While my blogging has clearly slowed down in the last year, my knitting still forges ahead. Work and two daughter with 'unique' academic challenges have made my knitting much less focused, but I am getting some things done. First up, the Heathered Hoodie Vest from Knitscene Fall 2009. It's a very cute project, but it has very little fitting and a seriously over sized hood. I've worn it a couple of times, and while I like it, it screams out for a 20 something, rather than a 40 something, to wear it. I could see my daughter picking it up one day, wearing it and never returning it. The yarn is yarn that I frogged from the first sweater I ever made, circa 1993, (a bulky, somewhat think and thin wool- I have NO idea what it is), and I like the combo. The cables are somewhat obscured in the photo, but they show up more in person. This project took me much longer than it should have, mainly because I started it on wooden needles. Bad choice for this yarn. About 2/3rds of the way through I found my old susan bates circular and from there on it flew.

Because the yarn kept sticking, I ended up putting the project down and starting and finishing other projects in the meantime! I knit a pair of socks in record time. These are the Through the loops mystery sock KAl. I used Brown Sheep Wildefoot Luxory sock yarn in Elderberry. I had so much fun making these. I liked making them by the section- I'd finish one part and move on to the second sock, and I never dreaded having to make another sock (SSS?). I made my socks using size 2 needles, but I could have gone down a size, or made the smaller sock. But, I through them in the dryer, and they seem great now. The yarn feels very rough on the hands when working with it, but the finished socks have softened up a bit. Someone on Ravelry said that this yarn is for wearing, rather than knitting, and I can see that!


Because I liked the socks so much, I started on another Through the loops project- the Ulmus shawl. I'm using the rest of my Tofutsie and some Regia cotton I got for my sock yarn blanket. I'm going to increase until I've finished the Tofutsie and knit the border in the Regia. It's an easy pretty pattern, but it is a bit tedious. And, I'm up to 277 stitches, and it still seems rather small! We shall see.

I don't have any pictures of it, but I've also cast on for Annie Modesitt's sideways spencer Redux. I'm using Ultra Alpaca, which really is lovely to work with- soft, good stitch definition. It makes me want to live in a cooler climate, so I could wear it all the time. This is a project that I'm making in spite of how I think it will look on me- short, horizontal cables? Oh well, it's cool and I know someone will look fabulous in it.

Well, I handed out the final project for my students on Monday, so this weekend I'll be answering "client questions" for them. I can tell their interest is waning at this point in the semester, but they only have 3 more classes, so they should be able to handle it. Jeff and I are hosting thanksgiving dinner for our neighbors this year, so this weekend will involve menu planning as well. Luckily, I find that to be very fun!

Hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving!

What I've been up to.

It's already October, and I am clearly ready for fall/winter knitting! Today happens to be one of those rare October days in N.C. Florida when you realize it won't be hot and humid forever. The windows and doors are open and the A/C is off (thank God!). It will be hot again by Monday, but at least I can see the start of the lovely 4 months we get every fall/winter.

While the highs are still well in the 80s (sometimes low 90s) I've been working on a pair of

mittens and a couple of hats. This is one of Bella's Mitts. Sorry for the disembodied hand, but it

was a picture with the built in Mac camera. I'm using Louet Gems bulky, and I think it's great for this pattern. So soft! It's not as bulky as some bulky yarns, so it's pretty snug, but in a good way (for mittens, at least). I haven't started mitten 2 (see the 80-90 degree temps for my excuse) but I will, and they may end up as a Christmas gift for a family member.

The first hat I made was the Cinquefoil Hat from the most recent Twist collective. I hadn't done any color work in quite while, and this was a good way to practice. The pattern is for a small hat (18"), so I added another wedge to the top, and another repeat of the middle pattern. It fits my 12 year old, and while it fits me, it's not a beret on me! The colorwork gets tricky at the top, but I managed to fix it at the end. I made it from the bits of sock yarn I've collected for my sock blanket.

Now that I feel a little more comfortable with colorwork, I'm ready for a larger project. Of course, this will have to wait until I'm done with a few other things...

My next hat was the Lace Beret from the fall 2009 Vogue knitting. I spent about a week trying to come up with the right pattern for a skein of Tofutsies I've had for at least two years. The yarn is very nice to work with, but the color scheme was really difficult to work with. Every pair of socks I started ended up with awful pooling that completely distracted from the pattern. So, I decided to try a hat. It stared out well, but in the end, the striping obscured the lace pattern too much.

