Faina's Scarf: Pilgrim's Progress

I actually did cast-on for Faina's scarf on February 14th. I'm just too lazy to have posted pictures. Here's a "dry block" of my current progress:

I love the yarn, it's amazingly soft, and the pattern is fun. I just have to stop and admire FREQUENTLY, so I catch all my missed yarn-overs before having to rip out multiple rows.

Thanks for all the well-wishes on the cold, I used it as an effective excuse to not do much besides sit around and knit most of that weekend, so I'm about 3/5 done with the scarf.

I cannot capture the green of the scarf with a camera, which I guess makes sense seeing as the color looks different to me depending on what light I'm knitting in. Aw yeah. I love complex shades like that. You can also tell it's a home dye job, since it's got small variations in the color. One of the ugly secrets of home dyeing: it's difficult (to impossible, especially with wool) to get completely even colors. If you want even color, dye the roving, not the yarn. I happen to like the slight variegation, it makes the yarn more interesting to me.

Frances the attention hog cat

Catbutt!
I ripped out the first chart twice. First time, the slip stitches on the ends of the rows weren't loose enough. Even though I'm now being very loose (knitting, not morally, Rabbitch) on those side stitches, I'm still worried they're going to be too tight when I stretch out the lace. I don't know how I'd be looser at this point, though.

Second time, I got farther but then ripped because my SSKs look like complete ass (that's the technical term, you know). UGGGGggy. I wasn't at all certain they'd even out with blocking.

They looked sloppy compared to the K2Togs and I couldn't figure out how to get them even. I tried making them tight, loose, and tugging on the 2nd stitch vs. the first. I somewhat have this problem with socks too, but the tension seems to be tight enough that it doesn't really bug me that much, and washing does even it out.

I finally went with a modified SSK: slip 1 knitwise, slip 1 purlwise, insert left needle through front loops of slipped stitches then knit them together. I got this idea from the Knitting Tips & Trade Secrets book that I got for Christmas from the 'rents. A very close look reveals that 2nd twisted stitch, but I don't much care because they're coming out more even (not completely though, which irks my inner perfectionist). It also helps to carefully not stretch the stitches when I slip them.

Now I'm at the point where I'm faced with the eternal scarf question: should I add another repeat to make it longer? I think have enough yarn....

Also, I'm vaguely entertaining the idea of knitting it halfway, knitting another half halfway, then grafting them together. Am I insane? Would this look awful? Could I pull off the grafting if I did it on a purl row?

An effort to think positively today

Random things I like

• Garlic
  
• Very fresh butter
  
• the way grass moves in waves when blown by the wind
  
• the feel of silk charmeuse
  
• The Princess Bride, by Willim Goldman (referring here to the book. The movie's pretty good too, but I'm thinking of the book today)
  
• pale green of new spring leaves
  
• tulips
  
• seeds
  
• fresh sugar-snap peas
  
• blue hydrangeas
  
• Frances the cat, purring as she sits on my chest
  
• bird tracks in the sand
  
• tasty BEvERages
  
• sleeping
  
• bouncy, springy wool yarn
  
• D'Affinois brie
  
• grilled salmon
  
• GOOD chocolate chip cookies
  
• drinking and eating and talking on the back patio on a summer evening as the stars come out
  
• fresh raspberries picked from the vine
  
• bouquets of dahlias from the Farmer's market
  
• candlelight
  
• blueberry pie
  
• Twilight Zone marathons (oh yes, so horribly cheesy and dated and slow-paced, but I like the concept of T.Z. Marathons)
  
• DVD players
  
• massive summer thunderstorms in the desert
  
• sound that snow makes when it's falling
  
• EuroRails (it's a board game)
  
• Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade
  
• Vineland, by Thomas Pynchon
  
• the clouds scudding quickly across the sky
  

Long time, no blog

Thank you all for the compliments on the grey cable-twists socks. EXACTLY as you say - just enough pattern to make them interesting, yet still easily memorized and compliant with the Not-Too-Fancy K requirement. Like ribbing++

Sorry I haven't been around. I submitted a design to the Purlescence Storytellers competition and was scrabbling to get that all together. I'm not expecting much of it because I am TRULY AWFUL at drawing. Truly. My sketch of my lace stole looks as if it's demonically posessed. I always failed art classes in elementary school, my only shameful minuses on the whole report card. I took woodshop in junior high just so I could avoid art. And because bandsaws are cool. If nothing comes of the contest, maybe I'll finish up the design post it here.

Then last-last Saturday I picked up a cold from somewhere, and even though for 2 days I managed to keep it confined to my throat (and thought I was over the hump), Tuesday was the Great Snotfall and Achiness. I'd been trying to Zinc and Vitamin-C it to death and been drinking so many liquids I had to pee every hour, on the hour. Wednesday I caved and bought some Airborne to try. Because, see, Wednesday night K & I left for a little romantical vacation for 4 days.

Fortunately I felt much better on Thursday and mostly completely healthy by Saturday. No Pseudoephedrine-enhanced benadryl supplies were exhausted. We had a good time and K got some respite from the annoying, frustrating, and long hours he's been spending at work for some months. It's awfully nice to sit in cushy chairs in a warm room, with a lovely view, and have people bring you good beer.

Plus I didn't have really much to say lately.

Not like I have much to say today. But hey, travel and airports are sure conducive to lots of knitting time. I'm past the heel of a Pomatomus already. (Faina didn't come along for the ride, since it's not a great travel knit (too many charts to be checking all the time)). Day-umn. It took me WEEKS to do the first one last fall.

