"Old knitters never die..."

The grandmother of one of my mom's friends recently died, and left a fairly big collection of needles. The granddaughter didn't know what on earth to do with them, so my mom took them for me. I know what to do with them.

I haven't quite finished sorting them all out because I've only used a UK gauge on them so far - I need to use my American gauge to determine more precisely the sizes of some of the needles. But a few things are clear. Firstly, I didn't need to buy two sets of 2.75mm DPNs at the store last Sunday (oh, well); secondly, I am not going to run out of sock needles anytime soon; and thirdly, my concerns about not having enough DPNs for a larger-than-four-people sock class have completely vanished.

Also in knitting inheritance news, a few weeks ago, the neighbour across the hall from my parents unfortunately died. Since then, my dad has been helping the woman's sons clean out her condo. Turns out she was a hoarder (we inherited a large package of toilet paper), and also a knitter. My mother says there are over 100 balls of yarn waiting for me to pick up when we have next have dinner at my parents'. (!!!) Most of it is acrylic, but some of it is wool, and a little bit of it is mohair. I'm going to keep a little bit of the stash for myself, but most of it is going to better causes:

Someone posted to the GTA forum on Ravelry telling the story of a librarian teacher at an inner city school (i.e. no money) in Toronto. She's started up a knitting club for the school kids in an effort to keep them out of trouble. 70 kids showed up on the first day to check it out. 40 kids signed up to be in the club on a long-term basis. This was a vastly larger turnout than they were expecting, so they're kind of screwed for needles and yarn for the kids. Therefore, I have emailed the teacher offering the excess of needles and yarn that I now have. (If you, too, have an excess of knitting supplies you'd like to donate, send me your email address at wipinsanity at gmail daht calm, and I'll pass it along to the teacher so she can get in touch with you.)

I love being able to help!

In other news, DH picked up some sock yarn at the store at the same time as he was shopping for my birthday gift. Funnily enough, it's the exact same yarn I used to make these socks for him. I taught him the long tail cast-on, told him how many stitches to cast on, and how to start the ribbing, and away he went on DPNs. He's very slow, but he's doing it. I'm so proud. (Pictures to come when there's something significant to photograph.)

Moving forward on my plans to try and make money from my knitting, I set up a business account at PayPal, and a free account at Payloadz. This combination will enable me to offer paid patterns for download! Very exciting stuff. I don't have anything to offer yet, but stay tuned.

Mendocino for DD1

On Monday, I finally got off my heinie while DD1 was at school and gave the thing a 45-minute soak in Eucalan. Then I blocked it, picking off as many bits of pumpkin patch dirt from DD1's field trip as possible. Therefore, I can now say that it is, at long last, officially finished! Hooray!

Photographs forthcoming - I don't think I have time to do them now because I'm trying to finish this entry before DD2 wakes up.

Lacy Ribs scarf for Mercedes

About a month ago I think it was, I blogged about having taken home some Nobile yarn from ONLine as a possible contender for a top I'm designing. It turned out not to be a good fit, so now I have this ball of Nobile sitting around not doing anything. Mercedes at the shop told me I could turn it into a scarf for her instead. So that's what I'm doing. I've cobbled together a bit of ribbing, garter stitch, and one of the lace motifs redacted from my daughter's fuzzy white blanket, and I'm getting something that looks pretty cool, although I'm still fiddling with the design in order to be able to get a full-sized scarf out of just two balls (there is not a whole lotta yardage with this yarn).

Once I finish the scarf, I'm going to write out the instructions and print off some copies for the store to sell. I'm also planning to make it available online as my first sellable item from my Payloadz account. I'm pretty excited about having a 'product'!

Doll's Wardrobe skirt for DD1's doll

Done!


front


back

Ain't it purty? One article of doll clothing down...two to go.

Inside-out comfort socks for BIL#1

A number of months back, my elder BIL was hanging out at our place, and I happened to look at his socks. I noticed pretty quickly that they were inside out. When I mentioned this to him, he was completely unsurprised, and revealed that he does that on purpose. That way, the smooth, comfortable stocking stitch side of the socks is touching his feet. Naturally I was instantly inspired to knit him a pair of socks where all the ends were woven in on the stocking stitch side, so that he could wear them with the reverse stocking stitch facing out without the socks looking so blatantly inside-out. In the summer I found some terrific sock yarn that I thought he would really like, so I decided to make him some "inside-out" socks for Christmas. This week, I started them. I am knitting them inside-out. No way am I going to purl an entire pair of socks.

They do seem a little big to me so far, though. I'm going to compare them to some of DH's socks to see if I need to rip back and stop the toe increasing earlier.

Fair isle tank top

To my disgust, I realised that I had misaligned the two different stranded motifs on the 18-month size, and had to rip back most of it. However, I've now finished the stranded colourwork component and am about to start on the skirt.

