Squee!

(No photos today, sorry, I'm trying to get this posted quickly...next time.)

Earlier this week, I was overcome with delight when I discovered (through Ravelry, of course) that someone is using my Arabesque Baby Blanket pattern. You can see her latest project update. I'm so excited!

She has two complaints about it, other than the usual "damn, but baby blankets are big and take forever" thing (which I can't do anything about, obviously):

1. The chart is too small
2. She loses count when doing the lace rows

She makes excellent points.

Speaking to the chart size, the motif is big, which means there's a lot of chart to fit on the page, which translates into small squares on the chart, which means it can be hard to read. My apologies to any future users of this pattern who also encounter this problem, but since most people don't have printers which can take ledger-size paper (nor do most people have ledger-size paper in the first place), I had to stick with a printout size of 8.5x11", and that limits how big I can make the chart on the page. Maybe enlarging it with a photocopier would do the trick, if you don't mind your chart in pieces?

As for losing count, stitch markers between pattern repeats would definitely come in handy for anybody who is losing track of any pattern. In hindsight, I should have suggested using stitch markers for this purpose in my instructions, but I am one of those weird people who almost never needs to use stitch markers for that kind of thing, so I tend to forget to mention it when instructing others.

However, all in all, she seems to be loving the blanket and she says that it's pretty, which puts me over the moon. I can't wait to see the finished product. (And I really, REALLY can't wait to see her baby - once it's finished gestating - using the finished product.)

But wait...there's more!

Today (also on Ravelry), I got a message from Patrick at Village Yarns in Toronto. He wants to make the Arabesque blanket too, and display it in the shop along with a reference copy of the pattern instructions.

Be still my beating heart. Multiple people want to make my design? The hell you say! I'm THRILLED.

And speaking of my designs...

Mitred blanket for Raymond

This is coming along very nicely indeed, although I am using up far more yarn than I anticipated. (Fortunately, the LYS has set aside extra in the correct dyelot and will reserve it for me as needed. Phew!) I'm now working on the second half of the blanket, and it's looking great.

Leafy baby poncho

I worked and worked on the poncho, enough to realise that there wouldn't be enough yarn to make a 24-month size, but that I would be able to make an 18-month size. Having established that fact, I ripped it back to where I needed to start the garter stitch hem for the 12-month size (to fit my baby daughter), and then finished it up. I tried it on my kid. It looked incredibly cute, and even let her move her arms around (which I was a bit worried about). Unfortunately, the neckhole was too small - it wasn't actually strangling her, but it was too close for my taste. This also resulted in some difficulty getting it to fit over the shoulders - you could do it, but it took some tugging. So I decided to rip it all back and start again with a bigger neckhole, and varying the circumference for each size. That way, it can just fit straight over the babies' heads without needing to bother with putting a zipper in (which was my original plan).

So I am starting with the 24-month size, in the hope that the new, bigger neckhole might free up enough stitches to have enough yarn to do the whole thing. If not, then I'll know I can still only get an 18-month size max, and then I'll rip that out (I am so not looking forward to that point) and start all over again with the 12-month size as the model piece for my daughter to wear.

This has clearly turned into a bigger project than I bargained for. However, I'm still ahead of The Schedule, so I'm not worried.

Child Legs for DD1

The first leg has grown quite a bit, it's at least a foot long now. I tried it on my daughter today and it fits really well. She also really likes it, although she wants it to come right up to the top of her leg instead of mid-thigh (which was my original plan). Hopefully there will be enough yarn to do this. Speaking of which, I should really weigh what's left of the ball to see whether I'm at the halfway point yet.

Oil slick rainbow socks for moi

I needed the long DPNs that this project was using, and I had a not-in-use set of short DPNs kicking around the house, so I traded. And then after I traded I figured, "Oh, what the hell," and started knitting a bit more on these socks. (No self control.) As a consequence, I'm about a half-inch from starting the heel.

It's not always about me

As I've previously mentioned, a few years ago, my husband decided to learn how to knit, for the purposes of, as he put it, "self defence". Actually, there were more reasons than just that. He, being a sweet and caring man, knew that knitting was vitally important to me, and therefore wanted to know more about it for my sake. (Awww.) As well, he wanted some golf club head covers and really liked the idea of making them for himself.

