Trish Knits.com

Sock Finished, with cuff up

Finished Sock, cuff down

This is it! The finished sock, in all its loose, holey glory. But hey, it’s my first, and my kid says she’ll wear it if I make the other one. Who knows? Maybe I will. I’m pretty proud of myself. Now I have this urge to know everything in the world there is to know about sock construction.

Here’s my project info, just in case I ever really do make the other one, and I need something to go back to.
Yarn: Wool of the Andes
Color: Amethyst Heather
Needles: Harmony, size 4
Pattern: Come to Silver Two at a Time Toe Up Socks (yeah I really only made one!)
Details: CO and did toe increases as in pattern. When toe increases were finished I knitted 36 rounds plain. Did short row heel as in pattern. Then over four rounds, increased on two rounds by four stitches each, for a total increase of 8 stitches. Then did 25 rows of 2×2 Rib. Used sewn bind off as in pattern.

Someday, it will have a mate.

Kauni Rainbows

Yay! The postman smiled upon me today and brought my Kauni Effektgarn 8/2 yarn that I ordered from Astrid’s Dutch Obsessions last week. That was fast! I can’t wait to swatch. I of course got the Not only did they send me 6 150g balls of the beautiful yarn, but I also got a yummy sweet cookie, which lasted all of about 4 seconds. It was kind of like an ice cream cone all rolled up in sugar. Yum!

I am going to make Ruth’s Kauni Rainbow Cardigan, of course. Someone on Ravelry even gave me a link to an upsized version. Yay. It’s been done before and I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

I wish I could get started, but there’s this brown ripple afghan calling my name. Sigh…

It’s done.

Off to bed… story tomorrow. Diana went to bed with her pajamas on inside out and backwards. She’s hoping for a snow day. Secretly? Me too. Don’t tell her I said that.

Yesterday was a very happy knitting day, indeed. The fall chill is definitely in the air, the leaves are dropping, and it was the first day of Standard Time, which though I dread the early nights it is nice to see the sun again in the mornings. My friend Steve came over and he had a pile of long-neglected paperwork with him. For some reason, he says he does better getting his stuff done at my house. That sitting in the company of someone is an incentive to get the task done.

Well, I think I do know what he means. While he was sitting at my kitchen table writing away, I sat nearby, finishing the last row and then doing the bind off for my long-suffering rainbow stripey baby blanket. Yes, there were many days when I was certain that this project would just NEVER get done. Of course, I have all those ends to weave in, but a good friend has volunteered to come over and help. Yay! I’m still trying to decide whether this blanket needs a border. Opinions, anyone? I’m thinking the blue color, since the baby is a boy. (I originally picked the rainbow because the MOM loves bright colors, and the gender of the baby was unknown at the time.)

It’ll be a relief to start a new project. I’m planning some baby hats for a co-worker (a different one!). Then it will be time to make a hat for my mom and a new one for me. Then, I’m tackling mittens. But wait… I’m getting ahead of myself…

Ugh. For some reason, I’m dragging this blanket out into foreverdom. I don’t know why! It’s not like I DON’T want to be done with it; trust me, I do. I have lots of hats I want to knit! I think it must be all of the ends that need to be woven in, and the border I want to crochet on. Egad, how I hate finishing! (insert whine here)

So, slowly but surely I am plugging away. Five rows to go. Then the bind off. And all. Those. Ends. I think it’ll take another month.

(Harummmph.)

Cool Stuff I Found on the ‘Net

• The Any Yarn, Any Size Knit Hat Book–this book is finally available as a PDF download. It has SO many cute hat designs, if you love hats you won’t be able to pass it up.
• Magic Loop Video–by the Knit Witch. This has to be the most clear example of how to do the Magic Loop technique that I have ever seen. Check it out!

Yay! I’m starting the last stripe of my baby blanket. Finally! My daughter decided that she needed to snap this photo of me the other day, and is insisting that I put it on my blog. So here it is, with full photo credit to Diana. But, boy… I sure am tired at seeing that fat person in those photos! Who is she, anyway? Someone who wants to be done knitting a baby blanket, that’s who!

What was I thinking, anyway, doing such a large project? I think this confirms for me that I am a small project kind of gal. I’m fine with that.

I am still trying to decide whether the blanket needs an edging. I probably will, to increase the amount of blue in the pattern, since the baby is a boy. Now another co-worker is pregnant so I think next time I will do a pile of baby hats and socks. The baby is due at Christmas and is a girl. Yay, one of each to knit for this year. How fun!

Cable-y Goodness

Yesterday I received the book, Cables Volume 1: The Basics by Janet Szabo. I love this book! Ok, I think I’m a book ho. But seriously. Still. This is a good one. If you love cables like I do, or a shameless fan of Janet’s work, as I am, Go. Now.

