On Hold

Because of the incredible waves Ravelry is making, and because I did not have the foresight to see that it is going to change the world of knitting as we know it (there are 11352 people in front of me on the waiting list), I am putting my knitting blogs research on hold. The social networking aspect of Ravelry is going to become the primary networking and community building space for all knit bloggers very soon. The interest that it has generated and the groups that have already formed is incredible. I'd hate to do all this research on blogs only to have another community forming right under my nose.

If I felt like I had the time, I'd contact the Ravelry folks and talk to them about the phenomenon they have created. That would be the cutting-edge research I should be thinking of conducting. But with all my life changes and preparations for those changes (like moving in a month, packing, selling my condo, starting a job, finishing the fieldwork I'm currently doing, buying a car, learning to live in the desert, and so on), I just don't have the time to be at the forefront of research.

Thank you to everyone who answered my questions. I will save them for when I get back to this research. I am so grateful to you for taking the time to participate. I may not have started a blog of my own if it weren't for the research, and now blogging has become an important part of my knitting. I am so pleased to have made some blog friends and to feel a part of this community. I am especially thankful to those of you who have included my blog on their reading list, and I'm glad I've added so many interesting blogs to my reading list. Thank you.

Birthday Bench

I'm back in Chicago. Only one month before I head to Nevada. I'm giving away some of my furniture tonight, including my bed. It's going to be a long month.

Here are a few pictures from my latest UP trip. It was a great time. We hiked at Pictured Rocks, ate delicious food--including Jilberts ice cream every day, and enjoyed the views. I finished a pair of socks for one friend and started another pair for the other friend. They are both quite happy with the socks. I'll post a picture of the second pair when I've finished the second sock (it's cast on, to avoid Second Sock Syndrome, and I'm just past the toe).

These were done toe-up in Fortissima Cotton with a 2x2 rib cuff. I had plenty of yarn left over--I probably could have made knee highs.


This is a view of Miner's Castle, at Pictured Rocks.


This is the bench that I built with one of my friends. We did this on my birthday so I'm calling it the Birthday Bench, though I'll be the only one who does.


We built the bench to protect the trees to the left of this picture. They block the view of the lake from one of the sleeping cabins, so we figured a bench with a view might protect the trees from the chainsaw.

Campfire Stories

For the last time this summer, I'm headed to the UP. This is my annual UP trip. I'm delighted to be able to do this so easily this year, and to have been in the UP so much this summer. I'm looking forward to spending my birthday with people I love, in the woods.

I've been thinking a lot about my parents. My mom seems to be watching over my shoulder all the time these days, and I'm dreaming of her often. I've had to make some hard decisions lately, ones that require moving across country, to Nevada, and selling my condo. It's all been a little easier when I think about the support that my parents always gave during times like these. I'll be celebrating and thanking them on my birthday, in the woods.

Every summer our family vacation was spent camping in the UP. We had a favorite campground that had a lot of trees and dunes and was right on Lake Michigan. On the drive up we would watch for hawks and eagles, and my dad was always so quick to spot them, leaning over the steering wheel, looking up instead of at the road. We'd always stop and eat at the Pizza Hut in St. Ignace, and then we'd swim where the highway runs along the lake. At some point in the trip we'd head up to Seney, to see more birds. I can remember exploring the woods and dunes with my sister, eating steak and onions (pre-vegetarian days, obviously) that my dad had made over the fire, and swimming longer than my sister because she always got cold. Just so I could stay in, my mom would stay in the water, floating on a tube, reading. The waves always seemed so big.

After my parents died, we siblings talked a lot about where this campground was. None of us could remember exactly where it was, though Stefan was almost right (there, I said it). It was special to all of us, mostly because my parents took us there, but also because it's a special place.

On my trip in July, Dan was kind enough to explore the various beaches along route 2 on our way to the Lower Peninsula. We explored a few that just weren't right. I remembered what the road into the campground looked like, I remembered what the campsites were like (even though it was car camping, there was a lot of privacy because of the trees and dunes), and I remembered the beach exactly. I was sure we'd missed it, that we were too close to the bridge, but Dan suggested we try one last spot. I cried the moment we pulled in to the park. My heart just knew it was the place we'd lost.


