Life, Knitting and the Pursuit of Roller Coasters

It just required a bus ride and a four hour flight, but the letter worked and my knitting mojo showed back up with it’s deadline.

I’m currently in California, we’re packing today and the movers come to collect Mike’s belongings tomorrow before we hit the road for two weeks. Because if you’re going to drive from California to Michigan, you may as well go slow and actually see the parts of the country you are driving through. We are staying south for most of the trip and hitting Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas before venturing up through Arkansas to Tennessee then north from there.

 We’ve spent the last three days on our feet at amusement parks here in Cali with some friends. Thursday and Friday we were at Disney, and Saturday was spent at Winter Coaster Solace at Knotts Berry Farm.

 But, back to the knitting mojo’s safe return. I brought along 4 unfinished socks and yarn for 2 more pairs, along with the started baby projects for the twins (who were born on Thursday). Three of the pairs were at a point where they really just needed a foot and toe before they were finished. Two of those pairs were finished with the flight.

 This pair will be going in the mail tomorrow to my grandma. They were started back in January and even though I haven’t really knit much since then, I still managed to knit most of the pair of these socks. The foot and toe finished up quite quickly on the bus and flight Wednesday night.  Just plain stockinette out of some Patons yarn.

 This other pair has been lingering in my UFO pile for a long long time. I started these Pomotomous socks over 2 years ago. They were less than 30 rounds from being finished when I last set them aside. So, they got pulled out on the plane once grandma’s socks were done, and I finished them up at the end of the flight. I’m pretty sure they were my longest standing project to date. It’s nice to have them finished.

I also started and knit about half a socks over the 3 days of park walking since I’ve been here. It’s another stockinette sock out of some self striping knit picks yarn and wil either be heading to grandma as a third pair for her or I’ll hang onto them for myself. I’m starting to put holes in some of my more warn handknit socks, so I’m due to make myself some new ones soon.

One final really big thing that has happened this trip, Mike proposed yesterday.

I’ve known it was on the horizon for months now since we were shopping rings together online in December. My ring doesn’t quite fit (I misjudged my size when I gave him the info, so we will have to send the ring back for resizing once we get back to Michigan) but I absolutely adore the one we chose together.

Spammy approves of it too.

You have served me faithfully and unfailingly for nearly 3 years now, and for all of that time I have valued your enthusiasm and willingness. I apologize for taking you for granted and for testing your limits. I know that I burned you out at Christmas time with all the gift projects and I respect your need to take a break.

However, we are coming up on nearly three months of your break. I would appreciate you coming back soon. I miss you. I miss all the fun times we had and all the fun projects we worked on together. I would love the unfinished projects we have left languishing to peak your interest again, but if we need to find something new to get you rejuvenated, I’m willing to try that as well.

I can’t promise that I won’t abuse you again, I would love to only knit what you want and when you are willing to participate, but Grandma has been asking for a new pair of socks since Christmas. She even tested her karma by making a big stink about how long we were taking to my mom and subsequently broke her ankle and knee.  It’s not nice of us to test her temper further when she was so gushingly thrilled with the last pair of socks she received. Also, all those babies are still coming whether you want to knit for them or not.

I have a busy week ahead. I’ve got plans with a friend this weekend, my flight to California is next Wednesday and my apartment is still a royal mess. What I’m saying is, I can find other ways to occupy my time this week. However, I would like to utilize you on my flight and I have plans for you on the 2-week road trip back from California.

So there’s your deadline, please take your time this week wrap up any projects you’ve been working on in the meantime and I would like you to report back on duty fit and ready to work when we get on the bus to the airport on Wednesday.

Yours,

Beth

I was just starting to get over the whole “I blinked and 2008 disappeared” thing until I looked up at the calendar and realized I’ve also just blinked and lost all of the month of January and half of February.

Things are starting to get a little crazy around here, and the knitting has basically fallen out of my radar since Christmas. I think I burned myself out with all the deadline knitting. Since then I’ve started a baby gift and am almost done with a pair of socks. That’s all I have to show for January and February so far.

