Quilt Trip

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far away, I took a quilting class. This was not a how-to-use-your-Janome quilt class, but a quilt-by-hand quilt class. We learned various and sundry piecing and quilting techniques by making pillow tops. (Guess what everyone on my xmas list received that year.) I ended the class by purchasing enough calico to make a log cabin quilt. It took years, but I finally got the whole thing pieced together into one huge quilt top. And that's as far as I got. It is one of those "someday" projects - someday it will be finished and spread upon my bed.

Because I know how much work goes into handmade quilts, I have a soft spot in my heart for these works of art. So it was the quilts and other handmade items that caught my eye in Robert Frost's farm in Derry, NH.

I will admit up front that I don't know much about quilt block names other than they are frequently poetic (like the names of colorways). Being rather uncreative, I would call this a fan pattern.





This quilt for the baby's crib had little piecework, but lovely stitching.





How stone walls are built is a mystery to me, and so is how crazy quilts are pieced.





I didn't get a chance to quiz the museum guide about the quilts, as he was short-staffed that day. However, he was full of intimate little stories about "Rob" and probably knew a few about the quilts, or at least where these particular ones came from.



Quilting wasn't the only handcraft in evidence at the farm. This doll's outfit appeared to be crocheted.



Life without running water had to have been rough, but the women of the household still found time to add little artful touches to their everyday items.

Stitch and Pitch

There's something for everyone at the Cooperstown National Baseball Hall of Fame, even for knitters.



These are warm up sweaters. Too bad they were behind glass; I would have liked to have inspected them more closely.



They look like they were knit with a bulky yarn, mostly just stockinette, with a shawl collar, button band, cuffs, and pockets.



Apparently, they were not standard issue.



And let's not forget the stockings.



Nor should we forget the ladies.



If you have seen "A League of Their Own," these outfits will look familiar.



Even our fair city boasted a team on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), the Fort Wayne Daisies.

Despite all our gallivanting about the country, not much knitting is going on. Now that we are in Massachusetts, part of the problem is any knitting I might accomplish while a passenger in the car is interrupted by having to provide a second pair of eyes for the driver. One bumper sticker said it all: "MASSHOLE"

On the Road Again

It's funny how when one is driving, the pavement feels perfectly smooth, but just try to slip a US1 needle into a yarn-over while riding in the same car on the same road. Every stitch becomes a little challenge. I'm sure my gauge is suffering. Then add a book-on-tape (Last Picture Show, by Larry McMurtry) and I'm left hoping I am following the lace chart correctly. The Embossed Leaves socks look okay, ready for the toes, but I'm afraid to inspect them too closely.

When not on the road, we are being tourists. Crossing the border into Canada made me oddly anxious. We were doing fine until the customs guy asked "Yah cah?" Excuse me? "YAH CAH?" Blank look on my face. "IS THAT YAH CAH?" Oh! Yes! Yes it is. He let us go, as I am obviously too dumb to be a terrorist.

Then came the search for accommodations. I had a coupon for the Radisson but they had no more two-bed rooms.



I tried the Marriott but could not talk them down to an affordable price. We ended up at the Holiday Inn, with this view from our room.



And that was okay, even though we had to watch the fireworks in the reflection of the windows across the way. After all, you get what you pay for.

The next day, the question was how many more pictures could I take of moving water. The answer is somewhere around 100. Don't worry - I'm not going to force you to view them all. Through the magic of photo stitchery, here are about 14 shots, reduced to two panoramic views.

The top of Horseshoe Falls:



The American Falls on the left, Horseshoe Falls on the right:



After a while, I tired of misty photographs. One of the things I enjoy about being a tourist is watching the other tourists. The variety of dress and Babel of languages and accents just add to the fun.



















One woman wore a hat that looked crocheted, but I didn't have the nerve to ask for a photo. Nor did I get a chance to snap a pic of the T-shirt that read "I may be fat, but my cock is huge" or the one that advertised WhatMormonsDontTell.com. It's a wild, wonderful, strange world out there.

