Ravellenic Games 2012!

If you are reading my blog then you probably either knit or crochet and therefore know what the Ravellenic Games are.

For those rare people out there who are reading my blog and don't know, they are a personal challenge to start a project during the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games and finish it before or during the closing ceremonies.

For the sake of posterity, I'll point out this even was formerly known as the Ravelympics. However the US Olympic Committee finally noticed it and sent a cease and desist letter stating the name was violating their trademark.

Now, as you know if you followed the story, most knitters and crocheters understand and respect trademarks, copyrights, and intellectual property (although like any group of people there are some that either just don't know or know and don't care, but that is another conversation). Anyway, as has been reported far and wide, things would have been fine if it had stopped there, but the letter was a little derogatory to our crafts causing hurt feelings and a massive uproar.

The end result was the USOC apologized for the poor choice of language and the Ravelympics were renamed the Ravellenic Games.

Everyone, supposedly, is happy now.

I, of course, was not blogging regularly at that time (as opposed to now when I'm also not blogging regularly, but I have a really good excuse---my laptop crashed and put my work behind schedule, but that is also another conversation) so did not jump into the fray.

However, during the heat of the kerfuffle (do kerfuffles have heat? Maybe height?)...when the frenzy was at its height I had an Olympic athlete in my house. He is a coach for the skeleton team (which I think is like the luge or the bobsled? Now that I know one of them I'll have to pay more attention!). He might have been an athlete at some point, which reminds me that I wanted to Google him. And the skeleton.

Anyway, the point is that I resisted pouncing on him and asking him whether he felt that knitting denigrated his athletic endeavors. My supreme self-restraint stemmed from the fact that hubby had only recently become friends with him, hubby has to work with him in a professional capacity, and it was only the second time I'd personally seen him.

(However, I was not so restrained the third time I saw him when he was sitting on my porch drinking wine with hubby and I received the notice that my Trellis Mitts were accepted for the new 101 Lace One Skein Wonders book. I actually ran out on the porch and did a Snoopy dance right there in front of the guest.)

Still, it is important to know for the future that I have access to an Olympic athlete type person if for some reason we should find we need it. I understand he can be distracted by good wine, which probably also means he can be distracted by good food. We should factor that into any plans we have.

Anyway, since the point of the Ravellenic games is to knit or crochet I will now actually talk about my knitting.


Lace Long Jump

For Games past I've usually done the WIPs Wrestling style category. Whichever one was for taking a languishing work in progress and finishing it up. And, boy howdy, don't we all those those?

This year I decided to mix things up by doing a fresh project instead.

In a moment of insanity I settled on the Three Lace Cardigan from the Juniper Moon Farm Findley book. I've seen it in person and it's adorable. I even started it at one point, but didn't get very far.

I'm not expecting to finish it by the closing ceremonies, although I might be pleasantly surprised, but I'm hoping this is a kick start to get it going and well on its way.

Yes, I did say I had started one once, but I've abandoned that one for a different color yarn. Therefore the first one counts as a swatch and was part of my training. Actually, that one helped me realize that the yarn doesn't play well with my Addi Turbos. I had even purchased new needles for it.

Cowl Jump

Despite the ambitiousness of that cardigan, I didn't not actually cast on for it during the opening ceremonies last night.

Instead I quickly changed direction and worked on a cowl instead.

My new local yarn store, Adirondack Yarns, had a kick off party last night. I keep attending their open knit-nights on Wednesdays with yarn from my stash, no one has said anything about it, but I feel a little bad. But I've bought stuff from them before and they know I'm new in town.

Anyway, for the party I thought I should use yarn I'd actually purchased from them. At Thanksgiving I'd bought two hanks of a locally grown and spun 100% angora yarn. This seemed the perfect opportunity to use it.

As though the cardigan wasn't enough of a challenge I've now set myself up with two projects!

Things aren't as bad as they sound since I flew through the cowl. I just need to get the dang thing cast off properly and I can move on.

