Cottage46 Knitter

A surprising amount of progress

Especially since I don't feel like I've been knitting much at all.  Perhaps I finally have learned to knit in my sleep.  All my spare time seems to spent obsessively checking pollster.com and political blogs.  Election day cannot come soon enough.

I've finished one repeat of the 2nd chart on Oregon.  My Knit Picks #3 circular broke last night as I was spreading stitches out.  (!!!)  Saved by sticky Shetland wool.  The stitches were quickly recovered onto an Addi Turbo 40" needle which is actually working better because the KP was a 32".  It sounds a lot less dramatic than it seemed while it was happening. 

I started a stockinette v-neck cardigan adapted from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.  I'm using Stonehedge Shepherd's wool which is deliciously soft.  (Sorry, no links.  I've been editing an index all day and REALLY want to get to knitting.)  Anyway, it's navy blue, it's stockinette, boring but satisfying.

My meeting and webinar project has been this lovely pair of toe-up socks in Online Supersocke cotton.  Since Indiana revamped librarian certification, I've become a slave to LEUs (library education units), hence my attendance at lots of webinars.  I guess a lifetime certification for $1 with no continuing ed requirements was deemed insufficient. 

And I have a pair of 9 to 5 socks ready to start the heel.  These have completely stalled since I have 3 stockinette projects in active rotation and never really feel like concentrating on a heel.  Or even a heel flap. 

Here's Zoey willing the door to open so she can get back in on my chair where she belongs.  Between Zoey and my hormones, I am never cold.

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.

Baby, it's cold outside

I've been neglecting sock knitting for far too long.  So these helped me procrastinate on starting the moose sleeves.  They're for VK so it's OK to avoid his sleeves for his socks.

Pattern: generic toe up with 2x2 ribbing
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Moosecreek colorway
Needles: KP #2

I wound a hank of Socks that Rock Farmhouse colorway with my new Christmas swift.  I love yarn cakes.

I may be over hand-dyed yarns though.  I'm currently loving heathered yarns or more subtle colorways.

I'm planning to sew the sleeves into Rogue today and try my hand at this applied icord thing.  I still haven't purchased a zipper, mainly because I've never bought a zipper before and I'm not really sure what variables I need to consider.  I'm guessing length and color are crucial.  Anything else?

I don't normally mind cold weather, but this is a little ridiculous.  It's currently -2F/-19C with a -19F/-28C windchill.  I woke up this morning and ran to the bathroom to see if the pipes froze overnight.  They didn't!  Hallelujah!  It is a little eerie to see steam blowing off the lake though.  The dogs are finally learning to potty quickly when it's this cold.  When they were puppies, they'd stand out in the cold holding one paw up with a pitiful "My feet hurt but I don't know what to do" look on their faces.  Now they go out, get it done, and get back inside.  Good doggies.

Projects update

Well, I ordered another ball of Kauni for the neck and button bands.  Shelley at Fun Knits dug around until she found a ball with 2 full repeats of the red/purple/blue sequence.  So Kauni is just waiting for that to arrive.  I'm going to do the button band in the garter check stitch, but I'm not sure about the neck band.  I'm thinking that the garter check may not pull the neck in enough so I may do that in corrugated ribbing. 

My commute knitting has been a pair of Red Sox socks for a friend of VK's.  The red is Knit Picks Telemark and the white is from stash, probably Galway. 

I pulled out VK's Dale of Norway moose sweater.  I've knit about a dozen rows or so and now I'm ready to start the more complicated part. 

Since that's going to require concentration, I cast on for the Everyday Cardigan as a backup project.  I'm making it out of Alpaca with a Twist's Baby Twist that I got a deal on at my LYS. 

That's my update.  I've been able to get a surprising amount of knitting done in spite of having an indexing project.  This makes me glad.

VK went hunting a couple of weeks ago and he gave a goose wing to Zoey.  She carried it proudly around the yard as if she isn't the biggest baby in the world who quakes with fear when she hears fireworks. 

I need another distraction...

...like I need a hole in my head.  But this has not stopped me.  But at least I finished a pair of socks.

This is a Singer 503a from the early 60s, also known as the Rocketeer.  The lady that was selling it had several inquiries, but was waiting to sell it to someone who would love it.  Enter: me! 

So would you like to know how this little adventure started?  A couple of weeks ago I got an urge to sew.  Haven't sewed since jr. high, but whatever.  So my mom had bought an old Singer for me a long time ago at an auction.  I had stuck it in storage without even opening the case.   So when this urge hit, I got the machine out of storage and opened it up.  Turns out to be a lovely mocha-color Singer 301.  (Pictures to follow; it's at the repair shop getting rewired.) 

So being a librarian and wee bit obsessive, I start researching my treasure.  Joined all the vintage Singer yahoo groups, etc.  And then I start looking at other vintage Singers.  Also because I'm a wee bit obsessive, I became completely enamored with these machines!   So I went looking on Craig's List and found the Rocketeer.  It came with the cabinet and all the accessories.  I've been having a ball.  Row after row of parallel seams on scrap fabric.  Whoohooo!

