Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'

And lo, today is the day of a particular baby shower... the one THIS was meant for:



Fortunately, as of this morning it is now:

This is a pre-washing photo; I gave it a little run through the machine and dryer (on low) to soften it up and do some pre-shrinking. Rowan All Seasons Cotton is 60/40 cotton/acrylic, and it can be machine washed, but it says not to tumble dry. However, when making baby things, I always run them through the dryer. The best-intentioned of parents will throw the handknits into the dryer, because parenting is too crazy for special care, so I try to pre-shrink things first. I do suggest that the item be hung or draped to dry, but this way it won't be a disaster if it's not.

The pattern I used is just my Little Star, substituting some manly 3-2 rib for the star stitch. I found a couple minor errors in my Little Star pattern; I'll try to fix those this weekend and re-post.
...

By the way, now that I have read your comments on my last post, I'm pretty embarrassed about my stash. However, this won't stop me from buying more yarn! And, I seem to have led some of you into the perdition that is Moo. Ha ha. My work here is done.

Perdition leads to perdition. I have proof.

So, you know, I thought I'd put my stash on Ravelry.

It seemed like a smart thing to do, because I keep buying yarn from Webs closeouts — I have little self-control — and I was starting to buy yarn for patterns I'd already bought yarn for. So an inventory seemed like a good thing.

I opened plastic box after plastic box. I sorted some of my yarn in better ways, and found many things I'd completely forgotten about. I got much (I'd say 80%?) of the stash into Ravelry — I haven't tackled sock yarn, acrylic yarn, crochet thread or a couple of bulk cone yarn buys in there yet. And then I thought, well, if you have yarn, you might as well have photos of it.

So I started photographing yarn (this took hours). And loaded it into my barely-used Flickr account. Because, ya know, I have been using PhotoWorks for my photos and why should I load them in two places? And then I ran out of space on Flickr.

So, I paid my $25 for an annual pro account on Flickr, which I'd sworn I'd never do. And then Flickr gave me ten free Moo mini-cards. And Moo is the coolest, and I'd been trying not to go down this road...

I think I'm going to end up spending more money on subscriptions, photo-laden objects and other crap than I ever did on yarn. Grumble grumble mumble ...

Oh but by the way, I have somewhere around 600 skeins of yarn. Also over 70,000 yards.

Post-Purim baking frenzy

I was too tired last weekend to get my Purim baking done. It's the one Jewish holiday I really celebrate with glee, and possibly this is because it's all about food and alcohol. Anyway, I decided I still needed to eat some hamentaschen, even if it was a bit late, and I made the dough for them yesterday.

My recipe calls for "the juice and grated rind of two oranges". Unfortunately, oranges are varied in size, and these must have been big ones because I ended up with a very wet dough. Now, if you just add flour to a dough that has too much water in it, it'll end up tough, so I decided not to fool around and just to see how it was after it was chilled.

After 24 hours chilling it was... still wet. I baked today anyway. I used a moderate amount of flour and a lot of careful handling, and the cookies are definitely ugly, but they taste awesome. And who cares what they look like? They look like lunch to me... er, dessert. Of course I meant dessert.

Ok, so I know I still have to finish one baby pullover and sew up another baby cardi. Oh and there's my endless tan cabled cardigan, too. So what did I do today? Swatched some Classic Elite Star and cast on for another baby cardi. Oh, c'mon, you know you'd do the same thing.



I have enough to make two bi-colored, extremely cheerful newborn cardigans from this. It's weird to knit, though — April would hate it, because it's like knitting with Fixation. And knit up? It looks ... wooly. It's 98% cotton. Hunh.

But I think it'll make a cuddly little cardigan!

Back to your regularly scheduled cardigan...

I mean, really. I should have this thing done by now. All that's left to knit is the upper right front and the button bands! And I started it last August!



I love this cardi. I have no idea why I'm taking so long over it. It's lovely alpaca-tencel yarn that April gave me and the pattern is great. But, I've been a slug. I got back to it at last this week.

