Yarn Rambles

Four Generations

Ok, I need to learn how to use the timer on my camera a bit better. The photo came out well but I didn't factor in my lack of height when I raced around to the back of the sofa.

Also, I should have taken time to pile up some skeins of yarn and projects-in-progress. It doesn't look like a knitter's house at all!

This weekend it is supposed to snow up at our house. Yes!! I'm thinking a big pot of soup and some homemade bread with lots of butter and jam. Good food for productive knitting. Nothing has changed much on my To Do list - baby blanket and Hurry Up Sweater. Very simple knitting for a calm, relaxed snowbound retreat from the world.

Patience is a virtue

Yes, I did go crazy taking photos over the Thanksgiving weekend. The downside is that it is taking me awhile to sort through them and choose the ones that are good enough for public consumption. Until then, meet Bob's mother, Muriel, who flew all the way from Philadelphia to spend time with Xena. Ok, she really came to meet her great grandson, Walter, but those photos are still being sorted. I did put a picture of Wally on the table next to her to keep her happy until the real thing arrived.

Tomorrow I will have the whole day to play with my photographic extravaganza. Don't worry I will spread it out over a couple of days!

Plans for Thanksgiving?

I probably have waaaay too many expectations for the next four days, but they are certainly making me smile. I'm sure I will easily be able to juggle cooking, eating, knitting and socializing! It is all going to be so much fun!

Master Walter is so popular that he has a rather full social schedule. He will be joining us on Friday for the weekend. The result is that we are going to have two Thanksgivings. Bob's mother will be arriving from Philadelphia on Thursday afternoon. Bless her heart, she is definitely getting along in years but is determined to meet Walter. Bob, Muriel and I will be at a friend's home for Thursday's meal. Besides doing a little bit of prep for our own Saturday Thanksgiving, I should have plenty of opportunities for knitting.

Friday, the second family wave arrives. I have some pleasant and simple meals planned so I should be able to enjoy the company as I work away on a project.

Saturday will be a bit busy what with the third wave of family joining the group. Breakfast? Baked French Toast. Lunch? Trader Joe's appetizers. Dinner? A full-blown Thanksgiving meal ending with Matt and Jessica's Apple/Cranberry pie. Yummm

Sunday everyone except Muriel will head home. I'm sure the three of us will be content to eat up some leftovers and watch a couple of movies.

What will I be knitting? I'm onto the third ball of yarn on the body of my Hurry Up Sweater. It is truly a joy to knit because you can see so much progress over small amounts of time. 

The Moderne Baby Blanket is coming along nicely! It is such a soothing project.

Xena is ready to head home to enjoy not one, but two!!! days of turkey!

Sign of Age - It's not wrinkles, it's Excel spreadsheets

It used to be that I could manage Thanksgiving dinner without a moment's concern. These days, like many other activities that I no longer take for granted, the idea of orchestrating a tradition laden meal is daunting. This year, we have a full house for the whole weekend so I was having a bit of a melt-down.

Last week, I worked out a menu of offerings for each day which went a long way towards easing my anxiety. Yesterday I had a moment of inspiration. I spent the evening setting up an Excel spreadsheet that is going to make everything a simple job. I listed out all the ingredients organized by recipe, day and time. Anything I already have at home was left off the list. The categories are -

Recipe
Source (Where is the recipe)
Item (to buy)
Amount (for the recipe)
Store (which store for shopping)
Type (Store or Fresh)
Day (Day I will be serving the recipe)
Time (Time of day - breakfast, lunch, dinner)

Once I was finished, I set up a second Excel sheet and sorted everything by "Store" - things I could buy today and could be stored until next weekend - and "Fresh" - things that need to be picked up next Wednesday. A sub-sorting by ingredient gave me a lovely shopping list. Whew! No need to tax my rather feable memory capabilities. Before you start thinking I am completely nuts to go through this exercise, let me remind you that I live half an hour from the nearest grocery store. So, once the gang is settled up in our home, no one is going to want to run out for a missing pint of whipping cream. :)

Tomorrow I am going to spend most of the day listening to Eat, Pray, Love while I clean up the house and organize all the table settings and decorations. Once again, an audio book serves as the carrot to get me to do necessary chores. A modern version of Mary Poppin's trick of using a little bit of sugar to help the medicine go down. Sunday - knitting and editing the delightful interview I had this week with Laurie Perry (Crazy Aunt Purl). Her book, Drunk, Divorced and Covered in Cat Hair is an inspirational read. That will be my podcast to go up the Friday after Thanksgiving.

Another argument for knitting in the round

You can try on your sweater as you go!

In fact, in The Sweater Workshop, Jacqueline Fee encourages it.

I love the way my sweater is sitting nicely on my hips. Not too baggy but still over-sized. The seed stitch hem looks good. I've already added one set of short-rows in the back and will add a second in a couple more inches so that I won't have issues with the back creeping up on me.

All you need to do is run a long piece of scrap yarn through the stitches. I've had to start over on several sweaters at this stage but it is certainly better than having to rip out an entire sweater!

