The best laid plans ...

I should know better. Going in to this weekend I looked at Gloucester and figured that I should be able to easily finish the second front by the end of Saturday, finish the pockets and be rolling on the sleeves by the end of Sunday. It was not particularly ambitious but I really figured that all I had left after Friday night was a single evening of work on the front.

Then my cell phone broke. Again. This is the second phone that has gone wonky on me in the barely 4.5 weeks that we have had the new phones and the third one to malfunction in 5 weeks. The first was dying a premature death after barely a year of use but we were switching plans anyway so it was not too big a deal. The next two are just plain annoying since they are fancy, all-in-one devices that I absolutely love because I now carry only one device where I was previously carrying 3. And, I now use my PDA all the time where it was not getting the use it should since having it and my cell phone out at the same time was an invitation to lose one. However, do not despair, our service provider was surprisingly nice and replaced the phone again, without charge. (It better have been without charge -- the phone was only 2 weeks old each time.) Please note, Mike has the same phone and it is working just fine but ... If you have a Treo 650 and use the hands-free frequently, do not be surprised if you lose the ability to talk without the hands-free. It is a known problem.

Anyhow, here is Gloucester:


And here is another project that kept me from working on it:



The above are the raw ingredients for Wampum. Below is one of the resulting Wampum.



Why, I hear you asking, are you attempting to make Wampum. Because the Male child was distressed that his macaroni Wampum had broken and Daddy promised that we could buy clams to make "real" Wampum while also providing spaghetti with clam sauce for dinner. Daddy, obviously, did not think this through and so Mommy found her self hammering and drilling clam shells last night. Male child is doing the smoothing himself.

Yes, we know that Wampum are round but this is making Male Child happy.

The last reason why Gloucester is not further along is that our neighbors had an emergency this morning and asked us to please watch their boys. I do not begrudge Gloucester progress at all for this -- they are lovely kids and we had a very nice time playing and reading while their parents dealt with important matters. It is very nice to have neighbors who can be counted on in an emergency and I am glad to be able to help them as they have helped us in the past. Hey, what are friends for.

Happy Birthday Amanda!

There should be a picture of the Birthday Girl inserted here:


However, I do not seem to have a current one. I will remedy that when I see her later this week.

Amanda is my younger sister and the youngest of my siblings. She is (gasp) 20.5 years younger then me. I will not give away either of our ages because then the bars in her college town will realize that they should not be serving her. Hmmm ... That might not be a bad idea ... But then it would also give away my age. Let it suffice to say that I have a fabulous picture of Amanda at my wedding -- she was 3. (She turned 4 just days later.) Now if anyone wants to track back through my posts and do the math, feel free.

She is the only sibling for whom I can knit socks with confidence since her feet are the same size as mine -- though she claims they are a tad smaller. We are about the same height and weight though shaped a little differently. She is blonde to my brunette and has far more social skills then I will ever posses. She is intelligent, kind, pretty and writes as befits a child of our father. She is also the youngest of 5 and knows it.

This is the sibling who followed me around her high school last year, finding me in every room I went to (and I went to a lot of different rooms) and called me old. She also, complained. "Everyone makes out in front of my locker," she whined. So, what is a vengeful sister to do but grab hold of a convenient male teacher and make out in front of her locker. O.k., the convenient male teacher was my husband ... But it did the trick and elicited the comment "ewwww!" Why? Because her sister was kissing in public? NO! Because we are OLD. Blah!

Amanda -- you are a wonderful sister and I love you dearly but I will NEVER stop telling this story. Happy Birthday!

Progress

The left front is almost done and I have rediscovered the rule of maximum ends. This rule is the reason why I have to join a new ball with only an inch to go on the piece. Now, this could have been prevented if I had started a new ball when I started the front instead of using the half or so ball that I had left from the back (it used 1.5 or so balls) but I have a need to plow through the yarn and finish each ball in turn.

I hear the yelling now ... What do you mean you are not knitting both fronts at the same time? I figure that since the tweed pattern is leaving me with an easy counting method I am not likely to make a serious mistake in terms of length. I also HATE constantly switching balls of yarn when knitting two fronts or two sleeves at the same time. I do not do 2 socks on 2 circs or 2 socks on one magic loop at the same time for the same reason. I will knit 2 socks at the same time on separate sets of needles and just switch which sock I pick up after stopping for a while. This I do so that the pair is done all at once.

For those of you who like a little poetry, there are some new ones up here. My favorites are actually much further back, here (Sky on the Ground) and here.

Now to pick up my knitting and settle down to The Princess Bride.

Young Einstein

Here he is!

And there is the wig that he obsessed about for a week. This child decided early on that for his project, he was going to become Einstein. I knew that he was planning the wig and mustache. I did not realize, until Sunday night, that he also knew that he needed a white shirt, slacks, his jacket and a tie. It was at the tie that I almost lost it -- however, since he had everything else located and ready to go I decided that I had to admire his planning and then, went and found the tie. He designed the wig on his own, creating a frame of paper glued strips glued together. He requested a ball of grey yarn and then spent much time "fuzzing" it to get just the right effect. The adults voluntarily joined in the fuzzing when we realized just how long it was taking. Finally, DH suggested untwisting it on a spindle. Fast forward to my unplying a half a skein of Lambs Pride on my wheel and then quickly pulling it apart. Yes, Lambs pride does indeed seem to have 2 unspun "plys" in it if something that is unspun can be called a ply. When split in half the untwisted stuff just pulled apart easily.

Einstein provided a credible presentation at the class share session yesterday morning and yes, it is captured on video for family members who ask to see it when they are here.

Gloucester is progressing -- the back is done and the left front is 1/3 done. Not much knitting was done last night since we went to relatives for Purim dinner. Einstein fit in perfectly. Next year the rest of us will really have do some sort of costume -- we were a little out of place this year. Mike's cousin invoked tears when he referred to the person who was missing from the dinner (MIL) but overall he gave a thought provoking d'var torah about names and language. I fully expected the male child to use it as the base of his question of the night but he actually fell asleep fairly quickly.