First sock: 51 grams
Yarn leftover for second sock: 52 grams
It's going to be a close one.

Grey Cable-Twist Socks

Hey, another pair of socks! These ones for K:

Pattern: Cable Twist Socks from Hello Yarn (actually, I used only the stitch pattern and went my own way for the rest)

Yarn: Rowan 4 Ply Soft in color 372: Sooty (a steel grey). 100% superwash merino wool. I used 2 balls + part of a 3rd (there were 35 g left on the 3rd ball). Each ball: 191 yards/50 g. Purchased from Woodland Woolworks.

Needles: 2.25 mm (US 1) Lantern Moon wooden DPNs

Gauge: 7.5 st/inch, 10 rows/inch in stockinette

Notes about the yarn: very soft, squishy, and elastic, and not easily split. Two thumbs up!, a pleasure to knit with, although pricey if you need that 3rd ball. I don't know how well it will wear, but it's got a tight twist to it.

Notes about the needles:I like to use wooden double-pointed needles or magic loop. I avoid ladders in the socks by:
1) hiding the needle change in a purl trough - lots of those in this sock.
2) working the first stitch of the next needle, then putting the needle into the 2nd stitch, and then tugging to tighten up the first stitch and the join. This tends to work better for wool than cotton.

I used 2.25 mm needles which produced a firm fabric. It's not as bouncy as the original yarn, but K liked it better than the 2.75 mm and it'll probably hold up better to wear.

Pattern notes:
I used the stitch pattern from the original and crafted the rest of the sock from generic sock patterns and my own head.

The pattern isn't difficult, is easy to memorize, and gives you a nice cable effect without the cabling. All the cables on those socks are left twists: just work the 2nd stitch first, then slip the first. This is essentially the same as cabling without a cable needle, using only 1 stitch to cross. The ribbing it produces is very springy! However, it still was too small to fit over K's feet, so I added a couple more repeats. These still fit firmly on his feet, but not restrictively.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My version of the pattern:

Leg:
Cast on for 10 repeats of the pattern, instead of 8 (10 x 7) = 70 stitches.
If you wish to do calf shaping, cast on 10 additional stitches = 80 stitches.
I cast on only 75 stitches and you can't hardly tell there's any calf shaping. If I did it again I'd do 80.
The stitch pattern is 5 knit/2 purl, with the cable shaping happening over the 5 knit group.
Calf shaping: Work 5 knit/3 purl for about an inch, then switch to stitch pattern, still working 5 knit-cabled/3 purl. Work about 4 repeats of the pattern then purl-2-together over 2 purl stitches in every 3 purl group = 70 stitches.

Work stitch pattern until leg is long enough, ending with the final stitch pattern row.

Heel flap (I used a plain old slip-stitch heel flap):
Assuming your stitches are arranged as follows:
needle 1: 5 knit, 2 purl, 5 knit, 2 purl, 5 knit, 2 purl
needle 2: 5 knit, 2 purl, 5 knit, 2 purl
needle 3: 5 knit, 2 purl, 5 knit, 2 purl, 5 knit, 2 purl
needle 4: 5 knit, 2 purl, 5 knit, 2 purl
And you are at the very beginning of needle 1:

Knit 18 stitches, k2 together (this will be 1 knit and 1 purl knit together). Turn work
Purl 34, turn.
The non-purled stitches will be worked later as the instep)
(One each end you are dividing the 2 purls into 1 purl held on the instep to work later, and 1 purl to be involved in heel shaping.)
1. (Sl 1, K1) across, turn.
2. Sl 1st stitch, Purl back
Repeat rows 1 & 2 for a total of 17 times (34 rows total)
Now repeat row 1 one more time

Turn heel (34 stitches to start):
You should be starting with the wrong side facing you, after that final #1 row from above.
Sl 1, P 17, P2 together, P 1, turn.
Sl 1, K 3, SSK, K 1, turn.

Now, repeat the following 2 rows until you have no more stitches left. On the final repeat you won't be able to do the last P 1 and K 1. No worries.
1. Sl 1, purl to 1 stitch before the gap. P2 tog, P 1.
2. Sl 1, knit to 1 stitch before the gap. SSK, K 1.

Gusset:
Pick up and knit 18 stitches across the side of the heel, one for each slip-stitch loop on the edge + one at the end where it looks kind of loose. I always tend to pick up 19-20 stitches, instead of 1 per slip-stitch loop. If you do so, just decrease the stitches using a few judicious K2tog or work the gusset a little longer. A couple stitches REALLY doesn't matter much at this gauge.

I tried Grumperina's Pretty Way of picking up stitches and I like the effect. It gives a nice taut edge with a neat pattern. I twisted every stitch I picked up, as she directs. This has been the best thing for me to avoid the dreaded "gusset gap" when you join instep and heel.

After picking up 1 side, work the instep stitches IN PATTERN--just start a new repeaton the cable pattern. You should start with a purl 1 and end with a purl 1.

Pick up and knit about 18 stitches on the other side of the heel. Knit half of the back stitches onto the same needle you used to pickup/knit the heel stitches.

Rearrange your stitches so that you have the following:
Needle 1: starts at the very back of the heel, includes half the heel stitches and left picked-up stitches. I also move the 1 lonely purl from beginning the patterned instep to this needle.
Needle 2: all the patterned instep stitches, minus the 2 purls at the ends. If it's awkward to hold, break the stitches on this needle up into 2 needles.
Needle 3: the lonely purl at the end of the patterned instep, all the right picked-up stitches, and the first half of the heel stitches.

