Penelope's Web

Baby Boots

2008-01-25T14:42:00.001-08:00

I haven't written on my blog for slow long, but I am still knitting away. I finally finished the last of my trifecta of baby blankets, this one for my nephew Riley, who is due to join us in less than a month. I loved this wavvy pattern, made from the "circus blanket" pattern from Knit Picks. I love knitpicks' fab swish superwash yarn for baby stuff. It's soft, machine washable, and warm.

I still have more baby stuff in my future, this time for my own baby. I have become addicted to making baby booties. Here are a few of my recent:

I'm Still Here

2007-11-25T09:56:00.000-08:00

Thankfully, I have completed the baby blanket for my little sister's baby just in time for her little one's birth, any day now. I am very pleased with how it turned out. After the caterpillar, each tier features a piece of fruit with a hole in it (with one exception) until the butterfly on the top tier. I had a delightful time knitting it, and now that it's arrived with my sister Vanessa, I can share the picture:

Now, I'm knitting a sweater for my hubby. I still actually have one more baby blanket to make for my brother and sister -in-law's baby Reilly, but as he won't be joining us for three more months, I am taking a break from baby duties to knit Blake's sweater, usually done in the summertime. It's the cobblestone pullover from the fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits. I choose a red/orange heather in Telemark from Knit Picks and I'm already on the sleeves so I hope to share news of that progress soon.

Coco's Knitting Vendetta

2007-10-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Early Tuesday morning, I discovered my cat, Coco on the floor, hoarding a knit scarf.

On Wednesday morning, I found the orange cabled blanket I made for Blake on the floor of my bedroom. This, given the morning before, was not in itself terribly surprising. But my six pound cat had pulled the three pound blanket off a couch and dragged it down a stairway, across the kitchen and living room and into the bedroom by her teeth!

On Thursday morning, Coco opened a duffle bag with her teeth to pull out Blake's green knit sweater from the bag.

I don't know whether to be insulted or honored that my new kitty is now obsessed with knitwear. I also am unsure of her motivation. She has yet to destroy anything. I am proud to have such a smart and determined companion!

Blue Blanket Pictures

2007-10-22T10:05:00.001-07:00

Jill has received the blue baby blanket and has sent a couple of pictures from her baby's room:

Hungry Caterpillars

2007-10-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

I spent last week on a business trip to Boston without a major project on my needles. Gasp! I made an order the week before from KnitPicks for yarn for the hungry caterpillar blanket and a sweater for Blake but it didn't come in time for my big trip, so I had to rustle together half finished balls of yarn and produce some toys. The book Last Minute Knitted Gifts has a pattern for a rabbit, an elephant, and a bear that are just too cute to handle, so I created on my trip 2 bunnies, a pair of handwarmers and a baby hat.

This week I started anew on my hungry caterpillar blanket for my niece, Claire Elizabeth. Her mother, my little sister, is a children's librarian so what better project than one based on a children's book. I'm making this up, once again, as I go along with a similar entrelac base as that for the blue blanket that I recently finished. Here's a look at my first two tiers.

Success!

2007-09-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

Now that the blue baby blanket is safely on my blocking board, I think I announce with confidence that I have successfully completed this project. It's always a challenge when I create my own patterns for a project, usually involving some unfortunate frogging. Still, it's lovely to make something that no own could buy in a store, especially for someone so precious as a new baby.

Onward now, I have a second blanket to knit, again patterned in my head and likely fraught with challenges. I wouldn't have it any other way!

Discouraged but Not Defeated

2007-09-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

I have had to unravel the better part of blue blanket for another try. I realized yesterday evening that somehow it was growing wider rather than longer. Blake disagreed, asking whether it really had to be square to warm a baby. Of course, I want it to be pleasing to eye, so my determination won out, and I'm on the path to a square blanket again, granted back at the start rather than almost done.

Still, I'm determined to get it done quickly and our recent chilly weather here should help me in the task.

Blue Blanket Underway

2007-09-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

I am on my third tier of the blue baby blanket for Ms. Jill's baby boy. I am making up the pattern as I go along, my favorite way to knit because I couldn't possibly become bored with the pattern.

I decided at first that I would make this blanket in entrelac, the same type of pattern as the forest path stole that I worked for the better part of last spring. With entrelac, you work several triangles along a straight edge, then pick up the stitches along one edge of each triangle, working interlocking tiers of rectangles. This is explained much better in a spring 2007 article in Interweave Knits by Eunny Jang...

Though it's hard to explain (I'd argue that it's hard to explain a knit stitch too), entrelac isn't really that complicated but I love it because it looks complicated and the tiers of rectangles can be totally different stitch patterns, so I've been knitting a different pattern for each tiers. So far, I'm at:

First tier: Row one and two: k1,p1 rib. Row three: K all sts. Row four: P all sts

Second tier: Moss stitch (Row one and two: K2,P2 rib. Row three and four: P2, K2 rib.)

Third tier: Checkers (Row one through four: K4, P4 rib. Row four through eight: P4, K4 rib.)

Fourth tier: Who knows?

Blankets Begun

2007-08-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

I have finally gotten started on two baby blankets:

Entrelac Blue Blanket - for girlfriend Jill's baby. The border triangles are in seed stitch, and the squares will be in hurdle and moss stitch. Blake chose the stitch patterns from the book for me to ensure that they would be sufficiently masculine.

