lace lace lace lace lace lace lace lace

Dear Cynthia,

I've been working on lace.

I can almost spot the light at the end of the tunnel on Summer in Kansas. I have completed 799 out of 890 knitted on border rows, and am heading toward the finish line. After that, a bunch of stitches are picked up along the top edge and some sort of picot edging is worked there which, I think?, is quite minimal compared to what the rest of this shawl has been. Famous last words, of course.

Back about a year ago, when I was thinking to myself, "I'd like to make a really nice lace shawl," I looked through a LOT of shawl patterns. I chose Summer in Kansas because:

• It had a knitted on border, which is something I wanted to try.
• It seemed rather large and would keep my arms warm on a cool night at the outdoor theater (though we're probably not going to get there this summer -- but there are other opportunities to wear the shawl)
  
• I thought it was visually appealing.
• It only had 160 rows for the main body.

I don't think it is working out to be as large as I thought it would be, because I went down one needle size, and I'm not using the optional mohair yarn the pattern mentions. However, and especially once it is blocked, arm coverage will be quite adequate. Also, 160 rows for the main body might not seem like much, but when a row has over 400 stitches in it, that IS a consideration..... I'm a little less naive about lace now than I once was.....

In any case, the criteria for the NEXT shawl I make will be:

• No knitted on border. There are many pretty patterns which don't have one, and now I know how to do that already.
• Possibly a slightly heavier gauge yarn for added warmth and size -- I'm thinking for walks in fall.
• Something visually appealing.

I was seriously thinking about the Fiber Trends Leaf Lace shawl which I showed a post or two ago, but now I'm thinking about Kiri. The person who designed Kiri indicated that she made it in about 24 hours!!!! I am thinking that I would have to multiply that number by two, and switch to the next higher unit....so 48 days (which would still be a lot less time than I've spent on Summer in Kansas). In any case, I'd try to keep track of my knitting time, just to see how lace-challenged I am compared to the experts.....

In other lace news, the Foulard from the Morehouse Merino book is coming right along, too. It starts at one corner, increases every row until there are lots of stitches on the needles, then starts decreasing. I've just passed the part where it starts decreasing -- see the little "corners" at the sides?

We have a long car ride later today..... You all know what that means!! Knitting progress!! :-)

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Recognized in Public

Dear Cynthia,

I **finally** got myself over to my LYS, Lakeside Fibers, this past Sunday so that I could spend the nice $25.00 gift certificate which my recent houseguests sent to me out of appreciation for staying at my house. I found myself some nice Cascade yarn to make a felted bag which I am designing....but also, a few weeks ago this same LYS sent out a newsletter to let everybody know that they are now carrying patterns for Noni bags...and ever since then, I've been wanting to check them out. And so, check them out I did, right through to the cash register.

Actually, I only bought one Noni pattern, shown here. I wanted the flower pattern, and it is sold separately for $5.50. But, I also thought these two bags were cute, and the flower pattern was included, all for $8.00, so that is what I did. Here is the bag on the front of the pattern:....and here is the bag on the back of the pattern.

I'm going to make one of the little ruffled bags for my mom for Christmas this year. I think it is okay to tell you this, because my mom doesn't read this here little blog.

I must tell you, however, that THE most amazing part of this story is that, while I was paying with my $25.00 gift certificate, the person whom I gave the money to said, "You're YarnThrower, aren't you?"...or something like that. I was so dumbfounded that it is all just a blur, so details might be sketchy. I asked her how she knew, and she said that she had stumbled on our site by accident one day, and at some point she saw the posting in which I showed the gift certificate, and she recognized the writing on the gift certificate to be hers, and MY MOM had mentioned something about the blog to her when purchasing the gift certificate via phone -- yes, my same mom who doesn't actually READ the blog is PROMOTING the blog, so that's definitely worth something...... Anyway, I was sooo caught off guard that I didn't know what to say, or how to act, or whether or not I should give her a knitted dishcloth for being the first non-virtual person to address me as "YarnThrower"...... What would you have done? I think I mumbled something about obscurity and thank you very much, and I walked away feeling all weird. Anyway.....

In other news, a friend of our family gave me some knit fabric having printed bugs on it, so I'm trying to sew a shirt for each of the boys using it, adding some black ribbing for the neckbands. Here is the first shirt. Can you guess what is missing?

And the Summer in Kansas Shawl had a bad day yesterday. Three stitches slipped right off the needle and got lost about four rows below..... After first just grabbing them with a needle to contain the damage, I ended up having to un-knit seven rows and dink around with it for an hour or so.....so once fixed, I decided to work on other things yesterday and am back on track today. Also, after not putting in a lifeline for something like 500 rows, I thought it was time for another one. It could have been really ugly.....

We've been having cable outages this week, so hopefully when I click "Publish", this will work!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Back to normal

Dear Cynthia,

Congrats on a very successful shower and your adorable little baby booties! Having everything set up half an hour before festivities begin is a skill I've never mastered. (What's your secret?) At our house, a party isn't a party unless I greet the first guest to arrive with my cleaning gloves on and a toilet brush in my hand.

We all survived the birthday party for my ds who turned six years old (which I still can't believe)! Since the day he was born, I've been hearing or reading some of the media, most doctors, and many books all saying to "limit sugar", give him only one serving of juice per day, provide healthy snacks and balanced meals, you get the picture. All of that is countered by what has generally been the reality of kids constantly having opportunities to get food which is not nutritious. The people who advertise all of the "juice boxes", and many other foods which are made with "real juice" try to lead us to believe that "more is better" in the juice department, and it's not really sugar if it is in "juice". Then there are the "special holidays", such as halloween (which I don't consider a holiday, but which is "celebrated" none-the-less), Christmas, Easter, birthday parties, play groups, and any number of other venues which I can't think of right now, and pretty soon the opportunites for kids to accumulate more and more sugar and fat escalate. This has been a lot of verbiage for me to simply say that what is best for my children has not been the easiest road to follow, and though my children have plenty 'o sweets, I often feel like a curmudgeon denying happiness by trying to limit some of the excess.

