Multiplying projects

Here I sit, innocently working away on my Master Knitting project, teaching my children, learning about poetry right along with them, editing (on page 196 of 420!) and what does my knitting basket do? It acquires more projects!My camera batteries are getting weak, which results in fuzzy photos, but a fuzzy picture is better than no picture, so here goes! In the top of my basket (for photos only) is a little cable, the start of http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/PATTcoronet.html . I've added it to my basket so that when the WTKnitters group gets started on the February Learn-along, learning provisional cast-on, cable, kitchner, picking up stitches along and edge, and how to work with dpns, I will have a clue as to what the pattern is all about.Next in the basket is a semi-finished object, a simple hat in k4 p4 ribbing using one skein of Noro Kureyon. Unfortunately, it's a bit loose and a bit short (owing to my desire to finish the hat and see if it was long enough, as opposed to knit the hat to specifications and run out of yarn. I will have the recipient try it on for size, and either get a new skein and rip to the decrease point (a whopping 9 rows) or else rip the whole thing and knit it with 8 less stitches, thus getting enough yarn for the extra length. It is loose, so this is a definite option.
And on the bottom of my photogenic basket is The Sweater. It's moving right along, and either today or tomorrow I need to carve out some serious Design Time in order to plot what will happen to it above the armholes, which are in just a few flecks away. I'm not sure it's possible, but it seems that I may finish the sweater before March.The piece of paper in my basket is a reminder that Friday is Stash Clean-up Day (according to the Knitter's Review 2006 Calendar) and that my daughter and I are going to knit dishcloths out of stash yarn to commemorate the event. The coronet yarn comes from my stash as well, which means that half of my projects on the needle come from stash yarns! Is anyone else destashing this week?

Knitting Olympics?

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee thought of having Knitting Olympics this year during the same time as the Winter Olympics. My first thought was, 'Oh, the Olympics are this year?' I'd love to participate, but I'm not going to for two reasons. First off, I don't have a clue what would be a reasonable challenge to start and finish within 16 days. And secondly, I am going to be working on a sweater during that time frame. If the time frame lines up, I might see if A Sleeve would be something I could do in those 16 days.

With the exception of editing 200 pages (I'm looking at page 43 right now), my goals are all met. I wrote all the letters I wanted to, finished a sock (two socks, actually), finished up a skein of black this afternoon, kept up with Bible Study, and called to make a doctor's appointment. The doctor doesn't have his schedule in the computer yet, so we don't have an appointment, but I did try. School is moving along nicely - we did couplets today - the house is presentable, laundry is done, and no one is starving. It's been a good week.

The socks are from the Winter 2005 IK, and I like them. I will probably make them again in a slightly heavier yarn (I got 175 m/50 grams Rowan Wool 4-ply instead of 175 yds/50 g Koigu) and smaller needles. They're just a bit too large for me.

And the sweater. I have finished the ribbing - all 2 1/2 inches of it - and moved into the colorwork. My fingers are happy, and it's going well. There was a slight hitch when I got my latest package from KnitPicks with my size 2 Addis in it. They're not standard US size 2! Ah well, at least I realized it before I started knitting with them and got an odd gauge. I'm using my trusty Boye Needlemaster set, and the stitches are sliding along nicely. I'm not too sure if I like the little bitty triangles under the zig zags, but I also didn't want long floats there ... so they'll do. After the snowflakes comes the lice pattern, and I should have at least a week of knitting that before I need to make up my mind about the chest patterning.

Along with yarn and needles, I also got Sensational Knitted Socks, and am wondering which sock I will make first. Probably something stranded, since it is winter here, and my toes are cold. Except stranded socks aren't as easily carried around, and by the time I get ready to start them, it will probably be a lot warmer. Gotta get that hat / tea cozy / dishcloth / cowl done first!

Back to proofing ...

Hat done, new projects begun!

Tah-dah! The cable hat is finished, and I even kept coherent enough notes that I was able to reconstruct the pattern from them. It took a draft or two, but the pattern is written, and just needs a bit of i-dotting and t-crossing before I will put it in its page protector, ready for submission.

Since the hat is finished, and I've done sufficient swatching for my sweater, I of course had to begin another project to while away the time while my sweater yarn is in transit. I decided against washcloths, and am working on the Embossed Leaf Socks from Interweave Knits Winter 2005. I'm using Rowan 4-ply wool on size 3 needles (instead of Koigu on size 2) and I like them very much. I hope to finish sock #1 today, and get started with sock #2. It has the oddest tubular cast on I've ever seen. So odd that I wonder why it's called tubular.

Proofs of the next workbook arrived today, so I'll be beginning the proofing process after I finsh off the rest of today's to-do list. And as well as proofing, I will be constructing an answer key. I will have plenty of things to do in the next few weeks, giving me lots of practice in using my time wisely and well.

Goals for this week: Finish sock. Start sweater. Use up one ball of black yarn. Proof 200 pages of workbook. Keep up with Bible Study. Get caught up on writing letters to friends (a letter a day will do it!) and make a doctor appointment. (Oh, and homeschool, sleep, eat, clean house, and practice piano too. Lots of room for time management. And that doesn't count e-mail.)

The Joy of Knitting

The hat is moving along nicely. I thought today might see it finished, but my hands got a bit tired of wrestling with the 16" circulars, and I'm almost done - the next row starts my decreases, so I've about 12 rows to go, period - and since I really will need to order more yarn before really diving into the sweater ... well, I made a sweater swatch.

But before I did that, I made lots of small tables and colored many more small cells. Then I made copies of those tables, and pasted them all over the place. And moved them to better places. And changed them. Thank goodness for computers! Then, once I had a reasonable number of potential patterns to swatch, I had to decide how to swatch. Of course, I needed to swatch in the round. Why ever would I swatch with two colors otherwise? But maybe, just maybe, I could turn the swatch into two Norwegian socks? Why not? (Because sanity prevailed, that's why) So I cast on 60 stitches, did a rib for as little as I thought I could get away with, and started to Knit. With small yarns. And small needles (5" long 2 US, to be precise.) It was sheer bliss. Small yarns are good. Small needles are good. And the two together are what I was meant to knit, unless I need to have something done by yesterday. Then larger yarns on medium needles are warranted. But otherwise, I think I could cheerfully live with fingering yarn or smaller. The drape. The feel. The smell. Aaaaah.

Of course, one is supposed to *wash* a swatch before measuring it. Or at least get it off the needles. I couldn't resist, though, and a quick inaccurate check showed I'm right around my target gauge of 8 spi. The nice thing about designing a sweater is being able to work with whatever gauge I get, rather than 'get gauge. Or else.' I like how the tube looks, and ... it even fits as a sock! I stuck the stitches on a piece of scrap yarn (from the hat, where else?) and gave it a quick soak, press, and am letting it dry. Tomorrow I will measure it, and start calculating how many stitches my sweater needs where ... then comes plotting out which designs go where, and then comes the knitting! But perhaps not in that order. Once I figure out that the sweater needs, say, 352 stitches at the chest, I can easily cast on 316 for the rib and start knitting. For at least 2 hours, and then I'll run out of black yarn and have to order more. Sniff. Another yarn order. I'll have to be very careful about dyelots, though, because both the yarns that I used in the swatch were labelled 'Black.'

