Week Eighteen: Testing, Testing

This week was the third exam for my calculus class (I started sitting in on this section just after everyone else had taken their second exam). Lately I’ve discovered that although I’m learning the new concepts, my foundations are still shaky — particularly when I’m dealing with trigonometry. My professor has realized this, and graciously extended the time she’ll allow me to make up last semester’s Incomplete. I’ve proposed to her that that I do acres of homework to catch up to where I should be, and finish when I can. It’s work I need to do for this kind of math-work to become second nature, so I’m fine with that. I just have to take little breaks when I realize I’m wasting good time after bad. So yesterday, while everyone else was taking an exam for which I was woefully under-prepared, I was holed up in my “office” working on concepts about two chapters previous. But it’s starting to click. Mostly.

Paige’s problems ARE the material I’m covering in class!

The school year is also, of course, coming to a close for the kidlets. My daughter informed me recently that there were only 20-something days of school left, and that she knew this because “the fifth graders are keeping a countdown.” Personally, I’m not so sure it isn’t the teachers who are counting down the days. Both my parents are retired public school teachers, so I know they’re capable of it. Hey kids! Don’t forget you’re signed up for Session 1 of summer school!

Other “doings” include knitting. I went nearly a week without knitting a stitch, and I just felt so frustrated that there seemed to be no time right now for something that relaxes me so much. Over the weekend I holed up in my library-bedroom and knit furiously on a baby blanket for someone who refers to herself as “the nice lady from the library.” And she is! She has three young boys and doesn’t know if this baby is a boy or a girl, but either way, this child deserves something new. I know from experience that boys don’t really “hand down” things of much value, unless you like your jeans with holes already in the knees. And then, one day, I looked at the blanket with honest eyes, and realized that the edge intended to be the short one was about four feet wide. Ten more pounds of yarn, and this would be an awesome blanket for me. So I (brace yourselves) slipped it off the needles, pulled out every stitch, wound up all the yarn, and started again the next day.

On Monday night I reached a milestone in my double-top-secret ginormous long-term project. It took me a couple of hours, but I laid out all the sections of it on the floor, and switched parts around to match dye lots in certain places. I figured out how to seam it all up, then carefully packed up each section so that I would be able to start assembling it, column by column.

No, not THOSE kinds of columns.

My other knitting has been touch and go. I’m designing a scarf that is a giftknit for a friend, but I’m kind of stalled on it right now. And a “brainless” knit I was working on, then set down, proved to need extra brain power to sort out when I had the time to pick it up again. It’s been a week since I got input from a professional designer, and I just haven’t picked up the needles on this one. The baby blanket and the ginormous project really must get done sooner, as they both have organic deadlines.

I’m reading… I’m thinking about my life… I’m exercising… I’m taking care of errands that have waited for months… I’m cooking… I’m straightening up the house… I’m writing… I’m playing outside with the kids… I’m busy.

It’s nice.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Registration is now open for the 6th annual Unwind social event, held in conjunction with the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson, Wisconsin!

How do I sign up, you ask?

Well, just click the small image below, and it should open, full size, in a new window. Then just right-click (Mac users, control-click) the image below and you can download and print a PDF of this year’s registration form. Ta daah! Oh, and you can make plenty of copies for your friends — one person per form, please.

This year we will be selling T-shirts with a new design. They are $12 each, available in sizes S through XXL, and must be ordered when you register.

Details will be posted on Ravelry on my profile page, and in the WI Sheep and Wool group page.

Any questions? Ask them on Ravelry, so we can all share the answers.

Hope to see you there!

Week Seven: Renewal

After much agonizing, I have decided to renew a library book which I detest. Two weeks ago, there I was at the library, minding my own business, having dropped by to pick up a series of graphic novel-style mathematics books for my 6-year-old son. On my way to check out the books, I happened to notice a new arrival — a book on Euclid and his amazing book, Elements. I thought it would make a good introduction to book and author before I sat down and tackled Elements for myself.

Wrong, wrong, couldn’t have been more wrong. I started hating this book on Page Three.

Don’t even point.

Wait — now that I look back at it, I realize that I started hating this book waaaaaay before Page Three. Because I hate that the quote from Blaise Pascal that appears before the preface is in untranslated French.

