Manufactured Urgency

On Monday I leave for a business trip to Florida.
(Whoop-di-do. This will be my fourth trip to the Orlando Convention Center since I joined my magazine in 2006. At least I know my way around. And, hey, we're staying at the Ritz(!) this year, so that should be nice.)
Nell is so very close to being done, it occurred to be that if I focus a bit I might finish it in time to take on my trip.
I seem to remember setting trip to Florida as a deadline for Nell in the past, and, well, we know how well that worked out.

No, really, it's realistic.
All I have to do is finish knitting and attach the collar, seam one arm, and weave in the ends.
And I have six days to do it.
Shoot, I can knit a sock in that time and this is less work than a sock. Right?
Although some of it might be more tedious.
I wish this had occurred to me sooner. I might have spent more time on Nell and less time on my Cotton Ribbed Socks and making cute flower rings.
However, I worked on the sweater last night and the collar is almost done.
Ha!

Does that count as short rows?
When I worked the first half of the collar, I was puzzled by the directions because they have you work even until it reached the center back of the neck, then bind off in steps over five rows. For the second side you reverse the shaping so the steps are on the other end and the two pieces can lock together like a jigsaw puzzle.
At the time, this did not make sense to me, as it seemed to give you a bunch of extra fabric. I thought, "Why not just reach the center and seam the damn thing?"
Now that the second half is almost done, and I can see it in action, I realize this must be some strange version of short rows, but worked in two separate pieces. I think the extra fabric tab thingys are going to provide slack so the collar can fold over and lay properly.
I was folding it back as-is last night, and the top edge was definitely flaring away from the other half of the collar. Obviously it would never work in it's current incarnation.
Well, I shall be tackling that situation tonight.
I really think it's going to happen this time.

Damn Doily Update
My mother-in-law reports that her friend loves, loves, loves the doilies. She apparently was showing them off to anyone who would stand still long enough.
MIL says everyone admired how beautiful they are and were impressed by the fine gauge and you just don't see work like that anymore.
It would seem that if anyone noticed one is slightly off from the other two they were too polite to mention it.
I think I also heard my MIL say something about getting me to make HER some, but I'm just going to block that out. :-)

Doilies! Nell! Sock! Wheeee!

The Damn Doilies are Done!
Yippee!
I actually finished them, like, last Wednesday. See, I miss a couple days of blogging and all hell breaks loose.
So I shall go chronologically and hope nothing interesting happens until I have you up-to-date.
Most importantly, I finished the doilies.
Phew!
I did my fake blocking routine of wetting them and smoothing them out with my hands.
I wanted to get a nice picture of them all together, which is why I didn't tell you this exciting news earlier.
Now, I just have to complete the equally challenging task of getting to the post office. Ha!

Doily Recap
These are basically the Spiralen by Marie Niedner & Gussi von Reden (that link will take you to the Ravelry page), which I expanded to be 12".
I used a US1 needle.
The yarn was some mystery crochet cotton out of my stash, and some fresh crochet cotton I bought.
They aren't actually hard, and they don't actually take a long time. Unless you are trying to make them bigger and you run out of thread.

I Worked on Nell!
When I finished the doilies, I thought to myself, "Boy, this finishing projects business is fun! I can see why people focus on it."
Having destroyed the poor Cotton Ribbed Sock at this point, I was inspired to get out my Nell sweater and have another whack at it.
You might remember I've been struggling with Nell for about two years now.
Knitting the body was a breeze, but I am apparently totally incapable of knitting a button band properly.
Because of this, when last we saw Nell back in January, I had sewn the front opening shut. Sure it's a cardigan, but it's not a wear over other clothes cardigan.
(Of course, I've also sworn off cardigan knitting, but I reserve the write to change my mind.)
I didn't sew the front completely shut, so it would still have that top-button-open look.
To work the second half of the collar, I picked up the seven stitches on the back of the button band just below the button and started knitting up.
However, as you might be able to see in this picture, I don't think it's working quite right.
The button is on the outside, and I think it looks goofy.
Sigh.
I've decided I have to rip it out, pick up on the outside/public side of the band, work the one button hole, and then continue on.
I will, of course, be sewing this little button band portion to the front of the sweater where it belongs. It won't be flapping loose in the breeze.
This new, planned arrangement should give me a more accurate illusion of a button down sweater with the top button open.

Cotton Rib Sock, Reborn
No picture for this one.
Thanks to a train trip into The City on Friday, and some project monogamy over the weekend, I've finished the first of the Cotton Rib Socks.
One down, one to go.
I stuck with the 48 stitches all the way down and the fit on the foot seems fine. The leg is showing potential for bagging, but I think that is just the nature of cotton socks.
I'm just going to have to ignore it and carry on!

