense, as Gryphon has my home address!) - oh, the squealing that commenced!!

POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT

STOP READING NOW IF YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN YOUR BOX YET!









Okay, hopefully that shooed away anyone that might complain of spoilers later. I'm certainly not going to spoil the surprise of the Fairy Tale, or the Theme, or show everything I got. But I was very, VERY excited about the package, and the presentation - oh, it was lovely! A carefully tied scroll, a little sachet - all sorts of extras that I wasn't expecting, that were absolutely charming! The finished product will be such fun, too.

So, first, I had to have my husband get my swift out of the craft room. I had very carefully put it in the Very Safe Corner, which, due to work on the house, was unreachable by my short-armed 5'6" self, even with two grippers at full extension. He, of course, could just reach over and grab it. (*Sigh.*) Quickly, I set up the swift, and began to create a ball of yarn:


Then, having met myself previously, and realizing that I am really bad about judging "about half the yarn" by eye, we broke out my husbands Super-Special OXO Scale, and weighed the yarn (120 g). Then I balled it to "about half", and was pleasantly surprised that I'd guessed correctly - and thus had two nearly-identical balls of yarn!


Then, I just had to start knitting, which meant my brain completely emptied of anything I'd ever read in Knitty. This necessitated a firing-up of the Mac, and a trip through cyberspace at those startling speedss known only to the six of us left on dial-up in a major metropolitan area. I went and watched the rest of "Two and a Half Men" while the page I needed loaded. It did, I printed it, and scampered back to my chair, whereupon I knit... a toe!


Hopefully, nothing here will give any sort of clue as to what's going on with the secret socks. I've already started the sock part (purposely not pictured!), and will work that for a while before starting my second toe. (Now that I have something on the order of 19 size 1 7" needles, this is not a problem.)

PS, did I mention I'm really excited about this?

Things accomplished (and not)

The exciting news: Squee! I'm a *moderator* on the Changes 2008 Raverly group. (I really have no idea what magic powers this gives me, but *squee*, there I am, listed at the bottom of the group page!) Well, stuff happened over the weekend. On Friday, I wrote the following list, as incentive, so I'd have to do *some* of the things on it, or feel quite ashamed before y'all. "In no particular order of importance, I: got a Netflix account; took a bunch of things I just don't have room for to the Salvation Army; scattered grass seed over the patchy bits of our lawn; sent fancy electronics off on the first leg of their journey to Michigan; cleared off the floors of three rooms in the house; set up my drawing desk; and started going through the stash room - or, rather, started getting things moved around so I could actually get in the stash room. Oh, something about "laundry" and "bathroom cleaning", too. And there was a slight project hiccup, but I can blame that on Yarn.

Three-headed daffodil, just because it's cool.

Now, what actually happened:

1. Didn't get NetFlix account, but did at least figure out my queue for when I get one;
2. Did get stuff to the SA, and *also* got FIFTY-NINE books donated to the library (their big fundraiser sale is next week);
3. Did nothing with the lawn, as it was on-and-off rainy all weekend;
4. cleared a *lot* of floor in all three rooms - almost finished the front room, got about a third of the middle, and half the back. And this was with working all weekend!;
5. Got the boxes for the electronics dealt with and out of the attic, plus another large box;
6. set up my drawing desk
   
7. did ten loads of laundry, and still have another ten to go (yeah, it builds up over time, I guess);
8. Did NOTHING with the stash room.

Now, what this means... I got a TON of stuff done, including knitting half my nutkin sock, and a good chunk of the finger part of my ninja mitten (Sock yarn on Size 0 needles? Why did I think that was a good idea???). I rassled with starting my own Go Fly a Kite Shawl, and managed to *not* start it by cleaving unto my unfinished Nutkin sock. I realized that I have THREE huge Martha Stewart sturdy laundry baskets FULL of stash in the middle room. I have no way of getting this stash into the stash room, however, as it is full - or anywhere I could put it is beyond reach of my two-and-a-half-foot long arms. (This is why the Stash Room will be on the list of things to deal with for quite some time.)

Shopping for Stash

So, Saturday afternoon, after beating my head against a wall for seven hours straight over doing my taxes (which isn't just mine: it's mine, my husband's, and his corporation, we don't get ANY shortcuts, and there's a ton of extra schedules I have to figure out, so it's *not* as easy as people try to tell me it is, it's just not!), I decided that I deserved a field trip to Aylin's Woolgatherer. I needed an extra set of size 1 DPNs; my husband told me to get two sets. This, I did. I also managed to get a lovely 14" set of size six wooden needles, two sets (one large, one small like I already have) of lovely little Almost Amy (go look at her stuff, it's fun!) stitch markers, four balls of Feza "Fanatic", thick-yet-lightweight wool-blend braid, to make the shrug for my sister's wedding, and a truly adorable little hand-painted enamel "I love Ewe" sheep pin by Gita Maria (go look at her stuff, it's cool!). Please note that the sheep in question is mostly orange, thus I had to buy it.

See? ORANGE sheep. I had to get it.

