A wrench in sheep’s clothing

Leave it to my dear daughter to bring my mitten momentum to a screeching halt.

Well, anyway, I cast on July 17 and got a good start on the cuffs. This is much nicer yarn than I used for the last pair of mittens, and it’s much thicker, so it didn’t take long to make three inches of ribbing. By the evening of July 18 I had done everything except the thumb! See????

Click to biggify; the bright green line of yarn is a provisional area that allows you to pick up stitches later and knit the thumb, like so:

And here I sit, trying to figure out how best to pick up stitches on the “sides” of the thumb better than I did on the fingers, where I have some gaping holes to deal with. But there are plenty of more experienced and highly skilled knitters at my local group, and surely someone (BONNIE! JAN! LOIS! SHARON!) might be able to give me some suggestions.

Of course, with that tiny problem solved, the bigger problem will have the opportunity to emerge. YOU know what it is.

All together now —

“Creating an exact copy in a mirror image.”

Yup. But we’ll cast on those stitches when we get to ‘em.

In less knitterly and more spinnerly news, UNWIND registrations have hit 10 percent of the goal. Yes, that means 20 people have signed up. But keeping in mind that would have been 20 percent of last year’s attendance, and 50 percent of the 2008 attendance — that’s pretty good. The publicity machine is still being oiled, so watch out once it gets going! And don’t feel shy about becoming part of the publicity machine. (It won’t bark, bite, or even prick your finger with a spindle.) If you’re going, spread the word. Tell your friends. Rave to your LYS owner. Enlighten the poor clerk at the chain craft store.

And if you’re still planning to go but haven’t registered yet, don’t put it off! Knowing accurate numbers as we get closer to the party date will help everything go more smoothly. (And there’s still that Early Bird drawing if you register before July 31.)

Four of Ten

After I stared at the red mittens for a few days, I finally got my act together and knitted their thumbs. After the sad experiences of my previous mitten-making stints, in which the second mitten invariably emerged from the needles as a 10 percent reduction of the first one, I wanted to be able to concentrate on what I was doing, keep careful track of my rows, and make sure the two mittens were as darn close to identical as I could make them.

So, I packed them off to Late Night Knitting at the Sow’s Ear last Friday and went forward. With the help of just a touch of Chocovine and some bites of panko chocolate. (Seriously, a dark chocolate bar with panko bread crumbs and sea salt. It’s hard to express just how yum this is.)

In the end, I was pleased with my efforts.

So, I went on to finish knitting Zoom, a swiffer cover made from dishcloth cotton. I haven’t seamed it up yet, but the Actual Knitting ended about 15 minutes before Late Night did. I was pleased with how that turned out, too.

The impetus for knitting Zoom is that last month the thin carpeting in our rented farmhouse was replaced with laminate flooring in the kitchen and dining room. And while I’m no longer obsessed with the thought of a rotten carpet, pad, and subfloor every time one of the kids spills a Capri Sun, I did quickly realize I was going to have to make something to help me keep it clean and dry. I’ve had a Swiffer broom for years, but I hated having to spend so much money on the little wipes. And they always dried out in their packages before I got to use them all. A reusable cotton cover made so much sense to me. Now, I almost have one. There are several patterns for this kind of thing; I selected Zoom because it had a little texture to it.

Anyway, then I pulled my 198 Yards of Heaven project out of the bag. It stared me in the face. It taunted me. You don’t have time to work on me properly, just enough time to start a row and thoroughly screw it up. What’s the matter, can’t you count? I put it back in the bag. There were more mittens to do.

Sort of. When I asked my daughter if she still wanted brown mittens, she said no. She had wanted brown woolen mittens with decorated backs that looked like either horseshoes, or initials made from yarn that looked like a cowboy’s rope. I don’t remember exactly. It sounded pretty complex to me, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I was relieved to hear that she had changed her mind.

“What kind of mittens do you want, then?”
“Ones with fingers.”
Oh crap. “Gloves?”
“Yes! Gloves! In purple.”