Designing the Hat

Well, the Sample Hat is finished, or at least as finished as it is going to get. When I began it, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a sample or not. By the time three inches had past, it was officially declared a Sample, and that gave me all sorts of freedom to goof, experiment, make unorthodox fixes, etc. As you can see in the pictures, I ditched one of the motifs I was planning on using, and brought in another one halfway through the hat. Then came the experimenting with decreases, and experimental finish. The hat is going to get frogged completely once I get the Official Submittable Piece of Perfection knit. It's got some ugly spots.














This afternoon has been spent with InDesign's table function, drawing cables and the like in small boxes. I'd rather be knitting. I think now is the time to write the pattern, though, so that I can knit from the pattern (gasp) and make any corrections if I find something is wrong. Now that I've got the basic patterns down pat - an invented 7 stitch x 6 row twisted lattice pattern, and a 17 stitch x 30 row cable bobble moss stitch pattern, I think everything else should go smoothly. All I need to do is start writing, and redo the top of the cable graph to show decreases.

Sigh. The hat is snug on Abigail and myself, but I think that any normal human knitting it on size 4 and 6 needles will come up with something an inch or two larger around than I did, so that's okay. Plus, the hat can be for a child. And you know, I never really counted how many stitches I had to begin with anyways. I was supposed to have 120, but I'm not sure if I did. And since it was a sample, I decided not to stop and count. Must be my bad attitude towards processes showing.

Due to car troubles (not ours) my afternoon of delightfully designing a Norwegian sweater evaporated. But in about 30 minutes, we're going to head over to the troubled car's home complete with yarn bins and books, and I'll have an evening of delightful sweater planning.

Then comes writing the directions. I would much rather calculate and knit than write directions. While I was looking for a Dale of Norway leaflet (unsuccessfully, it must be at my mom's house ... I was there when I finished the project, and we hadn't closed on our house yet), I found an old piece of paper in a 1986 Threads magazine. It has a very rough drawing of a sweater, with jottings indicating that the sleeve length is 18", the cuff circumference 9 1/2, armhole opening 9" high, 12 1/2" from armhole to hem, 40" around, 6" wide neck opening, with a dip of 2 3/4" in the front. It says also that 7 st x 8 st = 1", 300 for body, 264 for ribbing - tan + b grn gry b grn gry) 30 st ptrn, 180 rows 12 repeats, 100 rows to armpits, 30- subtr. blank column divider. 32x15 wide, p. 103 #2 and p. 103 #5. And from that, the sweater was knit. If I am interpreting the colors correctly, it's one that I gave to Luke Gilbert when he was in 5th grade in Tbilisi, and I have no pictures of it. I still have some of the b, but the grn got all used up in a pair of mittens, along with the gry. And I could reknit it today from those directions. Why would anyone want more? Shouldn't it be obvious that the page references go to The Complete Book of Traditional Fair Isle Knitting? (and that the sweater was Fair Isle?) And that the colors are blue, green, gray, and tan, from Harrisville Design's Shetland yarns, colors available in 1992? Probably not. But that is the sort of jotting I will do before my Norwegian sweater, and then it will get turned into an official sounding pattern.

Back to writing an official hat pattern.

Real vs. Fake knitting

I think I must be a product knitter rather than a process knitter. I dutifully worked on designing my Aran hat today, working cable swatches to determine all sorts of things about them, and felt the urge to do some Real Knitting. I wanted to go get some sock yarn and tiny needles, and start knitting something real. Swatches are well and good, but they are not Real Knitting. They don't end up as something other than a swatch. Especially if one is working on worsted acrylic yarn (to use up stash yarns) and getting 5 stitches per inch ... it has more of a claw than a hand. My daughter said "Ewwww. This feels waxy." But thank goodness, I am finished swatching. (I pray that I have swatched well enough and thought well enough that I won't go back to swatching in a day or two.) I abandoned the wrap-around-the-head cable (6 inches was a bit wide for a panel) and am doing a normal brim to top construction. And I've got the first 7 inches or so of the hat firmly planned out. At that point, I will do some more thinking about decreases. I got started with my Real Knitting (and not on socks, either) and am ribbing my way through my cast-on row. Twisted rib, which I keep forgetting and having to go back and fix those knit stitches.

My daughter, bless her large pointed needles (she's 15 1/2 inches into that mock turtleneck, working on size 15 needles with Super Chunky Woolease), found a source for the one question in my MK work that I could not. Nor could our local yarn store. We *knew* the answer, but finding a source in print was another matter. Fortunately, Teen Knitter's Club had the answer, and my daughter was reading the book while she was knitting. (Like mother, like daughter.) We're both happy campers.

No new pictures for my blog today, but if you'd like to see the Christmas stocking my mom made for a very special grandson of hers, you can go to my Yahoo Photos and take a peek in the January folder.

I am so glad to be finally knitting something real. So happy, in fact, that I'm going to head right back to it.

Note to Denise: January 27th is Stash Clean-up Day. Make plans now! Our plan is to make a pair of slippers from my stash. Dd will knit one, I'll knit the other.

It's the eighth day of Christmas

and I didn't take a single picture of my knitting to put on the blog. Today was a good day to do other things ... tax preparation, finding my desk, laundry, bake bread, clean bathrooms ... those things which don't really fit well into periods of intense knitting. I do, however, have some pictures of my daughter's knitting (except for the hat and striped sock, which do happen to have come off of my needles, but they're not the point of the picture.)

First, Julia models her fashion cardigan, knit in a lime green sportweight with a dark green collar. This was my daughter's first shaped garment, and we're quite pleased with how it turned out. Especially since it was designed for a 19" doll, and Julia is an 18" doll. The hat she is wearing is a modified pillbox design that I came up with today. After I finish this entry, I'm off to try another design.

Here, you see my daughter's first slipper. She started it on New Year's Eve, and finished it this morning. The mate for it was finished shortly before supper. Obviously, she did not particpate in my non-knitting day. She starts back up with schoolwork shortly, and while I can knit while she does worksheets, she can't (although she'd love to try), so I let her devote the day to her yarns.

That's about it. I am going to be diddling with hat designs for the next few days as I attempt to come up with something that will fit an adult head, be an appropriate showcase for a wide cable wrapping around the head, and have sufficient room left for bobbles and two other stitch patterns. I'd rather be knitting socks but those will come soon enough if I'm good and pretend to be a designer for a while. If I can't come up with a suitable hat 'framework' I can always do a standard brim to top cap. Or - horrors - maybe I'll end up making an Aran sweater instead, and I can design a Fair Isle tammy! Not that Aran sweaters are bad things, but I'd rather knit stranded than cable, and sweaters tend to be significantly larger than hats. Should have written down the directions for the Aran I invented in Tbilisi, then I'd be a step ahead of the game. It would need reknitting is something other than Soviet-era wool-cotton-bramble mix, however.

Tomorrow we're off to town to go hunting for some Super Bulky Chenille for my daughter's next project, a mock turtleneck.

Knitting Small Diameter Openings Mutterings

As a rule, I don't have long double pointed needles or short circumference circular needles. So when I began knitting the neck ribbing for the vest, I was faced with a problem. Do I work on my 4 7" dpns and drop stitches every time I look away from my knitting? Or do I use the shortest cable in my Boye Needlemaster Set (which has served me faithfully and well since 1985) and end up with a size 4 US (3.5 mm) hole in my right index finger? My finger took a month or two to heal from working the Rocky Vest back in April with those same needles. I grimaced, and decided to carefully work the 9 rows of ribbing and do a nifty sewn bindoff, eliminating the need to suffer through 9 more rows of enlarging the hole in my finger.

