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.

FOs!

This week, I finally finished my soft linen hoodie! In my last post, I think I was aiming to finish it before we left for NOLA. Unfortunately, it became very clear that I did not have enough yarn for the hood. As a result, it sat unfinished for a couple of weeks. I checked with WEBs, and they were out of this dye lot, and I wasn't interested in mixing it up too much. Plus, when it comes down to it, the hood was not likely to get a whole lot of use, even if cute. I ended up using the collar from Connie Chang Chincio's Henley Perfected. The two patterns have a similar feel, and I think it worked out well. It probably gives the top a more conservative look, but I think its still cute. I love the yarn, by the way. It should be great for fall/winter in Gainesville.

We had a great time at Jazzfest (Wilco, Spoon and the Avett Bros were my favorites), and on the 8 hour drive to NOLA, I cast on for Melissa LaBarre's Leaf T-shirt, using Mirage by Twisted Sisters. My husband and I are not very romantic about valentine's day (no gifts, sometimes a card), and I happened to be at Hanks on February 14, and this yarn was in the sale bin. I went home and said "Hey honey, thanks for the Valentine's Gift". He was happy to take credit. The yarn is prefect for this top. Very drapey and light. It reminds me of Cathay, but I like it more. Maybe I'm just better at handling splitty cotton Rayon blends. It took about 3.5 skeins, so about 470 yards.

I managed to make a yarn stop while in NOLA. I went to Quarter Stitch, in the french quarter, and picked up 3 skeins of Blue Skies Organic Skinny Cotton. They only carried the natural, so that's what I got. I'm thinking about making either the honeymoon cami, tank girl or this tank. We'll see, it could all change at any time!

On the subject of Jazzfest, hats were a serious necessity there. It was very sunny and warm (but not unpleasant). I took my Fun in the Sun crocheted hat, and wore it all weekend. However, I decided that my brim was too floppy (here's the before pic- scroll to the bottom) and too short. So, when we returned I remade my brim, using a heavier yarn that I happened to have in the stash. I'd run out of the cotton blend I started with and used Cathay to finish up, and cathay is definitely too drapey for this hat. I also added some jewelry wire around the brim to make it stiff. I wore it to the beach on Mother's day, and it was perfect! As we were leaving for NOLA, my mom tried on my hat, and said she needed on. So, as a thank you for watching the kids, and just in time for Mom's day, I made her this one:

I used sugar and cream cotton on this one, and it worked out well I did fewer rounds, but still had to make it bigger to fit our big heads! Mom and dad had a bit of a trying stay with the girls. Mom hopped on a bike for the first time in years, and promptly fell. Turns out she broke a rib!
Then there was my 11 year old who decided to start acting her age- irresponsibly so. She caused a panic when she did not return home from school as expected, instead choosing to stay for a band dance and catch a ride with a friend. Of course, things turned out fine, but I think that just about killed my parents. We've resisted giving her a cell phone, but it looks like she'll have to have one for next year. It's very annoying- she acts irresponsibly and is rewarded with a phone!

I still have several projects on the needles- Jeff's socks, my socks, my sock yarn blanket (I have 3 rows completed, and need to think about how to integrate repeats of yarn), and a crochet blanket that I'm going to work on for the OOPs knitter's summer of crochet.

Not that that stops me from searching out other things to do. I'm even swatching!

This is a swatch for Weaverknit's Tiny brocade cardigan. I like how it looks, but it does not match the look of the pattern. I'll have to try again. I'm using Cotton ease, as directed by the pattern, and a bit of left over GGH Samoa.
I'm also swatching for Gudrun Johnson's Little black dress. I have 10 skeins of Hempathy in a deep purple for it. My grandmother turns 90 this summer, and we are going to her party in Baltimore. My instructions were to "look good". It's very important to my grandmother that we not look like "poor souls" (a phrase I hear constantly growing up). Hopefully this dress will keep me out of the dog house (and be finished in time!). Also, my mother in law is also named Gudrun, so I'm hoping that will make the pattern lucky for me.

Hope your late spring/summer knitting plans are going well!

Always knitting, never finishing

Well, at least for the last few weeks.  I have a rather large list of Works in Progress on Ravelry (8 right now), but I've been working on Three of them regularly.  

First, I am so close to being finished with my soft linen hoodie:

I was very worried that this would not fit, but after putting on sleeve number 1, it seems to fit well.  I love this yarn-  Classic Elite Soft linen, which is linen and wool, and knits up at about 24 st/inch on size 4 needles.  The pattern is Soft Linen Hoodie by Pam Allen from Make it Modern.  The pattern isn't hard, but I managed to mess it up on a regular basis.  The yarn seems to have survived the multiple froggings without too much harm, and a good bath should make it good as new.  I only have one ball of yarn left, so I'm a little worried about being able to finish the hood.  Wish me luck!

