moonfrog

Time for a little pause in this busy season, lest this blog falls further into the category of  “things neglected.”  Yesterday I took a moment to water my withering plants and — surprise! — my amaryllis that I’d given up on ever blooming had three beautiful blooms, stuffed in the corner behind some other plants. I set it next to my spinning wheel to show how stunted it is this year. It’s usually taller than my wheel, but it pushed through and shared its wonder just in time for Christmas. Last time it bloomed in July, after I had set it outside to die. Now it sits happily on the kitchen table as I get started on the cookie baking.

So, besides the unmentionable gift knitting, I did spend a night out at the spinners and weavers guild for our art night. There were five of us demonstrating spinning: two men, three women, four wheels, and one spindle. It was a fun and relaxing time, though the traffic to our part of town seemed a bit less than last year.

I started the night out spinning the undyed merino top that was on my wheel, patting myself on the back (and encouraging my friend to do the same) for the thinner, more even yarn that I am spinning now. Then I grew restless with the undyed roving, casting longing looks at the blues and greens and browns the other spinners were enjoying.  So I popped a new bobbin on the wheel and started spinning a colorful braid that I had swapped for some undyed roving. That’s the pink and blue merino that is on my wheel now. It perked me up instantly.

As I looked around at the spinners, I noticed that two of them were wearing handmade socks that matched the yarn being spun. It struck my fancy in some odd way, so I took pictures. Me?  I was wearing my bright purple and green socks, so they were handknit, but did not match my spinning. One of the men who was spindle-spinning assured me that his socks were white, just like his heavenly cormo fiber.

My pretty pink and blue spinning will sit neglected now while I finish gift knitting and baking. I look forward to getting back to it. Our guild will have a get-together for St. Distaff Day on January 4th, so I will wait until then.

I do have a couple other things I’ve neglected to share here. Hats, of course! I’ve made three children’s hats to send off for Caps for a Cure. The first was a pretty blue and green ribbed hat that went to a young boy my friend knew who had leukemia.  Another one was a little topknot hat. I played with the little I-cord top to make it stand up. It’s made with Elann Esprit, an elasticized yarn.

The little pink tassled hat on the right was fun to make. I copied a hat made by Adrienne because I thought hers was cute. I made this one with a scrap of Lorna’s Laces worsted and some Cascade 220. I’ve set aside a few scrap combinations to make more of these.  I used it for simple travel knitting and it is perfect. I can still help my dear huz drive while I knit. For some strange reason he likes the complex knits for traveling. Hmmm . . . maybe he’d like me to neglect my backseat driving more.

I also decided to frog the  Foliage Hat that matched my Branching Out scarf. I re-knit it into a Muse Hat that better suits our climate and feels better on my head. I ad-libbed the top, decreasing while still keeping the openwork pattern going. I didn’t want the solid top. My decreases aren’t perfect, but I like it.

For my fellow Neil Gaiman fans, there’s a new interactive website for the book, soon-to-be-movie, Coraline.  It’s a fun site, with posters to download and a knitting pattern for Coraline’s sweater. You have to hunt for it!  There’s also a place to “button” your eyes. Here’s mine.

Coraline is a child’s story, but it is dark and twisted. Gaiman’s most recent book is also a children’s book, The Graveyard Book.  I “read” the audiobook and loved it. It was not as morbid as I feared it might be.

Well, that’s enough neglecting of my baking and housecleaning and wrapping, etc.

Wishing you all a warm and wonderful winter!  Until next time . . . .

In the four years that I have been seriously learning to knit, I have learned a lot about myself. The newest thing that I’ve consciously admitted to myself is that I am easily discouraged with my knitting. If things go wrong, it is either frog or get buried in the craft room. Also, my son has been entertaining himself with telling us all our astrological profiles, which says I have a short attention span. Hmpf. I’m not willing to admit to that one at this point.  Anywho, where was I?

Ah, yes. Remember the socks for the DH (aka The Bearded One)?  Funny how six months ago, when I last blogged about them, I had to start out with ‘Remember the socks I was making for my husband?’  Then there’s the picture of crinkly yarn that speaks of a major knitting reversal. Well, it may have taken six months to come back to these — or any socks for that matter — but they are back and in fine style. Yes I can!

After wavering a bit about using Cat Bordhi’s sidestream architecture, I decided to try it again. Previously, I had added a few stitches to accomodate a larger foot circumference and tighter gauge. They turned out way too big. This time, I am just making the largest size and they are perfect. The actual pattern is the Sunrise Socks,  (here’s the ) which have a contrasting heel, toe, and top of the cuff.  I’m using leftover Lorna’s Laces worsted in the Jeans colorway and need the contrast to augment the yarn. (The contrasting yarn has been switched to a mystery dk weight gray.) DH aka BO (I’m easily amused) wants these to be tall boot socks. The good thing is that the worsted weight makes them work up faster, even though they are huge socks.

Bottom line is, the pattern is working well with some modifications to suit my taste. I started with Judy’s Magic Cast On and standard toe increases. I don’t really care for the garter stitch toe called for in the pattern. After making most of the increases for the foot, which make a V shape on the side, I realized that mine were on the top (or bottom) because of the different toe. Riiiippp. It worked out for the best, though, since I had also done the garter stitch pattern in the increase section (known as the ‘arch expansion’ for those who don’t use my technical terms like ‘thingamajob’) and I didn’t like the bulky garter. I was able to make a smooth knit side increase on my second try. You can see the V at the top of the photo. Wonderful!

As always, I am nervous about the heel. When will I get over this?  Another personal characteristic that I must just accept as part of the wonder that is me. *sigh*  And due to my alleged short attention span, I have several other projects on the needles.( Three or four, not counting two UFOs.) Unfortunately, these are in the ‘secret holiday projects’ category and cannot be disclosed. Drat! Having so many ongoing projects also makes me nervous. It started with needing a travel knit besides the complex knit I’ve been doing. That was good incentive to get the socks going again. Then something snazzy caught my eye, then some yarn jumped out at me when DH took me to an out-of-town shop. . . you get the idea. I’m thrilled that I’m able to get back to my knitting, though, and I look forward to showing more of it.

I’d also love to hear your gift ideas. I could use some right now. If nothing else, I’ll put them on my  I’m-going-to-start-this-in-January-for-next-year list. Yep. It starts now!