Here Today!

There tomorrow!
Link to Web cam.  I'll be within walking distance to this place.  Want to make a date? Mid day will be 4-8 AM MST.

I've been busy... Family, shopping, music, teaching, little knitting, and today I pack "for real".  Off soon, but you won't be forgotten!  My biggest challenge is to try to adjust my body forward 8 time zones.  Well, not 8, but at least 4.  I'm feeling like I could go to bed around 7 PM, so I feel I made some progress.  Say, bedtime is at midnight, I would have to adjust it to 4 PM.  My hope is to get some sleep on the 8 hour flight.  A good pillow and a boring book...

Last minute FO this morning.  Got up at 4 AM.  Trying to be quiet...

What is that?  Here's the... 'yarn'.  I have some difficulty labeling it 'yarn'.

Marinaby Rozetti YarnsWorsted / 10 ply
100% Acrylic
33 yards / 100 grams

By catching the upper loops, the material drapes and makes this:

What am I leaving behind? My favorite flower, Jenny, with THREE (3) stems with buds.  The second stem just started yesterday, and the first one has been out 2 weeks.  It's all luck!

Knitting is packed, but not much else.  Gotta go!  Thanks for reading.

The Final Seam

After six months of thoughts, starts and frogs, seams and colors, I'm finished.
Here's some of the process:

A little cut out for the back of the neck, a little more to shape the front neck, a cut down the front for a button opening.  Front button/buttonhole tabs knit, collar stitches picked up and knitted.  Look what you can cover with all that knitting!

Neatens it up nicely!  (Norwegian instructions from the '90's.)

The inside shot:  Pay attention here, because I'm going to ask for comments later.
Then there's the sleeves.

I don't know why most knitters are afraid of cutting their knitting...  Oh, yeah, you can make a mistake, like cut too much... I did.  I slit the sleeve opening too far down.  I tried to just sew it up, but it looked all bunched up, so I ended up sewing a whole faux seam all the way down on that side.  Not perfect, but no one would notice unless it was being judged.  (I hope it's acceptable to the day care workers who are expecting great things of Juju's American Grandma!)

And the finished product:

And now for the comments.

Go ahead, and click on the above to enlarge.  Comments and thoughts are welcome on WHY, I ask, WHY is the coloring different in the band of pattern at the bottom of the button tab?  Do you see it?  The yarn is the same lot, and I can only imagine that I did something when stranding the two colors, but I can't see it.  Who thinks they know what I did?
Next week:  Modeled.  Drum roll, please... will it fit?

One week to go, and let's be realistic...

Since the new year, I've been thinking about travel, across 8 times zones, 24 hours of travel.  Only now I'm thinking about luggage, and weight, but for the past month, I've been mainly conscious of planning knitting for the trip.
1:  What's on needles that has to be finished before travel?
2:  What can accompany me for 24 hours?  Needle size, and bulk of yarn.
3:  What do I need to start and complete to make my stay in the snow (and rain) pleasant? After all, wool is the answer!

1:  On needles was the patterned (fair isle) pullover for my granddaughter.

 A project started in August, which was spurred on by this visit to her.  AND... mission accomplished.  A few days ago, I sewed the final seam and declared it gift worthy.
On needles I had a light weight cardigan that is intended for me.

 It is the perfect travel companion, for carrying and wearing, and on size US 5 needles, taking foreeeevver (also started in August).
On needles a few projects that will be taught in a class within a week after return from my trip.  Needed to knit enough to know what I need to know, if you know what I mean, so teddy bear was started, not without problems.

On needles,  other things that are in such ancient history that they are non-issues.
2:  What to bring?  I have socks on needles... the most portable of projects and always worked in the past.

3:  I need leg warmers.  Silly things... I have wanted them for three years... every time I get to Norway, I wish I had some. Two weeks ago I remembered BEFORE I got to Norway.  I found the perfect yarn (Mochi Plus) in the yummiest of colors and thought, "I have time." so I cast on.  The leg warmers are finished (yesterday) but now I HAVE to have a matching hat...

