The Saga of the Sheets

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Hi! I really will get a regular post up one of these days! Things are calming down, as of right now no one is coughing, throwing up, in the emergency room or cardiac ICU, and the next scheduled hospitalization in the family is a good 3 weeks away.

(Oh, I did have to relate a little tidbit from the recent past. My parents now have the same cardiologist. My dad had a chest cold that caused heart complications - it started the day after my mom got her pacemaker. 2 weeks later he landed in the ER at Lutheran Hospital, and mom's cardiologist walked in - the one who had prescribed her pacemaker. He saw my mom, smiled and said, "Mary! Did you get your pacemaker?" Then he put his hand on her chest and said, "Yep, there it is!" I had to laugh - your cardiologist is the only man who can greet you by putting his hand on your chest! He also said that God obviously made them for each other - they both were having similar symptoms - rapid, uncontrolled heart beat. I thought that it's pretty good, after 50 years, they still make each other's heart race!)

Anyway. The Saga of the Sheets. (I posted the beginning of this tale of Facebook, but now that we have the rest of the story, I thought it should be an actual post.)

Last week, I switched back to my old mattress/bed set, because the queen set my parent had given me turned out to be too firm. My old set is full size, so I was excited to get my treasured sheets out of storage - high thread-count cotton in a striped pattern with my bedroom's hard-to-find shade of blue included. Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, so I washed them, and hung them on the line while I headed to the yarn store to knit. I noted as I hung them that there was barely any breeze, unlike two weeks ago when I worried whether or not the clothes line (umbrella style) would hold up.

I came home later in the afternoon, and found the clothes line bent over to the ground with two pillowcases and the mattress pad still attached. The flat and fitted sheets were missing. While glaring at my dog, Purl, I searched the yard all around the house, and down along the creek bed, but there was just no sign of them. I couldn't imagine that my parents had picked up the sheets, and left the rest, but I went inside and announced, "If she chewed up my sheets, I will kill her."

My mother was looking out the back windows, and she pointed and said, "The dog is not your problem."

Across the creek, in the top of one of the Very Tall Trees, hung the fitted sheet. The flat sheet was wrapped around a branch on another tree. The fitted sheet was about 50 feet above ground - the flat sheet about 40 feet.**

That was some thermal up-draft. And rogue wind gust.

In my family, your general laundry problems fall under the purview of the females. Males are usually only involved when the machinery breaks down, and now it seems, when the laundry is relocated to the tops of the Very Tall Trees.

My dad called my brother and mentioned something about sheets and trees, so Andy drove over with a 6' pole. A vastly inadequate solution. They shook their heads and pointed and said things like 'climb, chain-saw, gun...' Probably there was mention of beer as well; I try not to listen.

The thing with the fitted sheet was that it was hanging at the tiny end of a long branch. The other sheet was wrapped around a thick branch, near the trunk. While it was UP HIGH, it was theoretically within reach. The fitted sheet was the problem.

Andy returned at dusk with a gun, and took a few shots at the branch with the fitted sheet, hoping to ....I don't know, shake the branch enough that the sheet would fall off. Dad came back out and they discussed different caliber, trying to shoot the branch at a point where it would break and fall.....whatever.

(I will stop to point out that while these sheets were expensive and have been discontinued and it took me 2 years to find some that I liked, and I generally LOVED these sheets - while they were shooting, I was surfing the web for replacements. Just sayin’)

I posted the story to this point on Facebook that evening, and the next morning my Pastor brought a sling-shot that shoots tennis balls to church, and gave it to Andy to try to hit the branch with.

However, by this time the fitted sheet had gotten wet in the rain and blown free from the tiny branch it was tangled in. It in fact blew back toward the clothes line and landed in the yard about 15 feet from where its journey started! 1 sheet recovered! (Yes, Andy and Pastor were disappointed that the sling-shot didn't get a try.)

That left the flat sheet. Waiting in the sidelines was my nephew Aaron. When he heard about the problem, he got a gleam in his eye. He's a lineman for the power company, and this was a personal challenge. If we could recover the fitted sheet, the flat sheet was his. Now all we had to do was wait for the rain to pass.

Wednesday was the clear day, and we got the call after supper that they were on their way over. His wife, three little girls, my parents and I were the audience. He and Andy crossed the creek by fishing boat, and then attacked the tree. It was amazing to watch - as he neared sheet, he had to unhook his strap twice to get past branches, and I know that I stopped breathing at that point! He grabbed the sheet, stuffed it into his sweatshirt, and shimmied back down, all without incident! Click here for a slideshow of the pictures.

So, mom got most of the stains out, and last night I slept on my rescued sheets.

Yes, it's true. I'm a magnet for the weird-ball stuff.

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

** I adjusted the height that the sheets landed based on Aaron’s estimates. Go with the pro, that’s what I say.

Seeing double

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

I meant to blog three days in a row, but then I got bogged down with doing our taxes, and my kids had a half day of school...and on another day I visited my Grandpa in a nursing home in Milwaukee:
Isn't he handsome? (That's what *he* always tells me, too!) This is a photo my mom took of him on Valentines' Day. He used to work at Schlitz Brewery, which doesn't exist any more, but Miller Brewery is making the Schlitz recipe, and Grandpa thinks it's pretty good.

Do not adjust your computer screen. This really is a photo of **two** Ibenholt sweaters:Mine (on the right) is all done (including blocking) except for sewing in the zipper (will that saga never end?). The other one is my mom's. She is doing great with it, even though she has found it quite challenging. Recently, she got it into a minor mess while dividing the fronts from the back, so I told her I'd bring it home and fix it. My mom is no longer feeling the love for this project...so I fixed the issue and put in a lifeline to preserve what we have so far (and it's helpful for Mom to know that if something goes haywire, all is not lost).