Now, the closest I’ve come to knitting gloves would have been…. oh, let’s see. The red mittens in the picture in this post. Well, I did want to please, and it was time to stretch and challenge myself a little bit, so I looked through my pattern files.

What I ended up doing was combining the measurements I’d taken for Jack’s hands (Colleen is older but slight, and Jack is younger but robust, and most times they measure identically) for the Fittin’ Mittens pattern with the recipe given in a Winter 2003 article from Interweave Knits called “Progressive Gloves.” There will be plenty of new things for me to learn, including the way the thumb is allowed for (you knit several stitches with waste yarn to create a provisional cast on you’ll pick up later).

I picked a pretty variegated purple yarn from the stash (Rhapsody from Dark Horse Yarns, a Merino Wool from Turkey of all places, an orphan skein I adopted from the Sow’s Ear last year), cast on last night, and immediately modified the pattern so her gloves would have ribbed cuffs. That I already know how to do.

I’ll need to measure her hand this morning to determine how far to knit before I put in the thumb stitches, and I need to know where her “finger line” is, but so far it’s been good knitting. The yarn measures out at 205 yards for 100 grams, so it’s big fluffy Merino. So nice to knit with after the Bernat sock-weight nylon/acrylic blend I just wrestled into a pair of mittens.

In other news, UNWIND registrations are starting to roll in. By the time I log in the new ones there should be about 15 out of 200. It’s all more real every day. Please, if you’re planning to come, do help me out by registering as early as you can so we’ll know better how much we’re planning for.

And, oh. Top Chef. See ya, Tim!

Drop it!

Mitten Four got stalled out for a while. I thought I was making great progress yesterday, then I looked a little more closely and saw some problems about an inch below where I was.

Uh-oh.

It was about twelve rows down and looked like a dropped stitch. Should I tink five rounds of stockinette, then an increase round in 2×2 rib, then goodnessknowshowmany rounds of 2×2 rib before I found the problem?

Or….. since I did know where the problem was….. on the last stitch of the round….. wouldn’t it make more sense to just drop it and ladder it back up with a small crochet hook?

I put it off as long as possible carefully considered my options for about twelve hours. Which ticked me off, frankly, because I had to put a different project in my bag when I went out. Not that I would have time to knit anyway, since I would be driving and shopping with two little boys and wouldn’t have a spare moment anyway, but still. I wanted to be primarily monogamous with Mitten Madness, and this little dilemma was, clearly, Getting In The Way Of Progress.

I shopped, I returned, I mulled things over a little more. Finally I had a beer and felt emboldened to drop the stitch. Then I let the naughty thing think about what it had done, and took my time getting out the crochet hook.

And you know what? It took me less than a minute to fix the sucker. Since the dropped stitch was in the purl section of the 2×2 rib, all I had to do was turn the cuff inside out and — presto! — it was on the knit side, where I knew just what to do to bring the stitch back up. When I got to the stockinette section, I turned the cuff right side out again, brought the loose stitch to the outside, and kept bringing it up.

Then I had a few extra seconds to stare at my project with doubt that I had truly fixed it in that short of a time.

But it looks as if I have. Whaddaya know.

You know what that means — Photo Shoot!

Next step, the thumb gusset.

Two-point-nine of Ten

I’m still on track with Mitten Madness…. just need to finish a thumb at some point (later), and cast on for a mate (sooner).

What do you think, add the pawprints with duplicate stitch (which I’ve never done before) or a fabric marker?

The red yarn is Bernat Sox yarn, an acrylic/nylon blend with no wool at all. I got two balls of it for 99 cents each a couple of years ago and have been waiting to figure out what they wanted to be. I’m a little disappointed that it’s not wool, but it is machine washable and dryable.

In other news, it’s been terribly hot and humid lately. Only today has there been the arrival of some random thunderstorms that break things up a little bit. The main thing the rain is accomplishing is not allowing anybody to mow their lawns with any frequency. By the time the grass is dry again, we might be able to cut it for some very nice hay bales.

