Sunday Knitting (as reported on Monday)

Hello:

We are back to hot hot hot weather.  Well, hot hot hot for us.  I have had to ride the bike at the gym rather than get out in this weather, and that is really no fun.  It's amazing how I can take a 3 hour bike ride and never think of the time, but when I am riding the stationary bike at gym, all I do it watch the clock.

Anyway, I made it to Sunday Morning Knitting yesterday at Panera's in Redmond.  I got stuck in the airport in Long Beach last Wednesday, so missed that Eastside Stitchers Meet up, then had to work on Friday morning (ugh!), so I was determined to find some knitting time on Sunday.  Wow, I was glad that I did.  First of all, Skeinherder was there.  I have missed her so much.  She has been one of my best knitting buddies, but she has a new job this year, and well, we have all missed knitting with her in person.

She brought the most beautiful sock.

The pattern is Aquaphobia, and her yarn is Yarn Pirate Bamboo/Merino/Nylon in the Sweet Lime colorway.  It's such a nice pattern to use with hand dyed yarns.

Another fun surprise at Sunday Morning Knitting was Truespark.  On our Dying Day Trip to Blue Moon Fiber Arts Studio, Truespark told us about her niece who teaches at an inner city school, The Detroit Achievement Academy, in Detroit, Michigan.  Her Third Grade students are in need of warm hats and mittens, and our stitch group has challenged ourselves to knit for them.  We decided to stick with their school colors, navy blue and white, but other than that, any hat and mitten pattern is good.  It has been fun to see each other's projects.  And, it was fun to see Truespark, as she doesn't often make it to our meet-ups.

Not surprisingly, she brought the beginning of a navy hat.  I'm pretty sure it's the Tolt Hat.

JitteryKnitter was working on??? ha ha ha I'm not sure.  It's not a navy hat or mittens.  I was so charmed by her yarn bowl, that that was all I photographed!

Puzan wasn't knitting something navy either.  She also wasn't knitting her beautiful Featherweight Cardigan.  She was starting...

a cowl.

Meshamarie was knitting fingerless mitts, but these are a gift for her sister.

I can't tell you VanesaPolo's project, but I can show some of her yarn...

so, Who was knitting with Navy yarn?  Wajio, of course!  did I get a photo of her project?  No, of course...  She brought a finished mitten, and was working on the second of the pair.  If she brings them on Wednesday night, I will try to get a photo.

Peace,
f1bercat
shaping the planet in navy and white

These are the double-knit mittens I was knitting on Sunday

Stuck on the Side of the Road, Virtually

Hello, f1beristas!

WIP's

Today I knit 8.01 miles.  I was knitting the sleeves of the Red Hot Sweater for my friend Tony (he better love me forever for this sweater) while I rode the exercise bike at the Y.  I am knitting the sleeves 2aaT on Addi Turbos.  I sometimes find it hard to remember which sleeve I am on.  No kidding.  I mean I finish a sleeve, and I just want to turn it around and knit back.  This isn't a problem when I a knitting 2aaT socks.  Because you never go back, well unless you are doing heels, and now that I think about it, I have had the same problem.  But back to the sleeves.  I am increasing every 4th row.  And of course, since these sleeves are more than just plain stockinette, I have to work the increases into the pattern.  And the increased part is not a complete section, so I have to figure out where in the pattern I would be in that row, etc.. Is it my fault that I knit one sleeve with increases, then turned that sleeve around and knit back?  I caught it as I was once again, knitting back on the SAME SLEEVE.  At first I thought, tink the row.  But that is slow, and not so easy to do while riding a bike.  So I just finished that row, then, since I was at the right part to begin the next sleeve, I knit that sleeve until I caught it up.  I was so involved with all this catch up, that I kept riding the exercise  bike for 45 minutes!  So, yeah, 8.01 miles.  My legs hurt.

I know the sleeves are a bit loose from knitting while pedaling (that is not as bad as knitting while driving!).  But I have to finish this sweater.  I am not sick of it, but there are other shiny things to knit.  So it is best that I DO finish it, before I am totally distracted.