I'm going to work on it for a while to help progress it a little bit farther, to give my mom's psyche a chance to heal, and to give my dad a break. He wishes the sweater would go away -- "I can't even talk to your mom when she's working on it...every night!" My mom knits quite a bit looser than I do, so I've been consciously trying to match her tension -- it's working out surprisingly well.

So, I've been thinking about motivation for exercise. Historically, I am able to maintain exercise programs the best when I am meeting somebody to exercise. I used to run with my neighbor when I lived in Fort Wayne. We would meet at around 6:00am, run and chat, and I loved it. She was one of those people you could discuss all kinds of stuff with, and she was fun on top of it. There is something about the pressure of not letting somebody down which forced me to get out of bed and go. And, since it was generally dark at this time, I felt safer running with somebody else. So, my first motivational tip is to exercise with a friend.

Since we've moved to Wisconsin, I haven't found anybody on a similar schedule or motivation level to exercise with. I've tried various exercise routines on my own. When I just had one child, I think I wore out the wheels on my stroller with all of the walking we did...but that was difficult to maintain during winter, or when it rained, and to be honest, I wasn't very consistent with it.

At some point, I received the results of some blood work, and my total cholesterol was over 200. At that point, I decided I really needed to be proactive about exercising, so I joined a health club. I had two kids at the time, and there was free child care for them, and since they weren't going to preschool, it was nice for them to play with other kids while I spent 45 minutes working out. The incentive of "I'm paying for this membership" was helpful for my motivation, but what really got me going was this:DH's health insurance has a "Fitness First" deal in which the employee's spouse may earn a $50 gift card to Best Buy for working out 150 times in the span of a year. I don't know why this has been so motivating for me, but for the past two years, I've earned the gift card. It's not like it's a ton of money, but the challenge of getting all of those workouts in, and then getting free iTunes (which is how I used my gift card this last time) is a challenge that I accept and conquer. I keep track of which days I work out for at least 30 minutes, and I include the days I ride my bike home from school, or the days I run outside, or the days I run on the treadmill at the gym. It has resulted in two and a half years of maintaining my exercise regime, the longest I've ever been able to do that.

Ultimately, though, what it really comes down to is this: A decision/realization that the benefits of exercising exceed the benefits of *not* exercising. The more I've learned in my PT classes, the more I'm convinced of the importance of exercise.

Okay, so more on that in my next post, when I'll talk about some exercise myths, some of the multitude of benefits, how much is enough, "but I don't *enjoy* it," etc...

Until then, think about this: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being on the low end and 10 on the high end, how important is it for you to exercise regularly, or to begin exercising regularly?

If it's anything greater than 1, then consider why *didn't* you rate it as a 1, and think about the possibility that this may be something important enough to do.

Happy Spring!
Laura (YarnThrower)

Child's Crew Neck Sweater

A pattern by YarnThrower
(This pattern is the property of YarnThrower and may not be reproduced except for one copy for individual use. If you otherwise print or distribute this pattern without YarnThrower's written permission, you are stealing.)

This is a basic child's crew neck sweater. The front, back, and sleeves are all knit separately so that the little knit stitch "vee" parts of the stripe stitches are all "right side up". (If it doesn't bother you to have cuff stripes with the little "vee" parts of the stitches "up side down", or if you will not be making the sweater with striped cuffs, then feel free to pick up the sleeve stitches from the shoulder and knit down to the cuff, reversing all of the shaping.) The shoulders are joined together with a three-needle bind-off.

The intarsia on the front of the sweater may be anything you'd like, or leave it plain. On the sweater pictured, I followed the ideas I learned here (scroll down to the bottom of the page). I did a web search on "Knitters Graph Paper" to find a site which prints customized graph paper. On that site, I input the exact gauge I was getting in my knitting, and I printed out the resulting graph paper. I then went to MS Word, found a font I liked, and printed out a really really big letter directly onto my graph paper. I would recommend printing the letter using a light color, such as yellow, so that the graph paper lines show through well. This results in an instant "chart" for making an intarsia letter on the front of the sweater.

Finished Size: This sweater, as shown, has a 31 inch (circumference) chest measurement.

Materials:
Gedifra Shetland (80% Wool, 20% Alpaca) dark gray with flecks, 4 balls.
Gedifra Shetland (80% Wool, 20% Alpaca) off-white with flecks, 1 ball.

Needles:
Straight or circular size 8 to hold body stitches.
16 inch circular size 8 for collar and top part of sleeves.
Double Pointed size 8 for lower part of sleeves.

Notions:



Gauge: 4.5 stitches per inch

Pattern:

Back:
Cast on 70 stitches.

Working back and forth (in stockinette), purl 1 row, then knit 1 row, then purl 1 row.
This will curl the bottom edge just a little bit.

Then, work ribbing as follows:
Row 1: Using Main Color, *K2, P2* across to last two stitches, K2.
Row 2: Using Main Color, *P2, K2* across to last two stitches, P2.
Row 3: Using Contrast Color, Knit across row. (This is done to avoid obvious "purl bumps" when the color is changed in the midst of ribbing.)
Row 4: Using Contrast Color, *P2, K2* across to last two stitches, P2.
Rows 5-6: Repeat Rows 1 and 2 (except using Contrast Color).
Row 7: Using Main Color, Knit across row.
Row 8: Using Main Color, *P2, K2* across to last two stitches, P2.
Row 9-10: Using Main Color, repeat Rows 1 and 2.
Rows 11-14: Repeat rows 3-6 using Constrast Color.
Row 15: Using Main Color, Knit across row.
Row 16: Using Main Color, *P2, K2* across to last two stitches, P2.
Row 17: Using Main Color, repeat Row 1.

Continuing with Main Color, Purl across next row.

Knit across next row, now working stockinette stitch until work measures 18 inches long (91 rows total stockinette). On last row, knit across 22 stitches and place those stitches on a holder. Bind off the next 26 stitches. Knit across remaining 22 stitches and place them on a holder.