Next row, start the gusset decreases:
Repeat these 2 rows until you have 20 stitches (18 knits, 2 purls) on needles 1 & 3 (33 stitches on needle 2) = 73 stitches total
Round 1:
Needle 1: K to 5 stitches before the end. K2 tog, K 1, P 2
Needle 2: work in pattern
Needle 3: P 2, K1, SSK, K to end
Round 2:
Needle 1: K until 2 stitches before end, P 2
Needle 2: work in pattern
Needle 3: P 2, K until end.

Foot:
At this point, work the toe straight, knitting the knits, purling the purls, and working the cable pattern section in pattern. Work until you are about 2 1/2" inches before the end of the toe, ending with the last cable pattern.

Why all the purl 2 fuss? Because I wanted the cable pattern on the foot to be framed by 2 purl troughs, of 2 purls each, just like the purl trough from the top of the sock. You can see this effect best in the "wearing" shot below, where the stitches are stretched out.

Note on the picking up the gusset stitch: to be totally correct, you would need to PURL the first stitch you picked up on the right heel, and PURL the last stitch you picked up on the left heel, to keep the pattern from the top continuing exactly.

I tried this on the 2nd sock, but a) it was really awkward to purl and twist the stitch, and b) I think it actually looked worse than picking it up and knitting it with a twist, at least using the Grumperina pick-up method. So I say, just go with the knit-twist.

Toe:
*** this first part is important to a balanced toe!
Move the 2 purl stitches at the end of needle 1 to needle 2.
Move the 2 purl stitches at the beginning of needle 3 to needle 2.
Needle 1: 18 stitches
Needle 2: 37 stitches
Needle 3: 18 stitches
total: 73 stitches

Work one row all knit. (I didn't do this, but would have, because the purls look funny if you go straight into the toe decreases)


Work the following 2 rounds 9 times (until 9 stitches each on needles 1 & 3=37 stitches total)
Round 1:
Needle 1: Knit to 3 stitches from end, K2 tog, K 1
Needle 2: K 1, SSK, knit to within 3 stitches of end, K2tog, K 1
Needle 3: K 1, SSK, knit to end.
Round 2:
Knit entire round

Next, work Round 1 every round 7 times, stopping before you work needle 3 the very last round (you're going to leave the yarn at the end of needle 2).
Needle 1: 2 stitches
Needle 2: 5 stitches
Needle 3: 3 stitches.

Transfer Needle 3's stitches to Needle 1 and graft the toe closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These have been done for a couple weeks but I wanted to get an Action Shot. K liked them so much, he wouldn't remove them from his feet after this pick. A successful socking!

stupid blogger

Making us all switch to the new one. If it's not clear already, I'm not much of an early adopter. To mutilate a quotation: "I do not like CHANGE unless I MAKE IT MYSELF."

Fuck this, I'm going to get hosted and do Wordpress.

Haloscan comment wizard isn't working for me, probly because I'm on a Mac.

I drove today so I could leave early for an optometrist's appointment. Then I left my lights on by accident and my battery ran down. Then I locked the keys in the car. Afterwards I ran fast and just caught public transit and ran just fast enough to arrive in time for my appointment. Then I walked home. Happy fucking valentine's day.

Faina's Scarf Prep

La wants some yarn porn (isn't that Baby Alpaca Silk enough, honey?), so here's the yarn I'm intending to use for Faina's Scarf.

It's Blue Sky Alpaca's Royal Alpaca and it's baby's buttcheek soft. Yes, from the stash; what, you think I have no self control? Well, I didn't when I was buying this, but that's what you get when you give me a gift certificate and say "limited edition" and "alpaca" in the same sentence.

I bought it in color Pewter from an online store, and I thought that the color would be a sophisticated soft olive green. It arrived and was much more brown than I expected. Now, I love me a good brown, but deep in the gray winter, brown isn't really turning my crank, so I set it aside until I had a better idea of what to do with it.

Last weekend I dyed it up. Jacquard acid dyes, 1 tsp each of blue and yellow (I forget which blues and yellows I purchased: probably sapphire blue and sun yellow).

It's now this lovely shade of vibrant green that I ADORE. I could hardly wait until it dried so I could ball it up. Every time I walk in that room I have to pet it. It'sa deep grass green but sophisticated-deep, not dark-deep. This picture is crap but it kind of reflects what I feel about this yarn: it GLOWS

Does alpaca stick to itself after dyeing? Because if it doesn't I may have felted it a teeny tiny bit. Not much but I had to tug a little strands to get them to separate when I was converting it to a center-pull yarn mass. I was very, very careful about the temperature differentials and agitation while it was hot. Maybe I am too much of an agressive rinser? It doesn't look any more or less hairy than before, and I've got no dreadlocks, so I'm not worried.

Gratuitous pictures because I feel like it:
Dedicated to today's break in the Winter greyness:a view from my office window during a pretty sunset last week. I love how the quality of light changes during the day, and especially how it colors things at sunset and dawn.

And for my Bob Esponja fans:

The Fug

Wen, just for you and red Lacey Lamb do I drag the fugly out of the closet.

This loveliness is the first shawl I ever knit. Back in the L.B. (Lion Brand) Era, when I'd first started knitting but didn't know such things as Local Yarn Stores existed.