Left Behind

Most people knit a swatch, if they knit a swatch at all, before they start a project. Not me. I get over halfway through a sweater, then start having misgivings about the end result. So, yes, I knit a swatch for Sitcom Chic on US7 and US6 needles, to see if I liked a tighter fabric. Then I soaked and blocked said swatch, and look what happened:



The yarn bled a little, but unevenly. This does not spell ruination for the sweater, but it did give me pause. Also, the gauge did not vary much between the three needles sizes I have used, but the fabric is definitely tighter on the smaller ones. Since I could not decide what to do about all this, I decided to do nothing.

So Sitcom Chic did not get to accompany us to Niagara Falls.









We are in Canada today, to see what we can see from across the border. Then on to Cooperstown!

Second Guessing

While working on a project, any project, do you find yourself thinking, "The next time I knit/crochet/cook/weld this, I will change x, y, and z"? And then do you knit/crochet/cook/weld it again and make those changes? I almost always do the former, but rarely the latter.

The Embossed Leaves socks are coming out smaller than I expected, so I tell myself, Next time I will go up a needle size.



The Sitcom Chic sweater is going to be a bit larger than planned and I don't really like how the yarn is knitting up on US8 needles, so I tell myself, Next time I will drop a needle size.



(This is the Sitcom Chic on top of the red-red-red sweater I knit last winter. They are knit in a similar manner, and I wanted to see how the sizes compare and whether I need to make the sleeves longer. I really like red. Can you tell?)

I know the last time I made the One Skein Baby Sweater, I thought to myself, Next time I will knit both sleeves at the same time. And I did.



This is the third Lion Brand baby blanket, and for once I am following the pattern.



These are the projects I plan to take on vacation. The socks are going because they are in the homestretch and are relatively portable, as long as I don't accidentally pull the needles out. The blanket is my Big But Brainless project. The Sitcom Chic will soon be off those awful INOX US8 DPNs, and I'm looking forward to that. The baby sweater? I doubt I will work on it, but it is close to completion and maybe, just maybe, I'll be done with everything else and need something to do.

Maybe.

Lost Weekend

Not really a lost weekend, but there was a big hole in the middle of it. I don't always sleep well, and a nap on Saturday afternoon is not out of the ordinary. Yesterday I lay down on the couch to catch a few Z's. Two hours later I woke up in a stupor that I never really recovered from until this morning. I hate it when that happens.

More knitting has occurred. Heels have been turned. A gusset has been started. The Cherry Tree Hill yarn is looking quite elegant.



In fact, I'm thinking this design would make a nice pair of mittens or arm warmers. Socks for the hands!

Socks, I Needed That

Yesterday I was quite the crab. Nothing I did made me feel better, not even knitting. But today I spent several hours out in the yard, enjoying the most perfect weather a body could stand, then slipped inside during the heat of the day for a little sock therapy.

I don't know why the Embossed Leaves socks sat neglected for so long. Maybe because the dark brown yarn requires natural light (and lots of it) for these middle aged eyes. Maybe because I just know they are going to be too small (why, oh why did I not use the US2 needles the pattern called for?) Maybe because I was just a little tired of socks. Who knows? All I know is that I really enjoyed working on them today. In fact, the legs are done and I am ready for heel flaps.

And now that I have seen the "Cat Bordhi demonstrates Judy Becker's Magic Cast-on" video (and yes, Toni, I watched the whole thing - I talk to my pets the way she talks to her needles), I'm anxious to once again try my hand at toe-up socks.

People Who Need People

Things are a little iffy in IT where I work, so I keep an eye out for other positions within the company that I might qualify for. After reading the job description of one such posting, I said to a co-worker, "I don't know if I have the people skills for this one."

"You have people skills?"

Despite the iffy-ness of my job, things have been a bit hectic this week, and I have not been able to knit at lunch. Fortunately, this afternoon's conference call was interrupted at the other end of the line by a fire drill, which extended the meeting. I was able to knit on Sitcom Chic's second sleeve for an entire hour and a half!

Otherwise, no knitting is happening other than a random row or two during bunny hour or while drinking coffee. My days are as packed as an overgrown flower bed. Gotta mow while the sun shines, ya know.