A Very Hungry Caterpillar Blanket - for my sister Vanessa's baby. I've done a many colored caterpillar in intarsia and I'm planning a sweet butterfly for the top corner.

But soon I'll be out of yarn and need to order more, so this will be a game stop and go for some time. And soon enough, they'll be here so I'm feeling the crunch!

Alliteration - Baby Bibs and Coco Cat

2007-08-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

I've spent the last week developing new patterns for baby garmets and with new reason - my sister's having a girl! I've made a baby bonnet, booties and a bib all in a matching and washable cotton.

I just realized that these items, including the blanket I've just started all start with the letter "B". I don't know what to make of that - do babies understand the sound "ba" so much better or ? Just to break the cycle, I'm going to start work on a stuffed animal next.

So, we have adopted a "baby" of our own - a one year old torti calico named Groovy Coco Cat. Right now, Blake and I are engaged in a battle of wills over her name. He calls her "Groovy" and I call her "Coco". We shall see. Either way, today she experienced the right of passage for any of my kitties - attacking my spinning wheel mid-spin. So I can share a knitting appropriate picture:

Harry Potter Complete

2007-08-02T23:23:00.000-07:00

I just finished the Harry Potter and I promise not to give anything away. I did learn something interesting in the process: I read this one faster than the others in a desperate attempt to avoid hearing the ending from anyone else. I was downright obsessed - to the point that I didn't speak to my husband or listen to the news for days. The day after I finished (2 am the night before), a co-worker who'd read a spoiler came in and asked me if the spoilers were right - and they were completely, entirely wrong! All that worry and the one thing I was fearing was baseless! Great lesson to learn while exhausted and sleepy!

I am now finishing up the cap sleeves on the Josephine top. I love this pattern, even counting for my many, many adjustments to do it on bigger needles. Pictures will follow this weekend.

Potter Break

2007-07-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Harry Potter's Eve! I anticipate receiving the final volume by mail tomorrow and getting utterly engrossed until completion.

After a second frogging, I did manage to get on the right track with my Josephine top. I'm not following the pattern though, so we'll see if I'm punished down the line. I'm using 7 circs instead of 4s and working the pattern in the round. Oh, and ignoring guage. I realize this is a recipe for disaster, but I have a good feeling about knitting by intuition this time. After all, if I had followed my gut the first two times, I would have frogged much earlier.

Here's a picture of the top in the pattern (Interweave Knits, Summer 2007, Deborah Newton) for those visual sorts:

Grr! Katrina the Ripper

2007-07-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

I planned to share pictures of the beautiful lace top I've been working on diligently for the past two weeks. Then on Wednesday, I realized that I had joined the piece I was working on for the round. Still, I thought that I was okay because it was one piece for front and back. Then, yesterday, I realized it was only the back and I had to rip apart the whole thing. Not willing to feel defeated, I'm going to start over with a bigger needle to combat my waning patience, and concerns that I could be derailed by the final Harry Potter book showing up in my mailbox in a week.

The Obsessive Knitter Returns

2007-07-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

Blake departed for the international clarinet conference early this week, and my time for knitting suddenly returned. Of course I had been knitting little things - I've made me and Blake two tone felted slippers and I have the idea that I'll make a pile to go by our door for new arrivals to our house.

I also started the Josephine top as it's good for the soul to have something going for yourself here and there. The pattern is in the summer edition of Interweave Knits by Deborah Newton and it has enough lace work to keep my interest.

Now, with two sisters and a couple of friends expecting, I also have several time limits (read due dates) to make something miniature, so my line of baby products will be along soon enough.

Without further ado...

2007-06-25T20:23:00.000-07:00

Our before and after house slideshow: http://movingpics.shutterfly.com/action

Bah Bah. Have you any wool?

2007-06-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend, beyond finishing my house, I made my annual double trek out to the Black Sheep Gathering. I always go once and touch the fibers and fantasize about Kromski spinning wheels and visit the animals. Then, I go back again the next day, and get down to the business of buying fiber and revisiting with my favorite animals from the day before.

For the uninitiated, black sheep is a huge fiber festival held in my hometown with three days of spinning, knitting, and other fiber arts classes, a pavillion full of wool and fiber tool vendors and, best of all, an animal show of exotic fiber sheep, goats, and usually bunnies. For fiber nerds like myself, this is like a Star Trek convention for Trekies: fill in your favorite equivilant simile.

This year, I was disappointed to find the utter lack of angora bunnies, which I really missed. It's not often that you can pet or let alone see an ewok in person. Not only that, but I thought now that we have a house, I might have convinced Blake to let me take one home... Still, the goat show was bigger, and there were breeds I hadn't seen before of sheep too. Wensleydales were new to me. They're big animals with tight curls and soft dreadlocks atop their heads.

At the same time and nearby there is usually an alpaca show as well. For some reason, I'm never as engaged with this show, and not for lack of love for alpacas. They have these beautiful big eyes and long eyelashes and they hum in a way that's quite charming. This year, I stopped by there again anyway, and one of the vendors snapped at me for holding up fiber in an open bag to examine it. The funny thing was it was the only fiber I actually would have bought. Oh well. Instead, I left feeling like a stupid child.

But onward and upward, we returned to Black Sheep and I pet some of the most charming shetland sheep. These are easily my favorites: they are personable and so soft. A lamb wagged his little tail when I pet him, and the alpaca incident ceased to have too much importance. I wish I could have taken him home.

