Wow, It's July all ready. Coming back to work hazy from a nice long weekend to find requests to turn in mid year reports, and checking numbers from last month. Yeesh.

We did a lot of driving to and from camp. Daughter loved her Austin theater camp, and we were very impressed with the show at the end. Rather than aimless kid written skits, this was a tight semi-professional musical review. The kids rehearsed something like five or six hours every day of camp, plus attended classes in dance, acting and voice. Next year she will be old enough to go to the three week session for older kids, and she can't wait.

We drove the next day to Girl Scout sailing camp. Daughter was feeling a little clingy, but she is not too far away.

With all that driving, some knittting happened. Madli is done except for grafting the edge lace to the shawl body. Oh, and cleaning up ends.


And a Rogue hoodie arm is done. I made it in the round instead of flat, because I'm just that way.

Detail of the cosmic cuff cable. I used a different method on the edge because I don't like the way the hem works. This is the same edge used on Dale of Norway Tuja.

Back from a conference in Las Vegas. Most of the knitting had to be torn out due to edge stitch problems. I had a nice time at the craps tables. I remembered that craps is as much about playing with the other people at the table as about the dice So, it was fun, and yeah, I won some too!

We drove to Austin Sunday to drop off daughter at a camp. Rocked through about five repeats during the drive. So, here we are at twenty six of thirty one repeats.


Hope daughter likes the camp. We'll find out on Saturday when we pick her up, and watch the show.

No update on the shawl, as I seem to be ripping out almost as much as I knit. Something is not right with my edge stiches , and I'm ending up with one extra, or one short. Not sure how that happens. Good news is that the hands seem to have nupp problem resolved. Even with the ripping, the shawl is moving along, and I'm thinking about another project.

I did learn that I have become a very loose woman. I did some swatching for a Rogue hoodie for my daughter. The yarn label said 18st/4in on #8 needles. In my past, I knit exactly per most yarn labels. I know I've been loose, so I started with #6's. Then #4's. Then check the label to make sure I'm reading it correctly. Then #2's. Finally. I brought it on my business trip with me, and may cast on later today.

Yesterday, after getting packed for the week, I played with my yarn. I've been thinking that I had stash yarn for this sweater from "Poetry in Stitches" and decided to try it out.

So, here's a swatch in vintage Bear and Fleishers "wool and shetland wool" won off Ebay during my Ebay yarn binge. I'm not sure about the green stripe. It was a more muted shade in the book, but this is ok too. I remembered I have some more avocado yarn about the same weight, and my duplicate stitch over to see if I like that better.

Not bad, but not quite to gauge. 25 1/4 stitches to 4" instead of 26. I did some calculating, and should be able to re-write the pattern. I also noticed that this pattern comes in one size in the book. Cheesy. But then, who am I to whine. I want a cardigan, but not cropped, and not asymmetrical, so I'd be messing with the pattern anyway.

So, I'm channeling Meg Swanson, or Deborah Newton. To get the bust dimension I want, I can reduce the repeats of the large flower pattern to nine instead of ten. But then I have to mess with how the patterns line up around the body. Now, I could reduce it to eight repeats, and "leak" the leaf pattern down the sides. Make sense? From the front you would see two flowers on either side of the buttons, the back would have four flowers, the leaf pattern would start on the sides, and then blend in on the body. I'd have a vertical line for the flower pattern so no stitch jumps. Hmmmm.

The results of a long weekend car trip to New Orleans.

Well, I'm not counting the extra pounds on my butt. This is about ten repeats of Madli's Shawl from last summer's Interweave Knits. Part of my scarf/shawl stash for Christmas gift project. It took me way longer than normal to figure out this not so complicated 12 stitch/12 row repeat. Here is why:

First, there are these little nupp knots; sort of little wads of yarn, but not like a bobble. Basically, knit/yo three times and finish with a knit so there are seven stiches in one. Then purl them all together on the way back. I found that I either left out a loop, leaving an extra stitch, or knit the next stitch into the nupp, thus losing a stitch. Even after so many repeats, I still am messing this one up.

Second, because the way the edges work, there was not an obvious way to place markers so that the repeats would line up. There is an extra k2tog at the start, then an extra yo at the end for three pattern rows, then it evens out for the next three pattern rows. The effect is the piece does not seem to slant, but yeesh, it was hard to keep track of my whereabouts until I had the pattern feel under control.

So, New Orleans - fun for a weekend. We walked all around French Quarter, the river, the garden district, the gallery district, uptown, downtown. Snaps for the Ogden museum. Shame on what's happened on bourbon street. We walked all over the Chalmette battle ground, where the United States whoooped the Brits to end the war of 1812, but couldn't tour the plantation on the site due to the park service closing down an account of the silly storm. For the record, Saturday was a beautiful day in New Orleans. It didn't even rain, and the cloud cover and breeze off of Arlene kept us cool. We also took an air boat tour around the swamp, and I held the alligator. Yes, it is alive. Am I a "coon ass" now?

Lookee what I finished this week. What fun!


