Still Knitting! (Slowly)

Kathleen-
Although I've been sadly deficient in blog posting, I have been knitting....at least a little bit. More than knitting, I've been plotting about knitting. PLanning fall projects and reincarnations of projects I've abandoned.

THis has been helped by my acquisitiion of a dresser to contain a large portion of the stash, which makes it more accessible, and as I organized into the dresser, I found myself contemplating new directions in the knitting.

So current knitting progress: I'm once again behind on my sockapalooza socks. I had to let my pal know that they'd be a little late, but I'm still working on them, and I hope to be done pretty quickly.

Mystery Stole 3: Last night while watching baseball (the Twins decided to beat up on Kansas City all of a sudden), I finished Clue 2, and started Clue 3. Since I'm not at that point yet, I've not decided whether to knit the wing, or to knit a symmetrical stole. I'm watching pictures emerge, and the wing looks very cool....and yet I love the part I've knit so far! I did note on Melanie's blog yesterday that the extra that will come from buying the pattern is a stole with 2 wings, which I think I might be interested in.....but only once this one is done!

In contemplating your question....I think you might have to rework the lace charts to just knit down...but I don't know much about lace design. Probably a question best answered by Melanie.

Planning: My Arwen cardigan just isn't working out, and as I bought the new Interweave this week at Knit Night, the Minimalist Cardigan caught my eye. It's knit in a very similar yarn. So I'm contemplating ripping the pieces of Arwen, and knitting the Minimalist instead. No decisions yet though......

Fires and Lace

Kathleen-
I'm so glad the house and your parents are safe. It seems to me that you make a bargain when you live in much of the West. You get to live in truly beautiful, spectacular places, and in return, you run a risk of fire as the forests renew themselves. Having been on both sides of an evacuation threat (as an evacuee and as a dispatcher), I always breathe a great sigh of relief when the danger passes, and life returns to normal.

This has not been the most productive knitting week in recent memory. Too much work combined with a migraine on Monday night means that the only knitting accomplished since the weekend happened at Knit Night on Tuesday. I'm trucking along on the heel of the first of my sockapalooza socks, and I should get some good knitting time tonight and tomorrow night, so I think the first sock may be finished by Monday. That would be ideal, given that the socks are supposed to ship the first week of August.

I've also knit a few rows on MS3- though I'm a bit behind for tomorrow's release of Clue #3. With luck, it'll get done tonight, but we're hosting game night, which is sometimes functional for knitting lace, and sometimes not so much. After all, I knit the first half of Clue #1 while playing a board game about British history. If there's no MS3 knitting tonight, I'll be knitting on my sockapalooza socks and hoping I can make up the difference on MS3 this weekend.

As for your question, I think I read somewhere that the stole is going to be asymmetrical in pattern (though not in shape), so I don't think we'll be re-knitting the same clues later on.

I'm also beginning to plan- we've scheduled a cabin trip for the weekend after this one- will I bring the MS3, or is that asking for trouble? Should I just bring socks to knit on? As usual, my knitting packing for the trip is happening in my head long before I pack any clothes!

Happy Independence Day!

Kathleen-
Happy Independence Day! Mine was graced with good food, a day full of board and party games, knitting, and fireworks. What more could one want?

Your Tuesday storm sounds a little too exciting! We need the rain badly here- even with rain on Tuesday, we're still well below normal, and my gardens show it. However, we're not nearly as bad off for rain as my hometown, which canceled its fireworks show for the second year in a row (and I think the 6th time in 8 years). It turned out to be a good precaution, as a neighboring town that opted to go on with the show managed to start a small fire!

Tuesday, armed with Knit Night companionship and a deep breath, I ripped the heel and gusset from my sockapalooza sock, put the stitches back on the needle, and recommenced knitting. As a result of my lovely day yesterday, I've reknit most of the gusset, and hope to knit the heel tonight.
After all, tomorrow Clue #2 of Mystery Stole 3 will be posted! I'm very very close to the end of Clue 1- maybe 5 rows away, so that should get finished tonight for optimum knitting over the weekend.

Question of the Day

Kathleen-
Last night I knit, tinked, and knit again, and only made about two rows worth of progress on the Mystery Stole. I think I just completed row 67, so I'm still on track.

