Indoor & Outdoor Space (Elizabeth)

We've been engaged in a serious construction project at our house since the beginning of last summer. I say "we" in the royal sense. It's really been my husband's project. But I guess it was my idea!


I think he would say I'm really great at good ideas. :-) The truth is that it has been MUCH more work than I would've imagined. But we're still looking forward to the part where we can sip lemonade on our (as yet imagined) wicker furniture and listen to the rain on our screen porch.

While he was working outside, I decided to do a little bit of work INside. For starters I kicked my son out, er granted my son new downstairs computer privileges if he agrees to abide by a new computer usage policy. What this really means is that I get to have my little office back! No more punishing Mom to punish teenage son! So with a little dusting and a lot of sorting & tossing I now have this:



A place to create these nifty blog posts, pay the bills & even store my little stash. Best of all I have a CHAIR again instead of sitting on the edge of the bed with my laptop. It's pretty close to perfect. To top that off I finished THIS:



I guess I shouldn't use the word "finished" since it is only one sock, but one sock in one week is pretty good for me! I started it a week ago at the free kids' matinee showing of Eragon and was delighted with the colors when I came out into full light! I got the rest of the foot done at this weekend's free kids' matinee of Charlotte's Web (which I thoroughly enjoyed). I just needed to finish the toe during yesterday's Little People Big World, and Heroes. And yes, good stuff on TV is definitely good for the knitting! In case you're wondering, the sock is made out of Meilenweit 6-ply, which definitely helped it go quickly. I forgot how much love knitting sport weight socks. (And yes it's available at River Knits!)

Orange you glad you know how to knit?

This week I attended my first ever Klondike Middle School Academic Awards Night. I have been invited before, but the boy never wanted to go and be recognized. The girl is a different story. She wants to be recognized.

I knew from talking with Elizabeth that these affairs can be lengthy and a little boring. But I'm a knitter. Bring on the boring!

I took the second of my "put Sam in pink" pair of CIC socks. I had turned the heel and thought I could make pretty good progress during this lengthy affair I was headed for.

I got to the auditorium, lost my girl to her friends, and took out the sock. The sock is knit from Nature Spun Sport (which you should all use. ..it's from Nebraska) and the knitting was wonderful.

A fellow soccer team mom leaned up from the row behind me and asked what I was knitting for her. I told her I was making her a tiny orange sock. She laughed and we talked about other things until the show began.

Here's what the pair looks like....

As we were leaving, after this lengthy (and hot! Elizabeth and I decided next year we bring someone to fan us with palm fronds while we knit) affair was over, Fellow Soccer Team Mom asked me if I'd finished her sock. I told her it was almost done. She asked if I could also make her a purple one...

Can I also make her a purple one? Of course I can!

World Book and Copyright Day

Today is April 23, the anniversary of the deaths of both William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, who both died on this date in 1616. In their honor, UNESCO has proclaimed this World Book and Copyright Day.

What does this mean to knitters?

Glad you asked.

I think it's an excellent opportunity for us to familiarize ourselves with copyright law and how it applies to our craft. Please remember that patterns, books and magazines (both in print and online) are all protected by copyright laws. Everytime you photocopy a pattern to "share" with a friend, you are taking money out of the pockets of designers and publishers. This is bad for all of us because if designers and publishers don't make a profit, they will stop publishing those patterns, books and magazines we all love.

For more information, please check out The Copyright FAQ for Knitters. (Admittedly, it hasn't been updated in quite some time, but the information is still useful and offers good basic guidelines.)

And, while you're at it, in the true spirit of the day, read a few sonnets, go rent one of the many movie versions of Hamlet (or, better yet, read it), or curl up and read a chapter or two from Don Quixote.

Stepping off my soapbox and returning to my knitting......

SABLE*? Not quite yet.....

Or, how I spent my weekend.

Last weekend, while I was attending The Fiber Event and purchasing more yarn and wool to add to my stash, Tim bought me this:

Sweet guy, huh? Well, he had his reasons. My yarn, spinning, and knitting implements had taken over the living room. Sure, I have a wonderful yarn closet upstairs where I keep my stash and various tools. But, who wants to run up and down the stairs a million times a day to get needles, waste yarn, a different project, or whatever? Not me. So, the things I used most often, including 6 or 7 current projects, were scattered about the living room.

