Cottage46 Knitter

I do love spring

Because we get to see the heron.  Here he is sitting on the end of our dock.  This could be one of many herons of various genders, but we choose to think it's just one and he's a guy.



And we have the obligatory flower shots.  Note that there is only one overwhelmingly purple shot.  Personal growth, I say.



I got to spend the entire day at a budget workshop today.  Oy.  These things generally cover the same thing from year to year.  But we had a lot of legislative changes this year, so I went.  It's broadcast over the web so while you can hear the speaker, you can only see the power point presentation on the screen.  The exact same one I have printed out right in front of me.  We also got to hear lots of loud paper russling (sp?) in the microphone.  Sheer bliss, let me tell you. 

The upshot however is hours of nearly uninterrupted knitting time.  I had about half an inch of this sock started last night.  The rest I did today during the workshop.  On #0s.



Progress on St. Brigid continues.  It goes very smoothly once the first repeat is under your belt.  I have decided to change it to have set in sleeves.  I've never done anything remotely like this, so prayers would be appreciated.  I had seen a couple with set in sleeves on Ravelry so I PMed Larisa (whose St. Brigid is gorgeous) and she sent me a link to a wonderful series of Jenna Wilson articles on Knitty about set in sleeves. 



And Sitcom Chic #2 is done except for blocking and the cool spiral clasp that I'm waiting for.  This one doesn't fit quite as well as the first one.  Something is a little different about the neckline.  But I still like it.  I hope the clasp comes soon.  It's going to be too hot to wear it soon.



I watched the PBS documentary about FDR over Memorial Day weekend.  I just love that guy.  He's always been my favorite president, faults and all. There were wonderful video shots of him laughing and playing with kids in the pool at Warm Springs.  And one 4-second shot of the "walk" that he developed with braces on his legs and holding the arm of one of his sons.  To think that if his paralysis would have been known he wouldn't have been elected.  But it was the experience of polio that made him the perfect president to lead the country through the Depression and WWII. 

Then I happened to watch the Waltons episode that had FDR's death.  At the end, the Waltons all go to Charlottesville before dawn to watch the train carrying FDR's body back to Washington go by.  His casket was in the last car, the only car lit, with four soldiers standing guard around the casket. 

I don't know what my point is here other than that they just don't make presidents like they used to.

New WIPs and St. Brigid yarn

Sitcom Chic #2 is coming along nicely.  I have one sleeve done and the other one is about halfway.  I ordered a sweater clasp for it instead of a button, but it hasn't arrived yet.

I went on a little cast on binge at knitting group.  First, Lupine Lace socks from Fiber Trends in ONline Supersocke cotton.

And then Branching Out from Knitty in Dream in Color Smooshy.

I haven't touched either project since then.

My St. Brigid yarn arrived!  It's Cascade 220 Heathers, Colorway 9463.  It's a little less pinkish than shown in the picture.  More burgandy.

Although it was in the house all last weekend, I did not touch it until my Economics index was done.  So I wound all 10 hanks last night and Actually. Swatched.  Got gauge with #5s and happily cast on, carefully placing my stitch markers between cable sections.  On the first row I realized that there 2 sections where I hadn't cast on enough stitches. Duh. So I ripped it out and will try again tonight.  Evidently it takes at least 2 tries for a 5-years-of-knitting-experience knitter to cast on the right ^&$*!%& number of stitches.

I also picked up another hank of Smooshy.  The colorway is Pansy Golightly.  I love that.

Brigitte tagged me for a meme!  (Appropriate to be tagged by Brigitte on my first St. Brigid post.)

 

The rules: Posted at the beginning. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer. Play nice, children.

 

1. What was I doing 10 years ago? Hmmm... working at the same library, but as a part-time circulation clerk. And commuting 3 hours round trip to Kalamazoo's Western Michigan University for my history masters.  Glad gas wasn't $4 a gallon then.