The sewn bind-off, however, did not cooperate, and provided its own frustrations. Once I graciously gave in to defeat on the matter of bind-off and settled in to knitting nine more rows of Small Diameter Opening, decided to try the Magic Loop method, which I've heard about only by name, on my Addi Turbos. Which, by the way, I got for 8.95 from my LYS back in 1994. Wouldn't it be nice if you could get Addi Turbos for that price now? But back to my story. I worked a row or two with the Magic Loop method, or at least what I came up with, and my index finger liked it, but it was slow. So I tried using 2 circulars, with one Addi and one Boye. That worked pretty well, especially after I switched to my longest Boye cable. It was still annoying, though. I'm not sure, though, if I want to give in a buy a mess of 16" needles in my usual sizes.

Last night found me knitting some Very Small Diameter Openings, of the sort I wouldn't even think about trying to fit on a 16" needle. Glove fingers! I didn't want to use my metal dpns, since there'd only be 3-4 sts on a needle and that would be a recipe for losing dpsn. And I wasn't about to drive 20+ miles on New Year's Eve to a closed LYS to get some birch needles. I decided to try double knitting. Of course, I decide to try this at someone else's house, far from my handy dandy knitting books and internet access. One of the things about being a fearless knitter, though, is trying to do things (like magic loop and 2 circs) that you only know of by name, and maybe a two sentence description. Double knitting worked out wonderfully for the mitten fingers. So much so that I even tried it for the thumb of the next mitten today, as I've misplaced the 4th dpn. I hope to find it in the car, but if not ... oh dear, that means I'll have to get a set of Brittany Birch to replace it. Rats.

I hope to finish the second mitten tonight - just the fingers and ends are left - and tomorrow, maybe attempt to find my house. My desk is due for a good decluttering, which is always fun. I like cleaning off my surroundings of accumulated clutter before I start a new project. And I've got two of them! The first is the cable hat (and sweater) and the second is the start of the new school year.

My daughter has been knitting up a small storm over the holidays. Yesterday she finished a cardigan for her 18" doll, and started up on some slippers. I'll have to get some pictures taken of the cardigan! Her next project, after slippers, is the mock turtleneck from Teen Knitting Club. Chenille! At her age, I had no idea chenille yarns existed.

'Tis the Fifth Day of Christmas

and as some observant people have noticed, I did not blog on the fourth day. That was because a certain vest was proving recalcitrant and I spent 2 hours trying to realize my plan for a neck bind off. A good chunk of that was spent unpicking my first few tries. By the end of the evening, I was not speaking to the vest (but I was muttering about it a good deal) and so I decided not to reward the cantankerous thing with a picture in my blog. One of the good things about yesterday - and there were quite a few, actually, just nothing pertaining to finishing the vest's neck edging - was that I started my next project, a pair of mittens.

Yesterday I finished the patterned knitting of the vest, sewed the steeks, sliced the steeks open with blantant disregard for the integrity of my yarn, learned that to havea perfect 'meet' at the seam, I'll need to work half a pattern row before doing a 3-needle bind-off, and worked on the neck until I got sick of it.

Today, I conquered the neck, began and finished the nicely cooperative armholes. I'm going to save the Weaving of the Ends (not too many) for tomorrow. And who knows how far I'll get on the mittens! (First, *I* have to figure out which Fair Isle pattern I'm going to use on the cuff. So many choices, so few mittens...)


Despite the fact that all I've been talking about lately is knitting, I do have some children. They are very good about me being occupied during school vacation, and rarely remind me that they're bored and have nothing to do. It's counterproductive to be bored when one's room could use a good cleaning. And if there's fresh snow outside, well, then ... make snow forts while the weather is cold!

I have an important knitting lesson for those of you who knit. I'm sure you've heard it said many times (or at least read it) that you should always check your dyelots, and buy enough of a single dyelot to finish your project. But have you ever noticed a difference in dyelots? Excluding hand dyed yarns, of course? I never have. I've run into problems when I try to order more yarn 10 years after getting the first bit of yarn in a freebie bag from someone emptying their closet, and finding the company is closing out that style and only has two colors left, but actual dyelots problems? No. Not me. Not until ....
Look carefully. You will see that these two balls of Palette yarn are black. One is dyelot 3753, and the other is dyelot 4320. Can you see the difference between the dyelots? I thought so. I will be *very* careful, especially when using the ball on the left, to get the same dyelot if I need more of that shade of black.

Other knitting musings. The neck on my newly finished vest looks awfully small. I was all prepared to be smug about following EZ's directions to a T (so far as her directions are that precise), and not trying to follow the 45 degree angle of the pattern lines, which would give a short choppy neck ... but what did I end up with? A short, choppy neck. It fits very nicely over my husband's head, so I'm not concerned with it not fitting. But ... it just looks tiny. The next time I make a vest in this gauge, I think I'll start the neck shaping about 10 rows before finishing the sleeve shaping (sorry, Elizabeth). There's also the matter of picking up stitches along the edge. Typically, you pick up 4 stitches for every 3 rows, because standard gauge is like that ... 6 stitches = 8 rows = 1". My gauge was more like 6.3 sts = 6.3 rows = 1". So I picked up one for one, and my, is that ribbing around the neck a bit stretched. Not terribly so, but I'm going to let the vest stew for a few days and maybe (after the mittens are done) I'll take out the neck ribbing, pick up more stitches, and re-knit the thing. Without trying to do a sewn cast-off.

And thus closes the Year of the Vest. I realized, as I was sewing the last bit of ribbing down, that I've made four vests this year. One in April for my Master Knitting project, then two in the fall for a friend, and now this one. I've also made a goodly number of socks this year - maybe over 20 pairs? (including two argyles which don't match .. one for Master Knitting, and one for my husband. The match to that one will come some time after I get him to try on the first and find out what adjustments are necessary to make it fit.)

Don't expect any more Days of Christmas posts. I've gotten you up to date on all my Christmas yarn goodies, the Vest Blitz is done, and mittens await. Since this entry is already rather long, I'll save my Knitting Small Diameter Openings Mutterings for another post, next year.

And the third day of Christmas

Isn't that a lovely box of yarn? It's KnitPicks Palette, a fingering weight yarn perfect for knitting Norwegian or Fair Isle sweaters. My mom picks such good presents for me.

Today I got another box in the mail, also from KnitPicks. One of these days I should confuse the post office and get yarn from somewhere else. The new box has yarn for mittens, plus some lovely sock yarns and a calendar with pictures of ... what else ... yarn. I am a happy camper. As you can see, the vest is moving along nicely. The green thread mid-picture is the bottom of the neck. I've about 6 more rows to go to finish the 'v' and then I just get to knit until 27 inches. It doesn't seem like I've knit much today, but I suppose I must have since I'm almost done with a skein of gray. I just might finish up the patterning part tomorrow. But not if I don't get to knitting, and stop blogging. Stay tuned!

On the Second Day of Christmas

I didn't get anything new today ... no turtledoves especially, which would have driven our dog batty. But if you'll remember the smaller box from yesterday? Here are the contents. Aren't they lovely? One skein of every sort of Merino Style that KnitPicks makes. I love how soft it is. It's a pleasure to work with.

How much of a pleasure, you ask? Perhaps this vest picture will give you an idea how much time I've been spending letting the merino run through my fingers. The little snippet of yarn you see is what will become an armhole. I've got about 18 more rows to go, and then I get to start the V-neck. It is tricky juggling the pattern and the decreases, but I've not gotten out a pencil to draw them in on my chart yet. Partly because I didn't have a pencil handy, and partly because I've almost stuck the chart away, and I don't really want to bring it back out.

