Random Acts of . . .

. . . rubbing it in.  This one is for Kate in Boston.  The red globe came from her yard in Charlotte, and the daffodil is to say Spring is coming!

. . . efficiency.  Thanks to friend Toby and her Anna May, Jake has a new dog door.  Anna May taught Jake about them and he has been fearless.  Henry just looks and sniffs.  I have hopes of being able to someday have a rug that isn’t small enough to go into the washing machine after it has been anointed.  I also like that I don’t have to stop knitting to go let him out.

. . . luxury.  I drug out the old paraffin bath and dunked my feet which look and feel like rhino skin.  If you have never done this, you’ve missed a real treat.  The warmth, oh, the warmth.  The spooky look of your skin covered in wax.  Do you remember Vincent Price and The House of Wax?  But then, you peel it off and your skin feels like the smooth behind of a newborn babe.  Does wonders for the hands as well.  Ah-h-h-h-h-h.

. . . knitting.  This is the Queensland Haze that is now going to become — after 200 yards of swatching– Crisp, a top down pattern from Wendy Bernard.  I bought the pattern from her website and started it this morning.  It starts with little saddle shoulders.  Now why that is cool is that I just knit those as my gauge swatches and proceeded from those numbers.  It has some trick weaving on the saddles and in one place around the body, but the rest is just knitting.

I’m liking not having to think so much.  If I get bored, I’ll add some pattern.  A great thing about stockinette stitch is that it’s hard to mess it up during social knitting.  Lately anything more complex just has to be frogged when I get home.

I’ve written a pattern of my first Saddlebag Vest and given it to Remi for the shop.  It will be given away if you buy the yarn from her.  I, of course, will be glad to answer questions.  Check with her and I recommend a cotton.  Cotton Fleece or Mission Falls 1824 Cotton would make a nice casual vest.  You can ask to try on mine, but remember it’s been hanging for a long time and will be more stretched than normal by now.  Changing the size is so easy.  Just fewer or more stitches and fewer or more rows.

What was she thinking?

I can’t even guess.

Searching for a fit solution?  This isn’t it.  I know.  I’ve tried it several times with the same result.  Might as well pin tassels on them.

I know we should revel in our sexy, busty “girls,” but sometimes they are just a problem.  Think V neck and stockinette.

Not trying to be mean; just learning from other’s mistakes.

And while I’m thinking about it, I just want to say thank you to those of you who post your finished work on Ravelry and include a picture of the garments on your body.  Even if it doesn’t fit as well as you would like, seeing a knitted sweater pattern on a real human body without any extra pins in the back is so helpful to other knitters.  Chop your head off if you don’t want to put on makeup or comb your hair.  I’m especially greatful for the ample girls who help me out here.

I’ve been searching for a summer sweater to make for Meghan.  This isn’t easy.  She likes things pretty plain and I don’t want to knit a million rows of stockinette st.  I don’t always agree with her about what looks good on her, so we have to work to discover a style we both like on her in a pattern interesting enough to keep me going to the end.  I’m thinking Buttercup might just be the right pattern.  Heidi Kirrmaier’s pattern has been a hit and lots of Ravelry folk have knit it.  The neat thing is how many not only posted pictures of the garment on themselves, but also wrote a lot about how they modified the pattern.

First thing I figured out was that it was big.  Meghan likes wide necks but if I make her the medium I would have probably cast on, it will fall off of her.  I think the tent shape of the original won’t please Meghan in the end, but many of the knitters simply didn’t do the body increases and their versions look great.  I’d like to use Elsebeth Lavold’s Hempathy because it washes and dries so beautifully and that is important to Meghan.  It also feels great next to your skin and does just drape itself over your body.  It doesn’t have any memory, so fit and shape are extra important.

This sweater is mostly stockinette stitch, but I think the fit challenges are enough to keep me interested.  It may even get some front vertical darts.  The big challenge is in convincing her to give it a go.  She’s in a pretty good mood right now.  DGS got into his first choice school in the local lottery—German Immersion—so the world is currently a happy place for all of us.

Steve is cutting a hole in our back door to install a dog door for Jake.  Makes me realize how low pressure knitting really is.  Carpenters rarely have the option of frogging.

Leaving for Miklagaard at Sunset

Does this title intrigue you?  Wait til you see the socks.  No, wait til you find out how she designed them.  What a feat (feet)!  <groan>

I read Mariann’s blog because she is nice enough to translate it into English.  She is a knitter from Holland who lives in Oslo.  She loves picture knits and designs beautifully.  She is MariannAn on Ravelry.

Here is where she started

This is a free pattern from Sandnes Garn for a Dragonboat Sweater.  (I hope May is reading this.)  It has this marvelous Viking ship on it.  I’ve been to Norway and seen these in person and the ships are marvelous works of art. The carvings and brass fittings take your breath away.

On her blog Mariann tells about seeing the pattern and wondering if she would really get much wear from the jacket.  So she decides to use the chart and adapt it to a sock pattern.  This ain’t easy.  Socks don’t allow you nearly as many stitches as a jacket, and Mariann wasn’t going to be satisfied with merely copying the picture.

