Work In Progress

Fit for a King (FO)

We bring 2010's parade of FOs to a close with one of which I'm particularly proud.

First and foremost because I was able to make it a complete surprise for the recipient, namely Partner.

Always a win when you can knit something right under the nose of someone with whom you live.  And yes, I am attempting to write this without ending sentences with a preposition.

However, Partner is - quite happily to me - very interested, supportive and engaged in my knitting obsession hobby.  So, I actually accomplished this feat by knitting the gift when he was not around or, more accurately, when I was not around.  You may have noticed an absence of knitting during my Australia trip photos.  Do not be fooled.

Partner was quite curious why I was insistent that he should wait for blog posts to see pictures from Australia.  Of course, with 400 or so pictures to wade through, it was easy enough to believe my claim that I wanted him to see the best pictures.  But really, it was just to hide the WIP shots until after Christmas.

I cheated a bit and used a heavy fingering weight yarn, but come on - I couldn't imagine doing a pair of men's socks on US0s! Though in the original, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee did use light fingering weight yarn.  But SPM I am not so there was some calculating required to get this to work with my yarn and my US3s, casting on 57 stitches instead of 70.

Twenty-five hours on a plane = nearly one sock

So the yarn was an intended modification.  An unintended modification was my rather regretable decision to wait until I was on the plane to Melbourne to actually read the directions.

You see, in Stephanie's pictures, it looked (to me) like little bubbles up the sides of the socks.  So, I started the socks, stumbled upon the direction to "purl the second stitch on the left needle, then knit the first one, then slide them off together" and was stumped.  Unable to figure out how to accomplish this and unable reference the knowledge of Ravelry, I decided I was "close enough."

I should probably not admit that it was not until the second sock that I realized the "bubbles" were cables.  Yes, I have sent back my knitter's badge.  So "close enough" would, in knitter's parlance, be called twisting the cables the wrong way.  Of course, by then there was no way I was ripping out anything so my cables are all twisted the wrong way round.

Another modification was to do 3.5 repeats of the pattern on the leg before doing the heel flap.  I'm not sure this was a good idea as it put some cabling near the split for the heel flap.  I also felt that the stitches were too lose along the gusset so I knit through the back loop on the stitches before and after my SSKs and K2togs, respectively.  Finally, I wasn't sure if the cables would be uncomfortable on the heavier yarn so I decided to continue the cable pattern down the outside of the foot only.  Of course, when I took some FO shots, I discovered that it must not be too uncomfortable since you can see Partner is wearing these with the cable on the inside of the foot.  I'm glad since I don't like to think too hard when I put on socks.

Because I got sick while in Australia, I didn't finish quite as quickly as I thought I would, weaving in the ends on the train to the airport.  But still, a pair of men's socks in two weeks.  I have proof:

Yes, I did get a few odd looks on the train, but I'm used to those.  I was so happy to find on Christmas morning that I'd managed to get the length perfectly and there was nothing left to do but weave in the ends on the toes. Partner likes them quite a lot, so a very good way to wrap up the new year:

Pattern: Earl Grey
Final measurements: Men's Size 10.5
Yarn: Chameleon Dyeworks Pippi
Modifications: Only other modification was to not decrease as many stitches on the toe, since I thought it made it too pointy.
Knitting yardage total 2010: 5,020

Chunky and tedious (FO)

A couple weeks before Christmas, Abi at Spiderwomanknits showed off a quick pair of slippers she'd finished.  Even though I'd promised I wouldn't do any last minute knitting, I thought that surely I could whip up a pair for Boy #2 before Christmas.