And the TDA is off the needles for now, and fits my husband nicely. I may need to re-think the collar. He likes them tight around his neck. I think it looks nice the way it is. He thinks it is too open. When the sweater is just lying there, it looks as if I picked up too many stiches, and the collar is floppy. However, it lies flat when he puts it on. It looks very square, even though I put some shaping on the front. I'm thinking that I could pull it out, pick up fewer stitches, and make it a bit deeper.

I need to work in a lot of ends still, and will probably not mess with the collar until I'm done with that. When I was knitting, I tried splicing and weaving the new skeins but I didn't like the way it was working. So, I just left then ends, and am working them in with a needle now.

My daughter is off to GirlScout camp, and will be backpacking most of the session. Shout out to girls in middle school ( or their parents ) - GirlScouts gets really cool once you are in the 7th grade. Check it out. http://www.girlscouts.org/ and http://www.studio2b.org

Husband and I are going on a little adult vacation the end of the week. Sweet.

Well, I've been enjoying the wild thunderstorms this last weekend. The power went out on Saturday and we were left enjoying the light show, with no idea that a tornado set down about 10 miles away. I checked the back yard, and we have a small tree down, but it looks more like beaver damage rather than from the storm. What do you think?
I'm not sure what to do about a backyard beaver. Any ideas?

Been working along on the TDA over the weekend as well. Not too long to go before I start the ribbing for the bottom. Just great, a nice heavy aran in time for the lovely Houston summer. This time last year, my husband was complaining because he was in Peru all the time and it was cold, and he wanted a sweater. Now, he's no longer traveling, and the sweater is done. Talk about lame timing. Maybe we should plan a July ski trip to the Andes.

And more knitting notes, vaguely connected with the curly scarf.

I took daughter to the doctor last week for some post-op care for her sinus. I was working on the ruffle scarf, when the doctor and nurse came into the examining room. Turns out, they BOTH knit, and they have recently BOTH knit scarves for family memembers. The doctor was annoyed because she made a scarf for her mother in law. MIL later complained to her son about "only getting a scarf" for mothers day. That MIL will be getting gift cards in the future, I think. The nurse said that her sister was regularly offered money for her scarf when she wore it to church and always refused because it was hand made by her special sister.

Some people get it, and others don't.
May all your gift recipient's "get it".

My husband and I chose to miss the Houston Art Car parade, and missed the knitted car cozy. Sometimes I wonder if I just don't get out enough. Most of the time I don't care. Houston however, is less boring that many believe. I guess that is true with most places. The gentleman who created this lovely automobile accessory has a blog, with more pictures.

I'm feeling lazy, and slow and less than satisfied with my own knitting progress. School is winding down, and so the regular schedule is changing to that week to week what are we doing schedule. However, since Girl Scouts are also slow this time of year, I can re-connect with local knitting guild meetings. I'd say whoopee, but I'm still feeling lazy and slow.

Well Happy Friday, and happy return of the hot summer to Houston. There has been knitting again. Maybe this will bring me back for the rest of my slumpy feelings.

I sat in a training class this week with a new project. Nice and easy so I can pay attention. Silly, no?

And a reason why the Top Down Aran is not really getting worked on too hard. Well, the real reason is that it's big, and can't travel, but if I have to wake a sleeping puppy too, it's so much harder.


No, really, it has made progress....


And what's this? An airplane project. More complex than a class project, but something that can travel the way the Aran cannot.

Well, I intended to do a update yesterday, but didn't get around to it. Anyway, happy blog birthday! Thank you for letting me show off my work, and for all the kind comments people have left behind.

And a finished item to show off. The feather and fan shawl ended up a lovely 60" long and 24" wide, and is drying nicely on my dining room table.

Daughter is resting upstairs from her surgery on Monday. It seemed to go well, and we are just monitoring for nosebleeds and fever for the next few days. She is uncomfortable as expected, and requires many snuggles.

We had fun in Austin on the weekend. Daughter volunteered at the AVP Beach Volleyball event, and my husband and I walked around downtown. Nice, I like Austin. Sunday, daughter got to shag balls for the women's semi-finals and was quite impressed with her good luck. Misty May and Kelli Walsh vs Elaine Youngs and Rachel Wacholder. Good game, but May/Walsh dominated. The mens final was dynamite, going into extra points before the underdog team of Lucena/Dalhausser took the third game. We left before the ladies finals, as we had enough v-ball and daugher knew who was going to win. You can read all about it at http://www.avp.com/

Now, I have a business trip to Florida next week. Should I start a new shawl, or a sweater? Hmmmm. Playtime in the stash room.

Wonder where Swatchy is? I have as well.

I've either been a tad depressed, or busy on the weekends and tired during the week. I must say, I enjoy the different activities I've participated in, but I'm not always energized by them. Not a lot of knitting, but that feather and fan piece is almost done.

April has been dominated by Scouts.
Backpacking event - very nice, but I forgot my Alieve and back pain coupled with lying on the ground kept me from sleeping even though I was very tired. I stayed tired for most of the week.