Ok, I think I've rambled on enough for now (this tendency to go on and on is probably one of the reasons I haven't been blogging much lately--I know that once I get started it will be a black hole of time). The Ravellenic Games last for 16 days, there's plenty of time to tell you more later.

Hubby's Chunky Scarf: 8 Knitting Days

I forgot to mention yesterday that the ejector is right next to the washing machine.

The washing machine is fine, but the floor in front of it took a hit.

I would prefer to avoid doing laundry until the clean-up is complete. However, this will rapidly become a problem since I didn't do laundry over the weekend and we will soon run out of clean clothes.

Why, yes, I will avoid doing laundry at the drop of a hat. Don't we all?

Ravelympics 2010

In a moment of insanity I signed up for the Ravelympics again. You know, because I did so well back in 2008.

The Ravelympics are a take off of the Yarn Harlot's original Knitting Olympics.

The idea of both is to choose a knitting or crochet challenge for yourself to start and complete between the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics.

The Ravelympics are hosted through Ravelry. You join a team based on one of your interest groups so you can have moral support.

This time I was smart. I only signed up for WIP-Dancing with Stella for Team TARDIS. For this event the goal is to finish a work-in-progress (WIP) that you haven't touched since at least January 12.

Last time I signed up for two events and was overmatched. But I figure all I have to do is knit the front and sew it all together. That should be totally doable in the 17 days allowed.

However, it also means I only have eight days in which to finish Hubby's Chunky Cabled Scarf.

25 Grams

I have been practicing strict project monogamy. Well, except for the Green Step Sock, which is my travel project so it doesn't count. (Started the toe shaping on the first sock, thanks for asking.)

I'm pretty sure I'm going to finish the scarf before my eight days have expired since I'm rapidly running out of yarn.

I weighed the balls this morning. There are 25 grams total of blue and 29 grams total of green.

Considering the amounts are being split between both halves since I'm knitting them consecutively I'm expecting to blast right through them.

Not Matchy-Matchy

Despite my hard work in catching the second half up, the two halves don't actually match.

This is not apparent to the naked eye.

I thought I had worked the first half in repeat increments of one, half, and one-and-a-half to keep everything square. Turns out I didn't.

I knew I had ended the first half on a green section after row 12 (a full repeat). When the second half was reaching the top of the final green section I was falling short of a full repeat. But both halves had 11 rows of green. I couldn't understand it.

I thought perhaps I hadn't advanced my row counter properly, so I went ahead and cabled, then put both halves on one long cable needle.

The second half was short. Just a wee bit. I tried to stretch it out, but it sprang back.

So I started counting rows, since I'm neurotic, and discovered my mistake went all the way back to the very first blue section.

Yes, I did briefly consider ripping it all out, but I came to my senses in time.

I put the scarf in time-out for a night and spent some quality time with the Angora Bed Sock of Power and Fortune.

Rolling With It

The scarf has won. I'm embracing its unintended randomness. The two halves are cabling at the same time, but not on the same row (one is 5 the other 11), so I've resorted to two different row counters to track them individually.

I told you I'm neurotic.

I was afraid that if I just skip ahead to the row 11 cable the pattern would go all wonky. Separate tracking was the lesser of two evils.

One benefit of all this is that since I've been working on the scarf so diligently Hubby is free to engage in other pursuits that don't involve yarn-napping.

