BrambleStitches

No doubt about it, this weekend ushered in the chilly weather here. Gavin has been outgrowing his clothing at an alarming rate, so the only sweater that fits him now is the one I made for him when he was a baby. The sleeves are starting to get a little short, but the body is quite stretchy, so it will fit for the rest of the winter, I think. The yarn is wool that I hand spun, and the pattern is based on Elizabeth Zimmerman’s  sweater formulas in Knitting Without Tears. I modified it by adding a split neck with buttons (like a Henley). I made the hat (and a matching one for the Man) this spring.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, joined by a couple of Marines Erik works with. It was my most successful dinner party by far. All of the dishes looked pretty and tasted delicious. I don’t have the best track record, so I’m wonderfully proud of myself for pulling this off. At the last minute I threw together an experiment. I took two jars of carrots that I canned up a few weeks ago, threw them in a skillet with a few peeled purple pearl onions (I first boiled the onions for three minutes, then peeled them), and sauteed them together for a few minutes in olive oil. Then I added a tablespoon of butter and a couple tablespoons of brown sugar, and kept shuffling them around on low until everything was dissolved and the veggies were nice and shiny. That was it! It took about six minutes total, and it was delicious! If you start with fresh carrots it probably would take a few more minutes.

Homemaking, Knitting

I’m not really sure what to do about this problem. I have too many–far too many–knitting needles. And I love them all. I’m willing to give some of them up, but how? I have short, long, straight, fixed-tip circular, interchangeable circular, and double pointed American, Canadian, and metric numbered needles. There must be hundreds of them. Pictured are the needles I’m prepared to part with (and a few crochet hooks, too)–and there are still plenty more that I’m keeping for my greedy self.

I’ve thought about making needle rolls and selling them with a few pairs of needles as a little starter kit. I need to make myself a couple needle rolls anyway, so making a few extras should be no big deal, right? Some of them are damaged or rusting, so they’ll just make a short trip to the garbage. Others are missing their mates, and some are sticky with tape from the thrift store from whence they came (an easy fix that I simply haven’t taken the time for). Some double pointed sets only have two or three needles, or are crooked. For the most part, though, there’s nothing wrong with them. I just don’t need five sets of number 7s, all the same length. (I may need three sets, but not five.) I’ve thought about trading them away for things I need, but I can’t think of anything at all that I "need" besides a good lesson in organization and clutter-proofing. I’ve even thought about just flat out giving them away, but I have this mental block about that. (It’s the same with all that fabric I have that I know I’ll never use… there’s nothing wrong with it, so I can’t get rid of it.) For now I’m keeping these segregated from my "keeper" needles and hooks while I figure out exactly what to do with them. I know it shouldn’t be so hard, but we’re talking about a borderline hoarder here, so bear with me. If you have any ideas, or if you want some, leave me a comment and we can probably work something out.

*22 May update!

The needles have found a new home with Cosy, who teaches people to knit in her community! How cool is that? She also makes and sells some really delicious knit goods over at her shop, Cosy Knits Literally. You should all go check her out, as she is saving me from my stash and increasing the knitting population at the same time. Yay!

Knitting

I’m taking a teeny break this morning to work on my knitting. It’s not the project I showed you last week (I haven’t finished that yet, either), this time I’m working on my TKGA class "Basics, Basics, Basics."

(Note: if you scroll back far enough in my archives, you’ll find that I already have done a lot of work on the "Master Knitter Level One" course. Why, then, the regression to "Basics?" The truth is, after knitting, blocking, and analyzing all of the swatches, I realized I’m still missing some foundation skills, like how to make my ribbing and edge stitches straight and the right way to increase in ribbing.) This time the class is a three-lesson correspondence course, so I’ll be getting some good feedback on my knitting over the next few months.

Oh, and for my boss (hi Dad!)–don’t worry–I’m only taking a little time off this morning. I think the one you need to worry about is that business manager of yours. I have it right from the source that she’ll "put it off til the bitter end like usual."

Knitting

We’re taking a quick trip to visit my mom this week, and since the weather in Utah still resembles Winter more than Spring, I thought I’d knit the kids a couple new hats.

Miss O’s hat is knit in Old Shale pattern, with hand painted, hand spun Merino yarn. I bought the roving in Arizona while I was pregnant with Big G, and I’ve been hemming and hawing over what to make with it. I spun the yarn into fingering/sport weight singles. It really turned out beautiful.

Big G’s hat uses Brown Sheep Company’s Top of the Lamb and Lamb’s Pride. The red is leftover from a vest I knit for Erik several years ago. The three shades of gray are a gift from Erik’s step-mom, Susan. They’re all delightfully soft. Even Big G, who generally rips hats right off his head as soon as he realizes he has one on, kept touching his hat, then leaving it on. He wore it for at least two hours straight inside the house. Erik has requested a grownup version if this hat for himself, so I’ve already cast on for that.