Here's the question: will I be too distracted at Knit Night for successful lace knitting? Should I take the Mystery Stole, or take socks?

Which means it's time for a confession: I think I need to rip out the heel on my sockapalooza socks- the heel that I turned last week at Knit Night. Last night I tried the sock on, and the length fit me. All very well and good except for the part where my pal has bigger feet than me! This would, of course, also require the ripping out of the gusset, which I now think I started too early. Perhaps I'll bring the sock to Knit Night for moral support.

After deciding I was done with the Mystery Stole for the night last night (and watching the Twins lose to the Yankees), Mike and I watched the final episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip-Aaron Sorkin's latest show. Sadly, it never seemed to get any traction, so it was canceled, and we've watched the last few episodes online. While watching, I knit on the socks newly dubbed "the Kermit Socks." These would be the ones that you started the toes, and gifted me with in April. One heel is now turned, and I'm working up the leg, and the other is in the midst of the gusset.

So tonight, what should I do? Bring the stole in case I have enough concentration? Knit only on the sockapalooza socks (or rip and re-knit, as the case may be?)?

Summertime....

Kathleen-
I'm with you on the summertime knitting. I have very limited ability to knit in the summer in the absence of air conditioning. At the moment, we only have one of our air conditioners installed, so the master bedroom is nice and cool, but the rest of the house has a tendency to swelter. As I watched the 10:00 news last night, the words "tropical dew points" came out of the weather woman's mouth, and I knew I was in for trouble today.

Sure enough, it's already hot and sticky. Thank goodness for air conditioned offices!

I too have many projects, but I'm trying to focus at the moment.

1. Sockapalooza socks! The deadline is early August, so I'm doing my best to get them done sooner rather than later to remove the deadline.

2. Babies. I'm with you, babies are popping up all over the place. (None from me). So there's some baby knitting going on. A few pairs of booties, and maybe a couple of EZ baby sweaters are in my future.

3. Lace! So funny you should mention this. Yesterday after I posted, I was exploring the internet, and decided to sign up for the Mystery Stole 3 KnitAlong. The premise is that each Friday (with one exception for the Harry Potter release) the moderator posts a clue, and we all knit along with that clue. There is no picture of the finished stole in advance...thus the mystery! The first clue goes up this Friday, and sign-ups for the group are closing on July 5th....so if you're interested, sign up sooner rather than later. It's already got over 3000 participants.

I haven't swatched for it yet, but I've got it narrowed down to two yarns. Either Misti Alpaca Lace in a Lavender (from the Borealis Memorial Day Sale), or Blackberry Ridge Silky Merino in Samarkand Blue (from Shepard's Harvest).

As for the question of the day, I can only answer with my current answer: Priority 1 is the sockapalooza socks since they have a deadline. Priority 2 is to keep working on baby booties in small amounts, and Priority 3 is the Mystery Stole 3 KnitAlong.

All Socks, All the Time

Kathleen-
This weekend was about socks.

Friday night we went to the Groveland Tap with friends, and I knit along on my sockapalooza socks. I finished the gusset, but decided trying to turn the heel using a pattern I didn't know well while in a bar was perhaps not a good idea. Tonight I plan to turn the heel and start the heel flap.



Saturday night we went to a St. Paul Saints game (they won, 11-1). I was anticipating spending all day Sunday at Twin Cities Pride, so I wanted something simple and cotton to work on. The mohair content in the Bearfoot is lovely, but sticky in the hot and humid. So I returned to the socks you had started and given to me in April. I was unhappy with my previous gusset increases, so I ripped out to the beginning of increases on both socks, and reknitted. Between the Saints game and working at my organization's booth at Twin Cities Pride, I'm ready to turn the heel on one sock, and have started the increases on the other.


It's really too hot to knit anything but socks at this point, though I am thinking longingly of lace and of cables. Once my sockapalooza socks are done, I may retreat into air conditioning so I can knit lace and/or cables to my hearts content!

Finally Socks

Kathleen-
Oh the starts and stops that came with these socks! You see, the lovely Alison arranged Sockapalooza 4 (with a new baby no less). I participated last time, and it was lovely, and I got a wonderful pair of socks, so when sign-ups opened, I jumped in!

