Finished!

Kathleen-
Thursday night I knit through an episode of West Wing, Grey's Anatomy, another West Wing episode, and the local news, and finally cast off the last stitches of my mom's shawl at about 10:45 in the midst of watching Jay Leno. And then I had this:



This morning I decided to do the blocking of the shawl. You may recall that he red dye hadn't fully exhausted from the yarn, and my hands kept coming up red after knitting. So I knew there were going to be multiple rinses. This was at the beginning of the first rinse:


Seven or eight rinses later, the water was rinsing a very faint pink (as opposed to blood res the first time). I decided I was done. I very gently lifted it out, wrapped it in a towel and stood on it to get water out, and flopped it on the futon- also known as my improvised blocking surface.

More than an hour of pinning and re-pinning later, I had this:



And a closeup of the point:


Next post: pictures of the shawl once unpinned. I can't wait.

Snow Keeps Falling on my Head

Kathleen-
It started snowing Sunday, but I didn't because I was in a frenzy of packing. Then I started to leave to meet Mike to get dinner, and discovered that I would have to spend 15 minutes clearing off my car, and decided to go back inside and eat at home. And then I kept packing.

All in all, it was a very successful weekend of packing and getting stuff under control. Although I still have lots to do, I'm feeling better overall than I was on Friday. Driving to work yesterday was the normal challenge because it seems that Minnesotans don't retain the memory of how to drive in snow from winter to winter, but I made it safely.

This morning, to cap off the weather, it was 5 below zero when I woke up. Now I'm not going to complain too much, because there wasn't much wind, and people to the North of us were much much colder (-24 before windchill), but I am reminded of how cold winter can be in Minnesota. This has inspired me to pull out the yarn you gifted me with for my birthday last year. Nice warm Alpaca in a lovely blue and black combo. Then I looked for the pattern for the bulky mittens. Amazingly, I hadn't yet packed it. Then I looked for size 10 or 10.5 double pointed needles. And there I struck out. I can find circulars, and I might even be able to find 2 circulars the same size, so I'm considering using the two circulars method. This is all to avoid going to the yarn store and being tempted by all the yarn.

We shall see. Knitting progress is slow due to the constant need to pack, but I think I'm one to 1.5 solid nights work away from being done with the shawl.

I'm also working my way down the gusset shaping of my current sock, and discovered last night that my missing knitting needle for J's Manly Mitts is in J's truck. So as soon as I retrieve the needle, I can work more on those, which are great for almost mindless knitting.

I hope the staring at the ground expedition went well.

No good title

Kathleen-

The Blue Moon thing is absolutely amazing. And entertaining. Though I think Stephanie may have a point about the fact that the business is owned and run by women, and the bank would never do this to a male owned business. But I digress. I love that they wouldn't believe that many people would be interested in sock yarn!

I've run out of clever and not so clever titles that involve edging. Nevertheless, I'm still knitting edging. But today I've managed to remember a picture!

The magic of blocking is yet to come, but I have faith. Last night I watched classic West Wing and knitted up a storm, so life is good. I'm one repeat of edging away from the center stitches, but was too tired to continue.

Tragically, this meant I didn't pack. Not even a little bit. This may have been a bad decision, but I decided I would buckle down on Saturday afternoon and finish packing the contents of the big closet and all but the most basic of my cooking supplies. I feel that I can survive the next couple weeks with a few pots, 2 plates, 2 bowls, 2 mugs, and 2 glasses, plus some silverware. What do you think?

I'm at the Edge

Kathleen-
Last night was blessedly free of packing. Instead, I sat on Mike's couch, knit edging, and flipped back and forth between football and CSI: Miami. Mike sort of wanted to watch the college football game, and usually we don't see CSI because we watch Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip in that time slot, so it was pretty out of the ordinary compared to our usual Monday night. And I knit on the edging of the shawl.

Unfortunately, I seem to have entered knitting black hole #3 on this shawl. This first happened while knitting the main body. Then finally that was done, and I was knitting the border for eons. Last night I eyeballed where I was, knit industriously for an hour, looked at the knitting again, and seemed to have gotten nowhere. Finally at the end of the night I looked down, and I'm getting pretty close to the markers for the halfway point, so there's hope.

