Knitting in the Shadows

Irtfa'a soars in for a visit

It's been a long time since Irtfa'a (Ravelry link) showed her face here on the blog.  Mostly, that's because I only work on her during Knit Night (Wednesday's at my house) ... and then, mostly only on those Knit Nights attended by the Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth.

However, the last time she came Knit Night we discovered that she's gotten ahead of me.  Perhaps it's because my Irtfa'a (KnitSpot link) is bigger (what with me having added that extra repeat of chart 2), and mine has all these beads to apply, while hers is just smooth knitting all the way.  Worse yet, I think that in order to keep the ratios looking right, I'm going to have to knit a few extra repeats of this chart too.  So....

I have been doing a bit more Irtfa'a knitting without TDTB Elizabeth. 

As of now, I'm only 7 rows behind her (not counting any extra repeats I may need to do).  I plan to continue alternating Irtfa'a knitting with Wolf Hoodie knitting  and Tipless Mitt knitting until I catch up to the point that we both have the same number of repeats left to knit.  I'm deluding myself that I'll get there by Wednesday, but I'm pretty sure it'll be another week.

 Her Irtfa'a will be appropriately dark.  Mine, as it turns out, will be just plain shiny.

Shiny wasn't really my intent, but in some lights.. that's what I get.

I'm pretending that indoors, where it is likely to be seen more, and vertically draped from my shoulders, instead of laying out for pictures, it'll be a subtler shiny.  'Cause in some lights.. you don't see the beads at all..

 

However, I'll try to make peace with the fact that in others -- this shawl ain't nothin' but bling.

Thankful Thursdays, Part IV - the big one

I started this Thursday morning....so I'm leaving the Thursday title... but it turns out to be a more challenging post to write than I thought it would be.

All across America Thursday, folks were gathering to enjoy a feast of Thanksgiving.  For some, it's all about the food (and why not? such food!), for others, it's all about the people - generally family - with whom they gather. 

At some point in the day, many of us paused to remember the reason we we're all enjoying a day off work or school and eating turkey with enough side dishes to make the table groan.  We were giving thanks.

I've been enjoying the Thankful Thursday series this month -- pausing once a week to think of the things I'm particularly thankful for.  I think it's a good practice generally, and will try to maintain it beyond this Official Day Of Thanks.  But I thought, instead of gloating over how much I have to be thankful FOR, I'd take a minute to give thanks... and to consider to whom I'm giving it.  (Is this my Oscar acceptance letter?)

I soon realized that after a start thanking my parents...I'd be reviewing my life, thanking my English teachers, my choral directors, my grandparents, my friends, people who have designed and invented and discovered... and even some of my employers.  The list wouldn't end. (Thank you to the folks who made all the parts of the laptop upon which I'm typing now).  The post would never be finished, and I'd still be sitting here typing while my family enjoys more festivities with my friends.

So instead, right now, I'm thanking Holly, whose amazing Thanksgiving Feast I enjoyed yesterday, and all of the wonderful people who helped her get it on the table.  I'm thanking Erin and Alyse and JoAnn, whose amazing Second Thanksgiving I'll be enjoying in a few hours.

But... before the weekend is over... take a minute to remember not only what we're thankful for, but to whom we're thankful.  Take a minute to actually say thanks to some of those people who deserve it.

Thank YOU for reading, and commenting!

Black Friday

Here we are... it's the dreaded Black Friday. 

Today, millions of insane people have rousted themselves from their nice cozy beds to be at big-box stores before dawn.  They're off to try to snag amazing "deals" on a shameless display of "crap no one needs" so that they can give the crap to their loved ones.  I, for one, will not be participating in that exercise.

Millions of slightly less insane people will plunk themselves down in front of their computers, all cozy in their jammies and fleecy bathrobes and fleece lined slippers, armed with a cup of their favorite hot beverage and a list of folks for whom they'd like to show their love and affection with a suitable gift.  They too are trying to snag amazing deals on "crap no one needs". 

Me, I'm going to try to join the Buy Nothing Day folks in shunning not only the stores, but the on-line opportunities to spend money.  They'll be going on to shun their computers and TV-sets, but I don't think we're that strong here in ShadowLand. 

More likely I'll be up at midnight, madly ordering yarn so that I can try to knit more presents than is humanly possible in the next 25 days.