Council Meeting - Interesting discussion on how the Girl Scouts vision is changing. I have been very pleased with the changes since I was in High School. I guess I was energized, in that I want to work more to get older girls, especially my girls into leadership roles in this organization.

Camping trip - Planning meeting attended poorly, but every registered girl came on the trip. Normal amounts of stupid stuff; some lack of team work, one blister. Great Dutch Oven cornbread. Success because co-leader and I didn't have to do very much for them at all.

Also in April, Civic Dury
Taxes - yeesh.
Jury Duty - always interesting theater. I was in selected for a panel, and in the high risk front row for a capital case. High tension, as I had a very important business presentation the next day. I had told my manager that attorneys don't like engineers on the jury, and I guess that is still the case, because I was excused. I did learn a lot about conspiracy law.

This weekend we drive to Austin. My daughter volunteered to work at the Pro Beach Volleyball event this weekend. We've been meaning to spend some family weekends out and about, and this seemed to be a daughter friendly venue, and Shiloh can stay at our hotel, so he's coming too.
Next week, daughter has surgery for polyps in her sinus. I plan to spend the week trying to make her as comfortable as possible, whiled getting the knitting and career training on track.

Somewhere in all those meetings and all that camping, the top down aran body got onto some needles. It's big and heavy and sort of a fight to work on with those arms flopping about. The yarn is delicious, and bulky enough to work up quickly. It will probably be ready for a photo shoot some time next week.

Whew; too busy to blog, but also too busy to knit. This picture was mentioned and taken last week. He's been reclining on my desk since then. Business trips last week followed by an exhausting but fabulous backpacking event with G-scouts. Just starting to recover when, whoops time to turn in my computer for an upgrade. Now, I'm trying to figure out the new beautiful interfaces. This whole time was complicated by Shiloh getting a really bad case of doggy diarrhea, so we had to deal with the mess and smell of that several times a day. Ick. He has since firmed up, and all that remains is his cute face and an occasional fart.

I'm in the car today to Austin for a meeting. Then Dallas again next week. Yikes.

Blogging in a blizzard.
On vacation, and the skiing yesterday was yummy.

The entire family was face down by 8:00. Today we were saved by bad weather. I knit and played computer games and listened to audio books. yummmm. The feather and fan shawl is now 14 inches wide.

Husband battled with his computer that the lame wireless network at this resort. Later in the day I helped him out. To reward me he is off hunting down rum. I married well.

Mathematicians apparently crochet.

Check this out:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4531695
Mathematician Daina Taimina can crochet hyperbolic shapes.

More information here - http://www.theiff.org/lectures/05a.html

and the Lorenz manifold can be crochet as well. http://www.enm.bris.ac.uk/anm/preprints/2004r03.pdf
Page 16 is what you want to see firs.

Almost two weeks since the last entry. Is it because I'm losing interest in blogging, or is it because I've been busy and this is a lower priority? Not really sure. Could be both. In the mean time I'm in therapy with myself about the feather and fan wrap that I began. I wanted a large and boring project to get me through some long and tedious technical meetings. Now, I'm tired of her because she is large and boring. Poor thing, a victim of her perfection. I'm not so thrilled with the wool, It is an e-bay purchase that says it's Harrisville wool, and is sport weight. It's just not that soft, although it softens up some in the wash. Maybe some fabric softener will help her out. That bath, though is about a month away.

I'm also having this inane conversation in my brain. One side says "Yeesh, this is dull, how long will this thing take to finish?" Another part says "Honey, at the rate you are going another three to four weeks. That's not bad, and isn't she shaping up nicely?" Repeat.

Here she is at about 10 inches.

On the top down Aran progress, I've been unwilling to work in it for the past few weeks. I did a quick calculation and realized that I had enough yarn for the nicest cropped aran ever. Don't think my poor husband would appreciate that style. Oh, yeah, he's one of those guys with a long body and short legs, so I like to put in a few inches on his sweaters. And very discouraging, since I've got this Goldielocks thing going on sweaters for him. "H8 was too big, Starz was too small". I can fit anyone else just right, but not him for the past four years.

So I ordered some more yarn, hoping for a dye lot that looked the same as the one I had from a Texas store with an Internet presence. A week later, no shipment, no response to email, called and was told that they would get back to me two days later when the shipment came in. Called again four days later and was told that I would hear back later that day. Still haven't' heard.

So, since this stuff is discontinued yarn, I ordered from Woodland Woolworks. Yesterday, Hurrah, it was here. I started up the collar with the new yarn, and double hurrah, it looks to be close enough that there won't be a line on the sweater when I change dye lots. Pictures later, when he's not so wadded up.

Still so busy that I'm feeling always overwhelmed. Knitting is a background activity now, not daily. I have vacation in two and 1/2 weeks so maybe I can get a grip then.

Still, since I carry knitting everywhere, and have had time in airports, and lobbies progress is made. The little mohair scarf is done. I liked the "mistake rib" results as it is much more dimensional than straight ribbing, and reversible as well.