Puttering

True knitting activity is still at a minimum in order to give my wrist as much rest as possible.
Friday night was easy because we were watching the season finale of Dr. Who and I probably wouldn't have been knitting anyway, it was that exciting.
Saturday was a little harder. During the day was fine because I was at the store. In the evening, Hubby and I floated the idea of going to the movies, but we hadn't cooked dinner and the times weren't good, so we opted to stay in.
Since I couldn't knit, I found it necessary to play with my stash. I pulled stuff out of the dining room credenza (yes, it's stuffed again) and went through it all. This is a good activity to pursue anyway, it reminds me what I have, what I want to make, and helps remind me that I don't need to buy more yarn. (It was a close thing yesterday, we got the new Rowan Magazine in, and new Rowan yarn that won't be on the floor until September probably, and I have an idea for a pair of socks based on the family (i.e., Hubby's) tartan, but don't have the correct colors on hand. For those socks I should really swatch with other yarn before investing in new yarn.)
While fussing I pulled out some old projects and corralled the stuff I'll need for the Ravelympics, which start Friday.

The Ravelympics
Are based on the idea of the Knitting Olympics the Yarn Harlot ran during the last Winter Olympics.
The idea is to cast on during the Opening Ceremonies and be finished by the Closing Ceremonies 17 day later. But you are supposed to select a project that will be a challenge to complete in that amount of time, since the Olympics are suppose to challenge the athletes.
I didn't do the Knitting Olympics. I thought about it, but chickened out. And I don't think I had the blog at that point.
I wasn't going to do the Ravelympics, but I got sucked in. To two teams no less.
So I'm doing the Vest Vault for Team Yankees with my Sundae camisole by Martin Storey from Rowan Classic Holiday, book 3. I'm using Cashcotton 4 ply in a nice, pale, lemon yellow with yellow beads. The pattern calls for Cashsoft 4 ply, but we didn't carry that yarn. Besides, the gauge and yardage are supposed to be the same.

Swatching
Last night I dug that yarn out so it would be easily accessible when the time comes. You can swatch and plan before hand—it's considered training—but you aren't supposed to cast on until 8 pm Beijing time when the Opening Ceremonies start. That's 8 am East Coast Time, so I'm not sure how convenient that will be.
I was freaking out getting the project together because I couldn't find the book. I thought it was in the credenza, but it was buried in one of the bins in the attic, where the yarn was. Then I couldn't find my US 2 Addi Turbo, but it was in with my poor neglected Nell sweater, which I'm actually entering in WIPs Wrestling for Team TARDIS.
Then today, since my wrist was feeling better, I thought what the heck and swatched.
I bought this yarn ages ago, strung all the beads, and even swatched, but then it fell out of favor for some reason. The existing swatch was 6 sts/inch when I needed 7. I assumed I had done it on the US3 the pattern calls for, although I know I usually have to go down one needle for Rowan projects.
So the pups and I went out on the back porch to get some fresh air and sunshine, and I swatched with my US2.
6 stitches per inch.
I counted several times, in a few spots and kept getting 6.
I'm really annoyed now.
I don't want to knit it on US1. I don't even own circular Us1. What if I don't even get gauge with US1? What if I have to go down to US0? That will be so wrong. And I can't even get my hands on a US1 for a while, what with taking the train and all.
The current plan is to swatch on my bamboo straight US1 and see what happens. I won't be able to use them to knit the entire thing because the back is 124 sts or some such nonsense and my needles are only 9 inches long.
I think I'm realizing why this project fell out of favor!

Yippee!

Oh my gosh! It's sooo cool. I went and checked my just now and there was some mysterious looking message about a pending purchase. But something must have clicked in the back of my mind because I opened it and it was a message from PayPal that someone had bought my Eyelet and Feather Scarf pattern on Ravelry!
phew! deep breath.
So I had to go into PayPal and figure out how to accept the payment and upgrade to a premier account so the fees would be less. I considered staying a personal account, but I am hoping to put more patterns in my Ravelry store so you never know I might have more than 5 transactions and it looks like it's free to be a premier account so what the heck, right?
Oh, it's bad to get this wired up right before bed time.
So now I have $3.48 in my PayPal account, after they took the fees. It's not really the first pattern I've ever sold. There were all the Rainbow Swirl Socks for the sock club, but they were good faith purchases. And my scarf sold really well while it was the special of the month in the store. And I know several of the people who bought it. That was cool, because people kept asking about it while the sample was out on the counter while it was being test knit and going through the design process.
But this is like the first random purchase by someone who just saw it and liked it.
Of course I totally had to go scope out her profile and projects. She's got a lot of nice stuff queued. I'm in good company. giggle.
Ok, phew, I have to go get ready for bed now.
But first. I've worked 40 rows on each Girlfriends Cable Sock. I think 8 to 10 more rows will bring it to 6 inches and I can start the heel.
I still have to felt the other wine cozy.
Goodnight!