So Close, So Far

My mom has expressed concern about me calling them "Damn Doilies."
She's worried Aunt L will find out.
I said Aunt L isn't online. It is very possible my mother-in-law now reads my blog because she is on Facebook and my blog feeds into my Facebook profile. But she hasn't said anything.
You may remember I fell into the habit of calling them that when I was trying to expand the first one to 12 inches.
Really, they've been fairly easy since then.
I guess it just proves that doilies and I don't mix.
Back in 2004 I crocheted a nice pineapple one for myself, with the intention of making two for under the lamps on the living room end tables.
It makes a lovely centerpiece for the coffee table.
Actually, you've seen this pineapple doily before, it was the inspiration for the fancy cuff on the long neglected Peacock Socks.
Anyway.
What you see in the top picture is the process of working the first round of the crochet edging, which also binds off the knit body.
You have to crochet two stitches together right off the knitting needle.
I believe I've complained in the past about how fussy and awkward a process it is, and I thought I'd finally try to prove it.
For reference, I'm using US1 needles and a steel crochet hook!
But that first round is done. Now all I have to do is work the second row, which is far easier, and the Damn Doilies are out of here.

So Far
I have also quietly, and in fits and starts, been working on the Cotton Ribbed socks.
You have probably forgotten about them as I started them a while ago and haven't mentioned them since.
Well, last night I ripped the first sock, which I had only just finished, all the way back to the 18th row.
You might remember I had been agonizing about stitch count for these socks because I didn't want them to be baggy.
I don't know how well you can tell in this photo, but I had decreased away, um, eight stitches from what I had originally cast on.
This left me with a 40 stitch sock.
This did not sound quite right, since I am a grown woman, even if I do have small feet.
But, of course, I just kept knitting.
The entire time I was working the foot I suspected it wouldn't fit nicely, but kept thinking, "Well, I'll have a better idea after a few more rows."
I believe I ended up that small because I ended up decreasing on both sides and wanted to keep the ribbing correct. I probably should have decreased at one point, which would have led to fewer stitches removed.
I finished last night, but didn't kitchener the toe, or even cut the yarn. I put the sock on and sat there for a little while.
Sure enough, it stretched over my foot, but felt like a sausage casing. It just wasn't comfortable. It did loosen up after a couple minutes, but was still pretty unacceptable.
So I decided to go back to the original number of cast on stitches (48) and just work the entire sock that way. Hopefully my plan of using the ribbing to give them stretch and cling will work out.

Back to the Damn Doilies

With the Harf done, I've returned my attention to the neglected doilies.
This would be the only other project that currently has a legitimate deadline, since it is for someone else.
I'm on about row 30, which is about half-way, as of last night.
However, this picture is of the second doily, but I can get away with that because they look the same.
This new crochet thread is not exactly the same as the thread I used for the first two doilies, but it's a closer match than the Knit Cro-sheen was, so I'm rolling with it.
Hopefully, I'll be able to finish this bad boy up over the weekend and move on to other projects!

Damn Doily Indeed

The Third Damn Doily is up to row 34, or so, which is about half way through the center spiral.
I had to open a new spool of thread for this one, and the whole time I've been knitting I've been thinking that this spool feels much slicker and more flexible than the stuff I used for the first two doilies.
So last night I finally fished the label out of the center of the cone.
I'm using Knit-Cro-sheen.
I did not use Knit-Cro-Sheen for the first two doilies. I'm not sure what it was, but it wasn't this.
The thread for the first two doilies was firm and had a matte finish. This thread is soft and has a shiny finish.
It's probably the difference between mercerized and unmercerized cotton. But I'm pretty sure you can tell to the naked eye.
After Hubby wakes up I'll have to go up to the attic to look for another spool of normal crochet cotton for this last doily. Otherwise a trip to Michael's is in my future.

Hookin' It

The current Damn Doily is flying along.
Last night I finished the knitting portion and started on the crocheted part of the edging.
You may remember from the first Damn Doily, which took so very many attempts to make, that the crochet portion is really murderous.
Combine that itty-bitty hook, with that skinny-skinny thread, then throw in four knitting needles flopping around and getting in your way for good measure...and you have a nightmare waiting to happen.
I was able to get through the first needle's worth of stitches before bedtime.
Hopefully I'll get through the other three tonight, but I'm not going to hold my breath.
Once the stitches are transferred off the knitting needle it won't be so bad. Some single crochet and chain five combination and I'm done.
Then I really need to take myself in hand and start the third one so I can be free.

I Forgot to Mention
As though I haven't talked about Lucy enough in last three or four posts....
Maybe I really am a fan girl.
I had a chance to point out that I was the writer who contacted her back in December for an article for the January issue of Yarn Market News (that business magazine for the fiber industry for which I've been writing freelance articles).
The light bulb totally went on. She said they liked my article and we had a nice chat about her DVDs and technology.
So, see, she doesn't think I'm a totally whack job.

Seashell Socks
As though I don't have enough other projects on the go, and plenty of yarn and projects in queue, I'm obsessing over my new Seashell Celestial Merino.
I thought, before I strain myself designing a pair of feather and fan socks, I should check Ravelry to see what is out there.
Sure enough, lots of patterns.
And you know what?
Not really what I had in mind.
I should probably swatch with my yarn, to be sure, but yeah, they weren't working for me.
Maybe I was thinking of the wrong stitch pattern.