Anyway, I'm almost getting to the point of this. I have nothing inherently against the little treat bags given away at little kids' birthday parties these days, but I decided that I needed to try to support healthier choices for kids, and not spend money on sweets and junkie little toys to include. So for this party, I spent the same money on 3-packs of Hanes tee-shirts, two buckets of foamie stickers from the craft store (one having all letters in it, the other sea creatures), and six bottles of "spray on" fabric paint from the same craft store (Michaels). The kids each got an envelope containing the letters for his/her name, and a shirt which had a flattened grocery bag inside of it. (I first put each shirt on a large plastic hanger. Then, I put the grocery bag inside the shirt having the opening edges down, so that the bottom fold of the grocery bag could sort of "hang" off of the hanger, so it stayed put inside the shirt.) Then the kids sat down and got to work, sticking their letters to the shirt, and adding the sea creature stickers. Once they were happy with their designs, the kids decided what colors they wanted their shirts to be painted, and each kid watched and directed as a grown up sprayed paint onto his/her shirt. I originally thought the kids would be able to handle the paint, but after a couple of the kids almost squirt it into my eye and on their clothes, I decided it was just better if the kids said what to paint where, and the adults just followed the directions. Anyway, the stickers were removed at the end of the party, after the shirts were dry, leaving behind white shapes and letters. And, they turned out great! A big hit with the kids and their parents, and presto -- the only sugar the kids got from me was in the birthday cake (water was the featured beverage, since we were outside in the heat wave that day).

In knitting news, 715 out of 890 border rows complete on Summer in Kansas. I had thoughts about really pushing myself to finish it this week to wear it for an event this coming Sunday night, but then I remembered about the laundry, cooking, cleaning, and playing with children that all must happen this week, too, so I'm still pushing for an August 4th finish..... But a girl can dream.....as I've been contemplating the Leaf Lace Shawl from Fiber Trends, out of a heavier, hand-painted yarn :-)

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)
P.S. My next post will have some very, very exciting news about the trip I took to the yarn store this past Sunday!

Baby Bootie Bounty......

Dear Laura:

I hope that your birthday party was a smashing success! The baby shower for my niece went really well - I was pleased. I peaked a little early with the preparations. The shower started at 3:30, and at 3:00 I sat down to wait for guests to start arriving. That's the way I like things to go!

Here is a picture of the result of the "bootie knitting frenzy!" 3 pairs, all ready to be wrapped as prizes. The top pair was from a pattern I got from Knitting to Go which was a gift from my good friend Lauren at Knitting at Lunch.



The other two pair are from a pattern that I discovered on the "Free Patterns" site. (Hmm, wonder how I knew about that!?!) I love this pattern! I knit one bootie looking at the pattern, and the next 3 from memory. I love a pattern that makes that kind of sense! And actually, the gauge of my yarn on the last pair was bigger than the first pair, so I reduced the pattern by approx 1/3...and it worked out great!

I had a great trip to St. Louis - lots of driving in 2 days, but that's how I finished the booties, so that was fine. Besides the baseball game, I enjoyed a visit with Ross, who sends his greetings. I skipped out of town just before it got REALLY hot!

Now I am back at work on the shawl. I've managed 8 rows in the last 24 hours - at 476 per row, that's not bad! I'm on row 77 of 190 - but remember that I'm not planning to make it the full width of 60". I think I might be done somewhere around row 124....but I'm not nuts enough to count up how many stitches per row it will be at that point!! (I only calculated my current stitches per row so that I could report it to you!)

Keep knitting!!


Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

BIND-OFF (Amazing Lace Challenge #4)

If I bound-off my Summer in Kansas lace shawl right now (at row 689 out of 890 "knitted on border" rows), it could be used as a designer lampshade.

I would sell it for no less than a thousand dollars (possibly more, as I have a bit of time and frustration tied up in this) and it would look very similar to this photo, except it wouldn't have the needle sticking out the side of it like a curling iron hanging tangled in somebody's hair.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Baby Shower Central!

Dear Laura:
I had to laugh when you titled your last post, "Party Central." I've been refering to my place as "Baby Shower Central!"

One of my nieces is due to have her first baby on August 6, and so my sil's and I are giving her a baby shower this Sunday. At my house. Did I mention that I'm leaving today for St. Louis???

Early in the spring, I agreed to drive one of my friends to St. Louis for a conference (in exchange for gas money and a baseball ticket!). I planned on staying with Ross for 2 nights and then come home Sunday evening. However, when we started planning the shower it turned out that this Sunday was the only date that would work. So, I'm driving down today, going to a ballgame, having breakfast with Ross tomorrow and then driving back home to finish preparing for the shower!

I've worked really hard over the last week, getting as much done ahead as possible, so I'm really not concerned. (I even washed windows! A little last minute-sweeping and furniture arrangement, make little sausage appetizers and punch and we should be good to go.

And of course....knitting! I'm making booties for the prizes. I have 2 pair done, and the yarn for 2-3 more in my bag. I have a 6-hour drive down there and a ballgame, that's plenty of time for booties! Heck, I may even knit a hat or two by Sunday!! ;)

Sorry I don't have any pictures yet....I hope to post the whole batch when I get home.......

Have a happy party!!

Keep knitting,

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

Party Central

Dear Cynthia,

I am so thankful for this blog, and for the people who responded to my plea for help regarding the sun screen issue. After the screaming incident on Monday, we had a rain day on Tuesday, so a break from all sun screen on that day, which allowed a lot of healing. Then, yesterday, before swimming lessons, we ran to the Lands End section of Sears and found SPF 40 swim shirts for the boys to wear, so presto, no sun screen required on the areas which had been most sensitive -- namely, their chests and backs. I'm still going to check around at some of the places recommended in the comments in order to find less chemical-filled sunscreens, because even using the baby sun screen, my fore arms are starting to itch like crazy. I did find some for $26 per three ounces, but I think I will do some more comparison shopping before I resign myself to paying that much -- That much money could buy enough yarn for a shawl!!

