The Terrible Thumb Trickery

In keeping with my non-random personality, I shall now write about mitten thumbs. (May as well expand it to be about mitten cuffs too, although that's more of a personal quest for enlightenment at the moment, as opposed to tension issues.)

The thumbs. You see here two mittens, rather identical except for the thumbs. Did you ever wonder about color dominance? Or ask yourself if, when push came to shove, it really mattered which hand you held which color in? Or, if you don't bother using the TWO hands the good Lord has given you to hold yarns with, how you hold them in a single hand?

Yes, Virginia, it does.

The mitten on the left has a lovely thumb. Pink, with little splotches of green, staggered 'just so.' The mitten on the right, in comparison, rather looks like the green flecks are about to take over the thumb. They are exercising dominion over the pink, are taking many steriods illegally, and are no doubt making orations to their lesser brothers on the hand to Rise Up and Conquer!

All because I don't *like* working with the yarn in my left hand, so I assigned the green to that hand since there's less of it than there is the pink. Ahem. I ignored my preferences when it came to knitting the thumb on the left. Such a cute thumb. No scary Asparagus Supremacy sprouting over there. Let that be a lesson to you. I gave the green a serious talking to (stretched the steroids right out of that thumb) and they are now behaving much better. Subdued ... until the next time.

The cuff is a much happier story. It wasn't *my* dumb error. But I wasn't quite aiming for the effect I got. It's supposed to look more entrelacquie. The pattern hinges on an adjacent m1 and k2togtbl, but I didn't know WHAT kind of m1. So I started off with a m1l, because that was the easiest to do. (I hadn't done the thumbs yet, so I didn't know to steer away from that on this particular mitten). When the results turned out Not Quite As Desired, I decided that a m1r was the thing to do. (That's the right mitten.) But as you can see, those results were even less than Not Quite As Desired. So it must (MUST) be an open m1. I've never worked anything calling for that. But I will! Because I need to write a pattern up for these mittens, and knit some up for photographs, and guess what kind of m1 I will use? You're RIGHT!

I will also hold the fleck color in my right hand while working the thumbs. Trust me.

Keeping things in order

We'll begin with the Crockpot Pound Cake Flop.

I have been enjoying a wonderful blog lately, A Year of Crockpotting. The recipes tend to be gluten free, which makes it even more appealing to me. When I found a pound cake recipe, I thought it would be the perfect birthday cake for my GF husband. Foolproof, even!

Not so foolproof as to survive a crockpot that has been around as long as I have, give or take five years. But still, how hard could it be? Grease crockpot, mix ingredients, pop them in, vent the lid, and cook for four hours.

Except after 3 hours, a burning smell filled the house. Maybe it cooked fast? Old crockpots can be temperamental, I suppose. So, I turned the crockpot upside down with a plate held in the critical position, tapped, and awaited the deliciousness of pound cake.

But to no avail. This is what glared at me from the crockpot.










And, after carefully loosening the edge of the cake and trying again, this is what came out. Ashes of Pound Cake, and a buttery-eggy ooze.

Not good.

If a cake is unbaked, but burnt, what does one do? I decided not to try for longer, but rather to see if there was anything edible. So, by cutting the cake in to fourths and using an extractor, I was able to get it out of the crockpot (which, after 2 days of soaking and some water changes, was back to its normal self). The cake was incredibly dense (undoubtedly helped by my substituting a GF flour for Pamela's Baking Mix, and not realizing that the baking mix included baking powder and other goodies), but the semi-cooked/not-quite-burned-parts were good.

I think I'm getting a newer crockpot for Christmas. Maybe mom wants this one back? It is GREAT for soups and mulled apple cider. The cider is on today's menu.

Tagged?

It's been too long since I last posted. And there's so much to say! I could write about

• the Pound Cake Disaster
  
• the Terrible Thumb Trickery
• Sleeve Issues
• what I've been knitting
• my new pattern on Ravlery

but no, I tell myself I should really write a post about Knit From Your Shelf 2009. Because, it's time to remind those of you insane enough to think this is a good idea that we have 26 days left to plot out our first project. I've not gotten around to writing that post yet.