Here are pictures from my revisit this afternoon. There were more, but as Blake commented, these animals don't know how to stand still for a camera.

I'm In!

2007-06-19T17:24:00.000-07:00

After a week and a half of back breaking work, Blake and I have moved into our first house. We found out the hard way the definition of sweat equity by pulling up the house full of carpet and refinishing the oak floors beneath, and we painted all of the walls, and we pulled all the cabinet doors and drawers out in the kitchen, painted them, and added new hardware.

I have bruises everywhere including my feet. I planned to put together a picture slide show to share, but I can't find the cord that connects our camera to my computer. I also couldn't find our shower curtain rings, so I spent the better part of the weekend without a shower. Ick!

Anyway, I haven't been able to knit at all, and, adding insult to injury, I dropped my flyer and bobbin with spinning on it this weekend and broke an end off the bobbin. I'm hoping to find a replacement this weekend at the best fiber arts show ever this weekend, the Black Sheep Gathering. I'll be sure to take some pictures to share...

Still Knitting Distractedly

2007-05-28T19:39:00.000-07:00

I have been knitting at a snail's pace lately. With the drama of buying our first house, my head is spinning with interest rates, paint colors, and interior design doubt.

Also, we've decided our new home will not have a television in the main sitting room, so I have been weaning myself from it. Guess what I keep on in the background when I'm knitting? There's an adjustment underfoot here that excites me.

Anyway, here's a picture of what I'm working on right now, a short sleeve sweater with some of my homespun.:

Pink Shawl Complete, Other News That Makes Blogging Difficult

2007-05-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I finished my second forest path stole and it was everything that the first one wasn't - soft, lofty and not itchy! It took me terribly long and I've missed other projects. I'm currently working on a quick project from Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan, a bridge to a summer of projects. I'm planning my usual sweater for Blake (though I haven't determined what that will be yet) and a sweet sweater made with my own handspun.

In other news, my husband and I are buying our first house - a blue traditional built in 1948. Here's a funny coincidence - I grew up in Springfield, Missouri and my next home will be in Springfield, Oregon. Anyway, it's very exciting, and also exhausting because I've got another pretty large decorating project invading my knitting daydreams.

Here's a picture of me in the stole:

Pink blob, soon to be shawl

2007-04-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

I'm all finished with the tiers of the FPS, but who knew the borders could take so long! Looking forward to moving on to sweaters. Every summer I make a sweater for Blake, and this year I have two ideas: a checkered sweater vest modeled on a late fifties pattern I've got at home, and a rugby type raglan sweater with some version of our family crest on the chest. Oh I love to ponder the possibilities!

Films and sweaters

2007-04-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

First, the update: I'm on tier 13 of the shawl and I've finished the back of the Anouk dress. It's funny how the small version of everything is just more fun - kittens, puppies, calfs, lambs, baby knitwear...

And now for a tangent:
I once watched an entire movie with Blake before he had to play a memorized piece in competition, and he remembered none of it when we left the theatre. He spent the entire time playing through Debussey's Premiere Rhapsody in his head. I noticed that his fingers were moving when I looked at one point, but I didn't realize that he wasn't really in attendance at all.

Now, I go to movies and can't help but watch the costuming. For instance, here are some of my recent reviews:

Premonition: Silly, disjointed narrative, great lace and cable sweaters on Sandra Bullock
The Queen: Interesting story, wonderful tartan patterns and tweeds
Pan's Labrinth: Easily my favorite movie of the year, made all the better by a beautiful shawl on one character and fun chunky sweaters on the little girl.

On the bright side, even the worst films can be redeemed by the knitwear designer's ingenuity...

A little spring helps...

2007-04-01T19:07:00.000-07:00

I have accomplished, but somehow it doesn't feel like it. I spun up the end of that fun red pencil roving, and now I watch my wheel thinking about what to do next, and my wheel frowns at me, asking won't you make up your mind already?

I did complete the shawlette to wear at Dylan and Julia's wedding. Unfortunately the satin vintage party dress I made it to match is still getting its zipper replaced and I'm afraid it won't match the superman hoodie I chose to wear today, so we'll have to wait together for the unveil.

I'm still working away on my forest path shawl. I'm halfway done, and hopefull that the second half goes a little faster now that I've memorized the lace pattern.

I needed a little inspiration so I started a project for my girlfriend's little girl and muse for all things small, Laura. I'm making "anouk" from knitty.com for her - a little green and orange dress with a flower in intarsia atop purple pockets. It'll transition well into a top as she gets older.

Children and my endless entrelac shawl sparked an idea for a great little blanket. I woke up with the idea of doing patches of intarsia ducks and rabbits in the quilt-like style of entrelac. It's all in my head right now, so I'll have to write this one down. I actually woke up with this pattern in my head in the early hours of a morning last weekend. So knitting has not only invaded my daydreams but my night time variety as well!

St. Patrick's Day Sweater

2007-03-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, just in time for St. Patrick's Day, I finished up the green cable down sweater. I don't wear much green, and in the past I've been the target of much pinching, and I bruise easily, so this was just in time.

And I haven't forgotten about my forest path stole. I'm about 1/3 of the way through on the eighth tier. I know I could get this done earlier, but for the sake of my sanity, I need to move along at something less brain intensive.

Speaking of brain intensity, I'm currently breaking my own rule, as for my brother Dylan's wedding, I need a little something for my shoulders, so since Friday I've worked about thirty rows of the arrowlace shawlette featured in the summer issue of Interweave Knits. Pictures will come later.