I also hate the preface, which gave me my first sense of the author’s writing style.

It got worse from there.

I soon decided that the only proper course of action for me was to write a scathing review of this book so that I could warn off any of its potential readers. Time is precious these days. If I could establish that this book is a waste of both time and space, we could all move happily on to the next item in the queue. However, I didn’t think it would be fair to be nasty about a freshly published book that I didn’t actually finish reading. (Think back to high school. Can you imagine your Literature teacher’s reaction if you had attempted to turn in a book report on a novel you didn’t finish?) So, I struggled forward, trying to keep my temper. It wasn’t my book, so I couldn’t throw it with great force. I did toss it aside often, though. Then I would think, “It’s not that long. I can really get through this” and pick it up again. Then I would yell “I HATE THIS BOOK!” and put it down again. So my progress in the reading of it was not that swift or consistent over the last two weeks.

Yesterday I got an e-mail from the library… the book is due this Friday. I had 48 hours left to read the book, and 96 hours’ worth of more pleasant and useful things to do within that 48 hours.

So I’m going to try to renew it tomorrow. Between chapters, or segments, or paragraphs perhaps, I shall be sharpening my pen and charging up my electrons. I have two more weeks…. unless someone else, perhaps the author’s mother, is on a waiting list for it.

Slop season. Not spring.

One might also look out one’s window here in Wisconsin and imagine that spring is coming and this is a time of renewal. Think again, bucko, it’s only mid-February. Just because you can see patches of grass amongst the snow, slush, and mud doesn’t mean the crocuses are coming any time soon, nor should they dare. And you should probably stay inside yourself if you know what’s good for you. Flu, whooping cough, and black ice are laying for you.

So. Until Spring is really here and there are better things to read that don’t have such a tight deadline and bizarre moral imperative, there is knitting to do. The dropped-stitch lace scarf is complete and has been entered on the Finished Projects page. I have cast on for a Wingspan scarf/shawl and gotten a couple of sections done. It has kind of an unusual construction, but the knitting itself is quite easy. So far, there are three of us in my local knitting group who are making them.

Wingspan in progress

(I don’t know why I can’t get the photo to show up. Sorry, just click the link.)

During the past week I have also gotten my oldest child signed up for his freshman year of high school. He is almost 14. He is almost as tall as I am (he checks this every morning). However, he is nowhere close to understanding just how ambitious his desired schedule actually is: Honors English, Eastern Cultures, Science 9, Geometry, P.E., German 1, and Intro to Engineering. I can’t wait until we get started on this in the fall and pour hormones into the mixture, add heat, and see what happens! He is a bright boy — he will just have to work harder at this than he realizes.

And now, a special announcement:

UNWIND 2013

I’m happy to announce that we are in the planning stages for the 6th “Unwind” social event, to be held Saturday, September 7, in conjunction with the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson, Wisconsin.

This event is NOT an official Sheep & Wool event, nor is it an official Ravelry event. It is a private party that you are invited to! The price of admission (which is cheaper, the earlier you register) covers dinner, a goody bag, a chance at a door prize, and the chance to hang out with some seriously fun knitters, crocheters, spinners, and others! And yes, you can and totally should bring your needles, hooks, wheel, spindle, and what-have-you. All the cool people are doing it.

On your registration form you can also choose to purchase a T-shirt. When you arrive at the Festival on Friday or Saturday and check in at our table in the main building, which should be just in front of the fence around the Silent Auction items, you will pick up your goody bag and T-shirt.

We have a cap of 150 attendees, so if you want to come, please sign up early. We can take walk-ins at check-in time at the Festival grounds, but NOT at the event itself.

Updates, discussions, and Q&A should take place in the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival group on Ravelry.

If you would like to help sponsor the event or donate a door prize, please email me or PM me on Ravelry.

I hope to see you there — I’ll be the one wearing the Doctor Who Scarf!

A wedding and a funeral

I’m still here, but my priorities got changed for me over the last couple of weeks. I can’t even remember if I’ve gotten any knitting done since the last post — did I mention I finished a Doctor Who Scarf, all but for the fringe? — because real life sort of took over.

My brother got engaged, and I knitted his fiancée a pair of Bronte’s Mitts fingerless mittens in alpaca for her birthday. So I guess I did finish something! They arrived on her Actual Birthday and she likes them.

