Etherknitter

Fools tread...again and again

I need some advice from the blogosphere.  Should I use this yarn for my next sweater? 

But first,  some background.  I REALLY wish someone had told me that alpaca has no memory
and little elasticity.  Perhaps I would not have used it for my first sweater.  That sweater is almost done.  It has been a slog throughout.  I know I'm older.  I hope I'm wiser.

The next sweater is for me.  It will be the Marla pattern from Melissa Leapman's "Hot Knits".   She worked it in a drapey Skacel cotton (Polo).  It is mostly stockinette, with a horizontal garter rib every fourteen rows.  Plus it has a lacy pattern up the front, which splits at the open neck to border the neck on each side.  Quite snazzy.  It will be fun to try full-fashioning, after the agony of the crew neck on the English rib pattern I'm finishing for the DH.

The yarn is Alchemy Synchronicity. 

It is shiny, which I think the swatch picture does capture, especially the stitches on the needle.  It blooms a bit.  Is this my next biggest mistake?  I thought the yarn, which is 50% merino, 50% silk, would have some of the drapey aspects of the cotton, but some of the forgiveness of wool.  It does do that well.   Will this look like hell after one wearing?  Will it look like hell after the handling necessary to make it?  What questions should I be asking that I don't know to ask?   I am so in love with the yarn, and the swatch, but don't want to make the next expensive mistake.  If not this sweater, what would you use the yarn for?   Please don't be kind.  Be honest.

Deadline knitting

Each row is 193 stitches.  They are very simple rows:  three set-up rows, one pattern row.   K2tog, increase, SSK.  Lots and lots of times.  There are 11 sections of pattern, and three margin stitches on each end.  I made GREAT progress this past week.  The deadline?  It's the baby blanket.  March 17th.  I'M BORED TO TEARS.   I guess that's appropriate, given the project.  What do I do, in a country inn, in Goshen, Vermont, to pass the time?  Here are some examples:  figure out how many rows (5) and stitches (965) per day are necessary to get it done in time.  How many stitches will be in the blanket?  Over 47,000.  Wait.  This is the path to madness.  Maybe this blog should have been titled "Perfectionist discovers knitting.  Watch the slow but sure descent into madness."  My
husband has been the voice of reason.  Six rows back, I discovered I had purled the three margin stitches in the purl row, instead of knitting them.  A look of despair must have crossed my face.   He looked at me, and said, "Get real.  This is a BABY blanket.  It is going to be spit on, vomited on, and peed upon."  He was actually much more graphic.  He likened it to the Persian rugs with the intentional defect woven in so that God would not be affronted by a man's attempt to create something perfect.  Okay, I can do that.  Naturally, my picture shows the wrong side, but you can see my Progress:

In the meantime, I am not getting the husband's sweater finished.  All ends that are not associated with the problematic armpits, are woven in.  The neck is not being whipstitched.  He is drooling to pull it over his head.  (AHA.  That is why he is being so helpful with baby blanket advice!)  Nor is my next sweater, for me, being swatched.  Alchemy Synchronicity, Foggy Notion, is calling me.  I have a socks jones that is going unsatisfied. 

And all I can do is hope the kid isn't early. 

Square footage knitting

My current project is a yarn-diet stash endeavor.   Ken, one of the department's new staff members, is going to become a father somewhere around March 17th.  (My unscientific world view on this is that most first babies come late, as the uterus has not been stretched before.  It therefore takes a bigger baby weight to trigger the signals that say "NOW!".   Has this been studied?  I think the only people interested in female hormones are other women. )   

Ken is the guy who gets us Red Sox tickets without me having to stand in line.  He knows somebody who knows somebody who......you get the idea.    If I say much more, then I won't get Red Sox tickets next year.  The DH and I owe him.   We also like him. 

That is why he is getting a baby blanket made from yarn given to me by my dear 91 year old aunt.  Aunt Cele has been knitting for 70 years.  That's hard to wrap my brain around.   SEVENTY years.  When I was beginning the alpaca sweater, I made mistakes I couldn't undo.  The weekend I was staying with her, I would hand her my work.  I was more than a little afraid that I would have to start over, because her memory isn't what it used to be.  She is starting to repeat things she said 5 minutes ago.  They all make sense, but one can tell the connections are starting to loosen.  So I had no idea what would happen when she looked at my Very Bad Stitches.  Well.  A brief blur of fingers.  She hands me the work.  It is now perfect.  I ask her what I had done to create the problem.  She looks at me blankly.  No idea.  I ask her what she had to do to fix it.   No idea. 