Anyway, my five year old is turning six, and we are having his first, ever, birthday party in which he may invite friends over. It is this Saturday, so because I have been knitting so much (but am not showing progress of it here today -- picture everything I'm working on as you've already seen it, only a few inches longer, and you'll be up to speed), it means I really have to pull some things together for the party before Saturday, which means today and tomorrow. The picture shows some burlap and some rejected crummy old white tee-shirts which my husband placed in the rag pile. I'm going to sew this stuff into "bases" (as in first, second, third, and home plate, the latter of which my son informed me must be shaped like an upside down house) for kick ball, which my son just loves. It is a party at the park, because I think that's where kids should be in their summer free time! We will play kick ball, paint tee-shirts, and eat pizza and cake. They are predicting temperatures of 93 degrees for that day.....so I must buy more bottled water for the party..... Anyway, time to get things moving here today.....

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Cheaper than Flying

Dear Cynthia,

There was a pancake breakfast / fly-in at the local airport over the weekend, and we went to it. Very fun! Lots of tables set up in a nice clean hangar, and good food. Plus, a lot more airplane traffic in and out of our little airport than we've ever seen, and the little 2-seater and 4-seater planes were literally taxi-ing around us as we wandered around the airplane parking lot. Many of the planes were built from "kits". I asked one man there how long it takes to assemble an airplane kit. He told me "about five years, if you really work at it." I could probably say the same thing about certain shawls or sweaters, except I'd be talking about a much lower price tag. In any case, I can see what would be so addicting and exhilarating about flying. The passion of many of the people there, the amount of knowledge that some of the people there had, etc... -- It all reminded me a lot of knitting...

I replaced my broken set of #1 dpn's and made a start on my Elite Feet Traveling Companion Socks. This is Blackberry Ridge Mer-Made in the variegated pink colorway. The pattern utilizes cables and broken ribs. It is more work than I typically devote to a sock, but fun for a change.

Also, more progress on my shawl. One could say that I "turned the corner", because, actually, I worked the "knitted on border" around the corner and started up the other side. There are four rows of border per every "live stitch" in the corner section, compared to only two rows of border per every "live stitch" on the sides. This helps it to fill in the corner area better. In order to get this far, I finished up my first Excel "check off sheet", and started the second one. For anybody keeping score, I've completed 521out of 890 border rows. Somehow I'm more motivated now that I'm heading toward the finish line. Finishing by August 4th is still within reach.

We're in our last week of swimming lessons for the summer. It's a good thing, too, because my three-year-old son is having a bad reaction to sun screen. I tried switching to a more baby-friendly brand today, but his skin is so sensitive that even that seemed to really bother him (which I could tell because he was screaming for about a minute after I put some on his chest). If you or anybody has first-hand experience with this issue, I'm all ears! Another lady at the pool thinks that once his skin clears up from this episode, the baby-friendly sun screen should be okay..... I hope that's the case! In the meantime, tomorrow he'll probably wear a tee-shirt in the pool...

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)
P.S. I've updated the dishrag count on the side bar. Will this pound of Kitchen Cotton never end?

The part that slapped me around.....

Dear Laura:

Yay! I finished the center flower of the lace shawl...the part that kept kickin' my butt. I just couldn't seem to get a handle on the "big picture." I put a lifeline at one point, and got within 2 rounds of finishing the medallion, and discovered a problem just after my lifeline, so I ripped back about 10 rounds....and picked up the lifeline stitches, and still couldn't make it work. Turned out that there was a mistake BEFORE the lifeline, so I had to go back a few extra rows. Stitch by stitch. More fun than I can express, since at this point each round is 240 stitches....

But we're past that now. I finished the center, double checked it, put in a new lifeline and laid it out for a picture. TaDa!!

Now I'm on the feather and fan part of the pattern. (Huge sigh of relief) There is a sense of "pattern." It's semi-memorizable. And after each pattern row is 3 rows of stockinette!!! YAY!!

I'm hosting a baby shower for my niece next Sunday, but will be out of town on Fri/Sat, so I spent the weekend doing everything I could think of ahead. All of the bugs that crawl across my carpet and die at the baseboards have been swept up, which is a step. However, as usual, as soon as I put the sweeper away, I noticed a bug crawling across the carpet. I tried to warn it - "No, no! Stay away from the baseboards! They're a death-trap!" but it didn't seem to be deterred. Oh well. I tried!

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

Easy problems

Dear Cynthia,

I might have mentioned that my mom and a friend of hers stayed here for a few days last week because they were attending a handbell workshop in the area. In any case, a few days ago they surprised me with a letter in the mail having a "Lakeside Fibers" return address, and guess what was inside?!! It was a very nice, very generous, thank you gift :-)

In other news, I started a pair of socks last night, just to get a break from the whole dishcloth thing and the lace thing. On row #2 of the sock, I broke a size 1 needle. I can't complain, because I think it is the first needle I've ever broken in half? It was an old, old dpn set that was in my grandma's stash. Now I **have** to go to the yarn store today, because I have no other size 1 dpn's. This is one "problem" which I think can can really take "in stride" :-)

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Managing Multiple Priorities

Dear Cynthia,

True to our "pact" to each complete the "finishing" of a sweater by Monday night, I sewed together the "Big A" sweater and it is ready for "game time" (birthday party for recipient this next weekend). Here it is being worn by an almost-six-year-old. The recipient is only four, but I always try to err on the side of "way too big" for kids.....