Nola Slippers are made with worsted yarn held double to fit a men's size 9.  I figured that with chunky held double, these would easily fit Boy #2's size 12 feet.  Knowing the great likelihood these would get lost in laundry, I went with machine washable.  And, I also feared that they might not be mindfully taken care of, so I went at the lower end with Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky.  Considering that when I went looking for these for the photoshoot I found one underneath a chair runner, I feel validated.

my size 8, next to the slipper

However, malabrigo this yarn is not and since I made the error of not going up in needle size even though I had heavier yarn, these were pretty much torture on my hands. As written, these are knit in garter, but I thought that looked sloppy so I switched to stockinette for the sides and bottom.  This was horrid, since purling with wool/acrylic yarn held double on too-small needles is really a form of masochism. But  I think that it ended up a better product.

Tragically, I ran out of yarn nearly at the end and had to buy a new skein of yarn for nine stupid yards.  I have become so annoyed by leftover yarn.

I endeavored to be rid of it and also whip out another Christmas gift.  I found a chunky hat pattern requiring exactly 150 yards of chunky yarn, and plithely knit away, thinking I'd found a gift for my brother and would have no leftovers.  But my brother is thin and this hat was turning out a bit large.  And annoyingly, having finished a beanie, I had quite a bit of yarn left over.

No worries, I re-racked and since Partner was making noises that he liked the color and pattern, decided it was another gift for him.  I stole it back for Christmas.  And he wanted a brim, so I kept knitting so it could be folded back.  Of course, with four inches of brim, I still had leftover yarn!!! How can a yarn estimate be so far off???

Except, ummm, it still didn't quite fit.

So, I've admitted defeat and am donating this hat to Pine Ridge Reservation in the hopes that a large headed person will need a warm hat.  I will say, I liked the pattern and think I'll probably have to make Partner one that actually fits.  The pattern got lost in the heathering, but kind of an ingenious way to do increases.

Pattern: Hill Country Hat
Final measurements: Huge
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease Chunky
Modifications: I made a fold over brim instead of a beanie.
Knitting yardage total 2010: 4,369

---

Pattern: Nola Slippers
Final measurements: Men's Size 12
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool Ease
Modifications:
1) in addition to above, I did a 4 inch cuff instead of 6 inch.
2) Like a lot of free patterns I've seen lately, they want you to whip stitch the slipper closed.  I don't get having a ridge on the bottom, so I kitchenered the bottom and mattress stitched the cuff.
3) I did fewer decrease rows, mostly because I knew I was running low on yarn, but with chunky yarn, it was also ending up quite wide.
Knitting yardage total 2010: 4,678

A Scarf for Ron (FO)

When I was looking at the FOs left to post about, I was shocked to realize I never posted this.  I actually started drafting the post in September!

When I was a kid, I fell in love with baseball and the Oakland Athletics were my team.  I wanted to be a catcher, go to Arizona State University like my hero Mr. October, and be the first female baseball player.  None of that happened, of course.  (Not of course because it couldn't happen, but because you probably would have realized by now if this blog were written by a female professional baseball player that happened to like to knit).

I still love watching baseball.  And the A's are still my favorite team.

Back in the late 1990's, Ron Washington was their third base coach.  It wasn't the best of times, 1997 - 2006, but he was still there, coaching some of the best infielders of the day - Eric Chavez, Miguel Tejada, Scott Hatteberg.

And when the team was bought out by the craptastic owner of Len Wolff, a real estate mogul, he's been there.  Even when Len Wolff applies the standard of buy low and sell high - i.e. develop awesome young players and then sell them and pocket the money for yourself, Ron was there.  And the A's slid further into crapitude.

Crapitude like weaving in 2 grams, or 7 yards of ends

Three years ago, the A's were looking for a new manager.  And they interviewed Ron Washington.  And then the jerks hired their General Manager's best friend.  Which I've always thought was a pretty shitty move - pretend you're going to give a guy a chance when you're going to pick someone else the whole time.

And Ron saw the writing on the wall.  And, after that, he took a job with the Texas Rangers.  The lowly, cellar-dwelling Rangers.  But, as you might know if you watched the World Series this year, the Rangers? they don't suck anymore.