So, I overdyed it. I think it came out well, but this time the pattern isn't so visible because it's so dark!
I still have at least half a skein of Tofutsies left. I'll have to figure out a new plan for it. Maybe a scarf? I'm using it for my sock yarn blanket, but I don't need that much of it.

The last hat project is Tudor Cap by Woolly Wormhead. This was a fun project with interesting construction. You make 7 of the 6 sided pieces and then knit them together. The bottom is knit in the round. Of course, there are lots of ends to weave in, but it's worth it. Maybe a little goofy, but in a good way! This is also made from the louet Gems Bulky. I went up to size 10.5 needles for the bottom, because my gauge was a bit tighter, and it fits perfectly (although I noticed that most of them on ravelry are a bit larger relative to the wearer- I have a big head, what can i say).

My current Work in Progress list seems to grow everyday! Aside from the other bella's mitt, and my on going sock yarn blanket (I have managed to knit one foot of it over 6 months. Should be done in 3-4 years...), I started the Heather Hoodie Vest from Knitscene fall 2009. The yarn I am using has been around since about 1994. I used it to make my first ever sweater- a big box of a thing that has had almost no use since moving to FL seven years ago. I have NO idea what it is, other than at the time it was expensive, I bought it from Depth of Field in Minneapolis, it's bulky weight and it's somewhat coarse. It's definitely an outer layer yarn. So far it seems just right for this project, and I'm happy to use it for something that might get use around here (it will be a jacket in FL!).

Next up, I got my fall 2009 Interweave Crochet, and my favorite thing was the Moorish Mosaic Afghan. I decided to scrap my Dots blanket (the construction of which was going to be very annoying) and use the yarn for this one. My octagons are coming out the right size, but I may need to go up a hook size- they seem a bit stiff for a blanket. I may use a size I for the next one to compare. I'm using an assortment of yarn from my stash (almost all Patons Classic Wool), so my colors will not be the same, and I'm probably going to use the color patterns as only a general guideline. It will be interesting, if nothing else!Well, I've avoided correcting papers for long enough. I hope your list of projects is just the right size for you!

FOs!

This week marked the beginning of school for the girls and work for me. Needless to say it's been a bit exhausting, but so far, all is going well. I managed to get a few things completed before the craziness start, though.

First up is my Minimalist Cardigan, by Ruthy Nussbaum, Interweave Knits Fall 2007. I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of this pattern until I started seeing very lovely versions on ravelry. I picked it, in part, because I thought it would work well with the yarn I had, Knitpicks Andean Silk Twist. The yarn started out as a rather unattractive shade, Campfire. My mom bought it on sale, and couldn't figure out what to do with it, so I took it, and hated how it looked when knit up. So, I over dyed it, and I think the results were great.

The pattern is very easy, and I only made two adjustments. First, I lengthened it by about 2 inches. Second I made the column of stitches between the stockinette and the seed stitch a column of purl stitches. I though it made the transition a little neater. I used all but about a foot of yarn, which is cutting it a bit close for my taste. I kept changing the length of the sleeves, to maximize their length without ending short on yarn. They ended up being 10 inches before the cap shaping, which means they fall just below my elbow.



I have to say that I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It was something of a surprise that I like it so much. You never know, right?

Next, I finally finished my Anastasia Socks, by MintyFresh. It's a lovely pattern, but I've come to the conclusion that I hate short row heals. Maybe my heals are large (is that possible?) but they always seem a bit short. Plus, I end up with big holes (I reinforced them at the end) on the heal. I also made a silly mistake when reading the pattern. I didn't print it in color, and misread the chart, so I started in the wrong place on sock 1. For sock 2, I'd figured it out, and forgot to repeat my mistake. Oh well. It's not a horrible error, but the finished product won't win any awards. The yarn was a gift from my sock exchange pal, from a couple of years ago. She dyed it herself (middleearthknitter.com) and the color is great. The yarn, though is a bit itchy, and needed a euclan bath.




The last thing I managed to finish was a book! My book club read Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen, and I highly recommend it. It's just a great story- A young veterinary student joins a travelling circus during the depression.

Next up, I'm working on a couple of new projects with yarn I've had for a while. I have a skein of Tofutsies, and I'm making Chevron Socks by Charlene Schurch. This yarn has given me fits! I love how it feels when working with it and when it's made up, but I unknowingly bought a self striping colorway that just doesn't do it for me. I like self striping yarn, as long as it's a really neat stripe. This one isn't, and it's pooling like crazy! I may end up dying them at the end.