Here is a picture of the Selbu Mitten from Folk Mittens in progress. It's finished now, and is nice and toasty warm. I didn't have enough tan to make a second one but have a fraternal twin in blue and white. One day I may make a match for either of them, but perhaps not. The wind doesn't care that my mittens don't match ... it just stays out!

Goals for this week: Keep knitting that vest! I may get it finished this year, but don't need to. And since I do have some mitten yarn coming, I may divert my energies from the vest for a while. But then again, it will be easier to work on the mittens full-steam if the vest is finished. So maybe I won't. Perhaps KP will make it easy for me and the yarn won't get here until the vest is finished.

On the First Day of Christmas

my mother gave to me, LOTS of yarn and knitting goodies. Boxes that you just *know* came from KnitPicks are just so much fun. And my life is being full of fun.

First, the boxes. Here are the ones that were wrapped and in the crib. A new tradition, you ask? Like having a baby in a manger? No. It's a practical solution to what to do with presents when they are in the same house as a dog who likes rearranging all carryable objects. What was in the boxes? Stay tuned!

Then, the yarn my friend brought over for a vest. I used a K1 P1 alternating invisible cast on (depending on which book you read) and my first attempt was miserable. I didn't use needles 2 sizes smaller for the ribbing, and I didn't trust Elizabeth Zimmerman when she said to use 90% of the Key Number (which is 288.) I ended up with a floppy rib, distorted at the lower edge, that was looking to be 42" around. Ick. Frog. Change needles, trust Elizabeth, and start over. It's moving along quite nicely now, and I think it may be finished in 2 weeks or so. I wasn't sure how I was going to handle the steeks ... to steek, or to work back and forth. Fortunately, my mom solved that problem by getting me Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmerman, and there just happens to be a V-neck Fair Isle vest with sketchy enough directions to give me the clues I needed.

Now, my before-Christmas knitting. I did, I did, I did manage to finish up my swatches and written work (unless you count footnotes ... those are yet to be sprinkled throughout my paperwork as the spirit moves me.) My swatches are all tagged-n-bagged, sorted neatly by swatch number, and awaiting their Final Placement into the Fat Notebook. Working with a Skinny Notebook is much easier (besides, the swatches can't fall out if they're not in there), so I'm going to keep the swatches in their own baggie until I'm ready to send everything in for evaluation.

Lastly and leastly, at least for today, is a picture of a Barbie shawl. Knitters will, in desperation, invent strange things when they're away from a new ball of yarn, have just finished making a pair of socks, and are at a Christmas Program rehearsal in which they play only a minor part. I invented something akin to 'cast on 12, work in k1p1 rib for a few rows, then switch to stockinette stitch and at opposite sides of the shawl work a yo k1 yo every other row, and bind off when it looks like the yarn is about to run out. The embroidery scissors are in the picture for comparison.

Merry Christmas, all!

It truly is a Merry Christmas here. I've made a double batch of Chai and have 6 jelly jars ready to go out as gifts, accompanied by fresh homemade biscotti. The stollen is rising in the window, ready to be shaped into loaves. I've gotten all my directions for swatches written, charted, graphed, and annotated. All my book and magazine reviews are written. All the questions are answered. One teensy, tiny, one page report remains to be written after lunch. One charming little lace swatch awaits reknitting. And then .... I shall take a breather and cogitate on design elements of sweaters and hats, while doing some other knitting.

Yes, other knitting! I'd have pictures, but my printer still isn't agreeing with my photo chip. I finished the brown/tan Selbu mitten, and am waiting for some mitten yarn to arrive from KnitPicks, courtesy of a friend. Yesterday, more yarn arrived from a friend (beware friends bringing yarn?) and that is going to be knit into a vest ... today should see a gauge swatch at least started on that project. I also have yarn to finish off a scarf cowl in Grandma, and bought some MORE yarn on Tuesday (as well as complete sets of sz 2 and 3 Brittany Birch needles ... yumm) to make the socks from Winter 2005 Interweave Knits.

It's a delightful thing to sit at a desk surrounded by knitting books, a sleeping dog, rising bread, and a pile or two of completely tagged swatches. And don't forget the Ghiradelli chocolate sitting just out of arm's reach! (I won't mention the fudge that set in 2 seconds flat yesterday, as I was tilting the cooking pot to pour it out.)

May you know the joy of the wise men when they saw the star, and join them in worshipping the One whom it signified!

Getting organized ...

The paper-generation portion of my MK work is moving along nicely. I really, truly, intend to get it all done this week. This week I've done two magazine reviews and two book reviews. One fiber report and one blocking report remain to be written. After that, I'll be down to writing directions for a swatch, coming up with a chart for another swatch, and a few odd questions. This is starting to look doable!

The socks are done, and I'd have pictures of them as well as the Barbie-sized poncho that I made out of the leftovers, but my printer has decided that I am inserting my picture chip backwards. I know I'm not ... but may have scratched the chip somehow trying to get it in. I hope not! The camera still likes it. I was beginning to wonder what I'd work on for my travelling knitting project, but what did I find in my e-mail box but a project waiting for me to happen! God provides. This project will be triply fun because it a) is to help a friend, b) will help me better guide another friend through the same project, and c) comes at a time of 'what shall I knit?'

The sewing is also done, or at least as done as it can get without an inch or two of velcro.

It's been a happy day...

9 days to Christmas...

Yes, nine days left and I have almost all my gifts made. I need to spend an hour or two with my sewing machine and cutting table, and then all the gifts I had planned on making as of December 1st will be done. And if I spend this weekend with my knitting needles, then the gift I hadn't planned on making will be done as well.

The sock is Knitpicks Gumballs with a fuzzy yarn from Hobby Lobby. The fuzzy yarn sure is fuzzy, isn't it? I decided to work some ribbing in the sock yarn, and then do a fold-over cuff. They're being quite fun to make. (Photo by ds)

Progress is being made on the MK swatches, but unfortunately I forgot I'd used my circular needles to make a project in between swatches, and I worked 3 swatches on size 10.5 instead of 8. I'm going to re-do one of them (the Mosaic swatch) but hope another one will be okay as is. The doily pictured here is another swatch. I ended up making two of them. The first one was so lovely ... right up until 5 stitches from the end on the last round. Then I discovered a mistake. Since the pattern was so delightful to knit, I decided to finish the first one off and knit a second one. The picture here is actually of my first attempt ... there are two errors in it, but sharp are the eyes that will find them. Mosaic knitting, at least on the wrong size needles, looks a whole lot better in pictures than it does live. I hope it will improve with different needles, but I have my doubts.

I borrowed Principles of Knitting from the library this week, and have alternately been amused by or or enjoyed it. The author does have some strong opinions, mostly that the way I knit is not the way one ought to. She also doesn't care for a tubular cast-on. That is one thing I have definitely learned from the MK program and will carry over into other knitting ... tubular cast ons! I made a pair of mittens (pictured) while waiting for my KP order, and used that cast-on. Then I read about how awful it was, and decided to knit another pair of mittens using the cast-on the book preferred. I'll give each pair of mittens a few months of Minnesota winter, and check to see which one survived better. Two out of two people that I've taught both to found the tubular cast-on easier to learn.

I hope to get most, if not all, of my MK paperwork done before Christmas - barring the hat and sweater design stuff. I have two swatches left to knit, one or two to re-knit, and a caboodle of paper to generate.