One of the annoying things about knitting lace is that it looks like a wrinkled blob until the project is finished and blocked, so I have to hold fast to the picture in the magazine, keeping the faith that it will be pretty when done. That said, one of the best parts of knitting lace is when a piece is all blocked out and by some magic my blob has become a piece of art and a testament to my faith that it will turn out.

2007-03-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Shaun the Sheep has his own show in the UK. He's got his own website too: www.shaunthesheep.com.

Blake's Biodiesel

2007-03-06T16:53:00.000-08:00

Blake and I bought a mercedes benz this weekend. Of course, it's a 1968 Benz but a great car all the same. It's in solid condition and we needed a "toot around town" car desperately as coordinating our schedules has become very cumbersome. The best part is that it's a biodiesel, so we can run it on converted veggie oil or diesel. And a fun side note is that it's the second important purchase we've made from someone in dreadlocks. So Eugene!

Bringing My Diary Up to Date

2007-03-04T21:03:00.000-08:00

I have been busy spinning, knitting a sweater and making lace. I thought it's been a while since I'd showed pictures, so I am bringing this diary up to date with my progress.

I've been diligently working away on my web knit-a-long project with fifty others. This lace shawl is made in entrelac, meaning that I work one knit pattern at a time, picking up stitches from previous patterns and connecting previous squares with decreases.

Blake advocates a second project, worked in tandem with the lace since the travails of lace knitting can make me grumpy. In the most recent Interweave Knits, there's a pattern for a cabled raglan sweater worked from the top town. I usually work raglans on a circular needle from the bottom up, and progress isn't nearly as exciting. This one looks like a sweater early into the knitting which for me is magic!

Beyond knitting, I've been spinning corriedale pencil roving from Crown Mountain Fibers dyed in variegated red. This stuff is amazing, super pretty and does not require pre-drafting so it's quick too. Here are singles spun up on the bobbin:

Here's the yarn after I've plied two singles:

Here's the yarn wound onto a niddy noddy. I love spinning names!

Nyago did me the favor of posing with the finished product, a hank of yarn:

Going Without - A Project Sans Wool

2007-02-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

I've been away and yet busy knitting recently. The last couple of Sundays have given me the opportunity to have a knitting marathon. We've taken to calling it our "hobby day". I knit or spin and Blake brews beer.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of designing a scarf won in a raffle to benefit our local food shelf. The raffle raised $80 and our food shelf equates a $1 donation to six pounds of food, so I excited myself with the project by imagining the 420 pounds of food going to those in need.

There was one challenge. The winner is a vegan and preferred that I use a sythetic fiber for the project. I have an aversion to fun-fur and acrylics, so I found a couple of ribbons in a variegated purple. I was very happy with the result and of course the 420 pounds that came from the project.

Knitter's Shorthand

2007-02-05T16:51:00.001-08:00

In Jill's blog today, she mentioned that she doesn't know how to read a knitting pattern, so I thought I'd pick up that topic today.

Written out, knitting directions could go on for pages, so knitters use a set of abbreviations to publish their patterns. After a little while, this comes naturally, but it takes practice. That and some pattern writers use their own shorthand. As a rule, I always check the glossary of the book or magazine for a definition.

Here's an example of the feather and fan stitch in knitterese:

CO 22 stitches and K 2 rows.
Row 1: (RS): K all sts.
Row 2: K2, p18, k2.
Row 3: K2, (K2Tog) 3 times, (YO,K1) 6 times, (K2Tog) 3 times, k2.
Row 4: K all sts.

Here's the same pattern translated:

Cast on 22 stitches and knit for 2 rows.
Row 1 (Right Side): knit all stitches.
Row 2: Knit 2 stitches, purl 18 stitches, knit 2 stitches.
Row 3: Knit 2 stitches, then knit 2 stitches together 3 times. Work a yarn-over, then knit one. Work those two stitches 6 times. Then, knit 2 stitches together 3 more times. Last, knit two 2 stitches.
Row 4: Knit all stitches.

Most knitting is a combination of knitting, purling, and addition/subtraction of stitches. This is most evident in row 3. Unless you are hoping to make a piece wider or skinnier, you need to keep the number of stitches consistent. Knitting two stitches together is a decrease, making two stitches into one stitch. A yarn-over (lifting the yarn over the needle without knitting into a stitch) adds a stitch (and a whole). In row three, the number of the stitches end up the same because you add 6 stitches and decrease 6 stitches.

Who knew knitting required so much math?

Orange Blanket

2007-01-31T16:29:00.000-08:00

I am to my second to last skein of "kid n' ewe" in burnt orange. So, whether my blanket is ready or not. I'm almost done. That's what I get for buying the last bag of a discontinued yarn!

Novella Socks

2007-01-21T09:36:00.000-08:00

I finished the novella socks, otherwise known as pink legwarmers, yesterday. The pattern's from a fabulous knitting book, Knit 2 Together, by Mel Clark and comedian Tracey Ullman. The patterns are terribly cute and there are great suggestions and stories from the author.

Next on the horizon are my orange blanket, picture forthcoming, and a second pass at the Forest Path Stole. I made this the first time for my wedding, but I couldn't afford the $150 in suggested yarn first time around, so I used a much less lofty wool/linen mix. I'm excited for the opportunity to make a second generation in the affordable alpaca cloud from Knit Picks. Apparently, I get a little obsessive about lace knitting at home, so this is going to be my lunch hour endeavour. Oh, and the part I'm especially excited about is that I'm doing this piece with other knitters in my first "knit-along."