Front:
[If an intarsia design is planned for the front, figure out where the design will be placed. (I planned my design on knitters' graph paper on a 1:1 scale with the actual gauge of my knitted fabric, and then held it up to the already finished back in order to decide at which row I would begin my intarsia.) For the sweater shown, the design (big A) was 30 stitches wide by 40 stitches high. The bottom of it was placed on the front of the sweater beginning with the 30th row of stockinette.]

Work the front the same as the back, except adding intarsia design as desired, and until 80 rows have been worked, ending with a wrong side row. Work measures approximately 2 inches shorter than back at this point.

Begin neck shaping.
Left front:
Knit 27 stitches and place the remaining stitches on holder. Turn work.
Bind off first 2 stitches and then purl across to end of row. Turn work.
Knit across. Turn work.
Bind off first 2 stitches and then purl across to end of row. Turn work.
Knit across. Turn work.
BO 1 stitch and then purl across to end or row. Turn work.
Work in stockinette until left front is the same length as back. Place these 22 shoulder stitches on stitch holder.
Repeat on Right front, reversing shaping to make it symmetrical to left front.

At this point, there should be 22 live stitches for each shoulder, and 16 live stitches remaining in the middle section.)

Attach front to back at both shoulders using three needle bind-offs with right sides together.

Neckline: Using main color, and beginning with stitch immediately to the left of the center back, pick up and knit 14 stitches in back, 10 on left side front, knit across 16 stitches in middle section of front, pick up and knit 10 stitches on right side, and pick up and knit 14 stitches in back to end up at center back.
Pattern Row: K1, *P2, K2* (repeat between ** until last three stitches), P2, K1, using colors as follows:
Rows 1 & 2: Work Pattern Row in MC
Row 3: Knit around in CC
Rows 4 & 5: Work Pattern Row in CC
Row 6: Knit around in MC
Rows 7 & 8: Work Pattern Row in MC
Then work three rows stockinette and bind off LOOSELY!

Sleeves: CO 36 stitches. Joining to work in round, work cuff same as given for lower ribbing.
In first round after ribbing is done, work Increase Row: K1, M1, knit to last two stitches of round, M1, K1.
Continuing in stockinette, increase every 4th row 6 times, then in every 5th row 10 times. (There should now be 68 stitches.) Continue until work measures 14 inches. Bind off. Make second sleeve the same.

Finishing: Sew front and back together beginning at lower edges and for about 10.5 inches. (There should be about 7.5 inches remaining on side edges for sleeve placement.) Sew in sleeves. Weave in all ends. Block.

Vacation is hard work

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

Happy St. Patrick's Day! DH made green pancakes for the boys this morning, and we're all wearing the green fleece hoodies I made for Christmas gifts (well, except for dh, because he had to work today -- somebody has to have income around here to keep this train on the tracks -- and so he is wearing a shirt and tie).

I finished my really warm bathrobe, just in time for the 70 degree weather predicted for today: (In addition to my other cleaning plans for this week, it's clear I should add mirror washing to the list.) I had so much extra fleece, and a bathrobe pattern I sewed years ago, so the only real cost for this was my time. I revised the pattern to take advantage of fleece's non-raveling properties. To eliminate bulk along the front shawl collar fronts, I sewed them wrong sides together, and then used a rotary cutter with a special cutting wheel in it to make the edges scalloped:( My photography today is worse than usual, because I'm in a hurry to get more of the basement cleaned out and then go running in the nice weather...) I used the same trick on the tie belt:And, here is a hazard of living with two small boys: My six year old loves to follow directions to piece things together, and he is confusing our upstairs hallway with the roof of a hospital. As long as I don't trip on it while carrying a laundry basket later today, it makes me smile every time I step over it...

After today's excitement of basement cleaning, I'm going to tackle our taxes tomorrow. You probably think I'm getting a little wild and crazy, but it IS spring break.....

I'm going for the record, and will also try to post again tomorrow (making it THREE days in a row). I've been thinking a lot about the topic of motivation lately, something important for PT's to consider as they prescribe exercises to patients, since lack of compliance to home exercise programs can be a problem... So, maybe a few blurbs about that tomorrow.

Have a great Tuesday!
Laura (YarnThrower)

Our 500th post!

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

WOW -- 500 posts? Since I feel like I post maybe once every two months, it doesn't seem possible. It is fun to look back over the past couple of years and recall different knitting projects from different times of our lives...

I'm on Spring Break! So far today, I sewed almost a whole bathrobe for myself (only hems and tie belt remain -- may finish this afternoon), pictures to follow tomorrow (yes -- brace yourself, but I'm going to try to post **two days in a row**), ran three miles, went to the hardware store, and started looking at the STATE OF THE HOUSE, which after months of neglect, is not good.

My, er, very exciting hardware store purchases:
Clear duct tape (which seems to be a contradiction all by itself): so that I may try to fix up the little plastic thing which our wheeled computer chair rolls on, which has multiple cracks. Not sure it's going to work, but I figured it's a cheap option to try first, before replacing the thing.

Super Glue: to fix one of the black bishops in my eight year old's chess set. I really don't know how these things get broken...

1/2" six-point socket having 1/4" mounting: My socket set, which I got free for opening a bank account 20 years ago, only went up to 3/8", but my son's bike seat thingy required something larger, and an adjustable wrench was clearly not going to work. So, I eye-balled the thingy, and then stood in front of all of the sockets at the hardware store for about five minutes. There are 6-point, 8-point, 12-point, metric, English, various mounting sizes, etc., so I grabbed one which looked like it might work, and I can't believe it myself, but IT FITS, not only the hardware thingy on the bike, but also the handle which I had. I wish knitting worked as well sometimes...

I also want to clean out the basement this week. Here's a "before" snap:Perhaps tomorrow? I'll have an "after" picture to share?