This is the beach where we used to go as a family.

The Last FO

I'm on to longer projects. I've got socks on the needles (though, frankly, I'm getting a bit bored with socks) and a unique masterpiece in my mind and swatched. I need a nice, lacy edge with dramatic points that I can pick up from a provisional cast on and work down to the points. It should have a leaf theme. Any suggestions will be helpful. My pattern books just aren't giving the inspiration I need. At any rate, I'm going to be in WIP mode for some time, unless something quick screams at me with desperation I can't refuse. I'm going to try and stick to these two projects until they are both at least three-quarters finished.


To get in the lace mood, and to prove I could work a yarn over in the right place every time, I made the Everlasting Bagstopper from Knitty. It's for Dan, of course. It was quick (and it screamed at me with desperation). I'm still not sure I love the stretchy garter stitch bottom (wouldn't a seed stitch have been sturdier?), and I did ten rounds of stockinette at the top instead of garter by happy mistake. The hemp didn't hurt my hands much and the color--Deep Sea--is great. I used some heavy woven trim for the straps. I left off the drawstring. I love it. I feel accomplished, even with the one mistake. There's nothing about this bag that was wrong. Finally. I needed to feel good about knitting again, especially since I've got a masterpiece in the queue (yes, it's secret. This is the last I'll mention it, I promise).

Empty bag

Bag full of two books and approximately fifteen balls of yarn

Tomorrow I'm headed to the Great Lakes Folk Festival. Folk festivals are always a good time, so come on by East Lansing if you can.

Hugs

One more FO for your viewing pleasure. This doll is for Renée's first birthday, which is long past. I didn't want to rush so the doll would be perfect. Of course, as is typical with my knitting, there are a couple things that are just a little wonky. The heart is a little lopsided and one of the arms turns back in a funny way.


The doll is from Kath Dalmeny's World of Knitted Toys. I only used stash yarn, which is why the doll color isn't ideal (though it's quite hard to find an appropriate doll color in today's yarns).

February

Nothing like a February Sweater to make it through the hottest days of summer.


This is for a friend who is due in August. She's a knitter and will surely see my obvious mistakes. I'm hoping she understands that I'd already finished the sleeves--they were cumbersome but I got the lace right--and could not, would not go back and rip it all out. I hope she sees it as an improvement in my lace knitting skills. The bottom of the sweater is perfect. Except that I forgot to put in button holes, so this will only button at the top, along the garter section. I think it will be cute with the right buttons.

Bad lace section

Good lace section

By the way, I followed the advice at Brooklyn Tweed so my sweater was absolutely seamless. Now if I could only get my pictures to look as good as his.

I loved the yarn, O-Wool Balance. There were a few twigs and things, but they were easily picked out. I had about a foot of yarn left over from two skeins after weaving in the ends. I used a size 7 needle to get gauge, so the sweater was a quick knit. The Options needles were great for this, since they have pointy tips. Getting into those SSKs was a lot harder with the Addis I used for the sleeves.

I have one more skein of this yarn in purple. I may pick up another and see if I can't get the lace pattern right yet.

Maybe this should be a Travel Blog

All this travel has kept me too busy to knit. I did start something for a friend who is due any day with her first baby. I finally feel like I want to sit down and work on knitting.

Here's the thing. I've got this knitting blog project hanging over my head. I asked a few questions to a few bloggers who graciously replied. Then I let it go. It's been months since I've touched the responses. I wanted to follow up with personalized questions, but the holidays happened, then work got so bad I could barely move when I got home, then I quit my job, and now I've been traveling.

But the annual American Folklore Society meeting is coming up. I'm on a panel about using the internet for research. I'd like to actually have something to say. So here's my next step. I want to know why. Why blog about knitting? Why not blog about something else we do everyday? I know some people include food posts or posts about reading in their blogs, but ultimately, our blogs are knitting blogs. Why? Please email me. Tell me why.