Library to the Rescue!
On the way home, I stopped by the library and picked up a copy of Sensational Knitted Socks. I'm thinking the next time I have some found money I might have to finally invest in copies of Sensational Knitted Socks and More SKS. Mainly for the stitch dictionaries.
I mean, here Charlene has so nicely figured out the stitch count and how to work them in the round, why should I duplicate her effort?
I also got the Vogue Dictionary of Knitting Stitches from 1984.
Oh my gosh, it's so funny. The big 80s hair and the makeup. snicker.
Of course, the stitches are the same ones we use today and people have been using for years.
I found a feather and fan in there, and one called seashells, which could be interesting.
But, almost as important, I found a lace/eyelet stitch called Snowflake lace or something like that. And snowflakes is what I wanted to do with that blue and white Koigu I have.
So that might totally work.
But those are worries for another day, after the damn doilies are done.

Kick in the Pants

First up, the Cashmere Sock version of my Eyelet and Feather Scarf is done and blocked!
After going through all the trouble of brushing my hair, this is the best picture I got. (Hubby is deep in school work and correcting papers for the end of term and is not to be disturbed.)
So, it's my own Eyelet and Feather pattern (available there in the side bar and in my Ravelry store).
The pattern was written using Alchemy Monarch. To accommodate this different yarn I went up to a US7 needle.
Now I have to take some new measurements, tweak the pattern for this yarn, and fill out the submission form, then it will be winging its way off to the publisher.

Cotton and More Cotton
The completion of that scarf has caused me, in a round about way, to start working on the Damn Doily again.
But by now you've noticed I tend to do things in a round about way.

But First, a Detour
After I finished the blue scarf, I spent an evening with the Heart Harf. Now both sides are three heart panels long.
As I approach the point where I'll have to graft the center shut, I'm growing nervous.
P asked Lucy about grafting Knit 2, Purl 2 rib on Saturday.
Lucy replied, "Top to top or top to bottom?" And launched into a discussion that included waste yarn making your life easier.
It was interesting, but I could only half listen as I was counting the cash register drawer at the time.
But then driving home I thought, "Blast! That might have been useful for the Harf!" I will have to consult with P, or see if this technique is covered on Lucy's DVDs.
Of course, I weathered grafting the cable band on Coronet shut and even managed to figure out how to keep the reverse stockinette stitch correct.
Still, I might need to make a swatch in less delicate yarn for practice.

Back to Cotton
But I've also been working on the Ribbed Cotton Socks out of Sockina Cotton.
I decided to go with the US1. The gauge was a little smaller, maybe a quarter of a stitch. But the interior felt nicer on my fingers, which will feel nicer on my feet.
After doing some math, I determined I should cast on 44 sts. This seemed ridiculous even for me, but I rolled with it.
The test bit did indeed stretch out unattractively, so I frogged it, cast on 48, then decreased down to 44 sts after my standard 15 rows of cuff ribbing.
You can see the decreases happening in the top picture.

Princess Time
In the mean time, I've also decided these socks are a good candidate for a Princess Sole.
It's not that the yarn isn't soft, but it doesn't have the squish that wool sock yarn does. Based on my experience with my other cotton socks, I think the smooth interior will be more pleasant.
However, based on my experience with the ladder that formed on the sole of my New Year's Socks, I thought it might be best to work the sole of the Ribbed socks all on one needle.
That is, usually I knit socks with the stitches distributed on four needles and a fifth for working.
I want these socks on three needles with a fourth for working.
This will be easier to accomplish on my 6" Clovers rather than my 5" Brittanies.

Now We Get to the Doily
But, of course, my long US1 needles are in the Damn Doily, which has been back in the dining room credenza since we took that trip to my in-laws' the other month.
Ooops.
So in a desperate attempt to free my needles so I can knit my socks, I've been devoting all my knitting time to the doily!
Yippee!
As of last night, I'm on row 55. The goal is 60 rows for the center, then two rows each of knitting and crocheting for the border.
It occurs to me I should be strong and jump straight into the third and final doily as soon as I finish this one.
Will power being my strong point, an all.

Furry Little Creeps

All three of them!

Knitting Update
First up, though, we were at the in-laws for the weekend, I took Monday off work, which is why I've been scarce the last few days.
I took the doily stuff and Hubby's Sox to work on.
I took the finished doily as well, so show my mother-in-law. They are for her friend, after all, and she hasn't seen it. She thought it was quite lovely. I was able to work through row 25 over the weekend. I believe I determined the center needs to go to row 60. Of course, this one will go much quicker since I won't have to fiddle around trying to reach the correct diameter.
Hubby's Sox has been turned, picked up, and gusset decreased. I'm on row 36 on the foot with a goal of 75 before starting the toe decreases. I was able to work on the sock in the car on the ride home, since it is plain old stockinette stitch and I don't have to look at it.