Now, Tim is a wonderful, easy-going, laid-back kind of guy, but he was pretty tired of looking at my stuff. He didn't want me to get rid of the stuff. He never complained about the fact that I had the stuff. He just didn't want to have to look at it while he was trying to enjoy a movie or watch TV. I can appreciate that. I wouldn't want to have to look past his tube amps and electronics all the time. So, the obvious solution was to find someplace downstairs where I could keep my current projects and needles. Enter the new armoire.

In the top, current projects, needles, current issues of knitting magazines, and various tools. In the bottom, seasonal dishes and kitchen stuff. Life is good and the living room actually looks....nice....not cluttery.

Inspired by this newfound neatness in the main living space, I decided it was time to sort through the stash closet and see what's going on up there. I hadn't really gone through it since we moved into the house a year ago, so it was definitely time. I found lots of odd balls of yarn, a few abandoned projects, and tons of inspiration. For the first time, there was no purging. In the past, I'd always find at least a few things that I knew I would never knit, but not today. I suppose maybe I've become a little more discriminating about the yarn I buy. Some might call me a yarn snob....and I'll accept that. Anyway, here are the fruits of my labors:

A nice, organized yarn closet. The best part is that I know there's room for more. Of course, this has given me a serious case of startitis! (check out the Gaea Creations Blog for more on this.) Having a key to River Knits can be a dangerous thing.....maybe I'll stop there tomorrow while Aaron is at school.....

*SABLE: Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy

PS: Please don't tell my husband I have more than 72 miles of yarn.....yes. That's right. 72 miles. And that doesn't include the somewhat large bin of partial balls of leftover yarns.

Considering Shawls

Amanda just posted a webpage showing many of the shawls she has knit and I have to say I'm pretty tempted to jump in to her Shawl Knit Along myself! Two summers ago before heading out on the Great Western Adventure (1 family; 5 national parks; only one can of flying rootbeer) someone commonly referred to as the Free Range Enabler, convinced me it would be a good idea to take a skein of Helen's Lace to start a Pi Shawl. I never really got past Emily Ocker's cast on and that little skein has been in a Ziplock bag with The Knitter's Alamanac ever since.

Last summer when we went on our Great Lakes Sojourn (1 family; 2 Great Lakes; only one day locked out of our camper's bathroom) I took the ball of Helen's Lace again. This time I also threw in the book One Skein because it has a cute little tank top that uses "one skein" of Helen's Lace, held doubled. I didn't even think about casting on for that one, but I enjoyed knowing it was there in case I needed it.

So here we are again--summer; no really big trips planned this time. But still the ball of Helen's Lace awaits. Is it time to think about that Pi Shawl again?

The Love/Hate Relationship (Amanda)

Note: I wrote this post a few days ago and just haven't had a chance to post it. I think it's sort of funny that Elizabeth is having a Love/Hate relationship with her Summer Tee right now....


We've all been there. The yarn is perfect--the perfect color, the perfect texture, just perfect. The pattern is fun to knit. Your gauge is right on. The finished garment is exactly right. You love it. You just *know* it's going to be your favorite sweater ever. Until you put it on. Once you have the garment on your body, all of your glowing pride sinks into the depths of dispair. Despite having exactly the right measurements and being the most wonderful color in the world, it just looks terrible on you. Now what?

The way I see it, you have three options:


1: Give it away to someone who will love it. Maybe this person is built differently than you. Or maybe they don't care how they look. Whatever the case, if you can find a good home for your creation, by all means, do it! Charities are an excellent way to get rid of your love/hate project.

2: Stuff it into a bag and hide it in the back of your closet. Sadly, I think too many knitters go this route when encountering the love/hate project. There's one very good reason not to do it: If your garment is knit with wool or other protein fiber, being stuffed in a bag and hiding in the back of your dark, quiet closet makes it the ideal treat for moths. The sweater has already caused you enough grief. Don't add to its (and your) misery by making it a moth motel. Better to just throw it in the trash.

3: Rip it out. Yes, the entire thing. The whole finished garment. Take out the seams and rip the whole damn thing out. This may sound extreme. I know. But stick with me on this. After all, if you enjoyed knitting the yarn the first time, you'll enjoy it just as much the second time....and without spending any more money!

Certain projects are better candidates than others for ripping out. If the yarn was very inexpensive or not of good quality to begin with, just go with #1 or #2. Ditto for mohair, eyelash and other "hairy" or heavily textured novelty yarns. They don't like to be ripped out. They don't hold up well under this kind of treatment. Just cut your losses and run.