 

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list today - in no particular order? Cast on the appropriate number of stitches for St. Brigid, run library payroll, read some more of People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (great writer, great book), avoid the chocolate cake in the staff lounge, pick up some groceries.

3. Snacks I enjoy - potato chips, popcorn (not microwave), pretzels, really anything covered in salt.

4. Places I've lived -Indiana and Michigan.  Well that's just sad.

5.  Things I would do if I were a billionaire - Set up various friends and family for life, travel, add a few hundred square feet to the cottage, adopt several children, try to reduce the number of kids in the world who starve to death or die of stupid treatable disease.

 

6. Peeps I want to know more about - Skipping this one since most knitters have been tagged by the time I get around to doing memes.

Monday is Memorial Day in the U.S.  I'm looking forward to a 4-day weekend.  (I see no reason to work Friday.)  It's supposed to be in the upper 70s which will be nice since it's been pretty cool.  Sunday will be the running of the Indy 500.  This is the only car race that we watch and we both get weepy when they sing Back Home Again in Indiana.  "When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash, then I long for my Indiana home."

There will be much knitting and reading; hopefully we'll get the kayaks in the water too.

Cables, I need cables

Progress is flying along on Sitcom Chic.  One more row to the eyelet detail. 

I have 4, no, make that 5, cable sweater patterns I want to get started on/get back to working on.  I've taken FLAK out of the deep dark cave it has been in.  Managed several rows of sleeve.  It's Elann Peruvian Highland wool on size 5 needles which makes a nice, dense fabric, but after a few rows it feels like I'm wrestling with the stitches. 
St. Brigid: yarn is on order, Cascade 220 in a blue/purple heather
Fulmar: stash dark blue Frangipani
Must Have: thought I'd do it in stash Paton's Classic Wool, now I'm debating about maybe doing it in a cotton blend, maybe Cotton Ease?
Spring Forward: Planning to order some TLC Cotton Plus as soon as I get my next indexing check. 

Current sock projects are also cables, strangely enough.  Celtic Braid in the fabulous Smooshy:

And some Knit Picks Gloss for Clessidra:

I'm not sure if I have startitis or plannitis.  Thoroughly enjoying myself either way.

Book review!
I just picked up a copy of The Ultimate Sock Book.  Exceeded expectations.

There's an interesting chapter on sock knitting history, not as indepth as some other sources, but interesting.  The section about knitting during wartime has some wonderful reproductions of postcards used to encourage women to knit socks for soldiers during WWI.  It includes a German postcard which I'd never seen an example of before. 

The next chapter is basic techiniques: cast ons, working with DPNs, decreasing, short rows, kitchener, etc.  A new sock knitter would really appreciate the anatomy of a sock chapter.  Good detail about sock construction with helpful pictures.  Wish I'd have had this when I learned socks.  My first pair were just pathetic. 

There's a chapter on designing socks which includes how to take measurements, how to choose yarn with a great chart with specs on various yarns, a universal sock calculator chart, and universal toe up and top down patterns.   There's also a chapter of stitch patterns that will work well with socks including some colorwork patterns. 

The second half of the book is patterns.  I see several that I want to knit up.  There are patterns by sock gurus Cat Bordhi, Nancy Bush, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, and other designers who are probably sock gurus that I'm not familiar with.  (Sorry for the preposition ending sentence.)  The Meg Swansen Arched Shaped Socks are here which I find fascinating (but apparently didn't photograph).  There's an argyle pattern which I think is still part of the TKGA Master knitter level 2 requirements.  It's a nice mix of cable, lace, colorwork and ribbed patterns. 

I ordered it thinking I could donate it to the library if I didn't like it.  I'm keeping it which is high praise from this librarian.  (Since I'm at a library every day, I have considerably less need to own them myself unless I'll really use it a lot.)

A sampling of the patterns that I'll be knitting eventually:

Could this dog's life be any better?  No, I don't think so either.