Trish Knits.com

I feel ashamed. It is so easy to be swayed by other projects these days. Especially now that it is hot and I’m generally cranky and tired. Most of my knitting time is also limited to knitting by the pool or during my commute in the car. Which, I’ve rationalized, is too hard for working on a large project by my brown ripple afghan. So it’s been easy to leave it alone.

But, the fact is that I have to get this done. Lots of people have contributed to it by knitting in stitches or rows. It even survived a major disaster. Now, the fact is that I just need to get it done. And I will. I’m just not sure when. But soon, ok? I’ll keep plugging away.

Remembering My Friend

Today, the following news story hit the wires:

Money ruling a remarkable woman’s legacy

Dr. Sandra Welner was a pioneer in the field of Women’s Health for Women with Disabilities. And she was my friend. I still miss her every day.

Last night I had a Venti Mocha right before dinner. Being suitably caffeinated, I decided to dive in on fixing the blanket. In the end, I felt that grafting was a wee bit beyond me, especially since I wasn’t dealing with a clean edge. Not the way I want to try something new, really. I’m not that brave. So what did I do? I attached the matching yarn to stripe three (the first undisturbed stripe) and bound off from there. Picking up all of the stitches was a bit of a pain, since the yarn below was a very fuzzy alpaca. Some of the stitches were hiding! But I think I got them all. At least I hope I did.

So, the “new” first row of my blanket isn’t the color I wanted it to be, and to me, it doesn’t look right. But the truth is, the recipient has no idea what I intended so in the end it’s probably ok. So I’m just a little sad, but not as much as I was a couple of days ago! Soon I’ll be able to get back to my regularly scheduled knitting and this whole nasty episode will be behind me.

Pool Knitting

This being Memorial Day Weekend here in the U.S., I spent a good number of hours knitting by the pool. Chatting with friends, mostly, and getting some knitting done, but I’m enjoying it. I’m on round 14 of 25 rounds of ribbing for this slipper sock, and then I’ll be done with my first ever pair of socks! Yay!

I’ve already got lots of socks lined up for the summer. And some sock monkeys. My kids went through my tub of buttons tonight, picking the eyes for their future monkeys. I guess I’d better get busy!

On a happier note, Have y’all seen these? It’s the “Funky Monkey” kit (or pattern) from Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I’ve never been one to jump on a knitting bandwagon right away, but we can thank the Yarn Harlot and Ravelry for changing that. When I saw these, I knew I had to make some right away. Put it on my list of things to make at the pool this summer. They offer these kits at the Blue Moon site in all kinds of funky color combos. But I decided that I wanted to make a pretty basic brown with red accents monkey (or something that would recall the sock monkey I grew up with) so that I could knit him all kinds of crazy monkey accessories in a variety of wild sock yarn colors. The colorways I chose for accomplishing a neutral-ish monkey are “Mudslide” for the main color, and “Doctors without Borders” for the mouth, but and tips of arms, legs and tail. I think I’ll stick to the little monkeys for now. I’m betting when my kids see it they’re going to want one.

I also have the stuffing and a container of buttons that I got from Joann’s, so I’m good to go, except for the pipe cleaners, if I want my monkey to have poseable arms, legs, and tail. Which I do. The pipe cleaners are on their way from Klutz. (I was surprised for some reason that I could not get the pipe cleaners at Joann’s. So then I tried a craft store, but could not get an assortment of buttons there. So much for one-stop shopping.)

Today was another lovely spring day by the pool. My kids turned into popsicles in the water and I sat and knitted and listened to “A Good Yarn” by Debbie Macomber. (iTunes Link) It’s a fluffy read, just like the other book, but hey, it’s summer, and I’m just not into straining my brain right now. I’m doing endless rounds of 2×2 rib on my second slipper sock. Maybe it’ll be done by tomorrow.

What’s on my agenda for the rest of the weekend? More pool knitting, and I’ve got a blanket to try and fix.

Thanks so much to everyone who commiserated with me over the last couple of days about my poor blanket! Most of you suggested that I try grafting the pieces back together. I’ve never done grafting before, but I guess now’s a good time to try. I think!

Arlene from Knit Talk offered to try to fix it for me, which I may be tempted to take her up on! Margo Lynn said she’d offer to help next time she’s in the area. And Catherine even sent me some very detailed instructions that I think will be helpful once I get my brain wrapped completely around them. There were many other words of wisdom, too, and I appreciate every one!