This next one is a bit blurrier but truer to color. I haven't messed with the color saturation/hue/brightness at all. Natural but slightly dark lighting.

I telecommuted to work and at that time I was a new knitter, obsessed, and didn't have anything to knit (patterns? Where do I get those from?). Hadn't yet discovered the knit blogs, knitty, just about anywhere except the Lion Brand Pattern site. Oh yes.

I also was on the phone in boring meetings A LOT and was desperate for some knitting. I picked that shawl pattern and went to find some yarn. Yes, some L.B. HOMESPUN a.k.a Acrylic Wonder.

What possessed me to choose the orange/green with Maleficent-purple highlights, I have no idea. Probably it was on sale. I seem to remember a clearance of some kind. I think the name of the colorway was "Renaissance". Let's see a close-up (this one is with flash):


Knit on US size 11, a bunch of YOs and K2Togs. There's even a crochet edging on that puppy.
To give it some credit, it's warm and soft... and is that awkward shawl size that will never stay on your shoulders. Poor thing spends its days balled up in the closet.

Eat the dogfood

Pacalaga pointed out that if I'm going to bitch about blogger not delivering email addresses, I should at least BOTHER to put up my own address. D'oh. Actually, she said it in a much nicer way.

So behold! Now you've got a functional if extremely ugly pointer for contact information up on the top right.

P.S. Go see her Clapotis and Tendrils stoles. They're gorgeous. That red yarn... oh man. Makes a girl want to go purchase something. I really like the mostly-solid colors, I think it really brings out the beauty of the yarn.

P.P.S Thank you to Kristen for the good info on Haloscan. I've seen it before but I didn't know anything about it. Hey, no worries about the gushing, I'm all for as much opinion as I can get. Lets me know ahead of time if something is going to be cool or drive me bonkers.

Monday and all that

Thank you so much for all your stories and advice for what to do on the Raglan of Doubt. I haven't ever done a raglan sweater before (heck, let's be honest. I've yet to do an adult sweater, period) and my small (but loud) inner perfectionist thinks I Must Do It Perfectly the First Time. Which is stupid and paralyzing and even if something doesn't work, I will LEARN something from it, so it is NOT a waste of time. Do I sound like I'm trying to convince myself? Sigh.

To answer some questions:

I've tried the sweater on K himself, and it looks too big - hence a big source of my worry.

About the grey cable twist socks, Carrie asked about the pattern: it's a pattern from Hello Yarn, although I used the stitch pattern and not much else, since I a) used thinner yarn, and b) made it for bigger feet. It looks complicated but the twists are just a left twist, and that's the only complicated stitch in the whole thing. You don't need a cable needle.

Just so you know, Blogger's new version means that I no longer get anyone's email address when they post a comment - all the comments are tagged "comment-noreply@blogger.com". I'd really like to answer people personally but I have to hunt down email addresses, if they're even available. I think this might push me over the edge to switch to something different.

Raglan of Doubt

Comparison of the raglan against the favorite sweater. 8" of 10" raglan length completed.

I've draped the new sweater about the favorite sweater... which is a little misleading, as the favorite sweater has set-in sleeves and the line of the shoulder is probably different.
This image I've modified so you can see the raglan line. Red is the current line. Purple is a projected line if I continue to the length suggested by the pattern, using the pattern of increases ever other row. Orange is the raglan "line" of the favorite sweater, if I started from the same point as the new sweater and drew a line to the underarm.

I've got a few things here:

• I think I was wrong about the width. If continued in the present form, it'll be about the right width. (I still can't get over this, because on K himself, it looked far too wide, even at this point.)


• The arms, however, will be a lot thinner than the favorite sweater


• Maybe I'm just not looking at this 3-dimensionally. Maybe it will curve around and work perfectly. And maybe I'll win the lottery today. ha


• If I did rip it out, how would I fix it?
  
  
  
  1. Make the raglan increases only 1 every 3 rows?
     Then I wouldn't get right body width, would I? I think this option must come with a modification to increase the length I do the raglan line - this would fill in extra width. I can't visualize if this would fix the problem at all.
  
  
  2. Increase the number of sleeve stitches at the cast-on, so that the sleeves were wider?
     This might be the way to go - it's the sleeves that look wrong here.
  
  
  3. Keep the every-other-row raglan increase, but only do the increase on the sleeves some rows? E.g. row 1: increase both sides of the marker: row2: straight, row 3: increase only on the sleeve side of the marker, row 4: straight.
     This would also make the sleeves wider, but it might make the raglan line look funny. And it might bias the whole sweater.
  
  

Add to this that I want to throw in some slip-stitch colorwork and also that favorite sweater is a tad bit too roomy, and now you know why I threw this in a corner. I think my confusion all stems from where the raglan seams start at the the top of the sweater: where's the right place?

The pattern I'm using for this sweater is the The Incredible, Custom-fit Raglan Sweater by Pamela Costello. I think I need to go back to Maggie Righetti's books and see what she says about placement of the raglan seams.

Oh swatch, you'll be a sweater soon.

Ain't no thing

Aww, I'm not any green thumb. The gardenia came pre-potted from a garage sale and I just put it up in the window. I water it when it looks dry. I just got lucky that it likes the light and conditions. I repotted it last summer since its roots were growing out the bottom.

I'm too wordy today, you know when you get all blab blab blabby and can't shut up? Those are my fingers, today. And I'm not even caffeinated up. Sorry.