Harf Stuff
The Harf didn't get to make the trip. When I was working the first half, I ended up attaching a second ball of yarn to the bottom half of the provisional cast-on to test working the pattern down from that point in order to ensure my crazy construction would work.
This made it rather cumbersome to drag around the house from storage in the dining room to the living room so I could work on it.
This second half does not have an extra ball of yarn hanging from it, but I still think of it as cumbersome to travel with.
Anyway, I did work on the Harf last night after we got home. I was tired of working on thin and thinner (sock, doily).
I did end up deciding against trying to flip the cables. It might look more funky than cool to suddenly have them switch direction at the peak of the hood. And I wasn't looking forward to either reworking the entire section, or attempting to jerry-rig the cables.
However, I did discover a new mnemonic to help me remember the cable cross.
Previously, it was first cable front. But last night it finally registered that on this half the first cable is the back edge of the piece, so back/back, front/front still sort of helps.
Speaking of the Harf, the other day someone found my blog by searching for "harf knitting pattern." I wonder if they were disappointed when they realized I don't have a pattern available yet? Although they did look around a bit.
Still, it surprised the daylights out of me that someone should search on "harf." I mean, it's not like I really thought I'd invented a new word when I dubbed it that, but I still thought I was terribly clever.

Puppy Tail
So, about the dogs.
We were at the in-laws because this was the first weekend of Hubby's spring break.
Despite knowing first hand how hard he works during the school year, and how much he needs this two week break, I can't help a childish burst of jealousy that he gets to sleep in while I have to get up.
At least I get to sleep in until 6:30 since I don't have to get up and cook his breakfast.
Well, apparently the puppies had just too much fun at grandma and grandpa's house over the weekend because they didn't come downstairs with me this morning!
Not even Baru, who always comes down with me first thing because he's a mama's boy.
No, pups came stumbling down around 7, just as I was getting ready to go back upstairs to get ready for work. And, of course, they wanted to be let out right then, and they wanted their breakfast as soon as they came back in.
And I complied, because they are terribly spoiled puppies.
To add insult to injury, they were both back in bed with Hubby by the time I got out of the shower (and Baru was the one in the prime spot on my pillow).
Oh well, at least Hubby is doing the grocery shopping alone while I'm at work.
In case you're wondering, Hubby was up around 8 when I was getting ready to leave the house and he expressed appropriate appreciation for me making his coffee.

Making Myself Paranoid

First up, I've conquered the damn doily!
I was able to knock out the edging last night while Hubby was playing Madden football and before we started watching T:TSCC (which is still being stupid. So much false tension. And this one computer geek was responding unrealistically to an AI situation.)
(remember, you can click a small picture to see a larger view.)
Again, being paranoid, I did not cut the yarn, but stuck a safety pin through the last stitch to keep it live.
I had a moment of grand annoyance after I wet it down and pseudo-blocked it out (I didn't pin it, just stretched it with my hands and smoothed it out) because it was measuring 13 inches.
Really I was ready to shriek, but I had hopes it would shrink down a bit when it dried.
Which, happily, it did. Some parts might measure 12.5 inches, but basically it's 12 inches across, which is close enough for me!
Now I can move ahead and make the other two. phew.

Bad Novel Choice
As for the title of this post.
My library offers free digital audio book downloads. They used to only work with PCs, but now some titles are compatible with Macs and iPods, which is thrilling, except of course for the title I really want (Brisingr). So I got I am Legend instead, which I've never read but we saw the Will Smith movie last year.
I don't usually do the horror thing as I'm much too suggestible. Ask Hubby, it's really not pretty at all.

Can We Defend This Place?
So now I'm wondering how defensible the house is.
Really, zombie attacks and Mad Max type situations were not top-of-mind when we were house hunting.
Of course the front of the house is open to assault, but we have ravines on either side, which should help.
The ground drops off pretty steeply on the kitchen side, so we should be safe there. But the dining room side has the yard. Because of the ravine on that side, they couldn't approach head-on en mass, but they could still get to it fairly easily.
Of course, the back of the house is practically all glass, which is cause for concern.
Most of the back porch is over the ravine, but one corner of it is over the back yard.
Between the inaccessibility, the alarm system, and the dogs, I think we're safe from human intruders, but a determined, blood-sucking monster might not be so easily deterred and could probably climb up.
I might have to revisit the Zombie Attack Plan thread on Ravelry (password required) to see how to address this situation.
And people wonder why I don't sleep well when Hubby is out of town.