I Try

I try to reduce my UFOs. Yesterday I even sat down with a pair of Mary Jane baby booties. All they needed was a little seaming. First, I could not see what I was doing unless I sat by the window in the sunshine (stupid black yarn). Second, I could not find directions for how to seam two cast-on edges, so I winged it (these booties are not made for walkin'). Third, I could not find the button hole on the strap and, thinking the strap was a bunch of three-stitch rows, I started unraveling it, and wound up screwing up the whole strap. Fourth, I decided I didn't really like those baby booties after all - who puts black booties on their infant? Fifth, vacuuming suddenly looked like a whole lot more fun than knitting.

I try not to buy more yarn. Staying out of yarn stores is easy enough, since I don't pass any on my way home from anywhere, and gas prices being what they are, I'm not inclined to go out of my way, especially for yarn I don't need (I keep telling myself). And it is relatively easy to delete unread advertisements from yarn retailers that land in my inbox... unless it's a yarn retailer I favor. Even then I am safe... unless they happen to be offering up a yarn that has been sitting in the back of my mind but now it is ON SALE. That's how I ended up with the six skeins of Noro that arrived in my mailbox today.

I try to get a little knitting done over my lunch hour at work. Sometimes work interferes (stupid job), but today I actually forgot to bring any knitting. How could that happen? What is wrong with me? I must be ill or something. Maybe I should take a knit sick day tomorrow. I feel a (knitting) fever coming on!

It's Too Haaaaard!

The other night I wanted to knit, but I was tired and tired of Sitcom Chic, the Embossed Leaves socks would require too much concentration, and I still did not feel like seaming the One Skein Baby Cardigan. Everything seemed too difficult.

So I started something new that is all garter stitch, all the time. The Tropical Treat blanket involves some yarn wrangling - two types of yarn, four colors, knit two strands at a time - but otherwise is good for mindless knitting.



The pattern is from Lion Brand, as are the yarns, BabySoft in "Pastel Blue" and "Bubblegum" and Microspun in "Mango" and "Lime".



This project may become my at-work knitting because it is easy to pick up and put down. An inch or two at lunch everyday, an hour-long meeting here and there, and the blanket will be done in no time.

Not My Fault

I am pet-sitting for my daughter and son-in-law again. Last time I "helped out" I managed to kill all the tropical fish. The cats are pretty hardy, but when I stopped by Monday night, I could not find one of them. I searched high and low, upstairs and down. I even stepped inside each of the rooms that had been closed off and called, but no Lily.

I talked to my daughter later that night, to ask if Lily had any special hiding places. Check the window sills behind the curtains. Okay. I returned the next night, with a flashlight for dark corners, but still no Lily. Their house is not that big; she had to be there somewhere. So I started checking the closed rooms and there she was, hiding under the bed in the guest room, with no intention of coming out.

She looked okay, despite being locked up without food or water (or litter box!) from Sunday morning to Tuesday night, and by now Baxter was hissing at me, so I left the door open and hoped she would emerge eventually. And tonight, when I returned, there she sat on the couch, eager for some attention. What a relief!

Now, here is where I would show you some knitting pix, but Blogger is being balky tonight. Maybe next time.

Where's the Remote?!?

Not the TV remote. The remote to the garage door opener.

My daughter and her husband borrowed my car for a road trip. I'm using the son-in-law's Jeep, which I took for a short spin today (to The Scoop, if you must know - I needed ice cream). That's when I realized I had left the remote for the garage door opener in my car, the car that is somewhere between here and the east coast right now.

I am very left brained, so I expected the second remote to be somewhere logical, but I wasn't sure where that logical place would be. Aha! With the batteries! And I even have a battery that looks like it will work (A23 12V) but it doesn't. I even found the operator manual but it is of no help. And the company's website is no help, either. Tomorrow I will have to call. I know this remote worked once upon a time, but that was years ago. Surely they don't go stale?

Here are two books I've been meaning to mention:

Knitalong: Celebrating the Tradition of Knitting Together, by Larissa Brown and Martin John Brown. Everything you ever wanted to know about knitalongs (KALs), and then some. And patterns! Written in an engaging style, with great photos.