I have been busy crocheting.  I got the idea to do a charity baby afghan from MWitch3 at her blog Needles and Hooks and Books, Oh My!   I am already making hats for the Sharing Our Gifts Across America Group on Ravelry.  And I thought it would be nice to send a small afghan also.  I don't want to make any of the squares that I am making for the Block a Month Crochet a Long, although I absolutely love so many of those squares  (SPOILER!  Just wait until you see the 6 in block for March!  It is amazing looking).  But I wanted something simpler, as in using only 2 squares, so I am using the More V's Please 12 in square designed by Melinda Miller .  Originally, I thought I would make 5 and then fill in with blocks of 4 Never Fading Flowers by Nellas April.   I am making the big square in solid yellow, and thought the small squares could be in yellow and white or all white.  Maybe both.  This would make the blanket a bit more gender bias free, though it is a bit floral.

So far I have hooked 3 of the big ones.  Now I am not sure if that will be big enough.  I don't want this to be huge, it is for a baby after all, but I don't want it to be postage stamp size.  So I am toying with the idea of making 9 of the big squares, and then dividing them up with a single line of the smaller.  The smaller square would form the boundary between each More V's Please, and maybe, I'll make enough to have them also be the border of the afghan... 

I would really appreciate it if anyone reading would give me some typical baby afghan measurements.  I guess I could Bing it.  But I would love to have first hand information.

Where in the World is f1bercat?

Today I virtually reached what will be the new home of Yorkshire Yarns  in Lakewood, WA.  They have classes, KAL's, their own patterns, trunk shows, and participate in the South Sound Yarn Crawl

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But since I continued pedaling for a whopping 8. 1 miles, I kept going.  Googlemaps wanted to make me ride right towards Mt. Rainier!  Lovely, but I am not sure I want to bike up it.  I searched for Yarn Shops near Yelm to take me back towards the coast a bit (I might like to visit Olympia, our fine capitol), and I found Faith, Fiber, & Friends,  which is a Yarn Shop and Fiber Arts Studio. I don't think I will make it there tomorrow.  I doubt I can knit another 45 min trip.  I have to get my teeth cleaned in the morning, and will probably ride the exercise bike after... 

So, here is where I stopped:

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I'm stuck on the Spanaway-McKenna Hwy for the night.  Hope it doesn't rain.

Here is what it looks like on the big map:

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I am still all scrunched up at the top.  I feel like I haven't even finished the ribbing...

Have a great night.

Yours,
f1bercat
shaping the planet, two super sore legs at a time

I Saw You! Friday, November 4, 2011

The Sheepless in Seattle  Group on Ravelry has a discussion topic named, "Knitting I Saw You!."   Now, I don't know if other area type groups have a similar chat thread, but it's so much fun.

I have begun to do this weird (I think) thing for me while I knit.  I log on to (usually) Ravelry, and then I pick a discussion thread, and read while I knit.  This is a bit problematic, since I am not that great of a knitter, and I definitely need to look at my knitting while I'm knitting.  Anyway, I usually check out all of the new socks or sock progress photos in SKA and Solid Socks, and the projects in Sharing Our Gifts.  But since I do that a lot, that doesn't take much time.  So I have been reading other threads, which brings me back to the Sheepless thread, "Knitting I Saw You!" 

In this thread, people just write a line or two saying where they were and what they saw.  It's full of things like, "I was in the back of the 520 bus at 5:30 pm on such and such a date.  I saw you knitting something on circular needles.  It was blue and might have been a sock or mitten cuff.  It looked really soft.  I was too far away (or too shy) to say anything and then it was my stop."  Or, "I saw you knitting at the coffee shop on such and such a corner.  I was with my boyfriend (or you were with someone) so I didn't want to interrupt, but it looked like you were making a baby blanket in pink."  Then farther down, someone might say, "That was me!  I was working on this project" (with a link to their page). 

Knitters (or crocheters) found this way are called "Knitters in the wild."  I absolutely love that term. 