Instead of shopping today, in addition to enjoying a second Thanksgiving Feast with a family I am thrilled beyond measure to have been adopted by,  I will be trying to fine tune that annual bit of light reading I call the Holiday Newsletter.  I send one out each year, tucked neatly into the Holiday Cards that I send to friends and family who are spread out across the country (and across the pond).  For some, the newsletter is likely to be a waste of ink and paper, since I speak to, or email, them often.  For others, it's really the only thing that keeps them up to date with the goings on around ShadowLand (a fact which is sad on many levels, but we're skipping that).

This newsletter thing is tough.  First, since I'm actually making hard copies, I want it to be concise.  Sure, I can write out a ten page tome that will actually tell you all that's been going on for the past yer, but I'm not interested in killing that many trees, milking that many printer-toner-giving things, or paying that much postage.  Furthermore, I'm guessing that only a very few people are actually interested in reading that much.  (I suppose, for them, I could work up an annual page that they could go read on line -- but ... oh yeah, I blog so a lot of this stuff is already there -- with pictures).  So, each year, I try to condense twelve months worth of news for five people into one page.

Second, since this is the Holiday Season... the time when we focus on joy instead of the fact that daylight is waning fast and the world looks pretty much dark and frgid ... I don't want to fill the newsletter with negative stuff.  Additionally, sometimes the negative stuff is stuff that we don't want the whole world to know. That means that I need to at least condense the bad stuff into single throw-away lines so they won't make the thing a downer, and in the interests of keeping the thing to one page, usually means I omit the bad stuff altogether.  That sometimes feels like I'm lying.  I hate that. (but only slightly less than I'd hate reading a newsletter full of bad news).

Third, once you take out the bad stuff, and whittle it down to brief summaries, the thing sounds like a list that serves only to brag about accomplishments and flaunt luck and inspire jealousy.  That seems... like something of which Miss Manners would not approve.

Am I the only one who feels this way? 

I've one friend who sends a sort of top ten list.  Ten sentences (headlines perhaps) reporting the ten most significant things from her family's past year.  I often feel cheated by that.  No details... it feels cursory.  But... upon review of OUR letter, I note that it's pretty cursory too.  I'll keep fiddling, 'cause I've a stack of cards all ready for the mail-box except for slipping in that newsletter...

On second thought, seeing how far ahead I am,  I think I'll go knit instead.  Or possibly, I'll just write a new post in which I wax eloquent about the amazing Thanksgiving Feasts I've been party to this year, and wallow in the fact that today... I'm one privileged chick.

Adventures in Knitting Land Part II

In addition to taking my knitting on adventures, I'm about to foray into a new kind of knitting adventure.

I'm going to try to save a dying pair of socks.

This lovely sock (and its mate) were given to me a dozen years ago as part of a Knit List sock exchange.  If I recall correctly, they were knit by Lorraine.

That exchange was an adventure for me as well.  My second pair of socks ever, I knit (and designed) for a person I'd met only on an email list; a person who had been knitting far longer than I.  And I knit the socks I sent while flying to and from London with a one year old who had just learned to walk.

 

 So, anyway, about the current adventure. These socks have lasted well, and I still love them.  But... well... the heels now look like this:

Clearly, darning would be in order, if only I had any of this cotton lying about.  As you can well imagine, I do not.  I still have bits of yarn from every sock I've made, but I didn't make these. And while I am still in contact with Lorraine, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have the leftover yarn either.  I mean, would you?

I'm tender hearted.  I can't bear to toss these babies into the trash just because their heels have failed them.  So, I'm going to embark on the grand adventure of converting them into something else!  I'm thinking perhaps a pair of wrist-warmers. 

I plan, once I'm sure, to cut the sock right around where the hole is, frog back to the heel flap, and then pick up stitches and work something out about thumbs and such.

Am I nutso? Can this possibly work?

Adventures in Knitting Land Part I

Tonight, I did a very strange thing.

Well, thousands, nay millions, of people find it to be a perfectly reasonable thing.  Thousands do it regularly.  For me.... it was a very strange thing.

I went to a College Basketball Game.

For protection, I took knitting;  I shared my adventure with the Wolf Hoodie and a pair of Socks.

We got there early, having picked the magic moment to arrive and thus having missed the traffic hell and parking lot gridlock that had certainly begun by the time we found our seats.  I pulled the hoodie out, and knit placidy while chatting with the Golf Pro.  The seats were hard and slippery, but it wasn't too bad.  Of course, even clean, the basketball stadium isnt' really a place where you want your yarn touching the floor.  I had to be careful lest one of the three skeins of yarn in play escape.