We got our pals, I chose my yarn (Mountain Colors Bearfoot), and I began to knit. First one pattern, then ripping as I found it didn't show well. Then another pattern, which I discovered drew in too much to fit well. My sock pals feet are a bit bigger than mine, so a sock that would fit me was not going to do!

I knit again, ripped again, and cast on yet another time. Last week at Knit Night, I ripped one last time, and contemplated toe-up socks. I'm worried about running out of yarn, you see. I journeyed to the back room of Borealis, and found some lovely Louet Gems in a complementary colorway, and cast on for a toe, and began to knit. Finally, things were going my way. Last week I knit the toe, switched to the Bearfoot, and began to knit the pattern. After an inch, I looked at it carefully. This would not do. Too busy a pattern. I ripped back to the toe again, and browsed for inspiration. I stumbled across Thuja, and knew I'd found my stitch pattern. So finally, here is my progress on my first sock.

Now that I have the right pattern/yarn combination, the socks are flying! I haven't had much time to knit, but it seems that even when I steal a few moments, a half inch of knitting comes off my needles! (Quarter included for scale).
It's hard to get a good picture of the pattern, but I'm hoping once I progress further, it will become more clear, since I love it in person!

So finally, my socks are progressing, and I'm not worried about the mailing date!

Cars!

Kathleen-
Last week truly disappeared in my world. Mike and I spent most of it dealing with the paperwork and more paperwork that comes with buying cars.

So without further ado, here is my new car (that'd be a 2007 Toyota Matrix XR in "Indigo Ink Pearl")

And Mike's (a 2007 Toyota Rav4 in Classic Silver Metallic).Knitting? Well, I have been knitting. They look at you funny when you sit and knit in car dealerships, by the way.

After many false starts, ripping, and more ripping, I have significant progress to report on my sockapalooza socks. However, that deserves a post of its own once I get home tonight.

Hope your week is starting well!

Shrugging

Kathleen-
Well, I did it! The shrug was finished Thursday night, blocked Thursday night into Friday, tried on with the dress.....and then we had dinner with Mike's relatives, and my clothing plans changed for Saturday night, and the shrug wasn't worn.
I don't have finished, modeled pictures yet, but I do have a picture of my progress on Thursday morning.

The party was a great success, marked by absolutely perfect weather for cruising down the Mississippi, lots of family and friends, and only a limited amount of discussion of hockey!

Now that the shrug is done, I'm buckling down on my sockapalooza socks, and some baby booties for the pregnant ladies in my life just for fun!

Gauge is a Fickle Beast

Kathleen-
This entry brought to you by Gauge is a Fickle Beast. Now showing wherever I'm knitting, for the foreseeable future.

So in my search for the perfect shrug pattern, I looked at lots of patterns and lots of yarn. I chose the lovely Royal Bamboo for its silkiness and fair price. After a false start involving the bolero from Vintage Knits, I decided on the One Skein Wonder pattern that has made its way around the blogs. Let me say up front that I love this pattern, and the problem is not with the pattern.

I made a gauge swatch. My gauge was terribly compressed. I did math. Lots of math. I triple checked. My swatch and the math told me that I could knit the largest size, and it should fit me. So I cast on. After knitting a few inches, I measured again. Right on track. So I kept knitting.

Which brings me to last night. I sat down to watch TV in the evening (two episodes of West Wing on DVD), and knit happily along. I knew I was approaching the end of the knitting of the main part of the piece, and then would need to knit the border. After two episodes, I counted stitches. I was done with the main knitting! Then I draped it around myself. Not happening. Several inches too small.

I measured, and lo and behold, the gauge was off. Way off. After a small fit of frustration, I decided to set it aside for the evening (measuring and knitting to resume tonight at Knit Night).

Then I started watching the end of the Minnesota Legislative Session. I know, I know. What an exciting life I have. Watching the legislature isn't generally too exciting, but with a midnight deadline and chaos threatening, it was actually pretty entertaining. As the evening wound down, I found myself ripping out and re-casting on for my sockapalooza socks for the second time. Apparently I really can't be trusted to count.

Tonight my Knit Night agenda involves reconsidering the pattern for my sockapalooza socks and deciding how to proceed on my one skein wonder. Wish me luck in my continuing battle with the fickle beast of gauge.....