In the category of "How much of an idiot can I be?," here's the humidifier which leaked all over the basement floor, leading to a water depth on parts of the floor of about 1/4" to 1/2" before it was discovered, though since I'm a bit of a fanatic about not keeping things which I don't want to get wet on the floor, the damage wasn't too bad, except for some empty boxes, which I didn't mind putting out for recycling: When I changed the "pad" for the humidifier last fall, I noticed the drain tube (see clear tube exiting bottom of humidifier in photo) had a lot of lime deposits in it, so I disassembled the thing, cleaned it out really good, and put it all back together, feeling very proud of myself. What I *didn't* clean out was the hole just above where the tube attaches, at the very bottom of the humidifier unit, and that is what clogged up. AAUGH!

And, continued progress on my Basic Chic Hoodie:
I love the buttons! Here's a pocket:Just the rest of the left sleeve and the front bands (and the left pocket liner) left to go:
Well, lots more work around the house, so that's it for now. More tomorrow, I think...

Happy 500th!
Laura (YarnThrower)

A gift of time

Greetings and Dear Cynthia,

I'm so glad for the positive outcomes your mom had recently, and am relieved that the "unknowns" became "knowns," and that there was a course of action to make things better.

Also, you are the youngest looking 50-year-old I know.

I am supposed to be in class at this very moment, but my professor has the flu, so I'm home a couple of hours earlier than usual today -- a "gift of time" given to me, which I'm using to update our blog.

Since the last time I wrote, I spent two weeks on a clinical assignment in the hospital. From that experience I want to tell everybody that smoking is a risk factor for really, really bad things. Also, if you're going to drink, be responsible about it and don't fall backwards into a gas fireplace and burn 17% of your body's skin surface. As most people probably already know, there is so much raw humanity in the hospital, and I came away from the experience feeling so grateful for so many things I take for granted.
I'm in the sixth week of the spring semester (spring break in just a couple of weeks!!), and I started a new sweater -- Basic Chic Hoodie -- which is exactly the kind of pattern I need when school is in session -- mindless, quick, and something I don't have to make any calculations for...except I'm going to do the front ribbing slightly differently...and I'm doing "one-row buttonholes" instead of the little YO and K2tog as given. I have about a sleeve and a half (note the double pointed needles my left arm is sporting in the photo), a hood, and the button bands left to go. Also, one pocket lining (note hole in right front of sweater).

You brought up an interesting point about the projects we each choose. My favorite things to make are sweaters, and I keep thinking I should do smaller projects because I can finish them faster, yet I'm not as drawn to them. Comments from any of our readers regarding your preferences?

Well, I should go forth and get something else done during my extra free-time today (maybe work on my fleece robe, which is all cut out and ready to sew).

I hope this finds you well!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Norovirus, Fifty, Fibrillation and Felting....

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Hello!! I love your "Must Have Cardigan!" You make such beautiful sweaters - I am always inspired. I feel like I gravitate to small projects, so I'm always impressed by your sweaters. And you are so good at the finishing details! Good job!

I don't really know how January got away from me, but it sure did. Let's see if I can expand on the title a bit.

My mom has been troubled for years by spells where she suddenly feels weak and tired. They can last for seconds or minutes, and usually she then has to spend the rest of the day in bed. They were always very random - usually at least a month in between, and sometimes she could go for several months with no problems. Obviously, this was a bit of a diagnostic nightmare, what with the randomness and all. Just before Christmas, it began happening more frequently, and was accompanied by rapid or irregular heartbeats that she could feel. They often happened at night, and were lasting up to an hour. Her family doctor ordered a few tests, but the first go round didn't show anything. And once again, they were still relatively random, just more frequent. Early in January, she and dad drove to Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN. She wore a 24-hour monitor while they were there, but that happened to be a time where she went almost a week with no problem, so nothing showed up. They noticed a bit of irregular heart-beat, but nothing they felt explained the problem, or that posed a threat. They sent her home with an order for a 30-day monitor.

She got that on January 12th, and faithfully pressed the record button and sent in the readings every time she noticed something unusual. After the first week, she noticed that the unit recorded on its own sometimes, even when she hadn't felt anything. Shortly after that started happening, her family doctor called (he was getting a copy of the readings) and said that she needed to see a cardiolgist sooner rather than later, so they had an appointment the next day. Finally - a diagnosis!! Atrial Fibrillation...plus there's some other stuff with rapid or irregular heartbeats....so they prescribed a medication which took care of most of the problems within 3 days. She began feeling good again for the first time in almost a month! It didn't eliminate all the slower missed beats, and so they want to increase the dose, but in order to do that they need to put in a pacemaker to be sure that the medication doesn't slow her heart too much. They will do that next Thursday, and it sounds like a relatively basic procedure with a short recovery. We're so happy to know what is wrong and what needs to be done!

Meanwhile, dad has had to travel to Kentucky several times for business issues, so we've all had lifestyle changes this last 6 weeks. (After 50 years, they are both still adamant that there was a reason they got married and it wasn't to live apart from each other!) Not to mention more mundane things like mom didn't feel well enough to really go anywhere or do anything, she doesn't have a car when dad is gone, even if she did want to run to the post office or something, I haven't been able to carpool very often, so she couldn't use my car.....we had a bit of a trial-run on the switching of caretaker roles! My brothers all live very close, and two of them have their own business, so they've been able to take care of any driving that she needed during the day, which has been really great. I only really took off work a couple of times so that I could be at a Dr. appointment.

The day that the doctor called and sent her to the cardiologist, I was hit by a bout of stomach flu that I picked up at my brother's house. (When I last posted, I was taking meals to their family while my sil recovered from childbirth. Their toddler brought home the stomach flu from the sitter, and it went through my brother and 13-year-old niece, but spared my sil and the new baby!) It hit me at work on a day that I rode carpool, so I had to call for a ride home. I isolated myself in my apartment to try to keep mom from catching it, and we disinfected everything in sight. She did eventually get it, however, and my dad as well, but we've all recovered by now. Mom mentioned an article in the paper about the flu that was going around, so I looked it up, and it's called a "Norovirus." This is just not right!! Noro is a LOVELY yarn with colors that I particularily love. Something this miserable should be named after {insert the name of a yarn that you particularily dislike}!! ~cough~redheart~cough~

So, we've covered the Norovirus and the fibrillation. Fifty is for my 50th birthday, which fell right in the middle of all of this. I was 4 days recovered from the flu, mom had been on her medication for 3 days and was starting to feel better, and no-one in the family had active flu symptoms. A brief window for a great party!