I’ve been hibernating big time. I escaped to Chicago last weekend for our anual Whirlyball game which was a blast as always. I’ve been sucked into Facebook. And I’ve been trying to keep the Tivo clean while sitting in front of the laptop. Kind of a quiet unexciting existance.

However, I’m also planning for what will be a fairly monumental life change come early April. Mike lost his job in December (it was going to happen regardless of the recession, it just had stellar timing) and we had sort of been holding out for that end before taking steps to close the geographical gap. I go out to Cali on a one way ticket at the end of March, and we are road tripping back to Michigan with whatever he can cram into his car (and shipping the rest). It’s a huge step.

So in addition to hibernating and not knitting, I’ve been trying to figure out where he’ll “fit” and just generally clear out some space for him so he actually feels like he lives here and isn’t just visiting all my stuff.

For as long as I can remember, Christmas Eve has been spent with my dad’s side of the family and I’ve been on the kids list for gift exchanges. You just don’t graduate to “adult” until you’re married. So, this year, I drew the baby to gift in the exchange.

Max is nearly two, and he’s very into trains.  So, in addition to a toy train, I had to knit something.  And since I’ve been on a personal pattern binge, I didn’t go out looking, I designed something.

FO: Max’s Train Mittens and Track Hat

Pattern: My own. (I have two other patterns for the same age range that use the same mitten base, so I may just publish all three mittens and the hats as a set, but that won’t come til after the new year).

Yarns: White, Brown and Black Dale Baby Ull, The Red/Yellow/Blue is Knit Picks Simply Stripe Crayon colorway, and the smoke is Paton’s Kroy in Linen. I had intended to do the whole thing in Baby Ull, but the grey I ordered was too dark, and the colors I ordered were backordered. Because I used the striped yarn, the white/yellow faire isle name and year didn’t show up, so I added the overstitch outline in black. I’m kind of glad the other yarns were back ordered, as the striped train is more interesting than a solid blue train would have been.

The train continues onto the palm with a box car, and the smoke trail follows it around as well.  And the hat is simply lined with an enlarged version of the track.

My fingers are crossed that they fit. I had assurances from two coworkers with children around Max’s age that they looked like they would fit a 2-ish-year-old and I browsed around for hand and head sizes as much as I could, but those things are so variable at that age, it’s still a bit of a gamble.

I don’t expect much reaction from Max since he’s so little, I expect him to be far more interested in the toy train that is accompanying this gift. We’ll see how well it goes over tonight.

Merry Christmas!

I’m trying to stay focussed on the Christmas knitting, I have a plan and if I can stick to it, I should be able to wrap up all my holiday projects in time (however, it is a really good thing that this is the year that my brother and his wife are coming to do the holiday on New Years instead of Christmas day). So, before the 24th I need to finish two pairs of socks (one is almost done, the second hasn’t even been cast on yet) and a pair of mittens and a hat for a toddler. Before New Years, I need to restart mom’s mittens and hat, and finish 2 slog-full pairs of man socks which are both in progress.

Unfortunately, mentally, I would much rather dive into the pile of baby knits I have planned than slog along on man socks. When I say bombarded, I mean bombarded. I have 5 babies due to friends and coworkers in the next 6 months, and 3 of those have toddler-aged older siblings who I didn’t knit for when they were born and I’d like to include an older sibling gift when I gift the baby stuff.  So that’s a lot of baby and toddler stuff to dive into once the Christmas stuff is wrapped up. 1 of those is due in about a month, 3 are due in March (one of my coworkers is having twins) and the other is due in May. Most of them are Michigan kids, so warm weather wear is good and they should all hit the 6-month sizes in the fall.  I’m definitely having an eyes are bigger than stomach moment with what constitute acceptable levels of knitting though, and granted, these are all theoretical knits since I’m still slogging through Christmas stuff.

So, what am I theoretically knitting in my head while actually working on man socks?

1) A couple of these for the twins. I have the heavyweight Socks that Rock in Jasper and Pond Scum for the girl and Spinel and Pond Scum for the boy. I have the same colors in the lightweight as well to test knit the baby size of the monkey mittens and hat set that I’m working on for mom for Christmas.

