Hardangervidda update...or, will she finish by December 24th?

Dear Cynthia,

I love watching knitted colorwork patterns come to life. The little dots and x's on the chart don't even come close to the look of the finished knitting. For the Hardangervidda sweater, it's pretty intense, because for many of the colorworked rows, I must refer to the chart for every single stitch, which means it's no longer a good project for toting around town. However, chugging through a few rows per day during "quiet time", I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I'm trying not to look too closely at this picture of the back, because I'm afraid I'm going to notice an error in the pattern...

I am six weeks into this project. I'd really like to have the knitting done within the next three weeks to give me ample time for the extensive finishing work (front plackets to knit, neckline to knit, sleeves to sew in, facings to stitch down, zipper to install, etc.) I have three quarters of a sleeve still to knit, and roughly 40 rows remaining on the body. I think it's possible to have this done by Christmas, as long as I don't become a slacker, and as long as I'm certain to cut the sleeve holes in the body in their proper locations. That last thing is something I've never missed, but I always worry about it.....

Well, I told my four year old that I'd work on his scarf for a while today when I was done "working" on the computer, so I'd better go do that. Later, we're off to the park! It's another gorgeous day here today, and we're wearing sweaters outside instead of winter coats. Tomorrow, we're expecting two inches of snow.....

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Back to normal at last...

Dear Cynthia,

Well, the election is over, and I am so glad that I no longer will have to arrive home to see the light blinking on my answering machine indicating I have five messages, all of which are somebody telling me that I should vote. I am also glad that the many people who have been pounding on our door will leave us alone for a while. Yesterday, I received both a phone call and a visit asking me if I knew if my HUSBAND was going to be voting or not. When I mentioned this to dh, he thought it was odd that my vote didn't seem to matter, and he thought perhaps I should remind them that women in this country DO have the right to vote now. In fact, I voted, because I am a competent, conscientious, and concerned citizen -- not because I was reminded dozens of times that it is important to vote.

Anyway, here is just a thought for anybody who campaigns - "efficiency", that's the ticket. Coordinate your efforts. If I am being contacted dozens of times, then there are probably people who aren't being contacted "at all". And, if somebody thinks that having Josh Lyman from West Wing tell my answering machine how I should vote will help me decide which space on the ballot to fill in, then I'm actually quite insulted. Okay, end of rant. Like I said, I am so glad it is over. Now, back to the normally scheduled commercials on tv.....

Here is the scarf for my little guy so far. It is about halfway done. I'm hoping to make it at least 48 inches long, though not sure....I started with only about 240 yards of yarn. It is the Yarn Harlot's pattern, except I cast on only 22 stitches. It lays very flat, which I like, and it is a nice fabric which doesn't hog the yarn too much, yet looks interesting...

I'm also slowly progressing on Hardangervidda -- completed 31 out of 55 pattern rows on the upper body. Pictures of that in my next post.

Gotta run!
Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

We interrupt this program...

Dear Cynthia,

No post about the three sweater challenge today. It's the weekend, and with dh home, it means no progress on Hardangervidda, anyway....

So, I'm interrupting my regularly scheduled knitting to take care of something more pressing. My four year old son doesn't have a scarf. His mother is a knitter, so I don't know how this can be. But it is, and this weekend I was determined to do something about it. I talked with him about it. He told me he wanted a yellow scarf....just a plain yellow scarf.

I showed him many nice ideas for scarves which I really, really wanted to make, such as this, or anything on this page. He looked through one of my knitting books. He disappeared for a couple of minutes, and came back with this drawing. It's a little bit hard to make out, because he drew it with a yellow crayon. (He really is fixated on yellow.) Anyway, he told me that this is the kind of scarf he wanted. Just plain, and yellow, apparently having a little bit of fringe on the ends... No geckos, no snakes.

So, I was thinking about when I might have a chance for a trip to the yarn store...when lo and behold, at the Farmers' Market yesterday morning, there was a vendor selling yarn. It's not merino, or anything like that, but it's produced locally (which I often try to support), and there was some which had a bit of a yellow hue to it, and after just purchasing gobs of "popcorn on the cob" to make into little kits for Christmas gifts for teachers and some friends, I was in a "wow, I'm taking care of so many things this morning here at the Farmers' Market" kind of a mode, so my four year old picked out a hank and we were on our way. Later, however, and even though my little guy traipsed around with that yarn the rest of the morning as though it was a treasure, I started thinking about how he really did want yellow, just a plain yellow scarf, and though the yarn had a hint of yellow, it had not been dyed, and perhaps I should have listened better to the little guy. So, this morning after church, we picked up some "orange" Crystal Light, and did a little "Kool Aid Dying". (Once in the past, we tried to make something yellow using Kool Aid, and it didn't work very well. Then I read on Allison's blog that she had great success with achieving a vivid yellow by using the Crystal Light orange flaver.) Here it is after our dye job, and my little guy seems quite pleased with the new color.

Now it is drying, and I'm thinking about going out to get some yard work done on this glorious fall day. The sun is shining, the temperature is mild, and for anybody who hasn't finished planting bulbs yet (ahem), today might be one of the last chances.....

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

3SI3MC (3 sweaters in 3 months challenge) UPDATE

Dear Cynthia,

First, Happy Halloween.

