Posts from — February 2008

The contest winner is Stephanie!  Thanks to everyone for both participation and voting.  If you see this before I get a chance to email you Stephanie, please go ahead and send your mailing address and I’ll get the Malabrigo out to you.

Well…of COURSE Cat Bordhi is not wrong.  I actually knew that when I wrote the last blog post about these socks, but I had not yet discovered the depth of my own ineptitude.  When I got to the arch expansion increases for the second sock, I peeked at the instructions again.    I was only increasing every other row when I should have been increasing two every three rows.  That explains the huge discrepancy in length.  However, since the first sock was already finished I had to just repeat my stupidity compensation on the second sock.  They fit and that’s really all that’s important.  I won’t give all the specs since I screwed up so badly but to refresh your memory the yarn is Mira Sol Hacho 100% Merino in 303.  I used US 4 needles.

Erica’s birthday sweater is almost finished and it’s looking so cute!  Doing the cowl over and increasing the needle size did the trick.  I initially knit it with US 13 same as the body, but that made the cowl fabric way too tight so that it didn’t drape properly.  The second time around I went from 13 to 15 to 17 to 19 every inch or so.  I’m waiting until she gets here so we can consult on the final skein of yarn.  I’d like to either make the cowl even larger (I think that would look cool) or make a belt to go with it.  Meanwhile, I’ve been knitting some plain socks in Rio de La Plata as Jim and and I tool around Phoenix in pursuit of new stamps (letterboxing) and hikes (we had a fabulous one yesterday at the White Tank Mountain Regional Park on the Ford Canyon Trail).  We’re having a great time and I’m so happy to finally have him here.  Erica arrives Saturday and then Jim goes back home on Tuesday.  I still have a few glorious weeks left in the sun before I head back to Ohio.

Thanks so much for all of the support with the podcast!  I really appreciate all the email and comments I have been receiving.  If you haven’t tried it yet, you may want to at least try episode 3.  I’m having another little contest and giving away some great yarn.

As always, click for big.

Taken at the Phoenix Botanical Garden 1/28/2008

Taken from my AZ backyard 1/24/2008

Today’s backyard creature

This post is long over due since I finished this sweater before I left for Arizona on January 20th.  I became obsessed with getting this sweater done so I had something to wear for the cool desert mornings.  Never mind that I started it just a week or so before I left.

After looking my my stash, I decided on some green “verde esperanza” merino.  It’s been in the stash for a while and it was high time that I experienced the loveliness that is Malabrigo.  I chose the #15 Cabled Cardigan by Heather Carlson from Vogue Knitting Winter 2006/2007.  The pattern calls for 4.75 spi on US 8 and with Malabrigo I was getting more like 3.75-4 on US 6 (yes, loose knitter here) which means the garment would be about 15 to 20% bigger than the original pattern (4/4.75=.84  3.75/4.75=.79).  Based on the math and the fact that I only had 7 skeins of the Malabrigo, I went with the XS since I would have chosen a medium if my gauge was right.  I definitely would have knit the small had I known then that I would have a skein left at the end.

I really like the sweater.  I particularly like the cables on the front edges.  I would love it if it were just a little bigger, but at least it’s still wearable.  I didn’t do any mods except to add an extra closure at the top.. since it is too small that area needed a little extra “help.”  The malabrigo was lovely to knit with but it really doesn’t wear that well.  After several wearings it is pilling like crazy despite a tight fabric.  I guess that is the price we have to pay for all that fabulous softness.

Absolutely no segue or relevance to this next bit…just something that amused me today.  There always seems to be something interesting in my back yard here since it backs up to a large wash.  Last week, it was javelinas. 

Looking through the back window today, I saw this, well furry something that was laying on the rock waterfall with its feet in the air. 

I thought, “Oh great!  A hawk or something dropped it’s dinner on our rock.  Won’t that be a nice job for Jim to take care of when he gets here?”  Hmmm, on the off chance it’s alive, I wonder what it is?  So as I unlocked the back door to get a clearer look, the squirrel perked up.  Hooray!  No dead squirrels on the rock feature.  I guess he just decided to sun his belly by the pool.  Maybe I’ll go follow suit.

It’s time to vote for your favorite Project Sanity button…spread the word! I’ve chosen some lovely Malabrigo lace weight yarn for the winner. You can vote until February 16th. The contestants are listed below the poll.

Button 1

Button 2

Button 3

Button 4

I feel dirty and sacrilegious just having thought of that title.  However, after hours of knitting and ripping my latest sock attempt, I hope you can forgive me.  I’ve been coveting the book New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One for a while now.  I thought I’d wait patiently for a used copy, but then I finally saw the book in person at Arizona Knitting and Needlepoint.  After looking through it I realized I need this book now…  especially since the yummy new yarn I just bought was destined to become socks.  All I needed was an exciting new technique to bring them alive.