2) Toddler winter sets. I’ve alluded to the set I came up with for my cousin’s son for Christmas I think. His mittens and hat will feature trains. When I put his set together I also came up with a car design and a crayon design as well which are both toddler boy appropriate. Since my other two coworkers have boy toddlers and live in Michigan, I’ll likely pass on the test knits for those patterns to their sons for wear next winter.

3) As for the other 3 babies and the other older sibling, I have a million ideas, I just haven’t narrowed them down yet. It’s a lot of boy knitting for one thing, and they are spring babies, and the one that isn’t a spring baby lives in California as does the other older sibling. I’m thinking I’ll pull together a blanket of some sort for the Cali baby and another stuffed toy for his older sibling. Then maybe some fall-appropriate 6-month sized sweaters and socks for the other two newborns.

It’s a good thing they’re little, because there sure are a lot of them! But in the meantime, slog on, Christmas is only 21 days away!

After some very haphazard knitting and blogging this summer, I’m coming back around and have a stack of things just waiting for their time in the spotlight. New designs, Christmas gifts, nearly finished projects are all whacking me upside the head and demanding immediate attention. It’s causing some fractures in my ability to pay attention to any one project as I’m trying to do too much at once right now.  So, since I’ve been a bit distant, this post will be a massive update of all the things that are pulling me in a dozen different directions.

So, here’s a preview of just a few of the projects currently tugging at my attention. 

Socks for Adam: I’m working on the foot of sock #2. The pair I made last year came out  baggy in the foot, so I modified the pattern (added ribbing, went down a 1/2 needle size) and I think this year’s pair should fit perfectly. I also went toe up this time to keep the cuffs at a reasonable length without being paranoid about yarn shortages. The yarn is Louet Gems in Pewter and Cloud Gray. 4×1 rib and 4×1 stripe, toe up with short row heel.

Socks for Dad: I’m on the foot of the first sock and they’re coming along well. I’m doing a the 3×3 cable and seed stitch pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks on US2 1/2 needles (the 0’s last year about killed me). The yarn is Alpaca with a twist Socrates in Khaki.

Mittens and Hat for Mom: I finished a mitten and I don’t like how it fits her or me (I had her try it on last week). The cuff end is too short and I held back too few stitches for the thumb so it’s tight. I’ve made some adjustments to the chart, changed the thumb and will be starting over again soon. I should still have enough yarn to do another pair and the hat without ripping it out but it’s there if I need it. I’m going to start the hat next though. When I adjusted the chart, I also sized down the pattern for a child’s mitten and a baby mitten and the hat should be sizable as well. I know that’s the only complaint I’ve had with the frog mittens is that there’s no easy way to size them down for children so the monkeys will have options. I’ll also be test knitting the baby size as baby shower gifts later this winter.

Then there are the other 12 project tugging at my attention… including some more new designs. But those will have to wait for another post. 

 Have you?

One of the side effects of putting a lot of my yarn on a bookcase at the foot of my bed is that I’m looking at it all a lot. And it’s begun to call to me in the quiet moments of my days. Some of it is very chatty yarn. It makes it difficult to keep my number of active projects within a reasonable scope when there are all those little “knit me” voices calling from the shelves. Especially since most of the yarn on that wall is meant for projects for me, and I’m currently ramping up the gift knitting for the holidays.

I did succumb to a ball of white karabella aurora bulky from the shelf that had begun yelling at me and keeping me up at night. I got the yarn pre-wound in a ebay lot a couple years ago and it was enough yarn, and knotted up enough, that it was likely two or three balls strung together.

It really wanted to be a cushy hat. It really really loudly wanted to be a cushy hat. I have encountered some chatty yarn and some stubborn yarn and even some of that stuff that puts on the puppy dog eyes in the store then turns nippy and mean once you get it home, but this ball was just downright demanding and obnoxious and I was beginning to lose my resolve to fight it. Telling it to stay on it’s shelf until I was ready just wasn’t working anymore. It was like fighting with a three-year-old. So I did the only sane thing I could do.

