Happy New Year!

Wishing everyone a happy and prosperous New Year!

Just signed Ditty & BooBoo up for more swimming lessons in the new year.  Of course it stands to reason that I couldn’t get them both in during the same hour.  Par for the course around here.  So I will be spending 2 hours at the pool each Monday night.  The upside of this is that with 16 hours of basically uninterrupted knitting time, I should make good progress on the sweater I plan to knit for myself.  Or maybe I should finish knitting Ditty’s cable scarf first.

Bowling with friends tonight and a trip to MOA either tomorrow or Monday to fulfill a promise to the kids.

Edited to add:  Oops, forgot to press publish so this post was supposed to have appeared on New Year’s Eve.  Oh well.  We went to MOA on Sunday and BooBoo bought more Legos at the Lego store there.  The Ninjago ship is pretty cool and we made him take two days to finish it.  We watched Bedknobs & Broomsticks together last night.

I’m quite glad they are back in school today.  Laundry & washing the dust off the walls in BooBoo’s soon to be painted new bedroom are the order of the day.  Oh, and bringing him his guitar for his lessons this afternoon.  I should start a delivery service business.

Hello again

Yes, I promise, I am still alive.  Busy but alive.  I promised pictures of BooBoo’s Halloween costume.  Here they are:

I used the hood pattern from the original Matthias’ Oversized Monk’s Robe (aka the poncho).  If I had realized that the hood wouldn’t quite cover his neck, I would have adjusted that as well.  Yes, I do have friends who think I’m a perfectionist.  It’s okay, you’re in good company.

The ball of leftover yarn against one of my smaller casserole dishes.  This particular one made a great candy dish when we hosted the August, September & October birthdays of DH’s family at our house.  Mind you, it was a candy dish for 20 people.  And btw, isn’t it a beautiful casserole dish.  I bought it at the local Renaissance Festival from a mom & pop company called Schroeder Pottery.  They came to the festival from Iowa.

BooBoo seated in his costume.  That grin was worth all that stockinette stitch.  I had to pull up the bottom about 6 inches to even see his feet.  It’s oversized enough to last him at least a couple of years.  He grew 3/4 of an inch in the past month so my time estimate may be wishful thinking.

And I am soooo not knitting next year’s costume!  I forget what he said he wanted to be, but I will sew it and leave my knitting time for better things.

The Hairy Hot Pink leg warmers were also a success.  A friend had asked me to knit them as a Christmas gag gift for her brother.  Seems he had made a comment about how if leg warmers were coming back in style, that maybe she could hold out hope that fuschia (the color) would come back in style too.  Her bridesmaids dresses were fuschia.  So I found a nice deep hot pink yarn and a similar shade in Fun Fur and knit two striped leg warmers for her.  I’ll have to check my camera to see if I took pictures of the leg warmers.

Edited to add:  My quote disappeared so I’ll have to try it again.  So sorry for the flub.  Also, no pics of the leg warmers.  That is both bad & good-kind of glad no one else will see them.

“Ours is the age that is proud of machines that think and suspicious of men who try to.”  H. Mumford Jones

I agree.  What do you think?

More than the usual busyness

“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.”  Aldous Huxley

Wish someone would have bothered to tell me sooner.  But seriously, sorry for the two week absence.  Life did get overly busy and there simply wasn’t enought time for writing.  I did get quite a bit done, however.

1.  Moved the oldest (age 25) out of our house and into an apartment in another city (another college town but not her college town-thank God).  She seems to be adjusting well.  I’m glad.  I’m also glad to have my homelife back on an even keel.  Okay, we’re actually just trying to get the keel even again, but we’ll get there.

2.  Completed two more Virtus sessions.

3.  Finished BooBoo’s knit Matthias’ Oversized Monk’s Robe so BooBoo can be Matthias from the original Redwall book for Halloween.  Ditty has now decided that she does want to dress up and go trick or treating for Halloween.  She announced it at supper last night and even my husband said “What!  You’ve decided that now and there’s only a week to go!”.  Bless his heart.  She knows that I will not be making a new costume for her this year.  Not on that short notice.

4.  Shampooed the carpet in the bedroom formerly used by the oldest.  Almost wish I had taken a before picture along with the after picture, but you would have been seriously grossed out.  Suffice to say that I changed the water in the machine about 16 times.  It only has a small water tank, but that number even makes me gag.  The rest of the carpets will soon be seeing their opportunity with my still relatively new carpet cleaning machine.  I’m looking forward to really clean carpets this winter.  And keeping them that way!

