They know what I like

So, as is traditional here on the blog, I present a visual of most of my knitting-related "haul" from the holiday season:

• from the daughters: two balls of pink "Zara" from Filatura di Crosa, a DK superwash merino
• from DH: two balls of "Clown" from Marks & Kattens, a cotton/wool/nylon blend sock yarn, self-striping, in white and dark pink
• from my mom: two balls of "Sock it to me 4 Ply" from elann.com, a superwash wool/nylon blend sock yarn, in aubergine
• from my mom: two balls of "Pure Bamboo" from elann.com, a 100% bamboo sock yarn, in wine
• from my mom: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's latest book, "Free Range Knitter"
• from my mom: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's "Never Not Knitting" 2009 calendar
• from my mom: the fall 2008 issue of Vogue Knitting International
• (not pictured because I'm an idiot and forgot about it when I gathered everything up for the picture-taking) from my brother: Nicky Epstein's "Knitting on the Edge" book
• (also not pictured) from my brother: Nicky Epstein's "Knitting over the Edge" book

Obviously, I'm quite happy. I was, however, pretty confused as to why my husband got me white-and-dark-pink sock yarn. Pink is not a colour I am particularly fond of, and he knows this. Getting pink yarn from my daughters was not a surprise, since my older daughter chose the colour she liked best, and that means I get pink. :) From my husband, though, yes, somewhat surprising. It turns out that he totally thought, looking at the yarn in the shop, that it was red and white, and therefore assumed that I would adore it. He was kind of distressed when I broke it to him that the hue was really pink, and offered to exchange it. But I told him no - the yarn had already inspired me with a design idea which I'll talk more about a little later on.

Another surprise was that the sock yarn my mom gave me was originally intended to be actual socks! Unfortunately, she just couldn't get comfortable with the small size of the crochet hook which was required for the thin weight of the sock yarn, so she gave up, unravelled everything she'd done, and gave me the yarn straight up instead. ("Bartender! Sock yarn, straight up, with a twist!") This was further proof to me that the woman needs to get herself a Ravelry account - she could simply have gone in, searched for crochet sock patterns in a yarn weight she was more comfortable with, and whammo! Patterns. She gave me a tolerant smile when I mentioned this, but I may have managed to intrigue her. We'll see.

My brother bought the Nicky Epstein books from my LYS, and he said that when he went there to shop, he was looking pretty grungy. Kathy and June (the owner) were both there at the time, and evidently looked like they were wondering what he was doing there...until he said, "I think you know my sister?" and identified me by name. :) These were the magic words which proved he was in the right place, and it sounds like they had a grand old time picking out gifts for me. (They got it right...I love the books, thanks guys!)

But the knitting-related haul was not limited to me - I also gave yarn to my husband. To explain the significance behind this specific yarn, I need to give you the back story. Does anybody remember the scarf he designed and made for me? It's really nice, nothing too fancy, nothing too challenging, cable-wise, and it's totally unisex. For some time we've been talking about how he should write up the pattern instructions and sell them. After my husband's mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, I mentioned that I wanted to design something and sell the pattern as a fundraiser for a charity such as The Lung Association. He was incredibly touched, but was adamant that the pattern which should be sold as the fundraiser should be his scarf pattern, which totally made more sense.

So for Christmas, I gave him three skeins of Cascade 220 in a really nice, masculine grey. He was really, really happy about them, and loves the feel of the yarn so much that he started waxing poetic about it and telling me that he now understands the addictive qualities of yarn and how people end up with huge stashes.

Muahahahaha. And his conversion is complete. I win. (As long as our individual stashes are clearly delineated, of course.)

So on Boxing Day I sat down and interpreted his pattern notes into chart form, and we started hashing out how the final pattern should work (the original scarf used some unorthodox methods of cable crossing - such as doing it on wrong-side rows - that I recommended he change). I did some swatching to show him how things could work, and last night he cast on and started it up. (I did offer to do it for him to make things go faster, but he's really into this yarn!) I'm really excited about this project! I'll definitely post about it here when it's available for sale. DH is kind of a slow knitter, though, so don't hold your breath. :)

Toddler socks for DD2

I don't think I mentioned that I finally found these socks! There were unfortunately more ends to weave in than I remembered, but after one commuter train trip, they were all taken care of, and I had a lovely pair of finished socks. DD2 really likes them ("Mummy? Ocks!"), which I love.