So, as I was finishing up my Oakland Athletics supporter scarf in September, I was at a game between the Rangers and the Athletics.  And I was rooting for the Rangers.  I was rooting for Ron.  They waited until the next night to clinch the division (an important thing, if you don't know).  But I finished my scarf and I thought.  This scarf is for a true Oakland Athletic. For a guy who cares more about baseball, about training the next generation, about winning, about loyalty.  Not just the bottom line.

This scarf is for you Ron.  I hope in 2011 you win the whole thing.

dear god, what is with that chin?

Pattern: Thin Mint Scarf
Final measurements: 5x58 inches
Yarn: Newton Cashmere Merino
Modifications:
1) Used something approaching heaving fingering, so cast on 64 stitches
2) I realized for the second half that there was no reason to "unknit" the other half so I did a provisional cast on; thank god, because taking out the first one was a pain.
3) I did 8 and 16 row stripes.
4) The pattern calls for the decreases to be at the very end and beginning of the sides.  And to do a SSK, THEN a k2tog.  That looks goofy so I thought it made more sense to do the same you'd do with socks.  So I did a K2tog, K1... other side K1, SSK.
5) really, a 3-needle bind off to join the two sides?  No way.  I kitchenered that bad boy.  Which sounded like a much better idea when its ten stitches on a sock and not 64 stitches on a scarf. But there is no seam... awesome.
Hint: when you're weaving in ends, cross the yarn and weave in the added color, then the ending color.  It created near jogless stripes.  Which I didn't even understand until I tried to carry the yarn between stripes.
Knitting yardage total 2010: 4,239

Waratah Parliment (FO)

I have more pictures from Katoomba, I promise, but I realized that it is Jan 17th and I have FOUR FOs from 2010 that I still haven't blogged.  I had this wonderful plan that this FO would come after a series of other posts, but we're going to set that aside and jump ahead of the story.

You will find that a theme on this blog is jumping on the pattern bandwagon about a year or so after others.  Such is the case with Kate Davies O.W.L.S. sweater.  The collection of finished sweaters, Kate calls her Parliment.

The problem after discovering the pattern was finding a chunky wool in Northern California.  Because, let's be honest, there really isn't a need for it, is there?  One of my goals in Australia was to find a yarn for the pattern. I finally found a nice yarn at Katoomba Knitting.

So, because I'm so far behind in posting, you get all the WIP and FO shots in one go...

A WIP shot that shows two things:

1) the attention to detail in Kate's designs -  namely in having the ribbing on the sleeves longer than the hem so than when joined up, the ribbing lines up.

2) that bras in a wildly different colors from WIPs should not be used when capturing the wonders of intricate design elements for the blog.  Especially sateen ones that catch the light through all the knit stitches.

 The moment when the reality of using 53 meter balls of yarn to knit a sweater hit home.  Weaving in ends took an hour... when I finally did it.

This is a craptastic picture, which I tried to crop, but what I'm trying to show is the back puckering.  This is a common complaint that I found on Ravelry.  To combat this problem, I ended up doing two different sizes for the waist down and the waist up of the sweater.

On the next shot, my arms are out to get rid of the back puckering.  It's really not bad, most of the time.  It's a sweater that encourages good posture.

Check out the sexy back shaping.  All the decreases and increases are in the back of the sweater.  Normally there would be equal decreases and increases.  But, I cast on for a size 4 (38") to accommodate my hips, than did extra decreases to keep it form-fitting through the waist.  I then only increased back up to a size 3 (36") in order to have two inches of negative ease through the chest to combat the puckering concerns.  Makes sense, right?

 In the middle of the FO photo shoot, I heard Partner say the dreaded words,

"Is that a hole?"

 Crap.

The sleeves and body are grafted together in the armpits.  Evidently, I didn't do a very good job.  However, I really wanted to debut this at the office Christmas party and then I was lazy, so I still didn't try to fix it before Christmas when I wore it at my sister's.  Which meant the hole above was joined by two others on the other armpit.

Double crap.