It's not my favorite "holiday", if I even go so far as to call it that, but I decided that it was time to throw my kids off guard and do something a bit uncharacteristic for "Mommy", so today, I'm not "M-o-o-o-o-m-m-y" (screamed in loud, child's voice, with the vowel sound being most prominent), but rather, I'm Daffy Duck. When I got downstairs and my four year old saw what I was wearing, he told me I had to take it off. I told him that I was going to wear this costume today, because it is Halloween. He then said, "Well, make sure you stay inside the house all day." With our very cold temperature swing here today, it gives new meaning to "freezing my tail off".

Work continues on the three sweaters in three months challenge. The biggest challenge, Hardangervidda, is moving along. I'm now at the point in the colorwork in which I bind off three stitches for the placement of the zipper. On the row after that, I'll cast three stitches back on in the same place (picture a "buttonhole"), and these stitches will be worked in black all the way up to the neckline, and will be the cutting stitches. Since I can't help myself from computing how much is done, how much left to go, etc. (and since I'm compelled to share that information with you :-), I've completed 18 out of 55 color rows in this section. Please note, however, that things become much easier (pattern is much less complicated) after only 40 color rows, so really, I'm almost halfway through the "woods". I've also started the second sleeve, just so I have something "little" to take with me to work on when I go to the library, music lessons, etc. This sweater body is getting a bit unwieldy .....

And, here is the hand-painted sweater. I completely ripped out the sleeve I had, and started again with more stitches. At first I thought it seemed like this was "backwards" progress, but then I remembered that it actually does get me closer to the finish line, so really, it was a step forward. Perhaps I'm delusional, or more delusional than I once thought, anyway. I also have only a couple more inches to finish of the back. I finished one of the side fronts, but I think I'm going to re-do it to make it a little bit shorter, once I get the back completed. One of these days I'm going to have to figure out what to do with the front opening edges..... This has become one of those "interesting" projects, in which it seems that every step of the way, I must deal with some sort of "opportunity" (disguised as a "problem")... Have I confused anybody yet, other than just myself?

And, the "I (circle) love (square) you (triangle)" sweater is still waiting for its second sleeve. I'm saving that for Thanksgiving Day, in which I will be a passenger in a car for about six hours. That ought to do it for that one.....

I feel like I have KADD (knitting attention deficit disorder)..... If it wasn't such a prevalent thing for knitters, I'd be worried.....

Well, that's it for now. Have a great day!
Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

This and That....

Dear Laura:

The wonderful news that the Cardinals won the World Series!!! The bad news is that baseball is over now.....I miss it - I got lots of knitting done while I was watching the post-season. (Plus I just love baseball!!)

For example, I knitted this hat for my Godson's birthday while watching the 5 games of the World Series.

I used the same orange Lamb's Pride that I used to make mittens for him last year, and some Cascade 220 Tweed that his mom was using to make a scarf for him. Now he has a set!

I started another hat - this one is reversible, but I'm double-knitting it, based on a pattern from The Blue Blog. I want to mess around with the decreases a bit, but so far it's going well. I hope it will be a birthday present for my nephew. He's also a Cardinal's fan, so I'm using the leftover yarn from my Cardinals scarf! ;)

In other news, my parents are travelling here from Kentucky tomorrow and staying the weekend. Also, friends from Wisconsin (!) are coming Friday evening for the weekend, so there will be a full house! I'm very excited (and cleaning furiously....that's the beauty of houseguests - it's great motivation!)

The schedule is pretty variable, so I'm trying to think of choices when it comes to menu planning - not a set menu. I did something similar when most of my family travelled Kentucky to stay at my parents house for Labor Day weekend. I knew my mom would fuss about what to make and what to have on hand. So I sent her a meal plan - this day, this time we will have this ready. Then at the end was a "grocery list" of ingredients and amounts. She could check what she had on hand and then take the list shopping.

It worked out really well. There was flexibility - we had the big breakfast Sunday instead of Monday, and we switched the evening meals around once - but we didn't end up having to run to the store for something while we were cooking or anything like. That's my goal for this weekend.

Keep knitting!!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

In the company of Greatness

Dear Cynthia,

A graduate student at the UW has put together an exhibit highlighting Elizabeth Zimmermann, and what she has brought to modern knitting. Yesterday afternoon was a reception for the event, which included a question and answer session by Meg Swansen. The lecture hall was filled to overflowing, and the high turnout surprised one of the professors there, who apologized for not making enough handouts for the exhibit. During the question and answer session, it was revealed that Meg's kids were there, as well as her grandchildren. Also, at one point, Hazel Carter stood up in the audience and started commenting on one of the things Meg said. I wasn't sure I heard correctly, and had to ask the lady beside me if "..that is Hazel Carter?" She is from England originally, which I didn't know. There were several other knitting "knowns" in the audience, not to mention that many of the people there were wearing gorgeous sweaters. And Meg herself is a woman of class, smiling the whole time, gracious, kind, and funny. I left the event a bit choked up, and I'm not even sure why. It might have been because Meg's grandson, Eli, was wearing a sweater which Elizabeth had made for Eli's father when he was a little boy, and what a beautiful legacy that is, and how that sweater is being used. It might have been because Hazel Carter held up an aran sweater which she made more than 45 years ago using a pattern which Elizabeth had published in Vogue Knitting. (I must point out, too, that Hazel Carter mentioned that she, herself, is a "thrower", and doesn't think that it is slower than any other way of knitting.) I just started thinking about knitted garments and the meaning they hold, for the knitter, for the wearer, for the wearer's posterity... Okay, I'll stop blabbing on and on...