Because TwistedinStitches tagged me. Otherwise, I'd be knitting right now and doing things other than staring at this computer and typing.

Sigh.

1. Link to the person who tagged you.

2. Post the rules on your blog.

3. Write six random, arbitrary things about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.

5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.

6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Thing One and Thing Two are done. Six random, arbitrary things?

1. I don't do random and arbitrary. It's not in my genes. I'm sure there will be a trend in what is to come, but I'm not writing them down beforehand and selecting them. It's as random as I get.
   
2. I have sold FOUR original designs this year.
3. I own a sewing machine and know how to use it. I'd just rather not. At this time of year, there are Christmas PJs to make.
   
4. I bake bread from scratch without recourse to a recipe or measuring implements. It's edible.
   
5. I love parsing sentences and diagramming them, and even have a small job doing just that.
   
6. I can't draw worth a hoot. Or beans. Or whatever goes for next to nothing in this economy.

Tag six people? Oh dear. I'm not a tagger, and so shall decree all who wish to participate in this after reading my blog, or those who don't want to participate but wish they'd been tagged, to consider themselves tagged.

Now, those of you who are going to Knit From Your Shelf 2009 ... fess up and join in! I will stretch my abilities and pop in a sidebar with a list of who is setting this worthy goal.

Another step in the Felted Slipper Saga

My blue clogs are felted.

Very felted.

Curiously felted.

How, I ask, does one knitter, using one brand of yarn, in just one weight, by dropping down one slipper size, and by felting ten minutes less, end up going from a Ladies size 10 narrow to a CHILD's 13?

Heathered yarn. That's got to be the answer. I wanted the red clogs, but about 1/2" shorter. I dropped down a size, and on just the SECOND check of the washer (the red ones took 5 checks, and I was afeared they'd get too narrow if I kept trying to get them shorter) out popped these cute little piggy covers. This makes four (4) slippers that I have knitted and felted in an attempt to replace my current pair. First pair - too small. Second pair - nice, but they let in too much cold air at the ankle. Third pair - a trial for the real pair. Fourth pair - struck by shrinking dust.

A fifth pair will jump on the needles shortly after my next yarn order. It's got to. My current slippers already resemble a pair of sling-back flats more than they do their original shape.

A neglected blog

A neglected blog is an uninformative blog.

So, what's been happening here in the background, whilst nothing is happening in the foreground?

At long last the Baby Leggings are done. I will like them better when I see them on a tot, no doubt. But at the moment, they are done, and that is a very nice thing about them.

Finishing the leggings allowed me to tackle some yarn that arrived last week (or was it the week before? Things have been package-rich around here, and I forget).

First, the clogs. Two felted, two unfelted. The unfelted ones won't be so tomorrow noonish, if the morning goes as planned. And having them almost done allowed me to put on the needles, with good conscience, some dishcloths. Four need to be done by the 22nd, and I got the yarn for the first two yesterday. Two down, two to go.

And now there is nothing on my non-super-secret-Christmas-knitting needles. There are three--no, four--things on my to-do list, but I'm not quite ready to start any of them because I may get some Serious Knitting to work on tomorrow, and I don't want to have just started something if it should arrive.

But, let me talk about last Thursday and Friday. Thursday was a Long Day. First off, it was pouring rain. And in the pouring rain we went out to do our big monthly shopping trip. Thursday made me glad I cancelled school on the last 'nice' day of the year, Monday, so we could sit outside reading. But Thursday was cold and rainy. And dashing into stores is all well and good, but if one of the shopping party (and trust me, we had a shopping party) walks slowly, and the other has a wheelchair to load and unload ... well, dashing in becomes somewhat impracticable. So, we got a bit wet. And we got lots of stuff. Two shoeboxes' worth of goodies for Operation Christmas Child. New not-so-mentionables for a child who shall remain anonymous because said child vowed said child was down to just two pair of aforementioned item. Groceries. Lots of groceries. And then, we rejoiced because the rain had gone away temporarily and we could unload in relative comfort at my mom's house. The afternoon was spent at mom's (knitting, of course!) and then KnitNight in the evening, then home to re-unpack the groceries, tackle the day's 200 e-mails, and head to bed.