Elizabethan Jacket for MIL

The approach of Hallowe'en and the huge amount of Christmas projects I've taken on has thrown me into a bit of a Christmas panic. This panic gave me the chutzpah I needed to do the blocking last night (which also involved cutting two of the steeks). It looks absolutely marvellous - it blocked more-or-less to the required measurements and all the ugly rippling and puckering is gone:

Branching out for DD1's teacher

Bit by bit, I keep going on this.

Kilt hose

Last time I was at Knitters Attic, Mercedes said that someone had come into the shop asking about getting someone to knit kilt hose for their bagpiping troupe (or band, or something like that), and how much it would cost. Apparently they used to have a lady who made kilt hose for them, but she's died and they need someone else to do it. The guy dropped off an example of a sock she'd made to give us an idea of what needed to be done. I redacted the pattern and tried it out (I love a challenge). The result?





Not too shabby, eh? It may be acrylic, but it's really comfortable. I timed myself on how long the sock took - 5 hours and 45 minutes (more or less). That means I could do a pair in 11.5 hours.

What would you charge for something like that?

More goodies

Birthday largesse:

There you see a kit and needles for a lovely vintage knitted beaded bracelet and necklace (from my MIL); a newsletter from my MIL's LYS (for Christmas gift inspiration); a Patons poncho booklet which DD1 independently chose so that I would be able to knit her another poncho once she outgrows her current one; and, from my own little family, two balls of Meilenweit 50 Seta/Cashmere from Lana Grossa (65% virgin wool, 15% silk, 16% polyamide and 4% cashmere, for socks...I can only imagine how lovely they will feel on my feet).

More birthday largesse:

And here we have two treats for myself: On Your Toes sock yarn; plus June's (owner of my LYS) gift to me: five balls of Baby Micro, which I will use for a baby jacket I'm designing for my book.

My other birthday treat involved getting both girls down for naps and heading out to the LYS for about an hour, SOLO. I had a great time. Thanks, June and Mercedes!

I'm so lucky!

Calorimetry for DD1

I had so much of the Sirdar Click DK left over from my own Calorimetry that I thought, heck, why not make a mini one for my older daughter. The need was especially pressing since, at the time that I had this idea, she had a field trip to a pumpkin patch in about two days, and would be outside in damp, sorta-cold weather for a few hours. I cast on only 80 stitches instead of the pattern-instructed 120, and stopped the short-row decreasing when there were 26 stitches on each side of the stitch markers and 28 stitches in the middle. I think it took me about an hour to get done. DD1 chose a button, I sewed it on, and shazam...



She looks pretty cute in it, although we do need to remember not to put ponytails at the top of her head when she's going to wear it, as they make the band fall down too low:

Calorimetry for moi

I finished it super-fast, tried it on and was insanely disappointed. It was too wide and I looked supremely dorky in it. I did briefly consider posting a photo of me in it as proof of the dorkiness, but then realised that humiliating myself on a global scale was not my idea of fun.

Anyway, I ripped the whole thing out. Then, inspired by the success of DD1's mini-Calorimetry, I restarted with just 84 stitches in the cast on. I worked the short-row decreasing until I had 26 stitches on each side, with 34 in the middle. Result: a band that actually fits me, and lots of yarn left over.





Oh, and happy ears for me.

Branching out for DD1's teacher

A few more repeats have been done on this. Nothing huge, but progress is progress.

Fair isle tank top

I completed the 24-month size. It looked great, and took less than 3 balls of the main colour. I took all the necessary measurements, and a good photo, and then steeled my heart and ripped it all out. The 18-month size is now in progress.

Herdis for niece

No actual progress to report, but I did finally take a picture:

Doll clothes for DD1

Why do I keep piling on new Christmas knitting projects? However, this seemed like too good an idea to save until a birthday or next Christmas, so I've taken it on, too. (Also a good way to mow through small bits of stash.) I'm planning to do the "Jack and Jill" dress, the "Doll's Wardrobe" skirt, and the "Pixie Outfit" suit with hood from my Patons Beehive "Just for Dolls" booklet, in the medium size to fit her doll named Simone. I suspect it will all be a big hit.

Taking care of business

Last Wednesday, Mercedes at the shop felt me out about whether I'd be interested in maybe filling in for her on her days off.

Um...duh. :)

Obviously, I'd need some training as to how to ring people's purchases up, and on store policy/procedure, as well as a bit more instruction on where everything is, but hey...if they want me, I'm so totally there.

In other news, I'm pretty tickled that my Spanish Knight WIP comes up when you Google for the pattern. Carrie K, you should not be surprised that I'm still not done...I am totally stalling on it and I have no idea which Christmas is going to see my mom receiving it. Definitely not 2007, I can tell you that! (It's okay, I'm giving her something else nice.)