I'm also thinking of creating a survey, with the hopes that more people will respond and I can have some statistics to share.

View from Fayette Historic Townsite

Lake Michigan


We canoed this part of the Indian River. This was an easy section.

Dan put his new socks to the test. They held up well in the muck, on the fallen trees, and sloshing through the water. He had decided that his shoes should stay dry (they didn't--we just had too much water splashing about), so he wore just these socks. I'm so glad that he actually uses them. The socks did well. Wool is so great for the water. He had good grip on the trees when we had to push the canoe over, though it could have been due to all the sand that collected on them. When we got back to Chicago, we washed them in the washing machine. They came out great, though clumped with sand. I'm glad the sand stayed on the socks and didn't go down the drain. So Dan brushed them off and gave them another rinse. I'm so proud of these socks.

But It's a Dry Heat

Yes, it's hot in Chicago. But it was even hotter in southwest Utah. My sister and I went to Zion National Park on Friday. We were headed to Emerald Pools and I didn't think I would make it--it was hot and sunny! Once we did get there, I was totally rejuvenated by the water. It was worth it. On the way down, we passed a woman who asked us how much farther it was up to the water. Boy, did I empathize.

Visiting my sister was great fun. I got to hang out with her at work--she's more competent than she admits--where I walked dogs and played with dogs and pet dogs. Good stuff.

Just before leaving, I started a skirt for Renée (who else?) and a pair of socks for Dan (who else?). I finished one sock just before I left, and I finished the skirt in Utah. I'll probably finish the second sock tonight.

The socks are a simple, toe-up pattern, using the Turkish cast on for the toe, and short rows for the heel. The cuff is "small herringbone rib" from Stitchionary. It looks the same as a twisted stitch, which would have been faster, I think, but I like the look. I'm using the Claudia Hand Painted Yarns I got on my visit to California in March. It's a nice yarn. I wish it had just a little more yardage.

The skirt pattern I made up as I went. It's in Bamboo from Be Sweet. It's a splitty yarn, but it is so soft and drapey, that I can overlook the splits. I started with the waistband, knit a few rows, threw in some yarn overs, knit some more, then more yarn overs, then garter (in the round), then repeated until the end, where I increased for the ruffle, which is in garter. It's a lovely skirt. Like everything I've made for Renée lately, it will probably be too big right now. Oh well. She'll grow.

I leave for the UP again on Friday, so I may not post for a while. I'll be there about ten days, then an overnight in Saginaw visiting Jen and family, then back to Chicago. I may not post until the very end of July, when I'll have more pictures of the UP and hopefully some knitting progress.

Photographs

The only good thing we found in Missoula (we finally found the downtown on our way out--after a horrible dinner).

Salmon Lake. We camped here. I was worried about bears, and we could hear some kind of cat off in those trees when we were setting up our tent.

Missouri River. We hiked in a nature preserve that had no hiking trails. We were warned to watch for rattlesnakes. Pretty walk, though.

Our friend's place in Wisconsin. He's done all the plumbing himself. I had a shower and it was great.

Dan cooking in the apron I made him. He also used the Nalgene cozy I made for him (inspired by this pattern via this blog, though I made up my own pattern) and he wore the shorts I made. He was all hand-knitted out. He said I could post the picture of him in just the shorts and apron, but I think I'll let you picture that for yourselves.

The Taste of Freedom

Leaving my job has been the best thing I could ever have done for myself. I would never have had the opportunity to travel as much over the summer (especially in June, when I would have been working really hard on grant review panels).

All the states we visited were interesting. Idaho was very pretty. Eastern Oregon is a lot different than western Oregon (or so Dan* tells me). Montana is very pretty. We spent the most time in Montana--it's a big state! North Dakota was not so great. Lots of RVs in North Dakota. In fact, we drove an extra seventy miles to avoid camping in RV Suburbia State Park. Minnesota was a relief (and, of course, has Bemidji, so it has to be great). We spent the night with friends in Wisconsin, and finished up in the UP of Michigan.