See her work of art–and these really are wearable art–here on her blog.  After you get your breath back, you may want to check out her work on ravelry and you can download the jacket pattern here.

I like to take a moment and reflect on the romance in the name she has given these which is the title of this blog entry.  Having coffee or tea enhances the moment.  Enjoy.

Gold!!! And a winner!

The Olympic challenge has been met.  I have a new gansey sweater in my favorite Cotton Fleece from Brown Sheep and I was able to test my raglan/set in hybrid sleeve theory.  Does life get better?

I’m very pleased with the fit, except I still have some extra fabric at the underarms.  I think I have figured that out.  I think the problem is the angle of the seam.  Raglans increase every other row.  I began that way and then changed to every 4th.  Next time out, I will use some measurements from this sweater and try the every 4th row from the beginning and then curve the set in sleeve more.

The various ribbings are doing their jobs with the shaping.  The section under the arm are 1 X 1 ribbing.  Next to that is some 5 X 2 which is just next to that.  The bottom is 2 X 2.

This shows my main symbols.  The maple leaf at the top; the arrow-ish band to represent mogul skiing; and then my giant slalom run.  I didn’t include curling in any way and I regret that.  Circles are hard to knit and I was on a schedule.

Confession:  I really like the neckline which was a total mistake.  I was so excited to get started that I forgot to shape the front neck.  The Knitting Goddess was smiling on me and it worked out quite well.  Just have a little faith.  This stuff stretches.

Next I’ll try the armscye theory on another Cotton Fleece sweater.  I have more in the stash so I’ll use it.  I love how this yarn feels on my body.  It’s soft, lighter weight than 100% cotton and so warm.  Charlotte Yarn has lots of colors and Remi is great about ordering anything you want.

Speaking of new patterns—

Now that the Olympics are past, I can cast on for the Bebop scarf from Knitcircus Issue #9.  BJ from Charlotte won the free pattern instructions and also chose that as her favorite from the issue.  The link is in your email box.  Thanks to everyone for entering and, again, thanks to Jaala for allowing me to do this.

Knitcircus Magazine Giveaway

Jaala Spiro, editor-in-chief of Knitcircus magazine, or as she is beginning to be known at my house, the Great Northern Beneficent Knitting Goddess, has generously donated a copy of the pattern directions from the Spring issue of Knitcircus to be given away on this blog.Here’s what we’ll do.  You go to the magazine site and look at the issue.  (You can also get there through the homepage where you can get on the mailing list. ) Then post a comment on this site telling me your favorite of the new patterns.  I’ll do a random drawing and notify the winners with an invitation to download the Instruction PDF.

I’ll leave this available until Sunday night and will announce the winners on Monday.  This is a great opportunity.  Don’t miss it.

On a Rant

This came in today’s email!!! I retyped it because I couldn’t figure out how to get it in here otherwise.

Your mind may be ready for summer.  Is your body?

Beach weather will be here before you know it.

Procedures like breast augmentation, liposuction, lifts and tucks can help you show off your confidence as you show off more skin.  And even though you’re still wearing your winter coat, it’s the perfect time to do your research, ask us questions and schedule your treatments.

Charlotte Plastic Surgery

You.  Renewed.

There was a  beautiful woman pictured and the whole thing was in tasteful shades of mauve.

ARG-G-G-G-G-G-GH!

I accidentally hit the link to their practice’s web site and I just wanted to punch out all 5 of these guys.  I know times are hard.  A friend who recently had some plastic surgery told me that today the surgeons will throw in extra procedures because they are desperate.  I recognize that someone has to pay so these folks can go to Third World countries and save children, but Dear Lord, do they not know how ads like these hurt women.

If you have the cash and want this surgery, fine.  It’s your business.  I just hope you don’t really think it will give you confidence.  Real confidence comes through achievement, not skin.  But ads like this just ad to the myth of beauty and youth in our country and leave so many women disappointed and despairing.

Getting old isn’t fun.  I look in the mirror and wonder who the hell that is.  Inside I feel eternally 30ish and womanly.  Outside I see my crone years.  But the crone stage is an earned thing.  You get here by battling life–winning, losing, mostly learning.  Confidence comes from that as well.

Beauty?  Well, it can have some wrinkles.  It comes from spirit, from attitude.  Believe in yourself and what you know and can do and have done, and beauty just glows through the physical.  Could anyone be more beautiful than Katherine Hepburn in her 80s?

In my humble opinion.  I always have one.   Thanks for reading.

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I got an email from Laura at www.craftzine.com.

This is Laura, from CRAFT. Hello! I am trying to get the word out about a little book giveaway we’re running, for the book “Mason-Dixon Knitting,” by Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne.

If you think your readers might be interested, please feel free to post about it. To enter the contest, you just have to leave a comment on the blog post. The giveaway ends on Monday, March 1.

http://blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/02/book_review_giveaway_mason-dix.html

The paperback edition of this marvelous book has just been released.  If you don’t own it, go over and post a comment.  You just might win.