Family and friends gathered at mom & dad's to celebrate. We planned a Euchre party, but in the end we had so much fun laughing and talking that we never did get around to playing cards! I was born on one of my aunt's 30th birthday, and she was able to be there as well, so we got to celebrate together! I got wonderful prezzies - including a gift-certificate to one of my LYS from Not Worthy, a laptop hideaway from RPW, and some beautiful yarn from Knitting at Lunch!
She gave me this Silk Rhapsody in "Cynthia Colors" (which I think would make a Pretty Thing and is incredibly soft) and some lovely Baby Bamboo 'to make something for Audrey!' I can't wait to get to those projects!!!




Speaking of projects. "What about Knitting, Cynthia?" you ask. "Surely you've been knitting??" HA! Hardly any,

I say! Not much at ALL.

I've made slight progress on my Noro Scarf. It's just 1x1 rib, and it's been on the needles since.....Oh My.

November 17th. Let's not talk about that.



I did make a pair of felted mittens for my mom. She has had Reynaud's Syndrome for about 10 years, and so needs to keep her hands warm. I've knitted her several pairs of mittens, but this winter has been colder than usual, and she's been here instead of Kentucky, so she has noticed it more. And the medication she is now taking has a side effect of worsening her cold hands. SO, I did plug away and get some felted mittens knitted. It is not as cold as it was, but she'll still get good use of them yet this winter. I got the pattern and yarn from Knitting Today, because I loved the sample pair in the shop.


The yarn is "Shepherds Wool" by Stonehedge Fiber Mill, and is it so very soft. Often I find that yarns for felting are a bit coarse, but this is almost silky soft, even after felting! These have ribbed cuffs that you sew into the mittens after felting, and that step is the last bit I have to do on this project, so it's really ALMOST finished.The first mitten took me 2 and 1/2 weeks, but I buckled down and got the second one done in just 5 days, so things must be slowing down. (Well, I did get their tax information mailed to the accountant - getting that ready must have been what slowed me down. Right?)

Ok, I'm going to call this 'caught up for now.' I think that covers most of the big stuff, and so we can move on from here. And hopefully this period of relative calm will continue......

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter!)

Must Have Cardigan -- Finished!

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

First, the pattern for the Fish hat is located here. I know that a lot of you searched and found it on your own; I meant to link to it within my previous blog post, but forgot...

So, how do you keep track of all the babies in your family? I hope they know how fortunate they are to have you and your dedication to keep them warm with your knitting. What nice gifts! Your hemlock blanket is beautiful!!! And, I can't believe how quickly you made it! (Warp speed!)

It put me to shame, with my project of almost five months: Must Have Cardigan! HOWEVER -- BIG NEWS! I'm thrilled to say, I **have** a Must Have Cardigan, that is all sewn together, and completely wearable:I finished sewing this together yesterday, and had to purchase two sets of buttons (forgot to bring the sweater when I purchased the first set, and didn't like how they looked once I got them home -- so saving them for my next sweater -- for which they will be perfect). The sleeves are a bit tight for my liking, having maybe zero inches of ease, though overall I'm very happy with the sweater and I might wear it every day for a while.

And so, I've made two cabled sweaters back to back during the past ten months, and so now, miles of stockinette actually sounds appealing to me, especially since my school semester started again today, and there's only so much thinking I can do while knitting when I am also concentrating on 17 credits...so my next project will be a simple stockinette cardigan which will utilize the extra set of buttons I bought (as mentioned in preceding paragraph).

I've been thinking about goals, and I have to say I really appreciate the philosophy of Nik, who commented on my last post that she is setting realistic goals, "such as promising to keep my house messy." **EXCELLENT** Me too! I wish I'd thought of that!

Ahem, yes, that's going to be my approach to knitting this year. Last year, I got through ten out of twelve of my "Mission Possible 2008" projects, and then I started grad school, so I feel good about getting as far as I did, but a similar approach for me this year just screams lunacy.

Anyway, I also started a sock:This is Trekking something or other, and it appears that it may not have a "pattern repeat," which is good news for me, because if it did, I'd feel compelled to make both socks match, and I appreciate the implied "permission" this yarn gives me to have each sock be unique from the other... The yarn appears to consist of a couple of plies, each spatially dyed with various colors which are spun together randomly.

Christmas was a whirlwind, but really nice. My parents put all of the **slides** (some of our readers might not even know what those are) from when my siblings and I were little onto a DVD for each of us, and that is one of the nicest gifts ever. Some of them I've never even seen, because realistically, how often did anybody actually get out the slide projector to sit around and view slides? Anyway, that was one of my favorite gifts this year.

I'm also enjoying a cookbook my mom got me which has given me lots of good, quick, simple ideas for healthy meals: It's perfect for *where I am* currently with trying to continue to improve my diet -- lots of fresh ingredients, lower saturated fats, less sugar, lots of veggies -- I've become a big fan of goat cheese -- something I probably wouldn't have said two years ago...but it's yummy! Of course, since today I'm just trying to get back into the swing of things, we're having Trader Joe's fish sticks for dinner...

So, I guess that's the big news.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Randomness.....

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Wow!! Things have been really crazy, so I'm just going to start telling you about it and we'll see where this goes. AFTER I say how much I love that fishy hat!! That looks like so much fun! And I bet those fleece hoodies are coming in pretty handy this week - hope you got one done for you.

I am easily paralyzed by too many choices, so I'm not going to decide whether to order my random list chronologically, by order of importance or alphabetically - I'm going with random.