The top photo shows what I originally thought was a ripped end in the initial chocolate brown stripe. Yes, there are stitches pulled out here, but that errant-looking end is actually an end of the yarn that I had previously woven in to the back of the blanket. Fixing the dropped stitches in that first stripe should also not be too hard.

The thing that has me a bit baffled is the grafting itself. This page has a pretty clear picture of what grafting is, along with clear wording, which I think I could do in a quiet place, slowly, step-by-step. The tricky part for me is going to be trying to decide how to recreate stitches that are completely ripped or missing. As you can see in the second photo, it’s not an entirely clean break. I guess I won’t know really if it will work until I try, but the thought of it all is just too scary for now. Margo Lynn is right, though… I need to get the piece on lifelines or stitch holders asap. For now though, I think I need to spend a little more time curled up under a rock and cowering. I will steel myself and give it a try. Just not today. And Arlene? I might just take you up on your offer yet.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone and wish me luck!

So I’m sick again today, and I’m sitting here, watching Oprah. I get to the end of a stripe in my brown ripple afghan. Yay! I put the blanket down to take a break, on the couch next to me, and then I cross the room to check my e-mail.

I then hear this ungodly rrrrrrr-r-r-r-i-i-pppp! My blankie, my beautiful (albeit brown) blankie, is hooked on the footrest mount of my chair. And I’m dragging it with me. When I manage to extricate it from myself, I saw this:

If there were some word I could type that would mimic the sound of my wails, I would. But I think the sound defies written expression. I’ve been working on this blanket for almost 6 months. I was getting near a point where I was going to call it done, and now this.

The thing is, I don’t know how to repair it. It is ripped in the middle of the second stripe. I don’t know if there even is a way to fix it. It’s a little beyond me. I could stick a lifeline in the third stripe, then go back and add yarn and do a bind off row there. But that would disturb the color pattern. The second stripe is not just pulled out, it is actually ripped. And I can’t just pick up and knit in the opposite direction, because it’s a ripple pattern and the ripples all already go the other way.

I know there must be an expert knitter out there who would have some ideas. If so, I’d love to hear them!

Thanks! Back to sobbing now.

You know life is rough when you wish for a sick day. Yep, wish for one. I’ve caught myself hoping for a little cold, just so I could sit home and knit for a day without guilt.

I guess I should be careful what I wish for. I started feeling crappy on Thursday afternoon late, not coincidentally, I’m sure, at the same time that my mom was being re-checked into the hospital. (She’s home now, thank goodness.) Last night I found myself not breathing well at all when laying down, so sleep was hard to come by. I had no choice by this morning but to stay home.

First, I literally fell dead asleep this morning, bolt upright in my chair. Then I woke up at noon and basically sat like a blob til I got up the energy to go to the bathroom, where I promptly fell asleep again. So, by this evening, when I finally had a bit of energy for knitting, I could only get out about a row (ok, a wee bit more than a row) before my needles suddenly felt too heavy once again. So today, I cranked out one lousy row of knitting. So much for my blissful sick day.

I LOL’d the Cat Today!

This is Tegan, on her favorite perch. She is annoyed that I woke her up for this. Visit my page at icanhascheezburger.com to vote for this picture. (I have no idea how they go about choosing the daily LOL’s, but maybe if Tegan is lucky she’ll get her 15 minutes of fame.)

Believe it or not, today was the first day of the swim club being open. It was too cold to swim unless you were a totally insane person (like my daughter), but we enjoy going there and hanging out, so we went for lunch. Didn’t stay long because my little guy wanted to get in, too, only he’s too young to get in the pool by himself and there was no way my DH was going. But it was great chatting with friends who we only seem to be able to get together with in the summer months. Every summer it’s always amazing to see how much each other’s kids have grown, and it’s fun to catch up on a winter’s full of activities that we always somehow miss hearing about until now.

I’ve actually had a rotten cold that started up on Thursday afternoon. I called in sick Friday and went to the doctor. It’s just a rotten cold, but I mean, ROTTEN. I don’t even have much energy for knitting. But at long last, I have been working on the brown ripple afghan again. I actually switched colors today for the first time in a while, and will probably be able to do that again tomorrow already. I haven’t been knitting at that pace, on ANYTHING, in quite a while. But… there’s been lots of napping in between, too. I guess I’ve needed it.