But onto Carrie's question...I've checked out the Hempathy yarn on Ravelry, and have looked at a bunch of projects that use it, and I think it would be a good yarn for the Spanish Knight sweater, yeah. The gauge is right, and Hempathy seems to show up cables really nicely, so I think you have a winner. Now, I've never felt that yarn, so I have absolutely no sense of how it's going to drape, but everything else about it seems to work, so if you think its drape will match with the sweater pattern, I say go for it.

Calorimetry for moi

I kill earmuffs. Seriously. Every pair of earmuffs I've ever had (that wasn't butt-ugly) has either been lost, or I've broken it. Even those wonderful earmuff earphones that I got last year as a Christmas present from my parents? Fell out of my coat pocket later in the winter and...gone. (The look on my dad's face when I told him this was sooo guilt-inducing. My stomach still sinks into my toes whenever I think about it.)

The really annoying part about this earmuff-losing talent of mine is that I really need earmuffs, because I have seriously wussy ears. Even with just a little bit of breeze and a hint of cold air, they start to hurt and I get a headache, and it's just not a good scene.

So here we are, as the cold weather begins once again, and I have already hurt my ears being out in the cold without any earmuffs. Therefore...Enough! Is! Enough! I resolved to whip myself up a Calorimetry quick-smart before things get any worse. So yesterday at the shop I went looking for some nice aran-ish weight yarn, and I got stuck. I couldn't decide between a really nice and inexpensive merino in forest green, or a lovely dark powdery purple which was a 70/30 acrylic/wool blend (also affordable). So, what the heck - I splurged and bought 'em both. I was originally thinking I'd make two, and then I realised that I could really do my ears a favour, and make a single, reversible band with a double thickness! Green on one side, purple on the other. Perfect!

It is knitting up astonishingly fast:



Although I don't know how big a fan I am of the purple now that I'm actually working with it...it seems a bit insubstantial and fluffy, in a 'hollow' kind of way, if that makes any sense. However, attached to the green merino (which is fantastic, although unfortunately now discontinued) I think it should be fine.

And hey, is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the clicking of the needles when doing 2x2 ribbing continentally taps out the beat of the "Mazel Tov" song from Fiddler on the Roof?

(Am I too weird?)

Herdis for niece

Rats. I forgot to take a picture of this for today's entry. Oh, well. You'll just have to imagine for yourself, then, how well the left front is coming along: I'm well into the neckline shaping. However, the project has once again stalled because I have cannibalized the needles for something else. Yes, I'm fickle. What of it?

Branching out for DD1's teacher

Coming along bee-yew-tifully!



The instructions call for 36 pattern repeats from a laceweight yarn, but I've done 12 repeats so far and I think I really just need about 24 or 25. So I'm very close to being done. Isn't it purty?

Fair isle tank top

And I'm working on this again. I decided to change the pattern (AGAIN) so that the yoke would have some negative ease (about 5-7%). And I think, think, that I have a final pattern. I'm now working on the 24-month size to determine the final yardage needs. Then of course, I'll do the 18-month size, and so on until I've got yardage requirements finalised for all five sizes. (Yes, I'm doing the largest ones first so that I finish garments more and more quickly the closer I get to the end. Less of a mental slog that way, I think.) I'm so excited about this design, so I really want to get this done fast so I can send it off.

Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover for DH

I'm back in the land of uncertainty.


(Sorry about the blurriness.)

See the light, thin strips in the dark blue stripes? That's me working the original ball of dark blue in with the new balls of navy blue in an effort to minimize the difference between the two colours. Unfortunately, in spite of my original hopes, the difference between the two dark blues is not minimal, so I don't think it's working. Bleah. So I'm not sure whether to keep going doing it this way, or to alternate stripes one new navy, one original dark blue. I think I'll do two sleeves two different ways and see which one I like best.

Again, bleah.

Goodies

One thing I forgot to mention in my last blog entry...adding myself as a 'designer' on Ravelry inspired me to write up the pattern for the Arabesque baby blanket I made last year and make it available for free. (Otherwise, I would have had only one design on my designer's page, which looks pretty lame. Admittedly, only two designs also looks pretty lame, but it's much better than having only one.) You can download the new pattern (in PDF format) from the sidebar. Hopefully, if anybody makes it, you'll drop me a line to let me know what you think of it.

To my utter astonishment, someone on Ravelry began to make a wrap using the stitch pattern because she says, "I just love the design!" - WOW! (She seems to have since changed her mind and deleted the project, but hey, it's the thought that counts.) CatBookMom thanked me for the pattern - you're welcome! As well, twelve people have put it in their Ravelry queue (waiting list). This makes me both completely flattered and excited, and unbelievably nervous at the same time. The absolute topper is that four Ravelrers have favourited the blanket project itself, and one of them - are you ready for this? - is Norah Gaughan.