1. Let's begin with the Hemlock Ring Blanket - which is finished! I loved this pattern. It went pretty quickly, and it was lots of fun. I cast on December 23rd, and it came off the needles on January 8th - so that was fast! When we last saw it, it looked like this:

When I cast off, it looked like this:Kind of like a ball of yarn that threw up!

But, as lace is wont to do, it blocked up beautifully! It's one of my favorite projects of all time.



2. I had a bit of a yarn accident. It was totally not my fault. I was reading some knitting email that I got (don't remember which one) and there was an add at the top for Simply Socks web site (which is ultimately a lys for me, even if it is web only. The owner is located and operates her online business within a few miles of me.) There was this lovely Shi Bui sock yarn in the advertisement, and seriously, look at these colors. Do you really think there was any chance I resisted this? Faster than a sneeze I had this yarn ordered!


3. Since I was waiting on the birth of my 12th niece/nephew, due to arrive in mid January, I needed to have a least one pair of warm baby socks on hand. I had a pink hat on hand, and since my sil had 4 girls and a boy, odds were in my favor. However, I did her a favor and chose a neutral green yarn for the socks, and when I finished those I cast on a hat to match, just so she'd have a chance for that second boy.

4. My great-nephew turned one, and he's a BIG BOY, so the sweater that I made in a size 2T was a perfect fit! I made this in 2007 as a shop model for my favorite LYS, Cass Street Depot, which went out of business about 6 weeks later. The owner graciously gave the sweater back to me, and I've been waiting for a boy to be the right size at the right time. Logan wins! (Ravelry link to the project)

5. Presents!! I got a wonderful package from the Boulder Elves! (Thanks Jess!)
I was the lucky recipient of some gingersnap granola (my absolute favorite!), a keychain and pin, and this BEAUTIFUL sock yarn, appropriately named "Yarn Lust." It is a yummy soft merino, and I took one look at the color way and knew exactly what pattern it would work with. I've wanted to do these socks since I saw that pattern, and so look for these on my needles sometime soon! (Ravelry link here)

6. And finally. Introducing my niece Audrey Anna! She was born at 3:30 am on January 13th, and weighed 8 lbs 14 oz. My sil invited anyone who wanted to come to the birth, and when I said I was up for it, she asked if I would take some video for her, so that she could see what it was like "from the other side." It was absolutely amazing to see Audrey born, and I have a whole new respect for my sil and everyone else who does this. Wow. (I've been cooking meals for them ever since she came home. The 'jetlag' from being up all night wiped me out for a week, and I didn't even have a baby! I've got her back until she tells me to stop!)


Whew! I think I'm caught up for a minute!

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

Something Fishy

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,
I'm going to enjoy watching your hemlock blanket unfold. (I am wondering...just a thought here...perhaps some knitting machine lessons for you in January, as a New Years' goal, to give you a fighting chance at getting Grace's machine-knit blanket done by next December?....just sayin'...) After your "airbags and pointy sticks" comment, I think about you now whenever I'm a passenger knitting... My sister was in an accident a couple of weeks ago in which her vehicle rolled over twice -- one never knows when something crazy like that is going to happen. (Thankfully, she only had some minor injuries...but after hearing about all of the stuff that went flying around the inside of her passenger compartment, I think we might alter the way we pack for trips by securing things better...)

We celebrated Christmas twice, and will celebrate one more time yet. It's all good fun, though I've barely had a break since I was done with school. Our Christmas letters will have more of an Epiphany theme (or perhaps, Presidents' Day) this year, and I'm hopeful I can get those sent out by the end of this week.

All three hoodies were done on time, and the recipients loved them. It was rather grueling to fit them in right before Christmas (along with my other Christmas preparations), but totally worth it when my eight year old told me how warm and comfy it was, and that he really liked it. I'm going to try to make one for me this week...and I might have enough fabric left over for a fleece bathrobe for myself, too. I've made a fleece robe for each of my guys over the years; now it's my turn :-)

And, I finished the fish hat... the night before I gifted it:It cracks me up...So, are any of you setting any New Years' goals? Have a safe and fun holiday!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

We're all a little nuts these days....

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Ah, the waning days of Advent - the triumphs, the failures....and the letting go. I love the fleece hoodies! Not nuts at all to have your guys all cozy and warm. It's always good to have successful last-minute-projects! I hope you're all shoveled out of the snow and that you have safe traveling. And don't forget to stop knitting while a passenger on slippery roads. Airbags and pointy sticks. Just sayin'.

I've had some successes, and some insanity and spectacular failures as well! 

I finished the legwarmer for my friend, and she reports that is it quite effective at keeping the 'robo-leg' warm. I also supplied her with a large rectangle that I had felted for a purse project that went off the rail several years ago. She was able to fashion that into an 'outer-leg-warmer' so that she has two layers, and the outer one is easier to get on and off. So, YAY!

I also managed to whip up another of those 3-hour scarves, which I'll give in the white elephant exchange tonight. I'm especially pleased because this was some stash busting! A while back, an entire post and subsequent stash reduction sale where inspired by some yarn that I couldn't remember buying! 2 skeins of a worsted in an orange/purple variegation and 2 skeins of a brushed Alpaca in a lovely burnt orange. I carried the 4 strands and used my size 19 needles, and the result is 70" of cushy goodness. I'm sure that there are a couple of people in the exchange who will want to trade for it!

Now to my insanity. My great-niece Grace has her birthday on December 22nd. Every year. Five years now. This is never a surprise to me. In the fall of 2007, she asked me to knit her a blanket. I remembered that I have a knitting machine that I have never really used, and I thought I could knit some strips with that, sew them together and add a little embellishment and border with hand knitting, and 

1. fulfill her request

2. use up some leftover yarn and extra stash

3. get some use out of the machine I bought

4. whip this up in next to no-time.