Last night I fell asleep trying to figure out the raglan and where it went wrong. What makes my head explode is that it's way too big when I try it against a favorite sweater, yet I measured the favorite sweater to get the raglan's dimensions, and when I measure the raglan, it matches pretty close. For example: the back is measuring 18.5" wide right now, at about 8" down the raglan. The favorite sweater back measurement is 22.5". By my calculations, it'll be about 22" wide when I reach the point at which the sleeves are divided off. RIGHT ON TARGET.

Yet when I put it against the favorite sweater: TOO BIG. Same as when it's tried on by K. I must've measured favorite sweater wrong, I guess.

I'm going to rip it back again and do the raglan increases once every 3 rows instead of every other row. Working out the math, that should take 20" off the width by the time the sleeves are divided off. Maybe too much. I wonder if I could do a 1/3 scheme then switch to 1/2 or would it look too weird. Hmmm.

Perfume

My potted gardenia is blooming.

It's not, shall we say, the most perfectly formed of flowers, but the fragrance fills the whole room and about knocks you down when you come in the door. All from one small flower.

A gardenia isn't exactly the best choice of houseplants, I know, especially here in the Northish where there isn't a whole lot of sunlight during the winter. I bought it from an apartment sale for $5. I give it a siesta in partial sunlight on the front steps during the summer. It gets by, but it grows pretty spindly over the winter and it would really prefer more humidity in the summer.

I still love it, for these intensely fragrant creamy white blooms that show up in the middle of winter. They open all at once, going from a tightly wrapped bud to an explosion of petals in just a few hours. Despite how you look, sometimes, you just gotta bloom.

Sunny Weather

It smelled just a little like Spring today. It's still cold, down in the 40s, but it was warm in the sun and there was just this hint in the air of a wet greeny smell. Normally I'm all a-ok with winter but this one has seemed long and cold, if not particularly dreary.

The cable twist socks enjoy a sunbathe on a bench.
Turnin', turnin', turnin', keep those heels turnin', rawhide!

I got a bee in my bonnet last weekend and worked them a bit so it won't take a month to finish them. Maybe another week, if I can get the gusset done this weekend. The image is a little light but fairly true to color - K the love monkey wears only the dark socks. And by dark he means grey or black.

I am also somewhat obsessed with entering this month's Purlescense Storybook Competition. Camaderie in the land of Alices and all that. If only I can just get the idea out of my head and into yarn. Things coming out of my head usually don't translate well so this will be no small feat for me.

Yeah, baby, show off those twists:

"Progress"

Those quotation marks in the title? Not quotation marks. Instead, they are "sarcasm tongs." They depend highly on context for differentiating them from regular quotes. They're my sarcasm markers for text even though no one understands that but me and a few other people on an obscure messaging system. Nobody gets the joke when I laugh at signs that use quotation marks for "emphasis."

Anyway.

Krista said something the other day in the comments that made me bust a gut laughing:

This is beginning to sound like a weight watchers meeting. "When I really crave chocolate cake I eat an apple and that gets rid of my craving!" Yeah, right. I still want chocolate cake, but we're in this together. UFO's ahoy!

Mmm, chocolate cake. However, I am remaining strong. I even went into a yarn store the other day and Bought Nothing. It really is a damper on the yarn lust to think of the pile (and it is a pile) of yarn awaiting me. It's embarassing how far I've let this go. Too much stuff and not enough Do.

It's not really been a great week. It's one of those weeks where I just feel low, unworthy, tired, dull, profligate, stupid, and generally a worthless person. Please don't say anything, I'm not angling for sympathy, it's just a statement of fact. The self-esteem, he is not so high in the first place, no? It makes me reticent because everyone gets tired of the whining.

Usually I can wait these little episodes out, and I have been feeling a bit better today, but they sure play hell with my eating and sleeping and drinking plans. Self-medication. The forebrain knows that the chocolate bar will just make me feel like crap, but the hindbrain knows that it will feel good for at least a few seconds first. Uh, maybe you could say it's been a week of instant gratification. And no pictures.

BUT, I have not bought yarn for me. That's something, isn't it?

In other adventures, Karen asked how the Run-a-gogo has been going. Here's what I've got so far:

Walking: 30 miles
Gym (elliptical trainer): 24.6 miles

Seems like a lot, but really: not so good. I get a freebee, no-strain 100 miles just because I walk 2 miles every day going to and from work. I shouldn't even be counting it toward the total there. It's good for my health, but it doesn't do much for the fat.

To be effective for weight loss, I need to be doing sweat-and-pulse-rate-raising exercise 4-5 times a week, 40 minutes a session. I know this from personal long-time experience. An average session is about 3.5-4 miles on an elliptical trainer or treadmill (I don't run. Bad knees). It'd be better if I were weight lifting as well, but I'm not ready to spend the time nor energy to go there yet.

So my Secret Goal all along has been 200 miles total, not counting the daily walk. I included the walking total so I didn't feel quite so wussy.

This is all only about ME, of course. Your mileage will vary. I've got the genes of a yak: highly optimized to survive long, viciously cold winters by efficiently handling fat supply, and plenty of thick hair for insulation. ha ha

Daydreaming about Yarn

Did you *see* the gorgeous stuff that Rabbitch has dyed up? Mmmm, yum. Rabbitch, you enabling yarn ho, I'm on a diet. Feh.

I am dreaming of the Yarn today. (Do you think Plato's Perfect Form Yarn came as a single Yarn, or were there different forms for each fiber and fiber mixture?)