If You Can Knit A Scarf...

2007-01-13T19:43:00.000-08:00

If you can knit a scarf, you can knit…

A bag:
Knit a rectangle 7 inches by 12 inches. Fold it in half and sew the sides. Add an I-cord, leather cord or other material of your choice for the handle. (stripes or a fair isle design)

A baby blanket:
Knit a big square or rectangle. I like to go 30” by 30”. (texturized knitting stitches like featherfan stitch or moss stitch)

A wrap or shawl:
Knit a rectangle 18” wide by your choice long. Leave it open with no seam for a shawl or sew together the ends of the rectangle for a tube. (lace knitting pattern)

These are forgiving ideas and swatching is not as important a part of your process. I always take advantage of simple patterns like this to try something new. See my suggestions in italics for these. It is always a good idea to have a resource for stitch patterns. I recommend Nicky Epstein’s Knitting on the Edge books for this though there are many other choices on the market.

Fair Isle Sweater Complete!

2007-01-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

I just finished the fair isle sweater I was working on prior to the rush of Christmas present making in November and December.

I wrote the pattern for this project, which is fitted through the waist. The allover fair isle pattern was a bit more time consuming than I realized in the initial plan and I would do a few things differently if I had it to do again, like working in the round. Nonethless, it was a fun project and the half length sleeves are perfect for the Pacific Northwest.

Pick up sticks, I mean stitches

2007-01-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

My friend Jill has started knittting and we have been working together (27 emails) to find a solution to a problem that she was having with her first scarf - the dropped stitch problem. I thought I would share want I shared with her, though much further explanation was necessary.

There are several ways to solve this problem, but I prefer this method.

1. I show a dropped stitch on the knit side. It's the fifth stitch from the right.

2. Work your way over to the dropped stitch, either by knitting or purling (depending on the design) over to the dropped stitch OR by slipping the stitches. I show that method (which adds no stitches) in the picture. All you do is put your needle in through the front of the stitch as if to purl and move the stitch to the needle on your right hand.

3. Here we are at the dropped stitch.

4. Pick up the dropped loop with your right needle.

5. You should observe a strand or more (depending on how many rows down you dropped the stitch) across the space where your stitches would have been had you not dropped the stitch (These strands are also referred to as ladders. I didn't take a great picture of the strands, so if you don't know what I mean I'll try to take another photo). Anyway grab the strand (or ladder step) on lowest row down with your left needle.

6. Slip the ladder stitch onto your right needle.

7. With the left needle, slip the loop over the ladder strand. *

8. Slip the stitch back on the left needle and continue knitting. The stitches might seem looser than the others, but when you block, that will be evened out.

* If you dropped the stitch several rows down, it may be necessary to repeat this until the ladder strands are gone.

Is it supposed to look like that?

2007-01-09T16:41:00.000-08:00

I decided that my fair isle sweater would be better with 3/4 sleeves. So, I made my first sleeve and then sewed it on, as a test. As I sewed in the sleeve, I told Blake that I was sewing my sleeve to see if I liked it, but he didn't hear me.

Seeing me in front of the mirror in a one armed sweater with yarn hanging out, I was considering the neckline, and Blake said "Is it supposed to look like that?" I responded quickly, some might say snappily: "What is that supposed to mean?" Poor Blake walked away with wounded spirit.

I often explain to Blake my ideas for a sweater or other project, but don't really expect any response. Truth be told, in Blake's absence, Nyago also fills this role. Similarly, I often look at Blake, head nodding, when he explains the science of beer making.

In the "creative process discussion" that followed, I asked Blake, "Do you really want me to tell you if something doesn't taste right when trying your beer?" To my surprise, he said yes. Of course this turned my worldview upside down. Did he actually intend for me to engage with him on a beer making level? I learn something new everyday!

It was agreed that on the subject of knitting and baking, I will not receive true hubby criticism until long after the fact because I want things to work too badly as I'm working on it, but I don't want false praise either. On all other topics, I'm fair game. And somehow I will find a way to share true wifely criticism on all topics, though I'm not convinced of this fact just yet.

Shaun the Sheep's Big Adventure

2007-01-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

With my mascot in tow, Blake and I toured the country over the holidays - first the train from Portland to Minnesota, then the drive to Missouri and back again, then the train home. Here is a look from the perspective of my favorite googly eyes!

The Osceola Cheese Company in Osceola, Missouri.

Enjoying himself in Indianola, Iowa on friend Dave's Lazyboy.

Enoying a quesadilla at EL Burrito Mercado in St. Paul, MN - a McGee Clan tradition, prior to buying our Christmas Tamales.

Relaxing amid the presents at the McGee house on Christmas Eve...

The World's Largest Gingerbread House at the World's Not Quite Largest Mall - the Mall of America. Amazing!

Stretching our legs at Havre, Montana. No snow in Minneapolis for Christmas, but Montana almost makes up for it!

Resting in our sleeping car on Amtrak. Ah...

On the road...

2006-12-28T08:17:00.000-08:00

After a very relaxing two weeks, Blake and I are getting ready for the great trek home. Knit presents have been received, so I can once again share about my current and former projects. For the holidays this year, my dad, Michael, got a pair of asparagus colored hand warmers, my mom, Brenda, got a neck warmer and my father-in-law, Michael II, got a hat. Together, they made a great mismatched knit set!