In fact, I may be courting disaster with knitting kharma by calling this an FO post.  I finally repaired the holes this weekend, but I haven't washed it and worn it.  Hopefully my completely-made-up, I-don't-know-what-I'm doing, and why-didn't-I-take-the-"seaming and other finishing techniques"-class? reinforcing will hold.

If you want a quick sweater, chunky yarn is the way to go!  I think this took me three weeks with several days of zero knitting.  Goofy full body shot to show the fitted nature of the sweater.  America's Next Top Model, I am not.  Wish the crop function was working.  No, I hadn't woven in the ends yet.

I decided to only put eyes on one of my owls.

 While on my Ruined Castle hike, I took my favorite picture of the vacation.  Partially it was because it took me nearly 10 shots to get it "just right."  And partially because "just right" ended up being better than I could have hoped.  I'm not a good photographer, I just sometimes get lucky.  This was down a hill side, hidden behind other plants and in the mist.

This is a Waratah, the floral emblem for the state of New South Wales.  Pretty much as soon as I picked the yarn, I knew...

My Waratah Parliment...

 

Comments on the pattern: The pattern doesn't seem clear on how to join the sleeves.  I assumed that I just started by joining a sleeve to the body.  But I realized during the neck shaping that I was completely wrong and should have started in the back.  I was not ripping out the entire yoke so I faked it.  I also had to rearrange the pattern of the owls so that they would be centered on the front which required figuring out the center stitch and working the pattern back from there.  I wouldn't have thought of this, but for the comments on Ravelry.  There are groups devoted to each of her patterns and I found it super useful both for the back pucker issue and the owl placement.

Pattern: owls
Yarn: Cleckheaton Countrywide - it says it's 14ply or super chunky but it knits up as chunky or 12 ply.
Modifications: Cast on for a size 4, 3 decreases past what the pattern says, increase back to a size 3.
Knitting yardage total 2010: 3,699

The Orchid Keeper (FO)

After my time in Melbourne, I took a train to Canberra. 

Beeyore and I loved the old train stations.
Beeyore is just excited about train rides in general...

Toot! Toot!

A long drought has finally ended in Australia.  The entire train trip was green fields and flowers.

While in Canberra, I knew I was going to have a chance for a quick visit with a sweet friend, Chrys.

Chrys and I met several years ago at a mutual friends wedding and since then she's hosted me a few times in Canberra.  She's fantastic as a Canberra tour guide - I've been all around the area, including visiting beaches, wool shops and even a couple settler's farms.

Last year, her parents were kind enough to let me stay with them for several days.  In addition to be kind-hearted and funny people, her Mom is an amazing cook!  The old Greek family recipes are mouth-watering.  And, another of her amazing talents in growing orchids.  I swore I had some pictures of her tables of orchids, but somehow managed to miss that in my mad picture taking. 

At any rate, I wanted to give Chrys's Mom a special thank you gift.  I finally decided on Green Thumb, thinking that it would help keep her hands warm while she was working on her lovely flowers, but leave her fingers free to work.

I knit these over two days - the day I saw the penguins and then finished the pair the next day on the train to Canberra. 

These are super fast.  I'll be honest and say that it's not that hard a pattern, but I couldn't have figured it out on my own.  I used only 126 yards of yarn - just 5 yards left over - so it's a great way to use up single skeins.  I bought the yarn the first year I was knitting, before I had any clue how much yarn to buy for projects.
This was a quick knit, essentially mindless and I think makes a classy last minute gift. 

The "pair," taking the train to meet the Orchid Keeper

I can't believe this is my first FO post in nearly two months!

Pattern: Green Thumb
Yarn: Lana Grossa Novella - discontinued
Modifications: I didn't do a gauge swatch, so these are slightly longer than the pattern, but no modifications.
Knitting yardage total 2010: 2,988

Jane Meets Eyre Travel (FO)

Settle in for a long flight...