Creeping Along

Despite my laser-like focus on Hubby's Sox Socks recently, I did work on some of my other projects this week.
On Tuesday, I managed about four rows on the Harf.
My mom asked to see the Harf when she was up over the weekend. She thought the yarn was very lovely and soft. I also showed her to prototype, which she thought was interesting. She tried it on as well. It could have been a little deeper for her, perhaps, but I think I can still claim "one size fits most."
I only worked a few rows because I then stopped and hauled out the damn doily.
But I didn't work on it. Instead I was stunned to find there was not a row counter attached to it, and I would have to count stitches to find my place since I didn't have my row on the pattern marked either, that I went to bed instead.
It came back out last night. It was very easy to find where I was. Actually the hard part was I had stopped in the middle of a round, so I had to begin by figuring out if I was on a YO row or a K/K2tog row.
Last night I finished off the central spiral and the two rows before the crochet edging before I put it down.

TV Knitting
We are currently getting caught up on Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (which records in Low Def) in a desperate attempt to free up DVR space for 24 and LOST (which are in HD). I don't know about your DVR, but on ours LD shows are worth one or two points while HD ones are worth like five points (as we refer to the percentage of storage space a one hour episode uses), so you can't store as many HD ones.
Our strategy for watching 24 and Lost, with their impossibly slow story lines, is to capture as much of the season as we can before we start watching. This way we can watch two or three episodes in a sitting and see some progress. This is also a good way to combat the random month long breaks shows always seem to take these days.
Important shows like Battelstar Gallactica and Heroes are watch in almost real time. We're also keeping up on Fringe and Damages to conserve space. (boy, howdy, did the current Fringe break blind side us.)

That Was Some Tangent
Where was I?
Right, Terminator: TSCC and the doily.
So, although Terminator: TSCC is poorly written and we are starting to wonder why we are watching it (I mean, really, don't these people communicate? So much false tension is created because they aren't talking to each other. Which is totally contrary to the characters that were established and the life threatening situation they are all in and aware of. Seriously, Samson and Baru could do a better job.) the crochet edging is just a little too fiddly to work while I watch TV.
The first row around involves single crocheting two stitches together with ch5 in between. Which wouldn't be so bad, if I wasn't using a steel hook and size 10 crochet thread.
I should be able to get through it in a few bursts this weekend, even though mom is bringing my niece and nephew up so we can go to the musical at Hubby's school on Saturday.

No Idle Hands
Since a girl can't watch TV (except for BSG) without some project going (especially when it's bad TV like T:TSCC), I switched from the doily to Hubby's sox.
Which explains the opening picture.
I'm far enough along to see the pattern developing at this point, and I think I did a pretty good job of matching the starting point.
When I was ready to start the second sock, I somehow got it into my head that there were two different stripe sequences working (i.e. that the bright turquoise stripe shows up in two spots and I was going to get the wrong one).
But apparently there is one pattern, and I nailed it.

Damn Doily

The doily has been in time out.
A week or two ago I finished extending with the goal of reaching 12 inches and got 11 inches instead.
Grrr.
The original pattern calls for 30 rows for the central spiral before working the edging.
Because it is a spiral, I'm having a bit of trouble measuring the row gauge. So I made an educated guess and extended the center out to 50 rows before starting the edging.
I wet it and then stretched it as much as I could and laid it out on a towel to dry, and it was 11 inches.
Causing me to ignore it in favor of more cooperative projects. However, this is for someone else, who is paying for the thread, so I should get cracking.

Not a Total Fool
Of course, if this was a crocheted doily, with crochet's lovely independent stitches, I would have been able to get an accurate measurement of the diameter before I blocked it. Since it's a knit doily, I can only stretch it flat on the needles so much, which is no help at all. Most of the time it is hanging down between the needles in a rather snood-like fashion.
Having learned from attempt number one, after I finished the edging, I didn't cut the thread. Instead I clipped a stitch marker to it so I wouldn't have to worry about weaving in another end.
At some point in recent memory, I had started the process of pulling out the edging. I had pulled out the crochet loops and had all the stitches back on the needles, but there were two rows to pick out. sigh.
Last night I picked it up again and spent half an hour picking out those rows. I know it was half an hour because I was watching Men In Black on TV, making it easy to keep an eye on the clock on the cable box.
I believe I was only able to work forward for 2 rows before it was bedtime.

Struggling Forward
I'm going to work the center out for 10 more rows. I have no idea if that will be enough since I can't figure out where to measure for a row count. sob. I wish there was a way to measure it more accurately without having to work all the edging, etc. At one point I had transferred it to my 24" Addi Turbo circular, but even that didn't seem to work out well for measuring.
(I didn't want to work it on the circular. I had become accustomed to the end of the needles providing a break between pattern repeats; something that would have been lost on the circ.)

Questionable Needle Size
A concern I've had since I started expanding it is whether I'm on the right size needle. I'm using US1, but I wonder if I should be on US2. It appears that even when I worked it the first time around I didn't know what size needle I was on. My Ravelry project page says US1. Although I remember changing that information, I don't remember why I would have. You would think if my Ravelry notebook said US2 I would have said, "Oh that must be what I was using" and leave it, but no, I changed the needle size.
Needle size is an issue because if I had been on the US2 originally and now I'm on the US1 my gauge might be different, which would explain why my clever calculations of just adding 20 rows to get to 12 inches didn't work out.
Although the gauge can't be terribly different since I'm not seeing a glaring difference between the original center and the section I've added.
I'm considering working the next doily on US2 from start to finish, but then what if it ends up too big?
Sometimes a girl can't win.

