Who Follows Directions?

Embarrassed by the number of batteries I was depositing in the recycle bin at work, I decided to purchase rechargeable batteries, which of course meant purchasing a recharger as well. I have gone the rechargeable route in the past, with poor results, but everyone (well, my SO and daughter) assured me the technology had improved and I would be pleased with such an investment. Plus the rechargers can now charge batteries in 15 minutes. Whoo-hoo!

So a few weeks ago, I brought home a recharger and proceeded to try it out. Maybe I have been not-quite-following knitting patterns for too long now, because while I did read the recharger directions, I did not quite follow them. They explicitly said not to use an extension cord, and yet I plugged the recharger into my new Belkin surge protector because, well, it is not technically an extension cord. Right?

Well. Something happened. Something that involved smoke. Smoke that smelled particularly electronic. I used to work in engineering services where periodically a hardware engineer would "let the smoke out" of a circuit board, so I recognized that smell. At least the Belkin did its job, as all the fragile electronic devices that were also plugged in - my router, my modem - were not damaged.

At that point, I temporarily abandoned the rechargeables but I knew the day would come when I would have to face my fear of exploding batteries. That day was yesterday, while I was trying to get a close-up of the practically tame bunnies that populate my backyard and the camera shut down, hungry for more juice.

So this morning I gave the recharger a second chance. This time I decided to remove the batteries before plugging in the device, thinking maybe the sudden surge is what caused the trouble before, and discovered a plastic strip between the batteries and the positive terminals. Huh. Then I chose an outlet near the Florida room, since I am planning on replacing the Florida room and if it is damaged by fire, I would not mind. Heck, I would welcome it, as the insurance money would help pay for the renovations.

I plugged in the charger. Nothing, except a green light came on. I inserted the batteries. The light turned red and the device emitted a fan-like sound. I waited.

And about 20 minutes later, the red light turned green, I removed the batteries (after unplugging the recharger - one can't be too careful), stuck them in the camera, and took some pix.

Here are the Rainforest socks.



The yarn is Opal in the "Vernoica" Rainforest colorway. I used my standard Ann Norling basic sock pattern, but the uneven ribbing described in More Sensational Knitted Socks. I started out with US0 needles to tighten up the top of the cuff a bit (these are for Mr. Chickenlegs), then switched to US1 for the rest.



Very springlike, don't you think?

And here is the Shetland Triangle Shawl, all dressed up and no place to go.



We tried flying through the forsythia, but despite the light weight of the shawl, the shrub was bending from the burden.



The Belkin was put on temporary hiatus, so someday, when I am feeling brave, I will have to see if the reset switch on it really works.

Inspired

What do you do when you are in a bad mood? Sometimes I just want to escape the feeling for a while, so I watch a movie or read fiction. But other times, I want to do something to make me feel better. This morning, inspired by several brave, brave knitting bloggers who have been revealing their WIP's and vowing to finish at least some of them, I decided what would make me feel better is doing something similar (but not so brave). I may not like the process but I will like the results.

This baby bib and burp rag needed only a few ends woven in and a button to be finished. Voila!



This set is for my hair stylist who is expecting her second (another boy). For her first baby, I gave her this electric green baby hoodie and wasn't sure if she like it. But she recently volunteered that she was looking forward to using it again on son #2.

A recently completed knit-wise project just waiting for some blocking was the Shetland Triangle Shawl.



The pattern came from a book, and I don't know which one because the photocopied pages don't have that information on them, but the pattern designer is Evelyn A. Clark, if that helps. I used Schaefer "Anne" in powder puff pink, which bled a little during the soak.



Quite a while ago, I purchased some blocking dressing wires from HandWorks Northwest, but I had not yet tried them. Heck, I hadn't even opened the package yet.



The kit was recommended by Yarn Harlot, I believe, and even though I'm not sure I was using them correctly, they did help with the blocking.



I used two wires across the top and one down the center. The pins that came with the kit were almost enough for this shawl.

The pinwheel sweater got bogged down when I decided I wanted to verify the location of the sleeves. This morning I took it off the needles, fetched a couple of sweaters from my closet, compared and contrasted, and stretched the pinwheel a little, and decided I can just follow the pattern. I am leaving in the yarn I used to hold the stitches as a lifeline, though, in case I change my mind later and want to rip back.

Now, the frustrating story of the Sea Silk scarf.