I've got a work meeting this evening, so progress on anything is likely to be limited tonight. I'm hoping to pack a box or two and do a load of laundry after I get home. It would be nice if the big closet in my apartment was all packed except for work clothes by this weekend.

I fear I'm going to be a boring blogger for a while due to the packing, but I will try to actually take a picture of the shawl with half knit edging tonight so that you can see it.

Borders

Kathleen-
I'm so glad you liked your Christmas package! The socks are amazingly pinkl

This weekend I knit a lot on this:


Blurry shot of the edging courtesy of the flash on my camera. Still not done. Slowly separating from reality about finishing. I've concluded that I can knit the edging (as opposed to the border I'm currently knitting) completely on the the plane to AZ. Delusions may have come into play here. Either way, I think my mother will be ok if she gets it on the needles. Knitters understand.

We went to a party dressed like this: Mike is always a big hit in his kilt. Oh yeah, he's growing a beard again.

Last night we went to the pub quiz, and Mike's team won 4 tickets to the Nutcracker at the State Theater tonight. There were only 3 people on the team, so I got the extra ticket. Fun times! Unfortunately, this means no shawl knitting tonight. I'm taking a just started sock, but I've never tried to knit during the Nutcracker before. I may be too absorbed.

Speaking of socks, have I told you how much I love these?


Pony Pearl needles are my absolute favorite double points. They're quiet (plastic over metal) the metal core gives them strength, but they're soft feeling, and they don't snap (how many wooden and bamboo needles did I have to snap before I gave up? Kind of ridiculous). I just bought size 1 for the first time, and I'm not loving them, but I love all the other sizes so much that I'm willing to forgive them for that.

Also, I bought clasps for Eris, but I haven't sewn them on. Honestly, I think the clasps cost more than the yarn for this sweater!

Christmas Delusions

Kathleen-
Christmas timing delusions are a well documented disease for knitters. I'm just saying that it seems you and I are both operating under them.

I actually made my stitches goal last night, but discovered a small mistake, which I was then too tired to fix. That gets first priority tonight, then more stitching! It does look really good though. I'm becoming resigned to the idea that this might be an "on the needles" gift...but I'm still pulling for being able to finish it on the plane. I've knit this whole thing without lifelines (living dangerously, I am), and it worked with this specific yarn and pattern, but I think any more complicated lace will get lifelines from now on with me!

I also have a small "one more project" thing going on, but its deadline is my arrival back from AZ (January 1, conveniently enough), so I'm feeling good about it. I'm reprising the Knitty Manly Mitts for our friend J, who admired Mike's when they were on the needles, and very sweetly requested them. (And then dropped hints all over the place about when they'd get done!) I've completed one cuff, mostly while waiting in lines and in cars, so they're progressing. Luckily, they're a simple enough knit that I can work on them in almost any situation, so they make a good socializing project.

Stephanie is back! And she has an amazing post up about Doctors Without Borders. I gave the last time she did this, and I'm eying my end of year budget to give a little bit again this year. Such a great organization, and I like Stephanie's idea. This is what tugged at my heartstrings, even though I was already convinced:

It won't be easy, it might even pinch a little, but it can't hurt as much as doing nothing, or it can't hurt as much as being one of the people in the world who needs help for a loved one and is watching them die because they have the bad luck to live in a country where you can't call 911.

I've been the person who answers 911. I've called 911. I take it for granted. And everyone should have that. And just a safety net. And the things we don't notice. Like, as Stephanie said, "4 million people have quietly died" without the world noticing. Really, Stephanie says it best.

Shawl, we may have a problem

Kathleen-
Your comment yesterday led me to do some reckoning last night. According to my oh-so-scientific calculations, I must complete 1200 stitches a day in order to finish the shawl before flying to AZ. If I factor in my ability to knit on the plane, I would need to do about 1,100 stitches a day (this would mean blocking in AZ, not necessarily a problem, but inconvenient). Then again, Mom is a knitter, she would understand.