Swoon

Although I made the sock fit, it was bugging me to know that something wasn't quite right.
So I e-mailed Cynthia and asked her to pass my issue on to Charlene. And Charlene e-mailed me back!
I don't know why I continue to be surprised when these fancy, published knitting gurus respond to me. (I had previously e-mailed Lucy Neatby about her garter stitch short row heel and also got a response.) I guess I think of them as celebrities and you don't expect to hear from celebrities. But I guess they are different kinds of celebrities than movie star celebrities and part of a knitting celebrity's thing is to get out in the public and pass on their knowledge. Part of it probably goes back to the fact that knitting was a communal activity once upon a time and let's make the sweeping, unfounded generalization that most knitters (and crocheters) are nice people.
And did I ever mention how I want to make a blouse from Interweave Knits but the smallest size is just a little too big for me. So I tracked the designer down on Ravelry and told her I needed to drop two inches and what I was thinking. And she e-mailed me back confirming my plan and with a discussion of how it would effect the arm and neck shaping. It was sooo cool. I really need to cast on for that already.
Anyway, when I e-mailed I was trying to think of a way to remind her which one I was so I mentioned my pink and purple yarn. Not only did she remember not liking my yarn (snicker) but she remembered I went to the prom! Which hadn't even occurred to me when I was looking for triggers. Which is silly considering the fuss I caused about it.
Anyway, it sounds like my sock problem is related to me being a ninny and following a class pattern, which is based on a 16 st sock, too closely. (I'd like to point out I'm calling myself a ninny.)
She said after I turn the heel I should have been back to 24 sts across needles 1 & 2, which would match the 24 sts on needles 3 & 4 and return me to my original stitch count. I, however, had stopped the heel turning process after I used up all the stockinette stitches that were added during the heel increases (those located between my markers). Apparently I was supposed to continue working the short rows until I had used up all 44 stitches on needles 1 & 2. Which makes sense and means I didn't have to do all the fooling with the pattern on the ends of Ns 1 & 2. And answers my question of not having enough stitches in stockinette stitch for the entire sole.
Currently I'm about 10 rows into the heel increases on sock 2. Obviously I'll be working this longer heel turn. Of course that means the socks won't match. But only the puppies and my feet should notice. (Well, ignoring the fact I just told the world.)
My current plan is also to be strong and not pull out sock 1.

The Correct Train Car

Can apparently make a world of difference in a knitter's commute.
Another Ravelr made contact yesterday. She found my anti-love letters to Metro North while blog surfing and realized we take the same train. She tracked me down in Ravelry and told me a group of knitters and crocheters congregate in the first car on the ride home! I always seem to end up in the last car (there are only 3) so was unaware of this. You would think my fiber radar would detect such a gathering, but obviously it didn't.
Yesterday I again ended up in the last car, but toward the end of the ride I gathered up my toys and went questing. I'm sure she thought something strange was going on, until I swung my Ravelry bag around for identification.
She was working on two socks on two circs. They were very vibrant because she was using up all her scraps. They will be very happy and unique socks when she is done.
Sock talk ensued and she complimented my bag and asked after the pattern. When I opened it up to show her the lining she was totally distracted by the lovely colors of my Sol Joy yarn. And then it was my stop.
I will have to make more of an effort on the ride home tonight.
Boss Man says this is the true potential of social networking sites.