And speaking of appreciated Christmas gifts...they all were. :) DD1 loved her socks, DH adored his, BIL laughed out loud at his AFK hat and plonked it on his head right away, and I got a very appreciative thank-you card from DD1's teacher for the wristwarmers and toque. (It was of course addressed to DD1, but since it talked about how much she appreciated all the effort and thoughtfulness that went into handmaking the gift, I took that as an expression of gratitude to me. :)

Fjalar for moi

This continues apace...the ribbing is done and I'm now working on the stocking stitch stretch. I did freak out a bit when I realised that I'd have to fairly precisely figure out when to stop knitting in the round for the armscyes (I'm definitely not steeking this thing) - Lavold never seems to include schematics in her patterns, which makes adjustments way harder - but I think I've got it vaguely worked out now. I'm also going to add about three inches to the overall length so that it's as long as I want it.

Even with the increased length, though, I'm hopeful that I'll have at least three balls left over. Here's where I am now, and I haven't run out of my third ball yet:



So I think the odds are somewhat decent, especially since the neckline is a low V-neck. What I want to do with the leftover yarn is a sweater for my older daughter - the colour will be devastatingly good on her, and there's a cable pattern in one of my books that I've been wanting to try for a long time. Stay tuned.

Summer top for DD2

So what's a knitter to do with sock yarn that's in a colour she's not wild about?



Make something for her kid, of course! This is a cotton/wool/nylon blend with the cotton feeling very dominant, so I think it would be fine for a summer top. I'm swatch-experimenting right now with a smocking-ish pattern from one of my stitch libraries, which I've modified to better suit my purposes. So far, I'm cautiously pleased.

What I'm hoping is that 100g of this stuff is enough to make a 2-year size, which means a) that it'll fit my kid; and b) that I can do up a pattern for sizes ranging from 3 months to 2 years and still only require that people have enough yarn as would make an adult pair of socks. I love it when I can do that - it opens up whole new possibilities for people for their sock yarn stashes.

Silver linings

It's nice to know that even when bad things happen, wonderful things can happen at the same time, too. I'm really getting into the Christmas spirit over here at Insanity Headquarters, and nifty stuff has been popping up everywhere.

For instance, one of the few nice things about funerals is that you get to see family and friends, and my mother-in-law's service was no exception. DH's family is really, really fantastic - a wonderful clan of people that I truly enjoy spending time with, and whom I'm proud to call family. I'm very blessed. Of course, some of them have received knitted love from me over the years. One of these is DH's cousin, whose first daughter (born several years ago) received three double-faced bibs of my own design. This cousin now has a second daughter, and at the reception, he (the cousin, not his daughter) was very keen on telling me that not only are the bibs still going strong, but they are - get this - the BEST BIBS that they own. I seriously could not have been more delighted and thrilled. Not only are they big enough to catch all spills, but apparently they are IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE BABY TO PULL OFF. (Even if you're not a parent, I'm sure you can appreciate what a bonus that is.) Also, said cousin told me that the yarn is so good that you can have the bibs wadded up all glopped up with dried-on food for a week and they still come out beautiful after washing. (Unfortunately, the yarn was a one-off, no-name, on-the-cone eBay purchase some years ago, so I can't tell you all where to find it.) GLEE!

Also, my husband reported this week that our neighbour's son - who was the inspiration for the KWB/TSF Hat and the recipient of the original prototype for that pattern - was witnessed a few weeks ago actually WEARING THE HAT while shovelling his driveway one morning. I don't mind admitting that I squealed and did a little dance upon hearing this news. It's actually getting USED! By a teenage boy! A hat! Be still my heart.

And speaking of the KWB/TSF Hat, we're getting close to the end of the year now, so this week I withdrew all the profits which have been accumulating from sales of the pattern, and donated them to MSF. The total? $371.69. I'm extremely happy about this, particularly when you consider that it's money I pulled out of basically nowhere using just my brain, yarn and needles, and the power of the Internet. Stunning. Hopefully next year I will be able to give even more.

