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!)

Knitting and CD coasters

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

Happy Saturday! I still have 7 tests and a presentation in the next two weeks, so I can't really celebrate just yet...but I can see the end of the semester...and I have a bottle of wine chilling in the refrigerator, just sayin'!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE all of the Silk Garden scarves I see you and many other knitters making these days! I've restrained myself from indulging so far, having rather large tuition bills looming every three or four months... Trying to strike a "balance," and I have enough in my stash to keep me going for a while, so I resist, but it *IS* an exercise in self control, I have to say.

I blocked the pieces I have completed of the Must Have Cardigan, because I was still having doubts about the size of the thing. Once dry, I sewed the one sleeve and the front/back together so that I could try it on so far to give myself peace of mind that the size is in the ball park. It seems okay, so I keep plugging away at the remaining front and sleeve. Not overwhelmingly exciting on the knitting front here these days...and even more boring for those of you who have been following this sweater now for months with inch by inch progress reports.

For one of my classes, a group of four of us are doing a presentation on CD-ROM's as an instructional tool. (There were ten topics available, and this is the one my group ended up with.) It's not exactly the most cutting edge technology, but we put something together and tried to include a little levity to keep the class awake for the fifteen minutes we'll have their attention next Tuesday. In a list of "pros and cons," we are going to mention that one "pro" is that when they are obsolete, they may be made into coasters...so I made some visual aids to share with the class for this:I found photos on the University's web site of the course instructor and her husband (who is also a professor there). I resized and printed the photos onto paper, and adhered them to the back of CDs with clear contact paper covering the whole surface of the back. On the front side of the CDs, I glued cork which I cut to size. Sort of dorky, but at the same time, actually nice coasters, and perhaps a project my kids could do to make presents for their grandparents. (It looks like this professor has a black and blue eye in the photo, but that is because when I glued the cork onto the CD, the extra glue ran through the center hole of the CD and damaged the photo. I would definitely recommend using card stock or photo paper or somehow blocking the hole from allowing the seepage of glue if I make these again.)

Anyway, it's really cold outside here, and I should go running this morning, and I have so much other stuff to do today (grocery shopping, laundry, gobs of studying for a huge practical exam on Monday, taking my six year old to a birthday party which is going to be *OUTSIDE* at the zoo -- brrrr, and perhaps even cleaning a bathroom), so I'd better start moving that direction. I know that all of you are extremely busy right now, too, and so I wish you all a productive weekend!

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)

Almost there....

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Sorry I missed wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving - I guess that ship has sailed! I do hope that everyone had a wonderful feast, and that you all have much to be thankful for. I certainly did on both counts!

We had a smaller gathering this year. Two of my brothers and their families celebrated with their kids-out-of-state. Andy & Chris were in Texas with my niece and her husband and baby. Tim & Sandy were in California with my nephew. (Who was so excited that he prepared ahead for weeks. He bought a 21-lb turkey for 3 people!)

We had an even dozen people (and only ate half of the 16-lb turkey!) Since there was not the usual 25-30 people, I decided I could make everything myself (with a little help from mom) and gave everyone else the day off of cooking. In the end, I don't think that it really was any less work - I made all of the same dishes, and in fact, I think I made about the same quantity. I declared that I have one setting for Thanksgiving, I can make those recipes in only one size. SO, next year, if I start whining about having to cook for 30 people, you must all remind me that it will be the same as this year, which I considered rather easy. (Also, while you are reminding me, please tell me to put on a pair of sturdy shoes first thing in the morning. My feet and back would be less painful if I didn't stand on that hard floor all morning in my stocking feet!)

Then it was off to Nashville Indiana for the 24th Annual Shopping Trip. (All the females over 13 are invited.) This year there were six of us, and we had a grand time. I'll get to the shopping results eventually, but I did manage to make a good bit of progress on the Stocking I'm working on. In the last week, I've managed to get this far!

Only the foot remains, and I have that about 1/4 of the way done. I hope to have that off the needles before I sleep tonight! I love this pattern - it's going quickly, it's fun, and well, it just looks gorgeous!
I also made progress on my Noro Scarf, and my sock. The scarf was what I knit on while we shopped - I can walk around doing 1x1 rib with no problem.

Now I'm off on a last-minute quick trip to KY to visit my parents - more about that later. Suffice to say that I'm bringing enough knitting for a month, but only plan to be gone for 48 hours!

Keep knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

I'm awake!!