I'm also working on finding the right project for my Blue Skies Skinny Cotton. I only have 3 skeins, and I'm starting the Spidery Tank from IK Summer 2009. It will have to be shorter, but I've seen at least one on Ravelry that used only 3 skeins. Wish me luck!

Thanks to all of you who gave me such nice comments about my dress last time. I am pretty proud of it, and my neighbor Christa has been showing it off to everyone, so I don't have to!
I hope you all are having a good end to the summer holidays, beginning of school year, or just a great August!


Oh yes, one last FO- our roof! To most people it won't look very different from before, but after spending much of our savings on it, it looks fantastic to me! Funny how that works, huh?

Has it really been a month?

If anyone if still reading this blog, thanks! We got back from vacation a little more than a week ago, and I'm back at work as of this Monday (no actual students for a week, though!), so I thought I'd better post before I go into complete hibernation.

Vacation
Vacation was very long (3 weeks!), but very fun. We were in Baltimore for a week for my grandmother's 90th birthday party:


As you can see, I'm not wearing the dress I made. It's done now, but it wasn't done in time for the party. Oh well!

We made a side trip to Mt.Vernon, which is well worth a visit if you have the opportunity. Due to a couple of youngsters, we missed the museum, but I hear it's great! We then went to Delaware for the weekend, to visit one of my oldest friends, Amy and her family (who were visiting her mom) and to spend time with my brother and his family. We spent a beautiful afternoon at Cape Henlopen State Park.
From there, we made an overnight stop in Darien, Ct to visit my friend Sarah and her family, and then went to North Kingstown RI to spend a week with Jeff's mom, sister and Brother in law. Jen and Floyd were visiting from Chico, CA, and the 4 of us spend a day a the Newport Folk Fest.
We tried to take the girls to a Red Sox game, but weren't willing to spend the $300 needed, so we bought a couple of souvenirs and went to the Boston Beer Works across the street from Fenway.

From RI it was back to Baltimore to see my nephew, Jack, a little more.
And then it was a long drive to Athens, GA for a couple nights with Jeff's family friends. Athens is a really cute town. Much as we like Gainesville, as a town it could use a little bit of help. Athens has the downtown that we are missing (plus, hills, which are nice).

Whew. I think it took another 3 weeks to go back through the trip!

Knitting

Now, as for knitting, I managed a bit, but not as much as I would have thought. My dress was finished while I was in Baltimore, but had to be blocked once I got home.
I haven't put a ribbon through the eyelets, but otherwise, it's done. My gauge was a bit tighter than the pattern suggested, so I made the larger size, and I think it turned out just right. If you want to make it, and you are tall, you would probably want to lengthen the panels on the skirt. I'm not tall, and I had to block a fair amount it to get it to this length. I'm very please with how it turned out, especially after blocking. And, I have to admit, I messed up the pattern regularly- I kept increasing a row too late. But, I don't think you can tell. The top is kind of slow, because you have to knit follow the pattern on the wrong side, and I had to keep looking a the right side to make sure I was doing the right thing. The skirt was easier, but the final rounds (512 stitches) are endless. The picot bind off was a killer!

The pattern is great, so I'd recommend it to anyone- very detailed and easy to follow.- and the hempathy is worth trying. I'm definitely a fan.

After the long slog with the dress, Mom handed me a skein of Crystal Palace Kid Merino, which she was never going to use, and told me I could have it. I made up Wisp in about 4 days and gave the scarf back to her. Great little pattern, especially when you can make it with only one skein!
I also got to finish up Mom's Garter stitch Loop through scarf. (Please excuse Mom's bathrobe, she was a bit horrified that I was taking her photo just as we left!). It's made with Lorna's Laces Green Line DK. I originally made it for my dad, but ran out of yarn at the very end. Mom decided it was better for her, and I think she looks great in it!

I'm still working on my Minimalist Cardigan, although I'm having yarn quantity issues (and of course, I dyed my yarn, so it's a mess!), and I have some great new yarn to make a couple of shawls/scarves. I'll keep you posted!

Hope you all had productive/enjoyable vacations!