Joy of Charlene Socks
The Summer of Socks 2008 officially began Saturday morning at midnight. I could have cast on when the bell tolled since I left Las Vegas Friday afternoon and landed at home at midnight. But I was tired and didn't have my stuff with me (which might count as poor planing).
Anyway, I'd been debating starting with the Alchemy Girlfriend Socks, but when the moment came I pulled out my long neglected Sol Joy yarn from Catalina Yarns that I bought at Adirondack Yarns in Lake Placid at Christmas time.
(The moment actually came late in the afternoon Saturday. We slept until 10:30 am, I had a chiropractor appointment, we ate breakfast and I spent some time swatching--again--with my BearFoot Yarn. I think I've finally go that sorted.)
I've decided to use some of the techniques I learned in the Charlene Schurch class, so I'm calling the socks "Joy of Charlene" to reflect both the yarn and the inspiration.
On a US2, I did a picot hemmed cuff and knit the cuff shut, I'm using a stitch pattern out of Sensational Knitted Socks, and I did the "sexy heel" we learned in class (which is more commonly known as the Cuban Heel).
I had a bit of a set back on Sunday because when I finally tried the sock on the cuff was waaayy too tight. I had read a suggestion to use a smaller needle (US1) for the inside bit to reduce bulk and I think that made my knitted cast on too tight. We were on Long Island Sunday and I didn't have a set of US1 with me (there's that poor planning again) so when I frogged all I could do was roll with the US2. But it fits fine now and I don't know the difference of doing it the other way.
I turned the heel on the train this morning. This heel has been sort of a strange experience. It is easy enough to work, but since you continue to work the instep at the same time, there isn't that clear delineation of progress from the leg to the flap to the foot that I'm used too. So I can't decide if it is going faster or slower than normal. Although I just finished half a sock in three days, which I think is accelerated for me and probably can be attributed to the train.
Now I'm going to throw a life line in it because there only seem to be 14 sts for the sole, which seems kind of skimpy but I can't tell yet whether the pattern will flow under my foot or just down the sides. So I'll drop in the life line and keep going and if the pattern does end up under my foot I'll be able to rip it out without endangering the heel turn and refigure which stitches to work in stockinette stitch for the sole.
I totally have to take a picture already. Well, I took some of the first version when we were on LI, but I haven't downloaded them yet. I claim I'm still recovering from my trip.
Ok, looks like lunch time is just about over.

Green will make me happy

I finished knitting the body of the Raverly bag the other day. yippee! In its current unfelted state it is 17 1/2 inches tall, 25 inches wide and between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 inches deep. The discrepancy in the depth depends on where you measure it. Across the very bottom, where it is 20 rows, it is 3 1/2; across the side, where it is 10 sts, it is 2 1/2. I'm not going to worry my pretty little head about it.
Now I just have to knit enough I-Cord to hang myself for the handle and knit the flap. Of course, I'm almost out of green and have come to accept the fact that I'll have to buy a third skein. This is turning into quite the yarn eating project. I'm glad I haven't been holding it doubled. But I realized that all my plots to conserve yarn (a striped flap, a red handle) weren't going to make me happy. They weren't what I had in mind originally and would just piss me off later. So I'm going to suck it up and buy a third ball and I'll have some yellow-green Cascade 220 floating in my stash.
However, I must point out the green yarn will not make me as happy as a having my head stop hurting and a good night's sleep would. But a girl can dream. Or not if she can't sleep.
Anyway.
Since I don't felt much, I have a few other things I want to bust out after I finish knitting the bag but before I throw it in the washer. Last year, year before?, I made mom a bouquet of felted flowers from Pick Up Sticks. They were quite fun, but my favorite was the daffodil. There is a broach size that I've been wanting to make and I'm pretty sure I have enough yellow and orange leftover from round 1 to make it. Also, I'm rather concerned about the inside of my new purse getting messed up by pens and other trinkets, so I was thinking of making a few pencil cases or other little pouches to corral stuff. Finally, as I was tossing and turning after waking up at 4 am, I was thinking about unfinished projects which made me remember I have a pattern for a crocheted piggy I designed, but I don't think I have any pictures. I'm pretty sure the original/prototype pig went to my cousin for Christmas. I was thinking it might be fun to make another piggy, felt it, and give it to the pups. The theory being they won't wreck it as fast if it's felted. Which means I'll have to get some pink Cascade today too.
While I'm buying stuff, I've decided I'm absolutely obsessed with those DPN WIP tubes and I need just one more to be all set. (That will make 3 if you are counting.)
Of course I have to get this all done before the Summer of Socks starts.
Oh! Speaking of that (see how chatty I am at obscene hours of the morning?) I checked my sock yarn stash on Ravelry last night and have enough yarn for 9 pairs of socks. At first that made me sad, but then I counted and there are 10 weeks in the SoS and it takes me about 2 weeks to make a pair. So, in theory, unless I really turn on the sock knitting, I have enough yarn in stash to get me through. Then I was thinking about socks more and realized that when you start counting the pair I want to cobble together from leftover Jitterbug, and the polka dot ones I want to make from the Jawool leftover from my TipToe socks, well that's 11 potential pairs. The Arrgyles and my own Rainbow Swirl Socks don't count since they were started previously. And when you consider that there are at least two pairs I have in mind but haven't swatched or designed, I think I'll have plenty of socks to knit to get me through. It's a good thing the "most socks" contest isn't one of my goals.