The answer to yesterday's riddle: What do you call a boomarang that doesn't come back?

A stick!

Gotta love him

I will contend that the reason we have children is to keep us laughing. Today I tell a tale of the male child, a curious creature with an insatiable appetite for knowledge. His mind works in a manner different from my own so while I admire the questions he asks, I find the manner in which they are asked to be amusing. Take last night ...

The usual bedtime routine around here involves sending p.j. clad, teeth-brushed children in to their rooms at 8 p.m. There, they read in their beds for a short while when, unprompted by an adult, the female child turns off her light and puts head to pillow. Somewhere around 8:15 p.m., one adult or another yells for the male child to put lights out. He complies and comes out for a round of hugs. Returning to his room, the male child then proceeds to toss and turn, and sometimes even, fall asleep. It is on the nights that sleep does not come easily that the adults often find themselves convulsed with laughter. After half and hour or so of the tossing and turning, the male child wanders out and asks a question that the adults are not prepared to answer. Two nights ago the questions were: how does a camera work? and how does a boomarang work? Not particularly amusing and easily answered the next day.

Last night, however, following a dinner conversation involving Albert Einstein and Richard Feynman, the questions were: How does an Atom Bomb work? What are the different types of Atomical (sic) weapons? and How did Albert Einstein's idea's lead to the Atom Bomb? The third question is directly from the male child's talking points in his presentation today -- he is portraying Albert Einstein, grey wig and all.

So, my project for today ... figure out how to explain the workings of the atom bomb. Forget about the caveat ... to an 8 year old ... I figure any explanation that I can understand, this kid can get his brain around.

By the way ... the answer to the Aquatic Socks puzzle is ... Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss ... possibly the finest work on the subject of turtle stacking.

And lastly ... what do you call a boomerang that doesn't come back? (answer tomorrow)

Cheesy Hamentashen

Sundays are for spinning and this week ... Baking.

I do not, as a general rule, cook. A few times a year I do some holiday foods -- challah for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippor, Latkes at Chanuckah and Hamentashen for Purim. No, I do not do matzo ball soup for Passover but I do make matzo brei.

This year, we introduce the Cannolli cream Hamentashen. (Those are the ones with the white filling.)

This merger of cultures comes to us courtesy of my SIL who introduced DD to cannolis a few weeks ago. Ever since, DD and Mike have been chowing down on fresh ricotta mixed with a smidge of sugar and chocolate chips. DD even brings small cups of it to school for her dessert. So, when it was time to make the Hamentashen, those two suggested Ricotta Hamentashen. They are actually quite good.

The other Hamentashen are prune and apricot using the wonderfully fresh fillings from the Yorkville Packing House. The pastry is from Bernard Clayton's The Complete Book of Pastry. It uses grated lemon rind in the dough and is wonderful!

Is it Spring Yet?

Maybe yes ... Maybe no.

We ventured out in to the sunshine yesterday attempting to take advantage of this brief bout of spring. After painlessly running a couple of errands (since they involved a pick up at the post office there was the potential for pain) we wandered up to Bryant Park in search of a microcache. Once there, we totally lost our GPS signal but still managed to find the Geocache we were after. Score! Then a quick trip to coliseum Books and then ... To Le Carrousel.


The Carosel in Bryant Park is a tiny one but has some very interesting animals on it. Apparently yesterday was the first day of the season for it so the operator gave everyone on it a second ride for free!

After lunch and some wig making (a story for another day) the kids and I headed to my favorite playground. They played while I made some headway on Gloucester and then did some spinning -- attracting the usual bunches of kids. I know that there are some parents find playground time boring and tedious. I love it! The kids go off and do their own thing and I get to listen to a good book and get some fiberwork done. The only time I get antsy is when it is a tad too cold for me to knit or spin comfortably.

Dinner was at Craft (not Craftbar as previously posted) and was wonderful. We ordered too much food and have lots of leftovers for tonight. Vladimir Feltsman was also fantastic so the evening was a total success.

Today ... We make Hamentashen!

How to Spend an Anniversary ...

*** Thanks to everyone who wished us a Happy Anniversary. You provided lots of smiles and warm fuzzy feelings for me throughout the day. ***

1. Get only a little sleep the night before due to fright that you will not get up at the extra early time required by the fifth-grader's trip to Philadelphia.

2. Arise at 4 a.m. due to fear of finally falling solidly asleep and missing alarm.

3. Post a blog entry about your wonderful spouse.

4. Great same with a kiss when he finally wakes up after 5:00.

(Fast forward through all standard morning stuff.)

5. Bring kids to school and drop off 5th-grader at 6:50 a.m.

6. Have a leisurely breakfast at favorite diner with favorite (and only) son.

7. Return to school to discover that buses are STILL there.

8. Leave second child and go to work.

(Fast forward through work stuff.)

9. Leave work and settle in at Starbucks near kids' school to kill time until buses are due to return at 7:00 PM.

10. Get joined by Elaine of UWS Knitters and spend a pleasant hour or so knitting and gossiping.

11. Change venue from Starbucks to car which is intentionally parked where the buses will have to pass before turning on to the school block.

12. Continue to knit and gossip with Elaine until 7:40 PM.

13. Finish turning heel of sock and knit first inch or so of cuff. Start toe of second sock.




13. Decide to join other parents in front of school and then glance up the block to see the buses coming (Elaine, those WERE the buses!).

14. Wait a seemingly interminable time for the buses to start unloading and great a sobbing child.

15. Gather said child in arms and guide to car and drive directly home, bypassing intended leisurely dinner with said child.