Friday was a day that should go down in the annals of conflicting emotions. In the morning, I checked to see if I should scurry to the post office to get a box from Amazon. Project delivery was the 10th, so I decided not to scurry. In the afternoon, I got an e-mail from Amazon telling me my package was unable to be delivered and I could pick it up at the post office. So, off I scurried. Package! Replacement for Bible which is in multiple pieces! Joy!

Walking home, I did not scurry. I trod slowly and heavily, laden down by TWO boxes. Large boxes. But packages are good, so all was well in my world.

Then I opened the packages (over the next few hours, which tells you loads about my Friday). The yarn I got London Tweed Bag Sale at Elann) wasn't the color the website said. Sniff. But liveable. The actual Tuesday sale was a bit of a frenzy ... twice I got to the checkout only to find that the color I wanted was no longer available. The color that my mom wanted, and the color that my friend wanted ... those were still around. But not my Autumn Glory, nor my Mallard.

The books were yet another matter. Herodotus has a mildly dinged corner. I can live with that. Thucydides was paperback, not hardback. I goofed :( and it's not fun to good. And my bible had a different binding from what the website said it did. That was annoying. But, the sunny side was that one part of the order was undinged and correct, and we've all been enjoying it.

Tomorrow is package day at the post office. I'm sending out yarn, books, and some miscellany. Who knows what I will get?

Next Monday will be the mailing date for hats. We've got a big box full already, and more are dropping off the needles of an industrious Filia daily.

Random Updates

1. It snowed on Sunday. I love snow.
   
2. The power was out when we got home that day. It stayed off for 6 hours.
   
3. Wool sweaters are nice to wear when the power is out.
4. Hot chocolate, knitting and quiet music get condensed to knitting without electricity.
   
5. Our printer is in my list of companies to get coal in their stockings. They changed their printing prices and didn't notify their users of that fact by e-mail.
   
6. Adrenaline helps a body regroup quickly and multitask across many browser windows.
7. The Baby Leggings aren't going anywhere fast.
8. Boxes in the mail are fun. This week has seen a box from Woolgirl, KnitPicks, two MK boxes, and compression stockings.
9. Thirty two. That's how many hats we have in the box for Filia's contribution to a James 2 project.
   
10. It's time to go knit.
    

The Poems Twined Hat

You can't judge a skein ...

by its color?

You can't judge a skein's color by its color?

Or perhaps, skeins are hard to judge?

Exhibit A, above, depicts two balls of yarn before use. Exhibit B depicts those Same Two Balls, knit up. (Ideally, Exhibit C should be a close-up of the ball band with the color number and a link to the proper color but the ball band has gone inexplicably missing. (The band turned up! It's color 581)

Oh well. I was looking forward to a blue/red hat. I think I've got pink/green instead. Still, it's warm, and will be warmer yet when I finish it. The plan is to do a checked hem. Toastyness. If a little ice age creeps up on Minnesota (or do ice ages creep down?) I think I just might finally have some people interested in learning twined knitting. It beats acrylic stockinette hands down. Ears unfrozen.

Upcoming knitting includes Mitten 2 of Annemor #4, thumbs and a top for Annemor #5 (I found someone to send me yarn!!!), and baby hats to contribute to Filia's participation in a James 2 project.

Upcoming this evening is chat about Meno, Socrates, and the teachability of virtue.

Upcoming this week is a day visiting friends and talking about knitting.

Upcoming in 2.5 months is Knit From Your Shelf 2009!

So many things to look forwards to.

Fall - that wonderful time!

The soybean harvest is well under way, and that means that fall is here. And Japanese Beetles, and Box Elder Bugs. So far, they're staying outside the house, but I don't expect that to last much longer. The beetles manage to get into the house somehow, and then spend their evenings dashing themselves against the lights.