I started a feather and fan shawl. I think it's about 70" long, and I'm planning it to be about 20" wide before blocking. I've not been much of a scarf/shawl knitter before, but I have this nutty idea. I think that I can make five or six large shawls or wraps before Christmas and surprise my female relatives with a box of lovelies to choose from.

I fantasize about the oooohs and ahhhs when the look through the choices. You see, in the end, it's all about me.

Last week was so busy, I hardly had time to sit still. My brain was buzzing so much, that the Aran sat lonely until Friday night. Then, I forced my laptop into the off position, poured a glass of wine and fixed his sleeve. I have cast on for the second sleeve, but no pictures today.

I did get into that mistake stitch scarf. So easy to carry; so little to think about; so many admiring comments due to the unusual and beautiful yarn. She is on her second hank and will probably be my traveling project until the yarn is gone.

I have another big week. Too much to do on Monday and Tuesday, the fly to Florida for a three day sit on my butt meeting. I have to do two presentations, but I think I successfully outsourced one. Isn't it great to get credit for getting someone else to do your work? That's management!

So send some virtual love to Shiloh. Last time I went out of town, he retreated to his crate for two days, and actually growled at the family. My husband was calling me asking what to do.

A general feeling of February blahs have descended. How do I know? I went on a three day trip to Dallas, and only brought a single skein of yarn with me. My normal travel mode is to pack a small yarn shop just in case. I was sort of wondering why my suitcase had so much space.

Finished the skein on my Top Down Aran during the trip. When I got home I really worked on that sleeve to make up for not having brought yarn with me. I read about people not enjoying sleeves. I love them, especially from the body out. It starts almost as large as half the body; so substantial. Then, somewhere around the elbow, the decreases tip the scale, and suddenly I'm going around and around, I feel dizzy. Sunday, I just had to finish.

Now, here's a Top Down Aran secret. I tried it on my husband. The sleeve is an inch too short. NO MATTER! I just pull out the ribbing, knit my extra inch, re-rib, perfection.

However, because of the previously mentioned blahs, I might not get right to it.

In the meantime, back in Dallas, I had time to visit a local yarn store, and $40.00 later ended up with two skeins of some multicolor floaty mohair and a new #4 needle. I started a mistake rib scarf for a gift for some future unknown gift giving situation.

Been bz

Front and back.

Now, I digress from the instructions. In the Brown-Reinsel article, she directs the knitter to cast on for the body underarm once the sleeves are deep enough. I've put the body pieces on hold, and plan to knit the sleeves next. Firs, two 1/2 inches back and forth to provide an extra 5 inches on each side for the underarm area. Then join the sleeve and continue in the round. Then, I can PICK UP those stiches off of the sleeve edge, and continue down the body. Look ma - no seam.

Well, I'm a cursed knitter for my husband. I've finished two elaborate sweaters, and Henry8 is too large and Starz is too small for my him. I have not made a well fitting sweater for him for thirteen years.

The largeness of Hank does not seem to be too much of a hardship. Hank and husband have been going to work together about once a week. Hank has also been to the theater, and went out to dinner with Ingeborg. They may take a bath together in a few weeks.

Now, I'm trying to fix the husband sweater situation with a top down aran. I'm using Jo Sharp Silk Road Ultra, which is delicious. I'm liking the method, because I can hold it up to him, and check to make sure it's fitting. Here we are so far - two saddles, the back to the bottom of the arm, and the beginning of the front.

The method is described in the same Interweave Knits as the oh so popular "Celtic Dreams". (Fall 97) I'm doing the same thing, but using my own cable choices. The center cable pattern from braid to braid, looks a lot like a sequence seen in a previous Knitters Magazine. Just to let you know that I'm not all that original.

The goal is to finish before spring break. We're going skiing.

Here is a second hat for my friend. I think she starts chemo round 2 this week. It's nice soft superwash merino, and I used the "Chameleon" pattern from Knitters Winter 1997. The pattern is written to be knit flat and seamed, but I made it round. No good reason not to, especially as the knit/purl patten flows nicely from row to row with no visible "jump".
I was reflecting on how I would prefer to make baby sweater gifts than chemo hat gifts. Maybe I'm at an age where birth and illness tip for the people that I know. My husband was sort of sad when I finished this too. His mother passed with cancer, as did my father. He doesn't want to see another loved one to have to go through that.

This guy is blocking on one of my cooking pots:

I used the " Cranberry Squares" pattern from Knitters Winter 2004, but, of course changed the yarn, the edges, and the triangles. Nice approach, but if I do it again, I think I'll start with the triangles and build up. Talk about short attention span knitting. Lots of starts, stops and turn arounds. At least I was able to knit in all the strings along the way.

I have some washable merino upstairs and I think I'll see if it swatches up for the "Twining Lace" hat in Knitters Fall 1995.

They will both go to my friend who started Chemotherapy this month.

Well, look who's waiting for a bath and buttons?
She's a Zimmerman. "Perfect Baby Sweater". Since I made her, maybe not quite perfect, but a nice pattern.