Speaking of a knitter making a special garment....the Hardangervidda for my husband's Christmas gift is moving along, with slower progress now that I'm back doing colorwork. Though the pattern here is symmetrical from right to left, the back and front are not the same, and I must refer to the chart for every stitch. The good news is that I achieved my goal to be halfway as of this past Wednesday. Right now, out of 20 skeins that I started with, I'm currently pulling yarn from skein numbers 11 (black) and 12 (heather).

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Finished objects.......

Dear Laura:

Well, I think I'm getting organized enough for a post. I haven't been slow to post because of lack of material - just lack of a coherent brain!

First of all, I was amazed by the amount of knitting I got done while my computer was off for repair. I found out that I spend a lot of prime knitting time on the computer, browsing, reading blogs, playing games, etc. And that's not all bad - sometimes after a day of work, card games or sudoku "feel better" to my brain. Engages a different area than knitting, I guess. LOL - now that I'm watching baseball most nights (GO CARDS!!) I find that I can knit during the inning and still watch the game. Then during the commercials, I take a knitting break and play on the computer. You want to talk multi-tasking????

Anyway, since last I posted a finished object, I have finished the following items…

1. Wow, I see that I haven't posted a final picture of the blocked afghan with border....that was finished back on 9/19/06 - so here's a long overdue picture which includes the "bonus" felted fuzzy feet!

2. Blue striped socks that I started back in the spring. I finished the first sock and then whipped through the second sock.

3. Orange "loopy" scarf.

4. Purple/multi reversible hat for my Goddaughter Maggie.

5. A worsted-weight crimson "criss-cross" scarf for my niece Kelly's birthday.

6. Finishing work on Lydia's sweater.

7. A Lizard-Ridge block for Grandmother Purl.

8. A fingering-weight Koigu "criss-cross" scarf.


Plus I'm working on a pair of dark red Trekking socks. I've started the second sock, and cast on another reversible hat (sshhh, it's a gift) which is about 3/4 done. I'll finish that tonight, while hopefully watching the last game of the World Series.....Go Cards!!

Keep knitting!!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

Almost ready for Halloween

Dear Cynthia,

My knitting was interupted again to bring to life this doggy costume for my six year old. He will be wearing it this Saturday for a little piano recital called a "monster concert", which involves him and many of his piano teacher's other students.. The costume is made out of fleece, which is not really supposed to be ironed, but the directions called for fusing the spots with an iron, and as you can see, there are little iron shaped marks around each of the spots. Washing it might minimize that... However, first I must finish up the head piece, which will probably take me about an hour. But, it wouldn't be a true Halloween if I wasn't up the night before the costume is needed trying to finish up the last few stitches, so I'll probably wait to finish it until Friday night.

And, Hardangervidda crawls along. Here it is shown with the tenth skein of yarn. If I am able to knit all of that skein today, then I'll have met my goal of being halfway done by tomorrow, four weeks from the day I cast on for this sweater. I'm going to the library twice today for various programs for my kids, so that should allow ample time.

Tonight we have our first "parent teacher conference" since school started this year. Other than that, a routine day, for which I am thankful!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Mysterious Gas

Dear Cynthia,

Ever since I sent away to college, I have been plagued by a mysterious gas in my clothes closet. It really isn't detectable, except for the effect it has on all of my clothes. The length of my clothes doesn't seem to change much, but for some reason, this mysterious gas makes everything fit just a little bit tighter.

And so, imagine my alarm last night when I discovered that this very same gas has made its way into my knitting bag. I've been knitting a nice rectangle which will be the fronts and back of a sweater, and last night I put the live stitches onto a piece of yarn so that I could get an accurate measurement, just to make sure I was on the right track with the gauge (which, had been checked at the very start of this project, at which time I ripped back twice to start over with a different number of stitches on my needles due to gauge issues). I am using my wonderful, soft, merino, hand-painted yarn.....and this rectangle has lost about 5 1/2 inches of width, just by sitting in my knitting bag. (Hmmm...I wonder if I could lose a little bit of width just by sitting in my knitting bag...but I digress...) Since I am already doing the "I wonder if I'm going to have enough yarn" dance, making decisions to conserve yarn such as planning for borders out of solid color yarn, opting for a vee-neck instead of a crew neck, and thinking about sleeve options which don't require as much yarn, such as raglan, or set-in, versus dropped.....I really don't want to rip this out and make it larger....just too afraid that I'll run out of yarn.

And so, I've looked through several magazines, and have decided that I'm going to put a "knitted on" cable along the front edges. This will require finding just the right color yarn in just the right gauge, but if it means I must take a trip to the yarn store, well then, okay. I'm going to go with either a plaited cable, or an xoxo cable, probably. And, instead of the raglan sleeves I was going to use, this will have set-in sleeves, which means seaming (and we all know how I feel about "finishing" work), but desperate times call for desperate measures.....

Anyway, I thought I understood the concept of "gauge", but clearly, I am still "gauge impaired"...

I'm going to attend an informational session today about the graduate PT program here. I've been taking classes toward completing prerequisites for this program, and this afternoon they are offering an informational session and tour of the facilities. I'm still undecided about it, though excited about getting some more information.....

Have a great weekend, and warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

You saw it here first....

Dear Laura:

So, poll results!

Really, only one person saw that the most important thing to me was getting rid of the infestation of monster spiders that has plagued me. I guess I have been remiss in posting about how ginormous and creepy these spiders are. I was consoling myself that at least they were keeping the mouse poplulation down, they were that big. On the evening that I killed EIGHT of them before bedtime, I decided if there were that many that I saw, I did not want to know how many I didn't see. I moved to an upstairs bedroom (because spiders don't climb stairs, right??)