Knitting is, as always, proceeding apace. Can it proceed any other way? Can something not proceed apace? I understand that it can be going nowhere, of course (albeit not in an experiential understanding, but rather a cognitive one).

This weekend seemed to have a cream theme. The Latvian mittens were finished and blocked, a hat was made from stash yarn, and a garter stitch mug cozy was made from some yarn that's sitting in my knitting box and waiting for a knitting class next Saturday. Does that count as stash? I'm not sure. It's pre-consumer recycling, I suppose.

In my quest for something small to take along on a long drive Sunday, I started Annemor #5. Surely 32g would be enough for a main color in a child's pair of mittens? No. Shirley was wrong. I have - to the row - the top decreases to do on one mitten, and two thumbs left. Ravelry to the rescue! One (and only one) person has the proper color in her stash, and we've arranged a small swap so the mittens can get finished.

While away, I bumped into my knitting student from camp this summer. She'd been having some problems with a pattern for short row booties, and I could understand why. The pattern isn't crystal clear about some things .. so I set about knitting a pair of booties to disentangle the pattern. And voila ... booties!

We're in our third week of school (not counting the 3 weeks of Intense History before school, nor the Preview Week between surgery and school) and although no one replaced my fallible children with perfect students, nor the multi-tasking teacher who under-explains with the ideal mentor, I think things are going well. I've promised we'll open up my chocolate Easter bunny (yes, from this Easter) as soon as we make it through a day of math without the words "Show your work" being spoken as an admonishment. Filius has given up on ever getting a taste of the bunny. (My bunny, let me say. He already ate his) Henle 2 Latin is going much better than I thought it might. Many errors of thought seem to have floated away over the summer. Will they stay adrift in a sea of vacation? Probably not. But we're off to a good start there. Diogenes: Maxim is coming along nicely as well - the first writing project is due tomorrow. Reading the models is bittersweet, as I remember vividly which sentences caused me such anguish in their diagramming. I think I'd rather diagram the apostle Paul than Benjamin Franklin. For one thing, Paul capitalizes and spells correctly. And I can but hope that it was clearer in Greek. Ben? No excuses there. Traditional Logic II is moving nicely, and thanks to Leslie's question I now have Uncle Asinebop as part of my logic arsenal. Science is, well, science (I can't wait for chemistry! Stoichiometry was such fun) and to my surprise Peter Saccio's Shakespeare lectures seem to be the highlight of the week. This week, and next, we'll be reading/watching A Midsummer Night's Dream.

And that's school. I'm keeping up with the Puritan Reading Challenge, and also the Plato Reading Group. And may have two knitting classes starting next week.

Filius and I are happily awaiting the first snow. Canis happily awaits Filius' arrival downstairs each morning. Filius brings blankets, and Canis jumps on the blankets and burrows before they get anywhere close to their intended resting place (on top of Filius, on the couch.) It can be dangerous to plop down on a heap of blankets in this house during the next several months. Something may be in there!

Ponder ponder

The twined mittens are done. My hands can now relax from the twist twist twist so inherent in twined knitting.

Now, I get to cable mittens. I *think* I've got the right stitch. (Anyone who doesn't think so, and can tell me why not, please PLEASE please leave a comment. I've got the right blue. I almost have the right cream. But I do not have the right gauge. And, knowing how the yarn works up on larger needles, I'm suspecting I may not have the right yarn. So. I'll start off with a child's size mitten, and then play with gauge later. The mitten on the left is, as the discerning reader will note from the needles at the top, the one I am knitting. The mitten on the right is the one from Latvia (pause for reflection on the journey this mitten has taken.)

I'm also, somehow, in the middle of a lace moebius scarf. Well, not in the MIDDLE middle, as that's the cast on row, and I'm beyond that. Thankfully. The first three hours of knitting on it were enough to make me grumble about my faithful Boye Needlemaster set. Cables and connectors and exposed threads, Oh My! But the next morning, as I began work on row 2, I realized I was just dealing with First Row Agonies, and all has gone well since.