So as I'm blabbing away about my apparent new hobby, VK mentions that his grandma's treadle machine is in the shed.  Well, what do you know?  We haven't dug it out yet.  It's been beastly humid.  But knowing that grandma's treadle machine is probably in bad shape, I've been reading up on restoration. 

Then I got this on eBay.  For $.50.  That's not a typo.  Fifty cents.  It's a local pickup which I haven't done yet, so I don't know much about it.  I think it's a model 66 from pre 1925-ish.  I'm pretty sure the cabinet is similar to the treadle machine that my grandma had, 4-drawers, no fancy carving. 

So this is why my only knitting progress is a pair of socks.  It's Socks That Rock, btw, in a 3x2 rib.  My Fir Cone Lacey cardigan is only in need of sleeves.  Oh, and to be ripped back to the bottom of the armholes.  :o<  Apparently shaping can be a little tricky with a lace pattern.  Who knew?

Oh, and I got yarn for the Kauni cardigan.  I think I have adult onset ADD.

New projects

Sometimes the best-laid plans get sidetracked by a trip to the LYS. 

Seriously, that mint green Cotton Fleece has been sitting on the shelf for a while.  And it's in a bin right next to the table where we sit and knit so it's not like I never saw it.  But Friday it just spoke to me.  And then I flipped through the patterns and the Fir Cone Lace Cardigan spoke to me too.  And look: I even did a swatch.  Progress is moving right along.  I've been in a migraine stupor all day (which is worse, the migraine or the side effects of the treatment?).  While a migraine stupor may not seem conducive to knitting progress, it does allow me to ignore anything else I should be doing.  So I guilt-lessly have spent the day in my chair with my laptop on the footrest, knitting and reading the paper.

The STR socks have made a little progress.  The colorway is Thistle.

I'm still working my way through the Righetti design book.  I'm just getting to the math part so I'll have to slow down and really absorb. 

I'm working on my last hat for Dulaan.  One year to make 5 hats and it comes down to the last 2 weeks.  Oy.

Here's what I've been up to

I've been too lazy to post, but I have been knitting.  In my defense, I've had a couple indexing jobs, one of which is a knitting book(!).  This is how far I got on the Embossed Leaves before the siren song of Koigu lured me away.

So I've been buzzing along on the Cable Rib socks, also from the Favorite Socks book.  It's my first Koigu and I'm duly impressed. 

  Two more hats for Dulaan too. 

Hang onto your hats, kids.  I've made swatches.  And. I. Washed. Them.  Astonishing, I know.  The sweater is Garnet from one of Elspeth Lavold's books.  I'd like to have it done by knitting camp which is exactly a month away.  I'm sure there are many knitters for whom this would be no big deal.  I'm probably not one of them.

The yarns are (l to r) Cotton Ease and Queensland Collection Hyacinth.  I'm going to use the Cotton Ease unless I change my mind again.  The Hyacinth is a little bit nubby and might look better with a different pattern.  The Cotton Ease has a little better definition. 

And of course there's been stash enhancement.  Two hanks of Brown Sheep Bearfoot.  Love this stuff.  Colorways are Larkspur on top and Moose Creek on the botton.  The Moose Creek is pretty true in the picture; the Larkspur is way better in real life. 

Speaking of mooses/moosi, the moose sweater is on summer hiatus.  I'm not sure if it's because it's getting warmer or because I just freak out when I do a big project and have to do other stuff. 

We went to our favorite greenhouse for our annuals tonight. 

Petunia and Fuchsia hanging baskets:

Pansies, gigantic marigolds, and I'm not sure what the little white and pink things are:

The kayaks are figuratively ready to go in spite of the bird poop all over them:

(Mine's the little one, of course)

Hey!  Have you checked out Ravelry?   It's genius.

Personal growth through knitting

These socks represent personal growth.  This is the third try at the short row heel.  Normally I don't forgo forward motion in my knitting for much of anything.  But as I've become a more mature knitter, I'm a little more willing to frog.  This heel I frogged twice.  I just wasn't getting the short row heel to look right.  There were holes.  I hate that.  And if I were a better blogger, I'd have thought to photograph said holes before frogging. 

Anyway, then I found this post by Misocrafty about how she picks up the wraps on her short rows.  Lo' and behold: no holes!   

And the other side:

I'm quite pleased with myself.

I finished the Norwegian hat for a friend of VK's.  I have a handy device for making lovely, uniform pompoms, but I couldn't find it.  So we have this rather pathetic pompom instead.  I have a heck of time getting pompoms to be tight against the hat.  This one wobbles around a bit, but I think it will be OK. 

 

I'm going to sign up for an online html and css class tomorrow.  As we all know, a little knowledge can be dangerous and that's exactly where I am.  I do the library's webpage on Frontpage, but I'd like to know how to do more. 

Gotta run!  Time for the traditional Sunday afternoon nap.