PS: Hi Kathleen's brother.....

Reading Weekend

Kathleen-
Mike and I are house and dogsitting this week, which presents an opportunity for a slower speed of life.

Have I mentioned that our friend C, who just graduated from college found himself without a place to live between graduation and his new lease beginning on June 1? So he's staying at our house, and we're at Mike's folks.

The weekend started with a bang, as on Thursday one of my office neighbors came over and asked if I'd like tickets to see Jon Stewart on Friday night! Of course! So I procured four tickets, and Mike and I took C and his girlfriend out to dinner at the Loring Pasta Bar, and then off to see the show for free! Jon Stewart was fabulously funny, and since he was doing two shows, we were out early, and went out for drinks afterward.

I of course knit through the entire show, much to the bemusement of some of our neighbors. My current no-thinking, knit in the dark knitting is those socks that you started and then left with me. Mike sadly rejected the colors, so now I'm making them for me, and I'm loving the way the yarn feels. Any memory of what it is? It feels cottony and cool, but doesn't hurt my hands like cotton sometimes does.

After that start to our weekend, we deliberately planned to slow down for the rest of the time. Saturday I spent most of the day reading on the couch, and Sunday I alternated between reading and watching the Twins play on TV. The only knitting that got done was some work on my bamboo shrug, which is fast advancing. The body of it is almost done, and then I need to knit the edging, and I'll be all set. A good thing too, since the event the shrug is intended for is just a couple of weeks away.

It should be a good week for knitting though. I'm planning on finishing the shrug, working on my sockapalooza socks, and doing some spinning for a change!

Hope your Monday is going well!

Catching Up

Kathleen-
Here I am, it's wedensday and I feel like I'm just catching up from the weekend.

Last week at Knit Night, we were talking about Shepard's Harvest, and suddenly we had plans to carpool! So Saturday afternoon off went a carload of happy knitters to Shepard's Harvest. A lot of shopping, sitting on the grass eating lamb gyros (yes, we understand the irony) and drinking lemonade, and petting the lambs in the sheep barn ensued.

There may even have been a wee bit of stash enhancement. Which brings me to my next point. I think I'm officially off the wagon for the Knit From Your Stashathon. I did well on it right up until THE Event, so I'm not feeling too much guilt. I also don't anticipate feeling the need to buy yarn this summer, so that helps. Stash enhancement pictures to follow at a later date (the camera is having a fit at the computers).

The other yarn I've bought recently is Royal Bamboo in black. I'm making the famous One Skein Wonder shrug for Mike's family anniversary party in June. I'm going to wear that lovely black and white Ann Taylor dress, and now I'll have a little coverup available if it gets chilly on the riverboat!

Other than that and a little sockapalooza knitting (which will be more detailed in a later post), there's not been a whole lot of knitting going on recently. I blame it on a packed schedule and enjoying our recently warm and lovely weather by gardening and such.

Hope your sock knitting is going well and that the third time remains the charm!

Picture with Geena Davis!!

Kathleen-
The weekend was AMAZING. My boss went to the VIP reception and gave her a packet that included one of our t-shirts (more on this later). Then at dinner the first night we were chatting away at our table and Geena Davis wandered into the room. Talk about distraction. She spoke, and was so cool and inspirational. After dinner I got a picture with her!!!!



Then after everything was over we had a dessert reception, and she walked past my org table, looked at our t-shirts, and said "Oh, I have one of those." I could have died it was so exciting.

The rest of the weekend was great, really inspirational and affirming to be around all these women who are running for office or thinking about it. Opinionated and full of pizazz, they were fabulous.

Good deal on the delay- makes for a better celebration I suppose. I'm afraid a sweater out of that chunky alpaca would be a bit much for the boy...his internal furnace seems to be set to full steam ahead all the time. :)

We still need to do a present for the LA wedding. I'm thinking of buying on line (not sure what) and shipping it to the hotel to get there before us and then just taking wrapping paper and ribbon. We shall see.