And that's my knitting for this weekl. Mitten here, lace there, and a quiet week in which to do it.

Filia's cast has filled up quite nicely with signatures. She only gets to enjoy it for another 3 1/2 weeks, though. We are not sad.

Needles, needles, what's on the needles?

Version 2.0 of a felted mitten is on the needles now. But I'm on the phone with the IRS (have been on hold 23 minutes, after taking 10 minutes to find a number that didn't lead to technical difficulties and a disconnection. We're trying to get Filius reinstated as one of our children, near as I can tell.)

While I was at the hospital with Filia, I played with a new pattern for a striped hat. It ended up being a stripey argyle. With a smaller yarn, I'd have more room to play with the diamonds. It's got definite possibilities.

Then there's the Pumpkin Spice Mittens. They're finished now, but the camera is far, far from here and I like them so much I wanted to share an in-progress photo. See my ball of yarn? To deal with the twist, I S-plied the two strands together, so I can just knit knit knit. The yarn untwists as I knit it, rather than get all twisted up. So much nicer! Has anyone else discovered this? Is it a common thing to do, but my books just don't say so?


Our LYS had a sale, and I decided to get some more yarn for another striped hat. (What can I say? I like making them. And if I teach a class in them one day, I need to have some handy yarn for a nifty hat.) The yarn is akin to Noro rather than Mirasol, so I am looking forward to seeing how the gradations turn out.


Then there's the Starfish Tam. I'll order yarn to finish it with my next KP order. So far, that's the only thing I need so this is languishing on the needles. The hat has potential for disaster ... I calculated that there are 40" of stitches on it at the widest point. And it's for a 2 year old. It could be scary.

And here are my next mittens, sort of. The mittens came from Latvia, and I'm going to try and make a copy of them (before I have to return them in a month). The cable is something I've not seen before, but I have two areas of inquiry that look profitable (thanks, TwistedinStitches and Trakaigirl!) and once I get the current mitten done I'll start experimenting.

And that's what's up in my knitting life.

Still on hold with the IRS....

Hospitals Are Fun

Let me begin by saying that I know not all hospitals are fun, nor do all people have fun in hospitals. However, it seems to be a truth universally acknowledged that an unmarried female faced with the proposition of surgery must be a miserable specimen of humanity.
I'd like to present some visual imagery to you, proving that this is not the case. These photos are unaltered (except for six gleaming red eyes which have been recolored with the marvels of modern technology) and were fairly unstaged. No minors were harmed in the shooting of these images.

First, we have Filia and the Bobbsey Twins. This photo was the only 'staged' one, since three females knitting do not normally sit close enough together for an interesting photograph. This photo was taken the night before surgery. Do you see any fear, panic, or trepidation in that face?

Next, we have Filia, the Night Owl, up in the pre-op room at SIX THIRTY IN THE MORNING. (She's been up for 1.5 hours at this time.) Tessie the Bear is cheerfully snuggled up to her. The polar fleece blanket is a gift from the hospital auxiliary. The only thing wanting is a particular doctor to bring a particular pair of mittens in for our careful examination. (And tucked under my chair is a box full of mittens and knitting books. We come prepared! Spare clothes, of course, stayed in the car. Who needs those in the pre-op?)

Two hours after arriving in her room post-op, Filia is hard at work on the computer, posting updates on her surgery to her friends. She would have done it sooner, but Child Life had to find a computer for us to borrow. We love Child Life!

Child Life arranges other fun things, like dog shows for the hospital inmates. Three therapy dogs did a meet and greet, as well as various tricks. Filia and her roommate were still hooked up to all their equipment (which staged beeping wars) as the dog show was the day OF surgery (and after), but they both popped out of bed and into a hospital wheelchair to attend. Perhaps 'popped' is too strong of a word? Anyway, there they are. A little wan looking, perhaps, but that can go with the territory. You can't go around looking TOO cheerful right after surgery, or insurance may decide it should be outpatient.