The book is chock full of photos and very clear instructions. The photos are black and white, which I think is a good thing, because sometimes color can be distracting in cables. So it’s really easy to see the work. She also discusses cabling without a cable needle right up front, which is how I do it, and I think that’s a very useful thing. Makes cables go a lot faster! Each chapter talks about different types of cables with photos and instructions in charts and words, and also gives you challenges to try other cabling experiments. There’s even a chapter on designing your own cables. How cool!

So look what I found when I opened the book:

Wow. I wasn’t expecting a SIGNED copy! It says, “Patricia, may all your cables cross the right way!” But hey, even if they don’t, there’s a section in the book on fixing cables.

If Volume 1 is this good, I already can’t wait for Volume 2!

Here’s the latest blankie update photo. I haven’t measured but I think I got about six inches or so done while I was on vacation. At this moment I am planning to work my way up to the next pink stripe before calling it done, since the first stripe was pink. Then I need to decide whether the blankie needs to have a border of some sort. At this point I’m thinking maybe an attached i-cord.

So, while doing all of this knitting in the car on my trip, I listened to and got all caught up on the podcast Lime and Violet (or should I say, Violet, sans Lime? Where is she anyway? I miss her.) This podcast isn’t as much about knitting as it is about yarn and fiber and lots of wacky conversation… though of course there is some knitting, especially socks. I definitely would not listen to this podcast around my kids, but it is hysterically funny. I even caught my DH laughing several times. Now he knows why I’ve been known to guffaw out loud at night in bed (I use my iPod as a sound abatement sleep aid!)

I also listened to many episodes of Sticks and String, by David Reidy from somewhere in the Blue Mountains of Australia. I also love this show, as he is always talking to someone new about the world of knitting. As I was listening last week I found myself wondering whether, since he’s in Oz, if he happened to catch any of the Countdown Spectacular 2 concerts that are happening there. BSG were playing and of course since they play pretty much only on that side of the world I’ve never had a chance to see them. Have I ever mentioned that I am their WebLady? BSG of course are the principal founding members of Australia’s super-group, Little River Band. But, I digress…

I’m almost caught up now on David’s podcasts too and will look forward to the new ones each week.

Look, Ma! I’m Petting a Dolphin!

Here’s a shot of me petting a dolphin at Sea World in Orlando. I don’t get the chance to get up close to animals very often, except for my own cats of course, but this dolphin trainer called the dolphin up out of the water so I could pet her. She also showed my son how to ask the dolphin to make that clicking sound they make, and the trainer also showed us how to ask the dolphin to wave her fin at us as in waving bye-bye. It was so cool that she responded to us, and this was a highlight of our vacation. Thanks for letting me share!

Yay, Diana! She finally finished her first-ever scarf the other day and is posing for the camera. She kept asking me, “Do I HAVE to smile?” Though she did actually want to do the photo, even if the photo makes her look like an unwilling participant.

She used two strands of pink fingering yarn, held together throughout. They were two different shades of pink. I don’t remember what yarn, as she started the project TWO years ago and immediately discarded the ball bands. Oh well. She learned to knit in October of 2005 (I think!) thanks to assistance from Genia. She’s already cast on again for an iPod cozy, made with some balls of KnitPicks Shine Sport that I had laying around. It’s based on the pattern in the Stitch n Bitch book but we’re customizing it to fit her Nano, which is smaller than the case that the original pattern calls for. I can’t help secretly hoping that she is getting the knitting bug, so I won’t be alone in my house anymore, haha! (My five-year-old says he would like to knit too, but I know he’s not patient enough yet, so we’ll see if he wants to in a few years’ time.)

Meanwhile …

I’m still knitting away on my rainbow stripey baby blanket. I’m about to embark on a long road trip so I hope that by the time I return it will be about as big as it’s going to get. I am getting lots of compliments every time I get caught knitting in public with this thing, so I guess that’s a good sign. I’m thinking I should also bring something smaller along to knit on while waiting in lines and such. But then again… that would risk getting distracted by another project at a time when I can’t afford losing interest in this one. Oh, help!

Welp, it’s been a few weeks so I thought I would show a recent photo of the blankie…. taken this evening as I began the 10-row segment of purpleness! Purple of course is my most favorite color, and so far when it came up in the randomness of it, the segment was only two rows wide… waaaah. So I should get my purple fix this go round.

Of course, it isn’t really random at all. See my April 5 entry to learn the methodology for this project, if you haven’t heard it already! (Yes, I’m a geek; there’s a spreadsheet behind it.)

I also have made a major decision about this blankie. I am leaving in a couple of weeks for a vacation and I will be spending approximately 28 hours in the car, plus lots of free knitting time in the evenings. However much knitting I get done during that time, when I get home, I think I am going to call it DONE. It’s definitely not wide enough now, but hopefully it will be by then. I really have been futzing with this baby blanket since February, between deciding on a design and trying and frogging many things. I am SO longing to make a felted hat… to feel the mushing of the wool in my hands and to create something warm for winter. Plus, the baby for whom this blanket is for is due to arrive at the end of this month. I really don’t want this to be his Christmas gift.

So, I hope my plan works, and that it will be big enough when I get back. Wish me luck!