Another funny thing people post in this thread are sightings of FO  (finished objects).  For instance, "soybean in her beautifully crafted grey knitted slouchy beret last week while walking down Cedar across 4th. Looking all stylish and creative :)" .    Here is another one:  Saw lots of awesome hand-knit and -crocheted hats at Magnuson Park this morning during the Resolution Run. Maybe less an “I Saw U” than “I Saw Something U Made”?"  There are a bunch of posts describing knitting bags people carry.  And a whole bunch where people identify the patterns of FO's they spot.  Wow, to be able to identify a pattern in the wild! 

So, I'm reading through this thread, the earliest posts are years old, 2007 and so on.  But, I have such an urge to reply to them.  That makes no sense, but I'm just reading these posts today.  It's kind of a time machine.  Anyway, I knit in the wild all the time.  I just can't stand to sit still, must have something productive to do.  Maybe some day, someone will "see me."

Knitting Knotes:

I have made some progress on 3 of my projects.

Mystery Sweater

I have picked up the stitches for the right sleeve, and am working my way down.

I love this part of knitting.  Right now I reduce the number of stitches by 2 every six rows, soon I will start reducing every 4 rows.  It just gets faster and faster. 

Here is a closer look at the sleeve beginning:

Mr. Pitts Socks

I have finished the cuffs and am starting on the legs.  These have a 2x2 rib on the cuffs (k2 p2) changing to k3p1 on the leg.  I FROGGED the cuffs twice.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Twice.  Because it seems that I am completely incapable of counting to two.  I had almost the 2 inches of cuff finished, when I could just feel that weird wrong row where the purls were on the knits.  Since I am making these TAAT, I decided to just frog them rather than try to knit back to the wrong spot.

I really don't know why I had so much trouble.  Once the pattern of the rib is established, it is so easy to just feel the pattern.  The yarn is dark, and when the Doc is home, I knit with less light, so that causes many pattern errors for me (yes, blame it all on the Doc).  I like to be with him at night.  He watches TV and I knit.  But he likes the room dark for maximum TV watching.  The light near "my" seat on the couch, casts a glare on the TV, also, I like the over head lights on as well, for extra light.  I try to keep a fairly easy project for nighttime knitting.  You would think these socks would be perfect.  Once again, they require the ability to count to two, and now that I am on the legs, count to three.  Can I do it?

Here is the progress photo:

Sorry, they are so dark that it is tough to get a decent photo.  But this On Your Toes yarn is so soft and springy, I just love the way they feel.

Movember Mystery Sock

I have finished Clue 1 of the mystery sock for SKA's November challenge.  I am making these with the same yarn as the Mr. Pitt's socks above, just in brown.  (Kertzer's On Your Toes).  I am not sure this yarn is the best for showing off the pattern, but it feels wonderful, and the color is one I know the Doc will actually wear.  I mean, I can knit my sons pink or chartreuse socks and they will wear them because they are fun.  But the Doc wants socks he can wear to the hospital.  Let's face it, he is not a Pediatrician.  So here is that progress photo:

So far?  pretty interesting knit, and I like what I'm seeing.

Osier Socks

Nothing to report...  In my defense, I really want to get the sweater finished.  It is getting cold.  I think about those high school students with no sweaters.  My socks can wait.