So, first things first, I set out the spider traps. (Which are working in that spiders are being trapped, but I'm still finding spiders outside the traps.)

Then I unpacked the laptop. It had been gone for a WHOLE WEEK! During which time I'd gotten a new camera that I was dying to hook up. And I'd missed so much blogging and stuff.... so the computer was second.

And finally (the next day at lunch, actually!) I unpacked my set of KnitPick's Options needles. I will say, in defense of all of you, that the reason I thought to post a poll was that I was surprised at myself for not grabbing the knitting first.

Once I got settled down a bit, I moved my current scarf project off of my rosewood circulars and onto a new needle. I really love it! I love the pointy end and the smooth tips. I actually have not had any problems with the yarn catching at the joins - which I cannot say of either of my usual Inox or Addi Turbos. They are a great value for the price. My greatest hope now is that they will come out with a 16" cable and then I'll be set from size 4 on up. And if they could make a second set with a small enough join from size 0-3, I would gladly abandon any other circulars.


Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

More of the same

Dear Cynthia,

In a fit of desperation for what to do with my hair, I spontaneously made an appointment for this past Tuesday night to get a perm. This morning I threw caution to the wind, and in an act of defiance against all of "hair science", I decided to wash my hair 14 hours prematurely (instead of waiting the full 48 hours). I just really have a hard time going a couple of days without washing my hair. In any case, things seem okay, which is about the level I aim for with my hair, anyway, so life is good, and I like that it looks much fuller without having to tease it and spray it full of hair spray.

In other less exciting news, work on Hardangervidda continues. I'm in the middle of the 8th skein, which means 2 1/2 (100meter) skeins to knit before next Wednesday in order to officially be "on schedule". I'm roughly 10 inches from the turning ridge, and colorwork begins again when I get to 17 inches. On this pattern, I was supposed to switch to size 3 needles for the solid black part of the knitting. However, the colorwork areas, which are knit on size 4 needles, really weren't cinching the fabric at all, so I stayed with the size 4 needles for the one color sections, too, which gives me the proper gauge, anyway.

Well, another chilly, rainy day today. We have two trees in our front yard which are about to change to their brilliant fall colors of yellow and bright red -- they are gorgeous during this time of year.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

It's all about priorities.....

Dear Laura:

Wow! Yesterday was a red-letter day here in my world. It was all about shipments.

I stopped at FedEx and picked up my computer which was being shipped back from repair. When I got home, in my mailbox was a package containing spider traps to help with my infestation. AND left on the front porch was a box from KnitPicks containing a set of their new "Options" needles!

It was a late 'coming home' time for me. Last night was meeting night for the Fort Wayne Knitting Guild, which means that Sheree and I went out for sushi after work and then to the guild. It was well after nine when I got home. (AND I was in a knitting store and didn't buy any yarn. Now, I'll be going back this week AND going to Indy on Saturday, so I'm not saying that I WON'T be getting any, but yesterday, I stayed clean!)

And so here's how the process went. Once I got everything gathered in, dogs in bed - but before I even got my shoes off, I.....no, wait, I'm not going to tell you. I think we should have a little poll to see who can guess the order in which I processed my three packages.

In what order did I process my packages yesterday?
	Knitting needles, spider traps, computer
	Computer, spider traps, knitting needles
	Spider traps, knitting needles, computer
	Knitting needles, computer, spider traps
	Spider traps, computer, knitting needles
	Computer, knitting needles, spider traps
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Keep knitting!!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

Loose Ends and Hardangervidda

Dear Cynthia,

The bag pattern is almost done. Here are the samples I made for it.

Bag with handle (one side):Bag with handle (the other side):Bag with strap (one side):
Bag with strap (the other side):
Hardangervidda continues, and now I'm in the black hole of stockinette, until the piece measures 17" from the turning ridge. Not one to miss an opportunity to talk about trivial math.....out of 20 skeins this project calls for, I'm just completing my 6th skein right now, almost three weeks into the project. I **really** want this done by the end of November, about six weeks away. That means to get back on schedule, I must be done with 10 skeins by next Wednesday (allowing one week at the end for "finishing" work, which is **quite** significant on this project). I'd better get busy.....

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Still with the three sweaters in three months challenge...

Dear Cynthia,

I was so glad to hear about all of your knitting. How was it to knit the square for the lizard ridge blanket? I LOVE that blanket, and even considered making one for myself, too...though decided that I won't have time to teach myself how to knit backwards until after Christmas...but I am anxiously awaiting a picture of your square, once your computer is feeling better, of course!

My exam is over, so I'm not cramming for the time being, though given the current state of the house and the clean underwear department here, I ought to be putting some effort into some housework. However, Hardangervidda must be worked on when dh is not here, and so I must... persevere.... Here is the body of it, just beginning. I've fallen a little bit behind my "two skeins per week" goal, though once I get to *neverneverland*, after the lower colorwork is done, and before I begin the upper colorwork, I should be able to catch up and sprint ahead.

To distract you from the fact that I don't have a lot of new knitting to show you today, here is the book I found at the "half price books" store a week or two ago. It is Alice Starmore's "Pacific Coast Highway", and it became mine for $5.98. I showed it to dh at the store, and he was unimpressed. When I got home, I looked for it on eBay, and there was a bid as high as $68.00 for another one just like it -- soft cover, gently used. THAT impressed him. However, it is unlikely that I'm going to sell it anytime soon...

