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New Knitting Toy

Today the Brownies left a box with this in it on my porch:

Singer Spool Knitter

It’s the Singer Spool Knitter! I got it because I really, really want to make one of these, which is the Spaghetti Scrap Scarf by Circé Belles Boucles. Her blog is in French, but the images are amazing. Have a look.

I admit that my motives for doing this scarf are a bit more macabre than that beautiful, funky design would suggest. I want to use mine to make grey, black, and dark purple cords along with one cord of my eyeball yarn that I recently acquired from Insubordiknit. I see that the product is sold out, so I do feel lucky to have some. How creepy would that be, a black and grey snaky scarf with stringy eyeballs popping out now and then? I think it is the perfect Halloween costume.

So anyway, I bought this Singer gadget hearing on one of my knitting lists that it does heavier yarns than some of the other spool knitters do, so I thought it would be worth a try. We’ll see. The yarn in the photo isn’t anywhere near worsted weight, and it took me a while to get the hang of it to do this one bit of cord that I have so far. We’ll have to see how far it will go. I’m pretty lazy about knitting cords, and the thought of doing them all by hand doesn’t excite me, but the scarf itself does, so we shall see how it goes. Of course I don’t expect to be able to knit the eyeball yarn on my little spool gadget, but if I could knock some of the others out that way? I’d be really, really happy.

Gotta run. It’s Leno’s last night, and I’m watching. When it was Johnny’s last night, 17 years ago, it was the night before my husband and I moved in together, thus, a major turning point in my life. Nothing so earth-shattering this time around, but I gotta wonder if something’s not looming.

**Update**

Guess what??? While watching Leno I did try to use the spool knitter with Wool of the Andes yarn, which is worsted weight. Guess what?? It WORKED. As long as I went really slowly and made sure that my previous round of stitches would drop below the latch on the hook before the hook picked up the next round. Yes, I mean REAAALLLLLLYYYYYY slow. But it’s still faster than knitting it myself. I think it’ll be good. Yay!!

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May 29, 2009
McMorial Day Weekend

That’s what our daughter used to call it, “McMorial Day.” This was probably when she was about three years old, and it’s one of those phrases that has a permanent place in our family lexicon. And it was a good weekend, too! Busy, but really, unusually wonderful.

After the Stitch n Pitch on Saturday night, on Sunday, we had the pleasure of visiting with Marc, Jen, Caitlin and Calli, who we’ve been missing terribly over the last four years since they moved to Michigan. I’ve known Jen since she was 5 years old, and by some twist of fate, our two oldest children were born on the same day, 88 minutes apart. So, one of my oldest friends and I had birthday buddy daughters. How cool is that?

When they lived here we all even lived in the same town and our kids went to the same school. We all even used to hang out at the swim club together, so it seemed only right that since this weekend was opening weekend for the swim club, that, weather permitting, we should all hang out there, like always. It was such great fun to see them again and to let the kids play together. Of course I’m not the only one whose kids have gotten bigger over the last four years. It was fun to see how everyone has grown and how Jen and Marc’s girls are becoming such beautiful young ladies.

Jen and Trish
This is Jen with me. Of course, as I suspected, I didn’t get the hot pink scarf done in time, but I worked on it and she said she’d like to have one in that color. Phew! She likes it. Of course I’m really bad at keeping secrets and I told her she’d have it in about three weeks.

Diana and Caitlin
The birthday buddies, together again.

Baby Claire
I also got to meet little Claire, for whom I made the February Baby Sweater last year. She’s a happy girl! (She’s the daughter of our former pool manager, and they happened by to say hello!)

Our time at the pool was cut short by a thunderstorm, but luckily there was a family-style restaurant just up the road that could handle a large group on short notice. So it was our two families, plus some other friends of the girls and their parents, for a lovely impromptu dinner party after the pool.

Calli
Look how big Calli is getting! She is as sweet as ever!

Marc
Marc! With Hair! (My kids didn’t even remember that he HAD hair, as he used to sport the shaved head look.)

Caitlin and Mara
Mara and her mom were able to join us at the pool and at dinner.

Emily, Diana, Caitlin and Mara
Four friends, together again. The cameras were flashing and there was much giggling going on at their end of the table. Afterward, Emily’s mom drove the other girls to Caitlin’s hotel so they could enjoy a night swim at the hotel’s indoor pool. I’m so glad all our girls had the chance to spend so much time together. I’m really hoping that we can all get together again soon.

Today was the annual Memorial Day Picnic at our swim club. It was sunny off and on (mostly off), and we were able to get some swimming in before the promised thunderstorms brought and abrupt end to the party.

BoyZilla strikes a swim pose
BoyZilla is quite proud of himself that he can swim in the shallow end of the pool by himself this year. When he saw me come over to the pool with the camera, he said, “Here mom, let me do my best swimming pose for you.” Nope, that one’s not camera shy!