I flipped through the book and settled on the Coriolis architecture.  After all, “hand- painted yarns throw their colors at an angle in the Coriolis band, looking stunning” which sounded just perfect for my Hacho.  And it is…just look at that lovely little band of goodness.  One problem.  The sock didn’t fit at all.  Just a little too wide and already WAY too long despite not even being finished with the arch expansion.  No big, it’s a new technique and now there was plenty of knitting to get a really good gauge swatch.  I checked my gauge.  I checked my math.  I looked at the charts again (the book has a fantastic master chart that determines how many stitches to use based on any gauge and foot circumference and you use the row gauge to determine length).  Everything was right.  No matter.  I’ll just reduce the initial number of stitches from 46 to 42 (maybe my gauge is really more like 5.5 instead of 6 anyway after checking again) and reduce the toe length by an inch.  Yep, that ought to do it.  So I ripped out to the toe increases and began again.  It was still looking too long but I decided to see it through anyway. 

See the picture where the sock looks pretty decent on my foot and appears to have a “heel”?  Well, there is no heel.  That is just about the length of the sock when I had finished the arch expansion.  I went on a couple of rows after that doing some decreases thinking that it really didn’t fit too bad even without a heel and maybe I should just continue.  I just can’t quite convince myself though.  My decreases don’t fit with the existing architecture and besides that this yarn deserves a good sock!  A correct sock!  So what is a knitter to do?   I’m really not sure at this point.  Beginning again just isn’t going to work.  Despite the title, I am quite sure Cat Bordhi has not made a mistake.  There just has to be something simple that I am missing, doesn’t there?  I’m off to scope out some blogs get more information on successful Coriolises? Corioli?  If you know anything about this strange phenomena I’m having, please let me know!

It’s wonderful how creative the button entries are for Project Sanity.  If you haven’t entered yet you still have until February 8th. I bow to your creativity!

Stephanie of Going to be Parents

Laura of JenLa

Carol of Numbknits

Little knits are so fun!  Every once in a while, it’s nice to have almost all small projects on the needles.  I finished Pinky’s bed socks and Hippo’s hat.  I got both the hat and the pair of socks each out of one skein.  I really can’t believe it…especially the socks.  A real bargain since I got the Louisa Harding Kimono Angora on sale for 10 dollars.  A pair of size 8 women’s socks for 10 dollars.  Rockin’!  Final stats:  38 st sock on US size 4 DPNs, foot length 8.5″, legs 7″ and gauge of 6 spi.  For Hippo’s hat, I actually used just a smidgen of the second skein.  If I would have planned a little better though it really could have been just one.  Hippo is pretty picky about this hats, so I didn’t block it.  I figured he’d probably like to shape it himself.  I’m going to try to eek out another beanie from the rest of the second skein.  Bingo Chine, US size 8 needles, cast on of 68 and gauge of 4.5 spi.  The resulting fabric is really attractive and manly.  Now that those are on the way to Virginia, I can focus on finishing Erica’s birthday sweater before my new wheel gets here.  Oops!

Yes, I ordered a new wheel.  In Arizona.  I’m going to be depressed to have to leave it here when I go back to Ohio, but it will be just one more thing for me to look forward to when we move here permanently. 1  It’s the Kromski Symphony I’ve been coveting for over a year now.  Since I’m here for a few weeks this time with no other real responsibilities (except for the new podcast, of course ) I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time to play with it.  Now I’m wishing I had shipped myself some fiber out here too.  However, it does give me a chance to review some etsy vendors for the podcast.  YAY!  I have a couple of different hand painted fibers on the way, all in the name of research, of course.   If I love the new wheel so much that I can’t possibly part with it, I’m sure I’ll find a way to get it home.  Plus, I’ve also considered selling my Ashford Traveller so maybe I can just get a different wheel for Ohio too.  I’ll let y’all know if I make a decision on that so you can have first dibs on the Ashford.

1. Still no ETA on that.  So.  Many.  Factors.  Like Jim’s work   For now we’ll just try to enjoy it as much as possible [↩]

My latest knitting involves letterboxing.  Since I first learned about letterboxing through the Lime and Violet podcast, I thought it was only appropriate my first plant should be an homage to them.  I wanted the box to reflect them at least a little so I stared with a lime colored lock and lock box and a lime mechanical pencil.  Then the stamp.  I’m not the best artist in the world but I think you can at least tell that there is a citrus fruit and flower.  I felt there should be yarn and a sock involved (quite appropriate) so I made a mini violet “good luck” sock for the first finder and an inexpensive violet colored bracelet (so what if a guy finds it…surely he’ll know someone to give it to).  Finally, I got permission from Ms Violet herself to use the Lime and Violet website image for the front of the log book.  It’s called “Lime and Violet Letterbox, Arizona Edition #1″.  I’m thinking there might be some other crazy listeners that decide to do this too so maybe there will be a whole series!  I’m going out to plant it today and I’ll give the link later.1

I’ve also been working on another pair of bed socks for Sheila (in Louisa Harding Kimono Angora) and Erica’s birthday sweater in Blue Sky Bulky duotones.  This might be a good time to mention where you can HEAR more about my current projects.  I’ve just recorded my first podcast!  Between hunting for stamps in the desert, taking 11 mile hikes and starting a podcast, I know that this time I have truly lost my mind.  I just hope Jim gets here soon enough to save me from myself.