Fingers and Toes

I've been a busy little girl, despite my weakened condition (cough, sniffle).
As you can see here, I finished my BSG Socks last night.
To Recap:
Jitterbug Yarn in the Mardi Gras colorway.
US 2 needles
My standard Jitterbug formula for the pattern. As these are my third pair of socks in Jitterbug, I don't have to fiddle around.
Actually, that's not entirely true. It's my new standard Jitterbug formula. On my first pair of Jitterbug socks (the blue ones) I did a plain stockinette stitch heel flap. On these and the Purple Jitts I did a heel stitch flap with garter edge.
Which is the same heel I did on my New Year's socks. Yeah, I'm a bit fixated on it at the moment.
So the socks took about 80 grams of yarn with about 36 grams left over, which seems par for the course with this yarn.
The joys of small feet.

Scrappy Socks To Be
Of course, part of the reason I bought this skein of Jitterbug yarn was because I had the left overs from the Blue and Purple. The other reason is because I really liked the color and one day I said "If that flashy skein of Jitterbug is still in the store today I'm gonna buy it." And it was.
Anyway.
At one point I tried to make a pair of toe up socks with the leftover blue yarn, but it wasn't enough for even a pair of peds. I realized I would need the leftovers from two skeins to make a full pair of socks.
When assessing my stash, I realized the Sol Joy yarn was close enough to the same gauge to toss into the mix as well, so I needed a fourth yarn to be able to get two pairs.
Now I just need to get them all together to see what looks good together. I'm thinking the Purple and the Sol Joy and the Blue and the Mardi Gras.
Heel, toe, and cuff with be one color, foot and leg will be the other color. It will be grand fun.

Mitts!
This morning I finished the mitts for my mom.
To Recap:
Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply yarn in the romantically named color 22011, which is maroon if you ask me.
US 2 needles
My very own Top-Down Alpaca Mitts pattern. :-)
They did not take the whole ball of yarn, in fact they took 25 grams, which was about half the ball.
Gee, I hope they fit her. Well, they fit me, so it should be ok.

Doilies
So I've moved on to the doilies. Turns out she only wants 3, which means I'm basically a third of the way there. yipee! Judging by my notes in Ravelry, it took me four days to the make the first one.
I just spent some time pulling the edging out on the first one. That was a little harder than I expected.
Since the yarn is stiff, I didn't have to worry about dropping a stitch and having it go slithering away, but at the same time it was a little hard to manipulate. It also didn't help that I didn't reread the pattern carefully and ended up picking out an entire row of plain knitting as I was trying to figure out where I was.
Every other row is plain knitting. Instead of spelling it out throughout, the pattern just announces that at the beginning. But I didn't look at that bit. Oh well, it was only one row and now I'm really sure where I am so I can start moving forward.
She said she wants them to be 12 inches across and the one I made was 7 inches. I measured and the inside spiral was about 6 inches, leaving an inch for the edging.
I figure if I get the inside spiral to about 11 inches and then work the edging as stated, I should be good. I figure the edging might end up a wee bit deeper just because there will be more of it.
Now I just have to doodle out the progression of the rows to expand the pattern. Happily, it's a nice regular progression. In theory I shouldn't have to write it down, but why tax my brain trying to remember what is happening? right?

Progress Pictures

Well, actually, I've decided not to include as many pictures as I was going to. Instead I'll just include the dramatic ones.
Like this one, of my Heart Harf.
So the bottom half, where the ribbing is, is basically what the scarf portion will look like. I'm going with ribbing since it doesn't curl and is a pretty classic scarf stitch.
I keep debating doing little cables instead of plain ribbing, but I don't want it to be too complicated.
As I said, the scarf bit is pretty straight forward, so I just did enough to get the idea.
Then the top half goes into the start of the hood section. This part I'm doing in stockinette as I figure it shouldn't curl too much. Also, ribbing would pull in too much to make the hood effective. I've done a number of increases here and it is actually time to switch from the short cables which function as straights to a longer cable which will function as a circular needle and better accommodate the larger number of stitches. My goal is to have the hood be 17 inches deep, which will hopefully accommodate a range of head sized. I settled on that figure by holding the end of the tape measure at the base of the back of my neck, then pulling it out until it was a little beyond my face. Very scientific. Of course, once I reach that measurement I can sort of try it on to see whether it works.
I do like my Denise Needles set and the ability to switch on the fly like this.
You can also see I've worked one and a half repeats of the heart cable panel, which might give you a better idea of how the panels are self contained.
In this picture to the right, you can see a close up of the detail of the cables along with the bobbles.
At the bottom of the picture is the bobble between the end of the upside down heart and the beginning of the right side up heart. This is the bobble the women at the store suggested I add.
This is also the bobble I was saying didn't work out well the last time I posted. I think it needs buffer rows on either side so it stands out more.
That's part of the reason I'm stopped at the halfway mark on the next repeat. I want to write down what I do to expand it and haven't had quite time to work on it.
Further up the piece, where the rib ends and the smooth stockinette begins, you can see the bobble between the panels. This is the bobble I added because I could just hear them saying it was needed.
I think it is working out. It does have more buffer rows below it than above it, but as I need an odd number of rows that is bound to happen (it is also a concern for the one in the panel), but I don't think it looks too unbalanced. Hopefully the one in the middle of the panel won't look unbalanced.
In other Harf news, the designer of the cable got back to me and said I could use it. She just asked me to reference her blog in the pattern credits, which I expected as I believe it's what she asks for on the blog explaining her project.