I bought this wonderful yarn for half price, which made it affordable for me - otherwise I never would have even considered this alpaca blend for a kids' sweater. While seaming it together, I was reminded of the words of one of my former knitting instructors about nice yarn yielding better results than crap yarn, particularly noticeable in the finishing. Here is a close-up shot of the side seam. I used mattress stitch, even through the ribbing, and the seam is barely detectable. As my knitting instructor told her students, it has little to do with skills as a knitter and a lot to do with the quality of the yarn. I started writing out the pattern for this sweater, and should have it posted in another week or two.....

My response to your question, "Why do we knit lace" (in the context of the difficulties we seem to be having with it) is, "I don't know." And, I find it horrifying that yesterday I found myself looking through magazines trying to find my next shawl project. I'm trying to put the brakes on that right now! Current status for Summer in Kansas is 331 out of 890 knitted-on-border rows completed. I've been achieving 20 rows per day, so I should meet my August 4th deadline. It seems like it is really taking a long time, and it has been hard for me to stay with it, but I'm really trying to be disciplined about it.

Finally, here at dishcloth central I am finishing up my 9th dishcloth from the original pound of Kitchen Cotton, and here is what is left of the yarn. (Updated counts are in the side bar in my finished objects section.) And so, I have a winner to announce in the "Guess how many dishcloths may be made out of one pound of Kitchen Cotton" contest. Lauren guessed ten, and no other responders guessed anything higher than that, so Lauren, please send me your snail mail address (feel free to use the brand new "e-mail yarnthrower" link on the side bar, which Cynthia installed over the weekend to make our addresses more accessible -- Thank you Cynthia!) and let me know if you'd prefer your dishcloth to be "Grandma's favorite" or of the pattern on the yarn package.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Yes, by the way, I did finish by Monday evening!

Dear Laura:

In fact, I finished before I went to bed on Sunday night! This is a really fast knit. When we chatted on Sunday, I had only the left front and 1/2 of the back to knit. Sewing up took longer than expected, and then there was the finish ribbing. I took the picture this morning, and it is blocking even now.
So, when we left off the Convergence report, I was once again wandering the vendor tables. I was searching for Julie, and when I found her, we decided to head for the area where there was a knitting & spinning area. We stopped by a booth that had materials for Japanese weaving, The Braidershand. They had a small starter kit....

Despite the chant in my head "I need another hobby like I need a hole in my head...." I became intrigued and....well....I bought the 6" disk and some E-Z-Bobs and some threads to weave. I don't really know why.....but I did.

After I started looking at the weaving threads more closely, I noticed that it really is THREAD and I thought I should have something less fine to start out with. As I sat thinking about it, something in my head clicked, and I remember seeing "mini-skiens" of silk in a fingering weight. So one last mad dash through the vendors, while the announcement that the exhibit was closing...and I picked up these mini-skeins to start out with. (Reminded me of the Stitches we went to, and I came out of my top-down sweater class needing the perfect yarn to make my class project into a sweater for my niece - remember?)


So, I haven't started yet.....but I have the stuff.

I did spend time today on the lace shawl. I had moved my lifeline last week, and made about 8 rows of progress. (Let's see, each row is 8 repeats of a 30-32 stitch pattern....that's....a bunch of stitches per row, and it's only about 12" around....) So last night, I noticed a problem about 7 rows back, and after sleeping on it, decided I was going to have to go back to the lifeline. (Big Hole) I picked up again at the life line, and kept running into problems in several of the pattern repeats. Eventually I determined that there were problems BEFORE the life line. So, I am unhappily tinking back a few more rows. Remind me again why we are knitting lace??

Do you have your sweater sewn together??

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

Convergence.....

Dear Laura:

On Saturday morning, I boarded a bus bright and early for a day trip to Convergence 2006! It is a HUGE bi-annual event, much like Stitches-on-Steroids, with the focus on handweaving and spinning, although there is also knitting and crochet. The Fort Wayne-area Spinning Guild, Flax and Fleecers sponsored the bus to Grand Rapids, and we had a full bus!

We made good time to Grand Rapids, and arrived just as the vendor area was opening for the day. The picture is just a general idea of the space - it was, I think, even larger than the Marketplace at Stitches....so you may well imagine how overwhelming it was! I did an "opening round" walk just to get an idea of where I wanted to spend more time, then sat down for a knitting break.

I was glad I made the first scouting foray - once I had given it the once-over, it was much more managable, since there was so much that dealt with weaving and spinning. My strategy for the day was to not purchase anything that is available locally and to focus on items that I've been searching for. However, since the focus of the exhibition was weaving, I could browse with much less temptation than usual. There was also more 'finished work" available than I am used to. Very beautifully woven garment and dyed textiles - there was even a booth of 18k gold jewelry that had been woven on a loom. (I'm assuming it was a smaller loom that the big ones we automatically picture in our minds!)

On my second trip around, I stopped at a booth which featured hand-dyed yarn and roving. Lisa Souza Dyeworks is right up my color alley! I fell in love with this sock yarn (because we all know that I desparately need more sock yarn!!) and so it rode home with me..... It was by no means the only colorway that I loved, but at that point, I still had some reasonable amount of sanity to work with.

I also stopped at a table that offered free samples of angora fiber from German Angora Rabbits. (I'll add a link when I find the paper....) I've heard that it's wicked-hard to spin angora because it is so light, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Someday.

After another knitting break, I headed off to the exhibits. That ended up being my favorite part of the day. It's like going to a great art museum, but all of the pieces are fiber art. The items ranged from traditional weaving to weaving with a "twist" and then took off from there. On piece that I really enjoyed was a sweater, knickers and socks that were crocheted from wire. It was a large mesh-fabric, but the wire allowed it to be shaped as if it was around a person. Then they hung upside down, sweater on the bottom, socks on the top, so that you had the impression that an invisible person was diving. My description in no-way does it justice - but I really enjoyed it.

