Just in time...

...for the hot weather (*sigh*).

It's about 75 degrees F today & this vest is so not needed. However, one thing I decided recently is to knit regardless of the weather. I know a lot of knitters don't feel like touching wool during the summer & stick to small projects when it's hot, but judging by my track record, I think I should knit whatever (even cardigans) year-round...I'll get to wear it eventually. We had about 2 weeks of winter here & the 2 weeks were spread out--a day here, 6 hours there, 45 minutes here...I don't think we had more than 3 consecutive days of what I consider cold.

Ah well...I can wear this vest next winter.

Pattern: Heavily modified ribbed vest (project #11) from Vogue Knitting Winter 2004/05. I say heavily modified because I didn't follow the pattern in the magazine. I remembered seeing a ribbed vest I liked, had yarn on hand & decided to make up my own pattern. I used VK's pattern as a guide in deciding how to shape armholes & the neckline. Besides the vest in this magazine, I saw a similar one in Classic Knits.

Needles: US size 10.5. The big needles made this a quick project, but if I had to do it over, I'd go down about 2 sizes. I think that would give this fabric some stiffness which it doesn't currently have.

Yarn: Berroco Foliage in color Joshua Tree (#5954). I like the self-striping, but that's all the positive stuff I can say. It's spun thick & thin, so thin in some places that the yarn came apart in my hands (after the 3rd time, I threw that particular ball straight in the trash--that was the only ball out of 5 I had problems with, however).

I blocked it lightly, not knowing if it would make much difference because of the high acrylic content (it didn't). I bought this yarn at the big sale my LYS had last year, before discovering how much I don't care for acrylic.

I liked being able to figure out my own calculations & using the magazine pattern, being able to figure how to decrease along the neckline. But how many chunky vests does a girl need? In Florida? This is it for the chunkies.

Lastly, this is the first of what I'm calling my take-along socks. I only work on them when I'm out & about: at baseball practice, riding shotgun in the car, etc. because they're plain stockinette. I can't figure out if I like or hate these garish colors. I also bought this yarn at the aforementioned sale (clearly, hearing "40% off everything in the store" sometimes clouds your judgment). I don't know if I'm going to keep these loud socks or pass them off to an unsuspecting victim gift them. Once I get to the foot, if the colors still make me think of this fun guy, they may have to go.

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Job Perks

I was recently asked by Anne Staszalek to review When Bad Things Happen to Good Knitters: An Emergency Survival Guide by Marion Edmonds and Ahza Moore. This is the fun part of being a writer, I must admit.

The first thing I noticed about the book is the size: approximately 6x7". It's a perfectly portable size to toss in your knitting bag so that you'll have it if you're away from home. As I read through it, I thought, this would've been the perfect book to have when I first learned to knit 3 years ago. Now that I have a sizable knitting library, I've seen many of these tips before, but they're spread among a dozen or so books and magazines. This is like having almost all the basic reference material you need condensed into one small package.

The format includes a lot of "question and answer" sections, along with clear illustrations. The tone throughout is companionable, non-preachy, and still lets you know when you need to be honest with yourself about certain projects (will this top really look good on me? or, I really hate the way this whole thing looks, what to do?).

It's user-friendly in that this book is perfect for beginners and advanced knitters alike. Of particular interest to beginners might be Chapter 2: "The Secret Language of Knitting Patterns." I've read patterns that seem to assume all knitters will understand the directions, but everyone doesn't perform a "M1" the same way. Likewise, this chapter explains how to read patterns, as well as how to pick up stitches in various situations (something I really would've liked to know the first time I knit a sock). Once you've been knitting for a decade or two, you'll know your favorite way to bind off, but if you forget how to set up the Kitchener stitch, it's right here.

It is an emergency survival guide in cases where you crossed a cable the wrong way or your sweater neckline looks wonky, but it also has useful information for finishing (which can make or break the overall look of a garment).

If you're looking for a good addition to your knit-book stash (as well as something to keep in your knitting bag), this is a delightful, inexpensive book. The next time I teach someone to knit and get past the basics of knitting and purling (which the book assumes you can do), I think a nice gift would include needles, yarn and this book.