Since joining the Summer of Socks 2008, I have since learned that our pool manager is expecting her first. This is happy news! She and her sister used to babysit for me when my daughter was a baby. So, it looks like baby socks and hats will be in order! I’ve been looking around the interwebs, and I’ve found quite a few patterns and resources to check out:

Baby Keep Your Socks On — by Amy King

Just Your Basic Baby Sock (PDF) — by P2 designs

Tiny Toe-ups — by Patti Pierce Stone

Chart of Baby Foot Sizes (PDF) — from WendyKnits.net

Tie One On Baby Socks — The Keyboard Biologist

Baby Jays — by April K

Ribbed Lace Toe-up Baby Sock — by P2 Designs

Baby Life Ring Socks — by Cat Bordhi — by P2 Designs

If I knit a bunch of these then I’ll have the whole sock thing down before I know it. Now, I’m on a quest for ultra soft and washable sock yarns. I know, I know… Socks That Rock comes to mind immediately, but would also love other ideas. Hopefully things that aren’t too expensive, but also high yardage AND washable. Oh, and soft. Very soft. Soft enough for a baby’s, well, you know…

I’m thinking that if I can find balls of yarn with high yardage then there would be enough to make socks for my size 6 feet and have enough left over to do baby socks. Do-able? I’d love some feedback…

Ciao for now, gotta go blow my nose. Yuck.

It’s just another Saturday night at the homestead! I decided it’s been a while since I photographed the Brown Ripple Afghan, so I thought I’d do an update. Sir Goofnut, aka my 6-year-old son, decided that he needed to get in on the action. I laid the blanket out on the floor last weekend, and the consensus was that it was about half done. Sigh. I might make it a wee bit smaller, because I am anxious for Miss Z. to receive it. So I’ve been knitting a lot this weekend, trying to catch up. Unfortunately I am on the stripe that is from one of my lesser favorite yarns in the blanket, in that it is so much slipperier than the others. Thankfully that stripe is almost done.

So I’ve been knitting and listening to podcasts this weekend. The weather is good for it; it’s the end of March but temps were still below freezing this morning. Last night I listened to Kelley Petkun interview Janet Szabo on the Knit Picks Podcast. Then tonight, I was thrilled to learn that there is a new episode of Cast On available, and guess what??!!?? It’s all about HATS! Hats are my most favorite thing in the world to knit. In fact, I can’t wait to get done with this blanket so I can knit one! It’s been too long.

Anyway, back to the pointy sticks! It’s a great night, indeed.

What can I say?? I’m still knitting on the same thing… the Many Hands, Big Heart Afghan. I’ve had a few more people knit on it this week and so I am very pleased with the level of participation I’ve received. One of the guest knitters commented on Monday that the recipient is really going to love it. Yes, he’s right. Brown is her color.

I can tell though that I have a huge case of Knitter’s ADD. I feel like I’m knitting and knitting and knitting, but I have done less than 6 inches in the last three weeks. Which is sucky considering that I am using size 11 needles. I’ve been spending way too much time on Ravelry, looking in other people’s project logs and planning and dreaming about the things I’d like to make. Too much time on the computer, not enough time with the needles. It’s a question of simple math. I’d better get clacking.

Speaking of Math…

Last week when I was photographing my stash, I came across this yarn that I purchased last year at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. It’s TessYarns Raw Silk in a deep, navy blue colorway. I bought three large, 900-yard hanks, with the plan to knit my first sweater. Right now I’m envisioning something with three-quarter length sleeves and a big cable around the neck. Maybe something with a sort of empire waist and smocky-shaped. Something that doesn’t cling to me, but doesn’t look like a maternity top. I’m dreaming….

All for now…

…for a shawl, if it were one. But since it’s not, as you can see, I’ve still got a long way to go. I’m not getting tired of knitting it, exactly, but I am getting a wee bit bored of not being able to knit anything else. However, my sense of purpose keeps me going, and I am at least fairly certain that I will not be working on this blanket for eight months like I did on the last one. I’ve found several things on the internet that I’d like to try:

• The Lizard Ridge Hat
• The Bulky Beret
• An Elizabeth Zimmermann Mystery Blanket from Knitter’s Almanac

For the last one I am hoping to find a yarn with long color changes like Noro Kureyon, but that isn’t Kureyon, because I hate the way it feels. I’m thinking maybe a Trendsetter yarn. I’ll have to see.

Here’s a closeup of the blanket today… couldn’t resist. More soon, I hope!