Several pieces left me scratching my head, but then I always think that was the effect the artist was going for! There was also a section of garments. Most of them were not really something that you would wear. I don't just mean that someone with my life wouldn't wear them, rather that they really are meant for display and would be worn in a fashion show or on exhibit like this. My favorites were ones that I could see someone actually wearing. There was a "Button Dress" that had a classic shape - a simple dress covered in a tulle fabric. It had buttons spaced on the tulle, some on top of, some below so that some were shiny and some were matte. Really random, but very beautiful.

I took another knitting break (note to self: Wear sneakers, not sandals to any "walk-all-day" event!)and then I wandered the vendors again. (This is where I lost all semblance of sanity. We'll save this for tomorrow...)

But the bus trip and knitting breaks were productive! On the ride up and during all of the knitting breaks, I worked on the sleeves of this baby bolero from One Skein. However, since I'm using a cotton yarn, by time I had finished the sleeves, my hands were crying for mercy, so I switched to my current sock project. I managed a few inches of cuff, turned the heel, and finished the gusset decreases. It was a productive trip!















So. I've been to Convergence....


Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

POETRY (Amazing Lace Challenge #3)

Ode to Summer in Kansas

(first, the rhyming part)

My Summer in Kansas,
Taped on the window glass...
If there's one thing you do well,
It's that you can really kick my...

...brain into high gear,
Counting all the stitches.
K2tog's and SSK's,
And other sons-of-...

...mine
have distracted me as I knit.
And sometimes when this happens,
You'll hear me screaming...rats!

(now, the free-form part)

Oh, my dear Summer in Kansas, with your 160 main body rows, and your 890 knitted-on-border rows (of which I have completed only 261), and your picked up stitches along the top edge (which I am too afraid to count)...

My dear, dear Summer in Kansas, let us please complete this journey together before my new deadline of August 4th...

And, my dear, dear, dear shawl, please bloom when you are blocked so that I will not cry whenever I look at you in the pile with all the other car-washing rags.

Lethargy

Dear Cynthia,

Look at this photo! To my eye, this project is NOT screaming "Hey, pick me up already and get going on the knitted on lace edging again."

In spite of that, I did pick it up today and worked ten rows of the border on Summer in Kansas. This means that I have 220 rows of the border completed. This also means that I have 670 rows of the border remaining (according to my little spreadsheet there, which is discouraging just to look at). I haven't decided, yet, if the glass is half empty or half full on this project.

My new "deadline" is August 4th. It means knitting roughly 20 rows per day. Plus, there is a little border that is worked along the top edge, but I don't think it is quite 890 rows worth. I could find out right now by looking at the pattern, but I'm afraid to. Ignorance sometimes is, indeed, bliss.

Anyway, enough with the shawl math for now. How is your lace baptismal shawl coming along? Hopefully you are more motivated than I am right now??

Well, time to get going on the invitations for my five-year-old's birthday party. It is the first party to which he's ever been allowed to invite friends, so it is really a big deal for him and he is very excited about it.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

DishRag-O-Rama

Dear Cynthia,

First, thank you for your vote. I was honored and humbled in being nominated in the Amazing Lace contest (link on side bar), and though I think my chances at finishing in the top three this time around are slim, I'm just thrilled to be one of the six finalists in Challenge #2. (I went against the advice of my dad years ago in high school when I was involved in a similar type of "election", and didn't even vote for myself.) It has been a LOT of fun!

It turns out that dish rags are a great companion to take to soccer class. I can hold a conversation with other moms as I knit, and watch the kids in their class. Perfect. I even overherd some women sitting a few yards away from me talking about signing up for some crochet class years ago.....so, I'm not sure if they know that I was not, indeed, crocheting (not that there's anything wrong with that), or if they were just commenting on their own experiences with yarn?? In any case, in the spirit of "each one reach one", I'll be watching to see if anybody else picks up yarn and needles in the next couple of weeks during soccer.

Dish rags, particularly "Grandma's Favorite", have some meaning for me. About 15 years ago, while living in Fort Wayne, my grandma stayed with me in my apartment there for one night. I taught her how to make the "standard" dishrag pattern, because she thought they were "just beautiful." It was the first time I ever saw her knit, though she had considerable knitting experience. It was a fun time for us, sitting there, and both knitting simple dish rags. In any case, now she is suffering from Alzheimers in a nursing home and for a couple of years has not known who I am. It is so ironic, because "memories", and saving "memories" were always so important to her. She gave me no less than two big scrapbooks while I was growing up, to make sure that I would "capture" events from my childhood, and she often talked about when she was a young girl. And now, she has been stripped of most of her memories. She still knows her own (grown) children (on most days, anyway), but it's hard for me to visit her when many of the things I remember about her and associate with her are no longer known even to her. I'm not sure where her mind is right now, but I can only hope that she is happy.

But I digress..... It's the dish rag.... Running total updated in the side bar in my finished objects section.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Off the needles!

Dear Laura:

Ok, I confess, I've been a spaced out co-blogger! So much so that when you emailed to tell me that you were one of the 6 finalists for the Amazing Lace Challenge #2, that was the first that I actually looked at the Amazing Lace site and realized that it is a CONTEST! And that I can vote for you! Doh!

I'm glad that the blue came out of your sweater. It's too bad that it is no longer bright white, but at least it's all the same color again.

Life has been crazy these days. I had gotten to the point that the only time I could count on for knitting during the week was my lunch hour. The last two weeks I've been working through lunches to accrue enough time to have 1/2 a day off for fun events. Even at that, I didn't have enough time to take off and go to the lake cottage that my brother and his family had rented. So, not much knitting progress last week.

But the weekend was another story! I worked at the store Saturday morning, and other than helping with a couple of "troubled projects," I had time to work on the baby sweater. And then 4 hours in the car Saturday going to a birthday party in Ohio....and my dad drove to church, so I got the baby sweater "off the needles" by noon on Sunday! I set it to soak for blocking, and laid it out in the afternoon. I must not have done a good job getting the excess water out tho - I turned it over last night, and am hoping that it will be actually dry when I get home tonight.