16. Eat the pizza left over from son and husband's dinner.

17. Retire for night after giving the still-awake daughter (no longer sobbing) a dire warning about coming in to our room.

(Fade out ...)

I spent, maybe, 2 waking hours with my husband. We will make up for it tonight with a leisurely dinner at CraftBar and then a concert by Vladimir Feltsman.

Is is a beautiful, balmy, early spring day and I just hope that the exterminator comes early so we can go out and enjoy it as a family.

(Current Status of Gloucester -- up to armholes on back.)

The Love of My Life

Here he is.

Fifteen years ago today we said those words which forever raised our taxes. Do I love him as much as I did the day we married. Nope! I love him so much more.

After all of these years he still manages to surprise me in good ways and I cannot imagine my life without him. When I try to ... I start crying.

Mike is my husband, the father of my children and my best friend. I hope to knit his socks for many, many more years.

Happy Anniversary oh Love of My Life!

Today's Lesson

Beware of situations that may cause sudden rises in aggravation levels when you are already in a foul mood. Then apologize immediately. I am laying low for the rest of the evening and am not risking offending anyone else by going back out. This means I am missing this week's Upper West Side knitting but I honestly think it is best for all -- I'd probably wind up telling off a poor, innocent bus driver or token booth clerk for no reason.

Meanwhile, Gloucester is now 7 inches long on the back. I should get up to the arm hole shaping tonight.

The new character socks are now 6.5 inches long (o.k., the first sock) with 3 inches to go before turning the heel. That may happen before the weekend if I wind up "hanging" at Starbucks on Friday while waiting for DD to return from her class trip to Philadelphia. If anyone is on the Upper East Side between 4:30 and 5:45 on Friday, I will be at the 81st Street and Second Ave Starbucks. I have to be in front of the school by 6 but want to be there early -- just in case.

Now for some hugs from my offspring -- that makes everything better, right?

Just NYC?

Is it just a New York City thing or is it common for teens to wear black jackets? As I watched my school dismiss today I wondered about this. I know that dressing in black is a very City thing. There are plenty of days that I do it because black is a nice background for some of my knitwear. I have yet to knit with it, however, except for one shawl done for a friend. So ... What color outerwear do teens in other cities wear?

There is nothing exciting to show today . A few more repeats were added to Gloucester and another 3 inches or so were added to the socks. However, I have, as always, Squid.

These are actually called the Aquatic socks and feature a whale, a Squid (which looks like a jelly fish) and a shark and ... Try to guess the creatures and the literary reference made on the second sock.

Overwhelmed

I am total overwhelmed with the number of people who have viewed this blog over the weekend. This should not really be the case -- I knew when I posted to the socknitters list that the membership is over 5000 -- but still ... Wow! Thank you for your wonderful comments both in the comments section and sent privately. A few of you are apparently now being pressured to make Kang and Kodos for your own family. Good luck! There is no pattern but I highly suggest knitting the mouth and eye sections flat and then duplicate stitching in the pupil and teeth. The heel tentacles (scroll down a few posts) were stranded to give them extra strength inside the shoe.

On other matters, if you need to figure out the title of the posting prior to the premier of Kang and Kodos ... read it backwards.


Even though I swore that I was now knitting for me, I have to admit to having the next pair of character socks on the needles. These will be fraternal socks with the color on the feet different from the color on the cuff and that then switched on the other sock. These characters are also from the creator of The Simpsons if anyone wants to try to figure it out as they progress. Right now the first one is in my travel bag so I can do the plain foot knitting on the run. Given how much wait time I have this week, I should easily finish the first foot and may put it on hold to start the second. (I only have one set of size 3 dpns right now.) Maybe ... I will even finally buy that second set of dpns if I get desperate.



Gloucester is progressing after 2 rip-backs until I got the cast on just right. Hint to anyone else thinking of making this -- do a long-tail cast on, reasonably snug, on a single needle. I first did a cable cast on and then a loose long-tail cast on but the compression that results from the tweed stitch left the cast-on edge looking wavy and untidy.

Now for a nice evening of knitting.

Presenting ...

... The only socks bent on World Domination -- Kang and Kodos!

Kang is on the left and Kodos is on the right. (Yes, I can tell them apart.)

Notice how the tentacles come out over the sneaker? That was Mike's idea.His comment -- "these may not be your best socks but they are your most creative socks." I can deal with that. The foot is a bit too long and if you look closely you can see where I knit flat for a while and then seamed up the hole in the back. (Actually, you can't see it because it is in the back of the sock.)

Technical details:

Yarn: Cascade 220 superwash. Less then one ball used of each the mustard and moss.
Needles: Size 3 dpns
Knit toe-up with figure 8 cast on of 20 stitches -- too many.
The only measuring done on these socks was for the foot -- 9.5 inches before starting the heel. Mike has a size 11 foot.

If I had to make them again I would cast on few stitches for the toe and knit it in the green to provide a bit more foot interest. Mike would like to see a tentacle on the front of the foot but I think it would be uncomfortable in a shoe.

Kang and Kodos come to us courtesy of The Simpsons.

The next pair of "Squid" socks are now on the needle as I needed a simple project for the car this morning. They will also sport some 3-D details but I am not going to rush through them. My sweater takes priority.

Now for a nice evening of swatching.

Yvan eht nioj

So admit it, how many of you just suddenly come out and say "Yvan eht nioj" during a conversation about the definition of the word "subliminal?" Are we really the only family that is so in tune with the Simpsons with a 10 year old child that just does this automatically? (The Male adult is also prone to quoting the Simpsons.) Is it possible that we are just that strange? O.k., maybe we are that strange. Does anyone out there even know what "Yvan eht nioj" means? (Yes, I do know, it is almost a rhetorical question.)

Meanwhile, the only knitting that was done this week was on the Squid Socks. I fully intend to finish this pair tomorrow and to then start swatching my sweater. This is where they now stand:May I suggest, if anyone cares, that the Squid in question are linked to the television show mentioned earlier.