Now, I'm working on a hat. A sailing friend is going thru chemo, and since I can't wave my hand and make it go away, I guess I'll make a hat.

All done, and in the bath. It fits all right on my hunky man; when he loses some weight he will have proper ease, but he certainly can wear it now. I fiddled with the pattern a bit, and should have fiddled more but live and learn.

Happy New Year.
It's been quiet here in Swatchyland. Spent the holiday week between Christmas and New Years doing almost nothing. It's been wonderful. I did knit a hat for daughter, but it's pretty plain, so no pictures here. I used the Alpaca/Silk that was on elan, and it's yummers. I got enough for a few things, so I'll be able to fondle it later.

I picked up Starz a few days ago. He was in time out due to an inability to match up decreases down his arm. He was like an accordion, in and out and in and out, as I tore back, but not quite enough, knit to where it was obvious I had not done it right, and tore again. After the second or third time I put him aside as the situation was approaching insanity. I found some time when I had not been drinking, and it was not dark, and fixed him up. He's now about 3/4 of a pattern repeat an those checkers away from being done.


Now the favorite holiday gift. My considerate husband bought us a robot vacuum. It's very cool, although it does require some supervision. The best part is that he gets under our bed and eats the dust bunnies where it is hard to reach. I should name it , but nothing has stuck yet. It doubles as a dog toy. Shilo versus Roomba:

Christmas Eve, and it's trying to SNOW in HOUSTON. Go figure. Earlier in the week when it was warmer, we caught Mama Dillo out doing her nest. See the pile of leaves next to her? She gets them in a pile underneath herself then jumps and wiggles them into her hole under our bedroom. She's pretty big, so I'm guessing we will have baby dillos in a few months. It's been awfully cold, and we've not seen here since.


Well, look who has been lounging around the house:


He had a very exciting time getting finished. I knit my gauge a teeny bit looser than specified, so when that is expanded over a gazillion stiches, he ended up proportionate to the real Henry 8, who was quite a large guy. Now, my guy is large, but not that large. Let's get specific - we were trying for about 52" around, and ended up about 60". WOW. So Hank got washed, spun to damp, then took a brave trip in the dryer. On high. 10 minutes. He came out slightly fulled, and about 5" smaller all around. Nice. See?

Happy Holidays

Well, most of the Christmas prep that I was avoiding is done. Cards are out, Tree up, presents to west and east on their way, yarn room has been reconfigured into a guest room. Whew. Very little knitting accomplished over the past three days.

So, now is the time to look at the swatching that happened a few weeks ago.

This is a pattern that was adapted by Jean Frost into a cropped jacket in Knitters magazine several years ago. Notice that I didn't do the ssp correctly in the first pattern repeat. I had to go read the Knitters Lesson to get it right. I usually don't like lace patterns where the YO's are worked on every row, but this one is ok. Maybe it's the big yarn. The gauge is way off, and the pattern is written so that the sizes are changed by changing needle size. SO, this one will be passed for a while


Here is some color work done in some of the alpaca that my husband brougt back from Peru. Yummy. On gauge. You can see the pattern by clicking the link on the side bar. This one is a go, but I'm unsure of the color choice. Shown is tan/brown. I could also do black/tan, black/red, red/tan, purple/yellow-orange. Hmmmm.


I've been watching the Celtic Dreams, and read the article on top down aran. Here is a swatch that is not quite large enough, but will be the beginning basis of a self designed top down aran for husband. It's using a Jo Sharp Silkroad Ultra (wool/silk/cashmere) from Elann that is just yummy.

It's a big gauge - 4st/inch in the cables so it ought to just run through my fingers and knit up quickly.

Big news on big Hank later in the week.

I expected to be able to show off a finished Henry8, only to get to the cuff to find that I didn't catch a decrease change and ended with way too many stiches. Well, back it went, and I'm back at the cuff again.

Well, a new look for the Swatchyblog.

I've settled down on the next projects. More after the weekend.

Well, Family Tree is done, and almost dry enough to start his trip west. He came out a bit smaller than planned, but my sister assures me he will find a person who loves him.

I've got to find an hour or so to pick up all the stitches for the second Starz arm. Hank is about 15 rows away from the cuff. So close to both being done, and I'm beside myself.

I have no idea what to do next. I'm making myself crazy. This is stupid, because I have enough going on to cause myself to be crazy without making the selection of my next project into an "IMPORTANT ISSUE". Yeesh.

The last three projects, I sort of had lined up. Now – nothing is really begging to be done or used. The abundance of stash and patterns and lack of direction is causing more difficulty in deciding than usual. I think this is fun.

My process seems to be to riffle through my enormous collection of knitting magazines and books, open to some attractive project and spread them around the house. I have made this step much easier by placing sticky notes on the pictures I liked the last time I looked through. I notice my sense of what is nice or not changes from time to time. I make this harder by moving the magazines and books around a lot, so I’m never really able to put my hand on what I want. Then, I pull out all the nicely packed boxes of stash yarn and throw the yarn around the spare bedroom. This will cause me to have to re-organize it all in the future, but the throwing about and putting away all counts as "playing" with my stash. I find this activity as enjoyable as the actual knitting.