Fingers and Toes
I just have to work the thumb on the left hand mitt for mom and then I'm d-o-n-e. Well, except for mailing them.
And I'm through the gusset decreases on my BSG socks. A little less than 20 rows to work to the toe shaping.

Doilies
Oh, I have to e-mail my MIL. Aunt L sent the doily back (along with $20 for crochet thread, yipee!). She included a little note about how lovely it is but she needs it 12 inches, which my MIL already told me. But she forgot to mention how many she wants. sigh. The good thing about having this one back is now I can measure the different elements to try to determine how much more to work on the center, etc. It also moves the project along since I have one mostly done.

Ok, things have been crazy here at work, what with deadlines flying by unmet. That break at Christmas was lovely, but sent everything into a tailspin. The one good thing is my entire team is missing deadlines, so it's not like I'm a slacker. The bad thing is the Deadline Setter and I have been stomping around for months complaining that our team always meets deadlines and never gets credit for it. Now the powers that be are paying attention for once and we're all scrambling to make good on our claims. oops.

Mitts and Doilies

Finished the first of mom's mitts last night. Knit the rest of the thumb and wove in the little ends.
It seems a bit snugger than the pairs I made myself. This could be because the Debbie Bliss yarn is, I think, technically thinner than the other yarns I used. But the ball band says it works to the gauge I call for in the pattern. But, of course, I didn't do a gauge swatch.
On the other hand, the closer fit could just be because it is brand new and hasn't stretched out from use yet. I seem to remember mine were snug at first and now they aren't.
Well, we'll see what happens.
Didn't get to cast on for the second one last night because Hubby came home. The pups and I devoted the rest of the evening to following him around, getting under his feet, and gazing at him adoringly (with adoration?). Surprisingly, none of this got on his nerves. Either because he missed us too, or because I was willing to run around fetching things for him.
And, no, I don't believe he did comment on how nice the house looked. Wait, actually, he asked why I didn't clean his shower and I said he could do it himself, I didn't have time.
So things rapidly returned to normal.

Doily
Had an e-mail from my MIL that her friend Aunt L is thrilled with the doily I made.
Except that is it 7 inches and she wanted 12 inches.
Which is a fine critique as I thought it was a bit small, but couldn't remember the size she wanted.
I said that if she can use it she should hold onto it, otherswise she could send it back and I'd make it bigger. I also don't remember how many she wanted, four maybe?
So I'll probably start in on those after I finish mom's mitts. Which may or may not delay progress on my BSG socks. The doilies aren't challenging, but they do take more concentration than a plain stockinette stitch pair of socks do, so I won't be able to work on them when I want to pay attention to something else.

But Didn't You Know?

I am superwoman. I even have the sweater to prove it.
Haha!
Anyway. I finished the doily last night. Despite the fact that my head was totally ready to explode. Curse, you, sudden, unseasonal changes in the weather! I'm feeling better now.
So here is a picture of the doily right off the hook. Oh and the other day I said I was using US1 needles, turns out I was on US2. But I used a steel crochet hook for the two rounds of sc and chains.

And here it is after. The pictures aren't very good because the flash went off and washed out the ecru yarn compared to the kitchen island.

(arrgh. I'm home, waiting for the repair man to come look at the oven. Every time the pups hear a noise they bark. I toss them in the bedroom, and it's a false alarm. This has happened three times. Our appointment is between 8 and 9 am. When he finally gets here, I probably won't be able to control them. And when I finally leave for work, they are probably going to tear the house apart.)
Anyway.

In the second photo the doily is still wet and "blocking." I don't have a blocking board or a good place to actually block it. But as I said Aunt L is a knitter/crocheter herself so she'll be able to take care of it.
The doily ended up smaller than I expected, but the pattern was a very regular progression, so I think it would be easier to make it bigger. I'll send her this one and see what she thinks.

Pattern Stats
On Ravelry the pattern is called Spiralen.
It is a Danish pattern, but the English version I followed is here.
I used crochet cotton and it used hardly any at all. At this size I'm sure I could get a few more out of the one ball. Actually, I'd already cracked this ball for another project so I wan't even working off a full ball (quiet you) and I have plenty left.
The pattern was wicked easy and quick. I think you could do it in many different needle size yarn combinations for different sizes, styles, and looks.
Which all means I shouldn't need to kill myself if she loves it and wants five more.
She will want more doilies of some sort. I think between four and six total. I don't remember. She said she would pay me to, but we never settled on a price.