He's turned out to be a remarkably fearless knitter. His second project (still unfinished, alas) was a cabled scarf for me, the pattern for which he made up himself. His third project was a basketweave scarf for our elder daughter, again, making up the pattern. (The fact that the basketweave stitch pattern has been around for a long time is of no consequence as far as my being impressed with him is concerned...he still invented it out of his own head without knowing about it beforehand.) His actual knitting is slowly done, he still keeps a death grip on the needles, and his gauge needs to be more onsistent, but his grasp of the basic concepts is strong and he has absolutely no problem with diving right in and inventing his own patterns. He is truly a wonder.

Lately, he's been picking my brains about socks. Partly because he wanted to start making socks for himself, and partly because he wanted to surprise me with socks for Christmas. (One has been made so far. It fits great.) Finally I told him that he could stop knitting just because I like knitting. However, it's too late. He is now, by his own admission, hooked.

[insert evil laugh here]

(Sadly I cannot show you photos of all the great stuff he's working on. He went to work and took all four of his current WIPs with him in case business gets slow. Perhaps another time.)

Socks are particularly obsessive for him, he tells me. This week he dropped by the LYS and picked up a 100g ball of some self-patterning 'On Your Toes' because the two pairs he's currently got on the needles are not enough. Have I created a monster? Perhaps.

He has become rather frustrated with the scarf he's knitting for me, though. It's now reached a stage where the length is a hindrance, and apparently (he tells me), men cannot sit with their legs closed - not only because they don't want to squoosh their goolies, but also because their hips just don't like being placed that way. (Who knew.) So the scarf keeps falling through his lap and pulling on his needles, which of course is a hindrance to the knitting. Last night as he was knitting, this happened to him one too many times, and in frustration he cried out,

"Get out from between my legs, you great big floppy thing!"

Ahem.

So anyway, back to me...

I self-published a pattern! It's the Lacy Ribs Scarf I recently finished - the weather finally cleared up enough on Wednesday that DH and I could go outside and do a decent photoshoot.


'in action'


pattern detail

If you'd like it, there's a 'buy now' link in the sidebar, or you can follow the link to the pattern page and click the 'available for purchase' link from there. Whether or not you feel like buying it, please feel free to comment on what you think of it...and do be honest. I'm on enough of a high from selling several copies already (holy cow, that is an AWESOME feeling!) that hopefully, even vitriolic criticism wouldn't bring me down too much. :)

Actually, I'm on a bit of a self-publishing kick right now...

Leafy baby poncho

I have already deviated from the 2008 Schedule. (You knew I would. However, it's pretty shocking how early in the year it happened.) I was going through the sock yarn display at Knitter's Attic, and came across a skein of On Your Toes that had lots of pinks and pale yellows and aquas in it. I held it up and remarked on what a truly 'girly' colourway it was, and how it could be turned into some great leggings for my eldest one day, or maybe a shrug, or something. You know. At some point in the future.

"Take it home," said June (the owner). "Make up your own shrug pattern, we'll display the model in the shop."

(You see how I am surrounded by temptation? Even my friends aren't helping me to be good.)

But I was strong. I did not yield. I put down the ball and left it there when it was time for me to go home.

Not an hour after I walked into the door of my house, I was seized with total inspiration to make a top-down baby poncho out of the sock yarn. I knew exactly how I was going to construct it, and how I wanted the lace pattern to look, and DAMMIT, the sock yarn was still sitting in the shop! Augh!

In the absence of the yarn to make the poncho, I grabbed some spare yarn and started fiddling with the pattern idea I had in mind. After many frustrating attempts, I triumphed and got the look I was going for. Alas, the yarn was still at the shop and I had to wait a few days before I could go in and pick it up. But once I did, I started it right up and am currently cruising at a wingspan of about 8 inches. I like it a lot. With any luck, there will be enough yardage in the ball to make a poncho that fits my younger daughter so that she can be the model when I self-publish the pattern. Whee!

Mitred baby blanket for Raymond

Being distracted by irresistible inspirations for other patterns has fortunately not hindered momentum on this project. It's going very well, and I'm actually ahead of Schedule with it - I finished this week's quota last night, five days ahead of when I had to.

I'm very eager to get this thing finished, photographed, and available for purchase. The construction of the blanket is so nifty that I can't wait to share.

But it's not all mercenary around here. I have been doing other stuff.

Anniversary socks for DH

I finished these! It took a little finagling with the yarn to make everything stripe exactly like the first sock, but they turned out great. I really, really like the way this yarn striped.