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Nirvana and Karma

Coffee. Daily paper. Handknit socks.

Doesn't get much better.

Yarn: Regia Silk
Needles: US size 1 DPNs
Pattern: Cable Rib Socks, Interweave Knits, Spring 2005
Designer: Erica Alexander

I LOVE the Regia silk yarn. The yarn made this project a joy, although I still can't explain what took me so long to finish, besides the fact that the leg is about 2" longer than I normally knit mine, plus there was that time I had to start over.

These socks are great, my new favorites. The pattern is easy & easy to remember. I wanted to knit these socks from the time I first saw them, but at the time that IK issue came out, I was a long way from sock-savvy.

See? We even go outside.

What's next? This is the back of a vest I'm working on:

And lastly, if you would like to spread yarny love, either through karma or swapping, please visit this new blog:

I think a lot of us have yarn sitting in our stash that, deep in our hearts, we know we're never going to use. So why not send it off to a good home? You might be surprised what comes back to you when you send out good.

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Buttons, buttons, we got buttons

Good morning, boys & girls. Today's lesson is entitled "how to enlarge a too-tight neckline by adding a buttonband which should've been done in the first place if only I were smarter."

Amanda, I know this isn't steeks, but it did involve some cutting. First, I placed the stitches to make the buttonband on needles. You can't see very well in this photo, but there's a couple of rows of knitting between those needles.

I inserted the needles in the stitches like this: under the right half of the stich, over the left

I cut between the needles. At this point, the sweater is being held together by little more than spit & fervent prayers to the knitting god (that would be Hank). On the front, I picked up & knitted stockinette (inserting 2 YOs) for about an inch, then bound off. On the back, I knitted stockinette for about 1/2 inch, then bound off. Buttons were sewn on the back band (I'll probably switch these buttons out later, but used what was on hand for educational purposes).

Is it a perfect fix? By no means. I'm sure there are better (and prettier) ways to solve this problem. But since I'm a busy person whose time is at a premium, I figured it was a good way to finally say goodbye to this project. Plus, this sweater & I have reached the end of the good part of our relationship & now I'm ready to throw dishes at its head before serving it papers.

It's being worn in the shot below by the Dimpled One, not Animal Magnet for whom it was intended. Animal Magnet seems to have grown since I cast on, so we've decided to hand the sweater down (this is the real purpose of having smaller kids in the house). Will Animal Magnet get a sweater this season? Only if Hank gives me a sign.

Edited to add (because I forgot patterns specs):

Pattern: Child size (28) raglan from The Knitters Handy Book of Sweater Patterns

Yarn: Encore worsted, colors #1444 and #668

Needles: size US 7 (ribbing) & 8

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I have good news & bad news

Well, I have good news & bad news. I'll give you the good news first: Animal Magnet's sweater is done! Here's the lizard

& something I really like:

The tail snakes around the back, so he can make a statement coming & going. That is, if he could only pull the sweater over his enormous head.

Where did he get such a gigantic head? That's the bad news: he has a watermelon head. No, just kidding. The bad news is, the neckline is too small. *sigh* I tried it on him before I bound off & it seemed fine then. Currently, the only way to get this sweater over his head is to remove his nose & ears. While I have no problem with that, he seems to think he needs to perform functions like smelling & hearing. Whatever.

While I decide how to fix this (I'm thinking button-band on the shoulder, but have no idea how that's going to happen--maybe knitting fairies will fix this while I sleep), I'm going to drown myself in the Valentine's Day chocolate Weedinator bought me (yes! he got it right!).

I hope your Valentine's Day is going great!

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11 years & counting

My 11th wedding anniversary is coming up, so, to avoid disappointment with whatever gift Weedinator is planning to foist upon me, I've written him this letter, which I will leave in a conspicuous place, such as taped across the TV screen, wrapped around the TV remote or draped over the toilet paper roll.

Dear Hubby--

We've been married for 11 years now. Yeah, I know. I have to say, I'm still surprised by your lack of insight in knowing what I would like as a gift for various gift-giving occasions throughout the year. So much so that I've had to become very specific in years past so that I would no longer get jackets like this

or shirts that look like this

You've known me for 16 years; when did I ever ride a mechanical bull?? What, exactly, is it about me that screams out "Rodeo Queen"? I beg of you, do not pick out any more clothing for me.