So, how to decide? I sometimes find a yarn I want to use, and choose a project to fit. Sometimes, I choose a project, and see if I have yarn that will work. Sometimes I choose a type of project, like modular.

Then I swatch and change my mind a few times before digging in. Sometimes the swatching process leads me to entirely change my direction. Then I start again. What I really need is a rainy day, and no family for a few hours.

How to others decide what to make?

And to end - an amazing good dog story. Husband brought home a few honk'in big T-bones the other night. Shiloh has apparently learned that polite dogs who don't want their bone taken away eat in their crate. (bad dogs eat on the livingr oom carpet, and lose thier bones) See how good he is?

I seem to want to post on knitting milestones, so here we go.

The cotton/silk "Family Tree sweater has a front. You can't tell from the picture that there is no back, but that will be dealt with soon. I hope that woop-de-do on the bottom where the cable starts up will block out. Embarrassing if it doesn't. I still don't like the Debbie Bliss cotton aran, and am happy that it will be finished and off to it's owner in a week or so.

Musing - knit
I am pretty entranced with the background stitch for the Family Tree sweater. So simple, resulting in a complex texture. I decided that the knit/purl sections of my Barbara Walker books had been overlooked, so I sat down to review the first volume again. I found that the stitch I am using is called "sand stitch" in her Volume 1 book. Then I found an intriguing rib pattern called "Waving Rib" and it stuck in my head as a great pattern for some future design. Imagine my surprise to open the current Knitters, and find that same pattern in the "Wobbly Rib" pattern. Hmmm.

I'm not a bit scarf/blanket knitter, but I may do one up in the Elongated Diamond Pattern, which is advertised to be as interesting on the "back" side as the "front". Sam thoughts on "Imitation Lattice", the previous pattern. ( Hey you magazine designers - are you listening to my thoughts, or do I hear yours? )

Musing - non knit
I went to GirlScout "cookie rookie" training last night. I had no idea that Thin Mints are the largest selling cookie in the United States. They beat out Oreo and Chips Ahoy, and you can only buy them for about six weeks each year. How about that?

My peer in Texas resigned so I now have a double job. He was aggravated by the constant layoffs, and went for a more stable employer. He's not the only one that was not laid off, but is leaving anyway. Poor leadership is driving our good people off as fast as layoffs get rid of the weaker ones. What's left is smaller and shallower.

I was annoyed by some Jehovah's Witnesses last week. I am pretty tolerant of the witnessing activity that some faiths require of their people, and will let them go on for a few minutes. Well, this batty lady started off about some mother who had chopped off her baby's arms. She said it made her happy because of some prophesy. I told her that anyone who thought that harming infants was a good thing was deranged, and that she should leave. She kept going on about her prophesy, and I slammed the door.

What a week last week.
.
Return to the office to find all the execs in town visiting. Yecch. You would think someone would have told me. Doctor on Monday, Dentist on Tuesday, athletics recognition on Wednesday, Cook for office pot luck on Thursday, office pot luck on Friday.

Not much knitting, but made up for it during a rainy weekend.

Something snaps in my head when a person looks at my work and says "I could never do that". My mother taught me that I could do whatever I set my mind to, and I believe her. So the "I could never" sounds so lame to me. She also taught me that one could learn all sorts of things by reading directions and experimenting. So the "no one ever taught me", "I was never trained" statements don't do much for me.

But, I'm also getting a small bit wiser. When, at my daughter's volleyball practice, a woman ooooed over Starz. I smiled, and opened the whole sweater for her to admire and for me to show off. When she said the "I could never", I smiled and shrugged again, instead of saying what was going on in my head, which was not so very nice.

Now, most of the week is holiday for me, though I have made some goals of finishing some on line education classes. Obviously, the knitting goals were more important today, as I was so close to making a bench mark yesterday. That goal has been met. Mr. Starz has an arm.

I still get all shivery when I try to find that arm seam.

Hank's arm is about 1/2 done, but no pics until he's finished. Family Tree is the new car/TV/traveling project and he's progressing nicely as well.

Safely back from the business trip, and full of pictures. I think there are a few Swatchy fans out there, who have had no pictures for going on three weeks. Too bad. This post will make up for the drought and then some.

Yes, the goals set upon the beginning of the trip were unreasonable, and I knew it. Still much progress has been made, and I'm pleased.

Without further delay.....

From the eldest projects to the youngest projects:
Henry now has a stubby second sleeve. It only took five times to pick up the correct number of stitches and get him set up.


I have no idea why it was so hard, because picking up the stitches in pattern for Starz only took two tries. He's now on dpns, and has past the half way point to the cuff:

Now, is that sleeve pick up the coolest thing you've seen for a while? Well, we saw The Incredibles on Saturday and that was pretty cool too.

Now, the class project. I picked this because it looked pretty simple, and it was. It's Family Tree from Knitters Winter 1996, with a few modifications.