Earlier this month, I had to attend a three day conference in Washington D.C.  Having been really really busy, I was pretty excited about having uninterrupted knitting time on the plane.  Oh, and a chance to do important work too.  Yeah, that's it.

So, with about a week's warning, I immediately decided that this was the perfect opportunity to make serious progress on my Mountain View cardigan.  

I lie.  

I immediately rationalized that plane travel and lace-weight yarn don't mix.  Never mind that scarf that I did on the way to Russia.  Nope, the cardigan should stay at home.

Last year, during the Haiti relief drive on Ravelry, I bought several patterns I'd been eyeing, including the wonderful Wandering the Moors pattern.  Jane Eyre is my favorite book.  I have a shelf of different editions of Jane Eyre that range from 70 years old to Penguin paperbacks. 

At nearly the same time, the talented Karin had a generous giveaway - buy any yarn and get a skein of sock yarn.  When my free skein arrived, I immediately wanted to pair it with Wandering the Moors.  But the designer, Celeste, said I'd probably run out of yarn.  So I sighed and set both aside.

But the idea wouldn't go away. I trolled Ravelry until I found a version that used just less than the amount of yarn I had.  Finally, I couldn't resist the opportunity for collosal failure any longer.  So I wound up my North Sea Watercolors II sock yarn and printed out the pattern.  I gave myself the goal of trying to finish a small shawlette during my four day trip.  I also decided to force myself to learn to knit from a chart (I cheat sometimes and use the written versions) so I only took the chart with me.

Day #1:

I started by swatching to get the gauge of the version I'd found.  Wonder of wonders, I got it the first time with US6s.  With a lay over in Phoenix, I was able to knit for 5.5 hours.  I know you're jealous!

 
                                                       Peeyore insisted on modeling

Day #2 and #3: not much knitting got done.  Only about 1.5 hours.  I was able to just start the lace pattern.  I felt that there was so much yarn left over, I decided to go up to US7s for the lace to get more drape.  I knew the risks involved, but did it anyway.

Day #4:

I was back on the plane and somewhere over Arizona... TA DA!

 
                                                    Peeyore was as shocked as I was!

I blocked it.  I adore the drape that I got from blocking it very, very hard.  I wouldn't normally treat yarn that way, but Celeste made a point of it in the directions.  Looking back, I probably should have woven the blocking wires through the edge more closely in order to get the straight edge that Celeste got.  I also should have worked harder on symetry - one wing is 29.5 inches and the other 28.5 inches.  To the point it's 28 inches.

 

And then, in half a day, she was dry. 

In a perfect world, I'd have found a moor for the photo shoot.  My drying laundry and tomato plants will have to do.  I did remember to put on a better shirt and brush my hair.  Yay me.

Even though I knit the small version, this came out much larger than I expected.  It's really larger than a shawlette, which I'm happy about.

I have to talk a little about this yarn.  I fell in love with Karin's yarn over the internet because of the colors.  I'm big into being able to touch my yarn, but took a leap of faith.  I'm so glad I did.  All in all, the yarn was wonderful to work with.  It's a wool/nylon blend, so after four hours it was rough on my hands.  I'm guessing a little moisturizer would have helped.  But after a Euclan bath, the yarn is wonderfully soft, even scrunched up around my neck.  There were some parts of the skein that were overspun but were completely unnoticeable, even before blocking.

What I love about the yarn are the colors and the stitch definition.  Somehow Karin creates lovely, subtle color changes.  The yarn was a constant, but gradual, series of changes.  Oh, and no pooling if that worries you.  Here is a snap I took of the lace pattern before blocking.  It's a good picture of the lace repeat as well as showing what great stitch definition you can get.

 
I would have posted sooner, but there was a little mystery with this project.  For all my worry about running out of yarn, I actually have a fair bit left over and a bigger shawl than I'd planned on getting. 

I weighed the shawl, 120 grams.  I weighed my left overs, 8 grams.  I thought I was using Watercolors, 100 g, 420 yards.  I couldn't find the tag that had been on the yarn.