5.  Began our rounds of knowledge bowl meets last Monday with a meet at St. John’s Prep.  The other 7th & 8th grade team from our school placed 3rd.  That was a nice start to the season.

6.  Certainly not the least important, just the most recent event.  We celebrated my in-laws’ 50th wedding anniversary this past weekend.  About 6 or 7 years ago, we could barely hope to make it this far.  My mother-in-law had been diagnosed with leukemia and had come out of remission twice, each time in half the time of the time before.  We hoped and prayed that we would be able to celebrate this milestone anniversary with them.  We are very grateful to still have both of them with us for however long God will allow.  A hotel stay on Friday night and the kids enjoying the waterpark along with Mass on Saturday night and dinner with their closest relatives and friends made for a beautiful weekend.

7.  And lastly, along with all of the miscellaneous busyness (knowledge bowl, scouts, etc.), I got to spend all day yesterday in my pajamas.  Doesn’t sound like much, but there are just days where you need to unwind, relax and not worry about how you’re dressed.  Generally DH complains when I do this.  He doesn’t understand why anyone would want to do this instead of getting up and seizing the day.  But he didn’t complain, the kids got dressed and I had a lovely day just reading and knitting.  I did make brunch and supper for them and didn’t skimp on the cooking.  Maybe that helped, or maybe it was the 15 years we’ve been married that has made him finally able to shrug his shoulders and let it go.  What ever it is, I’m happy.

Photos will be forthcoming on the costume and my next little knitting project as soon as I can carve out some more time and download them from the camera.

Enjoy the beautiful autumn weather.  I need apples . . . and pumpkins.  Time to get to the local orchard.

Thanks for your confidence in me. . .

. . . at least, I think.

I’ve always said that I would not go winter camping in a tent or other shelter.  I have no desire to freeze any part of my anatomy by winter camping.  I don’t do well in the cold.  Yes I know I live in the great white frozen north, but that’s in a house with a fairly decent heater, plenty of food & coffee squirrelled away, lots of good books to read and plenty of wool to knit.  Living here in a tent wouldn’t cut it at all with me.

I guess God has other plans.  We planned a family vacation to Yellowstone for early to mid June.  I checked the park’s webpage on the National Parks site just to see what ranger programs would be happening.  Then I saw the road updates link and thought “Hey, let’s check that out for fun”.  OH BOY!  That was not fun!

Apparently, they have had lots of snow in Yellowstone this year.  25 feet of it in the mountain passes.  Yeah, it’s probably no big deal for people used to that much snow.  For us and our trip however, it means that the road between Tower Falls and the campground we have reservations at will be cleared of snow on June 10th.  Weather permitting, they are careful to add.  That’s very close to when we arrive!

Dear Lord, why do you have so much confidence in my ability to adapt to whatever comes my way?  I was looking forward to wearing shorts & a t-shirt when we hike up the mountains and stand on a glacier.  Guess we’ll be packing the parkas instead.

At least I can bring my wool and knit some new mittens to wear.  Ditty was equally “thrilled” to hear about more snow in our future.  Lord, please give us strength.

Knitting & Crocheting

A post on Teresa’s blog about crochet and the stereotype that it is just something old ladies do got me thinking.

Why do people think that only old ladies knit or crochet? 

Misinformation, a perceived inability to learn the craft, or envy?

I suppose it depends on the person.  I learned to knit at the age of 12, I was in 6th grade.  I had wanted to learn to knit since about 3rd grade.  The catholic school I attended was located next to a convent and catholic college.  The college had as one of it’s majors, elementary education.  So our school benefitted from lots of student teachers helping in the classroom.  What does this have to do with learning to knit?  Hang in there, I’m getting to that.

The college, in order to split the school year into equal parts (or some other strange reason known only to them), had a policy of “January term”.  This was a time, the whole month of January, that the students would use to learn a new thing or use for travel.  Our school then lost much of it’s student teacher population and the now harried staff decided that one hour each day should be used to teach us something that was not part of the regular curriculum.  See, it’s coming together now isn’t it.

Yes, that was how I learned to knit.  But it wasn’t easy.  In 3rd grade, I was too young for the knitting class.  It was only open to 4th-6th grade students.  So I learned German that year.  I can still count to ten and say my ABC’s, yes & no, and thank you in that language.  Not much retention I admit but I was only 9 years old and haven’t had reason to practice much in the 37 years since.