And more therapy dogs! Otis the mastiff came by the first day (before the dog show.) Otis is huge, but small for a mastiff. Sparkie is small for a Basenji (which is an entirely different thing from being small for a mastiff) but that just meant he could snuggle on the hospital bed!

It's all way too much fun. Filia is wondering if her left leg would benefit from any fixing the doctors can do, and how soon she can go back.

You know a hospital is serious about patient care when the catering staff hunt down a wayward patient at the air hockey table in the clinic reception area to get her supper order. (She beat me. Twice. And she beat the Bobbsey Twins once, and lost once.)


All is well with us. School starts in earnest on Monday, and I should have some decent knitting posts next week. I spent some time in Ravelry today to get it up-to-date ... next week is the week of catching up the blog.

And we're back!

Have been back for a while, actually. Surgery went well, and Filia bounced back from it very quickly (chatted with the nurses on the way into AND out of the operating room.) She would have run out of yarn to knit, were it not for the kindness of TwistedinStitches who both gave her some on Monday, and brought more on Wednesday. Me? I packed enough. The trip saw a pair of socks completed, a twisted hat begun (and finished today), a Starfish Hat from America Knits begun (and not finished ... I need more yarn!), and some very unclassical books read.

After finishing the hat, I've cast on for a twisted mitten. It's not a mate to the one sitting in my knitting box, but rather version 2.0. Dh did comment that version 1.0 fits him perfectly, and he seemed to like the felted feeling. Maybe if he's good, I'll make a match for version 1.0 for him. But he doesn't like mittens... but they'd fit OVER just about anything, for a double layer. We'll see.

Because recovery went so quickly, we were out of the hospital before the swelling was down enough for a cast. Tomorrow we shall remedy that, and get rid of the plaster/cotton/ACE bandage dressing. And we'll visit Half-Price Books, and the Olive Garden, and maybe a yarn store or two....

And we're (almost) off!

Filia and I are taking a mother-daughter break this week. It's not the traditional mother-daughter stuff, done over the weekend and involving lots of shopping. (If it's not yarn, I'm generally not a shopper. And even if it is yarn, I'd rather shop for one project and start knitting than just 'shop'. Maybe that's why my stash is in the shape it is.) No, our mother-daughter break will take place at a hospital, and it will involve a literal break, to be followed by a cast. Hopefully (according to Filia) neon orange. Two or three days and much knitting later, we'll head home. Sound fun?

We think so.

The pre-op doesn't involve anything remotely like 12 cups of Go-Lytely (akin to the stuff one drinks before a colonoscopy), and there are no incisions to hurt while sitting up ... what's not to like? Nurses, yummy hospital food, visitors, more videos than one is normally allowed to watch, no chores. And lots of knitting time. Plus,it means the start of school gets delayed. What's not to like?

Filia hasn't decided what she's going to bring to knit. I'm working hard to figure out what I can safely leave home. I think my spinning wheel will stay home (just not that much room in the hospital!), which means I need to get some yarn plied for easier twined knitting. I finished the mitten I was working on, and it's become a 'sample' since it didn't shrink widthwise In The Least. 10" circumference before felting, 10" after felting. At least the mitten had the good grace to shrink lengthwise, all of 10%. I love how it feels. Twined knitting with fingering weight yarn and felting ... mmm, mmm, good.

I've got a pair of socks on the needles as well, and will be swatching for Filia's sweater if both they and the mittens get done. And there's yarn for the nifty starfish-shaped hat from America Knits, so I need to jot the pattern down. I can't see bringing a HUGE book along for the 13 lines or so the pattern is. Unless I need reading material? Maybe I should bring it. And maybe some spare yarn in case I want to cast on for a Latvian mitten.