She gave me this yarn because she doesn't understand why the pattern she was using to knit a sweater wasn't coming out right.   I suspect it is related to memory issues, and not being able to track a process over time.  But I couldn't tell her that.  So instead, I will try to honor a new Japanese baby with yarn from my wonderful ancient aunt.  It is Encore, in a blue color that is only noted by a number and a lot designation.  But it is blue for boy:

The pattern is one of Melissa Leapman's.  Can anyone explain why stacked increases and decreases create scallops?  I would think the increases would create convexities, and decreases would create concavities.  But the opposite appears to be happening, as you can tell from the
lacework in the picture.

I need to finish this soon.  I want Auntie to see it.

Figuring out a Gallery of FOs

It is a time of organization, fruition.  As soon as I figure out how to put together a gallery, there will actually be an exhibition of FOs!  I have the socks to display.  They actually came out to EXACTLY the same size.  I am so proud.  The Jonathan scarf (alpaca-silk) needs a picture.  The sweater is within TWO rows of a neck.  Then come the final parts of the seams, whipstitch those 113 neck stitches, and it is done.  (Is that a knit slam?  Two rows short of a neck?)

I am also making good pattern progress on the baby blanket.  The yarn is from my stash.  Or more accurately, it is from my 91 year old aunt's stash.  Imagine getting free rein to someone else's stash!
Back to work.  226 stitches......counting.........

Return to Blogville

This is where I have been. 
                              

And this is what I have been doing.

That, and knitting.  I celebrated my birthday in the snow,
in contrast to Claudia's sunny celebrations. 

Can you tell me where I am?   Hint:  I was skiing approximately three
crow-flying miles from a massive avalanche on Friday.

This was an important knitting trip.  I finished the infinite scarf for
the 6'5" man.  How long DO you make a scarf for such a guy?
The whole endeavor felt much like the endless ball of twine
debate, which can be summarized by one question:

When do you stop?   The link here shows what can happen
when good fiber turns bad.

After much thought, it turns out that anything over
about 50" will do the trick.  Less than that looks skimpy.   
The territory between 55 and 68" adds versatility to the accessory.
He can loop it once, and it will look good.  He can tie it once, and
have enough tail left over to be stylish.  (The recipient, Jon, is a
very stylish man.  The scarf must live up to that.  He may not even
remember the day last summer when I asked him what his favorite color was.) 
The yarn is Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk.  The hand is sumptuous. 
The pattern is March 27 of the Stitch A Day calendar.  In a yarn with
more stitch definition, it is called "ladders".  In this yarn, it makes a
pleasing traveling geometric pattern that I hoped an MIT graduate
would appreciate.  I used four repetitions of the pattern stitch across
the scarf.

In other news relevant to our knitblog community, I proved that you
can survive a "selected for special search" experience at the
airport and come through with your knitting intact. 

Since I was off celebrating my birthday, the driver's license that I
renewed online did not arrive in time for my departure.  That, of course,
meant that I got to the airport at the end of the week with an expired
driver's license.  The Registry of Motor Vehicles had kindly
supplied me with an email that stated:

The Requested License Renewal Transaction has been
successfully processed on X date at X time.

Your renewed license will be mailed to you...... If your current
license has expired, you cannot legally operate a vehicle until
you receive your renewed license, unless you print and carry
this e-mail with you along with your expired license. The
bearer of this e-mail has successfully renewed his/her (state)
license. The license is in good standing and is not
currently expired, suspended, or revoked.

Federal privacy laws prohibit the RMV from printing the name,
the driver's license number, or the social security number
of the licensee in question on this receipt. M.G.L. c 90 sec 11
allows the Registrar to issue a receipt for the fees paid,
which may be carried in lieu of your license for up to 30 days.
A printed copy of this e-mail shall be deemed a receipt
for the fees for the purposes of M.G.L. c 90 sec 11.

Please do not discard this e-mail until you have received
your renewed license in the mail.

The TSA agent treated this accompanying email like so much
chaff.  I was sent back to the desk, given the SSSS stamped
ticket (does that stand for double Nazi?) and then through
the special search line.  My handbag was handsearched,
and the bag with my knitting was bombsniffed without
taking it out of the bag.  Evidently the circular needles
had not been manufactured with nitrates, and I was sent on
my way.

Celebrate THIS season

I just sent my donation to MSF-USA.  I am proud to be a Harloteer.  Another birthday is coming up soon.  I have turned them from moaners and groaners into "Wow, I'm so lucky to still be here. I have so much yarn left to play with."  (Knitting disclaimer:  I also have been known to say  "I have so much powder left to ski",  and "I have more great wines left to drink.")