More letterboxing after the jump…skip if you’ve had enough of that! [Read more →]

1. I’m looking outside and it’s raining right now but I already put the date on it so into the rain I go! [↩]

I’ve been so busy knitting a wee tiny sock (more on that…maybe tomorrow) and trying to convince myself that I don’t need the Kromski Symphony1 I’ve been coveting for over a year that I neglected my post for today. I’ve just forced myself to put down the sock and get down to business. Oh, and totally random, I forgot to tell you all that I had a visit to the emergency room the night before I left (Saturday Jan. 19). Long story short, my nose may be broken…hard to tell from the x-ray. More on that later too.

So, backtracking a little, I’m in Arizona. Yay! It’s sleeting and cold at home and meanwhile I’m perfectly comfortable in just my Autumn Rose sweater. As for Tuesday’s plan?2 Mission accomplished.

First I carved my signature stamp while drinking a glass of wine and eating cheese. Pitiful…not sure whether to blame the wine or my lack of artistic ability. I used the dragonfly I purchased instead for my first day of letterboxing.  By the way, did I mention I spent almost a whole day gallivanting all over Phoenix looking for speedball?  When instant gratification is needed online shopping just won’t do.  I found it at the 6th and last place I looked…typical.

I slept well and was the first to arrive at Jessica Knits. The prices were good…not fantastic…but of course, I bought. Six skeins of Malabrigo (pearl ten and tortuga, yum), 9 skeins of Rowan Tapestry (um, have you tried this yet…beautiful colors and soft with 30% soy), 1 skein (2400 yards!) of Cherry Tree Hill merino lace (I have no clue what I’ll be doing with this…I’m not much for bright shawls and you’d have to pay me big dollars to make socks at that gauge…but it’s purty), 2 skeins of Louisa Harding Kimono Angora (apparently Pinky loves her socks, but her ankles are cold) and two skeins of Bingo Chine (Hippo lost his hat ) Poor Hippo.

Then the letterboxing. I did the MMR Eats series. Seven miles (loves my Garmin…a wonderful gift from Stacie) and 2 1/2 hours later I had found 4 letterboxes. Strangely enough, one of these was marked as a “drive by” and turned out to be about 200 yards from Jessica Knits.3 I was tempted to show you the scans of the stamps I got (I’ve decided to keep a digital logbook) but I’m not sure about the etiquette on that. Let me know!  Oh and I revisited a signature stamp today.  I’m much happier with this one.  I’ll be using it tomorrow.

Ok, back to knitting. I’ve had Baudelaire on my needles as a traveling sock for a while now. Last time I was in Arizona, I had a bit of a boo boo. It seems that one can somehow forget the size of one’s feet despite the fact that they are nearly always attached to one’s body. Huh? Well, one detriment of pattern socks. Since I did the actual Baudelaire heel and not my normal short row I had to guess on the second sock (no tape measure). I was in the car knitting along when it finally dawned on me it was too big. I ripped back and set it aside disgustedly. Fortunately, I had no other socks on the needles when it was time to get on the plane this time so I was forced to so I continued on with the Baudelaire (yeah, I know I quit the cable somewhere along the way…that happens when you have something on the needles for too long). I found out the hard way that the Baudleiare heel really doesn’t work for me. I wore them on my 7 mile hike on Wednesday and got a huge blister. Seriously, I hike all the time. I KNOW better than to wear untested socks. But I did it anyway. Maybe a blond thing? At least they are pretty and I’m sure fine for normal wear despite the heel fit. The specs…Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Baltic Sea, 2 skeins, size 1 needles and 60 CO. Lovely pattern, maybe not the best with this yarn and my heel. It looks much better in the solid color in the pattern picture.

Enough already, right? I need to continue with the wee sock and then get to bed for my Southwestern Skies Letterbox hunt tomorrow.

One more thing though.  Thanks to Jen and La for supporting my craziness as usual.  I’m not sure why people aren’t jumping on the Project Sanity bandwagon, especially since most of my previous contests have been popular and you know I give away good yarn!  La in her infinite wisdom suggested I may need a separate post…I was so excited about the idea at the time I just spurted it all out instead of waiting for a special Project Sanity post.  Maybe I wasn’t the only one inspired by Stash and Burn?  When they came back from break, episode 41 mentioned other stash/gift knitting groups on Ravelry.  At any rate, Seanna has a great botton!  Her odds of winning at this point are very good. 

1. Jim’s been telling me to get it all this time. I really don’t know why I deny myself when I have a husband that actually supports my fiber addiction. [↩]
2. Last blog post excerpt: Until then, my super fabulous schedule for the next 24 hours: carve my signature stamp, get my letter boxing tools together, drink some wine, eat some cheese, sleep well, arrive at Jessica Knits at 10 a.m. for their 4th Annual Super Bowl Sale, buy copious amounts of yarn, go on several hikes in the area of Jessica Knits to collect stamps. [↩]
3. Of course, I didn’t realize that until later but it was only about a 2 mile drive from the others, so NBD. [↩]