I know it is clear to many of you that I have my hands full, and there is a direct path from A to B, but, I'm not like that.  Instead, I wandered off the path and got distracted by my Polaris shawl.  What possessed me?  I had to try to right the wrong of my poor cast one, so December 30th, I cast on--again.  I love that pattern, I love the beads... I have a real problem ignoring it when I have other things that "seem" more pressing.

One week before departure, and I have decided to give up on the light-weight cardi.  It can wait till I return.  My daughter has helped me make that decision by buying yarn and pattern for "something to work on" while visiting...(ahem...)
Lest you think I'm relaxing by packing, staying busy with concerts, teaching, and rehearsals, you would be wrong...  Today I cast on (errrr, re-cast on) a hat that was finished before Christmas for my hubby.  I had to admit, it looked BAAAAD, hopefully because it's too big.  I'm making a smaller version, and since it's chunky yarn it won't take "THAT" long.  Oh, and I also cast on (after 2 inches of hubby's hat) the matching hat for me.  I might need it next Tuesday!
That's all...  One more thing:  The socks are staying home.  I have had such a yearning to knit something with my Regia Effekt yarn...Those colors are so ... fetching!

I cast on for a vest from "Not Just Socks" and it will accompany me on my 24 hour journey.  But it's 6 days away... anything can happen.  I love being "realistic"...

Sorry!

I'm so sorry, my emailed readers... I didn't realize I had published the last post.  It's a work in progress, and I realize now that it's being sent over and over again, and clogging your inbox.  I apologize.  I don't know how to fix it... and make it revert to a draft, so I'm afraid you'll have to get every revision...   back to it!

After the Knitting

There's more to life than knitting... No, I'm just kidding!  After the knitting, is the thinking about knitting.
Just kidding, again!  I think about knitting when I'm knitting, and when I'm not knitting.  OK, I'm obsessive... I'm the first and not the last to be aware of my condition.  So, when I spent from mid August to mid November knitting sporadically on a fair isle project, all the time I was imagining a certain two year old growing out of it.  Then I threw it in a basket and started a new fair isle.  The "knitting" part is finished, and what's left?  Sewing, cutting, blocking, weaving in ends, and ... the thinking about it.
I followed a pattern that was for a pullover with a tab neck opening, and I was only considering a true (crew neck) pullover or a cardigan.  Just didn't decide until two days ago that I indeed was going to follow the instructions and make the tab opening.  It's going to be great!  At the last check of measurements of said two year old, now two and a half, it will fit if I can get it to her in the next 2 months, or by her third birthday.
Here's some of the progress:

Circular bodice, before cutting.  The needles in the center mark the front opening.

Pieces blocked, the bodice has been cut open for sleeves, neck line shaped and

when it's totally dry, ready for construction.
More thinking, and luck is in order!

Labels

I learn when I teach.  It's hard not to... I get questions and suddenly I'm thinking about things that seem obvious to me, but they really aren't.
I have a lot of yarn labels.  I can't part with them;  I have a "stash" of yarn labels...(ahem)
I feel they tell such important things that I should have access to them forever. I try to impart that same urgency to my knitter students.  When they ask questions, 2 out of every 5 times I ask back, "Do you have the label from your yarn?"  And 5 out of every 5 times they answer in the negative.  "I have it at home," or "I've had this yarn so long, I don't think I have it anymore." "My dog ate it."  "It's in my car..." Sometimes I think I'm asking for a homework assignment! So I take labels with me to class and we inspect them for information.
From Sublime:
Four symbols for care instructions:  Washing, drying, ironing and dry cleaning.

 Along with the stitch and row gauge, recommended needle size and content, what's left?  Ah, yes, the color and lot numbers (in case you need to get more) and yardage.  What I don't see is the helpful symbol being used on patterns and in magazines that classifies the yarn as a certain weight.

 Here's a Rauma product from Norway:  The washing temperature isn't marked in dots, but with an actual temperature.  (Most washers have actual temperature settings.)  There are 5 care symbols, adding the bleach symbol (triangle) to the 4 above.  The stitch gauge is indicated by 30/10 which means 30 sts per 10 cm.