I would like to say that I am about to settle in for a quiet evening of knitting but Mike and the male child are in rare form so it is unlikely to be quiet any time soon. Maybe I will go hide and read ... But then I would miss all this fun! I must admit that while he is a Loud Child, he is rather amusing.

Happy Knitting!

To Tink or not to Tink ...

This is the early stages of a shawl. The yarn is a two-ply charka spun (by me) cotton. I am thinking that this shawl has served it's purpose and should now be ripped back.

Last spring I finally got the hang of my charka and starting spinning up a storm. Eventually I finished the first 4 ounces and plied it to an almost invisible-in-places thread. Then I started in on the next color. (I had 4 hanks, each about 4 ounces, each a different natural shade.) The yarn had decided that it would become a very simple pi shawl and would be knit while we traveled around Scandinavia over the summer. I was doing well and spinning it for about an hour an night when my mother-in-law suddenly had a stroke.

At some point during the long week that followed, I cast on for this shawl and then knit it in the hospital. Then I knit it while sitting shiva. During most of the summer it sat in the bottom of my sock knitting bag and occasionally got worked on but mostly I knit socks this summer -- frantically and everywhere. In late August when I returned to work I knit on the shawl during the first meeting or two and then once again relegated it to the bottom of the bag while I knit socks and other things. Periodically it emerged for a round or two (at over 900 stitches per round at this point, a round takes a while) but it always descended to the bottom of the bag again.

Today I took it out and took a good look at it. There are a bunch of messy stitches where it came off the needles while in the bag and unstretched it looks like a crumpled mess. Spread out it is light and airy and I cannot, now, see myself wearing it. I am contemplating ripping it and putting the yarn away until the rest of the cotton is spun and plied. Maybe someday we will take that trip and I will knit good memories in to the yarn but for now it just makes me sad.

New Project

I have decided that I need a new sweater. It has actually been a few years since I knit a sweater for me so I figure I am due. I am also resisting knitting baby things. There are two people close to me who are expecting and I so want to knit for them. However ... I have a strong Jinx mentality (also known as not wanting a "kinahura" ) so I do not knit. I also try to even avoid thinking about knitting for small ones. Instead I am trying to channel my urges into large things such as Gloucester from Jean Frost's Jackets. Mike and I flipped through the book last night and I let him choose the jacket. I find that I look much nicer when I let him chose my clothes. This afternoon I hit Knitty City and Pearl helped me choose the colors as pictured below.What do you think? The main color is a pale purple. The jacket is on the right.


For those keeping track, yes, I have purchased A Lot of yarn since I started this blog. Those purchases, however, follow almost two years of light yarn acquisition so I do not feel so bad. I will yarn diet again -- maybe over the summer.

Meanwhile, Squid sock the second is now ready for the heel tentacles. I managed to get the first half of the heel knit at Starbucks with the Upper West Side knitters this evening. Mary was there and admitted to being the anonymous commenter two days ago. She points us to this adorable Squid Hat. I think I will have to make it for my DBIL's kid ... But it has to be born first!

Musings on a Look

As I dressed this morning I thought long and hard about my Look and why I try to appear a certain way on certain days. On the weekends and during the summer (when I do not work) I dress casually. Right now, for example, I am wearing jeans, a turtle neck and a sweatshirt. Not half an hour ago, however, I was wearing slacks, a blazer, the same turtleneck, and heels (now I am clad in warm, felted slippers over handknit socks). My work "face" is still mostly in place but the lipstick is long gone.

When I dress for work I sort of leave my "home" persona (also known as Devorah or Mom) and put on the Mrs. Z. persona. It is a part of the dressing, makeup and jewelry routines and on days when I get distracted -- perhaps by a sick child or an odd interruption -- if I forget a step such as putting on my watch or earrings, I am a little off for the rest of the day.

Earlier in the year I thought of it as putting on a different attitude but now I suspect it is really just a way of transitioning in to the professional mindset that I need for dealing with my work environment. Those days when a kid goes to school a bit off (but not enough to keep home) are the days that no matter what I wear, I am still very much Mom and I will never achieve the professional level I seek. That is just fine with me after all, Mom is the most important job I will ever have.

Anyone else "put on" a different face for work?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And for those of you that did not come to read my musings on dress ... I give you Squid.

These are not the pair in progress but rather Chthulu socks from a few years ago. The tentacles are chains that hang out from the sock. Sadly these socks felted with wear and are now waiting for the smallest feet to grow in to them. The yarn is hand spun cheviot, Navajo plied. The yarn for Chthulu was dyed on the stove using icing dyes.

Not Squid

Sunday was not a Squidly day it was a spinning day. When faced with the choice of knitting Squid or spinning while the laundry dried, spinning won. Later, the siren call of my wheel won out over the gentle "bloog, bloog" of the Squid. Maybe it is because the Squid actually want world domination and not to simply swim in the waters of our world. Or, maybe it is just that I burned myself out, knitting fiercely all day on Saturday.

The second sock is just a toe but hey, who knows, maybe it will get a half a foot by the end of the day. [Note: this post was started early in the day, the foot of the sock is now about 1/3 complete.]

Since Mike has such large feet, the thought of all of that mustard colored stockinette again is daunting and I hear the dulcet tones of my white lace scarf calling for this evenings knitting. Leave the world dominating sock foot for another day, I hear it whisper. Knit me ... Figure out where the heck you left off ...

Start of Sunday ...

End of Sunday ...

Tonight?


[Second note: the laundry room spinning was actually Jacob on my Emily spindle -- the wheel spinning came later in the day and the roving is of unknown parentage.]

Progress!

Yesterday was spent trying to make up for the negative progress on the Squid socks and replacing my new cell phone. It was also then spent restoring all of my "stuff" to the new cell phone. Please note: the phone was less then 2 weeks old! The vendor, however, replaced it without a problem, admittedly a big surprise to me. Hence, time was lost from squid knitting while futzing with the cell phone. However ...