I’ve been working out again — found a new exercise plan which seems eminently sensible. I’m on the third week of the first six weeks and so far I’m losing weight, fitting into my clothes better, and feeling stronger and with more stamina. I’m trying to take walks for part of the cardio I need to do, and recently lengthened my standard walk from 2.8 miles to 3.6 miles. (I use www.mapmyride.com for this; check it out.) If I finish the six weeks well, I might feel brave enough to share the name of it. It’s nothing kooky like an all-cotton-candy diet; I just don’t want to jinx myself.

I’m also enrolled in an online course on Records Management, as a precursor to doing a Master’s degree in Library and Information Sciences. Not only is it a confusing course, I’ve been offline for part of it, and unable to access some of the reading materials for a larger part of it. Catching up is going to be tricky. I did acquire a brand new PC laptop to help out with this overall process, but right now that’s like trying to learn French on top of everything else. (Can I just say that Windows SUCKS and Steve Jobs was right? Ah, I feel better now.) I’m trying to do a reboot to my inner geek so all this can smooth itself out.

Whew! Time to make dinner for the two little boys (the other kids are out of state at the moment; long story) and cast on for Jack Mitten Two so I don’t lose my knitting mojo. I can do both thumbs in the same session.

Mittens ahoy

Mitten Madness got off to a great start this weekend.

July 1: Locate pattern, needles, and yarn.
July 2: Knit first mitten and start second mitten.
July 3: Finish second mitten and start third mitten.
July 4: Continue third mitten, realizing that I am working with fingering weight acrylic/nylon instead of worsted weight wool, adjust gauge accordingly, and keep plugging away.

I said it was a great start, not a perfect ending. But it feels good to know that I’m already into the second pair of mittens. They really are very quick projects, and if I can keep the momentum going I can start on some wristwarmers I’m planning as Christmas presents.

Psst! Here’s the honest trust about Mitten One.

No issues until it was time to add 4 stitches at the end of the ribbing. For some reason I decided to add M1′s in purl sections. They made holes, but I was so thrilled at being able to knit plain for four rounds with big needles that that’s what I did. Then I tinked four plain rounds and the last ribbing round, did kf&b increases in the knit sections the way I should have in the first place, and all was well.

Anyway, the pattern I’m using for the plain mittens is Fittin’ Mittens by Nancy Lindberg. It cost me about five dollars and since I can’t even remember how many pairs of mittens I’ve already made from it, I surely have gotten my money’s worth out of it. It’s a gauge-based pattern, so you can use it to make any size mittens out of any size yarn. I have slightly modified the thumb gusset instructions because I like my kf&b’s much better than my M1′s. As with anything in knitting, your mileage may vary.

Here are Tommy’s mittens for this winter. He wants them to be Blue’s Clues mittens, so I will be duplicate stitching a pawprint onto the back of each one. It might be cuter to do them on the palm side, though.

Eagle-eyed readers will notice something very special about this pair of mittens — they are the same size. I even counted the rows (since it seems to make a difference). Who knew?

Let the games begin!

It’s Mitten Madness!!

After last year’s failed attempt to make timely mittens for everyone in the family, I decided to adjust my game plan. Waiting until people actually need mittens does not grant enough time to make a pair for everyone. There’s also the problem of Christmas knitting backing up into the early fall knitting schedule.

“Hmm,” I thought, “I should have made these mittens in July.”

The more thought I gave it, the more sense it made. Mittens are pretty quick projects, and unless you’re making woolen gauntlet-length versions, they’re too small to ever even hit your lap. (And I made the Dragon Scale Gauntlets last year, so we already have those.) You wouldn’t want to knit a woolen afghan in the summer, but a little mitten? Or even a big mitten? During a road trip in an air-conditioned car? No problem!

I cleverly told all my friends about my plan to knit all the family mittens in July, and they’re ready to call me on it.

Now. I didn’t say that mittens would be the only thing I would knit. So you may see me working on one of a few different projects, such as the ill-named 198 Yards of Heaven shawlette, or my Tilting TARDISes Cowl (which I’m making as a scarf due to neck-based claustrophobia issues), or the Doctor Who Scarf for my brother…. you get the picture.