I emailed Karin and sent her pics.  She quickly told me I actually had Watercolors II, 120 g, 400 yards.  I'm still a bit amazed she could tell from pictures, but moving on.... So apparently, my free skein was also super-sized!  Mystery solved.

I'm very happy to say that you can make a beautiful, medium sized shawl with one skein of Karin's wonderful yarn.  Though, unless you can tell that it weighs more than 120g at the beginning, I'd probably stick with US6s throughout... I don't think I could have managed tearing out an entire lace panel when I was a yard or two short. 

                                               Six days from skein winding to FO.

                                           Jane, meet Eyre travel.  I think I love you.

Pattern: Wandering the Moors (and my rav link)
Yarn: The Periwinkle Sheep, Watercolors II sock yarn, North Sea
Modifications: US6 for stockinette, US7 for lace
                       I did a 2 stitch garter-stitch border on the lace portion instead of what was recommended.
                       I replaced all K3tog with Sl1 K2tog PSO
Knitting yardage total 2010: 2,862 

Requiem for a squash (FO)

Hi there.  I really didn't intend to be quiet for so long.  The trip to D.C. was only for four days and I have all kinds of great knitting things that happened when I was gone.  But life has sort of gotten in the way, both good and bad.  And I couldn't find the flash drive, blah blah blah... so yeah, it's been a few weeks.

So, remember a few several many weeks ago when I was chatting up my spaghetti squash?  It looked like this:

Unfortunately, that was apparently the beginning of the end.  I don't know if it was the camera flash or something more traditional, such as blight, but pretty much as soon as that picture was taken, the squash plant started to die.  A couple weeks ago, it looked like this:

 

*sniff, sniff*

 

A beautiful squash sitting in a desolate landscape.

 

Partner raked it up and put in the compost bin while I wasn't looking.  That was probably good.  I was waiting for a resurrection. 

 

And, a quick distraction this past weekend while helping my aunt move some furniture up to my sister in Oregon:

 
I shamelessly stole this pattern idea from Melissa... why be original when you can be good?  

This washcloth is the smaller of a pair, with a 34 stitch cast-on.  It's 37 stitch cast-on partner was wrapped up at the last minute when I realized it was nearly done and could be an extra birthday gift for my sister.  Cool.  

 

From one ball of varigated Sugar 'N Cream, I was able to make two washclothes in two days and have zero waste.  Very cool.

Pattern: Double Bump Dishcloth (and my rav link)
Yarn: Sugar 'n Cream Ombre, Natural Ombre
Modifications: For the smaller, a 34 stitch cast-on.  I also added I-cord loops to both clothes.  Not a single bit of wasted yarn!
Knitting yardage total 2010: 2,462

Distraction (FO)

I'm continuing to plug away on the cardigan and one of these days I'll even post an update, as I've been threatening.

In the mean time, I found a quick distraction, the Darkside Cowl:

all that shine?  It's real!

I bought this yarn at my first Stitches West, two and a half years ago.  A new knitter, I had no idea how much yarn to buy or what I could make.  There are many single skeins of beautiful yarn that were bought when I had money but no knowledge of yarn requirements or my skill level.  This yarn, a tencel/merino blend, remains one of the more expensive yarns I've ever bought. (Hint: more than Red Heart and less than quivut)

I've lovingly petted this yarn for awhile, pulled it out to show people, and moved it twice.  A couple years ago, I was able to go to Nancy Finn's dye studio in Willits, CA.  I have to say, walking on to her land, with llamas curiously watching what I was up to, had me ready to quit my job and become a dyer.  I may have gone a bit crazy on the yarn purchases.  This yarn is pure squish and pleasantly warm.

I'll admit that I'm still not quite sure about the whole cowl thing.  It kept me warm while working outside on a cold "summer" morning, but I'm still not convinced as to its utility.  I'll let you know this winter.  