Snow Day!

Friday was a snow day. Hubby's school pulled the trigger Thursday night. We were laughing about it because the snow hadn't started by bed time. Mother Nature had the last laugh because the snow started during the night. We woke up to white, and the snow kept going until around 2 pm Friday afternoon. My company closed the office at 9 am Friday, which is a nice thing about working for a small company. I had been dragging my feet getting ready because the roads looked grim so I was still home when the email came in.
Since I'm on deadline for an article (actually I missed the deadline which is one of the nice things about being on staff), I spent an hour or two working on it. I had the best of intentions about going back to it after I hit a wall. You will not be surprised to hear I didn't.
Instead I started playing with my hand made socks and sock yarn stash.





Samson (above) is in training for the Iditarod. Baru (right), who doesn't like to be outside anyway, started complaining he was cold and wanted to come in. Really, they love the snow and run around like maniacs and dive into it.

Anyway. Sock yarn. As I said when I bought the Glazed Sock yarn last weekend, I was concerned about duplicating colors. So I took all the socks I've finished and all the yarn in stash and had a little photo shoot while the pups were outside. Then I loaded it all into Ravelry, figuring that as long as I can get to the internet I can check what I have.
Since I'm too clever for my own good, I also took pictures of everything with my cellphone, figuring it will be handy to have the information in that form as well since it is more portable.

Here are the finished I heart Husband socks. As you can see, to a knitter they don't match. But to him they are ok. I'm glad to have them off my plate.

I haven't been entering stash in Ravelry, although I do need to organize it, because I thought "who has the time?" However it was fun, in a weird way, and exciting to see it all there documented so nicely....well, I might have to spend some time in the attic tomorrow.

In addition to taking pictures of knitting, I finished the stealth knitting and passed that on. I also spent some time weaving in the ends on my Stars & Stripes Sweater. I'll get to wear it one of these days. There sure are a lot of ends to secure.
In other news I worked at Knitting Central today. A customer who is on Ravelry said she's been reading my blog. That makes five people! But still not my mom. Boy am I going to be in BIG trouble when I finally tell her about it. Knowing that people are actually reading the thing encourages me to make entries. It also gives me a greater admiration for those bloggers who do post every day.