Clapotis is coming along. I didn't get quite as much done as I had hoped, the weekend was a good example of why I always have 2 projects with me. 1 hour into the morning training on Saturday I discovered a mistake that takes significant concentration to fix, so I pulled out my sockapaloooza socks and worked on them. That goal is accomplished- 1 done and 1 at the heel turn. I'm back on track with Clapotis though, and it's getting all my attention this week. I just need to finish by Tuesday I think so I can block and it can dry before I need to pack for the wedding Wednesday night. Ack so soon!!!!

Hope your yarn arrived safely!

West Wing

Kathleen-
I can’t believe it’s over. That wonderful imaginary world that I got to live in for an hour a week for seven years. Now they just need to get the last season out on DVD quickly so I can have marathons of West Wing watching. I managed not to cry until I got in my car (we were at the weekly West Wing party) but then I cried all the way home. I still want to be CJ after all these years, and if I could buy up her wardrobe from the show, I would do it in an instant.

I loved how they could make arcane points of policy important and interesting, how they balanced the private lives of the characters with the action in the White House, and how often it made me proud to be involved in politics. I also remember hanging out in the 30Mac lounge to watch my first year, and at the house and later your apartment all the way through college. The ritual of watching it brought me closer to so many people over the years.

I’ve taken up watching a new show- not nearly the equal of WW, but a show I’m enjoying anyway—Grey’s Anatomy. Last night was the two hour season finale, and once again I found myself crying along with the show. It also proves to be excellent knitting TV. Interesting and fast paced enough that I knit at a rapid pace, but I’m able to look away when necessary to check on my knitting or a chart.

So I think the problem with your plan for the starting with lots of stitches and working your way down to very few is that you need to be REALLY sure you have enough yarn, otherwise you’ll run out before you get to the point at the end. I think I read about this in Stephanie’s newest book in the shawl section.

I’m putting Maryland on my calendar. It looks like it might be the weekend after the Annual Event, which means I might still be crazy, but I’ll be very relieved! Plus I can say that going is my reward for surviving the event!

I ended up at the hospital for three hours yesterday because the person who previously held my job almost fainted during a protest at the Capitol and I went with her in the ambulance and such. Handy that I’d brought my sockapaloooza socks along for the ride, because I got quite a bit done on them while waiting in the Regions ER. (She’ll be fine, she had a bad infection). I also managed to power through 3 repeats of Clapotis last night during the Grey’s Anatomy finale, so I might manage to finish this on deadline.

This post is getting long, so I’m off, but I promise tomorrow’s post will include my exciting weekend plans (they involve Geena Davis in person!, but missing a mass public knitting event) and my complicated plan to finish the socks and shawl by June 1! Also, my knitting plans out of Mason-Dixon Knitting.

Socks and Birthday Parties

Kathleen-
Since I still don't have a digital camera, I'm linking to my sock pal's post that shows my beautiful socks. I tried them on and they fit perfectly and are super warm. I love them! (Also, I already ate the Texas Pecan Pralines...also excellent). So thanks to a great sock pal Dene. My beautiful package is here. Have I mentioned that I love my socks?

Knitting on the socks for my pal continue, hoping to get them done by the end of the month. The more I knit them the more I like them- I'm thinking of buying another ball in the same colorway and knitting a pair for myself!

I'm also working a bit on Clapotis, so far so good, still on track to finish by the LA wedding.

There are no alligators in my life here. Yesterday we attended two birthday parties: one for a two year old (Make Way for Ducklings was a great hit).

The other was out in Big Lake (west on 94 about 1 hour) for a choir person from Mac. It was a really entertaining mix of people and good fun, and culminated in a bonfire. Not just any bonfire either. They had gotten a fire permit, which you apparently are issued at a bar rather than at the fire department, and had this huge pile of dead wood cleaned up from a beaver's path of destruction last fall. SO this stuff had been drying all winter. The stack of logs was taller than me, and it was lit with gasoline (woosh doesn't even begin to describe it). Within seconds the flames were 15 feet high, and everyone was beating a hasty retreat so as not to have hair catch on fire. The Arizonan in me was freaking out thinking "Flames! huge flames! Flying embers! We're going to catch the forest on fire! How is this legal?" Of course after 4 days of rain last week, there was really no risk in Minnesota, but it took a while to adjust.

So excited that you're getting a house! And that the floor of the Best Man has proved properly delightful. I shall need pictures of this house!