The "oops" that I didn't rip out for was noticing half-way through that I had not been working button holes. I think I will try sewn-in-snaps like you used for the felted bag, just a little smaller. Then I think I'll embroider a flower over the spot the snaps are at. Then it will be finished!!

Oh, and I wanted to post this picture of my God-son Richard all wrapped up in his red blankie! They were visiting at my house, and my basement apartment is pretty chilly, so he got all wrapped up for his nap!

Anyway, good luck on your challenge!!

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter!)

Not All Whites are White

Dear Cynthia,

Remember the blue spot on the bright white sweater? I received some suggestions on how to approach this problem, and I tried all of them.

First, I soaked the blue area in hydrogen peroxide. This might have faded the stain slightly, though I'm not sure.

Second, I soaked the blue area in diluted bleach. This took the blue stuff right out. As it turns out, it also changed the "color" of the white in the elbow area, so I had a new problem.

Third, I stuck the whole sweater in a bucket with diluted bleach, stirred for a couple of minutes, and then washed the sweater in the washing machine on a delicate cycle with a slow agitation speed. To my eye, the sweater isn't as "bright" as it used to be (of course, just wearing it makes it dirty -- I remind myself -- IT'S WHITE). However, the blue is COMPLETELY gone, and I may now wear the sweater again on days other than my "stay at home cleaning" days (in which I never actually clean very much, but papers in the house are moved around a little bit).

Also, I finished my secret project and started working on the dishclothes again. The new tally is in the sidebar in my finished objects section. I only was able to knit for three hours in the van on the way **to** Wausau, because I drove all the way **home** from our weekend excursion and I haven't yet figured out how to safely knit while driving on the interstate. (I was distracted enough trying to console my three-year-old who had dropped his teddy bear in a place in the car in which nobody could reach it.) Now we're all home safe and sound, pleasantly tired, and happy to be back.

I hope that you have a great week!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Just Checking In

Dear Cynthia,

Hmmm.... Crocheting fuzzy yarn on flip-flops, eh? Pictures, please!!!! Perhaps you could make the post incognito to protect the innocent... It sounds like your weekend was relaxing, and I'm sure it was nice to visit with friends for a while! Have you been practicing doing twisted rib in the dark? I don't even know what twisted rib is, so if it makes you feel better, I can't work twisted rib in the light...

The speed of life has really picked up around here, running from this to that, but I am thankful for the activity, and my five-year-old is loving every minute of it. My three-year-old is a bit hesitant for new things, and so on the first day of soccer, I participated in class with him -- at least one of us was going to get the money's worth out of the thing..... My dh said that it gives a new meaning to the phrase "soccer mom". In any case, things are improving, but I still think the teacher is going to charge me an adult participation fee...

We're going out of town this weekend, a quick trip involving at least six hours in the van, so I have my travel knitting packed. I expect to finish my work with the teal yarn, and will then move onto the great dishcloth project of the summer in pursuit of the answer to the question: How many dishcloths out of one pound of Kitchen Cotton? I've started a tally in my finished projects listing on the sidebar. Hopefully next week I'll be knitting more interesting things...

Have a great weekend!
Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

I Am a Slacker...

Dear Laura:

I just love that "A" sweater. It looks so great blocked out - so...perfect! You are way out-producing me these days, and not just knitting wise. I have no idea how you get it all done!

I have not made such progress.

I spent the weekend camping with friends at a nearby campground. I arrived about 40 minutes before they did on Friday night, so I set up my chair and grabbed my knitting basket. It was SO relaxing to sit in the quiet evening, smelling the smoke of campfires all around, enjoying the breeze and knitting. I got most of the way through the first row of twisted garter stitch on the baby sweater and realized that I hadn't looked down at my knitting at all. Straight knitting-into-the-back-loop? I can do that with my eyes closed!! Ha!

Over the next few days, I knitted at the beach and the campsite while still participating in the whole thing. I got 12-14 rows done, and well into the final ball of yarn. Then on Monday evening, while working on it at home....with my eyes open....I discovered a dropped stitch. I can pick up a drop stitch, even on garter stitch, but after working on it for a while, I had to admit that the "twist" was kickin' my behind. So I ripped back...and ended up at right about the place I was when I discovered that I was good enough to knit with my eyes closed.

The imaginary knitting gods will not be mocked, nor will they tolerate arrogance.

Tuesday night was a "knitting break" since I needed to take my car to my brother's house to have new rear brakes installed. While he worked on the car, I worked on a project for his wife. I don't like admitting this on my knitting blog....but I crocheted trim on some flip-flops for her. I don't mind admitting that I crochet - in fact, it was my first yarn craft, and I still enjoy picking up a hook....but I used "fuzzy yarn." You know, the kind I mock other people for using??? Yeah, that kind. And I have another pair to do...

Last night I worked on the baby sweater again, (and I've made up most of the "negative progress" from the weekend)....until the storm rolled through which took down a steeple in our little town and left us without power until 5 o'clock this morning. I went to bed - what else can you do?? When I pulled out of my garage this morning tho, I discovered that the storm had also taken out a large chunk of a dead tree which was now blocking my driveway. Much to big a chunk for me to drag away, so I did a little "off-roading" through the yard to get to work. I was running too late for a picture, but if it hasn't been cleaned up by time I get home, I'll add a picture later.

So, that's all the news from here.

Keep knitting! (and keep your eyes open!)

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

I Am Not A Slacker

Dear Cynthia,

Well, not totally, anyway....though here is all I have to show you today. Because we have this blog and it causes just enough pressure (nothing unhealthy, mind you) to share some knitting progress, I actually got my butt in gear this morning regarding the Big A sweater, wove in all of the ends that can't be put into a seam (in other words, the zillion intarsia ends are taken care of now - well, not exactly a zillion, but for one big letter made of only one color, there were surprisingly MANY ends), washed it, and now it is blocking.