Well, time to throw a load of laundry in the washer.
Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Be sure you always stretch before knitting...

Dear Laura:

Ha! I guess Lauren ratted me out in the comments! I had a wild and crazy knitting-marathon weekend....

Saturday, I (finally) remembered to buy bias tape to finish the baby sweater for Lydia (my great-niece.) She was born last spring, but the sweater ended up being too big to fit until fall, so there was not a "sense of rush." However, snaps and buttons are installed and it is ready to be worn. None-too-soon since they are predicting the possibility of snow in a few days!

Then I sat down to watch baseball (YAY CARDINALS!) and knitted a block of the Lizard Ridge blanket from the latest Knitty. I love that pattern - I told Lauren that if my next niece didn't pick it as her graduation blanket, I'm going to knit it for myself! (She didn't pick it, so I'm going to start collecting squares!) This first square, however, was knit using Noro Silk Garden (from my stash!) instead of the Kureyon that it calls for. I'm sending this to the "Knit a Square for Grandmother Purl" that Lauren and I signed up for. Hers is already done, so we're going to combine and save postage!

Two ballgames later, that square was finished, so I did a quick gauge swatch and then cast on for a Criss-Cross Scarf. I've done this with fingering weight yarn, but this time I used worsted weight...again from my stash, thank you! It's a crimson color from Blackberry Ridge - I love the tonal variations. It is cast on the long edge, and alternates between Garter Stitch and then criss-crossing wrapped stitches. I took it along to my youngest brother's 40th birthday party, which was a bonfire. I was able to knit the first 5 rows in the dark! (How did he get to be 40? He used to be almost 8 years younger than me, and now he's 12 years older??? How did that happen?? Oh, that's right, I gave up birthdays....)

Sunday I worked at the Wool Barn. They are usually not open on Sunday, but there was a festival downtown, so we opened up. It was a pretty day, so we sat in front of the store and knitted. That and another ballgame in the evening (YAY CARDINALS!) and that scarf is finished. I'll block it tonight and add fringe.

All of which I would post pictures of IF my computer was back and I had a way to move them off the camera. Not that I'm bitter.....

And boy can my arms feel that I knitted for 2 days straight! I was icing them down during the last couple of rows of the scarf. (And you might also have noted that I did not report doing anything like cleaning bathrooms or sweeping up the carnage of dead spider bodies that litters my floor. I've memorized their positions, so when I see something dark without my glasses, I know if it's a dead one or one that needs to be dead....)

Oh, and the brother who just turned 40? Announced around the bonfire that they are expecting their 5th child at the end of May!!! Yippee!! Nieces and nephews rock! (She's due within a couple of weeks of their oldest child's high-school graduation. (My brother says since they're starting to leave the nest, they've got to start filling in with new ones!)

Now, I have GOT to find those baby knitting books that I lost in the move....

Keep knitting!!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

3 Sweaters in 3 Months challenge update

Dear Cynthia,

I'm writing quickly, because dinner will be done in about 15 minutes.....and I probably won't have a chance to post again until sometime Wednesday, after my Tuesday night exam, for which I am **cramming** tonight and any chance I get tomorrow.

Six hours in the car, plus several hours sitting around with relatives, afforded me lots of knitting time this weekend. (It is time which might have better been spent studying...though this is not atypical for me to approach an exam in this manner.)

I finished two sleeves, though for different sweaters. I have to say, sleeves for six year old boys are much quicker to knit than are sleeves for *cough*-ty-one year old men. (Please pardon my unrepressable impulse to state the obvious)... (and also any poor spelling in my hurried state because I am not consulting dictionaries).

I also finished the intarsia for the six year old boy's sweater.

I'm a bit "sleeved out" right now.

I'd better run and get a vegetable steaming for a side dish. More from me on Wednesday. Have a great Monday!!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Again with the I Love You sweater...

Dear Cynthia,

I'm sorry to hear of the pain you are experiencing in your arm...even if it is mostly while you're working and not as bad while you're knitting...but I hope that it resolves quickly. Also, total bummer about your computer. I hope that "put a rush on it" doesn't mean "kill the hard drive" in some kind of crazy computer guy code language. So happy about your new camera, though!!

I may check "sew one dinosaur costume" off my my to-do list. My four year old is very happy (and that makes me happy, too).

The "three sweaters in three months" challenge is quite interesting. I can work on the sweaters for the kids while they are in the room, except for the part in which I'm working the circle square triangle part, because then they'd start asking a lot of questions. I can't work on the Hardangervidda while dh is around at all, because then he'll ask, "What are you making now?" And the sweater for me has been put on the back burner, but I've been working on it in the evenings when we're all together in the living room, because everybody would know that "something's up" if I just sat there without knitting at all.

In any case, the second circle (I) square (love) triangle (you) sweater has a completed back, and this afternoon I just finished setting up the intarsia. Here it is from the back, in all of its "five butterflies plus two balls of the main color" glory, after completing the first intarsia row. It looks rather innocent lying there all untangled, though the second I pick it up, some detangling fun really begins. I'll just keep reminding myself that it is only for 16 rows (well, technically only 15 left, now that the first row is complete).

Well, that's the knitting news from God's country, on a spectacularly cool and sunny day in which the leaves are changing colors, falling to the ground, and just making me feel so great to be alive.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Nothing amazing here.....