Packing for the hospital isn't the challenge, though. No, it's packing for the overnight BEFORE the hospital We don't want to get up at 4 AM and drive for 2+ hours, so we're imposing upon someone who just happens to live closer to the hospital than we do. And she knits, and wants to pick my brain about knitting. And so, I've got to bring my mitten box. And my twined knitting books. And my fair goodies. And and and and. We're going to have fun. (If we have too much fun, I won't have to worry about waking up early. I'll still be awake!)

Besides the twined mitten that came off my needles, I have made another pair of felted slippers (argh. The opening is too big. Next try - felted clogs), and finished my legwarmers. Two hats have contributed to stash depletion, too.

And that's the knitting and non-schooling news from the non-hurricane-prone North.

A whole post without mittens

This has been a very un-mitteny month for me. Just one pair of mittens for the whole month? Let's just say the month went fast.

You could also say I've been knitting other things.

Celestine Btoroj (just pretend like it's Cyrillic, and it'll sound better) used up another 36 grams of leftover sock yarn. It's almost like a sock Memory Keeper ... these socks were for Vicki, these went to mom, these went to mom, these went to mom ... and these are 'pre-socks' from Lene!

Here are more socks. From left to right, they are in Risata, Essential, and Essential Kettle-dyed. This is probably why I've not been up to much mitten-wise. Socks just *are* easier to knit in social situations than Latvian mittens are. Something about colors, and yarns, and patterns, and thumbs. Plain socks really just need attention at the increase, heels, and cast off.
Tea Cozy! I'm working on a pair of slippers (that are going to be true destashing slippers ... there's WOTA Bulky, Alafoss Lopi, Reynolds Bulky Lopi, WOTA worsted, Cascade 220, and 100% mohair in my grab bag) to felt along with the cozy. I do hope that I don't felt them too small for use in this household. Although if the slippers end up scary, that might work out.
And the legwarmers. These have been on hold for a while, as I'm waiting for more yarn. Four skeins wasn't quite enough. I have one cable row, and then some ribbing to go and all will be done. There's something in me that objects to putting down a project almost done, and not picking it up for a week or two. It's like a cold draft in the winter. But I only have 3" of yarn left. It's not in my power to finish these without introducing a new color of yarn. And I *like* this color. I thought about making my slippers in this color as well, but decided to destash for the slippers.

School ... is still far off. We're postponing the start of school until Sept 22nd this year. It's ridiculously late, but when you have a 2-3 day hospital stay with surgery in the second week of September, it seems reasonable. We are tucking in a World History course into our post-family-camp/pre-official-school-start times, and the week before the official start will be a time of gearing up for school so we can hit the ground running.

At least, that's the theory.

Didn't they used to teach knitting in school? Now THAT is one subject I can see doing every day. Hmmmm.

Back from the Fair

The past few weeks have been so busy for our household, I wasn't sure if we'd make it to the state fair or not. I mailed some entries off (cheaper than driving up) and arranged to have the helpful clerks at the fair mail my things back after the fair (ditto previous reason.) There's so much to see and do at the fair, one can't really go up and do everything in a day ... so should one even try?




Mom decided that yes, we would go to the fair. And no, we wouldn't try and do everything. The goal for us is to make it from the gate where the buses drop you off to the Creative Activities building, and back to the gate, without killing her. Her knee doesn't always cooperate with walking, but she survived today quite well and is home recuperating for Thursday's shopping trip.

One of our first main stops (after the fish pond) was the Butterfly House. The butterflies loved Filia. She's only got 9 on her in this photo, but had 11 at one point. The butterflies are gorgeous, and do a nice job of tickling the fingers and wrists when they land. I was wearing blue, and only had two butterflies at any one time. Filius enjoyed watching them, but one on a finger was plenty for him.

