As for updating blog templates... AIYEEE!

Last week I had every intention of tidying up the blog by switching to the updated templates. This widget thing has me perplexed, though. I could set up the lists, sure, but I when it came to the links for rings, the photos for those, and the like, I became stumped. I reverted to the previous template.

I may need a tutor. Maybe in September. It would be nice to access the updated template features for easier strolling through past issues. Not that this blog is a fount of tutorial knowledge or anything.... I just didn't want to be a bad Ring Citizen and update without including the Ring links.

When it was Not Hot

I did regroup on the Monkey Sock. Curiously, or not so curiously to the knitter more savvy than I, a change up in needle brought me to exactly the same color pooling trends in the previous iteration of this sock.

Happily I report that the Monkey, she is done.

Knitting when it was Hot

Typical of knitting when it's hot:


I actually had a birthday gift request for these. Truthfully, the request was for another style, of which I shall post another day. These were for knitting when it was hot, so these were the "to-tide-you-over" gift until the requested style is complete. Happy to report the recipient was pleased.

Hospitality & Kindness

It has been my great good fortune to have been on the receiving end of some notable hospitality & kindness.

I've been traveling a good bit over the past month. I'm finding I've a long list of notes I need to send to a wide range of people. Before I unplug myself today, I thought I'd post a couple words about some hospitality of a knitterly nature.

I've been to a couple yarn stores, as is my wont. I had a nice break in my travels at Fine Points in Cleveland, OH. In addition to my general pleasure at the creative possibilities that seemed to burst from the cubbies, the staff were just really, really nice. And I thank them for their kindness in letting me use their restroom. Not all stores do this, and as a traveler who shops, I was grateful.

I went with a colleague to a yarn shop in New Orleans, Garden District Needlework & Yarns, as a break from the rigors of the events I was attending there. The shop was delightful and spacious and had LOADS of inspirational yarn to consider.

AND. Through the course of some conversation, I was invited to a local church. Can you imagine the degree of hospitality? I was floored. My hosts took me on a tour of parts of the New Orleans. It was important to get out into the city, beyond the zone of major hotels. There is still so much, much rebuilding to be done post-Katrina.

Finally, a change in my schedule meant I was able to try to catch trillian42 from knittyboard to see if she were free for a fairly spontaneous yarn shop visit in DC. She introduced me to Stitches DC and the very gracious proprietor. Found some lovely local yarn and shared good hearted conversation and laughter and baby-ogling. Pam led the way to Banana Cafe for a fine heat-wave beverage and bit of lunch. Pam told me of the great kindness she's seen in the contributions to Hats for Alex. She's collecting the second wave of hats. It seemed fitting to end our conversation remarking on the kindnesses of so many people.

I need to go home to send some notes of thanks to friends and family whose hospitality and kindness don't appear in this post. And I have some projects to do, to keep the kindness moving along!

Behold, the Fulled Bags

We had some fun grade school science, we did, in the process of shrinking up the knit messenger bags.



I took "before shots," but I need to crop out little faces. Don't feel I have permission to place other people's children's photos on the internet without parental sayso.

Took MORE time to get the striped bag down close to scale, even though both were nearly the same prior to washing. Different wool. I understand the striped bag took an extra trip to the laundromat the day after the photo was taken.

A Belated Addendum to CASP 3

Having posted my thanks promptly to Kathy for her fun wintry CASP 3 packages, I promptly FORGOT to take photos.

Having finally taken photos, well, you guessed it. I offer a belated addendum to my hearty thanks.



The patterns are in the notebook, the lollys hit the candy jar and went the way of all things sweet, and the office supplies are being put to good use. I think the winter body butter was already in the drawer at work for dry hand emergencies, as it escaped the photo call.

Oh, and the dishcloth she made with her very own genteel and generous hands is in the drawer of dishcloths and towels, ready for real use. This gift also prompted me to give up my standard garterstitch dish cloth for an alternate summer dishcloth. (Witness the previous post...)

Thanks again, Kathy!

Useful knitting

Some of the staples of useful stash knitting:
The ubiquitous dishcloth. My cousin actually ASKED for some for her birthday. I'm on the second, as I try to get ready to get out of town.


And of course, a cat bed, knit - when? must have been nearly a year ago - from Mme. Wendy's pattern.


Glad Mr. Jones is using this. He's going to have a lonesome week, barring visits from the cat sitter.

It's not all false starts around here

Some things are finished.

This quilt has been nearly done for ages. Had someone volunteer to help me get the binding on. I made sure she was paid. I am perfectly capable of binding, but I'll tell you the poor quilt sat in a bag inside of a box for a few years as I "meant to finish it."