All that lovely squishiness: the True Blue wool, the soft and flirty cashmere, the cloud of alpaca, the exquisite stinky silk. I cannot get the hand-dyed alpaca laceweight out of my head. Or the pale green silk I lusted after for MONTHS before snatching it up when a local yarn store sold off their entire Blue Moon Fiber Arts supply at 40% off (oh yes. The stars aligned, or something).

Today the hard plastic keyboard at work is paining me. (But only metaphorically; it's my stupid lower back that's paining me literally, but that pissant better go away soon or I'm gonna get REALLY ANGRY). Why'd I join this stupid stash-along anyway? Oh yeah, because I've already got too much fiber. Maybe I should redecorate my office with yarn. Then I can stare at and fondle it all the time. And really give my coworkers something to talk about. Woo!

I've also been thinking about participating in the UFO Resurrection. Because lately, there's been a pile of those developing, too. But I'd apply it to both knits and quilts and sewing, since there's certainly enough outstanding projects from all those to keep me busy. I don't think I've got 12 knit UFOs.

Knit stuff I can think of offhand:

1. Cable Twist Socks from Hello Yarn in grey Rowan 4-ply Soft.
   Status: On the needles and active -- commuter project. Working on the 2nd sock. I get about a repeat done per day, and so it'll take me ~25 business days to finish them, assuming I don't get stuck on the train or in a line.
   
   
2. K's raglan, in charcoal DK wool. The Amazing custom-fit raglan that... doesn't fit. This'll probably end up blog fodder. Stay tuned.
   Status: Time to rip back. Again.
   
   
3. NYC niece's raglan, in variegated thick cotton. I got to the armholes and ugh. After joining a sleeve the stitches on the body connecting the sleeves were extremely loose and ugly.
   Status: Figure out some way of keeping the body stitches tight. Already ripped back. Gotta finish this before she gets any bigger.
   
   
4. K's slip-stitch sweater. Still working on the test version.
   Status: Stymied last Fall when trying to adapt the slip-stitch pattern to include the increases on the sleeve. This should *not* be so hard. Need to revisit this again.
   
   
5. Denmark socks, take 1. I did these in Rowan wool/cotton and although I love the fabric and the stitch definition I was getting, these are far too narrow for adult feet.
   Status: Time to pick up those sad pieces of broken heart and rip rip rip. Maybe add another couple motifs to the pattern? (Note to self: measure the width of a cable before ripping so I know how much many stitches to increase.)

See, not so many. I haven't been knitting all that long. There's MANY more projects floating around my head, wanting attention. And much, much yarn clamoring to be knit up.

I better get back to work. Sigh.

Randomness

Thank you all so much for your compliments on Audrey's socks. They were a fun knit and it's pleasing to hear that you all liked them.

Now a confession: I'm a big slacker (ha, as if THAT wasn't already apparent).
And a wannabe.

I asked La last week for a letter for my own Alpha-Meme, and I have yet to post the results. Sorry, La. Mostly I've been editing and re-editing, trying not to sound like a complete dork, but my writing has pretty much sucked lately. But I think I'm ready.

I promise not to subject you to too much Ravishing Ridiculousness. Or assonance, either.

My letter: R

Raspberries
I could sing the praises of raspberries for weeks. There is nothing like a sun-warmed raspberry, right off the vine. I'm especially partial to the raspberry crop that comes ripe in September. I have to freeze up a half flat every year just so I can make it through the winter. These are from this fall's farmer's market.


Rhubarb
Tart but mellifluous, rhubarb's gotten a bad racket. My grandmother makes the most amazing strawberry-rhubarb pie. Tart and sweet, together 4-ever.

Rubinesque
I aspire to this, but really I'm a little too rotund to qualify.

RUM
We used to live within staggering distance of this great Tiki bar in Seattle. This is where I learned the beauty of the fruity drinks. And I'm not talking about some sad, crappy Mai Tai, either. This was the real deal. Fresh juice, tartness balanced with sweet, and enough booze to kill a goose.
I went on to purchase Beachbum Berry's Grog Log, which looks like it was self-published using a lot of free tiki graphics and some skull mugs, but it's also an excellent Fruity Rum Drink recipe book. This books spends a while discussing the intricacies of rum. There's way more than your standard white, tasteless Bacardi. Light vs. Dark, Jamaican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Rum de Martinique, Rhum Barbancourt, ... it's as if every tiny island in the Caribbean has their own, special version. Not to mention the weird English mixes. Yohoho and pass the pineapple!

Rosemary
Despite being all Mediterrean and crap, rosemary grows very well here in wet-winter, dry-summer land, only dying back when the temp drops below 20 F. Versatile, easy to grow, and fantastically scented, rosemary's one of my favorite herbs. Mmmm, rosemary bread.


Ruler & rotary cutter
The most wonderful inventions that the quilt world has seen since the iron. You can have my precise ruler and sharp-enough-to-slice-through-8-layers-of-fabric-or-maybe-your-finger rotary cutter when you pry them out of my cold, dead hands.

Refrigerator Rolls
Such a common name for a tasty, tasty baked good. I make these about once a year. They're an ode to the fact that Fat Makes Everything Taste Better. Like fudge, you DO NOT WANT to see what goes in these. They're similar to croissants, but more plainspoken. The secret is in the overnight rise in the fridge. And the butter, of course.