I love winter.  There are no bugs.  The season represents a rest from yardwork and gardening.  I don't have to pay a crew of barbarians to mow and fertilize millions of high-maintenance perennials.  (Most people call it a lawn.)  It is SKI season.  And the Wearing-of-the Wool season.
Yowzer.  I tried to go to a yarn shop this morning to get a baby booty pattern.  I was driven back by the snow, the slippery roads, and the realization that sometimes it is just not worth it.  Instead, I was rewarded with some beautiful shots of my landscape.

                                 

The hemlocks drape beautifully with snow.  The red berries are a hawthorne tree that blooms beautifully, with little maintenance.

On the knitting front, I'm debating ripping out what I've done on the neck of the sweater.  I hid the two decreases I had to make, and followed in pattern, but that makes the ribbing less ribbed (two knit rows together).    With one of the decreases, I can hide it in the seam.  The other decrease will be there for all to see, pointing its accusing finger at me, the knitting slacker.

I think I'll work on a scarf for awhile.

Sweater Numero Uno

This is a sweater.  This is Paul's sweater.  This is Paul's interminable sweater.

Wait.  This isn't a grammar lesson.  Let's start over.

This is Paul's sweater.  The needles are where a neck will be.

This sweater is why Cassie can't say the "s" word, although she doesn't quite
know this specifically.

It started one April, 2004 morning with a swatch.  The gauge was fine.
Approximately six weeks later, three-quarters of the way up the back, the
sweater-knitter's fears were confirmed.  The sweater was too narrow. 
My knitting consultants and I went behind locked doors and plotted. 
Can we add increases from the armholes?  (No, there wasn't enough room to
add enough increases without it looking pyramidal.)  Should I rip it out? 
NONONONO, I cried.  I lamented.  I beat my chest.  Someone at work
suggested I knit the sweater and gift it to someone it would fit.  Someone else at
work suggested I dump the husband and, in reverse Cinderella, look throughout the
kingdom for the man who would fit the sweater.  So I did the only thing a knitter would do.

I ripped the whole thing out and started over.  Good husbands are hard to find.

I envy Norma's Plain Vanilla success.  This WIP has been one learning experience
after another, and I fear the outcome will not be pretty.  While the gauge appears to
be fine horizontally, I have been harboring doubts about the length.  I think I have
knit a tunic, and I don't know why.  Measured gauge is STILL okay.  Followed the
pattern slavishly.  Lesson #2 learned:  alter patterns at will.  If it looks like
it is getting too long, it IS too long.  I've learned lots of other things, but let me
finish it first before I enumerate. 

The socks are done.  And I have yarn left over for future darning.   

Socks

I got myself into this bind.  I did this to myself with open eyes.  I am not
one to leap forward optimistically.  But that is exactly what I did.  This
sock scenario may sound familiar to seasoned knitters.  The pattern is
Knitting Pure and Simple, Beginner Socks.  Yup, a realistic pattern for
my first pair.  Good girl, Geepsie.  It ended there.  The pattern calls for
230 yards of worsted weight sock yarn.  I fell in love with Lorna's Laces,
Jeans.  Yes, all 225 yards of it.  Well, I'm not THAT stupid.  So I calculated
early on, how much yarn a row used, multiplied that out, and figured if
I subtracted a inch from the height of each sock, I should be okay.  I got
a little nervous when I discovered well into the first sock, that my gauge
was a little off.  I'm a tight knitter.  So I loosened up a little.  It just made no
sense to me to pay $16 to buy an additional 225 yards of Jeans yarn
and have 220 yards left over.  "I'll just do the toe in a matching color".
"It won't matter - it will be a feature, not a bug."  Yeah.  Try and find a
matching color in another yarn, at a reasonable price, with similar
texture. 

My DH suggested that I knit faster so I would finish the sock before I
ran out of yarn.  The smirk on his face was not diminished one whit by
the expression on mine. 

His final suggestion, alas, was genius.  Next time (note that this will
have to be next time, not this time), I should just buy the damn yarn, and
use the leftover for baby booties.  Jeez, I needed HIM to tell me that?
Did I leave my brain in Brazil?  Well, here is the first sock:

I suffered second sock syndrome for about a month, cast on for the
second sock.  Got about three rows into the ribbing before I discovered
a hole.  Progress is measured in small increments:  this time, I understood
as I looked at the ribbing on the needles, that I had knit from the INSIDE,
then half-way through the row, began knitting from the outside, as I should
have done in the first place.   (I did this on my current sweater neck
ribbing also, but only did about 20 stitches before tinking.)  Wisdom
acquisition can be so painful.  Here is the second sock, with the small,
RAPIDLY diminishing pile of yarn:

Pray for my knitter's soul.  I may rename the FO my Jesus Christ sock
if this works....y'know, the jug of wine that quenched the thirst of the multitudes,
or the yarn that continued to flow until the job was finished.