Dear Laura:

Wow! You are the knitting queen! I'm completely amazed at what all you're doing right now. I have some vague thoughts of "Christmas knitting," but I'm thinking fuzzy feet, not color-work sweaters! Knit on!

I'm still in the depths of the black-hole-of-no-technology. Not a happy place for a blogger! I did get a new digital camera, so pictures will be forthcoming....but the laptop is off being repaired again. When they replaced the modem, they somehow "broke" whatever lets the computer recognize that I have additional RAM..... This time they are going to "put a super-rush on it, so they'll be more thorough." Yeah, I always think 'go faster" is the same as "more thorough."

Such as the case with the upside-down hood on the Halloween costume. If I had been telling you, "Super rush on that...." you'd have obviously skipped the part where you put the hood on wrong and had to redo it, right?

I'm still knitting on a reversible hat for my Goddaughter Mags. I have a few more inches and then I can begin the final decreases. If I had anything like the normal amount of knitting time last week, this hat would be done. However, I didn't and it isn't. I'm hoping for this week. (I'm having to work through my lunch hours again this week to make up time I took off for family matters. Working a temp job is a pain because you don't get any paid vacation or personal time, but I'm thankful that they will at least let me make up the time.....)

Plus my right arm aches. Not just the hand, but all the way up to my shoulder. Mostly when I'm typing (!) not so much when I'm knitting, So I'm trying to pace myself on all of it to see if that helps.

So....

Keep knitting!

Cynthia

My three sweaters in three months challenge

Dear Cynthia,

Now that I have three new sweaters on the needles, I started sewing again...

Here is a dinosaur costume, almost completed, for my four year old. Every day after lunch he asks me to work on it for a little while. It's actually gone together quite quickly, except for the part in which I sewed the hood on upside down and had to rip that out. ("Ripping out" -- an activity I don't limit to knitting.) (Note that prior to being a "stay at home mom", I designed industrial machinery, sometimes for use in explosive atmospheres -- very detail-oriented work; now I sew hoods onto costumes "upside down".) In any case, back on track, and all that remains is to finish up the front of the hood with a casing and some elastic. Next in queue is a dog costume for my six year old.

Work continues on all three sweaters. I really do spend a lot of time waiting around these days -- today I'll be at the library twice, both times sitting around while my kids are involved in an activity. Tomorrow it will be three hours at the car dealership while our van is being worked on. I know you understand how much all of this otherwise "wasted" time can really add up. Here is the first sleeve of Hardangervidda, so far. Because I'm a believer in math, and since I've almost knit through two skeins (out of 16 main color skeins required) in only one week, it is plausible this sweater could be done at the end of November.....provided my little "upside down" streak is over.....

I'll keep you posted on the other two sweaters during the rest of this week. As I survey the situation, I'm going to be knitting a lot of sleeves very soon.....

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Is this some kind of a joke?

Dear Cynthia,

More sitting time this morning at my moms' group, which means more knitting time, and as I was progressing on the Hardangervidda sleeve, I was reminded of this hat which I started when we were at Stitches several years ago.
Do you know what the Hardangervidda and this hat have in common (well, aside from the fact that they are both patterns by Dale of Norway.....) ? (And by the way, whoa! Not sure what is going on with the colors of the hat, but it is really more of a maroon color, and there is no purple in it, really!) In any case, here is a hint:How many colors of stitches are showing on the needle holding the stitches?

I wonder if the folks at Dale of Norway are so sinister that they sit around saying to each other, in big shot staff meetings and design releases, something like this:
Big Shot 1: Beautiful sweater!
Big Shot 2: Thank you. It has at least three colors in it.
Big Shot 1: Yes, I noticed...and were you able to throw in at least a row or two which calls for all three colors in the same row? You don't need many rows like that, of course, but please make certain that there are at least one or two of them. I love how it can stop knitters dead in their tracks. In case the huge color charts aren't scary enough, this "three colors in a row" thing will emphasize that our designs can be a bit complicated...

Not sure how many times I tried to knit that one row. I was carrying two colors in my left hand (with middle finger separating the strands, and both strands going over my index finger) and one color in my right hand. On the first attempt, I forgot to put in the increases called for at both ends of the row. On the second attempt, I had only a few more stitches to go when my four year old called from the bathroom, "Mommy, would you help me with my poop?" When I returned to my knitting, I realized that my row was totally messed up and had to be taken out again. Anyway, at some point I got the row done correctly and am now ready to move on. There is only one row which has three colors in each sleeve, and only two for the body of the sweater. What is up with that? Really, is this some kind of a joke? Or, perhaps I should just be thankful that over 99% of the rows have no more than two colors...

Well, the mail is here and the kitchen is a mess, so it's time to get back to work.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Mission Impossible

Dear Cynthia,

My four year old and I had a morning of sitting and waiting. He brings books and crayons; I bring.....well, I don't think I have to tell you what I bring.....

Anyway, I now have three work-in-progress sweaters which I've started within the past two weeks, and I am making an executive decision that I can't begin any new projects now until I have at least two of these sweaters completed. Ideally I'll have these all done by Christmas. More realistically, maybe two of them???? We'll see. It's really amazing what a person can get done waiting at the dentist, then waiting to get bloodwork, etc. Here is the start of Hardangervidda, my true "Mission Impossible".