Next up is a pair of socks I'm making for my husband.  This is only the second pair I've ever made him, and I'm remembering why.  He has enormous feet- size 14- and making them takes forever!  They are Nancy Bush's Gentleman's sock with Lozenge Pattern.  I'm using Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino for the first time.  It's nice, but at 8.5 stitches per inch on a size 1 needle it seems a bit stiff.  I think I'd prefer it at 7-8 stitches per inch.  I knit the ribbing on size 2 needles, and I definitely preferred that part.  The lozenge pattern gets a bit lost in the color, but Jeff likes them, and best of all, they fit him!

I've been knitting them when ever possible, in part because I want to have yarn left over for this:

This is the start of my sock yarn blanket.  I've got 17 blocks done, out of probably 400 that I'll need to make.  No worries, though, this is the longest of long term projects ever!  I think I'll add about 6 more blocks to the width before I continue up- it will be around 48 inches wide that way.

I owe huge debt to Mary and her OOPs knitting Group!  They sent me a bag of sock yarn left overs, which made my day!  I know people say it all the time, but the community of knitters out there is amazing- very generous and thoughtful.  Thank you so much!

 This project has sealed my fate as a yarn snob.  I have rather wide variety of yarns, and I'm finding some definite preferences.   For instance, I love the look of the Jojoland Melody square (3rd from right on the bottom), but it is not a great sock yarn.  It's splitty and very loosely plied.  The three squares on the far right are all from Mary's goody bag, and I love all of them- the blue one is KPPPM, and was great on my size two needles!

Jeff and I have a very exciting weekend planned- we are headed to JazzFest in New Orleans, with 2 other couples.  Neither of us have been to NOLA, so we are excited for that part of it, as well as the music.  This is going to be a child-free weekend as well.  My parents are coming down to stay with the girls. Since we don't have family here, these occasions are few and far between, and really appreciated! The last time we did this was 4 years ago when we spent a week in Italy.  This trip is shorter, the girls are older and the dog is not a puppy, so hopefully all will go well!   In the meantime, though, I have lots to do to get ready. Making sure the place is clean and stocked with food, in order to limit my Mom's responsibilities (although she always does more than necessary!).

Wish me luck with my hoodie, I'd love to have it done in the next couple of days!

A bit of insanity.

I've decided to take on a new project, and it is a bit insane. I've started working on my own sock yarn blanket, a la Shelly Kang's Blankie. I've had the itch to make a blanket, and I'm still planning on completing my dots blanket, but the idea of a blanket that uses up scrap yarn is too much to resist. I imagine I'll finish it just in time to send it to college with my oldest (7 years down the road), but that's OK. So, if any of you have small ends of sock/fingering weight yarn lying around your house (Mom, this includes you!), and you'd love to make some room in your yarn storage area, feel free to send it my way. Send me an email, and I'll send you my address. I'm happy to reciprocate with any scraps of mine you may need!

So, what sort of insanity do you have planned?

Scarves for Spring

Apparently it's Malabrigo March, and after finishing my Shalom cardigan, I had two left over skeins of Malabrigo. Of course, the best possible use of the yarn was the Just Enough Ruffles scarf by Laura Chau. It's a great little pattern- very quick and easy- and using Malabrigo, it makes an absolutely delicious scarf!

It's been so lovely here (after a visit to the upper 80s, it settled back to the low to mid 70s), that I just couldn't work with any more worsted weight wool. So, I pulled out my Flower basket shawl, that I started back in January. I started it on size 4 needles, but soon realized I would have a smaller and denser shawl than I 'd imagined. So, a couple of weeks ago, I restarted on size 6 needles and finished this up in just over a week (which surprises me!).
I'm very happy with how it turned out. Lorena's hand dyed yarn has just enough variegation to make it interesting without detracting from the lovely pattern. This was my first Evelyn Clark pattern, and I would try another. I think it's probably a good beginner pattern too- the repeat is fairly short, easy to find you place, and the wrong side is all purls! In order to use as much of my skein of yarn as possible, I did 10 repeats of the Lower flower basket pattern, instead of the 7 recommended, and the finished shawl is probably 52 inches wide by 25 inches deep.

I'm trying to get through my pile of UFOs, but the warm weather is making wool less appealing. I want to knit tanks and tees more than anything! I've place all of the tees and tanks at the top of my Ravelry Queue. But, before I can start something new, I've promised myself I'll finish my Soft Linen Hoodie and Punch and Judy. In the meantime, I'm trying to find a good substitute for wool fingering weight yarn. Wool summer tops make no sense in Florida, even light weight ones. Cotton is good, but I don't want 100% cotton. Anyone know of anything good?

Last up, I need to show of our most recent acquisition. After a few months of our old computer slowing to a snails pace, we took our tax refund (woo hoo) and bought this:
It's an imac, with the world's largest screen! Our old desktop has a 17 inch display, if that gives you an idea of how big this sucker is. This is our first Mac, and so far, so good. We still have a laptop pc- anyone who runs statistical analyses has to have a pc. Between the girls and me, we have spent countless hours on Iphoto, photo booth and garage band. Apparently the sock monkey is a great model for photo booth:
Happy knitting!