Bronte Mitts for Lydia

Then school started — all four kids on the bus at the same time. I waited twenty minutes, then dashed off to the coffee shop to celebrate with the other local moms I hadn’t seen all summer.

Then it was the second day of school. It wasn’t memorable until midnight, when we got a call to tell us there was a tragedy and school was cancelled for Friday. There were no details, and I spend the night tossing, turning, and sporadically searching the internet to figure out what had happened. It was 10:30 the next day when I discovered that our principal’s only son had been killed in a car accident after their car was struck by a suspected drunk driver. Treyton was a classmate of my middle boy — they were just six years old. It took me hours before I could compose myself to tell my children what had happened. It was a long and angry weekend for me, with my husband away and my kids grieving and venting at their completely different developmental stages.

On Monday we had a little family cookout, and on Tuesday it was time for school again. (“How was school today, Jack?” “Treyton’s dead.” “Yep.”)

On Wednesday school was cancelled for Treyton’s funeral. And although his mother made a passionate and moving 19-minute eulogy that would make anyone set their drink down and call a cab, I won’t embed it here. I heard it live, but it’s very hard to listen to. If you want to find it for yourself — particularly if you’re struggling with the issue of drunk driving or other bad choices at your house — go to www.todaystmj4.com for “Raw video: Treyton Kilar’s Eulogy.” I don’t know how long it will be available. If you know me via Facebook you can find it on my wall.

On Thursday I was taking my youngest son into town with me and he asked, “Mom, when is my next school day?” He goes on M-W-F and had already missed an F, an M, and a W.

On Friday we were sort of back to normal, but now it was time for the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival (Hi, Lael!) and the final details for UNWIND, the Saturday night social event I’ve been coordinating for a few years now. I didn’t have any money to blow at the festival, so I was safe there. (I still have fiber from the last three years to spin up, anyway.) And the party seemed to go well — 113 guests, about 50 door prizes, and everyone got home safely. We’re doing it again next year and we’ll have more details soon. (The planning for next year went off like a shot when I delegated the venue and catering decisions to my friend Bonnie.)

Today was another normal old school day, but since the husband is away on a business trip through Thursday, there’s a lot more on my shoulders and I wish there were more time to knit. I’m working on a prayer shawl for Treyton’s mother, but the progress on it is somewhat unusual. I started a different prayer shawl pattern, but abandoned it after 1 row. This pattern was on the top of a stack of patterns I had printed out last April when my former father-in-law died, but I had never used it. I frogged the other project, cast on for the new pattern, and got a quick start. But now it seems I am called to knit only a few rows on it every day. The universe has made it clear that this is to be a methodical and meditative project.

I haven’t made the other two hats for the kids, but I did start a toque for myself as designed by my friend Dale-Harriet. I used up all the yarn she gave me and it won’t take long to finish it. I just have to wait until the next time we cross paths so I can get more Cascade, and I don’t know when that will be.

I’ll miss the next Late Night Knitting at the Sow’s Ear because the aforementioned middle son will be the ring bearer in a wedding that takes place this Saturday (the rehearsal is Friday night and we’re going to need it, trust me). We bought him a tuxedo for this, and he’s looking forward to it, but occasionally he does panic and freak out at stuff, so I’m a little tense as we get closer to it. I wonder how much weight I can lose in a week, just in case I need to go strolling down the aisle myself, hand in hand with a six-year-old.

That’s enough and I’m tired. I’m going to do some simple knitting and get some rest. Most of today, I’ve felt as if I was on the verge of some sort of episode, and I’m sure you can understand why.

Only 100 rows

I finished the purple hat to go with Colleen’s gloves. See?

And I have been chugging along on the Doctor Who Scarf, until I now have just five stripes left to knit — 100 rows. Because I’ve been knitting in my ends as I go whenever switching colors, I won’t have that to do at the end of the work. I have just two ends to weave in from where I joined a new skein of brick red in the middle of a stripe, and the end left over after I bind off. Then it’s just cutting and attaching the fringe, and it’s all done.

I haven’t bothered to measure it for months. The only way I can knit on it is to keep it all rolled up and have it on my lap while I knit. It’s too big to work on in the car, and not especially portable anywhere else.

But.