One Strange Thing
I'm not a big doily maker. As I might have mentioned, I crocheted myself one pineapple doily for the living room and never made it's mate.
What I can't figure out is I have this open ball of thread, and another unopened ball in the same color. So I figure they are the same.
But this doily doesn't look like my doily. The thread in my doily looks thicker and the color is slightly darker. Maybe I have to root around in the attic stash to confirm. Or maybe the thickness is a factor of crochet vs knit and the color is that mine is around four years old and has only been washed once.
What? It just sits on the coffee table looking pretty. It's not like it's a towel that gets actively dirty.

Ok, I think I'll head downstairs now. Or maybe not, the closer we are the to front door the harder it will be to convince the pups to go into the bedroom.
Geez, I hope this guy shows up soon, I set up a 10 am interview for my article. I might have to...oh good he's here.

Mmm, Soft

Holy Smokes! I'm finally using the Glazed Sock yarn from Madelintosh that I bought back in like February.
It is so soft and yummy!
Which is a good lesson in being quicker off the mark when it comes to using new yarn because I'm pretty sure we (i.e., KC) are out of this yarn and I don't know when we'll be getting more in. (On the other hand we just put out this interesting looking sock yarn called Happy Feet that needs further investigation. Damn you, Yarn Diet! The problem with sock yarn is it seems so attainable, "Oh, $20 for one skein? And I get an entire pair of socks? That won't effect the budget at all." But it's a slippery slope and I'm being strong.)
Actually, I'm not even actually making anything with the Glazed Sock; I'm just kind of swatching with it.
Remember my Cat's Pajamas Socks? Well, I wrote up the pattern and P is test knitting it for me, but it turns out the heel flap set-up is such gibberish that even I can't figure out what my goal was! So I'm knitting that section in an attempt to remember and clarify.

Going All Stream of Consciousness On You
I really need to get some focus in my knitting life. Focus might help in my professional life, too. We're at the end of an issue cycle at work. This time is always crazy, but things seem extra crazy the last two weeks for some reason. Actually, I have an interview at 1 pm for an article I'm writing for the March issue, so if this post cuts out abruptly, you'll know why.
Anyway.
Knitting projects. Right. I have so many going on, I'm getting a little scattered and breathless.

Doily
So I'm working on a doily for my mother-in-law's friend. Aunt L, who is not a relation but has been a close friend for so long she gets the title, is a former knitter and crocheter herself (apparently she's the one who taught my MIL to crochet!), but can't anymore because of hand problems.
Back over the summer she was at the in-laws when we were. She asked me to make her doilies, but she didn't want anything frilly and she didn't want pineapples (gasp).
I was after a knit pattern, since we've already established with my Peacock Socks that extended crochet hurts my wrist. I found one on Ravelry, but it has taken me this long to get around to it. (Yeah, I should be putting in links, but if you are on Ravelry, you can find it through my projects.)
The doily has a spiral design and is only 33 rounds of knitting with 2 rows of crochet to finish. So, although I'm using crochet cotton and US1 dpns, it's whipping up in a flash.

Peacock Socks
My original plan was to submit the Peacock Socks to that Think Outside the Sox contest from XRX. But I rechecked the info yesterday and the deadline is Jan. 1, so that totally isn't going to happen.
Everyone at the store was excited when we first heard about the contest, until I read the entry info and annouced we all had to enter in the "professional" category because we are "paid to sell yarn." Sigh.
I figured my chances were slim considering all the good designers out there and going up aginst professionals just narrowed my chances more. Add to that getting annoyed with the pattern and putting them aside for months, and it all fell apart. Still, I'll finish them eventually because I think they'll be adorable.

Joy of Charlene Socks.
My new brilliant idea is to write up the pattern for my Joy of Charlene socks and submit it to Knitty. Then I'll be famous (if they accept it).
But writing up a pattern takes time too.

Socks for Mom
My mom has requested a pair of bed socks. She's down with worsted weight, so they shouldn't take long to make, and really I have until Christmas, but it's a matter of sitting down and doing it. Especially with this long list of other projects already in progress.

Mancho
But the best one is, and you didn't hear this from me, Hubby is jealous of my new poncho! How adorable is that? He is always looking for ways to keep his neck and chest warm without overheating the rest of himself and he has identified my poncho as a way to do that.
Mine is waaay to small for him (I had him try it on) and he would only wear it in the house.
The trick is reconsiling the yarn diet with the urge to make something for Hubby. I do have some yellow and black Wool Ease in stash that would probably be enough. Since he won't be out in public with it, color doesn't matter much.

As you can see, I have a lot on my plate! So I must find a way to prioritize.
Actually, I must go launch a new word document so I'm ready to take notes when these people call at 1.
byeee.