Once the game started, I worked as long as I dared on the hoodie, and got to here:

But before too long, two things were true:  The fussiness of working with two different circs (to maintain the facing in a tighter gauge), and three different balls of yarn got to be a bit much (especially while defending all yarn from the floor); and, I'd decreased enough that it's time to verify shoulder width on the intended victim owner before going further. 

Luckily, I had the sock along as well.

 

Having knit on them for 2/3 of a basketball game, I am now perilously close to the point at which I'll really have to decide whose socks these are.  It's clear they're not mine (and we're past that point), but there are now three candidates for sock ownership.  One wants  these socks, just because she covets hand knit socks and I won't make them for her until her feet stop growing. (Dude, she's a size TEN... I'd implode if she outgrew them).  One has recently made a bid for more socks, but has also mentioned that he'd like cotton.  And one has said that he thinks these are gorgeous.  Alas, the one who seems like he'd appreciate them most is not actually on my list of folks to whom I feel  compelled to provide a holiday gift; the other two are.

So... socks and sweater got an adventure.  Big Ten Basketball.  Whodathunk.

But....

there's more...

Which I'll tell you about tomorrow.

And we have..... CUFF

It's taken many tries, and not a little profanity, but we have achieved CUFF!

Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to introduce -- the first mitt... bound off even (with ends dangling everywhere and no blocking done).

 

It's not perfect.  But I'm liking it.  There's even a little lace goin' on at the edge.

Tomorrow, I plan to get Tipless Mitt number 2 on the needles.  There may or may not be fraternal-ness to the hand part of the mitt.  (The fingers make it fraternal).  I'm thinking part of that may be related to how much green I have left (it's so much greener in real life).

Oh donee.....???  What do YOU think?

Knitting humor, and the WIPs are winning

A friend shared this with me.

I MUST share it with you.

I've ganked it, rudely, from HERE

 

Perhaps that will make up for the lameness of what follows.

I'm progressing nowhere very quickly.

I have managed to divide Kitty's Wolf Hoodie for the armholes (but have no pictures -- someone *cough* Bookworm *cough* borrowed my camera, had lots of fun, and ran the battery down to ... well... nothing).  I had to do it twice, because the first time, I managed to create what would have been an interesting, asymmetrical zippered hoodie.  While asymmetrical might be cool and stylish, it wasn't sufficiently asymmetrical for anyone to believe it was intentional.

And those glorious mitts... Well.. um, they're stalled.

I did figure out what the cuff needs to look like. And now I'm flummoxed altogether in my attempts to coerce the yarn to do what I want it to do. 

It's clear that I need to keep a nice visual zig zag thing going, but… I need to get some stretchy in there too.  No one wants flappy wrists. But. Color work zig zag kind of undoes stretchy.

I tried getting the zig zag the same way one does in Jaywalker socks, while sneaking in some rib action but, since my zig zags are only 5 stitches between points (at 5.75 st/in) that means I’m working the following:

color A: (cdd, k1, inc 1, p1, inc 1) repeat.
color A: p1, k2, p1, k2
color A: cddp, k1, inc1, p1, inc1
Color B: k around
Color B: cddp, k1, inc1, p1, inc1
Color B:p1, k2, p1, k2
Color A….

Fussy, hard to see in the black rows, and in the end, it has almost no zig zag, and, frankly, isn’t very stretchy.

Horizontal stripiness looks like crap. Vertical stripes look worse. HOW to I keep the zigzag (or even some other color miracle) while getting stretchy/snuggy for the cuff?

Ordinarily, I'd be perfectly content with dithering about on this for months until I achieved success.  But this time, I want the gift to be on the hands of the donee, not in the time-out corner for miscreant WIPs.  This WIP is whippin' my butt, and I don't like it.

Whine mode off.

Today is Golf Pro's birthday, and I'm going back to celebrating that. 

I need knitting help

I know.

I'm the one who goes around posting tutorials on things.  And if/when I learn the trick I'm looking for, I'll consider posting a tutorial on it here too.

But in the mean time, I'm looking for help:

I need a stretchy stitch -- all nice and ribby like -- that lets me continue to do two-color work.