The first "Squid" sock is almost done:

It is folded on itself to hide the details on the front of the leg. The dpn is left in for perspective -- it is a 6" size 3 dpn. Yes, the sock foot is larger then the piece of 8.5" X 11" piece of paper that is serving as its background. Mike has BIG feet. Yes, that is a "buttonhole" near the top. I had to work it flat for a while to accommodate the detail on the front.

Here is a view of the tentacle detail:(O.K., my photography skills need some work.)

And here it is unfolded:


The origami chrysathamum is hiding the detail. I am still taking guesses as to what this is and where it is from. It will be at least another couple of days before the mate is done. Origami courtesy of the female child. Doesn't she do nice work?

And just because ...

I discovered this on Mamacate's site and had to try it. It actually seems to be pretty accurate even though I was hoping to be Kermit.

You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgeable, you are the perfect sidekick. You're always willing to lend a helping hand. In any big event or party, you're the one who keeps things going. "15 seconds to showtime!"

The Muppet Personality Test

I've always had a thing for The Muppets.

Negative Squid

I was going to show you cool pictures of the heel of the in-progress squid socks. I was going to gloat about how well it worked out. I was going to fly up the leg last night as I watched Twins. Instead, I show you this:

Yes, that is crinkled. I had to do some frogging. O.k., ... I had to frog the entire sock. Shortly after putting enough ankle on it to matter, I decided to have Mike try it on. Uh oh. It was a tad too small. After spending only a few minutes debating if it could be worn anyway, it was off to the frog pond and back in to the sock on larger needles. Note the red smudge in the upper left -- it is a paperclip and marks where I got last night. I plan to spend much time today reading blogs and knitting stockinette in order to get back to the heel as fast a possible. I am a driven woman. Now that I have figured out how to get tentacles where I want them I must finish these socks!

Yesterday we spent a lovely afternoon in Chinatown. I would show you pictures but it was really too cold to take out the camera outside. Instead I give you this:

The kids in a pastry shop in Little Italy. Yum!

The Vest!

How do you decide what yarn or roving will become? In the case of The Vest the process from roving to yarn to wearable object has been a long, convoluted one. It started with my first trip to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck. I was still a fairly novice spinner with exactly a year of experience under my belt. I spent the festival roaming about picking up a little bit of this and a few ounces of that. Included in the purchases were two bumps of indigo dyed
Coopsworth roving. When I saw them I immediately liked the idea of the natural dye method and had a vision of a yoked sweater worked in the two colors.

Fast forward a year. The light blue is mostly spun and I have decided that the two bumps -- totaling about a pound, will not be enough. My mission: to pick up some coordinating roving at the same stand at the same festival. Luck was with me and the stand was in the same
location and this time I acquired a bump of a swirled mix of the darker blue with black and white and a bump of a swirled mix of rose and white and the darker blue. I figured they would go nicely with the other two bumps. Please note, I knew little about how the darker
blue might just cause them to blend in to the intended background color -- this knowledge came later.

Fast forward a second year and we find our heroine with the wool mostly spun and now questioning if she has enough for a sweater. The wool spun up in to a light and lofty two ply and the early skeins of the two blues are some what uneven in thickness. The multis are much better spun and more consistent. My female child and I head to Rhinebeck without the rest of the family and make the rounds. When we come to Handspun By Stefania -- the vendor mentioned above -- we choose two more bumps of wool and leave as happy campers.

Arriving at home I grab the first bump and start drafting. D'oh! The wool is much different, not the shiny, Coopsworth, and results in a much different yarn. Not a bad thing but I was looking for a match of sheen. After much thinking I finally start swatching to get a feel for gauge. The multis are significantly thicker then the solids and I think about a garter stitch striped sweater with the multis used sparingly. Then I calculate my yardage and convince myself that I do not have enough for a sweater. I start looking for vest patterns and even start a couple, always ripping back after an evening or two of work.

In to the house arrives the Winter 2005 Knitters and I find my vest. I know my gauge is way different but then, hey, I want a smaller item anyway. I cast on for the smallest size without changing a thing. Quickly I realize that the row gauge is also way off and since this pattern talks about rows and not inches, I will have to do some quick math. The math again convinces me that I do not have enough of the light blue to do the back and fronts as was the plan. On to the needles goes the dark blue for the fronts and then the blue-multi for the border.

Over all I am pleased with the result but it is a bit smaller then I would like. It still works though and I will wear it for a while and then probably give it to the female child after I make a replacement.

I still have plenty of the yarn and am now thinking about what else I can knit with it. The rose-multi is just screaming to be knit into something -- it just has not decided what.

Elephants and Squid

Here are the completed projects from the NH trip:

Elephant Sweater

Detail:

The Elephant Sweater uses this guideline-pattern as the base, adjusted, of course, to my son's measurements. He seems to have a longer torso and arms then the guidelines call for and had me constantly second-guessing my knitting. I do not remember where the elephant graph came from. I've used it before and when I went searching I could not find it either on line or in my graph stash. Instead I grabbed the hat I made last year and regraphed from that. If you look closely you will notice that the elephants march in one directon around the shoulders and in the other direction around the waist. That was DS's idea. Reversing the elephant graph while in the car was a task I would rather not repeat.

Squid Mittens:

The cuffs are worked on 40 stitchs of k2, p2 ribbing and are almost 5 inches long as per the owner's request. The hands are worked on 52 stitches and fit nicely due to the compression that results from the mosaic knitting. The pattern is the mosaic "Four-way Spiral" from Charted Knitting Designs A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G, Walker. I used one and a half repeats of the design keeping the decreases as subtle as possible. The thumbs are on 21 stitches and are also slip-stitched to keep the parallel lines going. DD claims that they are nice and warm.