In 4th grade, I put knitting down as my first choice, something for my second (although what it was has been obscurred by time and irrelevance), and hairpin lace as my third choice.  Our school also had a policy that the order of selection to a class would switch each year in a show of fairness.  That year, the 1st grade got to pick their classes first and knitting was opened up to 3rd grade students.  I was placed in hairpin lace.  Yes, I still know how to crochet hairpin lace.  However due to the ridicule from the student teacher, I didn’t practice that as much as I might have, but I can still create the long strips and attach them to make afghans, shawls, etc.  Someday I’ll search out the more intricate patterns and make something that isn’t rectangular in shape.  🙂

In 5th grade, I again put knitting down as my first choice, something obscured for my second, and square dancing as my third.  This year, the 6th grade got to choose first and I was relegated to learn square dancing.  Yes, I probably could still turn out a decent Virginia reel, but not with much enthusiasm.  You see, I was so set on learning to knit and none, absolutely none, of my relatives knew how to knit or crochet and therefore I had to learn at school if I was to learn at all.  And I was very determined to learn.

So in 6th grade, my final opportunity to learn and the 1st grade’s turn to again choose first so my chances were not good, I put knitting down as my first choice.  And my second choice, and my third choice.  I handed my paper to my teacher.  My teacher brought the paper back to me in homeroom one of the following days.  He told me, in front of the class, that I would have to change two of my selections since they could not all be the same.  I told him that I didn’t want another class.  That was too bad, he said, but I would still have to make two other selections.  At this point I was both frantic and furious.  I said that I would make the selections but that if I was placed anywhere but knitting, I would not participate in the other class.  My teacher was shocked.  You see I was a very shy child who never spoke unless called on so this was quite a radical departure from the placid, meek child he had taught for the whole first semester.

Nevertheless, I was determined.  I rapidly answered his statement that I should learn at home with the information that I had noone at home to teach me.  I also stated that I had received my third choice every year since third grade and that didn’t seem fair to me at all.  I stated that the system of switching which grade began selection was also unfair since 6th grade was the last chance any of us had of getting a class that we really wanted and why couldn’t we have our first choice since the other grades had at least one more year to get theirs.  The rest of my class sat in mute amazement that I (of all people) would argue with a teacher.  But I had.

The teacher didn’t seem too impressed with my disobedience because he told me to erase two and make other selections.  That was when I told him that he could make me change my classes but he could not make me participate in them and that “I would sit like a bump on a log” if I didn’t get to learn how to knit.

I guess he had a chat with the principal about me and perhaps about the system and it’s fairness as well because it was announced the next day that a change was being made.  When our class got their notices as to which class they would have at J-term that year, we all got our first choices.  And I not only learned to knit, I got a smile from my teacher.  That was definitely not what he was doing as I argued with him in front of the class.  I was glad that he was not angry and I was overjoyed that I would finally be able to learn something that I had wanted so badly to learn.

I still knit today, 34 years later, and I taught myself to crochet when I was 20 and pregnant with my oldest.  I didn’t think there would be enough time to knit her a blanket and so I taught myself to crochet and made a baby blanket for her out of lacey granny squares.  I think the poor blanket was relegated to a bottom shelf in the closet, in dire need of repairs but I’m pretty sure it’s around somewhere.

There hasn’t always been a load of free time to practice my knitting or crocheting over the years.  Still, I do them when I can and make baby blankets or sweaters, hats, booties for the new arrivals in the extended family and beyond. 

And BooBoo’s monk’s robe is now done to the armpits and I have started the first sleeve.  My calculations were a bit off for the sleeve the first time but that is fixed now and a nice wide sleeve has about 3 inches finished length so far.  I figure I’ll need about 17-18 inches, so it’s just a beginning but I know it will go more quickly than the body did simply because there are so fewer stitches needing to be worked.  Hopefully time will allow the posting of some pictures soon.

Don’t let the stereotypes get you down.  Carry on with your knitting, crocheting or whatever other “little old lady” craft you enjoy.  The people around you will be blessed by your creations and you will spread joy in the world.

My knitterly ways

I just picked up Elizabeth Zimmerman’s book Knitting Without Tears.  I’ve been knitting for 34 years but started knitting with her book Knitting Around a few years ago.  I like the way she writes her instructions.  I truly enjoy all of her “digressions” as she calls them.  Maybe that’s why my blog is not purely a knitting blog.  Okay, that reason and the fact that it takes me so long to knit things “in my spare time” as it were, that  posting would be too sporadic for anyone to want to follow this blog.

My favorite (okay new favorite) quote from Knitting Without Tears is about scarves (no, I didn’t start at the beginning and read the whole book yet.  I peeked at the back and found this gem.).

“They (scarves) may be made back and forth on two needles, with as many stitches as you wish; the length is governed only by your patience and stamina.”