After the Butterfly House, we meandered up to the Creative Activities building. The amount of gorgeous knitting in that building is amazing. Rachel and her camera had a better time of it than I did, so I'm going to use some of her photos (with permission.) There was a gorgeous Intarsia sweater (which you can see on her blog), and a gorgeous modular blanket made by Shelly and right in front of the blanket, there was even a person who looked like Shelly! (It's amazing what you can learn from reading about the fair in the MN Knitters group on Ravlery) I inquired if she were indeed that Famous Shelly, and she replied that she was. I introduced myself as the not-so-famous Carolyn


and we proceeded to have a lovely chat. The pdf of fair results really makes for a smaller knitting world. It's not just the garments, the glass cases, and you ... there are NAMES that go with the items (even if you generally have no idea what name goes with which piece of gorgeosity) and so you can put 'tags' on at leas three or four people who have entered the same category you have, and you realize that if you have four categories in common with someone else (who has to place in those categories for her to cross your long-distance 'pdf radar') you probably have some good common knitting ground.

And whoever met knitters that weren't delighted to chat with other knitters? (Yes, you in the back. Save your story for later.) Anyways, I had a nice chat with Shelly, and then the back of my mind remembered reading something about the Yarn Harlot asking people to bury a certain knitter in leftover sock yarn for a blanket ... and yes, that was Shelly. Wow. I shook hands with a Really Famous Person. I think I have enough sock yarn to knit the blanket on my own ... but it wouldn't have so many pretty colors. Maybe.

Dangling from mid-air, a display case away, was a familiar looking pair of gloves. In all, I found 8 of my 9 entries. The first one we saw, the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole, was being heartily admired by a friendly woman. I told her it belonged to my mom, and we had a nice chat with her. My twisted mittens were the next to be spotted, with a pretty pink 4th place ribbon on them. The twisted hat merited a 1st place ribbon. Next on our route was the white stole, and then? Then began the hunt. There were four more items to find, and one of them had a ribbon on it. Somewhere, somehow, it had to be displayed. Right?

Almost. I found my Latvian mittens in a case far remote from the front wall, and my Rovaniemi mittens not that far from them. But I just could Not Spot two scarves. And one of them had a ribbon on it. So, I went back to the front to see what I could see.

I saw .... a Mystery. I had entered a scarf of Rowan KidSilk Haze in the mediumweight scarf category, and placed 3rd. I had entered a scarf of purple handspun in the lightweight scarf category, and didn't place. But what did my eyes see? A very familiar purple handspun scarf, with a 3rd place ribbon on it!

My best guess is the judges decided my handspun was more medium than lightweight, and moved it from a fingering-weight into a sport-weight category. The full tale will have to wait until I get my box back. But wow ... I placed, in a Very Competitive Category, with my wimpy handspun!!!

But in real life: I need to get some pictures taken of what I've been up to. Celestine Btoroj is done, the cable legwarmers have nearly every inch of 4 skeins used up and are waiting for me to order a 5th so I can finish the last 3 inches, and I'm working on another pair of Christmas socks. Mom and I are starting to plan next year's knitting. It's a good time to do that when you're inspired by gorgeous fair entries. Her sweater is going to be an Icelandic Yoke type, but in a fingering/sport weight yarn. Light blueish, with ??? for the yoke. And me? I need to get some more mittens going before I decide to start in on the Knit From Your Shelf a few months early.

Knitting in America is now on the shelf. Yum!!!!

Vacation Tally

We're back from vacation, and the tally is 1.1 legwarmers and two complete pairs of socks. One sock is going to get some remedial work - it's been so long since I've made a sock, I did a standard bind-off and it's a bit tight for comfort. Wearable, definitely. But snug. Probably when I finish .9 legwarmers, I'll tackle the refinishing of the sock. Guaranteed not to involve hazardous fumes.

Wordless Wednesday

Latvian Dreams: the second pattern

This is what I was up to! (Cast on Friday afternoon, finished Saturday night. Complete with sleeping, laundry, meals, book releases, and other normal miscellany of life.)

I've decided that, rather than agonizing over which mittens to make from the book, I will work through them in sequence. There are over 50 graphs, so I will be busy for a while. And there are no colors, or photos, or bottom edge treatments given... so there is lots of room for the imagination.

I used to wonder what kind of insanity it took to do a three-color fringe. Why didn't anyone tell me what fun they were?

I love these moments

Any guesses what I'm up to?