1st - change fiber to Debbie Bliss cotton/silk aran purchased at Hersingers for a good discount.
2nd - recalculate gauge, as even though the yarn label claims 17st/4inch in stockenette on #7 needles, the best I can do is 16st/4in on #4's. If I go down to #3's the fabric is like armor, and not nice.
3rd - modify the edge because the cotton/silk plays this nasty number on the cast on edge:

Yuck. I used the same edge as Tuja; a bit fussy to do, but produces a nice knitted roll.

This picture has a little cable cheesecake for you.
4th - Do it in the round. Two reasons. One, I'm lazy and if I can remove a step, like seams, I do. Second, with the weight of the fabric, I think removing seams is a good idea.

So far, sleeves, and about 10" of body.


Don't ask how I like the Bliss Cotton/Silk Aran. I don't. It's heavy and stringy.
I do, however, like the broken moss stitch used as the background pattern. It is another one of those lovely knitting tricks. So easy, yet it produces such a nice texture that appears complex. Broken moss, by the way is:
r1 and r3 right side: knit
r2 k,p
r4 p,k

attractive, easy, and no bias

About enough time to blog and run this morning.

I'm doing ok on my list. No exercise yet, but decent on the eating.
Knitting, well, the new sweater is doing better than the others. One and a half sleeves done, and I did the fiddly part of casting on for the body last night. I wanted to make sure I didn't run out during class.

Henry, oh Henry has a sleeve attached. It took me four tries to get it right. I'm about 1/8 down it now. Little chance to finish him this week, but at least he is on his way again.

Starz first sleeve is about half way from the airplane trip. He'll be close to having one sleeve finished by the time we land back in Houston on Friday.

I really wanted to have something finished for my husband when I returned. Well, body to cuff sleeves tend to go quickly past the half way point, so we shall see.

On the weekend, I went to NYC. Both days. The place was filled with men ( and women ) in tights for the Marathon. I went straight to Times Square. That place is like Disneyland now. Twenty years ago, it was full of trash, drunks, hookers, funny smells and a sense of danger. Now it's so clean. I'm not sure I like it this way. But I digress. I stood in line at TKTS, trying to re-live my poor college visits and got a seat for "Wonderful Town". The show was just OK, but Brooke Shields has "star" quality. She dominated the cast. I don't know exactly how that is done, but wow, it's amazing to watch.

On the way out, I dropped into the box office of "Avenue Q", and was fortunate to get a great seat for the Sunday matinee. It was a great show; edgy, funny, and creative. The fun I enjoyed was the poking around topics that we often try to hide. The puppet intercourse was a bit hard to watch.

Anyway, in checking into blogland this morning, I was caught up in a feeling of Schadenfreude. Now, I don't much comment on what other blogs are doing - it's their stuff, and mine is personal and mostly for me. However, "W" vs "dish" got me thinking about that AveQ skit, and I was in the theater againn

Progress on known projects were halted this last week. My manager told us he had been away taking care of his wife who had cancer surgery. I made her two soft chemo hats, and sent them off. I didn't photograph them, as they were sort of boring to look at. Very soft though. One is light brown chenille. The other is wool/silk, bright pink with some black tweedy bits.

POD
Pack, Vote, Fly
Will be away on business for the next 10 days.

Of course, I have entirely unrealistic ideas of what I can accomplish.

FWIW, I plan to:
Stay on a reasonable eating plan.
Exercise most every day.
Finish Hank
Finish Starz
Make a lot of progress on a new project that is destined for my BiL for Xmas.

That means going thru about two skeins a day plus, oh yeah, work.

We will see.

Well, Tuja is now a finished object. Here she is, drying on her towel, waiting for a box and a birthday card. She's going to San Francisco.


We are quite dizzy here, as the Tuja arm as well as the Starz arms are done in the round. I often do arms first, but they are quite a change of pace from the body. I used to get discouraged as they seemed to take sooooo long to do. Then I read that 1/3 of the work in a long sleeved sweater was in the arms. Well, that explains it. I'm not "almost done" when the body is off the needles. Now, especially with these big repeats I like going from a half repeat in a week to a whole repeat in a weekend.

Will show Stars arms later, when it is more developed.

He looks so much nicer with his collar on, don't you agree? I was so pleased with how it looked that I pulled out a needle and sewed it right down. And thank you for the lovely comments. I get all tingly when I rate an "OMG", or someone thinks that little 'ole me is awesome. Pat pat pat.


Inspired by Meg Swanson and BlogDogBlog Lisa, I picked up the arm in pattern, and plan to work the chart sideways for continuation of the pattern, but, of course, in the sideways direction. I think that makes sense. Anyway, for a coherent description, check Meg Swanson's "Knitting" book or the Giant Latvian Mitten Pullover over at BlogDogBlog's archive. Try July 2003. Yes, it was a fussy job, but I've done it once, and can do it again.

Hey Lisa, how does it feel to be mentioned in the same sentence as Meg? Yummy, I think.