The poor thing suffered from "out of sight out of mind" neglect.
Fortunately, that was all that it suffered. It should land shortly. It has been shipped to the recipient.

The battery was dying, so these photos which should have been adjusted for fluorescence are what they are. Most of the fabrics are batiks or kindred. The quilt was a mystery quilt project in which I bent most of the rules in the steps.


That'll be it until August. I'm going out of town for a bit.

Different yarn and different pattern?

Other people work up to such things. I swatched enough of the basic Tuscany Shawl pattern that I thought I'd be okay. I didn't count on what the edging is looking like. I think it would be a happier edge in a yarn with some spring - at least a bit of bounceback.

Rats. I wanted to have this decided for traveling knitting. I don't have enough time in the next couple of days to try other options. May stick to socks.

Meanwhile, what would be a better pattern for this yarn: Conjoined Creations Pastimes?

Good Knitties, Bad Knitty

I'd be the Bad Knitty. Haven't posted pictures of packages. There will be catching up, some today, and some in a few weeks. (I'll be out of town for awhile.)

Somerset: The Tea arrived and is LOVELY. Oh my goodness. You were overly generous. Thank you kindly.


And all the way from CASP and the knitty formerly known as OLPP, a host of treasures: I did post the thank you, but never did the photo. Sadly, catching up isn't glamorous.

Doing the little things

Sometimes the best thing you can do for a friend is to sit. Or to listen. Or to chatter. Or to share a dessert.

It's been an important part of my summer to be able to do some of these little things with a friend who is tackling breast cancer. I've also knit up a hasty chemo cap from COLOR mercerized cotton.

Used Red Lipstick's pattern for Marsan Watchcap to do the lovely crown.

Breakfast of Twin Peaks Champions

Holiday ritual: I make a cherry pie and share the eating AND often the baking with my aunt. She's the family's pastry guru. This year my mother was around for the fun, too. The weather and the pate brisee were not on good speaking terms. My lattice was horrifically fake, but the pastry in the end? Buttery good.

Afterwards, we all cracked open the cookbooks to decide what pastry strategies I should work on next. Julia and Martha do share detailed baking information, after all. My mother reminded me (as she has before) that the way to really master pie crust is to do it regularly.


They insisted I take a piece home for the next day's breakfast.

Still, I don't think I need to be eating pie EVERY day. I'll just have to live with the skills of a sporadic pie baker.

Argosy Copycat

I was very taken by the Argosy Wrap, led to the pattern by Mason-Dixon reading and links to the pattern's creator. It captured my attention and was a nice bit of selfish knitting in between bursts of knitting the niece bags. (Those are still awaiting the girls' return from camp.)


The yarn is Noro Silk Garden, which was also for me a rare copycat indulgence. I didn't particularly enjoy the crunchy bits of "ooh, look, proof of natural fibre...." but I moved past them. Interestingly, I do believe it is another sign that I surely do not knit with loose tension. I purchased 8 as recommended, and I have one full and one partial skein left. However, I like it as is.

I'm happy. I'll wear it. I don't even have an interest in blocking it at the moment.

Hello, Skirt!

This is all the glamour I need from this skirt. I have a nice self-fabric casing and I took care to edgestitch. I have a lightweight, bring-on-the-heat casual summer skirt.

The skirt's only as frumpy as I let it be. I'll wear it.
The dress? It languished for a couple summers.

Say Goodbye to the Dress

I really liked this dress. Purchased the fabric at a quilt shop set up in a chicken coop. I bought the fabric for this very purpose, and I made it and wore it during the season in which I bought it. No stash story here!

I was even tickled by the way the very utilitarian and old brown buttons looked with it.

The neckline was very expansive, and with the length of the dress, very casual country summery 90's.

I was asked if I was expecting the last time I wore it. I cried a lot.
Having since come to terms with mid-age change (even though I hope to continue my healthy summer habits), I must redo. It looks good on the dress form, but she has no belly.

I talked about this last summer. I've now moved it to the more active to-do list. Next stop? Skirt.

Berry Picking

Purchased the cotton for this blouse for what, $1.00 a yard last spring.

The fabric reminded me of my grandmother's blouse, the one I wore often to go out berry picking in the summer. The buttons are very plain, somewhat old.

I'm happy. Much better than a t-shirt, for my tastes at the moment.

Next?