They are now hiding from DH in one of the baskets beside the living room futon. (I write that not for your own edification, but for mine. I can easily see myself tearing the house apart on the eve of our anniversary next month trying to find where the hell I put them, unless I write it down here.)

Paisley Long Shawl

I mentioned in my description of the Christmas haul that I had received (from my wonderful MIL) a kit to make the Paisley Long Shawl from Fiddlesticks Knitting. The yarn that came with the kit was three skeins of 'Ruby'. This is an unutterably gorgeous wine-red. However, I had something different in mind. I wanted to make it out of three colours, blending and gradiating across the length of the shawl: 'Mahogany' (a plum), Ruby, and 'Cinnabar' (a lovely red with an almost indiscernable hint of brownishness). Fortunately, June at Knitter's Attic was extremely generous (considering that the kit was bought at another shop), and let me exchange my two extra skeins of Ruby for the Mahogany and Cinnabar. I think the colour effect is going to be stunning:



I wish I could say that I was going to start it soon, but it is sooo outside the realm of my 2008 Schedule, which really can't take too much more after-the-fact modification. Alas. (Sob.)

Child Legs for DD1

This has become my 'purse project' - the one I stash in my purse for emergency knitting needs. :) As such, it's seen a few inches' growth recently.

Ragna for my brother

Last week sometime, I think it was, I made the BRILLIANT move of going to the LYS with a knitting bag packed chock-a-block with projects...but not their patterns.

(Seriously. Could I be any more dumbass?)

Fortunately, Ragna was one of the projects, and I'm at the point where I'm just repeating the cable pattern over and over again until I hit a length somewhere past two feet. It's easy to look at the cabling that's already there and figure out from that what to do next, so it was the only project I was able to work on. I probably got about another inch or so done. (It's so hard to concentrate on knitting when you're in a yarn store that needs help putting the stock on the shelves. :)

Happy New Year

Let the record show that I finished my 2007 Christmas knitting a week before Christmas. Yes. I can scarcely believe it myself. I'm not going to gloat any more than that, though, otherwise the fates will squash me next Christmas.

Although, I rather think the fates are already squashing me, albeit in a different way. I am (hopefully) at the tail end of cold #4 since October. It SUCKS.

As far as the Christmas knitting went, everything was extremely well received. DD1's teacher thought the scarf was really beautiful (DD1 said there was gasping upon the first sighting, excellent). MIL adored her cardigan/jacket. My mom appeared delighted with the shawl and marvelled over the feel of the yarn. My daughter was totally excited about the dolly clothes and has been playing dressup frequently since we got back home from the Christmas visiting. DH adores his sweater and was actually totally surprised by it, despite dumbass moves on my part during its making, such as accidentally leaving the pattern lying out in full sight. BIL seemed marginally pleased with his socks (intense emotional reactions to good things are not his style).

So, a success, right? Not by half.

Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover for DH

I was able to sneak over to my mom's place and block the sweater there a week before Christmas. The next evening we were at my parents' place, so she packed it up and covertly handed it off to me when we arrived. DH never saw a thing.


front


back

Looks pretty good, eh? What could be wrong with it? Well, remember how I realised about halfway through DH's sweater that it was measuring too small? How I ripped everything back and started all over using the large instructions to make it wide enough?

Yeah. Well, it's too big.

I could scream. I mean, he is crazy loving the sweater, and totally doesn't care that it's a little sloppy, but I care...rather desperately, actually. This is a sweater that is supposed to cling gently (and hotly) to the male torso. The loose fit gives it a completely different look, which - while kinda nice - is not the one I was going for. (I was going for the hotness.) I am seriously tempted to knit the whole thing all over again. DH has told me not to be silly, but I'm sure I could steal it back from him without his noticing.

But wait...it gets better.

Elizabethan Jacket for MIL

This was brought out of its giftwrapping to the tune of delighted exclamations and superlative compliments. After all the gifts were unwrapped, my MIL immediately picked it back up so she could try it on.

Well.

Firstly, it took her about 10 minutes to undo all the buttons. (They may have been a tad too tight for the buttonholes. However, they were such a perfect match to the cardigan that I couldn't resist using them. Besides, I didn't find it that difficult to shove them through the buttonholes. Unfortunately, as my husband pointed out, I am not in my mid-70s with arthritis starting to affect my manual dexterity. Crap. I never thought of that.)