As you may recall, I have been trying to get something going with this yarn ever since I bought it. Through Ravelry, I found a pattern by Amy Singer that was designed for this yarn, so I thought my problems were over. Wrong! I wrestled with this yarn on multiple needles, in multiple needle sizes, until I despaired of ever getting further than a few inches on the scarf.



But I finally found something that works: my Turbo Addi circs in US6. The slippery needles and the slippery yarn force me to be mindful of my YO's, but I think this is going to work.

And, yes, now I feel much better.

RDA

Do you have a Required Daily Amount when it comes to knitting? I find that, if I knit less than three hours a day, my fingers get itchy and I need a mini-marathon of stitchery to get over it.

The second best cure to a lack of knitting is a yarn purchase. I took my 40%-off-one-item coupon to Joann's Friday and bought a big spool of crochet thread. I wanted enough to play with unhindered while I learn the (literally) finer art of filet crochet, aka thread crochet. It's more than a little frustrating and hand-cramping, and I'm not sure whether it will become a new needle art in my heart, but it's always fun to try something new.

Meanwhile, the Jaywalkers are finally finished.



I don't know why I had so much trouble with this pair. I have made the pattern before, in the same yarn. The only difference is I made these larger, per the pattern instructions. I am glad to be done with them. I am also glad to have them on my feet this chilly morning.

Pattern may be found here. Yarn is Austermann Step (mit Aloe Vera und Jojoba). Needle size is US1.

In other knitting, the blob of powder puff pink is growing bigger. I seem to have plenty of yarn, so I am increasing the size of the shawl by two 10-row repeats. And I have been hacking away at the Blue Lagoon baby blanket. I would have pix but right now I am lacking AA's for my camera. I think it is time to switch to rechargeable batteries.

Online vs. Brick-and-Mortar

I like shopping for yarn, online or in stores, but each have their pluses and shortcomings. Online you are more likely to find exactly what you are looking for, in the colors you want, in the quantity you need, but the colors may not be accurately rendered on your monitor or the yarn may not live up to your expectations. Conversely, at your LYS you can see the yarn in daylight, feel it, sniff it, rub it against your cheek, but the variety and quantity may come up short.

If you are buying a single skein of hand-dyed superwash for a pair of socks, a lot of these differences disappear. Or if you like surprises, you may not care. But if you are looking for sweater quantities in certain colors, well, good luck.

I purchased some yarn from Elann recently, enough for the pinwheel sweater and the sun ray shawl. Being color challenged, I decided to go with the colors on the model for the pinwheel sweater except I didn't like the looks of the grape heather, so I substituted garnet. The switch looked okay on my monitor but not so much in real life. In fact, my color consultant (daughter) suggested I should stick with the original.



Likewise, yellows make me look jaundiced, so I substituted dusty rose for the shawl, but in real life the pink looks kind of flesh-colored. Sometimes colors knit up better than they look on the skein, so I think I will stick with my choice... for now.



I don't blame Elann for my color choices. After all, I have purchased yarn in an LYS, knitted it up, and only later realized that it is not the colors I thought. But this is an example of why we need both online sources and LYS's.

That's not the end of my whining, though. There is good news and bad news about the Jaywalker socks. For one thing, my daughter eyeballed them and declared them too big for the son-in-law (this is bad news for him but good news for me because now they are mine!)



But I ran out of yarn. I knit them in the larger size, which requires more stitches around but (surprisingly) fewer rows. As they are now, the toes are way too big, so I am going to rip them back far enough to decrease the toes and give me enough yarn to finish them properly.

A little more whining: I decided to pick up the lovely powder puff pink shawl I started a while back and make some progress. The problem is I can't count, which means I have to count more, over and over, while I figure out where I went wrong. This is very frustrating.



Right now, the shawl looks like most lace projects, a little blob of yarn. But it's a pretty blob of yarn, and I am getting better at counting.

Needing something simple to work on, I knitted up this neck warmer yesterday.



I found the pattern here - not that a neck warmer really needs a pattern but I was uncertain of how many stitches to cast on, plus this pattern provides a nice staggered ribbing. I used a 50g skein of Nashua Handknits "Snowbird," a wool-alpaca blend, on US8 needles but I ran out of yarn after about 5 inches. This seemed plenty big, though, unless you like your neck warmers scrunchy. Very quick to knit and you have to count to only 3. (Note: Use a sewn cast-off or something equally stretchy.)

And we enjoyed a little sunshine this weekend.



Time to start making preps for spring. Really!