How to knit a swatch hat

First, I can't take any credit for this idea. It is the very first thing you learn in The Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmermann. It's her way of getting rid of the attitude that knitting a gauge swatch is a waste of time. This way, you end up with a usable item.

You start with a 16" circular needle in the size you think you will be using for your sweater. Cast on enough stitches to fit around it quite comfortably. If you are planning on a ribbing at the bottom of your sweater, be sure the number of stitches are divisable into the ribbing pattern - 4 stitches, for example, in a K2P2 ribbing.

Knit about two inches of ribbing. Work one round of stockinette incorporating increases making an increase every four stitches. Count the stitches to see if you have a number divisable by 7. If not, use the second round of stockinette to add the number you need. Continue on knitting stockinette rounds. Here is where I often mess-up my hat and the one for my Hurry Up Sweater is no exception. You would be surprised just how tall your head is from the bottom of your ear to the crown of your head before you begin decreasing. See how my hat is a bit short? I should have continued on for at least two more inches before I began the decreasing.

After I knit about 4 inches of stockinette, I transfer the stitches onto a scrap piece of yarn and "try it on". Yes, you would think that with this step my hat wouldn't end up short but I think I tend to not pull the "hat" far enough down over my ears.

Once you are content with the length, you can begin decreasing. I work a round of K5, K2tog. That is basically working a repeat of seven because you are knitting stitches 6 and 7 together. Next knit a plain round. Then K4, K2tog (knitting stitches 5 and 6 together). And a plain round.

Keep repeating the decrease and plain rounds until about half of the original stitches have been eaten up with decreases. By now you will have to be using DPNs or two circular needles or one Magic Loop (long circular needle). You will need to work decreases every round now. If you were to continue alternating the decrease rounds, the top of your hat would be pointy. By working decreases in every round for the second half of decreases, the top will lay flat on your head. When you do the last decrease, you will have only a few stitches left. Break the yarn and use a blunt needle to run it through those stitches and pull them up together tightly.

Wash your swatch hat and let it dry. Now you can use it to measure your gauge for your sweater.

Look who's wearing his kimono!

Absolutely adorable! The only change I would make would be to use a crocheted button hole edging from 150 Crochet Trims. I think it would be easier to have a line of holes to use for the button rather than just the one I left in the i-cord border.

And, then there's Grandpa!

And, Mom!

Jessica introduced me to a new method for calming a fussy baby. Apparently, babies enjoy the feeling of being bounced. This big red ball makes it easier to bounce a baby. Walter was asleep in about two minutes. Matt's technique is to strap Walter to his chest in a carrier so that he can play video games as he bounces. Early male bonding?

No podcast this week - So sorry!

Jury duty has wreaked havoc with my schedule this week. I was able to keep up with e-mail and blogging but the podcast never had a chance.

The only knitting I managed to accomplish was an odd project that I have wanted to make for a long time. Yet again, Mason Dixon Knitting has found a place in my heart. The pattern calls for a basic cotton yarn but I wanted to give it a try with Cotlin. I also wanted to make a sturdy washcloth that would stand up to a lot of use - either in the shower or in the kitchen.

I used my ball-winder to strand two strands of Cotlin together in order to make it easier to knit with them. I then knit with one "ball" of Linen and one "ball" of Key Lime. I am so happy with my Ball Band Warshcloth! And, I have enough yarn left over to make a second one. The finished warshcloth is luxuriously thick and the bit of linen gives it a decadent feel. It was very quick and easy to knit! May be a good idea for Christmas presents wrapped around a fancy bar of soap.

A pleasant Sunday

Most of the posts this week are going to be behind schedule since my jury duty on Monday and Tuesday. I spent most of last Sunday happily pottering around with my knitting.

First I wound up my yarn for the Hurry Up Sweater. Then I gathered up a few project carriers and started organizing. I got rid of the leftovers from my Moccasin Socks so I could us the bag for my Hurry Up Sweater. I set up my first Yarn Band washcloth and put it into a chocolate brown Total Tote. It is going to be my Carry Around project for awhile. I have a pair of socks ready in a Go Knit Pouch.

All of this fiber play actually took several hours! What a surprise because the time flew.

Jury Duty vs. Hurry Up Sweater

Unfortunately, our court house does not allow knitting needles. Quite frustrating because I had an exceptionally productive weekend. I finished off the Swatch Hat and gave it a bath. After it was dry, I measured my gauge and it was 2.5 stitches/inch. Just what I wanted!

As I knit the hat, I remembered something I always forget every time I strand two yarns together. DO NOT start off with the two balls seperately. I ended up spending a fair amount of time untwisting the balls. The key is to combine the yarns into one ball of yarn and then knit from the one ball. That is what I did Sunday morning. I put the Cadena skein on my umbrella swift and laid the ball of Wool of the Andes on the counter.

I wound up three balls figuring that would keep me happily knitting for a few hours. I am quite pleased with the way these yarns are working together. And, it is going to be much easier to knit with them already together.