It is the beginning of the first sleeve. There is a hem already done and waiting to be sewn down on the inside (you might be able to see the "turning ridge" in the photo). And, I've just completed the first couple of rows of a "block rib" pattern, which adds a little texture, one of the things I found appealing about this design. I also think the little "X" on the sleeve center is fun; that little "X" will also mark the center of the front and the back. I wanted to begin with the sleeve, and then if there are any real gauge issues (which I don't anticipate, having used the Heilo yarn when I made the Fana Cardigan, and being exactly on gauge at that time, though knitting gods don't smile kindly on such confident statements), I can figure something else out when I get to the body of the thing, in which circumference really *does* matter a *lot*.

That's all the news for now. Dirty towels all over the house are now calling out to me to get some laundry done.....

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Hand-Painted Yarn -- Friend or Foe?

Dear Cynthia,

I spent a couple of hours today working on my bag pattern. So many little details, so little experience with laying things out, but I did make some progress. I think I'll be pretty close to printing it once I spend another couple of hours on it. As we discussed, I'm still trying to work out a "logo" (or "loco"??) identity for us and our blog, and as soon as I get in touch with the people who were recommended to me, I'll let you know what I find out, so that I'll eventually have something I can put on the printed pattern which will "match" our blog... Always good to have an identity..... Usually I'm just known as my son's mother.

As a mother of two little boys who attend various things around town such as piano lessons and library story time, I am finding many opportunities to knit these days. And so, anxiously, I started knitting myself a sweater using my recently acquired Briar Rose Fibers "Legend" yarn, 1500 yards in one hank of merino wonderfulness, dk weight.

I decided I'd make the Elizabeth Zimmerman "Brooks" sweater, cardigan version, which I have a pattern for in one of my favorite knitting books, The Opinionated Knitter. The pattern is really for more of a worsted weight, so I'm adjusting the number of stitches accordingly..... In any case, after an inch or two of knitting in the round, I was getting some pooling which was forming a dizzying spiral. So, savvy to the tricks I've read about on other blogs, I thought I'd alternate strands to make the pooling spiral go away, though alas, it did not. And so, as a last ditch effort, I decided to try knitting back and forth instead of in the round, which is considerably slower because of the purl rows, but YAY, no pooling spirals. This also means I won't have to "cut" the front of the sweater when I am done in order to make it into a cardigan -- trade-offs, you know..... Now, hopefully none of our blog readers will comment about seeing St. Francis or the Virgin Mary amid the "random" colorings in the sweater.....

The sleeve has its own issues. One side looks okay:
The other side has a large blotch:
I think I'll rip back to where the pooling starts, and try using a second strand starting there, swapping strands every row or two. I don't think it has to be very scientific....and since there are increases every five rows, the pooling will disappear once the number of stitches changes a little bit so that the colors will land differently on each other from row to row.....

Already I'm having the usual "I hope I don't run out of yarn" thoughts..... It has a hem and a front band treatment which are both knitted on after the fact, so I could always do them with a matching solid color of yarn if it looks like I won't have enough of this.....but 1500 yards, right?? That should be plenty, right??

Oh, one more thing. Something happened at the yarn store:

This is for Hardangervidda (but a different colorway, having main color black, with mostly heather patterning and some wine colored accents). I really don't believe I'll ever finish this for my dh for Christmas..... It will be 48 inches around, so not sure what I'm thinking.....except that I might not be living in reality. I blame my kids.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Knitting like crazy...

Dear Laura:

That's what I was up to this weekend! I decided that I could stay up late on Friday night, since I would be able to sleep in on Saturday. So I knitted until the second Fuzzy Foot was done. Ta-da!

I'll try to felt them this week, when my SIL is available to be the foot mold. I've made these out of leftover "Lambs Pride" from the afghan project. Since I'm two-years late with this graduation gift, I decided that the least I could do is to provide matching slippers! My niece and her mom where the same size shoe, so I can have her mom help make the 'extra' a surpise.

I also worked on my striped socks - I finished a couple of inches of the cuff, and then turned the heel. I still have a few more decreases around the gusset, and then I'll be heading for the toe.

I picked up some Cascade 220 tweed that was laying around ;) and started a hat for my God-daughter Maggie. I made purple mittens for her last year, and her mom made her a scarf with Blackberry Ridge Tropical Fish in worsted weight. I had some of the same color-way in a sport weight. I'm making my pattern for a reversible contrasting hat, although I'm having to convert it to the heavier weight yarn. I'm going to double the sport weight for the variagated half - I hope that will "equal" the worsted weight of the Cascade.

I started with the Cascade portion, and got to within a couple of inches of finishing. However, because I spent so much time worrying that it would be too small, and therefore threw in a "few extra increases," I've discovered that I've gone too far with it. The hat is supposed to be 18-19" around, and it's a good 22-23." When will I learn? I do this ALL the time. A hat on a 16" circular always "looks small" and so I second-guess myself and end up with a hat that is too big! Rather than frog this, I'm going to finish it off as an adult hat, and start over on the one for Mags. Good thing I had 2 skeins of the Cascade in the stash...

As you may have discerned, I spent most of the weekend in my chair, knitting. I did get laundry done, and I did my big cooking for the up-coming week, so I was not a COMPLETE slug. But I do love a quiet weekend....

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka DesignatedKnitter)

UPDATE -- UPDATE -- UPDATE

^Rip-it^ ^Rip-it^

Before making a final decision on the hat, I put in a lifeline and tried the hat on. It's too big for me. Which means the only person it could possibly fit is a guy, preferably one with a large head. However, I do not know any guy who would wear a lavendar hat. I'm not saying there are no guys who would wear it, just that I don't know them.