Also, my fabulous older sister, Erin, taught herself to knit from a DVD (something I could never do) and I taught Jill Camwell, my Iowa friend, the basics. I thought I would start posting techniques and beginner projects in their honor, so be on the lookout.

That complete, I have been working on an orange throw for our living room. The pattern is covered with wild intertwining cables. I have always wanted to do a blanket over the winter months because once it gets to a certain length, it warms you while you work. Over a month ago, I set aside my own fair isle sweater, which I am now eager to return to.

In other news, the period of new years resolutions and failed resolutions are upon us, designed to brighten up the rainy winter. I have decided not to particpate, beyond writing in my knitting diary more often. More often also means perhaps more boring, but I'll try to avoid that. Signing off for 2006...

Ah, the glories of the train

2006-12-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

After getting a bee in my bonnet to ride the train, Blake and I arrived in Minnesota today from Oregon. We, as sleeping car passengers, were "first class," which on Amtrak means that we were fed every two hours. So, for two days, we were like cats (unfortunately Nyago was not allowed to join us) - sleeping and eating. When I learned we were running seven hours late, I didn't panic, just went back to sleep - progress for the traveling challenged like me!

I also knit a pair of cute flip top mittens for Minnesota. This fall, I gave away most of my winter knit accessories before actually making their replacements.
I have some great pictures of Shaun the Sheep to share!

Socks and Underwear

2006-12-04T19:04:00.000-08:00

At home, I am vigorously knitting, perhaps too vigorously. I spent the greater part of the weekend making a hat that was so out of gauge that it would have been more appropriate for a belt. Unraveled again.

My holiday list this year is all planned, as usual, except for Blake. I actually spent part of my day/evening picking out socks and underwear as we had discussed. There's something that seems scandalous to me - a woman picking out a package of men's underwear and then walking through the store with a box of briefs then putting it back. Then repeat. I don't know if I can go back into Macy's now - after getting all the way to the checkout and turning around. In the end, I couldn't check out, because I couldn't be sure if we were just joking about the socks and underwear. The travails of holidays...

The Return of the Needles

2006-11-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

One would think that in a month of not posting to my blog, my wrists had taken a turn for the worst and I had to endure surgery to relieve the pain. But this is not what happened. I tried to do something I never do: three projects at once – a fair isle fitted sweater, the DNA sweater, and an orange throw.

I am loathe to do more than one project at a time, because I can’t keep up with them. I usually memorize the directions of a pattern so that I don’t have to keep checking back at my notes.

And now, the holiday season is upon me, and I haven’t even started any of the gifts I’d planned. So, I’m going to finish the front of the fair isle sweater and then put all outstanding projects on hold until I finish.

As the gifts are to be a surprise, I will probably not post pictures until after the gifts are given; unless they are totally unrelated. Here's my fair isle sweater in progress:

Another week off of knitting

2006-10-29T19:10:00.001-08:00

Multi-Tasking

2006-10-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

I am on a carpal tunnel break from knitting. Happily, I made great progress on my projects when I was free to knit. I finished the smocking sweater and moved on to the new vest or sweater I'm planning with the DNA double helix in a cable up the front.

Then, my birthday came along and Blake took me to Soft Horizons and let me loose. I bought some lovely superwash merino in a heathered pink and magenta.

I have been working with vocal recognition software that only seems to work if I use a stern, motherly voice. I'm sure I sound crazy to the professors that have offices near mine. It goes something like "I want to thank you - correction- thank you - scratch that - thank - {pause} -you". It's getting better and catching on to my muddled Minnesota/Missouri accent.

The week of torture is over !

2006-10-17T16:35:00.000-07:00

Last week I completed my week without knitting. I spun some beautiful red and pink pencil roving on my wheel and made an enormous green mess of my first attempt at dying wool. I also drew up some new designs and actually spent time writing for the first time in a while.

I am currently knitting the DNA cable sweater, which may be a vest, and dug into a fair isle design of my own. Pictures are all forthcoming.

Blue Sweater Complete!

2006-09-27T14:55:00.000-07:00

Now the sweater fits in a more flattering way - shorter with a scooped neckline and a crocheted button band.

In other news, after three weeks of wearing wrist braces to improve the tingling in my hands attributed to carpal tunnel syndrome, my doctor is starting to talk about surgery. I have opted for the alternative - living with tingling hands. Blake has made a deal with me that for the next few months, I will take one week a month off of knitting in exchange for his purchase of fun fiber for spinning during that time. We agreed to this this morning and I'm already feeling the withdrawal!

Refashioning

2006-09-21T17:30:00.000-07:00

-------This is my DNA sweater. I'm looking forward to unraveling it, and refashioning it as a vee neck long sleeved sweater with fitted sides.

This sweater is my smocking sweater. I'm going to reknit the top in a cleaner way and drop the neckline somewhat.-----

Mission Complete

2006-09-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Last evening, I finished DeAnn's sweater. Here are a couple of pictures. Hopefully, I'll have more soon on the intended model.

Now, I am back to my unraveling project. After I re-finish the blue sweater, I plan to disemble and reknit my sweater with the DNA cable down the front as a deep v-neck vest of sweater (still pondering) and refashion a sweater I made that connects ribs with yarn with a deeper crew neck line and a new technique at acheiving the same result. Pictures are forthcoming...