It was knit night at my house, and I had lots of help:

This is my knitting helper, Zöe, who is never far behind when I pull out my knitting, never wants me to get any stitching done! As soon as I pull my knitting out, she always jumps up on the couch for some scratchin’! I always seem to knit while sitting next to the sofa in my den, so I have a place to fling my knitting stuff while I work.

Diana even got in on the knit action tonight. We watched the movie Aquamarine tonight and she added about 5 rows to her scarf. She keeps asking, “When will it be done, mom?” to which I reply that the rule of thumb for a scarf is to make it as long as the wearer is tall. Problem is, she’s been working on the same scarf for two years, and has gotten lots taller in that time! Haha.

Go, Eunny!

I just received my copy of the Fall Interweave Knits in the mail yesterday. (I find it ironic that the subheading says 29 knits to chase the chill, and it was in the 90s yesterday!) It was the debut issue of their new editor, Eunny Jang, who is a fabulous knitter and I love her work, and I was wondering how she’d do with the magazine. She’s so young, and it’s a huge job for anyone, let alone someone who is only in her mid-20s! But so far, I am impressed. (I’m also pulling for her as a local girl… she’s a DC-area native.)

There are several projects I want to make from this, including Anne Budd’s Tyrolean socks and Teva Durham’s concentric vest. The magazine explores the concept of organic yarns, and features lots of projects that include cables in the design. There’s also a cute grouping of hats and a really neat looking pair of fingerless mitts I’d like to try. Also, if ever I do get the courage to do a sweater, quite a few of them in this issue are sized up to my size. I actually loved this magazine this time! I only wish there had been a cable-y throw in the issue to complement the sweaters.

Wow, I had a lot to write about tonight. More next time!

Hello again! This time I decided to photograph my blankie-in-progress vertically so it would be easy to see how big it actually is. Wow! No wonder it is taking me so long to work on this. I think even I didn’t really know how big it was or how well it was progressing. Now I have renewed energy and I do think I can get this done!

(I’m still glad I have 28 hours in the car coming up in August…. lots of knitting time! I talked to the expectant mom last week and she said that the doctor thinks she’ll go early, so it may not be done in time, but I will get there!)

I’ve been knitting to a new (to me) podcast recently. I finally subscribed to Quirky Nomads after hearing host Sage Tyrtle participate so much in Cast On. (Where are you, Brenda? I’ve only been listening for a couple of months and I’m all caught up, and I miss you!) Quirky Nomads is definitely different, but fun. Check it out!

And to enhance my listening experience, I replaced the standard earbuds on my iPod with these, the MX75 Sport Earbuds by Sennheiser. Generally I dislike earbuds, but I find myself listening to the iPod while falling asleep at night very often, and the earbuds are less fussy… except of course that they always fell out of my ears. These Sennheisers have an interesting little doohicky at the top that helps to anchor the earbuds to the ear. They also come with rubber disks of varying sizes so you can mix and match and find the sizes that provide a perfect fit. And, they work! And sound great, too.

I’ve ordered my copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on audiobook, so with the iPod and my new earbuds, and lots of knitting to do, I’ll be set for a while.

Happy knitting!

So today was spent as every 4th of July is at my house — at the Whitehall Pool and Tennis Club, enjoying a fun picnic and great company. As per usual for me, my time at the pool was spent with much knitting! I know I’ve said it about a thousand times, but I am getting so bored with this project! My intentions are honorable and I will keep going, as this is a baby blankie for a dear friend who is expecting her first. I’m even growing sick of the rainbow colorway, but I keep my energy up because people keep coming up to me at the pool and telling me how pretty it is. Sometimes I choose to believe them, and sometimes I just nod and smile, knowing full well that they can notice this blindingly bright blanket in progress from hundreds of yards away! I do hope that my friend will like it in the end, even though I am growing increasingly doubtful that the project will be done before the baby gets here.

Now Playing on an iPod Near Me…

So while I’m knitting at the pool, I’m listening to the audio version of “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.” I am quite ashamed to admit this, but when I picked up knitting about 4 years ago, I all but stopped reading. (Except for knitting books!) Prior to being a knitter I was an avid reader and I especially loved the Harry Potter series. But here I am, two years after the release of this book, and only weeks away from the release of the ultimate chapter in the series, and I still had not read the book in its entirety. Egad, how awful this was, especially given that my husband arranged for Amazon to deliver it on the very day it was released. I am truly ashamed.

But, I must admit… a year ago I purchased the Audio CD version. I had heard that the books were very well “performed” by Jim Dale, and wow! What a treat for the ears this is! I wish I had listened to it long ago. If you’re a knitter AND a Harry Potter fan, these Audiobooks are the way to go! They are pricey, but I am also tempted to get the one for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” since the movie is coming out soon. I need to refresh my memory a bit!

Anyway, that’s my update for now. Exciting, eh? We’re expecting severe summer storms so I’d better log off for now. Hope all in the US are enjoying the 4th!