Knitting

I’m so proud of myself. I’m finishing projects! (Hey, Mom!
Did you hear that? I’m FINISHING stuff! Isn’t that exciting?)

This week I:

Finished two custom-ordered baby girl sweaters. They came
out beautiful! I couldn’t find suitable buttons for them, so I decided to knit
some buttons, and they are just perfect. Blocked them, made pretty tags, and
packaged them up for two very special January babies.

Made a custom-ordered pair of baby shoes.

Knit a few dishcloths (including the “ball-band dishcloth”
featured in Mason-Dixon Knitting), and crocheted three new potholders for us. I
was given a lovely set of these potholders as a bridal shower gift, and always
intended to figure out the pattern. Finally did! Used up about one pound of
Peaches & Crème yarn. (Still have almost two pounds to go.)

Reattached a button to my favorite dress, which has been
languishing on the mending pile for two years. (TWO years—for ONE button…
sigh.)

Undid the crocheted seams of a baby sweater I knit before I
was married, then re-did them properly using mattress stitch. Removed the too-small
buttons, and replaced them with a larger set. Now the sweater is blocking on
the ironing board.

Finished frogging a handknit thrifted sweater. The yarn is
beautiful peach mercerized cotton, about dk or light worsted weight.

Also frogged a half-knitted garter stitch blanket, after I
realized I had mixed dyelots. I never really liked it anyway.

Finished two “heartbreakingly cute” baby sweaters featured
in Mason-Dixon Knitting. I started them sometime in the fall. Both are cotton
(one knit from the above mentioned cotton). Knit a little hat to go with one.

Crocheted a fluffy scarf using the biggest crochet hook I’ve
ever seen in my life. Used up several odd-ball skeins of Lion Brand “Jiffy”
yarn that I’ve had for ages. Some of it was leftover from a lap blanket I made
for The Man when we were dating, some was my Baba’s, and one skein I recognize
as the leftovers from a sweater Grandma Kathy knit for my middle brother.

Made 14 cloth menstrual pads using the incredibly excellent
pattern and directions from Adahy (http://shewhorunsintheforest.googlepages.com),
and by so doing, reduced my flannel stash a bit. Also gave the snap press a
little exercise. These are great! I love them. And anyone who is suffering under the delusion of ickyness–I’ve been cloth diapering for almost three years, now. This is way less gross.

Boxed up a bunch of hand-knitted hats to send to the Dulaan Project. More about that here: http://www.fireprojects.org/dulaan.htm

Cut out a bunch of new shoes for the shop. Look how cute!

Whew! Time for a hot tea break.

Cloth Diapers, Knitting, Sewing, Shop updates

These are my daddy’s feet, in the socks I knit for them. They fit, he loves them, I’m happy.

Olga colored a card for Daddy, and one for Grampa, and Olga and Gavin bought their daddy some wonderful manly-scented shaving soap. It smells delicious, so of course he smells delicious. We’re all happy.

Knitting

Cast off edges are together, right sides up. We will call the lower piece "front," since it will be closest to you while you work, and the other "back."

On front, bring your yarn needle up thru the center of a "V".

On back, insert needle to side of "V" and come out the other side.

On front insert needle thru the same hole you started in, and come out thru the center of the next "V."

Continue alternating the last two steps…

…and you’ll get this. I worked the second half of the row in a matching color so you can see how well it blends.

And from the back it looks like this.

Knitting, Techniques & Tutorials

This is the best ribbing bind off, but it only works for 1 x 1 rib. You will almost certainly need to click on the photos for a better view.

Top of the sock, still on four needles. I like to put the sock on two needles, before I work this bind off, but it’s really a matter of personal preference. Leave a tail of yarn long enough to go around the sock at least four times. Thread your blunt needle.

Begin with a knit stitch. Insert your needle as if to purl (from back to front) thru the knit stitch.

(A different view of the step above.)

Next, insert your needle as if to knit (front to back) thru the next stitch, which should be a purl stitch.

(A closer view of the step above.)

* Go back to the first knit stitch (the one you "purled" thru) and run your needle front to back thru this stitch, then slip it off the needle.

Next take your yarn in front of the purl stitch you’ve already worked, and insert it back to front thru the next knit stitch. Snug up your yarn.

Go back to the purl stitch and insert your needle back to front and slip it off the knitting needle.

Next is the tricky part. Take your needle behind the knit stitch, then between the knit stitch and purl stitch…

… so you can insert it front to back in the purl stitch, like this.

Repeat from * After binding of a few stitches, this is what it will look like.

After binding off all the stitches, this is what it will look like.

Knitting, Techniques & Tutorials