I forgive

Kellykins wanted to know what pattern I was using-it's an Adrienne Vittadini booklet from 2006.  Last week, I searched all the AVs I could find, and made sure my library is complete.  It's a shame, really.  For at least a decade, Adrienne Vittadini had some really sharp designs.  The pity was, the patterns are not really knitter friendly ... they are murky, like some Vogue patterns.  But sharp looking classic clothing for grown up women?  Absolutely.

Once again, I am on the yarn quantity see-saw.  I understand why I do this.  When I first started knitting, I made a wildly successful top from a "Finn Time" leaflet.  (I loved these leaflets, where did they GO?)  It needed 500 yards of yarn.  And I was a poor airman, too; I looked hard for 500 yards in yarns I could afford.  So for me, 500 yards is the magic number, never mind that I haven't been that size since.....oh, when I got married, I guess.  So I am learning to buy more, but still struggle.  It's a good thing this color is still readily available.  The cowl might require another ball.  Aggravating, because the whole point was to USE some yarn, not use it and have to order more.  It's like inviting in yarn vampires!  

Susan Bates are just right for this yarn-not too pointy.  (BTW, if anyone can id that brand of circs, I would appreciate it.  I bought them at Wallyworld about 3 years ago, and I LOVE them.  They are like a Susan or a Boye, but the tips are exactly like freshly sharpened pencils.  Sharp, but not too sharp.  I really like THAT pair.  )   

I forgive this yarn as I knit it, because the fabric is just SO nice.

Need another opinion

I am trying hard to finish up UFOs. I ran across this, an entrelac sweater started last October, in Austermann Inverno. I figured out where I was, sat down, did a few squares, and really looked at it.

There is no way the front will match the back. Given entrelac's tendency to spread, the front is a good 5" wider than the back.

It's kind of....quiet. Misty. Do I really want such a serene sweater?

I was a little worried. I started the project based on yardage, and a little nervous, because I know I need to reknit the back to fit the front. I wasn't sure I had enough.

Then I saw my big ball of Berroco (mumble becauseIdon't remembertheyarn's name ..crap... Mosaic Iusedonthe cardi) Optik, that I salvaged from something else I frogged last week. And it just might look really good with the Inverno.

In order to do that and have it come out looking ok, I would have to take it back 2 tiers, and then add in a total of 2 tiers. I have 6 of 10 done.

In the meantime, more Inverno has surfaced. So running out of yarn is no longer an issue.

What do you think? I am standing by to listen. (Actually, I am sewing buttons on that last cardi, but you know...)

Come out and Play-yay

DH and I went on a wine tasting tour today. It was fun. Texas is the second largest wine tourist destination in the country. (I can't believe the Columbia River Valley let that one slip by.) I don't know that wine tourism is that much FUN (I tasted both good and ungood today), but it helps that the country's top waterpark AND one of the top shopping destinations in the country are both nearby. The outlet malls ARE this state's number one tourist destination.....but I digress. These days, there are dozens of wineries throughout the state.


I bought the tickets for Valentines. We'd heard there were a lot of wineries in the Hill Country (north of San Antonio, west of Austin, south of Waco) but we've never been. Mind you, we've been in the state for 13 years, and the oldest winery we visited was 20 years old. As we found out, it wasn't necessary to have a tasting ticket for the wineries, but toting the ticket got us a little "extra" at every stop. If we hadn't bought the tickets, we probably wouldn't have gone, so I think that was money well spent. We went to the Fredricksburg Winery (downtown Fredricksburg), Grape Creek Vinyards and Torre de Pietro (right next to each other on Hwy 90) and Sister Creek Vinyards in Sisterdale.

I am not a HUGE fan of reds. I'm not wild about the tannic taste. I found it VERY helpful to taste and smell back-to-back-to-back. It helped me winnow out what I liked and what I didn't. (I had a NASTY Pinot Noir-tasted like vinegar to me!) My pick? Grape Creek and Torre de Pietro are right next to each other, and Grape Creek's wines were very enjoyable. Torre de Pietro kind of set me back on my heels, pricewise. They were pretty proud of their Petit Shiraz. It was 100.00 a bottle. I am sure I am not qualified to drive THAT snob bus. At any rate, if I was only going to make one stop, it would be Grape Creek. We picked up a port, and a sweet white that I thought would be a perfect little "prezzie" wine to have on hand. I just looked at wine awards, and hey, that little 12.50 bottle won a Silver medal in recent competition. I can be the 12.50 snob, ok?