Event DONE!

Kathleen-
Glad to see you're safely arrived in Mobile. How is the apartment search thing going? Is everything still at Laura's place?
The event is done, and I can actually sleep at night these days. It turns out that 1200 is a LOT of people, and kind of like herding cats, but there comes a point where the event will happen one way or another, and it ended up happening in great style. Our speaker was excellent, the person who introduced her was excellent, response to the fundraising challenge was amazing, and there were a limited number of crises, all of which I managed to solve with minimal pain on my part. (I may have offended a former governor, but sometimes that is the price you pay for doing a job.) My mom is still around, and we've been touring yarn stores in our spare time. So far she loves Borealis the best, and likes Depth of Field, and is suddenly much less impressed by that other store (you know, the one that hates cotton.)

I gave her the yarn I bought at Yarnover as an early Mother's Day present with the caveat that she'd be getting a shawl made from the same yarn for a later holiday. She's a knitter, she understands.

Yesterday I arrived home to not one but two packages outside my door! One was the swift from your mom, which arrived safe and sound, and the other was my socks from my sock pal. They are so beautiful and perfect that they'll need to get their own post with pictures (must borrow the camera from Mike) this weekend.

This also provides the inspiration to work really hard to finish the socks I need to send out- my pal knows they'll be a few weeks late, but I'd like that to be accurate!

Oh, and this afternoon Mom and I are getting a tour of the new Guthrie with my boss's partner. Should be pretty exciting, since the building isn't open to the public yet!

This weekend's plans? A birthday party for a 2 year old (we're determined to find what may be the cutest book ever for him, I'll find a link later), and a birthday party for a friend from Mac. And sleeping LOTS to catch up on the last week.

Yay imaginary expecting friends to knit for! I think that will work well, as long as she never finds the stash of finished projects.

Hope you're finding a good place to live. I'll be around on Sunday, less so on Saturday (aforementioned birthday parties).

Stress Relief

Work stress is consuming me - I know you understand. This week has involved seating 1200 people, which is hectic at best, and time consuming beyond all reason. As a result of that and several late nights, I'm officially behind on my sockapalooza socks, which are supposed to be sent May 2.

What with a work event for 1200 on May 3, I think I'll be a little late. Time to e-mail the coordinator so she can pass an anonymous message for me.

Of course, I did cheat on my sockapalooza socks a little (They are so pretty I want to keep them, but that's another story). My hands have been hurting with the size 1 needles, so I cast on for a Clapotis in the variegated bamboo yarn my mom got me for Christmas which hopefully will go well with my dress for Erik's wedding. I'll show you tonight when I see you for dinner.

Add to that the fact that I haven't finished my swatches for Yarnover (ACK) on Saturday, and it's a little nuts. I'm glad you had the tour of yarn stores (and Dale of Norway!), and found new needles and new yarn.

(Oh, by the way we sold your bike. Also the bed. It didn't even take that long.)

So we shall see you this evening, before you read this post, for your pre-moving dinner and tour of my apartment. Nice short tour, since it is a studio!

Off to seat another hundred or so people.

Actual Knitting Content!

Kathleen is off in Washington state doing family stuff, so I'll continue the posting with actual knitting content.

I went to the fanciest of our local yarn stores for their annual inventory sale today- 20% off everything, selected yarn 30% off.... and was totally disappointed. The store has a record of pretty uneven service to start with, but they are the granddaddy of yarn stores here. Sadly, their markup on yarns is huge, and they have one clerk who honestly hates cotton more than anyone I've ever met and strongly discourages anyone from buying any cotton yarn. I had picked out a lovely shade of yarn to make my very own Gigi, and got so much fuss from her about how heavy it was going to be and how it was a waste that I put all that yarn back and walked out. It takes A LOT for me to walk out of a yarn store. So congratulations to the yarn store clerk for losing a nice large sale. I think I'll be off to one of the more friendly LYS after my big work event in May to celebrate.

In other news, I'm turning the heel on the 2nd Jaywalker for Sockapalooza, and beginning to worry about the deadline. A huge work event on May 3 is eating my life, and I'm not sure I'll finish, though I'm trying my absolute hardest. We shall see.