And I can't really say that I can complain, BUT... I picked this pattern because it called for 180 yards of yarn - exactly what was in the skein.  But now I'm done and I have nearly half a skein left.  In the end, I used only 109 yards.  Who can complain about having beautiful yarn left over... but still, what to do with the remaining yarn?  There is a satisfaction in finishing a project with no yarn leftovers (assuming it's not accompanied by a growing panic of running out on the last row).  A friend suggested fingerless gloves, so we'll see how that works.

 

 so, in addition to considering my clothing, I need to remember to wear lipstick when taking cowl pics?!?!

Oh, and because one distraction wasn't enough, on impulse I took a class on fair isle, something I've wanted to learn for awhile.  Amazing what can be created, but fiddily as can be.  I won't be doing any Fair Isle sweaters on US3s any time soon.

this is about the size of a cell phone/I-phone cozy

Far less interesting, but infinitely more necessary, we've been working on this:

This is most of a lot of a little bit of the stuff in our garage.  We're making mad progress 
and - PSA - if you live in our area, we'll be having an awesome garage sale soon....

But really, I'm going to work on the cardigan, I promise....

Pattern: Darkside Cowl (and my rav link - which isn't too enlightening at the mo)
Yarn: Chasing Rainbow Dyeworks, tencel/merino blend, colorway: Tartan - this is NOT the yarn on Ravelry.  This is a single ply aran weight yarn.
Modifications: None
Knitting yardage total 2010: 2,367

I felt redemption (FO)

A long time ago, you may remember my colossal FAIL trying to felt.  To immediately go on a tangent, I have found out who Sasquatch is, but I'll tell you about that later.

Anyway, I was heading down to see my friend again and through that it was high time to rectify my non-gift giving of Christmas.  And I'd found a perfect yarn while in Mt Shasta.  Cascade Paint 220

Of course, I once again decided to start at the last minute.  After looking at other people's attempts at the DROPS slippers on Ravelry, I found that most people were unsatisfied with the results.  So, given my inability to explain why my 7.5 ladies slipper fits Sasquatch, and the rather poor outcomes of others, I decided to look for a new pattern.

I found the Marsh Felted Slippers, a simple free pattern on Ravelry.  When I looked through different projects, I really liked one project that eliminated the ankle cuff.  I contacted wieske to find out what part of the pattern she'd omitted only to find out she made a "mistake," accidently doing garter rather than stockinette throughout.  Well, a mistake it may have been, but I loved it.  I did a few rows of stockinette, hoping to set up bit of a rolled edge and then did garter stitch throughout.  I also kitchenered the bottom, instead a three-needle bind-off.  Fortunately my skein was a little generous because I needed 226 yards in my 220 yard skein.  

 

no better morning than coffee and knitting in the garden

The first part of it went as you'd expect.  A pair of perfectly huge, misshapen slippers.

Twice through the washing machine and I was ready to scream!  It was happening again!

Oh wait, if I push my foot to the front... and shape the heel... that doesn't look so bad! 

But then I was afraid it would be too small.  So I shoved the slippers full of socks so the toes wouldn't shrink any more (I really had no idea if it would work).

It did.  The rubber bands caused a couple problems but I'm hoping the band marks fade.
Redemption!  And she was quite happy.  I am pretty darn happy too.

 

Internet is being a little persnickety so I don't know when I'll be posting again....

Pattern: Marsh Felted Slippers
Yarn: Cascade Paint 220
Modifications: Garter stitch throughout, kitchener bind off on foot.
Knitting yardage total 2010: 2,258

A burping garden (FO)

Hey!  El Nino is over!  La Nina is making her way here, but at the mo, we're back to (near)-normal.  Which means it's finally warm around these parts.  Well, except for the 60 degree weather we had last week....