I should also add that my plan to "finish my taxes, then start working on cleaning up the Stash Room" didn't materialize. The taxes are done and filed, the Stash Room isn't gonna get touched for a bit longer. But at least I know the next sweater/shrug I'm knitting once I finish something (anything!! The wedding is in JUNE!!)... I just have to pick a pattern. Yay for Ravelry!

Knitting Fiercely

Okay, so I'm sleep-depped and punchy, but the OT check will be nice. Thus, when confronted with my metal DPNs to start another set of Simple Top-Down Mitts for myself, I determined that I had a wonderful place to store my extra DPNs while I was waiting to bring them into play:
[KnitStuff/MetalDPNs1.jpg] This, of course, led to the idea of alternate conformations for DPN-storage.
[KnitStuff/MetalDPNs2.jpg]
Rawr!Yeah, I need some sleep. At least it's Friday!

Pattern: Simple Top-Down Mitts

Fun Fact I've Noticed: Every "Finished Project" I've got listed over on Ravelry is some shade of orange. (Except for the mitts below, of course.) There isn't anything left in the queue-of-things-to-finish that's orange. This may be bad news for my attempt to finish three more things in the next two weeks.

If I relax, and give myself time to eat knit before work, and eat at lunch, and I can sit down during my train ride home, and I watch one hour of TV in the evening, I can get a repeat of LotVS done in a day. This means, theoretically, I could have the "body" done in a week. I may go for it. (I may also be distracted by just about anything that catches my eye.)

I've presently got four repeats done - this means 6.5 to go. Oh, did I mention I probably don't have enough yarn to do the edging? At least probably not all of it. Then again, I might. I have a little ball of yarn in a cup (Cup-o-Shawl)... its other skein still has its label. And it's somewhere that I've seen it recently. Which, given that I was diving for surplus yarn Tuesday night, doesn't narrow it down much. And I'm supposed to be knitting black mitts, but that probably won't stop me. I seem to do much better knitting at something when I'm not supposed to be working on it.

SotS II: The swatch pattern is up! "Earth Tones" are called for... and I saw Farn Wollmeise. I totally want some. Wendy is using some deep-blues for the shawl model she's knitting... the richness of the colors is amazing. No, I don't konw if I can actually touch the stuff, which is why I'm not just coughing up 26 Euros the second I see some available. *sigh*

Now, the promised Mitt Photos:

[KnitStuff/MittsFinal1b.jpg] Knitting from both ends of the ball taken to extremes.

[KnitStuff/MittsFinal1a.jpg] See the dark red line? That's all the yarn that was left between the ends of the ball!!

[KnitStuff/MittsFinal1c.jpg]
But they came out nicely, I think.
V. simple pattern, too.

PATTERN, a CraftyGryphon Original^TM:
Really Simple Top-Down Mitts
Notes: One skein Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn should make four mitts for small hands. My palm is 3.25" wide; gauge in pattern is roughly 20st per 3.25" the way I knit. Adjust size as needed, depending on how you knit. Sizing up or down involves math, so I'll leave that to you. Needles used: Size 3 DPNs and size 1 DPNs.

1. On size three DPNs, using long-tail method, cast on 40 stitches (This is the top of the palm, the bit of the mitt nearest the tips of your fingers).
2. Join, being careful not to twist stitches
3. Place marker to indicate start of row (on little finger side of mitt). Slip marker on all rounds. Make ribbing, k2-p2, for 24 rows. Set aside. (24 rows)
4. From other end of ball of yarn, using long-tail method, cast on 20 stitches using size 1 needles.
5. Join, being careful not to twist stitches.
6. Make ribbing, k1-p1, for 16 rows. This is the thumb. Cut long (at least 6") tail.
7. Join thumb to palm by knitting 20 palm stitches, knit 20 thumb stitches, knit remaining palm stitches on size 3 needles, [PHOTO FORTHCOMING], making certain the thumb is pointing the right way. Yeah, I know, it shouldn't be a problem, but if it's really late at night, it's possible to get confused. Trust me on this. put size 1 needles aside. (25 rows)
8. Knit 2 rounds following rib pattern - k2p2 on the "body" of the mitt, k1p1 on the thumb. (27 rows)
9. On the next round knit to the first thumb stitch, SSK, follow pattern to last thumb stitch, K2Tog, follow pattern to end of round. There are now 18 thumb stitches and 40 body stitches remaining (you have decreased the Thumb stitches by 2. (28 rows)
10. Next round and odd numbered rounds henceforth: follow rib patterns.
11. Even rounds: decrease as above at first and last thumb stitches. At the 42nd round, you will have four thumb stitches left. Re-distribute stitches on 4 needles (11 sitches per needle). You now have 44 body stitches.
12. Work body in k2-p2 rib (see how those extra four stitches just go right along in there?) to desired length. This is about an inch past the bottom of the palm if you want two pairs of small mitts out of your ball of yarn.
13. Bind off and Weave in ends. Use long tail in thumb to weave together thumb-body join snugly.

Now, I'm a pretty slow knitter, so you've still got time to knock out a couple of pairs of these for Christmas, if you need to! (and a huge Thank You to the lovely L, for editing the above!)

Happy holidays!