Swatch it!

I am planning to knit a new top.  I did a gauge swatch yesterday.  This is the first time I did one wear I blocked the swatch.  The pattern said to do it - and after my experience of my last top growing on me, I wasn't skipping that step.  Important to note that the pattern for my last top did not suggest measuring gauge after blocking.  How I wish it had.  I haven't done a lot of swatching, but mainly because in a lot of my projects, gauge didn't matter too much - other than for making sure you had enough yarn.  That lesson was enough to make me swatch from now on - and to always order more yarn than I need.  You can always make something with leftovers.  So, I knit the swatch and measured pre-blocking.  I upped the size of the needle partway through my swatch, just in case the recommended size was too small.  I figured that was better than having to go back and do a whole new swatch.  Then, I soaked it and blocked it and this morning, measured the dry swatch.  I'm so glad I followed the instructions to measure after blocking.  Turns out the recommended needle size will work nicely.  Hopefully before too long, I'll have a nice new top to wear to dress up jeans or khakis.

Friday Photos

Today's photo post is different. I'm showing off some things in my life. Like my new vacuum! A Dyson that is designed for dealing with pet hair. I love it!!

And then there's the new TV. This is when it was first setup - it looks even better now - but so much better than that big ass TV that dominated the room.

Boomer, of course. What photo post would be complete without Boomer! He's prowling his yard - so cute.

A newly finished knitting project. This is a beret I made for my nephew. I think I may call it the #27 hat - since I did quite a bit of work on it during the Yankees' run to World Series Championship #27. In fact, I finished it during the 8th inning of the clincher. A thinks I should put a pom pom on it. I'm not sure yet - so it may not be totally finished. It's my first hat and I'm pleased with it. I did learn that I need some shorter dpns.

Intarsia. Insane or Brave?

I decided that I wanted to make myself a small UCONN blanket for football games when it gets colder. I decided that it needed to have a C in the middle - something akin to the UCONN football logo if I could manage it. So, I graphed out a C. It's close. It's not perfect. The logo has more rounded top and bottom than I can do in stitches, given the space I've allotted for my C. The C will be blue on a white background. Next, I tried to decide what would go around the C. Bring out the colored pencils and the graph paper. Do I do a bunch of blocks? I could do mitered blocks - never done them, but something I've been wanting to try. I could do striped mitered blocks even. I could do a log cabin blanket. I could do the courthouse steps version of a log cabin blanket. I could do just plain old stripes. I could do a blue section around the C block, then a bigger white section around that. Really - tons of possibilities. I decided that some of them would be just too busy. The courthouse steps blanket I sketched had blue horizontal stripes going out from center and white strips going out vertically - the winner. But, hmmm, aren't those best done in garter stitch? Truthfully, I suppose you could do it in stockinette, but I wanted to do it in garter. Can you do intarsia in garter stitch? Yes, the wonders of the web assured me, it could be done. So here I am, the C is half done. It's not so hard as I would have imagined. The garter stitch is squishing my C a bit, so I'm not following my little graph exactly - going to go more by proportions and I think I will have to do a little embroidery in some areas to help form the angles/curves of the C. It won't be a blanket that will win a blue ribbon, but for a first attempt at designing something in intarsia - I'm pretty dang proud! I'm using yarn that was purchased based on washability - I am, after all, planning to bring this blanket to tailgates and football games. I think it will be quite cool - and hopefully quite warm!