C. A. Losi

Eastside Knitting Guild Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Life
Last night, as I was getting in bed at about 11 pm, my little cat, Selena, asked to go outside, as usual.  This has been happening for about 2 years, now.  She goes out just as I get into bed, and, her usual pattern is: just as I am falling asleep, she scratches to come back in.  Whether it takes me 5 minutes or 1 hour to fall asleep, she manages to time her Come Back In scratches perfectly.  Except, lately she has changed her routine to, just as I fall asleep, she scratches on the french door (we have a back deck that runs the length of our house) , I get up and open said french door, and she backs away and runs.  GOTCHA!  I will get back in bed, then as I am falling asleep again, she scratches on the door again.  Now why don't I just leave her out?  Well, we sometimes get coyotes and racoons in our yard, and I don't like her to be out all night...  Anyway, last night I had had it with this game, and the first time she knocked, I opened the door and stepped outside to grab her and just BRING HER IN, and omg, I stepped into a spiderweb, right across my face.  Now, we live in the pacific northwest, and we don't have many bugs, but we have tons, I mean tons of spiders.  Especially in the fall.  Tons of big spiders building webs all around the eaves of our house.  And I walked into one at about 1 am.  So, I'm wiping and dancing around outside on our deck in my nightgown at 1 am, brushing my hair over and over again and shaking my arms and brushing all over making sure that there is no spider on me.  Of course, this time Selena calmly walks into the house...  I get back in bed, and have a horrible time falling asleep because I am sure all night that there is a huge spider in the bed.  Wisely, I never tell the Doc any of this.

EKG
Monday night was the monthly meeting of the Eastside Knitters' Guild.  They hold their meetings at the community room in Crossroads Mall, which is super close to where I live.  Meetings are 6:30 - 8:30 pm the 4th Monday of every month.  What a nice group!  We started with a few updates, then they had a "speaker."  I guess they sometimes have technique teachers, etc., but this was a Feldenkrais therapist.  Her name is Irene, and she went over some easy exercises to relax and reteach ways of using muscles during knitting to relieve or prevent stress and strains.  The gist of it was to use variation and attention to how you are moving.  One of the questions we had was how to relieve tension.  Her suggestion was to deliberately knit with EXTRA tension, then relax back to your usual tension.  This will eventually teach you how to knit with less tension all the time.  I didn't find the wrist exercises very helpful, but the turning ones actually felt good to me.  She had us turn and look right, then work at turning using our shoulders, coming forward and back, also arching or rounding the back as we turned, holding in the stomach muscles, etc, just trying to really FEEL what muscles in addition to your neck are being used when you turn.  By the end, I was turning more fluidly and quite a bit farther.  One of the funny things about the presentation was that every so often Irene would have to ask us to put down our knitting.  Ha!  well, that's what we do.

This group is seriously into charity knitting.  Some of the projects they discussed were:

Project Linus.  This group provides blankets to kids in hospitals, shelters, etc.  Anyone in need of comfort.  The Eastside knitters knit and crochet (many of the members are also in Eastside Crochet Guild) as well as put together felt blankets and donate them.

Operation Holiday Stockings:  This group makes, stuffs, and sends holiday stockings to US service men and women overseas.  You can donate stockings (they have a pattern on the website) or money, or goodies to be stuffed!  Here is a photo of some of the stockings made by the Eastside Knitters' Guild this year:

That is Renee, displaying her stockings!  They deliberately try to use many colors so all soldiers can enjoy a stocking, even if they don't celebrate Christmas.

The 3rd charity the group is participating in right now is the Special Olympics.  The group is busy knitting and crocheting scarves in red white and blue to be given to every participant in the event.

After the updates, and the therapy!, we went around the room and had a show and tell of projects.  Of course, many of the members showed the stockings, blankets or scarves they were knitting, but in addition to all this wonderful charity knitting, there were other fun projects as well.  One member made a darling baby sweater, and another had a book of knitted animals to share.  Amigurumi.  I am so sorry that I didn't make a note of the book's title.  But the patterns make animals that are a few inches high.  This member (I didn't get her name...) was using super bulky yarn and big needles, and getting these really cute LARGE stuffed animals.  So clever!  I might try that myself.  The one she was making almost looked like a pillow pet.

I definitely will go back next month.  If you live on the Eastside (for those of you in the Seattle area, you know that means the east side of Lake Washington), you should check it out, too.

KNITTING KNOTES:

I have finished my Hermione socks!

They are on the blockers, and I should be able to mail them out tomorrow.  I want to include the blurb from the pattern about the Hermione Granger inspiration, and some care instructions.  I know she will love them.