Now I realize that is really isn't that many stitches. In fact, this is plausible if I just buckle down and work on it. But it may be a struggle to complete. My knitting speed is improving this project, so I remain hopeful. My hope is to get ahead this weekend so that I have a little more flexibility next week, which is packed to the gills! 1200 stitches today, 1200 stitches Thursday, 1200 stitches Friday (that could be a challenge, as we have a party), dare I hope for 4800 on Saturday and 2000 on Sunday? That would make this totally possible.

No new pictures, because more than ever this looks like a tangle of scraggly brightly colored yarn. I'm putting a lot of faith in the magic of blocking!

By the way, I bought some yarn from Jenna (the designer of Eris) last night as she was destashing (oops!). What I bought is no longer up, but it is six balls of Kidsilk Haze in a lovely shade of green for a remarkable price. In the process of buying it, Jenna visited our humble blog, and wrote me a nice note about my Eris. I'm so excited!

BTW, have you seen Stephanie's amazing explanation of why her blog is down? Red Alert

Slow and Steady

Kathleen-
Slow and steady once again. The sum total of last nights knitting was picking up the hundreds of stitches for the border of my mothers shawl, and knitting the setup row. Happily, I have the right number of stitches at this point, so I think I can start cruising on the edging after work. I have a netflix movie, so it should be a lovely evening.

Before I sit down to knit tonight, my plan is to figure out how many rows I have left so that I can plot out how many rows I need to accomplish a day to finish the shawl in time for Christmas. Then I'll do the same thing for the First Year Shawl for after Christmas.

Other than that, I'm contemplating things I can throw out when we move, and whether I'm going to go crazy since my office moves on Jan 15th, and Mike and I are moving around Jan 31. Ack! Packing is going to rule my life once I come back from AZ.

Center Triangle Cast Off

Kathleen-
Three tries later, I have successfully cast off the center triangle of my mother's shawl. I couldn't get it loose enough with the needles I knit with, so I went up two sizes and cast off loosely, and I'm now happy with how it looks.


And a second picture for a marginally more accurate color:


Next on the agenda: picking up stitches for the (very wide) border. Hopefully tonight.

This weekend I managed to pick up the stitches for the border of the First Year Shawl, and knit the setup row. Now I'm once again stuck contemplating border options. I'm thinking of using the edging from Stephanie's Snowdrop shawl (PDF). No pictures yet, cause currently it's boring.

(Lace) Surgery Completed

Kathleen-
I have survived my first major lace surgery. Last night I sat down with strong light, West Wing Season 4 on DVD, and lots of knitting needles. I completed the surgery, and kept right on knitting. I have now finished knitting the center triangle of the shawl. The next step is to cast off the top and pick up stitches for the edging lace pattern.

I'm feeling a great sense of relief. As always, you can't see the pattern at all yet:


But I stretched it over my hand so you can see it a bit:


Tonight I'm baking Pumpkin-Ginger Cheesecake and we're decorating the Christmas Tree, so I'm not sure any progress will be made. I hope to get some done over the weekend though, I need to keep moving or it isn't going to make its deadline! I think I'd like to finish and block this while I'm still here, but that may not be possible, as the deadline looms. Luckily, my Mom is also a knitter, so I think she'll forgive me if I have to block it in AZ.

We have a pretty packed weekend, so I'm not optomistic about getting much lace knitting done. I do have some time tomorrow where I won't have the concentration for lace, but should be able to knit, so I think I'm going to work on the First Year Shawl, which has been languishing.

Have a good weekend, and good luck emerging from under your work stuff!

P.S.: New Knitty!

Pride Goeth Before the Fall

Kathleen-
Remember how I said that I seemed to have finally stopped screwing up the lace pattern? Right. Bad idea. So I'm knitting along on my first row last night when I glance down and realize that 6 rows down, I'd made a stupid and yet immediately obvious mistake. In a lace motif that includes only two pattern rows (with different numbers of plain stitches at the beginning to create a repeat), I had switched which pattern I was knitting three-fourths through a row.

ACK! I immediately sprang into action. Having no desire to rip 6 full rows, I decided to only drop the stitches for the affected section. I was inspired by the memory of this post at Stephanie's. Moments into it, I was instead reminded of this post from a few days later.

Sadly, between the red yarn, less than ideal light, and aging digital camera....my pictures are pretty bad. Note the many strands of red yarn coming out of the top of this shot:



This shows how many stitches were affected:


And this is halfway through the repair.