So I frogged back to where the increases would give me 96 stitches.

Moving on....

'tis the season

Dear Cynthia,

Temperatures are dropping, and I love the bit of chill in the air. It is the time of year in which we once again try to hold off as long as possible from turning on the heat. Our threshold seems to be about 63 degrees F. (This morning was 67F.) On the day when we wake up and everybody is complaining because "Mommy, it's soo-o-o- cold" and its 63 degrees in the house, I'll wimp out and we'll be into our "heating season". Before that happens, I still must change the air filter and the humidifier water "pad" -- one of my goals for today. The hardest part is remembering how the air cleaner thingy comes apart, but once I figure that out, things go quickly. Anyway, last winter we kept the thermostat set at about 66 degrees F, though I know there are people setting it much lower than that, so this year we're going to try for 65 degrees F. That should be manageable for a family having lots of hand knit sweaters, right? And, the kids are older now, so this is one *small* step toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions (and saving a little money :-) Who knows, maybe next year 62.....

Speaking of temperatures dropping, I've been washing some of out knitted goods, because I didn't get it done at the beginning of the summer like everybody else did. These mittens were made using my utimate favorite mitten knitting pattern, from Felted Knits by Bev Galeskas. The body of the mittens are knitted first, and then some waste cotton yarn is knit along the cast-on edge to keep the mitten shape during felting. Once felted, stitches are picked up where the waste cotton is, and the cuffs are knit. I *love* having both textures (felted and un-felted) in the finished mittens. Anyway, not sure how we did it, but we made it through the winter last year only losing one of the yellow mittens, but fortunately I had plenty-o-extra yarn (Dale Heilo) and was able to quickly replace the missing mitten. Note that everybody now has mitten clips on the ends of their sleeves to reduce the chances of future mitten losses...but in the meantime, I should check my stash and start thinking about making more.....

Well, it's Monday, so that means putting my weekly menu together, then some stuff to take to the post office, then the grocery store, etc..... Mondays are always really busy, but then I'm set up for the week and don't have to work so hard on Tuesdays.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Circle Square Triangle

Dear Cynthia,

Knitting has been completed on the "I(circle) LOVE(square) YOU(triangle)" sweater for my four year old for weeks, though I finally wove in the ends today so that I could wash and block it. Here are the pieces blocking. Hmmm...just to note, I didn't weave in the ends which would end up being next to a seam.....I'll use those ends for parts of the seams, or I'll weave them into the seam.....

It's pretty clear that my kids will likely NOT share my interest in knitting...

four year old: Mommy, what are you working on.
me: A sweater
four year old: Look at how I can make my sandwich look like a ship.....

That's fine with me.....more stash for me... In any case, since this is intended to be a Christmas gift, and since my kids would recognize the design on the front immediately, it's good that my four year old didn't inquire any more about it, so I was able to keep the design on the front concealed from him and still work on it in his presence.

I finished the knitting on the secret project (note pink yarn in photo, leftovers from the secret project). It is such a relief to have that done, as it was causing me some stress, because I really wanted to get it done on time.

I've also been working on another I LOVE YOU sweater -- this one for my six year old -- very handy project, because it is so mindless that I may take it anywhere and work with all sorts of interruptions. (I was working on this when I watched Pirates of the Caribbean. Somebody told me I'd really like the movie. Truth be told, I thought the movie was okay, and was thankful to have knitting in my hands, or I think I would have turned the movie off and gone to sleep--though I know the movie is very popular among many others. I'm glad you did the "talk like a pirate" post, however, because watching a movie about pirates is about as close as I'd get to trying to talk like one.) The markers are inserted every ten rows, so that I may tell at a glance how many rows I have so far. I'm anticipating I'll have to be at around 95 rows when the back is done. And so, I'll knit the front the same number of rows..... My dh thinks it is odd that I count everything....and our six year old son does the same thing -- especially with stairs. Anyway, this one is a different color, and only slightly larger...

One more thing. The temperature is dropping, hovering in the low 50's today. I'm wearing a hand-knit bulky sweater, both kids are wearing hand-knit sweaters as jackets when they go outside, and for the first time this season, I have on a pair of hand-knit socks. Can life get any better than that?

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Ahoy, me hearties!

Dear Laura:

Me laptop went to be repaired, and shiver me timbers, be given a new modem part. It be ready to sail the high seas again - Yarr! Weigh anchor! Hoist the mizzen!

Whilst me trusty friend war gone, thar be some knittin' to be bendin' yer ear aboot, so I'll be catching ye up...

1. Yon scurvy second-sock I war knittin' on fer 5 inches war cast-on 72 stitches instead of 64....arrrgh. Skuttle me skippers, it all be ripped and I be up to 3 inches again. Now both me socks'll be the same size.

2. I be done with the scurvy Instarsia blanket fer sure. It be blocked and folded and shown at Ye Olde Guilde meetin' last night. I needed me a fine keg o' bumboo after crawling around on me deck, pinnin' down the damp blanket! Me backside still be sore... (Note to the Yarn Harlot that I was able to blog that without saying "arse." Just sayin'.)

3. Ahoy! I cast on Fuzzy Feet usin' the yarn leftovers from the scurvy Instarsia blanket. Blimey, I be turning the first heel!

4. Me dirty son-of-a-seabiscuit digital camera still be on the fritz, so there be no pictures to show.

5. This be International Talk Like A Pirate Day.


Keep knittin' ye landlubbers!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)