Then there is this:
It's going to be a baby cardi, along the lines of my Little Star, only without the stars. Except when I tried to assemble it a couple days ago, I somehow sewed an arm on sideways. I should have taken a picture. Anyway, I pulled that out and will start over when I have had more coffee/brains/sleep. :-)

Thanks for the various "get well" wishes that have been filtering in. I'm done with the month of antibiotics, but I'm still sinus-y and sore throat-y and losing my voice frequently. That's now officially been going on since September and is not news. I get to have a CT scan in a couple of weeks, though -- that'll be fun. Anyway, I'm more cheery, even if I'm still snorting a lot. SO attractive.

And how are you?

No-longer-secret yarnination

I started this yarninating in secret in late January, thinking there was a possibility the recipient reads my blog. Well, not really the recipient, but the mother of the recipient...

Since it's now finished, I feel it's okay to reveal it. I have five friends/relatives that are expecting babies in the next month or three, so I'm knitting at a rapid pace. I was able to finish the knitted sections of this by Weds. night, so I spent Thursday on jury duty crocheting it all together (no knitting needles allowed in the courthouse). Didn't get called to a single jury panel, and got lots of crocheting done. I finished it up on Friday night and the first-time mom will have it in her hands soon. It's acrylic, but nice acrylic, and it's machine wash and dry — can't beat that.

Time to start on the next baby gift! I am working on a Rowan All-Seasons Cotton cardi along the lines of my "Little Star," but with 2-3 ribbing instead of star stitch. I'm pleased with it so far and the weathered-denim look of the yarn. This is nice soft cotton/acrylic yarn, too, perfect for a southern California spring baby. I started it last night and made progress quickly, thanks to heavy worsted gauge:

I still have to finish a wool/cotton pullover for my cousin Maya's baby (they live in New York, so pure cotton wouldn't do for this time of year), and two more gifts for San Diego area babies. It must be spring!

I am feeling much better, btw, and just finished the last antibiotic (yay!). And Wendy's comment on the last posting is cracking me up...

I got bonus germs!

Sorry I vanished again. I got the flu, and then a bacterial infection, and then I had a weeklong training in Advanced Mediation at NCRC. Which was Teh Cool. The class, I mean, not the flu. But anyway, I have actually been doing some knitting! And here 'tis.

Remember that supposed beret I was knitting, the one that kind of looked like a beanie? And did I mention I thought I was going to run out of yarn?

I didn't, but I had to unravel my gauge swatch to do it. It took very close to a whole skein of Sundara worsted merino (but man, any excuse to knit with her yarn!). And it sure did look like a beanie when I finished. Here are the two sides (it's reversible), prior to blocking on a plate as instructed:





I took a deep breath and blocked. And guess what? It's a beret!


(the plate I used had a ridge in it. Oops.)

It's not quite right — even with the smaller needles, I think it needs elastic pulled through the rim to stay on the head. And it's REALLY floppy. It looks better on Rob than on me. I'll try to get photos of it on both of us, just for fun, soon.

There are more knitted things to talk about, but I'll save that for a day or so. I'm still on Augmentin for a couple more weeks, so I run out of steam fast. But hey! I am alive! And if you want some germs I know where to find them!

I do realize it's more than about time!

There were many reasons I didn't blog much in January. The primary one is that I have had something on almost every single night of this month, but at base, it's because I'm trying to squeeze a lot into my spare time: cognitive science research, mediation credentialing classes, writing and giving talks on technical management, editing and publishing Grasslimb (it goes to press tomorrow morning), social events. And maybe a little bit of knitting in there somewhere!

It's been a mentally challenging month, for some reason. The job is still a bit hard to face, though it's better by far than it was. I'm okay as long as I don't think about all I've lost, but when I do I sort of crumple for a day or so. Then I do pick up, as I'm cheerful by nature, but it's harder than it used to be.

I think I just sort of want a vacation, and it's not time for that yet. We do have a train trip to Portland/Bay Area booked for early May (have to use up the free ticket), but now it sounds like the trip to Iceland may have to be put off for a year or so. I'm disappointed (understatement), but we are trying to also have time to spend with a bunch of folks coming to visit us from distant lands, and my new job is definitely not as easygoing as the old one.