Of course, I waited until the week before her birthday to get the machine out, and then I fought with it for several days before giving up in despair. I bought her a gift.

I contacted someone about lessons, and she gave me valuable tips on setting it up (I needed to buy a shelf and some clamps to have a level surface) and told me about group meetings, classes and offered private lessons. Now, I had bought myself another whole year. Not due until December 22, 2008. I did buy the shelf and the clamps, and found them handy for my ballwinder and swift during the year. However, despite many opportunities to go to club meetings, classes - even a machine knitting CAMP, we arrived at December 20th with no real progress on this project. But hey - machine knitting - it's fast, right?

So on Saturday, in between cookie baking, I set up the machine and got started. And it did go better. A little better. I gave up at about 8 pm when I didn't have anything longer than 10 rows. Sunday at 4 am the power went off (oh, by the way? We had an big ice storm!) It's not an electric machine, so I could try again that afternoon in the daylight. And actually the power was back on by early afternoon, so that was grand. Again, between batches of cookies, I tackled that thing. I did eventually (like 6 hours later) get a strip that is about 14" x 30" and has 5 different blocks. I even striped a block! But while I could go along for quite a while with no problem, when I DID have a problem - it was spectacular. 1/2 the stitches would jump off the needles, and it would take 40-50 minutes to get them all back on and back to normal. (Hey - it's progress. At least I can get them back on instead of throwing the piece across the room and starting over!) My parents observed my mood and TIPTOED past me to get to the cookies!

I bought Grace a book for her birthday. Insanity. But I moved on.

So, since I'm done with the December knitting, I was able to cast on for the Hemlock Ring Blanket I'm making for my new niece or nephew, who should arrive by mid-January! I stayed up to at least get a big started last night, and so far (12 rounds) it's really fun! ;)

I mentioned that we had an ice storm here, almost a week ago now. Last Friday morning, the power-outages began. There were an estimated 112,000 homes without power at the peak - 6 days later that number is around 8,900. We lost power twice, but both times it was back on in a short time. Temperatures on Sunday and Monday were in the single digits, with wind added to the mix. I bring this up because my nephew - Grace's dad - is a lineman for the electric company. He's one of the guys working 16-18 hour days, every day, climbing poles in the cold and ice, to get that power back on. I know it's hard if you're one of those 8,900 still without power, but they are working their butts off, missing things like birthdays and Christmas with their families, and missing things like sleep and hot meals, doing their level best to get everyone's lives back to normal. Let's hear it for the linemen!

And a heart-felt wish for a Merry Christmas to you and your families! 

All my heart this night rejoices,

As I hear, far and near, sweetest angel voices;

“Christ is born,” their choirs are singing,

Till the air, everywhere, now with joy is ringing!

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

I am nuts, and other misc

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

Don't let the title of this post concern you. I'm working toward the same deadline (Christmas Eve) as many other knitters who also might be categorized as "nuts."

I finished my semester last Thursday, and then Friday the boys had a "snow day," so no school. At that time, I didn't have very much checked off of my Christmas "to do" list, though somehow I thought it was a good idea to *add* the sewing of three fleece hoodies into the mix, so that I may keep my family warm. I bought eight yards of fleece [though, I think the lady cutting it lost track as she was measuring and she might have cut *nine* yards, instead. I thought about having her check to be sure, but I didn't want to annoy her (because it IS the Christmas season), and I really wasn't *positive* that she measured out too much...]. In any case, eight or nine yards is a lot of fleece. I have about an hour of sewing left on the one for DH, and probably two hours for each of the boys'. Instead of getting up to go running or study in the mornings, I'm getting up to sew -- WAY more enjoyable, and today it appears that I actually might get these done on time. (Note that fleece, *not* knitting, is THE way to go if you want three hoodies completed within three days time.) BONUS: Plenty of fleece left for a matching hoodie for ME, too, though THAT one can wait...

I didn't have much of a gift yet for one of my nephews, so a Knitty Fish hat seemed just the thing to make in my spare time. I was going to use some really nice wool I had on hand, and then I remembered the sweater I made for this same nephew which my sister accidently felted in the washing machine, so I pulled out all of my acrylic stash and started knitting away. This doesn't really have to be done until next week Sunday.

Here is a quilted wall hanging my mom made for the boys to give to their piano teacher. She always sews a really nice label on the back of her quilts, too, explaining the name of the quilt, who it made it, who it is for and from, etc.

My "Must Have Cardigan" is seeing slow but steady progress. It's not going to be done by the end of the year, most likely, but will make for some fine travel knitting.

Here is our Christmas tree: We have to finish putting on the ornaments, garland, topper, etc., but as of yesterday, this project is at least started. Two years ago, we decided we'd do the Norman Rockwell thing and go to a tree farm and cut our own tree. As we tramped through the "forest," the boys couldn't agree on which tree to get. After trying to find some compromise, DH finally announced that *Mommy* was going to pick the tree, making everybody but me unhappy. The week after Christmas that year, I made a pre-emptive strike and bought an artificial tree on sale. So, last year, we had an artificial tree -- less hassle, no watering, etc. This year, DH thought it would be fun to get another real tree, so we left late in the afternoon this past Saturday in snowy, slippery weather, and got lost, then realized the tree farm closed in fifteen minutes. So, after a nice 45 minutes in the van, and after my eight year old asked, "Why can't we just use the tree from last year? It would be a *lot cheaper*!," we returned home treeless. I put up the artificial tree yesterday... I like it. It doesn't smell the way a real one does, but enough of Norman Rockwell for this year. Maybe next year...

So, I have two weeks at home with the boys, and when they go back to school, I start a two-week clinical assignment. Then it's right back into school. It's not exactly a huge "break," though I'm glad for the time away from the intensity of classes/exams right now.

It's NEGATIVE 10 degrees F (not including the wind chill) here right now. We'll run some errands this afternoon, but that's about it. Perfect day to hunker down in the house. The boys are really enjoying a more relaxed schedule, and playing nicely together today.