I am pleased to announce that I have solved the Norwegian Thumb Gore Mystery, with help from KnitU and the Internet. The pattern has a TYPO which is not mentioned in the errata for the book. Once I searched on 'Selbu' instead of the gore, I found it, and my confusion vanished like the snow outside my window will next May. (Slowly, and with some reluctance)
I'm not thinking about school any more. Standardized testing is finished, the booklets have been sent back to Hewitt, and dh is drywalling in the school room. It's a bad time to be thinking about cleaning.

Merry Christmas, all!

It's winter

And winter is a grand time of year to sit back, sip cocoa, and knit.

The first semester of school is drawing to a close. We've made good progress. I can't say that we've enjoyed Tapestry of Grace, since it fell by the wayside in our second week. Nor can I say that my students delight in studying all their spare moments, for they don't. One scholar would rather build unique buildings, and the other would rather doodle, knit, read, or all three simultaneously. Still, we worked through the first half of the Homer workbook, are on track to finish our Singapore text (and series) before spring, and are moving along in Latin.

I love new beginnings. Already I'm thinking about tossing out all the work from the first semester and having clean and tidy notebooks for January. I'll have to do that with my own books ... 'sides, it wouldn't last but a week with my children's. Before we get to those new beginnings, we need to do our mandated yearly testing. That will be next week sandwiched in among baking, crafting, and yes, building unique buildings.

I haven't knit any new swatches for my Master's program since last week, but I have gotten a good bit of writing done. I even had a friend test my pattern for Bavarian Twisted Stitch. She persevered through the twisted purls, and announced that my pattern is fine. I don't know that she'll ever work the stitch back-and-forth again, though. I did finish up two pieces of footwear, decide to save one for after Christmas (since I have my doubts the first will fit ... I'll just have one to re-do that way), and the yarn for the other two socks is on order. I forgot I've got two children to make pajamas for ... but I've got fabric for one of them, and it got pre-washed yesterday!

My Quest of the Month is to figure out How to do a Norwegian Gore. It's explained in Folk Socks, but it has never made sense to me. There are just Plumb Too Many Stitches in the finger portion of the mitt after working the thumb opening. Even the charts agree. If you've got a chart for mittens that's 60 stitches wide, and you add in 10 stitches for a thumb gore, and keep them, you've got 10 stitches more on the needles than you have on the chart. Pffft. I suppose it could be a typo ... but there's a similarly wrought gore in the Fall '93 Knitter's magazine, and two identical typos stretches my credulity.

I love Christmas baking. Today we made Swedish Rusks (aka Italian Biscotti), and one of these days will be just right for a batch of Stollen. And then sugar cookies, and then spritz, and then ... oh, too many good things.

The Joy of Swatching

Diogenes is edited. The poncho is ready to be mailed. The garden is under a few inches of snow. Laundry is done. It's a Saturday. It must be time for knitting swatches!

I've done a 'how in the world does this work?' swatch of Entrelac. It's an interesting technique. I may make a pair of socks in it someday, but unless I figure out a friendlier way to pick up stitches from left to right along a selvedge, I probably won't do much with it. I did, however, manage to do this entire swatch without purling anywhere except for the ribbing. Knitting back backwards, anyone? I'm not looking forward to writing down the step-by-step directions for how to do this, however.

One of my swatches has acquired the name of "UgliStitch." It's actually an elongated stitch, but I am not fond of doing those. I'd much rather do fine lace or Fair Isle than elongated stitch stuff. Abigail *would* love how the UgliSwatch looked, so I will no doubt be talking her through the process one of these days.

I'm going to upload some other photos of swatches into my Yahoo Pictures page. And then ... off to knit! Christmas is a comin', and I've got 5 1/2 pieces of footwear to finish before then. Let's see ... two will take a day each, two more will take about 3 days, so I've got 17 days to make 1 1/2 items ... it'll work.

The Pictures

Life after Poncho is proceeding apace. I've gotten the requisite standardized test ordered for my children, Christmas presents are purchased or - in two cases - in progress, editing Diogenes is moving forwards, and I am working on MK level III. I've also upgraded my computer with more memory, and gotten a new CPU fan. The previous one was growling at me so much our dog was beginning to take offense at it.

Here, by popular demand, are some pictures of the finished poncho. I've decided that myMK cable design project will be a hat to match the poncho. The yarn is smooth and light colored, and I've got some cable motifs to work with ... so why not? That leave a Scandinavian or Fair Isle pullover or cardigan for my other project. Oh, the possibilities!

I'm working on a second scarf cowl, this time in a sock yarn. I think it will turn out quite well, but if not ... it'll go back into a ball of yarn to become some fingerless gloves/wrist warmers.

And because I've now entered the phase of Life After Poncho, I've gotten some work done on my secret argyles. Nothing tricky about the pattern, it's just that the work is clandestine. If you're reading this blog, they're not for you. Unfortunately, about 2-3 inches of the work was backwards. A misplaced diamond will do ugly things to a sock. I decided to set a good example for Denise, and frogged rather than compensate. (I've gotta admit, though, I *did* make some errors yesterday, and they're going to get disguised with two duplicate stitches added in to the finished product.)

Done!

The Cashmere (Wool) Crossings Poncho is finished. It took 26 skeins, over 120,000 stitches, oodles of cables, and a bit over 5 weeks, but it is complete. Well, except for blocking, which is almost optional. After it's blocked, I''ll get some pictures up.

I ended up ordering the whole set of Shadow merino laceweight yarns, and a skein of Grandma for a present. Grandma, the person, has a very interesting colorway around her eye at the moment, due to a collision with a doorway. The pinks and purples of the yarn beat the green, navy, and wine of the person. I'm sure someone, somewhere, has created a 'Black Eye' colorway though.

I've got two projects on the needle right now - sock and sock. I also have a project off the needles, called Tubular Swatch - Swatch #1 of my next Master Knitter course. I've made one swatch, and it came out well enough that I know a tubular cast on doesn't produce a tube for a sock. the edge stitches need a bit of work, though, so I'm off to Sample Swatch #2! I am going to learn *so* much from this.

Halfway!

Snow is forecast for tomorrow. Snow is one of my favorite types of weather. It's right up there with the rumbling thunder of scattered storms drifting across the prairie, and the rustle of a nice brisk wind - preferably cool. The best kind of weather is the kind that is enhanced by a cup of hot cocoa, chai, or tea.

I just started the 15th and 16th skeins of the poncho, and am a little over halfway done. Twenty rows to go, and the neckline will be DONE! I am hoping to finish it by Christmas. I've got 3 other Christmas presents yet to make, and then can dive whole-heartedly into Level III of the Master Handknitter program. I've finished off the scarf for my Aunt, and am making progress on a pair of socks. (Two pairs of socks, really, but ssssshhhh ... not everyone knows about both of them.) I also made 2 Dairy Queen hats, but am not quite happy with them. Found a typo in The Opinionated Knitter too.

Halfway through the poncho was about 13 skeins, which means that I need 26 for the whole thing, and rats - I only have 20. I'll have to place another order with KnitPicks. While I knit tonight, I'll be musing about what I can order to bring my 11 dollar order up to a 30 dollar order so I don't have to pay for shipping. Hmmm ... the whole set of Shadow, perhaps, and a book? Or maybe some needles? The delights of contemplation are boundless.