Next, you know how highly I believe in presentation. There was the birthday that I asked for this book & you very graciously handed me the book...that night, unwrapped, still in the Barnes & Noble plastic bag in which it had undoubtedly been dropped 15 minutes prior. Hon, my birthday is the same date every single year...would it kill you to drop by the store, oh, a day ahead instead of on your way home from work? I know you have the wrapping skills of a garden-variety badger, but there are wrapping services out there. They wrap, you pay a little extra. Win-win.

To avoid the pain of bad gift giving, I will in the future not only provide you with the specific gift that I would like, but a list of retail establishments (online & storefront) where you can purchase said gift, as well as UPC codes, prices & the name of the associate I have talked to in order to reserve the gift. These are just my suggestions because you know what, Mr. ex-Chicagoan? Payback can look like this:

Love ya--

Your wife

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Mob Rule

It's nice to have Mob Rule. When I was going on about the lizard, it was nice to have you all with me. I imagined a roomful of knitters holding their arms & pointy sticks to the air, saying "screw all lizards. YEAH!" And then we would run outside, torches held high, and run the monster out of the village into the open countryside, and maybe over a high cliff to his certain death. Yeah, that was nice. But a cooler head prevailed. I know--this doesn't happen in the movies, but it happened here. Ellen wrote me this e-mail:

Well most people are commenting to get rid of the lizard, but if you are sure about him, you could knit the sweater in the round until you get to the motif, then separate onto straight needles and knit flat, and then go back to circular. Then you'd only have a seam on each side of the sweater where to motif is. The snowflake stocking from Holiday Knits is done like that (in the round for the foot and flat for the leg to accomodate the motif).

Mid-torch lighting, I stopped. I hadn't even thought about this! (If you did & you didn't suggest it because you got kind of caught up in the mob, that's OK, too.)

I put my matches aside & picked my needles back up & following Ellen's excellent suggestion, came back with this:

Thanks again, Ellen! There's still lots to do on this sweater because there's one design feature you can't yet see (that I like a lot), but I'm glad I was able to use my original idea of the lizard. Still, it's nice to know that if I ever need to run an undead creature-of-the-night out of town, I know who my friends are.

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Question of the Day

Before I get to the Question of the Day, let me state that if you have children, you're well acquainted with their zero-second rule. This is the rule that states "when you request something of your parents, give them zero seconds to think or mull things over. Just keep at them until they give in, just to shut your incessant whining up. Success rate with this method: 87.6%." I don't know how kids the world over know about this; my theory is they get together while we're asleep (chat rooms anyone?) & make plans for how they'll eventually take over.

Now I'm someone who likes to think, which is contrary to the zero-second rule, so my kids are here to break me. When they ask me something, like "can I have a third cookie" or "can I ride my bike up that unsafe ramp in the middle of the road" they don't give me time to even take a breath before they launch into their 2nd, 3rd & sometimes 4th request. I can't think when the leprechauns are spewing forth an unending line of questions (addendum to the rule: you all must talk at the same time; that confuses the 'rents even more). So a lot of the time, I end up saying "yes" just to make it stop.

The Question of the Day, which came from #1 Girl, was: why do people wear thongs?

I almost rushed to answer (they have me well trained), but I'm glad I resisted because the first thing that came into my head was "to make more money?" Then I thought. Even though the kids were obviously communicating telepathically, trying to trip me up, my mind was strong. I held up under the pressure. I noticed that #1 Girl asked why people wear thongs. Not just women. Which made me wonder, does she think men wear thongs on a frequent basis? Has she seen a man wearing a thong somewhere?? (note to self: check V-chip options on the TV.) Next, I had to say something because I could hear them grumbling. Five seconds had already passed & the natives were getting restless. So I said: "because they don't want panty lines."

Ha! Got you kids, didn't I? Thought you had me. Humph. And I walked away in a victorious glow. Score one for the 'rents.

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