The joy of lifelines...and the agony of frogging

If you knit lace, you know what I'm talking about. Last night, I was working on my Shetland Shawl. It's usually my lunch time project, but I'm not making fast enough progress on it when I only work on it for 30 minutes (at most) a day. So, I brought it home and was zipping along. Then the dog needed to go out. No worries - I was on a purl row, so didn't have to be concerned about where I left off. I just put some point protectors on the end and took the dog out. When I came back to pick up my knitting, it had gotten wedged in the seat cushion - must have been some evil knitting witch that did it. Thing is - I didn't realize it, just went to pick it up and off came the point protector and several stitches. The yarn is so thin and the stitches so small that, despite my best efforts, I couldn't put them back on the needle and be assured that they were all there. I could have cried. Okay I did a little. Now was the time to pray that this lifeline thing I had read about worked. A lifeline is where you string something through a good row so that if you need to frog (undo your knitting) those stitches will be sitting pretty on that string. I had begun to wonder if the pain of putting the lifeline in and then the annoyance of it when I'm knitting the next row (the string sometimes tries to work it's way into the next row sometimes) was worth it. Let me tell you friends, it was. I was able to go back to that lifeline and pick up all my stitches and start back up. I lost a few rows of knitting, but thankfully no more than that.
BTW - it is very cool to see the shawl take form. I've never knit with such thing yarn - and there is thinner stuff than what I am using. When I go from working on the shawl using fingering weight yarn, to working on my current blanket, which is worsted weight -it makes the worsted feel HUGE! May I also say that I love both yarns I'm using right now. The color of the shawl is a baby blue - just lovely. And the yarn for the blanket is vibrant and soft, so soft. I think I would use the worsted yarn for everything if it weren't just a little on the expensive side.

It's Goat Day and other thoughts

Well really, it's Farmers' Market Day here. We just call it Goat Day because there are often little baby goats at the market. It's still too early for the really good stuff, but I enjoy going. Today I got some breakfast cookies - yum. I also got a cinnamon swirl loaf of bread to try at home - hope A likes it. And I got a container of broccoli in peanut sauce - thought it sounded tasty. I'll let you know. There are a lot of tomatoes and lettuce out. I saw beets -ugh - and cauliflower too. Me, I'm waiting for the zucchini and squash!

Today was also asshole driver day. Today was just my day for it. The worst was this red Chrysler that was weaving in and out of traffic on I-95 at something like 90 miles per hour. In general, I get annoyed at the people who believe that their rights trump yours and show it with their vehicular behavior. Like the people who block the box. Or the ones who find that waiting in the left turn only lane is beneath them, so they drive up in the straight-ahead only lane and then cut into the left turn lane at the last possible minute - or worse, make the left turn from the straight ahead land just as you are making your left turn from the left turn lane. Love them. Or how about the ones who just think that the Stop line is just for decoration and stop wherever it suits them, making it near impossible for you to turn onto that street. Or the "so what you are going straight and have the right-of-way, I'm turning left now because I want to" folks. And then there are the people who think that the STOP sign is merely a suggestion. Last, but certainly not least, are the ones who get in the left lane and drive slowly, blissfully letting a line of cars build up behind them. Okay - annoying driver vent over. I've been wanting to do that for a while.

In gardening news, my coreopsis are blooming. They are way tall. I have to see what to do about that. I guess I need to stake them. My peonies have all bloomed and are now starting to lose petals. The lilies are starting to bloom and I keep getting roses. I don't think I mentioned this previously - I went into the garage for something one day and in one of the pots I had out front last year, there was a mum growing. It had sat there in the garage all winter and with what little light it got this spring, started popping up. So, I planted it in the garden and it's thriving! What a nice surprise that was. My maiden pinks have been going great guns. I think I will move some of them this fall. They would look nice along side the fence. I do have a fern growing that I planted two years ago and my lavender plant is getting ready to bloom. The rosemary plant didn't make it through the winter. I didn't realize it wouldn't survive outdoors up here. Oh well. I'll find something else for that spot. I have had great luck at Home Depot with plants - go figure.

Last thing for the day - I should finish up a bib I'm making for the nephew at lunch today. It's an "A" bib - very cute and clever. Then I plan to do another garter stitch one where the colors will be the interest in it. Bibs are fast! As part of doing the bib, I learned how to make an I-cord. Much easier than I expected. Pics will be posted when they are done.