But the mittens will have priority, and I’ll strive to provide a progress shot every time I publish a new blog post.

First up: “Blue’s Clues” mittens for Tommy.

In other news, this year’s Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival Saturday Night Afterparty has been cleverly renamed “UNWIND.” The cost is just $10 per person and includes a professionally cooked hors d’ouvres buffet. Remember last year’s party on the Festival grounds? How the doors were open for air and let in the flies? How everything smelled like sheep? How we had to put away our own folding chairs? How some people’s cars got accidentally locked in the parking lot? Well. THIS year the party is being held at the ballroom of the JC Plaza Hotel and Conference Center (formerly the Johnson Creek Comfort Suites). We are going to be all fancy schmantzy and even have access to a cash bar. Bring your wheel, bring your needles, show off your purchases, maybe win a door prize.

Here is where you can download your reservation form!

Any questions? About anything? Comment away!

It’s good to be blogging again.

Pssst?

Is anybody out there?

I am returning to blogging tomorrow.

WFBK

Baby, if you’ve ever wondered
Wondered whatever became of me
I’m still on the internet at Facebook
Facebook and a site called Ravelry

Got tired and tired of writing and reposting
Uploading three times didn’t make me smile
I’ll be back to blogging soon, just wait and see
So you can check back here once in a while
Until then I’ll be at Facebook and at Ravelry…..

Wanted: strap mojo

Maybe I’ve been a little too cocky about the knitting lately. I have a group of Christmas presents I need to finish within a week’s time for early delivery, and I’m almost done. Maybe I’ve been letting too many people know that I’m almost done with them?

Yesterday I finished an Everlasting Bagstopper project. It’s a great free pattern and a quick and fun knit. I made one at this time last year.

And, this time last year, I researched a bit on Ravelry and found the perfect strap pattern I wanted to use for it. It was great, knit up quickly, attached securely, all that stuff. I gave the bag as a Christmas present and it got rave reviews (i.e., it’s actually being used).

So, last night I sat down to make a long single strap for this one. Cast on, knitted a few rows of garter stitch to help anchor it to the bag, then….. nothing worked.

Oh, wait, maybe before I slip those stitches purlwise I ought to have the yarn in front of the work. That should do it.

Frog, rewind, cast on, knit garter stitch. Try new method.

That’s not doing anything either.

Where’s my i-cord edging???

Frog, rewind, stuff in project bag.

Does anyone have a favorite strap pattern to share? For now I’m just going to pretend I’m making a very very narrow cotton scarf, and see how that goes.

Mike fright

Wow, you *are* out there! I took a look at my blog stats just now, and my views jumped from an average of 5-30 a day to 150 hits yesterday.

Today’s post title comes from the episode of “WKRP in Cincinnati” when DJ Johnny Fever realizes people are actually listening to him, and he becomes too scared to go on the air.

I’ll try not to do that. But I am flattered as all get-out that there are that many people out there curious as to what I might write. I’ll try to make it worth your while.

Meanwhile….

Knitwise….

I have lots of Christmas knitting on the needles. My brother asked for his own Doctor Who scarf for Christmas, so that’s no secret that I’m working on one. But it might be his birthday (May) or next Christmas before it’s done. Sorry, Ben.

I’m also working on a few more pairs of cotton slippers, an Everlasting Bagstopper, and a shawl for me.

This shawl. Anyone remember the black-and-blue wool-silk blend I was using ages and ages ago to make another Irish Hiking Scarf? I finally realized it was way too heavy for a long scarf, and the colorway was obscuring the cables. So I frogged the whole thing (and there was much rejoicing) and started a Feather and Fan Comfort Shawl. It’s a free Ravelry pattern, which I found by searching my specific yarn to see what other knitters had made with it. I was trying to get a few rows done on it every day for a while, but I’ve missed a few days lately. At any rate, it’s for me, so it’s being done somewhat in the background until all the giftknits are finished.

Thanks again for reading and commenting and sticking around to see what I do. It’s so nice of you!