Still Plugging away

I wish I had something exciting to post about, but I'm afraid that I am stuck in deadline knitting mode, and it's not at all exciting! My Little Black dress is about half way done (sorry no new pics. Imagine it with about 7 more inches!). It looks further along, because I have just over 2 1/2 panels left, but those panels top out at 512 stitches per round. This could be quite the slog. Grandmother's birthday party is in less than 2 weeks, so I'm not entirely convinced it will be done, but I'll keep at it. It's not at all difficult to knit, and wearing my reading glasses helps with seeing those very small dark stitches, but it's a big project. I actually started looking for something to buy to wear to the party, but after looking through the latest JJill catalogue, I'm more convinced that I should finish- no waists and drop shoulders are making a return to fashion, neither of which should ever be seen on me again (they were bad the first time around when I was 10-15 lbs thinner!).

I have had a few distractions. First, I decided to make something in honor of the summer of crochet. This is Inga's bag.
It was a pretty easy project, and I'm pleased with how it turned out. At first, the combo of yarns was a bit disconcerting (the colors only sort of match), but I've come to like it. I made it from Sugar and cream cotton, and it's very big. I think the original is made from a dk weight yarn. I washed it the other day, and it shrank a bit, which was just fine. It's not a great bag for toting lots of stuff all day, though. I tried to carry it on our vacation to Chicago, and the strap isn't wide enough to be really comfortable with all the junk we had. It works well for running errands and using as a shopping bag, though.

Our trip to Chicago was another distraction from knitting. Jeff had his big annual conference, and the girls and I tagged along. Here's Celia riding the Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier. I have to admit to getting nervous when I stopped having a point of reference to tell if we were moving. It's pretty tall. But there are fabulous views of the city.


Our hotel was very close to these buildings, "The Bob Newhart buildings" as I call them. As a child of the 70s, I found seeing these to be one of the highlights of the trip. Actually, all of Chicago's architecture was amazing. After 7 years in a college town, I'd forgotten how wonderful city architecture can be. While living in Minneapolis, I worked in the most beautiful building- back then it was the Norwest Bank building, and there were days when seeing it was the highlight of the day! It was a great trip. We saw lots of friends, mostly from Jeff's grad school, but also my law school buddy and some friends from Pittsburgh. Of course, 4 nights in a hotel room with 4 people will make anyone appreciate their home, and I was glad to return.

My last big distraction happened this last weekend. Jeff and I finally got new cell phones. After 4 or 5 years, and at least one laundry cycle, our phones had to go. We each got an Iphone (the older $99 version), and I am an addict. It's completely unnecessary, and it doubles our phone bill (even going with the cheap plan), but it's an awesome toy! I'm downloading Apps as fast as I can. Now if only Ravelry would add one!

Have a great week- it's raining buckets here, hope your weather is better!

All Blue, all the time

I finally finished Jeff's socks this month! These seemed like a never ending project, but they actually took me two months. Part of the slow down came from my (painful) realization that I cannot knit fingering weight yarn without reading glasses. I honestly thought I was going blind doing these! Add to that the dark color and you get a very confused knitter.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. They fit him well, and he likes how they feel. However, this pattern (Gentleman's sock with Lozenge pattern) would be much better served with a solid colored yarn. Ah, well, live and learn.

The other project that has my eyes working overtime is my Little Black (Purple) Dress. The top half of the dress is knit back and forth, and I had hard time keeping on top of the pattern from the wrong side! As a result, there was lots of tinking back to repair problems. Luckily, I'm now knitting in the round, and things are going faster. I still like the pattern, and it seems to fit well. I am knitting the second size, but my gauge is a bit tighter than called for, which seems to work out just fine. It is sized to stretch, though, so I'm still a little worried about how big it will be in the end! It's still not clear if this will be a dress or a tunic. I just started my 4th ball of yarn, and since I'm short I should be able to adjust the length, but my 10 balls of yarn may not go far enough.

With all these small gauge patterns (I even started the second Anastasia sock), I decided that I needed something in a worsted weight. I came across this version of the minimalist cardigan, and I decided I needed to make one. I've always been sort of ho-hum about the pattern, but now I'm making one! I'm using the Knit Picks Andean Alpaca Twist that I overdyed in blue.

I may go back and dye the pieces again once I'm done. There's a bit of streaking in the piece that I'd prefer not to see. Lots of people complain about the moss stitch, but I have no problem with it! In fact, it was perfect knitting for the movies the other day (I took the girls to see Imagine That, which we all thought was pretty funny).