Secondly...once the thing was on, it was too small to button up the front. It just sits there open, gaping widely. I made the correct size, I got gauge, I blocked to measurements...but it's still too small. Figure that.

However, although my sense of perfection is deeply offended by this, I'm not that worried, because first of all, it being too small to fasten means she never has to struggle with the buttons, and secondly, it is totally more her style to wear it like a blazer. So, even though I screwed up, I win.

Now, of course, it's time to look ahead to the new year. And that means...(ominous musical chord)...looking at The Schedule.

You may have noticed that my sidebar here is filled with serious Schedule backlog. There were many projects I planned to do this year that I shamelessly threw over in favour of other projects. This is, of course, not how The Schedule is supposed to work. I am supposed to stick with it, otherwise it is pointless and I go back into my bad habit of making my husband a knitting widower. (Which actually happened hardly at all this year, despite my lack of respect for The Schedule.)

So, the question I must answer is, is there any point to making a Schedule for 2008, if I totally blew it in 2007?

The first step is to figure out what I want to accomplish this year.

• ASAP: blanket for the hopefully soon-to-be adopted son of one of my best friends (estimate: 7 weeks)
• ASAP: Girlfriend Shrug for DD1 before she grows out of the damn thing (estimate: 2 weeks)
• February 17: anniversary socks for DH (estimate: 1 week)
• April sometime: vest for myself (estimate: 3 weeks)
• spring/summer: Wheelie (estimate: 1 week)
• May 25: Muppet Roadkill blanket for DD1 (estimate: 2 weeks)
• June 5: birthday socks for DH (estimate: 1 week)
• Christmas: Ragna sweater for my brother (estimate: 8 weeks)
• Christmas: something out of the Sea Silk for my mom (estimate: 3 weeks)
• Christmas: something for my MIL (estimate: 7 weeks)
• Christmas: socks for my dad (estimate: 1 week)
• date unknown: thank-you sweaters (2) for the kids of the friend who gave me all their hand-me-down clothes this year (a lifesaver, Kathy, if you're reading this, I seriously can't thank you enough) and refused to take any money from me (estimate: 7 weeks)
• date unknown: 'Like, totally' top of my own design (estimate: 4 weeks)
• date unknown: two more patterns for my book (estimate: 6 weeks)
• date unknown: one or two cute things for DD2 (estimate: 3 weeks)
• date unknown: leggings for DD1 (estimate: 1 week)
• date unknown: Ljod (estimate: 3 weeks)

Result: I'm overloading myself by two months. Some things are going to have to go.

Non-project items on my list include:

• learn to knit stranded with the left hand holding both strands
• put together a lace knitting class
• write up my lacy ribs scarf pattern and start selling it

I know there are more, but I can't remember them right now.

So all in all, a damn full year. Might be worth writing up a new Schedule after all.

Jack and Jill dress for DD1's doll

This was the last thing I finished. One week before Christmas, I borrowed a crochet hook from my mom, finished off the back opening, found some buttons, and sewed them on.


front


back

Very cute stuff. Fits the doll I intended it for perfectly. DD1 adores it.

Self-patterning socks #whatever for DH

As promised, I ripped back everything I'd done on the first sock (almost the whole foot before the heel turn) and started again with four metal needles. The first sock is now done, and I'm working on the heel of the second.



I really, really like the striping on this one. It takes a really long time to come around to the beginning again. The only weird thing is that the first repeat on the first sock is the reverse of all the other repeats for (as far as I can tell) the rest of the ball. So I'm going to have to do something clever after I turn the heel of the second sock to make it stripe in the right direction up the leg. But that shouldn't be too hard. I'll have loads of yarn left over, too.

Ragna for brother

Once I finished all the Christmas knitting, I started working on this guilt-free. But I stopped working on it once Christmas came because we were spending a lot of time at my parents' place, and it doesn't really make a lot of sense to work on your brother's Christmas present in front of your brother. Still, a very good head start has been made on Christmas 2008:

A Very Harlot Poncho

This has seen a fair bit of action over the holidays. Whether it was because everything else was all packed up in the car ready to go for the various trips; or because it was something I could work on in front of other people without worrying about giving away a surprise; or because it was just mindless, stress-free knitting; it got attention.



Consequently, it's much closer to actually being finished...which probably means that I'll be packing it away soon, and it won't see the light of day again for about a year.