Dyer Consequences, a Knitting Mystery by Maggie Sefton. One of a series. Not great literature, but I can't quit reading it until I know who the murderer is. Good beach reading. Pattern and recipe included.

Because of scattered thunderstorms, I achieved more knitting this weekend than I anticipated, all on the Sitcom Chic. The body is up to the armpits and I have started one sleeve. Visions of completing this before I go on vacation, which means I will need something else to work on in the car. I'm not close to being finished and I am already planning the next project. Just like a knitter.

It's Not Sunday Yet...

... but I finished something anyway. (It rained this afternoon, so I couldn't play in the dirt.)



The Rowan Denim baby bib and burp rag (patterns from Mason-Dixon Knitting). First time I striped the burp rag. Also, first time I have used this yarn, which shrinks in length when washed. Should I wash before I gift?

I also decided to try denim yarn for the Dollar and a Half cardigan.



This is called Den-M-Nit and was on sale from Elann. I bought extra, to allow for shrinkage.

Just Give It Up or Suck It Up

A week or so ago, I found a really good knitting tip here. What could I apply this to? Why, that *&%#@! lace top I have not been working on. It's part difficult pattern directions (what does Erika Knight have against charts?!?) and part difficult yarn (Kidsilk Haze). I have come to the conclusion that this project is never going to be completed, so daughter dear, would you like a nice shawl instead? We will discuss.

But what about those UFOs one does not want to give up on? I think it is time to suck it up and commit to finishing these. Many of them are bags in need of linings. Some of them just need a button or some ends woven in or blocking. Some need only to be seamed. I'm thinking these are perfect for Sunday morning, while doing laundry. One per week. I think I can handle that.

And wrapping up some UFOs will also give me something to show because not much real knitting is going on. If it weren't for meetings at work, there would be no knitting going on. Can't help it - this is the time of year for playing in the dirt.

Distracted

Yes, I am still knitting, but not as much as Before Summer (BS). Summer is not officially here, but yard work is. For me, yard work is not work, though. It is part of my exercise routine (bend, stretch, lift, carry, etc.) and the cheapest therapy around. After a day on my butt, in front of a computer, surrounded by cubicle walls, digging in the dirt is restorative.

Here we have proof that the Embossed Leaves socks have not been abandoned:



The dark yarn requires natural light, the knitter requires a clear mind to work on these.

While other knitting bloggers crank out Sitcom Chic sweaters like they were hats, I am plugging along on mine.



Instead of Lion Brand CottonEase, I am using Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel. This yarn is producing a loose fabric with a lot of drape. Hope it is wearable.

I was slaving away on this sweater during a meeting at work (conference call with very little to be contributed on our end). During a lull, my supervisor asked me what the color was called. I call it "blood red". A co-worker suggested is was "brick red". Supervisor asked, What does the label say? 7478.

And the One Skein Baby Sweater, which could be completed in practically no time at all, has reached the dreaded seam stage.



Seaming requires attention to detail. And a big dose of patience. And fortitude. It's much easier to go out and mow the lawn.

You Read It Here First

Remember my post about the Black Swamp Spinning Guild Market Day? Remember the Yarn Daze yarn I bought? Well, if you are a reader of Knitter's Review, you will notice Clara Parkes mentions Yarn Daze as her "personal pick of new vendors" at TNNA.

And remember my trip to the Indiana State Museum to see "Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting"? Well, readers of the Creative Knitting newsletter can't help but notice that Barb Bettegnies also mentions this show.

Do I get around or what?

All the Time in the World

When the phone rang at 6:30 this morning, I was slouched over my coffee at the breakfast bar. I perked right up when I heard the recorded announcement from the other end of the wire: my place of employment was without power, so no work today.

Suddenly, the day stretched ahead of me, full of possibilities... as long as they were indoor possibilities - it was raining. Should I fill my day with chores or delight? I promised to do a few chores between the delights, but frankly, other than a few errands, it was mostly delight.

Knitting seemed like a good first choice. I had finished up the Big Bad Baby Blanket, but felt like it could do with a little soak 'n' block.



Yes, it's superwash merino, but there had been a whisper of laddering in the middle of the blanket. And the fabric needed a little regulating.