Other projects are perfect for this. Smooth yarns. Expensive yarns. Yarns that you LOVE (expensive or not). Reclaiming an entire project's worth of yarn can be liberating. And it feels like shopping for new yarn without spending any money! Let's look at some examples, shall we?






This is a lace vest I knit in 2002. The yarn is a handpainted superwash wool from Morenna Woolen Goods which I purchsed at Fleece Fair. The yarn is soft and wonderful, and the photo really doesn't do it justice. I designed the vest myself. The finished vest was truly perfect. It blocked to the exact measurements I envisioned for it. I was so excited! Then I put it on. It was the most unflattering thing I've ever worn in my life. Really. The problem was not the vest, but the yarn. The yarn was too clingy and didn't have enough drape. If I had knit the vest in a cotton or cotton blend, it would have worked out great. But I didn't. I knit it in a relatively expensive handpainted wool. So, I laid out the vest, took pictures of it, and immediately ripped out the entire thing. The yarn is still in my stash. It has attempted to be other things in the last 5 years, but nothing has quite worked out. Someday, the perfect project will come along.

This is the Rambling Rows Jacket I made in 2005. The yarn is Noro Kureyon. 17 balls of it, to be exact. Laying on the floor like that, it's gorgeous, isn't it? The yarn compliments the pattern beautifully! But, can you see the problem? It's a box. It's a box with sleeves. This type of sweater is not flattering for an overweight person like myself. Add to that the fact that I have a bad habit of overestimating my size. I tend to knit things way to big for myself, and this jacket is a prime example. It was soooo huge. But, unlike the vest, I didn't rip out the jacket right away. I put it away, thinking that I'd come up with some way to fix it. By August 2006, I still didn't have a solution, so I spent the afternoon of my birthday ripping it out. It felt great! Now I have a lovely basket full of Kureyon sitting on a trunk in my living room. Someday, it will tell me what it wants to be. For a while, it thought it wanted to be a Babies and Bears jacket, but I think it changed its mind.



I also have a finished Bombshell from Big Girl Knits that I won't even show you. It's huge on me too. Once again, I overestimated my size. For those familiar with the pattern, you are saying, "But it says to try it on as you go so you won't make this mistake." Well, I was working on it last summer on our road trip to Niagara Falls, and it's very difficult to try something on while you are sitting in the passenger seat of a van. I know it's my own fault. The good news is that the yarn is an ideal canditate for ripping out (Cascade Sierra), and I won't have to rip out the entire thing, just back to the raglan shaping. There are a few other things about it I will change too--not just the size. A couple short rows here, a little added length there, and it should be just perfect.


The moral of the story: Not every project is perfect, even if it seems like it at first. Don't be afraid to take drastic measures to reclaim your yarn and your mental energy. You'll be glad you did. Also, remember that no project is a complete loss if you've learned something--either about knitting or yourself.

Decision Time (Or What to do now that I'm way past the swatch stage)

I could try to blame it on Michelle I guess. She was thinking of doing a class on a summer t-shirt. So I thought maybe I would knit up one for me and it could also be a shop model. I also wanted to try out the new Shire Silk from Plymouth, so I thought it would be a win-win situation. (That might be the first miscalculation now that I think about it.)

Knowing I knit a little bit loosely I cast on my pretty salmon colored Shire Silk on a #5 instead of the #6 recommended in the patttern. It being a top down pattern I thought I'd just check in on my gauge as I went and make adjustments as needed. That's where it starts to get fuzzy. The gauge needed to get a top slightly smaller than I thought I needed was 5 stitches to the inch. To the best of my calculation I was getting 4.75+ per inch. I thought that was pretty good and if it came out a smidge larger, that would be just perfect.

Needless to say it did not come out just perfect or I'd be showing you a picture now instead of rambling on here. To say that it is a little too large for me would be stating it diplomatically. The 4.75+ that I swear I was getting in the upper part of this garment has expanded to dead on 4 stitches to the inch in the rest of the garment, giving me quite a few extra inches.

The question is what to do now? I see several choices each with its own merit:
1. Rip back up to the armholes and
a. use a smaller needle
b. use fewer stitches throughout the body
c. both a. and b.
2. Promptly forget I ever heard of this garment and bury it in the back of my closet.
3. Use it as a prize for an exciting new game at the retreat. Ask each person in attendance to secretly write her bust and hip measurements on a paper and the one with the closest actual measurements to this garment wins the t-shirt!