Knitcircus

While you are frolicking each day at your job, I am here in my retirement slogging my way through the internet just to find things to entertain and enlighten you in the world of knitting.  It’s a dirty job, but someone’s . . . .I have discovered a new magazine–well, new to me— that I really like.  It’s called Knitcircus and is produced by a group of women in Wisconsin.  Editor Jaala Spiro does a wonderful job of combining mostly knitting with a bit of sewing and cooking and whatever to create a very slick and entertaining magazine.  I immediately wrote them a fan letter and got a really nice response from Jaala.  She also took time to let me know when my order was mailed.  This personal touch means a lot to me.

I stumbled on this site from another blog and stayed to look at the back issues and even order two of them.  I was particularly struck by the designs from Elizabeth Morrison.  She also does most of the photos (all of these)  and they are lovely.  In Issue 3 I found this shrugwhich I really want to make———–and I don’t even like shrugs.  The fair isle vest on the cover of Issue 4 above is also a draw, but I really think I ordered that issue because of this photoIt’s a recipe for Spinach Chicken Pasta.  Yeah, I know that you know that I don’t cook.  But I do eat, and this looks amazing.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the issues I ordered were produced on slick paper and done folded letter-size so they fit neatly into any knitting bag.  Very good print quality.  That being said,  Knitcircus has morphed into the digital world in a clever way.

Beginning with the newest issue, #9, the entire magazine (minus the pattern instructions) is online and available to everyone. You can read book and yarn reviews, interviews (Wait until you see the pics of Lily Chin in some of her famous costumes.), an article about a sheep farm, one on spinning, lots of great designs, a neat pillow cover to sew and a recipe for cookies.  Elizabeth Morrison is taunting me with some more fair isle patterns (a hat and a laptop envelop) but my favorite is a scarf called Bebop Scarf from Miss T.  I can’t figure out that stitch pattern and I really love it.  You can just hear the music.

Purchasing the pattern directions is easy.  It’s a pdf download you can get through Paypal.  I love paypal.  All 17 patterns are only $7.50.

If you read to the back of the magazine, they give a mini bio of each designer and you see they are drawing from many other places now.  Maybe a few of us Southerners need to send some submissions to share with our creative Northern sisters.

Best thing about this magazine for me is that Jaala brought together a group of knitters and took a risk to share their love of our craft.  I’ve bookmarked everything for you so visit these sites and enjoy.

If you know of other magazines, especially tiny ones, please share.

New stuff–yarn and pattern

Remi has a new yarn at Charlotte Yarn that just sucked me right in.  It is Queensland Haze.

The corn fiber was what got me.  Erica loves her corn fiber socks and begs for more, so obviously she needs a shell made from this new corn and cotton yarn.  The color screams Erica.  A really lush, soft rose with hints of blue in it will make her baby blues pop.

We all know the problems with 100% cotton yarns.  No memory is the big one.  The corn fiber in this yarn gives it terrific stitch definition, but, alas, no memory.  I tried the tiny needle trick and loved the result in this swatch.  It has been washed and the results were great.  The hand is really nice.  It’s soft but has a tiny crispness like linen.  The color didn’t fade at all in the washing as some cottons do.

I found a stitch pattern in Creative Knitting that I liked and started a shell.  I will see her soon and thought I could fit her if I had the back knit.  This looks okay, but doesn’t solve the no elasticity problem.  I knit it with a size 3 needle (ball band recommends a 6) and love the feel, but when I woke up this morning, my elbows were hurting.  Uh oh.  Already did that surgery.  Must find a way to use a larger needle.  You probably won’t have this problem.  I just knit so *&^*& k loosely.

Later—Well, now I’m trying this.

Back to the drawing board for me.  I’ll let you know what I discover.  In the meantime, go by Charlotte Yarn and hold this stuff for a bit.  You’ll probably succumb, too.

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So after all this, I took the yarn and my enthusiasm to Georgia to show to DD1 and her response was to talk about the way her current scarf sheds on her coat and could I just use this yarn and make her a new scarf.

I am going to look great in the shell I am going to make for me out of this great yarn.  You know, mostly you should just knit for yourself.

On the needles

The Sleepy Hollow Sock which knits the gusset as you knit the heel flap.  I discovered this on Yarn Harlot’s blog (great photos) and immediately ordered it and Persephone from here.  I rarely buy sock patterns, but when I see a new technique that interests me, I go for it.  I’m using a size 0 needle and CTH Supersock from the stash.  Love the leaves.

Olympic knitting.  The armscye looks promising, but I need to get further to see.    The front maple leaf is self explanatory, but the area below is mogul tracks.  This is a design as you go sweater.   Also, I’m worried about having enough yarn.  Ain’t life grand?

Started a sock yarn blanket.  I did say “Start.”

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New linen skirt is snoozing and new Saddlebag Vest is resting until the Olympic thing is done.

Also have two new sock patterns, but I need pics before I release them.

Hope you are staying busy.