The teal yarn is what remains of the three hanks of Cascade 220 I bought for the little project I can't reveal at this time. I've gone through approximately 400 yards of it so far, and I expect the completed project will consume a total of roughly 550 yards, so I'm well on my way to finishing it and resuming work on the **ahem** several other projects which have been sidelined.

I've also started to consider what large project I might like to work on this fall. Front-runners are this in colorway 2, this in the green, or this for my dh in the colorway which has wine trim. I'm also reminding myself that I have two shawls which I (repeat after me) ABSOLUTELY WILL FINISH BEFORE STARTING ANOTHER PROJECT. Also, my three-year-old also wants a "sweater to match his big brother's except with no buttons or zippers", and just the thought of making another two Fana sleeves has diminished my already fleeting sanity. In any case, I'm pondering.....

And now, back to it!
Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Foulard

Dear Cynthia,

The title of this post is pronounced in such a way that it rhymes with "moo guard", with the accent on the second syllable. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "a lightweight twill or plain-woven fabric of silk or silk and cotton, usually having a small printed design", or, "an article of clothing, esp. a necktie or scarf, made of foulard". It is the name of the shawl I'm making out of the Morehouse Farm Merino Knits book. I am making it with my first ever Knit Picks purchase -- "Shimmer", a Baby Alpaca/Silk blend, lace weight, in the Stained Glass colorway. It is a simple pattern of a square, knit from corner to corner. The most difficult thing about it so far has been getting started, because the needles called for are so large compared to the skinny yarn. My circular needle wasn't working well, because it has tips which are too blunt to knit into both the front and back of a stitch. So, I went searching for the most light-weight and pointiest of all size 11 straight needles. Then, I got going on it and progress has been fast and fun. I have two 440 yard hanks of the Shimmer, and when I get to the end of the first hank, I'll have a big triangle and it will be time to start decreasing as it works itself into a square. It is perfect summer knitting, to take along on trips, or otherwise.

Speaking of summer, all of the park & rec programming starts this week, so we'll be busy with swimming lessons, tee ball, soccer, and lots of stuff going on at the library. I'm not sure when I'll have time for cooking dinner, so this could be an interesting four weeks...

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

EXTREME (Amazing Lace Challenge #2)

I think this photo speaks for itself...



Warm regards (and I DO mean "warm"),

Laura (YarnThrower)

It's a shrug....

Dear Laura:

I love the tie-dye shirts! Your guys will all be quite stylin'. And they are right up my colorway alley!

Wow, I'm anxious to hear how your spot removal went on the white sweater. This is SO something I would have done. I hope it came out all right.

I just thought I'd do a quick post to update you on the infamous baby sweater project. I am cautiously optimistic. I have completed both sleeves (you thought since I hadn't said anything lately that I was slacking off on it, didn't you?? Go ahead, admit it...) It has been my "lunch-hour" project, and has made steady progress.

Now all that is left is to knit twisted garter stitch around the body until I run out of yarn. Don't let the picture panic you - that is not all of the remaining yarn. I have another ball in the basket. Right now...it's a shrug. But I'm pretty sure I can get that body down to the waist at least. ;)

I'm going to be going on a camping trip this weekend - actually, it isn't far, just to Chain of Lakes in Albion, which is only about 1/2 hour drive. My friends from Kenosha are coming to camp there, so I'll be joining them. Of course, if it's too muggy, or buggy, or anything too icky...it's only 1/2 hour drive back to my apartment and a/c!!

I've packed the knitting bag with the baby sweater, a sock project, and more yarn for those little baby hats. I know I'll be lucky to finish the sweater, but I always have to take way more projects that I think I can possibly finish "just in case." What if I had time but nothing to work on!! Tragedy!!

So....

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

It's not about the knitting...

Dear Cynthia,

I have some "deadline" projects due, and after suffering some lack of sleep to sew, I'm happy to report that all deadlines will be met.

First: Tie-dye shirts for Fathers' Day. This is a great project for kids! After the boys and I "tied" them using rubber bands and I soaked them in soda ash, we dyed them together out in the front yard using the squeeze bottles in the kit. My five-year-old wanted a double swirl, which proved to be a challenge a little bit beyond our abilities, but it's hard to go wrong with tie-dye. My three-year-old wanted "stripes".In this next photo, the shirt on the left is for my dad. The boys thought his should be a "swirl". The one on the right is for DH. The boys wanted his to be a "sunburst". These were all done using the "Ultimate Tie-Dye Kit" by Rainbow Rock, for approximately $12.00 after using the 40% off coupon at Michaels. It is very important to use shirts made from 100% natural fiber for best color saturation. We used Hanes shirts, 100% cotton, which come in packs of three. I'm not sure my dad will actually wear his, though he can always use it to wash the car. I know DH will wear his, to match the boys, who love to dress like their daddy.

And two more skirts....the short one for me, and the long one for a taller young lady I know who will be going to Europe in a couple of weeks -- a skirt that is SUPPOSED to be wrinkled. I'm a little bit tired of "gathering" for the time being -- the lowest tier on the blue skirt is 176" around. I'm loving the whole crinkled thing, though, and I want a longer one for myself....

And so, off to the post office to get these items in the mail. And next time, we'll return to our normally scheduled blog about knitting.....

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

What was I thinking?

Dear Cynthia,

First, I want to say, "Thank you", to Tenizmom, Lauren, and Sarah for their kind comments, and for guessing the number of dishcloths which a one-pound cone of Kitchen Cotton will yield. Also, I beg you to be patient with me..... Anybody who has read a post or two from this blog will quickly realize that there is no apparent logic regarding what I decide to knit on any given day, and though I am working on the dishcloths in the background, given the amount of yarn in a pound of Kitchen Cotton, we might not have our answer until the end of summer (hopefully 2006). (Not sure what I was thinking about possibly working exclusively on dishcloths until the one pounder is all used up....) So again, please hang in there. I haven't forgotten, and I'm quite curious about the answer myself! Also, if anybody else would care to venture a guess, entries are not closed. I think I can still manage the tabulations even if the number of entries doubles.