Greetings and Dear Laura:

I'm sorry I didn't reply on IM Friday night. Theoretically, I was knitting on a baby hat, but technically I had fallen asleep with yarn in hand! (And laptop on my lap - living dangerously!)

I did get the hat done in time for the baby shower on Sunday, which was great. I'm sorry for the poor quality picture, but please to imagine that it looked better than this! I was going for the "Fetching Inspired" hat that I've made several times. There was an accidental design change when I noticed that I had already knitted 6 rows from the first cables, and hadn't done cables again at 4 rows. So, I just cabled at row 6 and then 6 rows later and ended up with 3 cable rows more widely spaced. I liked it!
This

to this

in four days!

I'm making good progress on the Christmas Stocking that I'm knitting on commission. One week after starting, I'm 1/2 way done with the leg, which I guess is about 1/3 of the entire project. (I'm further along than the picture shows!) The best news is that trading off between the fair isle of the stocking, the ribbed scarf and the baby hat has really been helpful for my hands/wrists. That and daily anti-inflammatorys. But YAY! My hands 'fall asleep' much less frequently. (Of course, the same cannot be said of me! I fall asleep at the slightest opportunity!)


I love the Noro scarf, and I don't even pretend that I don't follow trends, knitting or otherwise. I'm enjoying watching the colors move through the fabric, and it's my first experience with Silk Garden - it's yummy soft!


We'll be exchanging names at Thanksgiving, and so once I have that name, I'll firm up what, if any, truly Christmas knitting I'm doing. To date, it's a rather vague "wouldn't it be nice" list. But I want to thank Lauren for her comment - she's always a good reality check! I also may be scaling back because my sil is having a baby in January, and she has recently been reminding me that this baby (unlike the last one born in May) will be needed lots of things to keep warm! You KNOW I can't resist such talk!

Besides the knitting, things are going well. We are having a smaller Thanksgiving gathering this year - one brother and sil are visiting my niece's family in Texas and another brother and sil are visiting my nephew in California. I already miss them, but I have to confess that smaller is a bit less daunting. And we girls are psyched for our annual shopping trip to Nashville Indiana. We're leaving Thursday after the dishes are done and returning on Saturday when the van is full! There are 2 yarn stops on this trip, so there could be some stash enhancement.

Besides the WEBS order that I'm holding Lauren responsible for!! :p

Keep Knitting!

Cynthia (aka DesignatedKnitter)

Lots to catch up on!

Greetings and Dear Laura:

Your 'Must Have Cardigan' looks great. I certainly can't see any loose stitches! I have GOT to get that sweater cast on!

I've been pretty busy lately - somehow November snuck up on me! Now that I'm over my cold, I've looked around and noticed that I've taken on several new roles at church, and it's getting close to year end, so I need to balance and audit the bookkeeping I do for my parents. My apartment looks like it threw up all over itself and we will NOT discuss my closets. And then there is the constant cast-on-itis and Christmas-knitting-insanity epidemic that is so common this year. I have the usual case, so nothing new there.

On top of all of that, I'm trying to cope with a flare-up of my carpal tunnel/repetitive injury issue. I put down the red lace shawl because I couldn't knit a full row without my fingers going numb. I also have problems holding the telephone for very long, driving, and sometimes sleeping, even with the braces. This is my warning to reduce what I'm doing. (I'm never very fond of that warning!)

The current "I want to knit and wouldn't that be nice by Christmas" list includes:
The blue toddler cardigan for Logan's 1st birthday on Dec 26.
The 'Must Have Cardigan' for mom
Crochet slippers for mom. (She wants slippers, and crochet would be quicker, a 'different' motion, and help stash bust!)
Scarf for my new niece-in-law.
Knee socks for my sil.
A sweater for my new niece/nephew due in January, and a blanket for that baby, and a quilt kit for that baby.
Oh! And we bought yarn to do a blanket for my dad. (HA! Like that's even possible.)
Remember that cool sock yarn that you unravel as you knit? It's calling my name.
Oh! There's a baby shower at church before Thanksgiving - wait, I think it's Sunday - and so I should have a baby thing knitted, right?
And we're adopting 2 families for Christmas, and so there are two mom's who would probably love a scarf.
I promised Lane a soap sweater.

Did I mention that I need more wool socks for this winter? And that it's snowing even as we speak?