BUT, finally, the garden is producing fruit!  A mere 100-and-something days after it was planted, my early girl tomato plant finally has a red tomato.  Never mind that it is smaller than a cherry tomato.  Never mind that I'm supposed to have tomatoes at 75 days.  That's probably just a (very rough) guide (that assumes good conditions).  Whatever!  A tomato!  My end all, be all, favorite vegetable!  Wahoo!

Unfortunately, it got some kind of mold... too much moisture.  

It's gone... in one bite.  It was soooo good!

Here is what our garden looked like before:

And now:

Lettuce: We had to replant some new plants; a very good yield from the first round, but not great.  Unfortunately, the cilantro bolted.  I didn't know what bolting was until it was too late.  

Strawberry plant = fail.  Jury is still out on the basil plant.  

Snap peas = yum!  We have put the first batch in stirfry and I ate some off the plants today.  It reminded me of picking peas on my grandparents farm.  This is the 100% recycled trellis we made: twine, branches, and posts left behind in the yard from previous renters.

Peppers are finally growing, but still no fruit.  Well, there was one pepper, but Beckerman sent it flying while defending his yard from the "evil" cat next door, Max.  *sigh* There are two other pepper plants, but they are less promising.

The thyme plant (peeking behind the pepper plant) is growing and we've been able to harvest some for drying.  We could have harvested it fresh, but I broke a branch off, so now we're drying it.  It smells wonderful!

I am so excited about the spaghetti squash!  There are a few others on the plant.  We'd had others, but I now suspect that kidden may have knocked them off.  I'm not sure how else to account for their mysterious disappearance and the fact that the addition of gates have allowed these to grow.  That puppy is about 2 inches long.  Woot!

What do you get when you combine a cat litter container and an invasive plant?  Great yield of mint, apparently.

The cabbage has been a colossal fail.  We're pretty sure it's not savoy perfection cabbage, which should form heads, despite what the little plastic thingy said.  We have something that doesn't form heads, and we're pretty sure it's past it's prime.  No matter though - because grey aphids have invaded.  We threw 4 of 6 plants in the compost bucket.  I'm pretty sure the other two will follow soon.  I guess the grey aphids decided we weren't using them, so they'd move in.  

 Bummer.

The chard has been a dream.  We've harvested three times, and a fourth time today.  We've always used it in stirfry, but Rachel has me dreaming of quiche.

All kinds of yummy tomatoes that are growing.  I can't wait until they are ready.  I have a dream of eating tomatoes off the vine, warmed by the afternoon sun.

Did I mention that I love tomatoes?  We have four plants: one early girl, an heirloom roma, a common cherry, and a green grape (small, cherry-like) plant.

Today we cleared some branches with the hope that we'll get more sun in the yard and will reap the benefits.  I don't know why I'm including this, but when I was scanning the pics, I discovered a gratuitious picture of yours truly, pruning tomato plants.  Don't worry, I spared you (me?) the close up of my double-chin.

Beckerman likes the garden.  No, I have no idea why he decided to hang out in a "cage." And yes, he did this all on his own.  Oh, that would be the dead strawberry plant and the ??? basil plant.  

Later he took in the late afternoon sun:

 And in a completely unrelated note, I was able to finish a knitted item in ONE DAY. The burp washcloth! It was a lot of fun.  I'm glad it only took one day, because when I mentioned to new daddy that the baby was due on Monday (tomorrow) he replied, "oh the baby was born four days ago." Yes, it only took 73 yards.  It's no cardigan, but hopefully the new mama is happy.  Apparently she's trying to learn to knit, so I left her with the remaining cotton to practice.  Baby J was fussy, so we didn't spend too much time with him.  But he's right next door, so I hope to see him again soon.

Hope you all had a great weekend too.  I will now finish my shot(s) of Bailey's and go to bed, where I probably should have been awhile ago.

Pattern: Burp Baby Cloth (and rav)
Yarn: Sugar 'n Cream Solids
Modifications: A few: changed the boots, added some spaces between features.  Check out my ravelry page, if you're interested.
Knitting yardage total 2010: 2,032