BoyZilla shows off his underwater handstand
BoyZilla was eager to perform his feats of daring do for the camera. I think he figured out how to do the handstand just this weekend.

Her Highness the Teen
The girl child is quite a bit more camera shy, however, and she thought that if she stayed far enough away from me that I wouldn’t be able to get her photo. She thought wrong. Haha!

Hot dog… yum!
Call me weird, but I love taking closeup photos of food. This was my lovely grilled hot dog, shortly before it found its way into my mouth.

So, we had a very full weekend! I was so glad to participate in so many fun activities, and will be sorry to return to a more “normal” routine tomorrow. I’m having my usual Sunday night dread of work, except that it’s Monday. Which is a good thing, I guess, because that means it’s a short week coming up. Thank goodness for that!

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May 25, 2009
In Good Company at the Ballgame

Tonight was the annual Stitch n Pitch event at the Washington Nationals ballpark. As luck would have it, it was a cross-town rivalry game because they were playing the Baltimore Orioles. (The O’s won, 2-1. But we left after the 8th inning, and didn’t know it at the time.)

Of course I had my camera with me and I snapped quite a few photos. Click the thumbnails to embiggen.

BoyZilla shows his support for Stitch n Pitch

Knitters in the Stitch n Pitch conference room. That’s Jane, a Rav friend on the left.

Yep, you can see my office from the Ballpark.

Even The Bird has to warm up before a game.

The presentation of the colors

O-oh say can you seeeeeee?

The Nats at Bat

And here’s the pitch…

My knitting enjoyed the ballgame immensely.

I got to Kinnear some knitters

Kinnearing again

This is Edith. She was sitting in the section across from me and I noticed the stunning shawl she was working on. She said it was in Vogue about 10 years ago.

Typical for Her Highness the Teen, the loudspeakers were, well, too loud.

But she perked up after a visit to the Build-a-Bear.

BoyZilla got his very own Nationals mascot, Screech. Note the miniature foam finger. Like boy, like bird.

This year, because the event was on a Saturday, we brought the kids along. BoyZilla got his one big wish… to have his very own foam finger! It was hard to keep a straight face when he said to the cashier, “This is my very first foam finger!” As if there will be many more. Wait, this is BoyZilla the Clown we’re talking about. Of course there will be more.

Her Highness the Teen had pretty much made up her mind that baseball was going to be boring, but by the 7th inning stretch was singing along to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” with a smile on her face. Busted! She had a good time.

As for me, not much knitting got done. There’s so much to see at a baseball game, that I was too easily distracted by the sights and sounds all around me. Not to mention the smell of the Chili from Ben’s Chili Bowl. Ben’s is a famous Washington Landmark located next door to the historic Lincoln Theater in the famous U Street neighborhood. If you visit DC, you have to go here. Seriously. I’m glad they have stands at the ballpark to expand the tradition to so many others who might not experience it otherwise. Yeah, I had me a chili half smoke with cheese and onions. It was messy, and I had a big ol’ glob of chili on my nose when my friend Amy’s mom Ruth walked up to introduce herself to me. How embarrassing! I would have hugged her or something, had I not been completely coated in chili at the time, but man, that’s Murphy’s Law for you! Anyway, Ruth, if you’re reading this, it was lovely to meet you! (And that top you were wearing was Fabulous!)

The evening ended too early for me as always, and I already can’t wait for next year. Yay for Stitch n Pitch!

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May 23, 2009
As If…

Well, here it is, the Friday before the Sunday that I’m going to see my friend Jen for the first time in four years. I’m excited! We have lots of catching up to do. A couple of weeks ago, as I was staring at a ball of hot pink sock yarn on my ball winder, I immediately thought of her. She loves Hello Kitty and and all things hot pink, so this scarf was just the thing:

pink scarf in progress

Except, what was I thinking? Of course, there’s no way I could have gotten it done in time. In fact, I’m not sure how people can get a whole scarf done in a few days or a week. On average, a single scarf takes me about a month, a pair of socks can take about two months, and even a simple felted hat takes me about three weeks. Clearly, this was not going to happen. But hey, I tried.

There’s going to be plenty of knitting time this weekend, though. Our pool opens for the season, which is prime knitting time for me. Plus tomorrow night is the Washington Nationals Stitch n’ Pitch, where I’ll be in good company with hundreds of yarny friends. If you’re coming to the game, look for the goofy lady in a wheelchair with spiky hair, knitting furiously away on a hot pink scarf. That would be me.

Oh well, that’s tomorrow! For now, it’s another day at work. I’m chanting already: Come on, 5 o’clock! See ya!

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May 22, 2009
Is it Yarn Yet?

Tonight I played with my new drop spindle and some roving that was here, and look:

Spun yarn on a drop spindle

It took a few tries, but guess what? It’s yarn! My roving on the other end is a bit of a twisty mess but I am trying to get the hang of managing the twist as it spins. Of course I spent the evening doing this instead of knitting on my scarf for my friend Jen. But I did get quite a lot of knitting done on the commute today. I still have hope that between now and the weekend, some miracle will happen and I will be able to get the scarf done.