After squeezing out the water, though, that whisper of laddering turned into a shout. Blocking was out of the question, so I did what any panic-stricken knitter would do: I threw it into the dryer.



And it came out looking great, all fluffy and smooth, with no visible laddering. Whew!

Meanwhile, I took the opportunity to finish the knitting on the Pinwheel Sweater. I'm not more enthused because I'm not sure I like the way the cuffs turned out. They flare. Are they supposed to flare? Is that The Style? I've seen sleeves that flare out from below the elbow, but no flaring occurs on this sweater until the wrists. And I'm not thrilled with the fit elsewhere. The model in the photo must be one of those mythological extra-small creatures, because the sweater looks big and cosy on her. I'm above average height and above average weight, so the sleeves are very snug and the fabric stretches quite a bit across my shoulders. I'm hoping a soak 'n' block relaxes it enough to make it more comfortable. Otherwise, the sweater will have to find a home elsewhere. I'm going to leave the cuffs as is (as are?) for now, reserving the option to rip out the garter stitch and replace it with ribbing at some future date. Besides, the true owner of this sweater probably will not have my gorilla arms.

And, basically, that is all I accomplished today, besides some running around town with the dog (vet, pet store, ATM, BK). Tonight is yoga, but it has stopped raining, so maybe I'll go stick a few seeds into the ground.

Brain Fart, Part Two

I've been working on the One Skein Baby Cardigan, getting near the end of the knitting part, and wondering why I have so much yarn leftover. Well, duh, the Caron Simply Soft Brites yarn comes in 6 oz. skeins. The last time I made this sweater I used Lorna Laces which I think came in a 4 oz. skein. Also, last time I had newly returned to knitting and was still working on keeping a consistent gauge. I used up almost all of that first skein, but this time there will be plenty leftover, for... Baby Surprise? I bought four skeins of the Caron, all Brites, which could contribute to quite a lively colored sweater.

The Big Bad Baby Blanket is done, except for weaving in ends. (No pix because it's a dark and stormy day.) It is in a superwash merino, soft and springy, which is way different than the Caron acrylic, which while soft, is not springy. In fact, it feels kind of petroleum-y, if you know what I mean. I am not a yarn snob, and I frequently choose acrylic or acrylic blends if I want to keep costs down (like for afghans) and/or if the result needs to be very machine washable (like baby items). But some yarns are simply more enjoyable to knit and crochet than others.

The all-employee event I mentioned in my previous post went well. It was a cross between a picnic and a carnival, and very well organized. But the weather was hot and humid. I sat under the beer tent and knit with the Rowan Denim cotton, which turned out to be a good choice.

The next day a co-worker (one I don't know very well) commented on my knitting at the picnic:

K: You looked so funny knitting!

Me: ???

K: I don't know, it just looked funny.

Me: inane comment on the weather

I should have said, "Well, you know, knitting is the new black," but I didn't think of that until about six hours later.

Brain Fart

A while back, I knitted a variety of things with some Caron Simply Soft that I swear was baby or sport weight. I liked it for the premie caps, so I bought some more when it was on sale. Yesterday, looking for something simple and portable to take to an event, I pulled out the yarn and discovered that what I bought was not baby weight but worsted weight. What to do, what to do?

Well, how about casting on a One Skein Baby Cardigan?



The pattern is from an advanced beginner class class I took at Cass Street Depot, and was designed exclusively for them by Jackie Young. It's a great little project for learning sweater design without having to work through six skeins of yarn. When I took the class, I was just returning to knitting and felt pretty clueless. (Why were those women using circular needles? And why did they smile so knowingly when I asked? And, my god, I'm the only one not keeping up!) Now, I am savvy enough to use circs and to knit both sides of the front at the same time. Aren't I a big girl now!

This week is the all-employee event at work, an outdoor picnic with softball, flag football, cornhole (a.k.a. Hoosier horse shoes), dunk tanks for charity, etc. My bifocals rule out ball handling and my shoulders aren't much for throwing things, so I plan to sit in the shade and knit. What knits well in warm weather?



Hopefully, cotton.