It's not The Monkey, it's Me

I started The Monkey a few times. I wasn't convinced about the fit of the cast on and over-thought my response to the Claudia yarn's tendency to pool in this the Chocolate Cherry version. I tried a second time on a needle a size up, but then I thought the lace was too loose. Third time, I had a plan. I would alternate yarn by row. That's what people do, or so I read. Perfect plan. And I doubled up on the yarn in the cast on, a strategy borrowed from the IK Rib and Cable sock. Liked the way the colors alternated in the ribbing.

Not surprisingly, the yarn continued to artfully elude my attempts to control it. I unleashed pooling in a broad swath. Really thought it was pretty, though. The tone on tone variations were really pretty as pooled.

Soldiered on alternating skeins by row and started to puzzle over how the other sock WOULD look. Would I get that synchronous pooling from the alternating skeins? I realized at the heel I would need to stop alternating, particularly as the spot for alternating was dead center back. No worries. Tackled the heel. Marched onto the foot and resumed alternating from the two skeins. Discovered that I was creating a more visible ridge in the foot than I'd noticed in the leg.

Tried it on. Sure enough, that visual ridge was also a nice firm one underfoot. Rats.

The fourth time will be the charm.

Restraint or Heat?

It is with a measure of respectable restraint that I find I am not making much knitting progress on projects already suffering on the needles. Similarly, I have managed to pretend to cast on for the Monkey socks, but it's a no-go. I really can't permit myself to do much except for stitching together the pieces of the messenger bags.

I've stiched up the length of each bag's strap, matching cast-off to bind-off in 200 precise little stitches, - 200 per strap, one strap per bag.

Stitching on the overlay takes a little less precision, though I'm a bit obsessed about getting the stitches along the edges of the overlay to run along a precise column of stitches. One is about half done, and the other awaits attention.

Maybe it's the heat. Who can think enough to start something afresh?
So I'll sew.

I may have cheated in other ways. It's true. I've also sewn most of a blouse.

I like sewing cotton in the summer. It takes me back to my teen years, sewing madly a wardrobe of blouses for 2.00 apiece or less. I don't even mind standing at the ironing board. Maybe I'll go home and cut out a skirt.

Just the same, only different

During March, when I endured the first week of the evil flu that really hammered some of the adults in my circles, I worked on pieces of a Boom Bag messenger bag for one of my nieces. Her sister requested a bag of the same pattern, only with stripes and a flap.
The navy is from a stash of Bartlett's I've had long enough to have moved across the country once and probably twice. It was meant to be a sweater.* When navy was requested, I decided the fates were telling me to move on from the sweater notion. I knit the underlying bag of navy and have saved the striped bit for the Boom Bag overlay, now with stripey flap. Okay, so you can't really tell it's navy in these pictures. Funny, seemed clear on the camera.

Similarly, the black is from all those bits of the UFO Maine Monster I frogged clear back in September 2006.** I purchased the offwhite. Imagine: I was out. Unfortunately, I didn't have my thinking cap tied on tightly enough. I purchased Cascade 220 - a fine yarn, but actually a little lighter a worsted weight than the navy or the black. The striping pattern utilized the ever famous random stripe generator. I generated the pattern at 4 row stripes and decided to play with the proportions by knitting all blue stripes for 6 rows, all ivory stripes 4 rows, and all black stripes 2 rows. Even kept the same number of rows: I counted to be sure I had the same number of blue and black, naturally.


And now this is off the needles. Only have to make the strap for this one. Then I must stitch together the pieces of both bags and we're off to the washer.

* eh, I was going to link text in here to the Stash post with the picture of the Bartletts. Not much of a picture, and that 1 April 2006 post is just too lengthy for loading. Didn't want to annoy anyone, so I've abandoned that.
** abandoned that link, too. I could find the post, but then I couldn't capture the permalink with out going back page by page. I think I need to find and to learn about installing more helpful navigating tools.

Counting, as of May 2007

Last May I posted a Summer to Summer tally of the knitting I'd done that year. It's surprisingly full of small projects. Must have been due to the increase in commuting via public transportation. (Good reminder. It's summer. Need to increase that habit again.)

I've been running the list in the sidebar, and it's time for a little housekeeping.

May 2007:
GARMENTS:
Steel Penny sweater
HBCute Kimono (okay, I have to finish a seam, but it's done, really.)

HEADWEAR:
hats, 7
calorimetry
black purl baby hat & matching booties

FOOTWEAR:
another pair of booties
Hedera socks
Fuzzy Feet, 4 pr
Aunt socks
Lorna socks, 2
Bearfoot Rib & Cable sock - first sock done but too small. Must redo.

VARIOUS:
gift scarves, 2
Kitty Pi, 2.5 (lost a half-finished one)
fingerless mitts, 2 pr
washcloths, 5