But hey, my first yarn! How exciting is that? Ok, it’s only a few inches of yarn, but it’s yarn! Who would have ever thought I’d get excited about making my own yarn, when I’ve been promising myself all these knitting years that I really don’t need another fiber obsession? I can tell already that spinning is seriously addictive. I’ve got a typical all-over soreness that I get from tensing up when I learn something new. I hope I can get comfortable enough soon so that this feeling goes away. I guess that means there’s more practice spinning in my future!

What is it?

Lookie at what I got in the mail today:

seed stitcher tool

I used to knit with a Bond Incredible Sweater Machine, but stopped completely when I learned to hand knit. I really don’t have room to set it up in my house since the addition of a little boy, first with playpens, and now with train tables and Legos abound. But there are one or two little gadgets I miss, especially this one, as I recently found out.

This little double ended latch hook tool is used to create seed stitch on the machine, which is really only capable of producing stockinette on its own. Well, in working on my February Lady Sweater, and dropping garter stitches one too many times, I realized that this tool is something that would make it so much easier to fix the dropped garter stitch. Basically, on the knit side you grab the ladder in the latch and pull through as you would with a crochet hook, but then you push it through to the other end and grab the stitch in the other direction for the purl side. I’d make a video to show what I mean, but there’s one on the Knitting Today site already. It shows the tool in use on a machine, but hand knitters can easily see what’s happening to the fabric and figure it out. I think everyone who garter stitches a lot needs one of these!

Back to the scarf knitting tomorrow. Maybe I’ll post a pic then. See ya!

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May 18, 2009
New Stuff in the Knitting Bag!

It’s been a mundane Saturday at my house. But, perhaps I’ve needed one. My DH let me sleep in til 11:30 this morning. I can’t remember the last time I did that! I got quite a bit of knitting done on my scarf in progress, but I am not going to show you that. Let’s just say it now looks like it’s going to be a scarf when it grows up, but realistically, there’s no chance in you-know-where that it’s going to be done by next Sunday. So instead, I thought I would show you some of my latest knitting-related acquisitions. First, I’ll start off with a wonderful new book I got while at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival this year.

Everything Old is New Again for Baby

This adorable little book, Vintage Baby Knits: More Than 40 Heirloom Patterns from the 1920s to the 1950s is really no little knitting book. It contains a plethora of patterns for babies. My mother had some old knitting books from the 50s in her collection–I remember reading them and not understanding a thing about what they were trying to tell me to do. Many years later, I of course became a knitter, and you know what? I went looking for those patterns, and was dismayed to discover that I still didn’t understand them. This book attempts to solve that problem. The author, Kristen Rengren, is a lover of vintage knits and has translated some classic baby wear designs from decades past into modern knitting language and modern yarns.

The photographs in the book are just too adorable for words; who could resist all of the adorable wee babes wearing beautiful knitwear?

There are many cardigans to choose from, and cute little booties and soakers, and pullovers and blankets, and an adorable hat or two. There are even some toys tucked in there, so just about everything you could ever want to knit for a baby is contained within the pages. An adorable sailor sweater and classic argyle are among the vintage looks… and lots of lacy, delicate little things that just make it so fun to dress the little one. There’s even a gorgeous christening gown, that maybe if I start it now, I’ll be done by the time my 13-year-old daughter becomes a mother (sometime in her 30s, of course!).

I see that Amazon has this book for a very reasonable price, so if you love to knit baby things, go get this book now! You won’t regret it. I paid list price, but I don’t mind. I got to meet the author at the festival, and see? Mine is signed:

Kristen Rengren signed my copy of Vintage Baby Knits

You Spin Me Right Round

Also while at the festival I bought one of these:

Golding Drop Spindle

It’s a drop spindle by Golding and it is a beautiful thing. Now, I’ve tried my hand at drop spindling a couple of times, and I haven’t had much luck with it yet. I bought some practice roving at the festival for a very good price, and I’m going to learn how to spin if it kills me. Why, do you ask, am I so thusly determined? Well, wouldn’t YOU be determined if THIS was waiting for you???

purple, olive and brown roving

Uh huh. I thought so. When I start something, I dive in with both feet. I wasn’t content just to have my little inexpensive scratchy roving. I needed an incentive, and this is it. It’s a Lorna’s Laces Wool Top Roving in the “Purple Iris” colorway. It is SO soft. I’m half tempted to stick some wiggle eyes on it and call it a stuffed animal and let it be. Who am I to think I can make some pretty yarn out of that? I hope I can do it some bit of justice. Meanwhile I’ll practice away on my gray Icelandic roving. I’m sure my yarn will have some interesting textures, but isn’t that half the fun?

Meanwhile, I’ve got a scarf to finish. Better run. See you soon!

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May 16, 2009