Friday Photos

The two rose pictures are actually the same rose. One shot was taken first thing in the morning, the second taken later in the day after it opened it up. You can also see that I had watered it - the water drops are visible. Down at the end, the first twin blanket finished. And, as always, there's a Boomer picture. He's a very good poser.

Happiness is....

....birthdays. Today is A's 39th birthday. For real 39 - not like me with my anniversaries of my 39th birthday. So Happy Birthday Babycakes! I love you! (I'm saying that here even though he's not supposed to read my blog.) Who knew that 39 years ago as I sat in my 3rd grade class, my life course was being changed down in the delivery room in Norwalk Hospital!

Happiness is also a finished twin blanket! One down, one to go. I'll post pictures soon. My mother gave me the pattern last year when I wanted to make a blanket for my soon to be nephew, it's one she's used a lot. Then I lost it after I finished that blanket, so she read it to me over the phone before I started this one. Guess what I found last night after binding off! I did make a bit of a goof - but no biggie really. The blanket has blocks divided by seed stitch. The seed stitch was supposed to be p1, k1..... I went p1, k1. I don't think you could tell the difference - seriously. So now, on to twin blanket #2. This one will be a different shade of pink - and personally I think a much prettier shade - more vibrant certainly. I'm not going to do the same pattern. I saw pictures of another baby blanket by the same designer online and I'm going to kind of wing it. It's almost like a big basket weave pattern- a block of stockinette stitch, then reverse stockinette stitch. So - I want it to be a similar size to the one I just finished. I've done the math to figure out how many stitches and how many rows each block should be. So I'll cast on tonight. I recently taught myself how to do a long tail cast on, so I may try that out tonight!

Those pit in your stomach moments

I've been having a lot of them lately - you know what I mean. You get that awful feeling in the pit of your stomach. It's when you spend more than you intended on something, but don't realize until it's too late to back out. Or when you realize you forgot to pay an important bill or you forgot to do something important at work. How about when you think you hear a noise in the middle of the night - were you just dreaming or was it real. I just plow through them and try to stay calm - but damn - I feel like I've been having a lot of these moments lately. That, and I seem to keep falling up the stairs. What's up with that! I did it once as a 6 or 7 year old and needed 5 stitches in my lip. So far, no major injuries, but it's annoying that I've become a bit of a klutz. Okay - I've always had a slight tendency towards klutziness - walking into the corners of desks, etc - but why all the sudden this falling up the stairs? I think it's weird.
Anyway, I'm just about done with the two knitting projects I have going. Next it's onto baby blankets. I need to knit 3 of them. And yay! for me - I get to go with the color family I want on all of them. I have one pattern picked out and the yarn ready to go. The other two are for identical twins, so I'm debating whether to use the same color and two different patterns, same pattern and different colors or different colors and different patterns. There has to be some distinction - can't do the same color and same pattern. They each need something of their own.

Sometimes when you least expect it....and peonies

I wanted to blog about two things today - hence the odd title. I'm starting with the peonies. This is part of my learning crusade. So - did you know that peonies can be yellow! I did not. I thought they only came in shades of white and the pink family. They are name for Paeon, who was a student of the Greek god of medicine, who became jealous of Paeon and turned him into a flower! The peony is a traditional symbol in China and is the state flower of Indiana. Peonies are fragrant and attract ants because of the nectar on the outside of the blooms. Peonies are creatures of habit - good for a CT girl like me. (CT is the land of steady habits and that fits me to a T.) They do not like to be moved and may not bloom for several years if you move them, but once comfortable with their new surroundings, they will bloom every year. The blooms are heavy for the stalk, so they need support. And after the blooms die, you do have a nice shrubby looking plant for the balance of the year. In the language of flowers, peonies have the meaning of shame or bashfulness. That's because nymphs are alleged to have hidden in the many folds of the blossom. I have several peony plants in my garden. Some were planted by previous owners along the neighbors fence. I planted some in our garden the year we moved in. I've been surprised this spring by the plants that are popping up! I had quite given up on some of them, but it now looks like I have 4 or 5 in my garden!