In the mean time, I find my interest in blogging waxes and wanes. I'm waneing now, and I don't feel guilty about missing the advertised posting schedule. So there.

Maybe you all can cheer me up. I find that I will be spending the first weekend in November in lovely Central New Jersey. I normally would hide out, maybe try to get into New York for a show and some museums. Any suggestions?

Neck opening picture a day early. Ooooooh oooooh, like it really matters. Well, here he is in his geometric splendor for any blog viewers to enjoy.


Volleyball game today, so the Tuja arm will progress some. I'm 4 inches into it and ready to ditch the double points for two circulars.

I've apparently internalized the ADD thing. I spoke with our pediatritian, and she was quite supportative. She mentioned that often the kids are so very releived to find that they aren't freaks, and there is something simple they can do to deal with their frustration at not being able to focus or not being able to control thier reactions the way their peers can.

Whew, what a weird week. Yes, I dodged the layoff again. The feeling moved from deer in the headlights to run around in circles. Lots of time discussing who's leaving, who's staying, and who's been asked to leave but is desperately trying to find a place.

I spent way too much time in a rental car, visiting people in San Antonio and Lafayette. I finished listening to "The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood. I liked it, Atwoods characters drift about too passively for my usual taste. Then a tiny comment, or incident, and the whole world view changes for them instantly. Took eleven hours of audio book to get there.

We saw daughters head doctor last week who showed us that we have almost certainly a case of ADD on our hands. I've wondered in the past 12 years. Husband has been reading excerpts to me from the recommended book. I'm wondering if this "condition" exists simply because people who don't have it defined what normal is supposed to be. On the great side, we can now observe that she has been adapting like mad the past year or so, developing strategies to work around her impulsiveness. This will take some time to internalize.

One day last week when I had spent too much time driving and working I just sat down and put the arm onto Tuja. I started the second arm yesterday and worked a few inches during the Girl Scout meeting. Straight knitting is comforting. One of the girls in my troop is on medication for ADD and bi-polar disorder. She was very difficult to work with last night and I was wondering if my newer view on ADD affected the situation.

I'm about three rows away from the neck decreases on Starz. Picture then.

Anxiety has broken through.

A large lay off was announced for my business a few weeks ago. I was able to ignore this huge pending change and keep on going for about two weeks. The noise level now can not be overlooked, and the stay/go announcement is this Friday. This is a really "Dilbert-esque" scene. It is going to be bad for those who stay, as they will have to cope with the same work load, but fewer resources. It will be not so good from me to be told to leave. I'm just 1.5 years from lifetime health insurance, or so I believe. The way companies are leaving their employees high and dry, maybe this is also an illusion. Anyway, daily conversations are laced with the pending announcements, and I'm finding it all very hard to deal with.

Now knitblog worthy material. Last spring I finished this vest that I donated as a recognition gift for our Girl Scout service unit. I didn't hook up with the winner before school let out, but she recently called, as she has some stuff for me. She works at a school nearby, and dropped by yesterday so we could trade. I may have commented on how huge this vest seemed, but that she was a large woman, and maybe it would be right. Well, it fit beautifully, and she was quite happy. Big smiles all around.

Tuja fussed at me on Tuesday. I figured that I needed to get the sleeve started before Wednesday's volleyball game, as the edges have a little hem that is fussy and visually intensive. The point of the easy project is to be able to knit and watch the game at the same time. While I was getting the sleeve set up, the body suggested that I ought to finished her up. So, I stayed up late, and did just that. I tried it on, and it's not a bad looking tank. A single crochet around the arms, and put it on.

Both 7th and 8th grade teams won, and won very fast. I think the girls have learned the game protocol so there is less time between serves. We're about 40 rows into sleeve #1 now.

Goodness, so many knitting rings, knit a longs and swaps, it makes my head spin. Want to do it all, must be choosy. I recently added Southern Knitters, and found one just for us big 'ol Texans, so applied for that.

Managed to do some knitting on Starz on the way up to camp. I was way too tired on the way back.

Camp was mostly great - the girls did all the meal planning, and I enabled the shopping. We talked about budgets and money in detail for the first time. They are now aware of how much money their troop has, and how much a camping trip costs. I'm thinking that will make them all the more excited about any freebies they may be offered. We did most of our cooking with charcoal and my buddy burners. We even broke out the hobo stove for sausage Sunday Morning. We got to go swimming and use the camp paddle boats. We even got up for a dawn hike. They did all their capers with only a little prodding, and most of their clean ups. They will be great campers in another year.

Now, the not so great part - for some reason, a car racing venue was opened right next door to the Girl Scout camp. Can you believe it? That's Texas for you - as little oversight over land use as possible. So now, this loveley and historic site is subject to very loud automobile noise on Saturday nights. The noise also scared all the deer away.

I'm going back to this site for a service unit event in about a month. I'm wondering if we should set up next to the track, and try to kum-by-yah them to death, or see if I can get discount tickets to the races. Would that be embracing change, and controlling that which is out of control, or subsidizing the evil noise makers? What do you think?