We stopped at Sisterdale because it was kind of in the homeward direction, and they specialize in reds, which DH thinks are wunnerful. DH loved their self-tour (it's in an old cotton gin), and he loved their flavors. (It also helped that there was a large farm of rusting Chevies right next door.) He pointed out the big plastic cork tapped into the side of each barrel. "They call that a bunghole," he announced gleefully and not too quietly. See what I mean about licenses to drive the wine snob bus??


I finished a "punkinhead" hat this weekend. I first made this Ann Norling hat about 5 years ago, and decided I needed a few for baby presents. I am shocked at how easy it was to do this hat-much easier than it was 5 years ago!! So it's done. I need to do several more, because there are a lot of women expecting. EVERYONE loves the pumpkins.

If I hand knit a hat, I can just throw it in a wine bag, right? I am so NOT kidding about that!

Hat Attack 2008 Hat

is done. The pattern's been out less than 24 hours, so I wonder if the hat was difficult enough; there are a number of people (I guesstimate more than 10%) of the participants who are already done.

About the pattern-eh. My project looks like it's supposed to but there's a few bits of weirdness going on in the pattern. I know it's not easy to write one, but if things gave ME pause, I know they really goofed up jeep knitters.

The pattern is based on binary code sequence (01100 and such). I wish it were more balanced. Yarn is Soft Angora, 80%merino, 20% angora, about 130 yards (1.25 balls), color raspberry

LADY & EVE...the Wrap-up

Here she is, Lady Eleanor. Gosh, what a beautiful and brainless woman. (Talk about sapping my will to knit!) Nine balls (900 yards) Mr. Joe Sangria (two colors, seven of color A, two of B, mohair with rayon wrap, chunky weight) knit on 10s. Approximate finished size is 24" x 72". I dampened her down and put it on my sweater rack on the back porch, and just let it dry.

At least one person wanted to know what she looked like on the reverse side, so here's my obligatory shot. Nothing to wow you, but nothing to make you retch, either. The colors are truer in this scan than the outdoor shot.

I will undoubtably make another E, but I think I will go for wilder contrasting yarns. I also may knit this end-to-end, instead of crosswise. I think that side to side configuration actually makes her a duller knit! I did not fringe her. The fringe shown on the photo LOOKS cool, but I can picture it as something that will be a pain to maintain six months from now.

I know I said I planned to keep her, but stuff happens. My neighbor came in just as I was starting the top end triangles, and as it turns out, I think Lady Eleanor's name will change to Lady Eve, after her beloved mastiff, and my wrap will move a few doors down my street. I think it's the right place for her.

Enid came in to see me on Friday, and she brought her mom and the new fresh SMALLBOY! Oh MY! He is a little guy because he was a bit early (I just looked on her blog, her maternity ticker is still up, saying she has almost three weeks left!) with really long fingers-will he play piano or be a surgeon? He's so funny, because he looks VERY much like his older brother, and I can see BigGuy in Smallboy's week-old face.

Qwikee Knit

Ah....a speed project! I wound the yarn (by hand) for the KPS Weekend Cardi last week, when I was feeling good and sick of the E-thing. I've got Elann's special buy mohair (Aurora) in purple, and Cherry Tree Hill Baby Loop mohair knit together. (I have a ton of Baby Loop, and I want to help some of it go away!) I'm working on size 15 Balene IIs.

I am testing my dissimilar gauge theory with this project. Two dissimilar gauged yarns knit together should produce

Yarn A gauge (the larger yarn)minus (oh hell, where IS the square root symbol??) square root of yarn B gauge = the gauge of yarns A & B knit together

I am getting the expected gauge. Or maybe I am just knitting a lotta air into my mohAIR. Har dee har. I like the fabric-the Aurora is a chunkish mohair, and the Baby Loop gives it a little backbone and pop. It's fluffy and not flimsy.

A chance of flurries at midnight....

Not really, but that's what this reminds me of. It's Woolbearer's Ringspun, color Midnight Iris (the colors are so right, it could have been made to order for me) and Cream Elann Pamir. This one is built on the order of Le Slouch, and was, incredibly, too big for me. Into the dryer it went. Much better.

I have enough to do one more hat in these two yarns (I started with a skein of each), and plan to work on pattern distribution a little. This hat's designs are predominately on the back, and I need to even that up a little to make it look more balanced. So I'll cast on in the morning (in a smaller size), and add a few stripes and widgets, so the pattern is not a wonking huge surprise on the back.

For Joan's benefit-I christen this one Je Tam.