I just might time it so I can finish the main knitting at The Sow’s Ear this Friday night. That’s worth ringing the bell for!

Then, of course, it will be time to knit Jack’s and Tommy’s hats, start a tocque for myself, and finish all the lace and/or wristwarmers I’ve got going. I discovered a German knitting designer the other day who has a bunch of beautiful lace patterns up on Ravelry, and a handful of them are free. (download, download, download, print print print) Her name is Birgit Freyer and her site is http://www.Die-WollLust.de — “Knitting Delights.” She does publish charted patterns rather than line-by-line directions, so be advised. But oh my goodness, it’s lovely stuff.

UNWIND registrations are over 50 now. Keep those forms coming in, don’t wait until the last minute! (Which would be September 1.)

Oh yeah — I dubbed the blue and green alpaca sock yarn scarf as my Official Car Knitting. I had it with me yesterday on the way to a family party. As long as I can remember to cap the needles so the whole project doesn’t slide off, and I can keep from snapping the needles, I’m good. And as long as I don’t get impatient. I really wanted a lacier look for this scarf, and should have used much larger needles. But there’s no way in hell I’m ripping it out at this stage. Consider it a lesson learned for the next scarf made with sock yarn. This one looks lovely at the gauge it’s in. It’s just going to be done when it’s done and that’s the best I can do.

So, what’s your Endless Project? How do you motivate yourself to keep plugging away at it?

Mittens are Old Hat

Did I mention I made a bunch of mittens (and one pair of gloves) last month? I apologize, gentle Reader, for not informing you sooner.

Eldest wanted a pair of mittens that were the same color as Harry Potter’s cabled sweater in The Sorcerer’s Stone, and I decided to throw in the mirrored cables for free. of course, since I wouldn’t see him until August, technically I didn’t have the mittens finished “on time.” But I did everything except the thumb tips before he got home, and took care of those on the second night he was back. Yes, those thumbs are ginormous, and no, I’m not sure why. But my son tried on his mittens, pronounced them perfect, and allowed as to how there was plenty of room for growth. Every once in a while, your child gives you a reason to keep him. This was one of those times.

I’ve made a couple of knitting plans since finishing the mittens. One was to see how many unfinished projects I could finish while the Formula One boys are on their annual three-week summer break. Right now this includes:
• A Doctor Who Scarf for my brother, 80 percent complete
• A leftover Adipose doll from two summers ago, 90 percent complete
• Lauren’s Wristwarmers, umm, zero percent complete (I wound off one skein of the yarn I want to use), sorry Lauren
• A blue and green scarf made with alpaca sock yarn, maybe 30 percent complete
• The ironically named 198 Yards of Heaven shawlette, on Row 37 of 76. That sounds like halfway — trust me, it’s not.
• A garter stitch triangle shawl for my grandmother, about 20 percent done?
• Tyrone. 90 percent done, three years in timeout. Enough said?

Maybe it’s time for a poll, or some groupthink for a strategy to finish as many of these as I can before Christmas knitting starts to creep onstage.

In the meantime, I started knitting ribbed hats from the leftover mitten yarn, so the kids will have matching sets and I will have less yarn. I’m halfway done with the first one now. Since I did mittens from Youngest to Eldest, I’m doing hats from Eldest to Youngest. Because I’m the boss of me, that’s why. And because once you’ve set yourself a time-based goal, there’s nothing more motivating than adding additional tasks. Or something like that. Say hello to Hat Hilarity!

School starts on September 1, so naturally I have developed three new professional goals for myself. One, to continue the library science classes, but with a math and science focus. Two, to undertake self-study and get certification in Apple operating systems and hardware so I can snag a best buy job as a Counter Intelligence Agent. (Yup, the Geek Squad.) and Three, to get some freelance work or a part time job so I can afford to qualify for the bigger jobs.

The week after school starts, I’m also throwing that little party for a few fiber friends. I think we have about 50 UNWIND registrations so far, and are expecting a lot more in the next few weeks. It’s time to start working on the fine details of that one, and I’m glad it’s not a solo job any more.

Have to scoot now — need to work on a Scarf (or a hat), get some registrations processed, ice my hip (thank you bursitis, therapy starts Thursday morning), and get all the kids ready for a trip to take two of them to karate.

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!

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.