By the way, I particularly identify with the second post I linked to, because Mike called, the phone startled me, and I was very unhappy, even though I didn't actually drop a stitch. In fact, I was rude because I was so stressed at that point.

The damage is not fully repaired yet, though I think I only have one row to reknit at this point. My entire evening was heart stopping as a result, and I think I'll be taking a break from this project tonight to allow for recovery.

Inching (Not itching)

Kathleen-
That's how I'm beginning to feel about my mother's shawl. I worked on it diligently last night, and made progress, but I still feel like I'm just barely inching along. I have 4 rows left of the last repeat section in the middle (which, knock on wood, I seem to have finally stopped screwing up), and then I think an additional six rows before the bind off row and the beginning of the edging.

Luckily, in my world Tuesday's are for knitting, much as they are for spinning for Stephanie. This is because Mike plays basketball Tuesday nights, so I generally park myself on the couch with a Netflix movie (recently Grey's Anatomy), and knit all night. Tonight will be a bit abbreviated because I need to run out to Roseville before I head home, but then I will knit. I'm hoping to complete the repeat, and at least part of those additional 6 rows tonight. Also I'm going to Kitchener the second Broad Street Mitten, though probably not get to weaving in the ends.

This will be my first real experience with the magic of lace, detailed beautifully by Stephanie here, and I'm looking forward to it. I'm a bit nervous about making the cast off row too tight, so I'm thinking very hard about what size needles to use, or whether to place the top stitches on waste yarn and cast off after blocking.... any thoughts? My plan is to block it on the futon couch that was once yours. I think I'll take the current cover off to protect it from the pins, so you'll probably be treated to garishly clashing pictures of the red and purple shawl blocking on the green futon!

I too love both Techniques with Theresa and Brooklyn Tweed. In fact, Theresa is who I turn to for a reminder on how to Kitchener just about every time.

I assume its warmer there than here! The high on Thursday is supposed to be 14 above, and I have to wear a skirt suit to work!

Progress Progress Progress

Kathleen-
That sounds like quite the productive weekend and quite lovely as well!

I managed to complete my goal for the weekend, I completed the knitting on the Broad Street Mittens.

Displayed on my sofa pillow, though at first glance it closely resembles my mother's shawl. You'll note that I said I finished the knitting. There is still the weaving in of ends and the Kitchenering of mitten #2.

Glove style:

Mitten style:
Sorry for the blinding whiteness of my forearm, and the generally bad lighting. THese pictures were taken at about 10pm last night, which necessitated both a bright light and the flash on teh camera.

I also am making "slow and steady" progress on my mother's shawl, and am only about 12 rows from finishing the body. The rows are taking a long time though, and then there is the edging.
Goal: Finish by December 20th, so as to block before leaving for AZ. On the other hand, it sure would dry faster in the lovely AZ dryness. Hmm. More thought on that.

I haven't touched the First Year Shawl, though I have come up with a solution for the edging, so at least I know what I'm doing now!

In other weekend news, on Saturday we braved the Mall of America (seriously, one of my least favorite places) in order to buy Mike new black dress shoes at Nordstrom Rack. This had to be done on Saturday because we had a formal cocktail party to attend Saturday night, to which Mike was wearing his kilt, and the brown shoes simply did not go.

So we arrived at 10am and left at 11:10 am. Not too bad. Also accomplished in that time: I exchanged a dress for a different size, and I bought this dress for the party:

(Giselle from Ann Taylor, currently on sale here.) For anyone who reads this and doesn't know me, that photo is a model, not me!

I love it! The cocktail party was lots of fun. Mike got lots of attention with the kilt, we chatted with people we knew and didn't know, we stayed out late (for us), and it was in general a great party. Sadly, we neglected to get any pictures of us dressed up. On the other hand, we have a cocktail party to attend in a few weeks with a completely different group of friends, and we'll be wearing the same outfits, so there is hope!

We also had a lovely brunch out on Sunday before returning to the mundaneness of grocery shopping, etc. All in all, a lovely weekend with lots of quiet knitting time and a good amount of social time. It's amazing how nice that kind of weekend can be, isn't it?