If it weren't for those winters, the UP might be paradise. It sure was great to just sit on the lake and do nothing. I'll be headed back there in July and again in August. I didn't even knit as much as I thought I would. I just sat. Well, we also canoed and cooked and hiked (in the rain--to keep the mosquitoes off) but mostly we just sat and enjoyed the hummingbirds and chirpy squirrels.

I did finish the secret project for Dan. I made him a pair of shorts using the Ibiza pattern from Loop-D-Loop. Not a fun pattern. It's stockinette, but the increasing for the front and back happen at different rates, so I had to pay careful attention and keep a tally going. I finished them in the woods and Dan put them on right away. He loves them, even though I can't remember the joke that made me want to knit them in the first place.

Next week I'm going to visit my sister in Kanab, Utah. After that I'm headed back to the UP. I also have to get back to my own research--I'm a part of a forum in October about using the internet in folklore research. I'd better have something to say.

I put all the pictures in a separate post so neither are too long.


*DG will be known as Dan from here on out (I know it may cause some confusion when I talk about my friend Dan who moved to New York, but I think I'll start calling him Dan who moved to New York--if he doesn't mind--when I talk about him. I owe him a hat, so I might be talking about him soon)

Yarn at 70 Miles an Hour

My dad was known for his skill at finding and collecting wild berries, mushrooms, and asparagus. At my dad's funeral services, my mom wanted to have what she called Memory Hour in place of the rosary. All my dad's family and friends got up and told a story or anecdote about my dad. My Papa joked about how my dad could spot wild asparagus driving down the highway at seventy miles an hour. It was true. Once we were driving on a highway and my dad pulled over and started picking some asparagus from a ditch. An Amish woman came running out of her house shaking a broom at my dad to get off her property. I never liked asparagus, so it was fine with me that his batch that time was small. Besides, I wanted to get to the beach, not pick some stinking asparagus.

So, DG and I were driving through Bemidji on our road trip and I spotted some yarn. From the highway. (Okay, it was a state highway through the edge of town and we were only going about forty miles an hour.) I wasn't sure, but we turned around to find a woman selling all sorts of things in the parking lot of a Pamida. We got out and had a pleasant conversation with Pat about yarn, homemade soaps, berries and jam, and how she does everything by hand herself (except the pheasants, which her son hunts) on her farm, Kozka Farm Enterprises. They even make root beer. I bought some nice hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn that may become a hat some day and DG bought some jelly and some apple butter. What a find. This is what road trips should entail. Pictures under Paul and Babe and yarn for a souvenir.


I'll post more about the road trip later, but I had to share this yarn.

Pause

I have loaded up on stash sock yarn, have two sizes of circular needles stowed away, and have packed a suitcase with clothes and such to last two weeks. I will be headed to Michigan tomorrow so I can become a godmother on Saturday. Monday I'm off to California to join DG on another road trip.

I'll email with sock pictures the minute I get back, I promise.

Even in My Dreams

Last night I dreamed that I was in a school when a fire alarm sounded. Before leaving the building, I grabbed my knitting (two circulars and a ball of yarn I was swatching, plus skeins in a different color) from my knitting bowl (which was, of course, on a table in the school's lobby). Someone asked why I was taking so much. I explained that I was swatching, but that I was really going to use the other yarn for the project.

Shows what's important, I guess.

Stef's socks are finished. They seem so big. I hope his feet really are this big. My math was off a little, so there's only a smidgen of negative ease in the foot (less than half an inch), so they will be loose, I'm sure. Maybe his feet will grow by the time it's cold enough to wear wool socks.

I did like using the Ultramerino 4 very much. Those Artyarns yarns are good and squishy, which is my favorite quality in a yarn.

First Day

I have finally taken the sage advice of my dear friend Aimee Lee. Today I started my life.

Finishing Touches

Crumpets

Mossy Jacket

Haven't I mentioned Mossy? It's for a pregnant friend. I couldn't decide which (there are two) so I kept it a surprise. I'll give it tomorrow, so now she knows. The beige is the Brooks Farm yarn I frogged a while ago and the yellow is Lorna's Laces. The Brooks Farm is a merino silk blend, so it's not washable. Both friends know how to take care of wooly items, though, so I'm not worried it will be cared for.