Home again

After almost 5 full days away from home we are back. After carefully evaluating my project progress I must confess that I was not paranoid enough. The squid mittens are finished and the sweater is lacking 3/4 of a sleeve. I will finish that tonight and take nice photos of both finished projects in daylight on their intended victims. The Squid Sock (s) have almost an entire foot and I am just about ready to start the tentacles. That said, yes, I did have more projects then I needed but only another days worth or so. I think the buffer should be a little larger since I lost about 2 hours of knitting time while futzing with the GPS.

On the Geocaching front, we introduced two sisters to the activity (one on each side of the family) and found 3 caches out of 5 intended. My sister proved very adept in spotting each of the two that we attempted and Mike found the third. All in all a good series of hunts / hikes and we saw some really neat stuff while searching. Both failed caches still had nice views and one yielded some cool icicles. The two NH caches were hikes and also yielded wonderful sights like the iced over stream where you could still see the water flowing below the ice. We also saw evidence of ... Bigfoot?

(We do know what really made the prints but I'll only tell if people guess.)

We had nice visits with the family and some of us learned how to ski. Others ... well lets just say that we will try it again, one of us willingly and the other ... because I said so. (Sometimes a mom's got to do what a mom's got to do and if I am trying again, so is he.)

Now I am settling in for a quiet night of games with the kids (unexploded cow) and then knitting to a chick flick (yet to be decided) while Mike is off at a concert.

A Mother's Pride

After many, many hours of driving we finally arrived in New Hamphire. Total car knitting -- half a mitten (to complete the pair) and a good deal of sweater yoke. An inch or so of Squid Sock was knit while waiting for lunch in Sturbridge.

On Sunday morning we all headed out to Ragged Mountian for ski lessons. Mike and I were the only people in our class so we had a very nice "private" lesson while the kids spent the entire day in Ski school. After lunch we looked out at the kids and realized that they were now in different groups. After putting on our own gear, Mike and I headed back out to the learning area -- having been told not to do the mountain on our own -- and I promptly lost control and wound up on the grass. Deciding that I had had enough, I retreated to the learning center and proceed to knit and to watch Mike and the kids from inside.

I did more watching then knitting and watched as DD headed up the mountain on the chair lift. I then spent the next 45 minutes glued to the window as I waited, with baited breath, for her to come down the mountain. Finally, I saw her bright yellow jacket with the red scarf and hot pink mittens coming down. DSister was at the bottom to give her a big hug when she made it down.

Watching her go up on the lift, my heart was in my mouth. Watching her come down the mountain filled my heart with pride and my eyes with tears. She took yet another major step toward adulthood and the tears were for the childhood that is quickly disappearing. In the last few months she has grown tremendously, both physically and emotionally and I am so very proud of her. The changes fill me with awe and a little fear of what is to come. Hopefully she will always retain what is wonderful about her as she adds skills and maturity.

That brings us to today. DD and Mike are back out at the mountain and DSister and Dson and I are going to go geocaching and shopping. Right now the two of them are playing with the dogs. We came to NH hoping to find another family sport but have probably found a daddy-daughter sport instead. Hey, that works too.

Ready or not

Hear are the projects that will accompany us to New Hampshire. On the top left is the Elephant Sweater -- it now has a neck and about 1.5 inches of the top. On the right are the Squid Mittens of which the second one is about half done. On the bottom left is the first of the Squid Socks of the squid-like creatures from the popular animated program. I am still waiting for guesses ...

I was hoping to finish the mittens before departure but I suspect that last minute packing will prevent that. Just in case this is not enough knitting, I will toss a ball of thin sock yarn in to my bag with a set of size zero needles. I have absolutely no clue how much I will actually accomplish on this trip.

This may be my last post until we get back and will certainly be the last with pictures unless my sister is armed with her digital camera. If she is ... then hey, we may have some pics of me falling on my rear, or, perhaps even sking.

Starting

I finally started swatching for the elephant sweater. This will be a top down sweater. The elephants will march around the neck and shoulders and then again around the hips. I will try to make it rather large so that when he growth-spurts a week after it is done, it will still fit.

I also finally cast on the newest squid socks. However, there is half a foot (not six inches) of a different pair of squid socks on the needles and that is what I have actually been referring to up until now. The newest pair-in-progress will have a pair of squid-like creatures from a popular prime-time animated program. (They appear once or twice a season in said show. These squid-like creatures will be green and will "stand" on a brownish ground which will be the sock foot. The other, to be finished much later, "squid" socks will have grey feet and a red creature with squidly tendencies (it is actually more crab then squid but around the mouth ...). This creature is from a no longer aired animated program from the same cartoonist. (Or rather, no longer airing new episodes.)

I am happy to entertain guesses as to the names of the creatures on either set of socks.

Meanwhile, for your viewing pleasure, I present ... a squid. Knit and beaded by yours truly for a sea-creature exchange. It is long gone but its essence remains. (The fish that I received are in my office and are not photographically documented at this time.)

Finished!

The striped socks are done and the smallest feet now have 3 pairs of hand knit wool socks to keep them warm. The third sock is a mini-sock that will be used as one of our signature Geocache trades. DD will embroider a Z on it and we will be good to go. Every finished project now gets a matching mini sock and the kids take turns with who gets to trade the sock for whatever trinket takes their fancy. Hopefully some socks will find their way in to New England geocaches next week.

In planning for this trip I realize that I still have to swatch for the elephant sweater and then graph it out before we hit the road. The same holds true for the legs of the squid socks which are about to leave the planning stage and enter the actual knitting stage. Now that the smallest feet are clad it is time to knit for the largest feet. Can you say "men's size 11.5?"

Snow!