RED
I can't really say I have a favorite color. I go through color crushes. During last year I was on some kind of green kick. And then recently it's been orange and pink and even a little grey.
But the color I'm most likely to make a beeline for is red. Scarlet, brick, crimson, ruby, apple, fantastic red! For the last 6 months I've been fantasizing about dying some silk in several dark shades of red. There's a certain shade of Alchemy Bamboo I have to RIP myself away from every time I pass by.

Rose
Portland's nickname is the City of Roses, for a natural climate that roses love (with a little extra watering in the summer). Although not a "rose gal" per se, they're in my garden and I love to look, smell, and photograph them. This beauty is from the International Rose Test Gardens.


Anal-Retentive
I'll take the Fifth (of rum! hhahahahaha)

Socks for Audrey

It's COLD here. My hair froze on the way to work this morning. FROZEN HAIR, people! Of course, when it gets cold here, it usually means brilliantly sunny and clear, and today is no exception. So I'm torn, but I think I prefer sunny and cold rather than grey and warm. Now I better go pick up my fingers off the cold, cold ground where they've fallen.

Hey, found the camera cable! These have been done and sent off for weeks, but I'm still going to show them off.

Warm socks on the cold ground

Socks for Audrey!
I hope she likes them.

Pattern: Denmark socks from Knitting on the Road, by Nancy Bush

Modifications: I deviated slightly from the chart because I liked the effect. At the top of the sock, after the nupp row, I continued the ribbing pattern from the top instead of changing to K6 straight across the cabled section. I liked how the very first cable crossing folded in the Ks from the edges, over the interior ribbing.

Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK in color 520 -- Bloom. Used about 2 1/4 balls for a US Women's size 9 foot (142 yards/ball)

Needles: Brittany Birch 3.25 mm, 7.5 inch long DPNs.

Gauge: I got about 6 st/inch using the 3.25 mm to produce a firmer sock yarn.

Finish time: About two weeks for the pair - the pattern is easy to memorize, the larger gauge makes it faster to knit.

Notes:

About the Yarn: I LOVE knitting this stuff; it's very soft, very squishy, and extremely pleasurable to knit with. It's not as smooth as a 100% superwash, many-plied wool, such as Karabella's Aurora 8--it's got a little fuzz, but nothing that obscures the cables. The color was a lovely damask-rose pink.

There was a knot or bad spot on every ball I used, just about 20-25 yards in on Every Ball. What's with that? Someone must've gotten slap-happy with the scissors at the factory, I guess.

The yarn's superwash but I'd only wash it in a pillowcase on gentle cycle, and no drier. It doesn't felt well, but it's not exactly a sturdy yarn. This yarn was a bit splitty and looked messy after splitting, so try to avoid the splitting by using a dull-er needle.

The DK weight means that these socks wouldn't be all that pleasant to wear in shoes, even with how soft they are. These were meant for comfy around-the-house socks or for bed. I fear that they'd wear poorly in shoes as well.

Russian (felted) joins looked like complete crap with this yarn. I tried a join but the section just look sad, soggy, and lumpy. Instead I duplicate-stitch-wove in all the ends for a long length and hope for the best.

About the Needles: I prefer wooden DPNs because the stitches cling to them and don't slip off as I'm working. I like the pointiness of the Brittanies, which are just sharp enough to handle the K2Togs and SSKs, but not so sharp that they split the yarn easily. They're one of the less pointy ones in the class of wooden DPNs.

I did not use a cable needle. The crossovers were only 1 stitch over 2. I got much better at my cabling-without-a-needle technique on these socks.

About the Pattern: well-written and easy to follow (thank you Nancy Bush!). The nupps at the top are interesting and not hard to do, and for you nupp-haters, there's only 8 per sock. The pattern produces a decorative cabled ribbing that stretches well. I really like how the single ribs on the side frame the pattern when it reaches the foot.

Accentuate the Positive, Medicate the Negative

(The title's a quotation from Amy Sedaris's new book, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, that K's brother & sister-in-law sent us for Christmas)

I got a full 9 hours+ of sleep last night, with no nocturnal postings. Hooray!

Thank you all for the great comments. I do tend to be far too cynical and negative in my outlook. I know that optimism is more successful. I TA'ed for a professor once who'd give any student that showed up to all the classes a 2% grade raise. He swore that it worked much better than any punishment scheme, and that for classes where everyone came, he had a much higher performance on homework and tests (before the raise). He did have fabulous attendance -- and this was a *big* class.

And I generally see things as HUGE PROBLEMS TO SOLVE RIGHT NOW, instead of little pieces I can conquer one by one. And the HUGE PROBLEMS are Enormous and Overwhelming and hand me that chocolate and why don't I just start a new knitting project? It's good advice to just pick one or two and break them down into achievable goals. It's just something at which I'm horrifcly bad (crap, yet another thing for the list)

So, in trying to for a more positive outlook, following is my personal list of...


Highly Suggested Guidelines for Stash Success!

• When looking for a new project, look to the stash first. Fall in love again!Find


• The stash storage space is just as calming as a yarn shop. Go there, not the yarn shop. You love to organize, so organize! Touch and sniff the already-purchased yarn!


• Ebay does not exist for the next 9 months.


• If you love something, set it free. If you're not quite so in love with something, free it to be loved by another.


• Complete at least one dye project a month.


• Yarn may be bought to finish projects in progress: case in point, K's raglan, for which he would like stripes. I bought all the yarn, get 7" in and he says, "can't it have stripes?" (The raglan depth's all wrong anyway, so I might as well rip it out (again))


• Purchasing giftee yarn does not count, as well as test yarn bought for Mom's project.


