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?

I had no idea I had really made a cat blanket. Thanks GingGong for setting me straight. For some reason I feel no urge to send this to the critter knitter collection.


One of the wonderful people who left a comment asked what's next? Well..... I've still got a Henry8 on the needles, a Tuja, and a two color sweater on the needles. I'll work on those for a while.

This weekend is dedicated to scouts. Don't anticipate a lot of knitting.

What a hurricane season we've had! Lets send a wish to those folks in the path of Ivan. One of my work friends has a mother in Mobile, too stubborn to leave. The whole team is worried. My daughter asked why the mom didn't go even though her daughter and son asked her to come to their homes. Mom's just don't think they need to do what thier kids tell them to do. I hope I'm not that way when I get there.

Turn up the air conditioning - Ingeborg has arrived.