Even with the relative ease of the minimalist cardi, I still wasn't getting any instant gratification, so I took on another easy pattern. This one, though, will also help me to participate in the OOPs Knitter's Summer of Crochet! I should be working on my dots blanket, but I just haven't dived in. This is Inga's bag:
I'm using Sugar and Cream cotton and a size 3.75 mm hook. I started with a 4.5, but it seemed too loose for a bag. Obviously it's not instant, but I like the fact that I can sit down and make up a square while watching a TV show. I only have one skein of this yarn, so I'll have to decide if I want to make it up with other colors or just use a different shade to sew them together. It may depend on what I find at Michaels!

Last time I blogged, I was complaining about post 40 weight gain (thanks for indulging my complaints!). Today my complaint is about house repairs. Namely, we need a new roof (we've needed a new roof since we moved in 4 years ago, but a wet spot on the ceiling of the garage has made it more immediate)! As you can see, our house is almost entirely roof, which makes it a big expensive job. I was pushing for a metal roof, but it was about 60% more than asphalt shingles, so we won't be getting metal.Of course, this project is starting the other projects. The house will need to be painted this fall. We are seriously lacking in gutters, and there's a drainage issue in back that needs to be addressed. I shouldn't complain, we can pay for it, but it will hurt. And, we are the ones who chose to move from a 2 year old house to a 20 year old house. I just have to remind myself that once these projects are done, the outside maintenance will be settled for a while. And, at least a new roof can improve the house's appearance, right? Of course, realizing that we need a roof makes me look at all the roofs around me. Most of them look good, but there are a few eye sores- the mossy green house with the rusty brown roof comes to mind. Hopefully we will have a better eye than that! For now the leak is patched, but hopefully it will all be completed by the end of the summer!

Here's hoping you have only minor home maintenance issues!

Summer Knitting

Summer is definitely here in North Central Florida. The days are topping out in the low 90s, and our pool is somewhere around 80 (which is still a little chilly for me, after 7 years in FL). Plus, as of Friday, the girls will be out of school for the summer. The last couple of weeks of school aren't exactly school. It's field trip/party/make it to day 180 time. I think that by now the teacher are all on "get me to the end of the year" mode.

We've been really busy. I went on one of the field trips, we've had band concerts, band awards, lacrosse games, brownie finales, trips to the beach. We had friends from Maine visiting over Memorial Day weekend (it rained for their entire week in Florida- great for the yard, terrible for the beach!). Add to that my attempt at exercising more, in order to avoid going on a diet,* and I guess I have an excuse for not having any FO's to show off!

I have a couple of half FOs. One Anastasia Sock. I like the look of the sock, but I can't claim that I love it. I am not a short row heel fan. I really want to like it, but I just can't! I end up with enormous holes at the top of the heel, and they always seem too short! I will finish this one as written, but unless I figure out a way to make it fit better, this will be my last short row heel for a while. This yarn is a lovely color, but I'm finding it a bit itchy as well. I hope after I've washed them, I will like it more. We shall see!


I started working on the Little Black Dress by Gudrun Johnson. I think it may end up a tunic, rather than a dress. I made the second size, and I'm well into skein number 2 of 10. I like the Hempathy, but I seem to split it constantly. Luckily it's only 2 strands, so it's easy to fix. It's a very detailed, well done pattern (so far). I mess it up fairly often, and I need reading glasses to knit it (another age related horror!), but I've managed to repair my errors before getting too far along. I really like the way she's constructed this dress. You start on the back with a temporary cast on. When you get to the bottom of the arm holes, you start working down from the shoulders to knit the front. Eventually it will be knit in the round.
I'm still plugging away at Jeff's socks. There's no rush on these, but they are a good take along project. I did about 3 inches of it on the field trip to Tampa!
June officially start the summer of crochet for the OOPs Knitters. I've got my dots blanket to work on, and this is a good excuse to get back into it. I like the fact that it is also easy to take along. It's done in 4" granny circles, and then pieced at the end, so no big bulky blanket to work on in June!

Thanks for your very nice comments about my leaf top and my henley last time. It was kind of funny. I always assume that the more difficult/labor intensive project will be the one people comment on, but I got a bunch of nice comments on the easy-peasy one. It's actually great for around here too- I find myself wearing it often. Guess you all know what you are talking about!

Hope all your summer knits are portable and going well!


*No, after 40 exercise alone will not allow me to lose weight. It's very upsetting too. I used to gain a bit of weight and it would fall off if I would just exercise more. For the most part, I love being in my 40s, but my body is rebelling- weight gain, bad knees, sore feet. I told my husband that someone had stolen a certain part of my body and replaced it with something much less flattering.