Yep, I want zig-zags in the cuff of the mitts.  If I just work it... there will be no stretchy, and the cuff won't snug up like they're supposed to.  I had this delusion of being able to force brioche into doing my bidding... but while I might be able to get that done eventually, it'll be June before I get close.  And that, my friends, is unacceptable.

So... if anyone out there has a clue.....???

Thankful Thursday, the Third

Well, here we are again.  I'm not quite sure how the week spun 'round so fast, but there you have it.

Okay, I did lose a day to a migraine, so it feels like Thursday is a day early, but it gives me another thing to be thankful for -- the migraine is gone!

So... this week I am thankful for:

1) Warm socks.  The weather is turning cooler, and it's time to pull out the lovely wool socks I've knit over the years.  I'm thankful that so many are still "alive" (though some darning is likely to be in my future), and that I've managed not to have them all the same age -- so I won't suddenly have a drawer full of socks that really truly need to be retired.

2) Paperback Swap.  This week has been particularly fun... I've found an out of print series by a favorite author, and managed to get half of it on my first swing through!  This great site has let me purge my bookshelves of unwanted  no-longer-needed books, and replaced those books with with wanted  (and sometimes out of print) books at a fraction of the cost of buying the books in stores etc.  (If you'd like to join me, use that link and I'll even get a credit).  I'm similarly thankful for the sister sites Swap-A-CD and Swap-A-DVD (again, if you join w/ that link, I get credit), which have allowed me to offload some no-longer-loved CD's and DVD's and replace them with good stuff.  They even let you move credits around, so I've ditched books, and gathered movies.

3) Teachers who care.  I got an email from one of the girls' teachers.  I had worried about the math thing a bit, but the darling child kept telling me she had all the work in ....  Turns out, she'd missed some key things while home sick, and wasn't caught up, and would soon be floundering helplessly.  Before I even got to the part of intervening, the teacher emailed me with her concerns.  She and I have a plan.  Algebra will not win.

4) Friends.  I think I'll always be thankful for friends.  I could go on and on and on about how wonderful my friends are, even when they're not doing anything special. T'is a sad thing that in this society, we spend so little time pausing to appreciate others, and even less in letting others know they are appreciated.  So...

Thank you my friends for sharing your time, your thoughts, your wisdom, your affection, your knowledge with me.  Thanks knitting with me... for lunching with me.. for calling... for helping me... for trusting me to help you... for sending me stuff in the games I do play on FaceBook (for not plaguing me with crap for the games I don't play on FaceBook).  Thanks for loving me, and for accepting the love I give to you!

(and a special thanks to Kat... whose post today reminded me of more things I'm thankful for)

Look, I have a hand...

Irtfa'a is quietly waiting her turn in front of the camera.  I have been knitting.  And beading... and beading my way into running out of beads -- and thus ordering more.  But I haven't been photographing.

While I was waiting for more beads (okay, and because these are a gift that will be late), I've been focusing pretty heavily on the Tipless (or maybe Two Tipped?) Mitts for an iPhone user I know.  Today, they look like this:

I had a moment of panic this afternoon when I realized that they were quite snug on my hand.  Oh no... would they be too small??  I contacted the intended victim donee and asked after her hand measurements.  For more years that we'll admit (what with denying that either of us is over 23 well okay 28  er  35), I've thought that our hands were pretty close to the same size.  Turns out that mine are a full inch bigger around than hers.

Oh no?  would they be too large??  I mean a full inch of ease on a glove??

Luckily, her daughter (whose hands ARE the same size as her mom's) is in town.  I tried them on her, and she pronounced them a perfect fit.  This either means that they will fit their intended owner, or Crazy Kitty will be stealing them ...

But now it's time to move on to whatever I'm going to do for the cuff.  I'm dithering.  A simple corrugated rib?  (image swiped from About.com)

or perhaps it's time to pull in that brioche stitch that I'd imagined for the hand...  something like this (in the right colors of course)  (Images swiped from a great page on brioche stitches)

I'm open to all suggestions (especially, of course, ones from the future owner of the mitts).

I'm also dithering about whether or not to make the hands the same  -- the fingers, as you can see, will not be identical -- these will be fraternal mitts.  But just how fraternal should they be?

I'm hoping that the instructions I wrote down for myself as I went along will yield a matching mitt, at least from the shape and size point of view.  If it works handily (no pun intended), I may even have a pattern for these babies available soon. If only I were better at taking the high quality pics that  published patterns deserve.