Child legs for DD1

So I was looking at my new ball of Trekking XXL, and it occurred to me how many of the colours also appear in DD1's favourite skirt. And then I wondered, why should I have to make socks with this? What if I made a child version of Baby Legs? She could wear them with the skirt, maybe over white tights, and it would look super-cute and swizz.

So I cast on.

I went for at least three inches wondering when the colourway would cycle around to the beginning again, until I remembered that I'd read on a number of blogs that Trekking doesn't repeat! So I became zen with the idea of fraternal leggings, and continued on.



They are going to look awesome when they're finished. I'll post exactly what I'm doing to make them once they're all done, but really, it's just two 2x2 ribbed tubes wide enough to fit your kid's thigh.

Self-patterning socks for moi/Turquoise child legs for DD1

My MIL, lovely lady that she is, gave us a sum of cash (among other things) for Christmas, and told us to go out and have fun with it. So on New Year's Eve, we packed up the kids and headed to Pizza Hut (DD1's favourite restaurant). We had an absolutely lovely time - DD1's behaviour was impeccable, and DD2 was actually interested in the different surroundings and did not make strange with the people making goo-goo eyes at her. (!!!) We did have an incident when she barked her chin on the table, but some Mummy Hugs(TM) soothed her in fairly short order.

Anyway, I was knitting on the turquoise self-striping socks I'd started a while ago while we were waiting for the pizza to arrive, and I started questioning why I was making them. I wasn't as jazzed by the striping as I thought I was going to be (why does sock yarn sometimes look so different in ball form than in sock form?) and didn't see myself loving the socks too much when they were finished. Then I thought about the leggings I was making for DD1 out of my new Trekking XXL, and suddenly...I knew I wanted to make leggings out of this turquoise yarn, too.

I thought about it a minute, ran the idea past DH (who was sad because he hates the idea of frogging anything), ripped out the needles and frogged the whole thing back.

The yarn now looks like this:

Oil-slick rainbow socks for moi

I started up with the Sockina yarn that DH gave me for Christmas:



What can I say, I just can't stand the idea of sock yarn hanging around not being on the needles, I guess.

Lacy Ribs Scarf

On Sunday, I actually managed a quick trip to the yarn store. (They're having a Boxing Week sale.) Among other reasons, I really wanted to see if I could find a second ball of the OnLine Nobile to be able to finish this scarf - I'm really stoked about writing up the pattern and starting to sell it. After much hunting in the back, with a lot of help from June (the owner), I found it!

I whipped up the rest of the scarf in fairly short order and had it finished by New Year's Eve. Now I just have to pose with it for pictures, write it up, and - shazam! - I can start selling it online. June also said she'd be willing to sell it as a kit in the shop. I'm so excited!

Mitred corners blanket for Raymond

The other thing I was hunting for on my yarn store trip was more yarn for this blanket, since the 10 balls I originally bought will not be enough. It took us a while (and great patience and diligence on June's part, thank you so much June), but we found more in THE SAME DYELOT, hoorayhoorayhooray. I bought three balls just to be safe. Next step: write up pattern, then follow it.

This has been an absolutely huge post, but I have one more item to talk about. It's very cool, so please bear with me.

A few weeks ago, someone contacted me on Ravelry. She'd seen, in my stash list, the leftover Bernat Sox in the "Army Hot" colourway from some socks I made for my husband a while back, and really, REALLY wanted it. She apologized if this was a rude thing to ask (since the yarn was not marked as for trade/sell), and wondered if there was any way she could pay or trade me for it.

Well, let's see...

• not rude at all
• delighted to hand it off to her
• no payment required

However, she insisted that she would send me something. Apparently she works at Webs (be still my beating heart), so she could pick me up something fun really easily.

It arrived yesterday. Know what it is?

That is 50 grams of Malabrigo Lace Baby Merino, my friends, in a gorgeous deep azure.

Crazy, right? I'm really not sure what universe I've entered into that this is a fair exchange for 12.5 grams of acrylic sock yarn, but, my guilt aside, I am incredibly happy to have it.

If anyone has any ideas of what I could do with a single skein of this, please feel free to suggest. A scarf is the obvious answer, but if there are more creative ideas out there, I'd love to hear 'em. I'd also like to hear any suggestions as to what I could POSSIBLY do to make it up to the Karma Gods for this incredible piece of largesse.