By the way, I think I forgot to mention a few weeks ago that I put up a video on YouTube demonstrating the cast-on that I use in the KWB/TSF Hat pattern. It's really hard to come up with good written instructions to get the concept for this cast-on across, and apparently my original instructions just weren't cutting it, because a few of the people who were trying to make the hat were expressing confusion. So I whipped up the video. Many thanks go to my mom, who lent me her digital camera for the purpose. (My digital camera does do video, but without sound, which is kind of pointless.)

Ilaisa's Wristies for Mrs. C

All done!



I think they look nice.

Ilaisa's Loose Toque for Mrs. C

There was so much yarn left over after I finished the fingerless gloves for DD1's teacher that I decided to try and do a matching beret. I tried to convert the basic measurements of the Fern Glade beret pattern (fitted size) over to a worsted weight on 4.5mm needles using the stocking stitch/bell ribbing combination from the wristwarmers. The bad news is that this didn't quite work the way I wanted, and I ended up with a loose kind of toque instead of a beret. The good news (aside from having enough yarn to finish) is that the hat still ended up looking pretty cute.


front view


side view


brim detail

So I've made the pattern available for free. Enjoy.

AFK Hat for BIL #2

Another Christmas knitting project done!



I think it's really funny. Hopefully, he will too.

(AFK stands for "Away From Keyboard". Perfect for the Internet-addicted when they need to go outside in the cold.)

Fjalar for moi

The very last knitting-related gift that I ever received from my mother-in-law was for my birthday. It contained - among other things - ten balls of Sirdar "Escape", which is a niftily-variegating (one ply stays the same colour, the second ply changes slowly) DK weight yarn in a 51% wool/49% acrylic blend. I like it a lot, especially since she was very insistent that whatever I made out of it had to be for me. :) Before she died, I'd decided to make Elsebeth Lavold's Fjalar sweater with the yarn, but because of all the Christmas knitting which had to be done, I hadn't had a chance to cast it on yet. (Which I had to guiltily admit to her when she asked me about it at our final visit.)

Now, however, the Christmas knitting is practically finished, so I can do whatever the heck I want, knitting-wise. And this is definitely what I want to do. I've adapted it a touch so I can knit it in the round. I also had to ignore part of the setup instructions in the pattern in order to make it look right (beginners would unfortunately probably be pretty screwed and confused). However, I really, really like how it's coming along:


(it's over an inch longer now, though)

I only wish she could see it.

P.S. Have you seen this yarn? I think it's hilarious.

This Christmas cometh, and that right soon

Firstly, I'd really like to thank those of you who sent messages of sympathy, either in the comments or privately. They were lovely and heartening to read. Sadly, my dear mother-in-law died last Tuesday. I'm so glad she's not suffering anymore, but I will miss her very much, and I'm very sad that she missed seeing Christmas. She loved this time of year. Shopping and giving were sources of tremendous enjoyment for her, and of course she loved having family about, especially the grandkids.

So it looks like Christmas will be at our house this year, for the first time. We're therefore in a bit of a mad frenzy to make sure that the house is presentable and (if necessary) sleep-over-able. Also, since Christmas is here at home, my husband and I have decided to do stockings for the kids. We've never done this before, because we've always slept over someplace else on Christmas Eve, but now we'll do the whole cookies-and-milk-for-Santa thing and it'll be great fun. My husband is particularly delighted - it's a little spark of fun joy during a tough time.

All these changes of plans have necessitated a change to some of my knitting plans, especially with just over two weeks to go. (Two weeks? TWO WEEKS?!? Deep breaths. Ohmmmmm...)

Ragna for my brother

This has been officially shelved. I'm sad about that, because it's working out to be a terrific sweater, but I'm having technical difficulties with the front and back - they're both finished; but the two sides of the back neck opening have ended on two different rows of the pattern; which is a different row again from where I ended the front. I'm not quite sure how I managed to do this, but I don't really have the time to find out, particularly with two whole sleeves left to go. Given the situation right now, I'm all about the minimization of my personal stress, so I'm going to carry this project forward to next year. I'm sad about this, but there are a few silver linings. Firstly, I found my notes for how long the sleeves are supposed to be, so I'll be in good shape to get this finished up in the new year; and secondly, I have an excellent substitute gift that my brother will love. Shh.

Ilaisa's Wristies for Mrs. C

I had a heart-stopping moment this week when I was going over the master plan for all the Christmas gifts and realised I'd forgotten about DD1's teacher.

Way to go, brain.