Today I had to take my car in to get the oil changed and the tires rotated.  Somehow they didn't notice (nor did I) that the right headlight was out.  I'm kinda mad.  Oh well.  Got to fix that ASAP.  But, anyway, at the dealership, yes I have to take my car in to the dealership to get the oil changed, for some reason JiffyLube won't change the oil on hybrids, I was able to knit knit knit on the Mystery Sweater!

Before the oil change

and after:

No kidding, I knit about 15 rows.  I am on the stockinette stitch part, and it's pretty boring, but very fast.  I will be at the armpits in no time.

Not having any socks on my needles, I am just Itching to cast some on, but I am resisting the urge.  I want to wait for November 1 so I can cast on projects for both the SKA group and Solid Socks group challenges.  I have to dig out James's Aran Afghan, and alternate the Mystery Sweater with the afghan when I am bored.  That should help with the single project syndrome.

C. A. Losi

Knitting Groups Monday, October 24, 2011

Today I am going to a monthly meeting of the Eastside Knitters' Guild tonight.  Here is their post in the "Sheepless in Seattle" Group in Ravelry: 

The Eastside Knitters Guild meets monthly in Bellevue, WA. Fun people, awesome knitters, and lots of activities, including great opportunities to hook up with charitable orgs. There's a small membership fee to sign on, but you can come as a guest to check it out.
Details are at: http://www.eskg.org/

I have been wanting to find some type of group to join, something that meets once a week, bi weekly, or monthly.  Just somewhere to go on a regular basis to hang out with fellow knitters.  This group meets at a Mall right near my house, so it is really perfect, location-wise, anyway.  I will try to get a sense of what they are all about.

If you can't tell from my posts, and the books I have for sale here, I am a children's writer.  When I was writing more regularly, I belonged to a writers' critique group which met every other week.  It was very helpful in keeping me motivated to write regularly.  Also, you can find out what is happening in the writing world, publishing news, etc.  And the support is wonderful.  Writing is a lonely business.

I am hoping that this Eastside Knitters' Guild will serve the same purpose.  I don't really need motivation.  Goodness knows I have to force myself OFF the needles rather than on them.  But, still it is really motivating to see other people's projects.  IRL.  (in real life).  Ravelry serves the same basic purpose.  It is  community of knitters, cheering each other on.  I have joined 3 different sock groups.  Why?  Why?  I just love scrolling through everyone's entries for the various competitions.  Yarns, patterns, techniques, etc.  So much fun!

Anyway, I will report back on how the meeting goes.  Keep your fingers crossed.

PROGRESS

I am almost to the toes of the Hermione socks!  I am very excited by my progress.  Yesterday, my husband, Doc, and I drove Samantha back to Portland State University.  She was home for the weekend because she was miserable with Mononucleosis.  Doc drove, so I was able to knit the entire 3 hour drive there.  Unfortunately, it was too dark to really knit on the way back, but still, I need 2 more iterations of the 4 row pattern and I will be at the toes!  I should finish tonight or tomorrow.  That would be my 3rd SKA entry on time!

Here is what the socks look like now:

This is a front view, and a side view.

I also finished the bottom pattern band on the Mystery Sweater I am knitting for the Sharing Our Gifts Group:

I double checked the gauge, and it is still 4 st/in.  So the width should be good for size Medium.  Here is an attempt at a close-up of the pattern.  It is very difficult to see pattern in dark colored knits.

You can kind of see a row of arrows running around the bottom.  Now comes the boring part though.  I will now knit about 50 rows of st st.  KKKKKKKKK  forever.  At least it should go fast.

It is interesting how the flash turned the black yarn green...

While I was down in Portland, I got my daughter, Samantha, to model the Glass Slippers Socks I made for her.  She told me she likes to wear them with boots, pulled up over her pants, so people can see the socks:

I also took time this morning to photograph and enter some yarn that had been just lying in a bag into my Ravelry Stash database.  I am hoping to become more organized this way.  So I can know when I really need to buy yarn.  It is so tempting to buy buy buy.  I vow I will knit with what I've got for a while at least...  I need to knit down a bit of all my goodies to justify more yarn purchases!

C. A. Losi