Today once again proved that well knit (and felted) woolens will keep my kids as warm as anything anyone else is wearing. Both children wore hand-knit wool socks, hats and mittens. The mittens are the Fiber Trends felted mittens with extra, long cuffs knit on after felting. The addition of the extra cuff kept the snow out of their mittens and out of their sleeves. The mittens were quickly coated with snow but they did not get wet on the inside until they were allowed to sit for a while after we disrobed at a friends apartment. That is, I must admit, the only drawback to the woolens. Unless you have access to a dryer, they are useless for the rest of the day after being worn once. Once the outer coating of snow melts and soaks in, they can take a long time to dry.

The kids did go out twice today -- once in the morning while I did the laundry -- but I was able to take the hats and mittens and toss them in the dryer before we went out again.

For those of you interested in NYC sledding places, we can now compare two major sites. The first, and until now our main destination, is Cedar Hill -- just south of 79th Street in Central Park. Cedar Hill is very large and has the benefit of a double hill -- you go down one and if you have good speed you bump across the path at the bottom and go down another slope and then -- if you are really lucky -- up the hill on the other side. Today's hill was the one at 91st Street in Riverside Park. We found the crowds to be more civilized but the hill is steeper and a tougher climb. DH and I had some nice conversations with other adults while the kids slid, slogged and slid again. Once the cold finally penetrated all of the layers that the adults were wearing (the kids were fine) we headed back to the subway and bumped in to some friends who live nearby. We accepted an invitation up for hot cocoa and conversation and stayed for an hour or so. Finally we re-dressed ourselves and slogged back to the subway only to spend another 20 minutes excavating the car for tomorrow.

Yes, New York City schools are open tomorrow. I admit it, I look forward to a snow day as much as the kids do. Tomorrow, however, we will bundle up extra early and I will make a judgment call about driving.

Squid Mitts? And some process stuff

*** The annoying squid background has been temporarily disabled. It will be brought back when we can figure out how to put it up in a way or a place where it will not be annoying. ***

It seems that Butterflies are not to be. Once the elusive copy of Barbara Walker's Third Treasury (the yellow one) was located last night, I let the Daughter loose with it and she chose the Four-Way Spiral pattern. After one full repeat I have come to realize that the spiral is really a Squid and, the Daughter agrees. And so it goes, another pair of Squid in the apartment.

My Planning Process

I was asked today where I got the pattern for the hat I was wearing. It is at this point that I must admit that I now rarely use specific patterns for things like socks, hats and mittens. After a few years of using other people's patterns, I realized that I was changing almost every one that I used. So now, for basic items I just incorporate all of the rules that I've learned along the way and figure out how to get where I want. For hats I am currently on a 2 X 2 ribbing kick and just give a good guess as to how many to cast on. Since the ribbing is so stretchy it is a safe bet for most head sizes. The hat I was wearing today was knit in grey cashmere in the standard 2X2 and has plenty of length so it is doubled over my ears. I actually knit it for someone else and it has come back to rest in my care.

The mittens I am making for dear daughter start with 40 stitches of 2 X 2 ribbing (see a pattern here?) knit for 5 inches on size 4 needles (she wants very long cuffs to keep the snow and cold out). Since my son's last pair of mittens, knit just 2 weeks ago, were a tad too snug for Daughter, I increased to 52 stitches which is what works for the pattern she chose. The pattern is mosaic so it draws in a lot (that was for those of you saying "52 stitches for a kid?!). After 18 rows (9 pattern rows) I added one stitch and then increase on either side of it every other row until there were 17 stitches in the thumb gusset -- the edge stitches for the gusset are purled and the increases, after the second round, are spaced so as to keep a vertically striped pattern going.

At this point I have completed a full repeat of the pattern (51 rows) and figure (after a try-on) that I have 1/2 a repeat to go before decreasing for the top of the hand. I am going to try to do the decreases so as to keep the Squid looking as Squid-like as possible and should have that piece done by the end of the night. My real goal is to finish the entire mitten tonight but that probably will not happen.

Tomorrow will probably be a low-yield day, knitting-wise, since we are assuming that at least a few hours will be spent in Riverside Park sledding in the first snow of the season and another chunk of time will be spent in snowball fights and Snowperson building. I am actually looking forward to this since the worst should be cleared by the time I have to go to work on Monday. Actually, I usually look forward to romping with my family in the snow -- it is just plain fun to watch the kids having such a good time.

Weekend Knits?

Today's purchases from Knitty City. The green will become Squid Socks, the blue a sweater for my male issue, and the pink and purple will become mittens for the female child. Unfortunately I cannot currently locate my yellow Barbara Walker Treasury (I do not remember the number) which has the butterfly pattern that I want to use. I used the book only two weeks ago when I made the male child's new mittens so it has to be around here somewhere (much like squid). For the time being I will manage as I do not need it for the cuffs.

The Vest is on hold while I try to get the mittens done by Monday. The poor child has a thinish pair of butterfly mittens and a really heavy pair of pink felted mittens but she really wants something in-between -- hence the mosaic stitched butterflies. If I can find the book. If not, I will wing it.

Tomorrow -- hopefully the additon of a knitting squid to the header. The gif now exists, I just have to figure out how to get it on to the page and that just is not happening tonight.

Why butterflies?

The following was posted to the comments section: "really I don't get it the aquarium story isn't enough for me. And if squid why butterfly. I think squid is a really good idea."

Even though this was posted anonymously I know who the poster is -- he did it from this very desk.

To answer the question of "Why butterfly," the answer must come from within the squid mythos itself. As the story goes, Squid eat Gorillas and Gorillas eat Butterflies. Butterflies eat Seeds, Seeds eat Water and ... Water eats Squid. (Apparently, Gorillas also eat Squid.) And this is -- Why Butterfly. (which implies, why butterflies on DDs mittens) Also -- because she WANTS butterflies on her mittens.

Here is the Squid-eating-Gorilla hat knit for my wonderful spouse. Yes, he really wears it. Sometimes.