Well, I’ve been working off and on toward a scarf for Ditty and I think my patience and stamina are both getting a bit thin.  Unfortunately, I have no one to blame but myself.  I decided to knit the scarf rather than a pair of mittens out of the excess yarn that I bought to make her a hat.  Why I thought that a pattern which said two hats could be made from one ball of the recommended yarn would somehow require three balls of said yarn, I do not know.  Maybe I had initially wanted to make a hat, mittens and scarf but it was last year that I made the hat, so the initial intent is no longer in my memory.

But here’s a photo of the beginnings of the scarf.

And one of the current progress on the scarf.

The pattern is inspired by the Double Cable Scarf in Leigh Radford’s book One Skein.  I decided to skip the ribbing in between the two sets of double cables and just cable the whole scarf.  I also decided that a 38 inch scarf is really too short for a girl, so I added a second skein of yarn.  I also did this so that when I reversed the cable twist, I wouldn’t have to figure out where the halfway point was going to land-just cable up the first skein and then cable down with the second.  It seemed brilliant at the time, but like I said, my patience and my stamina are wearing a bit thin with all those cables.  At least it will be a pretty scarf when it is done.  And a one-of-a-kind as well, lol.

To break up the monotony or to just give me a break, I’m also knitting Matthias’ Oversized Monk’s Robe for BooBoo.  He wants to be Matthias from Brian Jacques book Redwall for Halloween next year.  This (ahem) little project was inspired by the book Great Yarns for a Close Knit Family by Mary C. Gildersleeve.  The book gives a brief description of a story that the author and her family enjoy as a read aloud and she has designed a couple of patterns to go with each story.  Redwall is mentioned as one of the stories, so I hoped to find a monk’s habit pattern to knit for BooBoo.  I know, silly to think someone would knit a full monk’s habit, but I had hoped.  Mrs. Gildersleeve’s pattern for Matthias’ Oversized Monk’s Habit was a very large, hooded poncho.  Rats!  Since I wanted something that looked like an actual monk’s habit, I knew I would have to design it myself.

Here’s where reading (and believing in) Elizabeth Zimmerman’s no nonsense approach to knitting came in handy. 

I knit some stockinette stitch on size 8 needles to find my gauge with the (yuck!) acrylic yarn I would be using for the costume.  No one, in my opinion, should use good wool yarn for a costume.  Especially one that will drag in the mud and muck that usually comes with Halloween in these parts.  So acrylic it had to be. 

Size 8 needles seemed to be the right size to give me a knitted fabric that would be neither too tight (meaning I’d have to knit forever to get the thing to the right size) or too loose (meaning large gaping holes that make it look like moths have attacked a monk’s habit-the nerve!).

Once I found my gauge, I cast on the number of stitches that would give me a 36 inch circumference.  BooBoo is a skinny kid so a 36 inch chest will look plenty big on him both this year and next.  I then knit in the round twelve rows of garter stitch for the hem of the robe.  After all, who really wants to have to sew a hem after all that knitting.  A garter stitch bottom seemed to be the answer to my prayers.  I switched to stockinette stitch after that for the body of the garment.  Then I measured BooBoo from the floor to his armpit to determine the length I would need to knit before having to worry about, I mean plan out the sleeve and yoke shaping.  I added two inches to this measurement to give me more time length to the garment.  It is supposed to be oversized and since he’s been growing close to two inches a year lately, this seemed to be a wise thing to do if I want the thing to be truly oversized.

Here’s a photo of my progress so far.

The robe measures 22 inches in length so far.  Only 22 more to go before I have to w plan for those sleeves, etc.  Gee, if I get this done by February, BooBoo could even wear it for the Dress as your favorite Book Character Day at his school during I Love To Read month.  Pressure, pressure.  We’ll see how it goes I guess. 

I’ll update on the progress again once I’ve got some sleeves  or a finished scarf to show you.  Until then,

Happy Knitting!

Lovin’ the Library

I hope you have a public library near you.  We have a branch in our town of the larger library in a major city.  This larger library has several branches across 4 or 5 counties, so the collection of books available is phenomenal.

I found out recently just how phenomenal the collection is when I decided to do a search for knitting books.  Wow!  The library system has over 400 books containing knitting patterns alone.  If you count the books that mention knitting and the dvds with reference to knitting, the list becomes so long it’s almost endless.

So today I’m off to pick up two knitting books that I’ve requested.  I’m number 30 or 32 in the queue for the third book so I have no hopes of seeing that one until next fall.  Our library lets borrowers keep the book for up to three weeks.  I may just have to skip straight to purchasing that one.

Oh and you should see the cookbook collections.  I could console myself in the chocolate ones alone.  So if you have a public library near you, make sure that you use it.  They are a gift to their patrons.