 "Vask i Milo" means they recommend a brand of laundry detergent called Milo which is used for delicates and wool.  It is machine washable: "Maskinvaskbar"

 And now for the yarn seen most in everyday shops:  Red Heart

 Above is the yardage and needle size, and below, FINALLY, we see the square with the weight classification (super fine, 1).  I'm surprised there are temperatures in the washing symbol, and TWO symbols for drying instructions: The first one with the bar is "dry flat" and the second one, in case you didn't get the idea, "do not tumble dry".

Another common brand is from Paton:  Classic Wool.  I like the sheep...

Three languages, and repeated detailed instructions, in written form (on the inside of the band), and

 In symbols, and repeated written washing instructions.

I've added a "page" to my blog (see above) that will direct you to the many symbols used.  When I give away knitted pieces, I try to encourage proper care by including laundry instructions.  I know it doesn't mean that everyone is going to follow them, but I only hope to avoid mistakes that might ruin my hours of work.  I doubt I would replace something, would you?

Better, this time!

Could I really do it?  Frog a whole lace shawl?  You betcha!
At the top is the first attempt, finished November 1, 2011.  Why, WHY!!  Why couldn't I get points to appear at the bottom edge?  The second attempt which I started December 30, has a purposely stretchy cast-on.  What a difference!
The pins:  In both pieces, the pins in the bottom edge are at every second bead.  Can you see that the top one is pinned at four beads, and the bottom is pinned at "almost" three beads.  That one stretchy cast on!

 In fact, the pattern looks...

 bigger, too!

 But I assure you, I used the same needles... It's the cast on.  The greenish blue needle is the one I used on both projects.  I know because it turned greenish blue from the first knitting.  Here are more needles from the same set to show how they started out.

It was with a sign of relief that I pinned these out and discovered I don't have to cast on AGAIN!    Time to start thinking about a life-line...

another knit nite of fun and laughter

Everyone is busy:  We skipped a week and met after a 3 week hiatus, which put everyone into a talkative mood, with little progress from last time.
Here are some finished projects!

Cell phone warmer!

Hobo mitts, becoming a habit!  How many now?

 Some projects that aren't finished:

Little Violet's Yeti

Someone else's Yeti, TBA

Beadwork on the short end

Never ending scarf.  

And New Year projects:

Yet again, MORE fingers

and using up leftover yarn.

One sock, same yarn, second pattern.

Same crazy conversations, and wonderful company!

Someone Else, Please!

I've invited my daughter to write a blog, but, alas, she's too busy...  It's OK, as long as she spends her time booking vacations for US!  LOL
In the meantime, she had a few days off at Christmas and look what she did!

 The pattern was a Christmas gift.

 Her official name is Cindy.

Isn't that hair delicious?
Pattern is by "Arne and Carlos", and when I looked at their other books, I realized that the dolls on the cover of the book are really meant to be Arne and Carlos.  Fun!
Here's the original book.
and Here's the Doll Pattern book.

Make 2

What's wrong with this picture? This is an example of "make 2" and the shocking realization and re-counting where it could have gone wrong... And which one is correct? Answer: The larger one. It's the body of Robert, the bear.

Two pieces for body of bear: Seams down middle front and back.  Darts at top for shoulder shaping.  Darts at bottom for bottom shaping.

I sat stunned as I put them together to admire...  I knitted the one on the right first, then up to the top points on the one on the left.  Really, I had compared them earlier, but... it wasn't until late in the game that I saw the difference.  I counted each one, several times, and found that I had skipped a section and mis-counted on the first one.  No worries.  Except:  (1) This is a trial for a class I would like to teach in March.  How frustrating for knitters who don't knit all the time!  I guess it tells me that I'll try to keep everyone on the same page, doing the increases and decreases at the same time, etc. to avoid having to count and re-count. (2) What if there had been only "one" of these?  How many other projects are crazy WRONG? LOL
How to avoid these mistakes?  Suggestions are welcome. Maybe lots of markers are necessary to keep track of progress.  This is a learning experience for me!

Finishing and Starting

Halie's Slippers:   HEART this pattern

Felted Slippers  by Midnattsol from Midnattsol's Blog

Starting a bear:

Robert by Sandra Polley from The Knitted Teddy Bear

Pretty adorable already!