On other topics, how many people get woken up in the middle of the night by their turtles? Am I really the only one?

We have three turtles in the house, two are family pets and one is a loaner while his owner studies overseas. DD has her turtle in her room and the other two are in the living room. The living room turtles fight. And they fight in the middle of the night and make lots of noise bumping their rocks and filter and such. This results in the lightest sleeper in the family, me, being woken up. Blah! Tomorrow I will clean out the fish tank -- the last fish died this week -- and move the loaner turtle to DSs room where the fish tank is. This means more tanks to clean but more sleep.

The Vest and Striped Socks are coming along but progress will be interrupted this weekend so that I can knit butterfly mittens.

How long ...

do you spend planning what you are taking on a trip?

After viewing Stephanie's latest post I was forced to admit that I may be a bit obsessive about planning my travel projects. After all, the whole purpose of yesterday's attempted yarn acquisition excursion was to obtain sufficient stash for my upcoming trip to New Hampshire ten days from now. The trip will include at least twelve hours of car time exclusive of lunch and potty stops. It will also include two full days and three full nights of visiting with Dear Sister and her Dear Spouse.

Now, we are planning on attempting to learn how to ski during some of that time (please don't laugh aloud) and will probably lose a few hours to that endeavor but still, there should be lots of good knitting time.

What to take? The car knitting has to be easy enough so that I can pay full attention to my navigation duties and listen to whatever book we chose for the trip. The house knitting should also be of moderate difficulty at best so that I can give my full attention to my visiting. I could just pack lots of sock yarn (pictured on the right) but then my size 1's needles would carve a groove in my finger. Got to add something on larger needles ... hmmm. I know! I somehow must finally obtain the yarn for the sweater I have been promising my son. Size 6-8 needles and worsted weight yarn -- simple elephant motif -- that's the ticket!
That, and a pair of socks. Or two!

WIPs and some blathering

*** Comments are now enabled for non-blogspot members. Sorry about that! ***


The Vest. "Assembly Required" from Knitter's Winter 2005. I have taken some liberties with yarn, color and gauge. The yarn is homespun Coopsworth from roving acquired at NY Sheep and Wool over two different years. The dark blue are the front sides and the light blue is the back. The front edges / collar will be in the multi-rose or the multi-blue. DH is in favor of the rose, I am in favor of the blue. Any other opinions?


And, socks for the smallest feet in the family. I could really get in to making socks for him -- they go so much faster then socks for any other family member. However, if genes rule then he will wind up with boats like his parents and I will have addicted him to handknit socks.

Check out this Squid hat, link courtesy of Debbie.

And now for the blather ...

I tried. I tried to get the yarn I have decided I need for what is supposed to be the newest pair of Squid Socks. Leaving work with plenty of time to get across town, buy yarn and then get back across town in time to retrieve my eldest from Hebrew school, I was unexpectedly thwarted when the store was closed. Blah.

Instead I retreated to Plan B -- hit the drug store near the yarn store and get my usual Tuesday haul of shelf stable lunch food and some sparkly barrettes for She-who-now-brushes-her-hair. Back across town I flew to find myself twenty minutes early for the retrieval. Into the back of the synagogue I slunk, and while waiting, pulled out the striped sock. Sitting in the row in front of me was another knitter, showing her partially completed blanket to another knitter-parent. I held up my sock and a quick conversation ensued with us sharing our impressions of the local yarn stores. Hebrew School then finished and the Eldest and I headed home. Hey, Knitters are everywhere.

Now to pull out the Vest and make some decisions. I would like to finish it this week and already have a replacement project lined up -- new mittens for the hair-brusher. Her old ones are too thin and the felted ones too thick for everyday wear. I am thinking ... Squid? (O.k., maybe butterflies!)

I am not faithful ...

I always have several works in progress at once and now I can share them with the world. New to the sidebar is a list of these WIPs and hopefully later this week I will figure out how to add pictures. At the very least I will document their "current" state this weekend and share it out.

Today's projects will include the striped socks for the smallest feet in the family and the vest -- for me. The vest has been in the works for years since I first purchased the roving 2 years ago. The socks have only been on the needles for about a week and I am on the second sock.

Squid Socks -- the first pair

These are the socks that started it all.

After I had been knitting for a year or so, I decided to give socks a try. I managed to make a few pair for myself and then decided that I needed to convince my adoring spouse of the Wonders of handknit socks. He agreed to wear what I made IF I could put Squid on them.

At the time I was also playing with mosaic knitting techniques and this is what resulted. The Squid are reveresed because I wanted a bit of a challange on the second sock. The socks were designed on knitters graphpaper with an old-fashioned pencil. (Actually I used a mechanical pencil so we are not really in the dark ages.) The yarn is a superwash worsted which after 3 years is no longer superwash. The pattern is worked in mosaic with short-rows used to keep the bottom of the foot the same length as the top of the foot. The size is (gasp!) a men's 11 1/2.

Why Squid?

A Squid walks in to a bar ... o.k., maybe not. A family ventures out to the Aquarium dragging a small child who does not really want to go. His parents and sister tell him about all of the neat things he will see, to no avail. Finally, one of them says, "We will see Squid." At that, the toddler's eyes light up and he happily hops in to the car.

While at the aquarium, the family sees sea otters and sea lions, sea horses and eels. The toddler insists on finding the squid. After looking in almost all of the cases the toddler proclaims, "There must be Squid around here some place!"

After recovering from a huge attack of giggles, Mom, Dad, Grandma and Big Sis finally locate a tank of small octopi and call them Squid. The toddler is satisfied and the trip is a success.

Since then, Squid have been a huge part of our lives and Daddy has many pair of hand knit Squid socks. (Socks with Squid on them, not socks for Squid.)

In the future, more will appear about the Saga of the Squid in addition to content about knitting and family.

Welcome to Squid Knits!