Nyago - My Knitting Kitty

2006-09-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

One of the most common props for kitty photography is yarn. I have experienced knitting with slobbery yarn after a friend's kitty became mesmerized by the yarn, and felt the need to punish it by taking a bite. But my cat, Nyago, prefers to sit on the arm of my chair and simply watch or fall asleep and eventually slip off the arm onto the floor.

I thought I'd take a picture of him with a ball of yarn, maybe incite some play, but he just looked at it and fell asleep.

Nyago is named for one of my other obsessions, which is now less of an obsession and more of a passing interest - Hello Kitty. Prior to adopting Nyago, we resolved (or maybe I resolved) that if we had a white cat, we'd name it Hello, and it we had a brown cat, we'd call it Choco. Hello Kitty's Japanese company has several characters, and Hello Kitty and Choco-Cat are the most common.

Then, we adopted an orange, tiger striped cat with an inch long stub tail. (He came that way - we did not do that for cosmetic purposes though it is pretty cute.) At the time, we remembered a sleeping Sanrio character that was orange with a short tail named Nyago (pronounced Nee-Ah-Go), and thus he was named. Now I understand that "nya" is similar to "meow" in Japanese...

In Tight Times - Unravel

2006-09-10T19:32:00.000-07:00

Phew! I finally finished the front on DeAnn’s sweater at about 8:00 am on Saturday morning. I woke on Saturday morning with an idea for felting my first sweater which is fun, but never really fit just right. It also occurred to me that I could make some significant changes to another sweater I made during my first year of sweater knitting (mistakes).

I knit a blue mistake rib raglan cardigan (too many descriptive words for a beginner) in a navy blue mix of alpaca, silk and merino wool. On my first go, I knit almost the entire body in the round before discovering that I had miscount my stitches when I cast on – not just a little bit, but a lot – 60 stitches off. I started over, and something went haywire in the shoulder/neck area, but I was too frustrated to do anything about it. Then, I did a poor job at the button band, so that my buttons were spaced in way that gave the impression that I placed them with my eyes closed. And I topped it off with an askew embroidered flower on both fronts.

Last spring, I spaced the buttons evenly and removed the horrendous embroidery job, but it still fit oddly about my shoulders and made me look quite dowdy. (See exhibit A below).

Exhibit A - I plan to drop the neckline too.

So, I woke yesterday morning with the resolve to unravel the top part, make it shorter, and make a more subtle crocheted button band. Here’s a picture of what I was left with after taking it apart.

Blake was upset again about me pulling this apart – he thinks it painful to see so much work come apart. I actually enjoy this part of the process though. It means I don’t have to buy more yarn and my disappointing sweater has a shot at a new life.

I read in a book called Vintage Knits that during World War II, many women unraveled their sweaters and reknit them to save money and stay fashionable. I’m mostly hoping to make my mistakes fashionable in the first place.

Medusa's Sweater, Another Unraveling

2006-09-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend, I started the front panel of DeAnn's sweater, which starts with ten green and brown cables and eventually whiddles down to two. I intended to do a mix of intarsia and fair isle technique. This requires putting together 10 different balls of yarns, and as expected tangles ensued and the sweater looked like it came forth from the detangling of medusa's hair. See below.

There is a way to avoid this: a bobbin for each yarn. I knew this, but persisted with my little knotted balls. After a day of battling the tangles, I finally had weaved in all the loose ends, looked down and noticed that two of the cables had been mis-crossed. I consulted with DeAnn's best friend and we concurred that it would drive me and DeAnn both mad, so I pulled the project apart and started over from the 4th row. Oh, and I bought some bobbins.

Here's a picture of the back two days later, all woven in...

Shaun the Sheep

2006-08-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

Right now, I am knitting the back of DeAnn's sweater in a brown stockinette stitch. I'll show you a picture when I'm done, but this part is pretty boring. I have a theory, at least with this sweater, that I want the visual interest on the front of the sweater and the rest of the piece should accent that, especially when working with a color like brown.

Today, I thought I would explain my icon or mascot, Shaun the Sheep.

Last year, Blake and I discovered a short film, called "A Close Shave" and its main characters, Wallace and Grommit. For the uninitiated, Wallace is an inventor, who constantly is in trouble with a malfunction on one of his machines. Grommit is his sidekick, a dog who spends his time fixing Wallace's inventions and knitting. All of the characters and sets are made of clay and filmed in stop time animation.

In the short film, "A Close Shave," Wallace sparks a romance with Penny, a yarn shop keeper and owner of a nasty dog. At the same time, local sheep are being lamb-napped from their farms, and an escaped, sheared sheep finds his way to Wallace's home and his prized Wensleydale cheese. They name him Shaun and Grommit knits him a sweater. Eventually, Grommit discovers that Penny's dog has been stealing the sheep and feeding them to his "mutton maker," a machine that produces dog food and yarn. Unfortunately, the dog frames Grommit for the crime and he goes to jail. With Shaun's help, Wallace exonerates Grommit and frees the sheep. Thereafter Shaun has been in many W/G productions, and he was only a minor obsession for me, until....

At the June Black Sheep Gathering, I saw a backpack in the shape of Shaun the Sheep. I lusted for it. Then I discovered that it was discontinued and only sold in Great Britain. Unfazed, I found one on Ebay and paid more for the shipping than for the bag itself. Bag in hand, a thought I hadn't considered before occurred to me: what am I going to do with a child's backpack?