In the poncho picture, you can see two main cable panels, three if you peer into the upper right corner. It's 6 'main panels' wide, from the bottom front, over the arms, and down to the bottom back, and 8 repititions long. A lotta knitting, but a lotta fun. And it's a handy blanket already ... my legs didn't freeze on the way to church, because they were snuggled under 1 1/2 lbs of wool!

Miniscule goals for next week: Finish the neck area of the poncho, and get an order in to KnitPicks. And finish the colorwork on one set of socks.

The Poncho Proceeds

I did so-so on my goals. I'm 9 skeins into the poncho. Some days see the demise of an entire skein, others don't. The scarf cowl is about 24" complete, out of 42. Socks are going almost nowhere, but they've at leastbeen started. The schoolroom is slightly more organized than before, and I haven't written a single letter. But I have gotten our finances brought up to date, and helped see yet another book through the final publishing phase.

My creative blogging juices seem to be non-existent! No goals for this coming week ... I'll just see what I can get done.

On to the poncho!

There is such delight in finishing a project, especially when the finished item is going to a good home. Such was the case last night at 10 PM, when I cast off lots of little tiny stitches in a stretchy cast off. I was so delighted with the entire knitting universe that I decided to cast on 307 stitches for my next project right then and there. The shawl is now staked out over bath towels in Abigail's room (the book is just beyond the halfway point), and the poncho is about 5% finished.

The photo is a smidgen dark, but you can see the gal wearing 3700 yards of cashmere ($700 worth, retail) and the beginnings of my woolen version, in a very pale lavendar. I think it is going to be lovely, and snuggly to work on as the weather turns colder. If - big if - I can do a skein a day, I will have it finished before Thanksgiving.


My socks in Jig are finished, and I've got a decent start on my next 'carry along' project, a scarf cowl in Sweat Pea laceweight from KnitPicks. It's not as handy as a sock for knitting in the dark upon, but it's not too far off. I've got 41 inches to go of straight knitting, then decreases, a seam, and it too will be finished. Sigh. Too much fun. There are just so many neat things out there to knit.

Not much other news is happening. Dan is enjoying his new part-time job, I'm enjoying Pachebel's Canon in D, the children are enjoying having the end of Greek in sight, and the rest of our studies are proceeding apace. In my goals for next week .... have 5 fewer skeins to knit up into poncho, an orderly schoolroom, and one letter ready to mail.

No worms here!

A friend of mine is having worm problems at her house. My problem is not worms, but parsing nuns. It's amazing how one's eyes play tricks with text files after a few hours of edits. Not everyone gets to parse nuns, you know.

And that reminds me of the Japanese Beetle lesson I learned this morning. Succinctly put, it goes like this: When making pancakes in the fall, do not assume that little brown specks on the griddle are overcooked pancake batter. There was no brown speck when I flipped the pancake over, so I did a dissection after it had finished cooking. Gentle palpation disclosed the area to be investigated, and there, in a fine state of stink, was a cooked Japanese beetle. I don't recommend them as a pancake topping, or interior. I'm keeping a closer eye on my chai these days as well. I do NOT like stinky lumps in my chai.

The Homer IG went to press today. Once we get it back from the printer, it will undergo a final scan and then be available. Hooray! This means that I now have time to make some minor fixes to the Homer workbook, and then start in on digesting Diogenes. I *really* want a new computer. One that opens files in less than 2 minutes, and can switch back and forth between e-mail and editor faster than I can knit a round on my socks.

Knitting goes well. I had lots of time to knit on our vacation to Des Moines, where I met some ClassEd and TAH friends, and visited with my sister and her family. I worked on the shawl for the most part, but when it got too dark to see the lace on the drive home, I switched over to a sock and continued knitting. That sock is finished now, and I've got TWO more projects on the needle. One is clandestine, at the moment, and the other is a scarf cowl I'm making up for mom. Although it's not a sock, it will replace a sock as my travelling project. How complicated can 'k 44. Repeat until scarf is 42" long' get? True, there's some shaping on the ends ... but I'm beyond that part, thanks to my poky editor. The shawl is 5 pattern repititions from completion. My goal is to finish it by Sunday. I'm timing myself to find out how long it takes to knit a repitition, and my estimate is 85 minutes -- which means that a completed scarf takes about 45 hours of solid, non-stop knitting.

Next week, I should have some shawl pictures!

Ivanhoe is a fantastic book. I'm going to keep an eye out for my own copy, and would really like to know why I haven't read it before now. Are there any other books out there I should have been enjoying the past 20+ years?

Fall has arrived, and it's time to knit

There's nothing so delightful in the early autumn as the panorama of some recently knitted socks. From left to right, there's Parade Blues, Dancing Two-Step, Jig, and Parade Plum. All are pairs, except for Jig, and Sock 2 should be popping onto my needles in the next few days.















Of course, rows of skeins waiting to be knitted into a poncho are another welcome sight. I am exercising great restraint, though, and haven't started it yet. Instead, I'm continuing to work on the shawl, and have 14 rows to go until I'm halfway done! I doubt I'll finish it by Oct 15th, since I was out of yarn for it for a while. I'll keep going, though, and see when it gets finished.

While I was waiting for more yarn, I diddled a bit with Swatch #2 for level III. I've never before had a problem with rowing out, but this swatch and I just didn't get along. The pattern is easy enough, but the rowing out was aggravating. I'll try some different needles the next time I tackle swatching. Since I've got shawl yarn, though, there's no reason to swatch for a while. I've also got poncho yarn, sock yarn, scarf yarn ... all sorts of yarn!

As fall is approaching, however, the time comes to check out what clothes my children have for the upcoming season. Tomorrow has been dedicated to a) finding my son's room, b) removing enough material from it so that he can easily clean it, and c) checking out what clothes fit whom. The next day will be a day of filling in wardrobe gaps.

School is progressing along smoothly. We've got just two more weeks of Greek to go, and then Latin will be our only foreign language of study. As life gets more settled, I am more confident we can accomplish what I've planned (math, Latin, Greek, CW-Homer, Bible) and can see room to add a few other things. The #1 thing to add at the moment is NEAT HANDWRITING. I'm not sure if I want to buckle down and figure out explicit instruction beyond "Write neatly. Like this," or get a book that sets it out for them. TOG has fallen completely by the wayside. Oh well.

Our current read-aloud is Watership Down. I've never read the book before, but it got favorable reviews from some on-line friends, so I decided to give it a try. Patrick was suspicious it was the new Redwall book -- so the book has definitely found favor with him. My other reading is Ivanhoe. And, of course, knitting catalogs. In all the spare moments of my time that I can muster, I'm working on an answer key for the Homer workbook. The hardest part is figuring out what to answer. One can't really provide an answer for an essay, can one?

Goals for this week: Complete 7 repititions of the lace pattern, read 7 chapters of Ivanhoe (as long as they're of decent length), finish up the answer key, and keep up with Bible Study. Two more weeks to go in Exodus, and then we're on to Leviticus!!

I love lace!

It's a good day when I can get some major knitting done. Sunday was such a day. I finished a sock, and 42 rows of stole flew through my fingers, and the end is in sight. Not because it's close, but because I've got enough of an idea how the stole will block, so I know how much I have left to do. Rats, it's time to order another two skeins of yarn so I can finish the project. I'm using a pink preemie hat as my ball holder - did you know that 440 yards of laceweight will fit in a preemie hat? and I blocked a bit of the shawl Saturday night so Kerri could see what it's going to look like. I discovered that this is also a ring shawl, in that the entire width of the shawl will nicely fit into a woman's wedding ring, with space to spare. The shawl is going to be 5 pattern multiples by 30 repeats ... if only I were using whatever yarn the original was made in, I'd be almost done now! That one only took 3 multiples and 18 repeats to be 37x77". I'm aiming for 27x60.