So you will understand that it was really awesomely great to come home to this surprise from Sigga the other day:



She sent me a sampler of Icelandic knitting yarns, so I can try them out and decide which ones I want to buy a suitcaseful of when I get to Iceland. Damn, now I really really want to go — but at least I can play with the yarn for a little while and spend some more hours listening to my Icelandic language CDs while I wait :) THANK YOU SIGGA!!!!

As you may remember, I've been working on a Véronik Avery design, Beret Gaufre. I had done some, ripped it back because it was too big, and tried again in size 3 (what's called for) needles. I've knit most of it, and two things are strange. One, it doesn't look anything like a beret; it fits like a tight beanie:



The other is that I'm running out of yarn, and I had plenty more than the pattern called for. Hrm. I dunno. I think I'm going to keep going until I run out, then use some black scrap for the top center, and then block it and see what happens. Maybe it is going to s t r e t c h. Anyone made it and have any idea?

Bunny thumpers!

Over on KitKatKnit, there's a Bunny Thumper Challenge.

Laila is up for a challenge. Though it's a bit of a challenge just to photograph her bunny thumpers (back feet). Here are my best attempts at meeting the challenge.

First I discovered that a 5" knitting ruler was not going to cut it!


I had trouble getting her to show me her foot in any graceful way:


Success — kinda. Measuring conservatively, 5 3/8" bunny thumpers on this Bunny Thumpin' girl. They may actually be a bit over 5 1/2" but it was awfully hard to tell. She WIGGLES.


Knitting? You wanted KNITTING?

.. Maybe next time.

Redux, redo ..

It seems somehow fitting that the last thing I tried to knit in 2007 had to be ripped out and redone in 2007.

I did two nice-sized gauge swatches, really thought that a #4 US (rather than the pattern's specified #3) would do it, but no: after about 3" I could tell that the Béret Gaufré was going to be tooooo (large. I had to rip it all the way to the cast-on, then did it again. I've not quite made it as far as I was before, so can't check the size yet, but I'm hopeful.



I love berets. They're really the only hat I look good in. I am using Sundara's worsted merino, and I had almost forgotten how luxurious it feels to knit with a really high-end, sproingy merino. My fingers are happy despite the small needle size and tight work (you knit the Béret Gaufré extra-tight, which adds some rigidity).

Meanwhile, my feet were cold, so I decided to make a new pair of Rick's Socks. I don't usually feel like knitting a pattern I've knitted before, but this was the first pair of socks I ever made, and it's a nice fast comfy worsted-weight sock that calls for Paton's Merino. Since you can buy Paton's Merino in places like Michael's, I have a small stash of it around at all times. For this sock I use US #6 dpns. I knit these with short cuffs because they're meant as house socks and I like them that way, so I nearly got two socks out of 1 skein (just used a few yards of the 2nd skein). I don't really like purple that much, but it was that or some dreadful Pepto-Bismol pink (I must have planned some kind of multicolored, possibly felted, project at some point), so purple it was. For home that's not too bad.



I started these on Thursday night and finished them Saturday, which was good because I broke one of my little toes (just a tiny hairline fracture) on Saturday, and shoes hurt. At least around the house I can avoid shoes and just wear my new socks and keep my feets warm.

The color in the first image above is closest to correct.)

Finally, for your amusement, a label.

Please do not use it near the thing of the curtain.

Everything fits.

Happy New Year, all!

I'm pleased to announce that the new rainbow top fits my niece just fine. She came to the New Year's Party in the cropped cardigan I'd made her this summer:

I then gave her the new top and she tried it on:



The next day, she was wearing the cardigan I'd crocheted for her first Christmas — she was only 6 months old then and I didn't know how to knit yet. I can't believe it still fits! It was big then, admittedly, but really...

Extremely satisfying!

I hope you all start 2008 with much good fortune in store and much joy in your heart. If the joy is a little slow to arrive, I hope it's that much the greater when it does. You are all a great light for me, and I appreciate your presence on my blog... it has come to mean a surprisingly great amount.