We have a winner!

I took Ditty to the Knit Out at Southdale yesterday and she won the 1st door prize they gave away!  It was a large bag with 10 balls of Karabella Puffy yarn in lavender and 3 large (2 and 3/8 inch diameter) genuine shell buttons. 

I didn’t realize until we got home that the yarn was 100% merino wool and made in Italy.  With that information, I knew that this was probably one very expensive door prize.  So curious, I looked up the retail value of the yarn and found out that this yarn goes for $16 a ball at full retail price.  The buttons had their price tag on them-$8 each.  That was one way cool door prize!

Meanwhile, Ditty was trying to decide what to make with the yarn.  She had asked me at the Knit Out if I thought she had enough yarn to make a scarf for her and a matching one for the bunny she is crocheting.  I smiled and said that yes she did and probably enough for hats and mittens too.  After we got home, Ditty decided that she might like to make a vest for herself and of course one for the bunny too. 

That sounds like a much better use of this high end yarn.  I’ve already explained to her that she should make the vest a bit big and the armholes a bit deeper than what currently fits her so that she can get a few years wear out of the vest.  I will also help her with the design of the vest.  I’m thinking that we’ll use EPS to figure out how many stitches to cast on and I’ll have her knit it in the round until we get to the underarms, then work the front and back of the vest on straight needles.  We’ll work out the front neck opening together.  I think a shawl collared vest might look nice on her, but I haven’t asked her yet if that’s what she wants to do.  Her opinion is the one that counts since she will have to be happy enough with it to actually wear it. 

What about those beautiful, and spendy, buttons?  I told Ditty that she doesn’t have to use them with this yarn just because they came together.  I did tell her to save them though and not to use them on a cheap, throw-away craft.  There will be other places that they can be put to good use.  By her, of course.  I would never appropriate her winnings.  I’m happy that she won such beautiful yarn.  I also hope that it doesn’t spoil her for basic yarn that she can actually afford.

A new project

I’m currently working on a scarf for Ditty.  The pattern is the double cable scarf from the book One Skein by Leigh Radford.

Why yes, I am tweaking it a bit.  You know me so well.

I decided to knit it with the same Malabrigo yarn that I used for her Amanda hat.  Might as well since I still have two and a half skeins left. 

I’m making the cables go the whole way around the scarf  since I didn’t care for the intervening k2p2 rib in the original pattern.  But I probably won’t switch the direction they twist since that would require some intense calculation of remaining yardage and I don’t want to do the math on this one.  

I also plan to make it longer than the 38 inch original pattern because I like longer scarves and I have the excess yarn to do it.

In fact, there may be a pair of mittens in this for Ditty too.  Especially if I get sick of doing so many cable twists.

Pictures will be forthcoming when I have enough of the scarf completed to get a decent picture of it.

Happy knitting.

A Knitterly review

It’s been a long time since I updated with a post on knitting.  Not for lack of effort, just too many irons in the fire.  I still have to finish the toes on BooBoo’s socks.  Yes, I know that project should have been done ages ago, but like I said “too many irons”.  I also have to untangle the mess I made of the circular needles that I was knitting them on.  When we went down to Florida for spring break, I forgot to pack my dpns and so I tried to make the cables of the circs smaller by looping them through the knitting a second time.  An incredibly stupid idea from an incredibly desperate knitter.  To DH’s credit, he did actually ask if I wanted to stop at a yarn shop to pick up a new set of dpns.  Amazing since he’s never been real supportive of my knitting habit.  I should have taken him up on the offer, but I was in a “cheap mood” and was determined to macgyver my way out of my dilema.  Never again, I promise!

I’ve also still got the crochet lace for that summer sweater which I promised Ditty I would make for her last summer on my hook.  Someday, someday, it will be a beautiful sweater.  Maybe after I finish a baby sweater and hat & undo the mess of the circs on BooBoo’s socks.

But on to some fun stuff regarding knitting.  More with Les (rss feed in the column to your right) has been knitting up some lovely projects.  Check them out! 

Also, she has designed some very beautiful hats and is selling the patterns on Ravelry.  I plan to order the Jake pattern and maybe make some for Ditty’s school basketball team.  Check out all her cute patterns for some lighter summer knitting.  You’ll be so proud of yourself to be ready for the cool fall weather with beautiful, warm hats.

And check out the cool pictures of Cal U on her blog too.  I’ve never been there, but it looks like a neat place to visit.

Well, the munchkins are all awake now after some very late nights and the laundry is calling as well.  Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to knit tonight.  Enjoy your weekend.