Thursday I got a call from the owner of the LYS in Avilla. She asked if I would be interested in knitting 2 Christmas Stocking Kits for a commission. Of course, I mentally laughed myself silly, but I did listen to her. Someone had purchased these kits by Judy's Colors, and wanted to pay someone to knit them. (This entire concept is foreign to me. Buying a knitting kit and not knitting it? I do not understand! Although I have to say those kits are gorgeous.) However, the commission was enough to get my attention, so I agreed to look at the kits.

I stopped by on Friday and talked to her. She had thought of knitting them herself, and in the end, we decided to each do one of the kits. (And while obviously the person would like to have them for this year, it isn't required. While we're shooting for it, I wouldn't promise.) It worked out that I was intrigued by the "Red Velvet" kit, and she wanted to knit the "Fairy Tree" kit. They are Fair-Isle, and it's been a while since I did much of that.

So, I cast that on Saturday evening. It calls for a 16" circular for the leg, which I appreciate. It starts out with a knitted braid, which took two tries and plenty of head scratching to work out. Then I started the red portion - I always think that I would like to carry both yarns in my left hand, but that really only works if you use both colors at approximately the same rate. If you use one more than the other, or you cover long stretches, using the two hand method is much easier - and I remembered tips that you gave me for catching the color that is being carried, so that helped me get back in the rhythm. And as I hoped, carrying the yarn in both hands is a real change of motion - I was able to knit quite a bit, and my hands did not bother me at all.

Yesterday, I was at the point in all of my current projects that I didn't have anything completely mindless. The sock I'm working on is ready for a heel turn,

the blue cardigan is ready to decrease for the neck,

and the stocking is Fair Isle.........SO, I cast on this scarf! (I know, I have no self control!) My 'current' knitting basket now has 4 projects!

Since I am clearly insane, it would help me greatly if all you wonderful knitting bloggers could refrain from posting cool pictures of your knitting where I can see it because I can obviously not deal with this level of distraction. "Oh, my pretties..."
(I can usually resist tan colors. Just sayin')

;)

Keep Knitting!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

Must Have Cardigan Progress

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

I'm a bit behind these days, though am going to share some halloween photos, anyway:I dug out my "standard" duck costume again:The boys went as Pokemon characters, so I just sewed a little vest out of fleece for each of them, and they embellished their costumes with little props, so not very labor intensive for me, and they were pretty happy to participate in the whole "design" process. (I don't have any photos to show of the boys, because I'm paranoid and like to keep their faces off of the air.)

I've had a couple of grueling weeks at school, though my next test isn't for another week, so I have a few days to catch up on some other things (like blogging)! We have a neuroanatomy online quiz roughly once per week, and here is a sample of one of our practice questions to prepare for the online quiz:

Which statement is TRUE regarding the neurological deficit(s) that would be present following a lesion of the shaded area in the right brain stem?

	1)	inability to turn the right eye medially upon attempted gaze to the left
	2)	deviation of the jaw to the right upon jaw opening
	3)	loss of taste from right side of tongue, incoordination of right body, and ptosis of right eye lid
	4)	atrophy of the right medial rectus
	5)	two options are TRUE

Sometimes it takes me five minutes just to figure out what I'm looking at... The material is a bit convoluted/complicated, but quite relevant to some of the deficits a PT would regularly see in a clinic or hospital.

I've been plugging along on the Must Have Cardigan. Shortly after I started the back, about four inches into it, I was having the "it's going to be too small for me" panic, so I went ahead and soaked it, right on the needles, and blocked out that first four inches. I'm happy to report that it should be a good size for me, though the partial blocking is why the bottom looks so much wider in this photo. I'm also having problems with the looseness of the stitch immediately to the left of the skinniest pattern. Thank you for your tips on how to fix that; I was so far into the thing already, however, and I decided I wouldn't be able to notice it on a horse driving by it at 15 mph, so I left it as is, though I do plan to try your suggestion when I'm doing the fronts. Back almost done, and one sleeve completed:
I have some crazy idea I'll have this done in order to wear when we travel to visit our families during the Christmas season. Yeah, and I'm going to sew three matching fleece jackets for my dh and boys. A girl can dream...

I'm so glad the election is over, though it's odd to watch tv and not be bombarded with propaganda, saying terrible things about somebody, and then calmly voicing over with "I approve of this message."

Well, time to get rolling here today. We don't have much planned, though I'll easily fill the day getting caught up around the house and for school. With the flurries we've had the past day or two, and the coldness, I'm thinking a big pot of chili for dinner, maybe with some homemade pretzels...

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