Yes.

It's been several days since it happened, and I'm still plotzing about it.

And I got a giftie! Mercedes at the shop was getting herself some patterns and thought she'd get an extra copy of one that she figured I'd like. What a sweetie, eh? It's Desert Sun, from Goddess Knits. It's really beautiful - I don't know when exactly I'm going to make it, or what I will make it from, or whom it will be for, but it's definitely on the list.

In other news, the silver lining in DH's job running out is that he is now free on Wednesday nights. And that meant that I hightailed it over to Lettuce Knit last week for the SnB. Fun times, fun times!

Finally, as you can probably tell from the seriously long delay since my last blog post, I've been spending a lot of time on Ravelry. However, I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel with entering projects, stash and needles, so I think I'm slipping into a bit of a routine now and will probably spend a little less time there. It's still awesome, though. I'm finding people with the same knitting interests as me (hi, Brigitte!) and that means getting to see really cool projects. (Which of course means that I have now probably achieved PABLE - Project Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.)

Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover

So I took the two skeins of navy alpaca back to the shop to see if they would kill me if I tried to return them. Mercedes was all for it until she realised it had been a sale item - apparently the rule is, no return of sale items. She felt really bad about saying no and, from the look on her face, I'm sure I could have persuaded her to break the rule and make an exception for me, but I didn't mind in the slightest. It's a fair rule, and by enforcing it, she clamped down on my wishy-washiness and enabled me to make a decision: now I have to keep the yarn, so I might as well continue with my plan of making striped sleeves. I will hopefully get around to casting on for the first sleeve (with the navy) soon.

Herdis for niece

This progressed a wee bit more before I cannibalized the needles for another project. (I have no shame.) But then, after I was done with that, I picked Herdis back up again and finished the back:



I made an executive decision about the height of the back - it's supposed to be 16.5" long, and when you hold it up so that gravity is working on it (as it would when it's actually being worn), it certainly is 16.5" long. However, lying down, it's much less. (Such is the way of working with cotton.) I decided to pay attention to the worn-on-the-body measurement as opposed to the lying-on-the-ground measurement. I think this was the right decision.

I'm now in the process of casting on for the left front.

Fair isle tank top for DD2

This is the project for which I have been stealing needles from other projects (and ignoring other projects, too). Totally, totally worth it. I decided to use the Kool Kotton I had bought earlier in the year for another project for the main colour, and, because Kool Kotton isn't available in the contrast colour I wanted, some TLC Cotton Plus.

When I showed it to my husband after working on it for most of the day two Thursdays ago (I probably would have been able to complete it if I hadn't f**ked it up so many times, but as it is, I had a fair bit to be able to show him), he burst out into superlative praise.

I did the 12-month size, and then started on the 6-month. That was finished this weekend, and I tried it on my (soon-to-be-6-months-old-where-the-hell-does-the-time-go) baby daughter for a photo shoot. I think the effect is really adorable, and I got some meltingly cute shots of my baby. Alas, as much as I am chomping at the bit to share them with the entire world, I'm going to be submitting the pattern to Knitty, so unfortunately you will have to wait. (Unless the pattern gets rejected, in which case I will just self-publish it.)

Like, totally top

I found what I think will work as a substitute yarn! Mystik DK from Estelle. (I tried to take a picture, but it turned out badly.) What I'm actually thinking of doing is swatching this Mystik up to see if I get the same gauge as I did with the (discontinued) Schaffhauser St-Tropez Câblé that I originally wanted to use. If I do, then I'm thinking of using the St-Tropez for the model piece and recommending the Mystic DK as a substitute when I submit the pattern. Hopefully, this plan will work.

Branching Out for DD1's teacher

DD1 has spoken - we are going with the 'violet' colourway. The shop didn't have it, so they ordered it in at breakneck speed and it was in before the weekend.

The yarn is knitting up into just the most gorgeously soft, gossamery fabric, but it is heck to work with - I don't know about you, but I find fine laceweight yarn on 5mm needles to be awkward. So it's going pretty slowly. I'm willing to accept that, though, because the finished project is verrry nice:



I've set myself a goal of doing one 10-row repeat every day. At that rate, I'll be done by early-mid November - loads of time.

Foot-pampering socks for moi

This has come out again recently as something to do while hanging around supervising my older daughter. We've had gorgeous weather around here lately, and so we've been taking advantage of it by spending a lot of time at the local playgrounds. There's not much for me to do while DD1 clambers all over the ladders and bars and slides and whatnot, so when she's doing that, I've been working on the sock. (Naturally, the sock loses out when she wants to swing or play catch.) So it's starting to see some measurable progress:

(Still no steeking on the Elizabethan Jacket, though, sorry, Carrie K!)