I also finished knitting Page 18 Elephante, but I can't crochet (I'm all thumbs). I can't make the ears. Rachel said she'd make them for me. I just have to get the materials and instructions to her before I head to Michigan.

I'm on the cuff of Stef's sock. I am using the same stitch pattern as I used on his scarf. I like it. It isn't making that cool snakelike zigzag pattern, which I didn't expect, but I am liking the variegated yarn with garter stitch, which I also didn't expect. I'll probably finish the first sock this week, since it is the only project on the needles. Stef has some large feet, though, so the second may take a while. I wish he could try them on for me. I'm worried that they are going to be too large.

Friday is frogging day. I can't wait. Perhaps I'll take video.

Crumpets is done. Or, almost done. I have to get a pretty ribbon and maybe make some straps. This took way too long to make. Miles and miles of stockinette will start to make me crazy, even though I do love the way stockinette looks.


I have a bad habit of making something just because. In this case, I was shopping at a store in Muscatine, Iowa last weekend. I bought a couple balls of 1824 Cotton (there wasn't much else that caught my eye, though I think they had every color of Cascade 220 available) and they had this pattern posted as a suggestion. So when I finished Crumpets and felt like I needed a quick knit, I turned to this. It was fun. I have no recipient intended, and it's a bit too small for my feet. If any of my family or friends wears an 8 or smaller and would like a pair of cotton slippers, let me know and they are yours.

I like the 1824 Cotton. I didn't think I'd like the nubby-ness of it, because I am not crazy about the Manos Cotton Stria. I like the texture this made. I think I'd even like a sweater out of it.

This I knit in a hotel room in Urbana, Illinois. I was there for work and needed something to distract me from a crazy headache I had. The food they have at conferences isn't really conducive to paying attention in sessions full of slides and powerpoint. That's my complaint of the day. I'm not showing the whole thing, which only took a few hours and is made from Print 127 from the stash. It's for DG for our upcoming road trip. I'll be sure to get a picture of it in action.

Now I am trying to think of something special for Renée. Yeah, I know, I made Crumpets for her, but I think it will be too big. I'm thinking something more along the keepsake line than fun wearable. I don't do lace, and I don't really have time for lace anyway. Renée's christening is the second weekend in June, so I'd like to have it done before I head to Michigan. Any ideas?

In the meantime, I'm finally starting socks for Stefan from the Artyarns Ultramerino 4 that I got last fall. So, I'm a procrastinator. Oh, that must be why I make slippers for no reason.

Lessons Learned

1. Designing a sweater is hard.
2. Waist shaping is easy.
3. Measuring the armholes pays off in the end.
4. Working back and forth on circulars makes a different gauge than working back and forth on straights.
5. Negative ease helps accomplish the fitted look.
6. Top-down sweaters worked in one piece make sense.
7. Cascade's Pima Melange is very splitty.
8. Stockinette gets really boring when you don't want to work the project you're working on.

And so much more. I started this last summer. I'm considering it a good exercise, but not a successful project. I have trouble with the armholes on all the sweaters I'm making these days. I think it's because I'm going to the larger chest measurement when I fall between two. In this case, since I was loosely following The Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, I just based it on my exact measurements. Obviously, my gauge changed somewhere along the way. Overall, the sweater fits great in the hips and waist. The arms are too baggy and so's the chest. Oh well. I learned.

Countdown

Yesterday I submitted my resignation. I will be jobless as of May 31.

In preparation, I organized all my yarn, and matched yarn to the projects on my To Knit list. Luckily, I have enough yarn to knit about half the projects. Of course, that list is ever-changing, so I'm already craving different things.

I've been trying to walk home from work at least once a week. Yesterday I made it as far as the yarn store. I resisted the urge to congratulate myself with some yarn, but Nina did suggest I take the needle felting class today. Here's a sample of my work. It was so much fun. I'm glad to know another fiber-related skill.