Second, you may remember this 100% cotton bright **white** sweater (what was I thinking) which I knit last summer, my own pattern, having cables along the front and for the ribbing of the lower edges. Bright white. I am not the best one for laundry tips, though I have one today. Here I have zoomed in on the right sleeve, so that you may see the cable ribbing detail and the large blue spot on the elbow (which I'm guessing you noticed long before the cable ribbing detail grabbed your attention). I wash all of my sweaters in the washing machine, on the delicate cycle, cold water, minimum agitation. It works great, and the water is sufficiently flung out of them so they don't take too long to dry. However, if one might be drying sweaters bunk bed style, having one laying on the floor, and then another on a little sweater dryer having mesh which holds the sweater about five inches off of the floor, and if the sleeve of that sweater on the "top bunk" might be bright white and come into contact with the blue sweater on the "lower bunk", and some sort of capillary wicking thing happens, it is quite possible that there might be a transfer of some blue dye. AAUGH!!!! I'm not sure what to do. I think I'll try washing the white sweater in a weak bleach solution, all by itself, but if anybody in blog land might have any thoughts on this....please share!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)
P.S. I didn't even know about world wide knit-in-public day! I'm with you, though. I don't need a special day to do that.
P.P.S. I'm very excited about your lace, and will enjoy watching it unfold!

This and that...

Dear Cynthia,

Shawl math: 211 rows of the 890 row border have been completed (almost 1/4). Being a little bit behind on my 60 row per day goal, I am facing the fact that I am not going to have this done in time for my nephew's confirmation on June 25th, which is probably fine, because if I do have it done by then, the weather will be 90 degrees and I'll be sweating just carrying it around, let alone wearing it. And so since this isn't done, my nephew will have me to blame for the crummy 50 degree windy weather we're probably going to have on that day, instead.....and me without my new shawl..... New target completion is the first week in August.

How about this picture? Has it occurred to anybody yet that my degree has nothing to do with art? Better planning of my photo compositions is something that often escapes me me until after I've uploaded the photos to the server and I'm hurriedly trying to post before "quiet time" for the boys is over. In any case, the dark yarn is going to be used to finish the scarf for my dad (shown here in all one inches of its glory -- so there is a bit more to knit in order to "finish" it). I threw in the teal colored yarn just to shock you, since it's soooo not a color I would normally purchase. It is for a special project which I will reveal in its time.....

Last night, as I was knitting away, wondering if I might have possibly spent too much time knitting during the day and not enough time with the laundry, I realized that this coming Sunday is Fathers' Day. Since my dad is out of town, today is the day I have to mobilize to make his gift "happen" on time. And so, this afternoon the boys and I are going to tie dye some T-shirts --one for dh, one for my dad, and one for each of the boys (because they like to dress like their daddy). I'll share the results of that in my next post..... I'd better go read the directions in the tie dye kit now.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Did you knit in public??

Dear Laura:

I love your sweater!! I'm glad you're happy with it too - that makes a world of difference...And thanks for all the work you're doing posting free patterns!

Yes, Saturday was WWKIP day! (World Wide Knit in Public) I have a hard time seeing the need for a special day, since I've always been one to knit wherever and whenever I find myself. (The only 2 exceptions are church, and business meetings where they have said, "No, you can't knit during the meeting!") Otherwise "in public" is my knitting ground!

I've knitted in resturants, doctor's offices, hotel lobbies, Major League Ballparks, convention floors, on planes, trains, busses, and subways, at family reunions....ok, and once...well, once in the fellowship hall of the church while waiting for a funeral to begin....

So I don't know how much credit I'll get for my WWKIP activity. The only "public" knitting I did was at a graduation party for my cousin's daughter. However, I can report that at my table, everyone commented that I had been knitting the last time they saw me, and some could even remember the project. "You finished that baby hat at my house that day, didn't you?" "Did you finish the scarf you were working on at the reunion??"

I worked on this hat from the book One Skein. It seemed like a quick project to do for Lydia while she waits for her sweater (it did only take about 4 hours.) I also heard from her mother that her head is too little for the hats that she buys, so I'm hoping this (in a "newborn" size) will fit. I'm still waiting on a report. I used Cottonade yard...I'll have to look up the manufacturer. It is hard for me to knit with cotton, but this yarn is so cute! I'm going to make several more hats, and the baby kimono to have for shower gifts. I just have to space out the cotton knitting!

Once I finished the hat, it was back to the lace Baptismal shawl. I'm up to row 40, and I'm really due for a lifeline, but I would really like to finish this portion of the chart. I know, I know, I will probably regret trying to stretch this out..... It was really nice to switch back to that lovely, wispy yarn after the chunkier cotton. My hands gave a sigh of relief!

Which reminds me - I had quite a teaching adventure last Thursday. I had scheduled a student during "Knit-In" who wanted help with a chunky hat, and while we were working, a student came in with questions about a heel of a fingering weight sock. So, to my left I had size 1 needles and decreases and to my right, size 10 needles and increases! (I'm told there was another student with a question that I handled, but I honestly have no recollection of that!)

So, there's the news for now...

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

Finally Finished

Dear Cynthia,I finally finished the collared zip cardigan, shown here with my most recently completed dish rag. I've posted the pattern for the cardi in the "free patterns" section, including a snapshot of what it actually looks like with a person wearing it.
The other project which is taking me forever to finish is the "big A" sweater (shown here in its current state). I'm going to try to finish it this next week and post the pattern shortly after...

I've also found a new challenge: to determine how many 7-inch-square dish rags may be knit out of one pound of Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton. Any guesses? Anybody? I'll send a dish rag to the person who comes the closest to the right answer!!

(Hint: Here is what one pound looks like after making three of them...)(....and here is what it looks like before any has been used...)
Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)