Brain Tam done-

Ok, that was just FUN! Maybe not chuckles and side-splitting, but fun. I think I need to get a better needle set-up, because the tiny DPNs just suck. I think I'll have to get a set of eensy Addi circs (Knitpicks has no 12" needles) in a 1, and corresponding straights.

The cool part about these is that the overall tam pattern is enhanced by the repetition of a small wedge design. I started out going for butterflies, then thought, no, this looks like flowers, so that's what I went for. I like the way the slots in the rose at the outer edge are echoed by the slots at the center.

The text in Knitted Tams points out that mixing fibers may be a problem when blocking the hat, which makes sense, but I had a pretty good idea of the fiber composition of my yarns. I thought it was interesting that even tho all my yarns were the same WEIGHT, the body and behavior varied a lot. I think I would like to work on acheiving subtler effects with the color ranges, but other than that, I am pretty happy with this. 'Course I would also like to come up with some really eye poppers too...

This one is for DGD, which is pretty liberating. A hat for a 4 year old can be ANYTHING, so it's a good experimental vehicle. I know Les was freaked out when I scanned the hat with that acid yellow, but hey, I think it did what I wanted it to by popping the purple a little. I can't help it, I like things with high contrast. They say babies are stimulated by black and white contrast. Perhaps I have infantile tastes? I love the taste of custard....

On the down side, I spent 3 days on it, and only knit 100 yards, but it was a 100 yard mosey, not a race.

Note: I used the pattern in IWK Summer 2002. The same chart is also in Ann Budd's book of patterns. The tam book provides more insight, and dissects this shape in more detail.

In which I get my butt kicked...by neatness!

I rarely use a solid colored yarn. It's been a long time since I followed a pattern so EXACTLY. I never do both in the same project. I modified it only slightly, by skipping a few short rows on the neckline ribbing. The high back neckline is cute, but not practical for this climate, so I only did a few short rows. DD doesn't like high necks, and I thought that a high neck worn in the high 90s would be a BAD THING. To further justify the alteration, it's rapidly becoming an albatross, and I wanted it DONE. But I did not escape the wrath of the yarn gods. I equate the Fiery Bolero with the fires of hell.

I was very careful to slip the first stitch of every row, so that the Fiery Bolero (IWK SS 05) had neat and tidy edges. Boy, that was a mistake. I picked up the all interneckline stitches twice before I realized why my stitch count was off, off, off. I had less spots to p/u because I had slipped all my leading stitches. Tidy? Absolutely. Helpful? Not at all. So I plodded thru p/u and knit a third time-all 246 stitches. Again. Holy shit. This was not a fun knit at all-I found it dull and finicky. No lively colors. No fun stitches. No cool details. A lot of counting. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

On the plus side, it's 568 yards of Austermann Rubino oddballs that I voted off Yarn Mountain. I like the yarn, I just wish I'd made something for DGD out of it when she was small enough to wear 568 yards. Punishment for slacking, don't you think? Here it is, damply awaiting seams, which I'll do at work this week.

Cropped cardi is an easy knit-

Blue Sky Alpaca's cropped cardigan in Classic Elite Beatrice. Six balls needed for the smallest size. Had a confused moment...the pattern said to begin the ribbing XX" after the cast on....and I wasn't sure if they meant cast-on edge, or the three stitches cast-on at the underarm. The cardigan is probably longer than it should be, but so what?

Oh, yeah....if I send away stash yarn, I think it should count on my ball-busting total. 410 yards GONE to.......GRACE!!!

Added-Yardage total-378, plus Grace's 410=788!

Diet Schmiet!

I was going to start this post by saying "Yarn Diet, my ass!" Then I remembered I wanted to work on the size of that a little this year too, so never mind....

But I don't NEED a yarn diet. I NEED to use some of the yarn I have, because I have a LOT of yarn. So I will knit from stash this year. A lot. I also have to stop smoking, so maybe I shouldn't worry so much about the size of my ass until I get the smoking thing under control. They are raising taxes a dollar a pack, to which I say "PTTTBT!"

To start my new year off right, I went stash diving this afternoon. I am making a top from a 1985 McCall's Knitting for DD, who needs instant wardrobe help. I am a little worried that I don't have enough yarn, but what the heck, I'll know tomorrow, won't I? It's Austermann Rubino that I bought in 2003. I like the yarn. And I really like Marcia's attitude of "Ball Busting". That sounds SOOOOO much better than yarn diet.

The first time I made this top, I STRUGGLED to understand the cable, couldn't, and ended up doing all 10" of cabling this top calls for with a cable needle, every four rows. It took forever. 22 years later, I get it, finally.

So Happy New Year to you all.