Fortunately, I was able to come up with a solution: I'm using Myrrhia Resneck's Ilaisa's Wristies pattern, which is a free fingerless gloves pattern that looks pretty fantastic. It has instructions to accommodate FIVE different yarn weights - how awesomely versatile is that? I'm going to be using the three skeins of Phildar Exciting yarn that I bought at Value Village this summer. It's a really silky 51/49 blend of wool and viscose with lovely, soft variegating colours. I swatched it up and showed it to DD1, and she approved. (If she hadn't, I had a backup plan to use some of the cone of aqua wool/angora/nylon (I think that was the blend, anyway) laceweight that June gifted me with a while back...this fortunately turned out to be unnecessary, but how cool is that, that I could've substituted a laceweight if the worsted hadn't worked out?)

They work up really damn quickly:



That is one completed glove (minus the weaving in of ends, which I have tucked out of sight for the sake of a pretty picture) and about five rows done on glove #2. This represents one day of commuting time. Not bad, eh?

They're a little loose on me, but I'm pretty sure the teacher's hands are bigger than mine, so hopefully the fit will be ideal.

Christmas socks for DH

Done! I've wrapped them up but unfortunately all our gift tags seem to have relocated somewhere and I have no idea where. I blame DH. He's promised to find them. I have stashed the gift bag in the armoire in the meantime. Once I do finish the wrapping, I shall put the gift under the tree, and hope like heck that my toddler doesn't start opening all the gifts and spreading their contents throughout the house.

Edit a few minutes later: Just realised that I hadn't actually talked about these socks on the blog before blogging about finishing them. Brilliant. This was one of the things I'd been knitting on which I didn't feel like talking about in my previous post. Started them up on November 24, worked on them during my commute, and bingo-bango-bongo, they were done 10 days later. I used the OnLine Supersocke 100 Afrika Color 89 yarn that I'd gotten from The Studio at a ridiculously discounted sale price earlier in the year. I like them a lot and I think DH will too. The socks are, as is usual for me, precisely identical...except for being mirror images of each other. Gosh, I'm anal.

Toddler alpaca socks

This pair is destined for DD2, and might even turn out to be a Christmas gift (especially if I can't find the almost-finished socks that I was planning to give her for Christmas but which have now mysteriously disappeared). But mostly I'm making these socks so I can know exactly how much leftover yarn there will be to make Barbie clothes for my older daughter. The Barbie clothes plan is another Christmas gift. I'll be running around gathering up yarn leftovers here and there for them...as soon as I can find the #*@#$*&!!!-ing pattern book with all the instructions for the clothes in it. Also mysteriously unfindable. Particularly mysterious when you consider that I have TWO COPIES of the damn booklet.

Christmas socks for DD1

Finished these toward the end of November and I love them EVEN MORE than I did while making them. They are gorgeous and fun and vibrant and perfect for my kid. They are also wrapped in a gift baggie without a tag, which is hiding in my garb armoire. (I write the location of all these gifts in this blog not because you actually care, but for my own reference when panic because I can't remember where they're hidden.) I know she will love them. Can't wait!

AFK hat for BIL#2

My younger BIL is very into World of Warcraft. What I really want to get him for Christmas is a T-shirt customized to his character (guild, alliance, etc.). However, I have run into a serious snag - I have zero information about his character. And this is not for lack of trying! I have used all my Interweebs stalking skills to try and find out ANYTHING that would be helpful, with zero results. He mentions absolutely nothing about his WOWing on Facebook or Twitter. I can't find any friends on either of those sites that I can either positively identify as people he knows through WOW or who are close enough to him that they'd know anything about his character. I've tried to find him on the main WOW message boards. I've tried to find him on the message boards for his favourite WOW podcast. Alas, the dude has made himself totally stalker-proof, WOWly speaking. AUGH!

So the very least I can do is to whip him up a hat and do "<AFK>" in duplicate stitch at the front. It's a pathetic backup plan to my original cool gift idea, but it's all I've got at this point. (Well, that plus a few other geeky gifts that should tickle his fancy.)

(Oh, and by the way? If it seems like a lot of things seem to disappear around here? You're right. Story of my life. Along with things like visiting Spain and getting a book published, one of my major goals is to actually, finally, get my $#!+ together before I shuffle off this mortal coil. At this point, winning the lottery seems more likely, but I continue to try.)