Shameless plug for anybody who might be in the Madison area next weekend: The quartet I play with (Madison Marimba Quartet) is giving a free concert next Saturday, December 27, at 1:00pm on campus. Send me an e-mail if you are interested in further details...

Well, time to get back to other tasks at hand.
Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Goblins and ogres, oh my!

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Last night, my brother and sil invited me over for supper, to be followed by a movie and knitting. (YAY!! I finally converted one of my sil's to knitting!) The movie we watched was called "The Spiderwick Chronicles." There were an ogre and goblins popping up all over, strange scary sounds in the woods and in the big house in the middle of the woods....kind of intense at times. I was surprised that my 5-year-old great niece had enjoyed it and not been scared. Chris said they had a long talk before they watched it, where she explained that it wasn't real. I kind of thought she should have had that talk with me!! ;) 

After it was over, I tried to get my brother to drive me home so I didn't have to go out in the dark by myself, but he declined. (He said he didn't want to have to walk back home in the dark and rain. Kind of self-centered, if you ask me!) As I was driving up the long lane to my house (the one with the woods behind it...) all of the sudden the well-lit house I was heading for went dark! I looked around and all of the houses on our side of the road had lost power!! That really cracked me up! I used my cell phone to call Andy and Chris, and they were laughing too - as soon as the power went off, they both said, "Well, Cynthia is just going to FREAK!!" My biggest issue was that I couldn't get the garage door up from the outside, so I went in from upstairs, by the light of my cell phone. The first three "designated flashlight locations" were either oddly "flashlight free" or held a flashlight that didn't work! I did eventually get settled into my chair and went to sleep a bit early, since there was not much I wanted to do by the light of a flashlight. The power was out for about 3 hours, but it wasn't really that cold out, so I was comfy.

I had hoped to bake Christmas cookies and get the tree up this weekend, but that didn't work out. I did however get a hat knitted for my Aunt Betty. I really like using the "Fetching Inspired" hat pattern - I like the cable detail, and it's a relatively quick knit. I cast on Saturday afternoon, and finished Saturday evening. I'll block it tonight and get it off in the mail.

I started working on a leg-warmer for a friend. I'm still testing needle sizes and numbers to cast on. I'm using a couple of yarns from the stash. I have one skein of a wool that has a long stripe. I've lost the ball band, so I'm trying to remember the details of this yarn. I bought it in a yarn shop in the north suburbs of Chicago on a yarn-shop crawl in the spring of 2004. I just have the one ball. I keep thinking that it was Lana Grossa, but I haven't been able to confirm that. I'm carrying a thin alpaca yarn. I know that I got it from the Wool Barn in Avilla, and I carried it along when I made a hat for my brother for Christmas a few years back. (When I was done, the hat was HUGE - big enough for a goblin head, but I digress. I bought him a present and frogged the hat!) Once again, I don't remember the details of the yarn.

Well, thats all for today Keep knitting! With the lights on and a glass of tomato juice beside you! (Tomato juice melts goblins....) 

Cynthia (aka DesignatedKnitter)

The 3 Hour Scarf

IMG_4980.JPG
Originally uploaded by designatedknitter

Yes! I can knit a scarf in 3 hours. And somehow, my hands did not fall off.

It's a good 60" long, soft and fluffy. Great pattern from Ravelry. Classic Elite Marl La yarn and size 19 needles. Sweet!

We now return to regularly scheduled knitting.

Well, what have we here?

Greetings and Dear Laura:

What we have is a Finished Object! The stocking kit, no less! I cast off last Friday, and on Sunday evening I added the hanging loop and steam-blocked it as directed. That means 3 weeks and 1 day between cast-on and completion. I'm happy with that. And it really is a beautiful stocking. An excellent design and well-written pattern instructions. I'm glad that I got to knit it. Purl even likes it!




My quick trip to Kentucky went well, my brother and I got done those things which we needed to. And since he did all the driving, I had plenty of good knitting time. We drove home on Saturday, and most of the trip we were dealing with snow, ice or the effects of a 'wintry mix.' During several places where conditions were perilous, I did put my knitting away, because I was concerned about having an airbag go off while I had pointy sticks in my hands! I did get most of the cuff on my current sock projects done, tho!


Other than a couple of soap sweaters, (one of which is complete!) I'm not doing Christmas knitting this year. My priorities have shifted somewhat. One of my friends has need of legwarmers, since the pins she has in her leg now get cold (and painful!) very easily. And my aunt Betty has lost her hair as a result of the chemo to treat breast cancer, so I'm working on a cashmerino hat to help keep her warm. Once those projects are done (don't you love how matter-of-fact I sound, like that point in the process is imminent???) then I need to make sure that my new niece/nephew is going to be warm. So, it's not like I don't have deadlines, just not specifically a Christmas deadline.

I did promise a report on recent yarn acquisitions. First I had an accidental order from WEBS, which I completely blame on Lauren. BUT they did have the Zarella print that I wanted to make a baby blanket for the new baby. I only needed 3 balls - I have the other yarns already. And it WAS a good price.....

And then I couldn't resist a skein of Aracania Ranco in a lovely green semi-solid. $7.99 for a great sock yarn?? That's a no-brainer! It's beautiful. And we all know that my sock yarn stash is down to like....40-50 prs of socks...... (wink!)

While we were on our shopping trip to southern Indiana, I made my annual stop at Cottage Knits in Columbus Indiana. I always enjoy seeing what she has available. This is her second or third year in the 'new' location, and it is just so charming! I want to sit by the fireplace and knit away, but I always have a car load of non-knitters outside waiting for me! This time I was a bit more practical, I picked up some Cascade 200 Superwash for a baby blanket for my sil in a lovely cream color. I showed her the Hemlock Ring pattern, and she thought that would be a wonderful baptismal blanket, and in the Cascade it should be warm and sturdy enough to use after as well.


Well, better get this posted before another day passes! Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter!)