I stopped fighting it and started a hat from it last weekend using the Robins Egg Blue Hat pattern and finished it up on the drive to Pittsburgh on Friday. It was a nice quick knit and resulted in a great hat, plus the yarn quieted down for a bit. I thought I had my sanity back once it was done. And the yarn wasn’t wrong, it definitely makes a great cozy winter hat. I did make some mods to the hat… 15 rows of seed stitch total and I just kinda did my own thing with the top decreases once I got there.

Then on the drive back home on Sunday, I was going to take a break from knitting and read, but as I was fishing through my bag for my book, the leftovers from the hat saw their opportunity and started to speak up again. It didn’t even start at a low murmur or a whisper this time. As soon as I opened the bag there were shouts of “Finish me! Finish Me! You need Mitts too! I don’t care if you don’t have a pattern! Make something up!” Since my resolve for this ball of yarn was so low and I knew I was still in for a long drive in a confined space with this yarn taunting me, I once again gave into it’s demands. I was done dealing with it and was ready for it to just be done so I could move on. I whipped up a really quick pair of fingerless mitts to coordinate with the hat and breathed a sigh of relief. That seemed to finally do the trick and there is so little yarn left that I don’t think it’s even whispering anymore. It is very pleased with it’s new life as cozy cool-weather accessories.

…Now if I could just figure out how to organize the stash so the sock yarn will stop multiplying (it just needs some temporary birth control, not a permanent solution).

I could also use some help in union negotiations, the sweater yarn and lace weight are starting to protest for equal knitting opportunities.

I’ll write the mitts pattern up here quickly as a freebie in case anyone else is holding on to an especially chatty ball or two of bulky-weight yarn. They’re a good companion piece for some of the bulky-weight hats floating around the web and are very quick to knit.

Chatty Bulky Mitts

On Size US 10.5 DPNs, with the bulky-weight yarn of your choice (or the bulky weight yarn that has chosen to torment you) Cast on 27 stitches

Join in the round being careful not to twist.

Knit 7 rows in seed stitch (k1, p1). Because your stitch count is an odd number of stitches there will be no visible “seam” in the seed stitch rounds and the seed stitch pattern just keeping going around.

Knit another 15 rows in stockinette (knit around). Or how ever many you would like before placing the thumb.

On the next round, bind off 3 stitches and knit remaining round.

On the next round, cast on 3 stitches and knit the remaining round.

Knit another 8-9 rows or as many as you’d like before the fabric hits just below where you’d like the top of the mitts to hit on your fingers.

Purl one row, then bind off purl wise.

Repeat for the second mitt and weave in your loose yarn ends.

Wear and enjoy the peace and quiet and warmth of yarn that is finally content to be something other than a ball of yarn.

__________________________________________________________

 That’s Lily’s take on it anyway.

 Several months ago, I got a random email. Normally, I would have dismissed it as spam, but for some reason I opened this one, did a little digging to determine it’s legitimacy and went ahead and gave the sender permission to use one of my photos.

The email was from a publisher, and the photo is now in a book forever cementing my two kitties as an inconsequential part of pop culture history. I’m such a proud pet parent.

I’ts been a crazy week around here. I came down with the nasty cold/sinus infection that’s been going around and that knocked me out for several days. I somehow still managed to attend my cousin’s wedding reception last weekend despite that fact that I looked like death warmed over. Then while still quite sick but grocery shopping with my parents, I stumbled upon 3 Wii Fits on a shelf and quickly snatched up two of them (one went in the mail to my brother and his wife who have also been on the look out). Now that I’m feeling better, I’ve been playing with it quite a bit and enjoying the forced activity.

And then at work on Tuesday they held a raffle and I came home with another new toy…

It’s  a Panasonic  Toughbook CF-19 tablet PC. Still not sure what all I’m going to use it for, but it’ll be nice to have a working personal laptop again.

I’ve been working on a bunch of knitting projects, I’ve had a bit of a fit of startitis and I’ll have a few more projects to show off soon, but for right now I have a sneak peek at another stranded mitten pattern I’ve been working on.

Mom wanted monkeys and the purple is a dead on match to her winter coat. There will be a hat to match as well. If anyone is game to test knit one or both patterns before November, leave a comment and let me know.