Today I couldn't resist the purchasing temptation, and bought a pattern book, Coast. I like almost all the patterns. I'm particularly interested in Seaton and Hartland. Must be the ribbon. Luckily for me, Nina doesn't carry Cotton Jeans or I might have come home with enough yarn for both projects.

Soon, I'll have plenty of time to knit, but for now I'm still trying to finish up a couple UFOs. I had to rip most of the sleeve on my sweater because I was increasing too gradually. Crumpets is pretty boring, so I keep it for times when I'm reading or talking.

I finished the Wick socks last Wednesday. I started and finished the second sock on a trip for work. Three hours on the bus and a night in a hotel room makes for good knitting time. The socks are just a toe-up pattern using the Turkish cast-on. I did a 4x2 rib with mirrored cables on each side, and one cable twist, also mirrored, at the very top.


Earlier in the week, I finished up Dan's hat. I hope it works for him.

Perhaps I'll muse next post.

Impulse

I had to go to DC this weekend, on somewhat short notice. As I was packing, I threw Crumpets in my bag for the plane ride. I had to leave very early in the morning. I didn't want to sleep on the plane so I knit. Part of the way through the two-hour flight, I finished the ball I was using. I didn't have another. I had only taken that project. Shoot.

When my friend Carrie picked me up, she suggested we head to a yarn store. She's the best. I bought some RYC Cashsoft DK, some Rowan Calmer, and a pair of 16" size 7 addis at Knit Happens. We also went to another place, but I don't remember the name. It had interesting yarns and very friendly staff.

Thank goodness I had a project for the plane ride home. I ended up reading (a book--The Accidental by Ali Smith, so far very good) most of the flight, but that RYC is so freakin' soft, I couldn't resist it entirely. I started a hat Saturday night for Dan because he requested one last time he was in town. The first hat I made for him has gotten some wear this winter and he wants a replacement with a few changes. I knit a little while reading in the airport, while sitting in the sun. It was a very pleasant wait.

Otherwise, I'm still working on the cotton projects. I finished one sock, but I want to work on Crumpets and my grey sweater a bit before I get back to it. I've been thinking about habits and knitting a little, so my next post may be less update, more musing.

Next!

Isabella is finished. I spent most of Saturday finishing it up. I ripped out one of the picot arm openings because I didn't like it, but I was still finished by Saturday night. I love it. But.

I'm disappointed with the neckline. The reason I was drawn to Isabella in the first place was the way the neck sloped up to the shoulder. Something must be missing from the pattern. It just didn't work out like that. My gauge was a little looser in the lace part, but not enough to make the panel grow that much. I even tacked down the edge to round it off, but it still leans upwards. I'm sad, but I'll still wear it.

I wanted to focus on Isabella so I could start a new pattern. Well. I rearranged my living room on Sunday, and in the process pulled out all my unfinished knits. I didn't realize there were so many (nine). Crumpets and a pair of socks are in progress and Joseph's sweater just needs to have the underarm holes grafted, so that leaves six items I've cast aside for one reason or another. Here's my plan: I'm going to finish all the projects that are knit with cotton yarn. That's five of the nine projects. The other four are wool or another animal fiber that can wait for air conditioning season.

Soon, I hope to have progress bars in the sidebar (HTML is foreign to me, so I have to spend some time understanding it first). The hardest part will be resisting the urge to start something new.

First up is a striped, stockinette wrap I used to keep at work. It got too big to take to lunch, so it's been sitting at home for nearly a year. Next will be finishing the sweater I started to design myself. I'll probably finish up Joseph's sweater when I'm done with Crumpets (which is my commute and lunchtime project) so I can mail them off. The socks I'll work on when I tire of purling. Everything on the cottons list is stockinette. Maybe that's why they were put on hold.

Update. It's been an hour. I've decided to frog the wrap. There's no point working on a wrap in stockinette. I don't have enough yarn left for a border. The yarn (Adrienne Vittadini's Miranda) is nice, and I think I'd like a tank from it. I started this in September, 2004 and will frog it in May, 2007 (I'll post the reason for waiting in a couple weeks). It's time to let go, I think.