• Sock yarn counts.


• Stash will take first priority for yarn for a specifically requested gift, but if nothing is appropriate, yarn purchased for said gift is allowed.


• When consumed with yarn lust: stop, drop, and roll in the stash cashmere.


• The LYS coupon, received this month for my birthday LAST month, has been consumed. I will kindly not count it against the stashalong so I don't feel as if I've failed before I started.


• Fiber Festivals are excused, but not GOING NUTS at fiber festivals. I'd like to attend Black Sheep Gathering this year.


• Two (yes, I'm weak) get-out-of-stash cards.

I've been completely unable to find the camera cable for the last 2 weeks. Hence all the boring text and you get an old picture from December.


The Peace Lily contemplates the parking lot

Not an interesting post

Ugh.

Can't sleep. Although I exercised today (sleep++), I also had alcohol with dinner (sleep--) and cake (sleep--, after the sugar crash). Usually you can put me in a dark warm room and I'm out like the proverbial light, but not tonight. After 1.75 hours of tossing back and forth I've given up and here I am, on the couch, not sleeping.

The problem with not being able to sleep is also those thoughts going through my head about what a fuck-up I've been. And all the things I'd like to change about myself. Most of these changes can only be effected over a long-term period (not gonna lose 40 pounds overnight, no matter how much tossing I do), so of course I can't DO anything about them tonight, bah.

So because it's my blog and I can wank around on it all I like, my little head-list.

Not be such a pack rat.
Get rid of the extra STUFF
Do, instead of accumulate.
Garden less haphazardly.
Get rid of the crap.
Lose the weight, lose the fat, feel better.
Make better food choices All The Time.
Cut out the booze. It's not helping with the weight and the sleeping.
Finally get around to figuring out how to register & setup my own site.
Finally send Grandma a letter and pictures and yarn.
Did I mention getting rid of stuff? KNIT FROM THE STASH. FINISH SOME QUILTS.
Stop buying crap
Sell/give/barter the stuff I'll never get around to using.

Oh, here's the cat, out wondering why I'm not in bed. She's now proceeded to fall asleep in my lap, while I am still WIDE AWAKE. Enjoy your sleep, kitty.

Prospero Año Neuvo!

Hey, I'm back.

Hap-happy new year everyone!

And thanks for all the comments on the previous post.

I'm not going to apologize for the rant, but I will apologize for the self-indulgence (normally I'm such a happy, if loquatious, drunk). But what's life without a few psychological hangups, eh?

And really, I do like pink. I've yet to meet a color I didn't like. Oh, I've got the usual hues I gravitate to EVERY TIME (mmm, scarlet), but, for example, I'll start knitting something in a gorgeous, delicate pink and suddenly I swoon. It's immediately the Best Color In The Universe and what have I been thinking, not noticing it for this long? I have my little color flings.

Maybe it's all the playing with patchwork for the quilting - there's no colors I don't like. Just color combinations. So pink? Beautiful. I just have some problems with some of the societal connotations.

-----------------

We've been travelling all over the place and it's been trains, planes, and automobiles and The Party Never Ends (WOO WOO) what with Xmess and my birthday and New Year's. And while I'm kind of relieved to be back home again, I sort of miss all the excitement. I've been trying to figure out why I so enjoyed the holidays, and besides not having to work, I think the primary reasons are:

a) I got to be around a lot of people
b) I wasn't constantly worrying

Not much I can do about not having to work all the time. However:
A is my own fault. I don't really, um, get out much. Like, not at all. This is something I can do something about. Time to try another stitch 'n' bitch group . The first didn't go so well but I need to be tougher-skinned about this all. The right group's out there but it ain't happening while I sit all mopey at home.

Now B. Worry worry worry, it's like a pastime of mine. As if I'm constantly honing my mad worrying skillz.

It's time to stop living my life in regret. No more worrying about things I cannot change. Make an action, carry something out, decide or decide not to, but DECIDE. I'm tired of second-guessing everything and trying to be perfect the first time. Time to shoot that inner perfectionist and learn from mistakes, not be consumed by them. Regrets should only serve as constructive criticism so that I DON'T DO THAT STUPID THING AGAIN.

And in the spirit of all that wonderful holiday human interaction, I thought I'd actually join a couple 'alongs. I don't normally, seeing as how if I don't participate, I won't disappoint anyone. But these are all self-affecting, and nobody's gonna feel too sad if I don't quite make it all through the stash-along.

Hello, the stash? Out of control. Literally. It embarasses me everytime I see bits of it. I have PLENTY of FANTASTIC yarn and there is no excuse, none, why I shoudn't be using it. I have a wee bit of the obsessive-compulsive in me and definitely Collector tendencies. And it's one of my slowly-working-towards Life Goals to be more of a Doer and less a Collector. Let's take the weight off and fucking knit something for once.

And speaking of taking the weight off.
I never make any time-dependent weight goals, because they inevitably depress instead of inspire me. HOWEVER, I am joining Rachael's 100 miles by April 1st because I need all the inspiration I can get when it comes to getting to the gym in the dark cold mornings of the winters.

I will be elliptical-trainer-ing and walking my way to 100 miles, due to the crappy knees and my wish to still be using the original equipment when I'm 40. I would really like to feel more comfortable in my body and my clothes. This is one place where regrets are perhaps helpful.