I acquired 3 more projects to work on over the weekend. A Fair Isle vest for a friend, a scarf for an aunt, and socks for another friend. All fun to do, and relatively quick. Almost anything is quick compared to the poncho on my list, except perhaps level III.

And level III arrived! I am quite looking forward to beginning on it. I now know the technicalities of what I get to design, and saw the particulars for the swatches. They are going to be such fun! I'll be learning lots of new things, among them, double brioche stitch. Of course, when I saw that I had to get out my IK that had a section on brioche stitch, and think about what scarf I would make in it for practice, to learn the stitch.

This afternoon, between rows, I updated my photo album to include projects from July, August, and September. I forgot to get a good photo of the Golden Gopher vest, but there is one of it in progress.

School is going along well, my editing is behaving itself fairly well, and not much else is happening at the moment. The weekend will be busy, so that's a good thing. Watch for an update next week!

Productivity!

Today was Ladies' Craft Day, and what a fun day it was! I got a box of yarn from KnitPicks, which included a very early birthday present my mom told me to get for myself. All of a sudden, I am surrounded by delightful projects to knit ... might it be time to ration my internet usage so I get more knitting done? Perhaps!

I know I just made a list of things that I'm going to be knitting, but I need to think them through again, so here goes.
1) The Golden Gopher Vest - I've got the yarn, and plan to finish it tomorrow.
2) Kerri's Lace Shawl - 3 repeats of the pattern are done, perhaps out of 18. Goal: Oct 15?
3) Kris's Poncho - half the yarn arrived today. Will start when #2 is done.
4) Parade Socks in plum. 1 done, 1 to go.
5) Other Socks. Have yarn for 2 pair.

And for the 'have not yarns yet'
6) Scarf for Aunt Dolores
7) Dairy Queen hat for mom
8) Fair Isle vest (ooh, yummy!)

Oh, and there's that level III also. And my children wouldn't mind having mittens for this winter.

Writing this all down helps. It really does. If I work an hour or two a day on knitting, I can realistically finish off my 'big' projects by the end of November. Now, two hours a day may not be realistic on some days, but still ... the end of November is something to shoot for. Winter is coming (hooray!!!) and that always lends itself to more knitting.

Today I learned that Profiles in Courage, by John F. Kennedy, may not have been written by John F. Kennedy. And that Elizabeth Zimmerman knit while riding on motorcycles as a passenger. For some time she did it without her husband (sitting in front of her) knowing about it. Doesn't that sound fun?

Level II passed

Good things come to her who waits. Finally, and at last, my level II resubmissions returned to me today. The letter was dated August 28th ... and it began with the word Congratulations. I've ordered the instructions for level III, and have no idea when I will begin working on that level.

For unto me has come this day, in the city of mine own, a boatload of work. True, it hasn't all arrived this day. And indeed, some of it is not yet here. But my plate is about to run over, and my cup is stocked with cocoa and my larder with tea, so I'm all set to be productive.

What's on my plate?
- files to proof for the next book in the CW series
- print copies for a forthcoming workbook in the CW series

- Kerri's shawl (OTK, but may get frogged, depending on what Kerri thinks of loosely knit lace. I prefer a tighter knit myself, but I think this is nice too.)
- Kris's poncho (not OTK, but the yarn is coming! See next item.)
- Marcia's vest, which is not exactly OTK, but neither is it finished. I'm about 3-5 yards of having enough yarn to finish the final armhole facing. So I had to order another skein. And so, well, I had to order more stuff to get free shipping, see ...
- Socks. The TwoStep socks are finished, and I'm almost ready to turn the heel on a pair of Parade socks in plummy colors.
- Level III, which is at the bottom of my priority list. I can say that now, because I don't have the instructions yet. I really do want a clear plate when I tackle this. I think.

- The average household stuff ... teach children, keep the floors clean, walk the dog, feed the household occasionally, clean the clothes ... plus keeping up with friends and family.

So you can see, I have no excuse for not being productive. Doesn't that sound lovely?

'Scuse me while I go proof a manuscript.

Happy Birthday Patrick!

Finally and at last, Patrick's birthday has arrived and the sweater which I have been covertly knitting can be revealed. The back has Carson Palmer's number, and our surname. The sweater fits, has growing room, and looks pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself. The only drawback is that it's not washable acrylic. I've told Patrick that if he throws it in the wash, it will become a felted back about the right size for our dog.



And here's one of our photos from the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. I kinda like it (the photo, that is. Of course I like the zoo.) The Sun Bear was looking for a spot to hang out, high up (see the hut roof under the bear's neck? That's ground level, give or take a few feet) and happened to be cruising right past us.

While we were in Omaha, Mom went to her 50th reunion, we did touristy things, went to a YARN STORE!!! and had a grand time. I got a book on knit wraps, and convinced my cousin to pick one that I could make for her. She has excellent taste, and picked a cashmere poncho requiring 3234 yards of worsted weight yarn. If I can find enough of the same color on sale, the cost would be just under $700. Budget-conscious soul that she is, she decided that a simple wool would do quite nicely.


Here's one of the Parade Blue socks that I knit last month. My current project has obtained the nickname of the Gopher Vest. Just think of the blue/white Snowflake vest in Golden Gopher colors, and you'll be right on. It's going well, but if I ever want to make this size again, I think I'll use sport weight or DK yarn. The vest isn't stiff, but its not far from it either. I think a lighter yarn would have a nicer drape to it.

My projects OTK are the Gopher Vest, and the first Two Step sock. Projects-in-Waiting are Kris's Poncho, Kerri's Shawl, and socks socks socks. All in all, a lovely situation to be in. Still haven't gotten back my level II resumbissions, but they should be arriving one of these days, and then I can either re-knit a swatch, or order level III and smile at it while polishing off some large projects. I have, however, almost decided to definitely make a Fair Isle sweater, and a cable hat. Unless I do it the other way. Or maybe I could do two sweaters and two caps, and then pick which combo I like best?

School is going well. We're going to have FOUR DAYS of school this week, hooray hooray. And maybe even four days next week? I've drawn up a rough schedule, and now comes the testing, trying, and making sure if fits our family. TOG is going a bit by the wayside, but I do hope to pull on it for some directed readings and discussions. Ds is designing a map, akin to the map project from week 1, but he's doing it with the cities of Workbook, Math, and Greek, with Homework Lake and Desk River.

I've been reading quite a few children's books lately (funny how that happens when you have children around), but have picked Profiles in Courage by JFK for my seriouser reading. The introduction is a small political education in and of itself, and I'm looking forwards to learning about the senators JFK selected.

Checking in

What a week this has been. The flooding in New Orleans and Katrina have been a whammy that I can't comprehend. Minnesota has mosquitos and blizzards, but those are relatively easy to deal with. Hunker down, know where the nearest woodburning stove is if the power goes out for a while, and toast marshmallows. Or knit.

Speaking of knitting (and you knew I would), the Parade Blues socks are finished, and I frogged the Two Step socks, one of which is back on the needles. They were just too snug. I suppose I could have found someone with a smaller foot ... but they were also a bit lengthy, and that combination of food would be hard to find. I've got 4 seams to go on the sweater, and all sorts of nice yarn sitting at my feet that is waiting to be used. I suppose I'll start the burgundy/gold vest (like the blue/white one I made earlier) first, but the lace yarn is calling my name.