So - the other topic. Sometimes when you least expect it, something comes up and bites you in the butt. This morning, on facebook, one of my friends sent me Happy Mother's Day wishes. Yup. to me. the infertile. the barren one. I'm pretty sure she knows that A & I don't have kids. Her husband is also in R-1. We've been at plenty of functions together - most notably the Christmas Party, where we clearly did not have children. So, I don't know why she sent it. Maybe she just sent it to everyone on her friends list. Nice way to start the day. I blocked the application so that no one else can unwittingly do the same thing.

To end on a good note, a friend of mine who struggled to conceive is happily pregnant and recently found out the sex of her little one. I have been waiting anxiously to hear, so that I could go buy some yarn for the gift I want to knit for her. I was hoping for for it to go a certain way, because there are a couple of colors I have just fallen in love with - and I got my way! Now if only A's fellow firefighter and his wife would have their twins so that I know what colors to go with for them. I have such ideas!

Friday Photos

It's spring, so of course you should be expecting some pictures of the garden. I have my first tulip completely up. It's a very pretty pink. I have a variety of daffodils. They hyacinth are looking good and there's lots of other stuff making itself known. The peonies, some lilies, some coreopsis, lavender - good things. I'll get surprises too because I don't know what got moved when the fence guys moved dirt around - some stuff might not have made it, other stuff may show up in a new place! I've also added a picture of the stole I am knitting for myself. It's about 2/3 done. I'm really happy with the progress and how it looks.

Friday Photos

Some knitting, some flowers, some fencing. Yeah fencing. I'm excited. Our fence was delivered yesterday. It will be installed later this month. I think I'm going to particularly love the fence come winter when I can just open the door and say "go do your business Boomer" and not have to go out with him.

The knitting is booties that I will send up to my new nephew. They were very easy to make. The pattern is at http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/60091A.html?noImages=. They aren't fancy - I figure they are knock-around booties. I did a better job sewing the 2nd one up. The hardest part was the stupid tassels.

Friday Photos

As promised, here are pictures of my recently finished knitting project. It is a scarf - the name of the scarf is Bias Knit Scarf and it's a free pattern on http://www.lionbrand.com/. The pattern calls for mohair yarn and says to knit to 36 inches. I used Lion Brand Homespun - much softer - and made it a bit over 60 inches. I really liked this pattern. I knit it for my friend Deb. A few months back, my friend Patrick passed away after a golfing accident. Deb was his girlfriend. We had dinner last month and I was wearing a scarf I had knit. Deb loved it and the color and said "I want one" or something like that. So - I found a yarn with a color close to mine and decided to try a different pattern from mine. The first pattern I tried, I really didn't like. Then I thought I would try the Bias Knit Scarf -but using a smaller needle and cast on more stitches. I ripped that out too - or using knitting language I guess I frogged it. So - finally got going with a size I liked and it really moved pretty quickly. I gave it to Deb yesterday. I'm happy I could do something that made her happy. She's had a tough few months. So enough story - here are the pictures.

Happiness is... part 2

....learning to cable! Thank you "Stitch 'n Bitch"! It's also finally figuring out what knit the knits and purl the purls means. It was one of those "ah hah!" moments for me. I'm not planning to do any patterns with cables soon - but I plan to be practicing. For now, I'm working diligently on my stole. I finished the other project, will post pictures on Friday.

Friday Photos

Here are some pictures of my "work in progress" stole. It requires a certain level of concentration, but I'm finding remembering the pattern is not so hard. I still count, count, count as I go along the pattern rows. I haven't been working on it the last couple of days because I wanted to try to get my other kind-of-secret project done so that I can give it away next week. That one is coming along nicely and will be done shortly. I will post pictures of it next week.