And then with my blog, it gained a purpose - my mascot. Now I'm thinking about making it a sweater...

Adventures in Angoras: Washing the Fleece

2006-08-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

As you may have read, I recently visited a goat herdess, Isa, who generously introduced me to her animals and gifted me three bags full of fleece from three of her angora goats. This is something that still gets me: angora goats make mohair fleece. Why? To avoid confusing those who call the fleece of an angora bunny angora? Was this a who came first - the bunny or the goat issue?

I don't mean to insult angora bunnies which I'd happily have as my mascots as they look very much like six pound Ewoks.

I digress, again. Yesterday, I spent the afternoon washing and teasing the mohair. To do this, I turned the washing machine into a bucket of dirt, washing and washing and rinsing in hot, hot water to remove dirt and the remains of the goat's roll in a pile of nettles. Since this was my first time, I took a picture of the product.

Generally, this would be followed by a run through a drum carder or at least a hand carder (imagine complicated combs) to get the leftover debris out and make the fleece uniform to spin.

Blake was convinced this was a sound idea, which I agreed with in principle, but since I'd already spent my September budget on yarn, I didn't have the necessary $50 for a set of hand carders. I employed my hardy Baynes spinning wheel, teasing it out with my hands and spun away. This resulted in a rustic style yarn. I have a picture of a single ply on the bobbin, included here. I will probably spin the rest of this fleece in the same style, but in the interest of uniformity (very important for an obsessive compulsive knitter), I am going to wait to prep the next fleece until I retreive the necessary materials.

I Knit, I Unraveled, I Knit Again: Conquering the Green Sweater Beast

2006-08-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

Last evening, I finished adding the zipper again to Blake's green sweater, and miraculously, it fit beautifully! I insisted on pictures, here to the left. For interested knitters, the pattern is from the spring 2006 issue of Interweave Knits and is designed by the great Ann Budd.

Just in time too, as the yarn arrived for my Minnesota mother's birthday sweater, a vee neck sweater in brown and green merino yarn, with brown and green bi-color cables along the front. It's based on the bi-color pattern in Fall 2005 Interweave Knits with a lot of edits and changes.

The Green Sweater Saga Continues...

2006-08-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

As you may have read in my first entry, I made a lovely sweater for my darling hubby and it was too small, so I have unraveled the whole thing and started over. I am delighted to announce that I have almost reknit the whole sweater again - this time two sizes bigger. But...

I went to block the sweater last evening and noticed that one side looked a bit bigger than the other. See, there are ribs along both sides with knit stitches along the middle. It seems that the right side has one more rib than the left side. I think this sweater pattern may very well be cursed. How else could this happen twice?

I have decided to soldier on, maybe seaming in the wider side a bit. Blake's complaint was that the sweater was too small...

Adventures With Angoras

2006-08-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

Every year in the third weekend of June, my city hosts a festival for lovers of sheep, goats, spinning, knitting, weaving, pretty much any fiber art called the Black Sheep Festival. This is a special weekend with breeds of sheep and goats beyond your usual farm animals - jacob, shetland, navajo churro sheep - angora, cashmere, pygora goats. And fiber of every type. I save up every year for this occasion (or at least I should, truthfully there's a bit of living beyond my means).

This year, I saw Isa, a woman that I had seen for years out dancing, and discovered that she was an angora goat breeder and herder. Flash forward to this afternoon - I visited her farm and met her beautiful herd of colored angora sheep and their watchdog mastif, Sadie. Isa gifted me with a couple of bags of raw fleece that I can't wait to wash and spin.

Ah, I dream of owning a little hobby farm with a small spinners flock of around five to seven shetland sheep and possibly a couple of goats. For a couple of city kids like Blake and me, it makes me giggle that we dream of having a farm. More accurately, I dream of having sheep and Blake dreams of a barn big enough to store all his beer brewing equipment and a crop of hops. But lucky for us, both involve living on a farm, at very least in our imaginations.

Welcome to my digressions

2006-08-10T15:32:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my knitting diary!

Forgive the digression, but this experience of trying to create a personality via computer is actually slightly overwhelming. I remember attending the Bumbershoot Festival in Seattle a couple of years ago and participating in an exhibit about Barbie. I sat alone in a booth and told a story about a story a classmate had written about Barbie as art, where she dissected the doll and put the parts back together in a jumbled mess. I thought the story was quite interesting until I told it alone to a camera as people watched me on a screen outside the booth. It fell shamefully flat...

I digress, I digress... I knit, I knit...

I love to knit. I knit an average of about 4 hours everyday. Right now, I'm on a knitting mission. I knit my husband, Blake, a sweater this spring in a lovely heathered green. Unfortunately, I was overly optimistic to start with that he'd like the 39" size, and then I accidentally did the whole thing in the size smaller. I realized my mistake midway through the process and figured that I could fudge it when I blocked it.

It was beautiful on its own, but on Blake, it fit like a superhero's uniform. I was happy with this idea, but Blake wouldn't wear it. For about two months, I refused to face this, my optimism taking over. Then I took it back and unraveled the whole thing.

Now, I'm reknitting, but not regretting the first attempt. It's not really about the product for me. I like the rhythm of making stitches. I said I knit for 4 hours a day, but I don't ever just knit. I listen to the radio. I talk with my husband. I read magazines. I watch television and movies. I can justify any activity as productive with needles in hand...