I would like to proudly report that I have taught our dog the 'down' command. We have a ways to go yet, but if we're in a quiet room, and nothing is going on, and I tell him 'down', he lies down within 30 seconds about 80% of the time. I also may have solved the problem of him telling me where I should be. One squirt bottle of water! In past weeks I've been putting him in his crate 3-5 times a day for unacceptable behavior (aimed at getting me to do something I'm not doing.) That number has been 0 the past two days, and the squirt bottle isn't getting used much. Twice the first day, then once yesterday ... and may the downward trend continue!

We'll be out of town next week, but I'll try and update after we get back.

School has begun!

It's true. Finally and at last, the long and boring summer is over and we're back to the delightful experience of learning. Dd is excited to find where I put her math book so she can get back to algebra, while ds is scheming to get his work done as quickly as possible so he can get on with life. This year introduces the first year of Required Reading for my scholars. Patrick confessed, "This book isn't actually bad," after he finally decided that reading the book quietly was indeed the best of his available options. He's waiting eagerly for the next Redwall book, and I'm on the list for Eldest.

School is also off to a bumpy start, because tomorrow our schoolroom is being taken over by people wielding tape, paper, and drywall mud. Saturday will see the advent of The Texturizers, and Monday, well, Monday we're driving to Minneapolis to get a stander for dd. We'll just have to stop at a used bookstore and the Olive Garden as well, rats.

I met my goals from last week - got all my Bible Study work done, and only one day's work per day. The TwoStep socks are finished, and Parade Blues are on the sock needles now. The sweater is coming along as well, as is Abigail's quilt. Six blocks down, 14 plus the trimmings to go! And one of the books I edited has been hanging out as the #1 in sales for Recent Books.

This upcoming week should be fun. I'm expecting a shipment of yarn from KnitPicks, with yarns for more socks, a vest for Marcia, and the beginnings of a lace shawl. Gotta love lace shawls. I may also get my Level II swatch back, and there are two more packages coming. One with household stuffs, and the other with an Elementary Greek text.

Goal for this next week: continue with daily Bible reading (and recording of reading), plus enjoy all those packages! I'd like to finish the Blues socks, but that may not be realistic, and maybe - just maybe - I'll finish up a sweater.

One week until school starts!

I am delighted to report that I finished the first sock on Saturday evening, the sweater front yesterday evening, and have turned the yarn I brought home yesterday into a stunning replica of Swatch #20, but with a 16th row and better tension. Or at least, better tension in some places. The swatch is currently drying, and if the humidity is right, I'll get it sent back tomorrow, thus meeting all my goals from last week. Unless, of course, I get penalized for not weaving in all the intarsia ends on the sweater. I've got lots done, but a dozen or so more to go.

Today also saw the release of the Book B set. I do so enjoy finishing up a project. Rather like tucking in ends.

We're looking forwards to the start of school next week. Both children have finished up their summer math books (Keys To...) and I am hopeful that the irregular exercise of the math portion of their brains will have prevented major memory loss. Dd is exicted to continue in Algebra, which I find exciting. Math was one of my favorite subjects in school. That and band. Anyway, our school shopping is complete, our TOG notebooks decorated with a map of the Nile basin, and I'm looking forward to another year of learning. Time management will, once again, be my major bugaboo. I just *know* I could accomplish everything if I used my time wisely. And didn't sleep, probably.

This is also the last week of our I John Bible study. Tomorrow the assignment centers around the sin leading to death ... what is it? Can we know? If I am diligent and apply myself, I should know the answers by this time tomorrow. I have been impressed with the emphasis I John puts on love, and doubt I will ever forget the 3 tests he covers again and again ... doctrinal, social, and moral. Or "Jesus Christ is God's Son", "Love your brother", and "Keep God's commandments". It boils down so nicely.

I don't really have any decent goals for next week. There's a sweater back, but I haven't even cast on for that yet. And a sock to finish, but if I work on the sweater, I won't be working on it much. Being faithful in my Bible study is a good goal ... I'll seize on that one. And perhaps even get some pictures of my WIP to share.

Resubmitting Level II

Where is this week going? Monday evening was spent at my mother's house in preparation for our quarterly Mom's Day Out on Tuesday. Of course, we spent the evening knitting and cross-stitching. Tuesday was full of miscellaneous shopping and, somewhat not so miscellaneously, getting material for a long-promised quilt for Abigail's bedroom. We found some lovely pinks and greens at Hobby Lobby, and the material is now washed and folded, awaiting its dissection into approximately 720 tiny triangles. Barbara Frietchie's Star, here we come! It will be a mother-daughter (me and mine, respectively) project for the forseeable future.

Wednesday evening was also spent at my mom's house, in preparation for a 6:00 AM departure for some doctor visits in Minneapolis. They went surprisingly smoothly, and we got the good news that Abigail has reached the 4' 6" mark. Afterwards we went to Half-Price books, where I found Padraic Colum's The Golden Fleece as well as a hefty book on ancient civilizations which will work in wonderfully with TOG Year 1. My children read most of it on the way home from the bookstore. Why do I continue to entertain the delusion that one day, I will be able to get a book, and later assign it to them to read?

The new KnitPicks catalog also came this week, and I'd like to say here and now that I think it is unfair. ELEVEN new yarn lines? And most especially, two new sock yarns and one new line of fingering-weight Fair Isle yarns? That is most definitely unfair. And waaay too much fun. Especially as they were thoughtful enough to offer a package of one ball of their 30 colors of Fair Isle yarn. Waaaah!

ALSO this week, the proof copies of Book B arrived. At least, they arrived in Minnesota. I don't know if anyone else has gotten their proof copy yet. Things look pretty good, and once the other proofers weigh in with their findings, I will be able to turn my attention to the next set of books which is already well under way.

And today, when we arrived home from the doctors', there was upon my desk a large box with a return address reminding me of the knitting guild. At long (but not too long) last, my level II package came back to me after wandering through the US in search of evaluators. I didn't pass. I didn't expect to on my first try. I wasn't too sure I wanted to open it, though, and find out just how much I needed to re-do. But I mustered up my courage, carefully cut the tapes, and found the evaluator's letter. I am so thrilled I have only ONE swatch to re-do ... the Fair Isle one ... because somehow, I missed row 16. Tsk! It was my favorite swatch, so I am looking forward to re-doing it, after I raid my mom's closets for more of the yarn I used last time. I goofed on one pattern as well, so will need to go over that with a fine-toothed comb and re-write/re-submit it. Everything else was in very good to acceptable shape. Aaaaaah.

In other knitting, my sock and sweater yarn arrived last week, and I'm making good progress both on the sweater (two sleeves done, and the front is done to just above the armpits) and my take-along sock. I'm working it on size 0 needles, at 11 spi. I do that sort of thing occasionally to remind myself why I 'always' work socks on size 2 needles. Did you know size 0 needles go right through clothing? They could almost be used for acupuncture. I cautioned my daughter - who is sewing together a knitted stuffed horse at the moment - about the dangers of working with small double pointed needles and using your body to nudge the needles around a bit. She could get one stuck in a stoma.

Reading. I have been reading lately, I'm sure of it, but am not sure what. Oh yes ... yarn catalogs! And making plans for homeschooling, but if I go into that now, I surely won't have anything to say next week.

By this time next week, I hope to have finished the sweater front, the first sock, and gotten my resubmission into the mail.