All day and into the night

I had two goals for the three day weekend--do the taxes and sew my starts & stripes sweater. Guess which one I focused on?
Project Progress
I have no pictures from the weekend because our digital camera is somewhere in CT with a yearbook staff member. sigh.
First I finished the "I heart Husband Socks." They had been put aside because the colors on the second sock weren't swirling nicely like the first sock did. I probably restarted them a dozen times. On the last attempt I reeled out a 5 inch ball in an attempt to find a similar starting point. But, yet again, after 30 or so rounds the colors were pooling. I finally asked Hubby if it bothered him that the color don't match. He was like what? Because, obviously, they match because it's the same yarn. When I pointed out the pattern discrepancy he was like no. So I just let go and knit! I finished them on Saturday and he wore them over the weekend.
"Stars & Stripes" is all sewed up, but I have to weave in all the little tails. I sat down around 11:30 am on Monday to work on it. I thought to myself, "You are blowing it out of proportion. It won't take as long as you think. In an hour you'll be done." (In the world of literature that is called foreshadowing. Or is it irony?) 45 minutes later I had one sleeve set in. And so it went until around 9:30 pm, taking breaks as appropriate to eat and watch Dr. Who. I even got the laundry done. In between sections I was making sure I got up and moved around. Still, my neck and right arm were sore by bedtime. Apparently I have to work on my finishing posture.
Sweater Triage
On Monday I also sat down and fixed the poor Kid Silk Haze Mohair Cowl sweater. I tied a knot in the two ends, then used an E crochet hook to work the slack back in. The knot ended up sort of on the side under my arm. It came out quite good and I think only my husband and dogs should be paying enough attention to my lower hem to notice anything. (Although a few weeks ago I was standing with my back to the picture windows at the yarn store one evening while I was wear a snug pair of pants. We were chatting, then Laura said, "A guy in the parking lot almost drove into a pole because he was staring at your butt." Go me! Still, from that distance I don't think he would have seen the repair.) Hopefully the knot will hold and I can dodge the dogs.
New Blog Widget
Is it a widget? If you will notice under my profile pic there is a list of my WIPs with progress bars and pictures. The info is pulling over from Ravelry. I saw on a forum that the coveted progress bars were out of beta, so I pounced on them. I had to read a few forum threads and cut and paste several times, but I figured it out.
That's one thing about Ravelry. Having your WIPs lined up like that and seeing 3 things around 90% complete sure adds to the finishing guilt. But, hey, I almost have a sweater because of it.
Most projects are going to be tossed aside for a while, however. My cousin's wife in CA had their first baby over the weekend. Even though I've known for six months that this was going to happen I didn't start a blanket. I'm going to make this crocheted baby blanket from Lion Brand Homespun. It's free on the Lion Brand site and works up rather quickly, if you can keep the first 3 rows straight. It's worked on the diagonal and starts with like 3 stitches, which can be hard to see.
But this week I'm working on a stealth project using Sanctuary from Alchemy. It's 50 silk/50 merino and the dogs are obsessed! They like silk yarn in general, but they were circling like sharks and trying to snuffle the project. Normally I don't mind, but it's a gift so I'm keeping as much of it in a ziplock bag as possible.
Speaking of the dogs, I'm a bad mom. I was cranky today and had to go to the grocery store. I saw a pet store I never noticed before, so I went in and bought a squeaky tennis ball. Do you see the problem with that sentence? One ball. Two dogs. Baru was a little upset. Oops.
Ok, I've been cleaning house since I got home, time to relax and do some knitting before bed.

Guinness is good for you

guinness
Originally uploaded by annmcclure2000

Ravelry, if you don't know, is like a social networking site for knitters and crocheters. But really, it's so much more. At the moment they are trying to control growth as they work the bugs out, so you need a password to get in. You have to submit your name and wait for an invitation. I received my invitation back in, oh, November, I had to wait about three weeks.

Anyway, once you get in you can post your projects and what yarn you used and modifications you made, like an online knitting/crochet journal. And we're all suppose to keep one of those like good little fiber enthusiasts, aren't we? At the same time you can see what other people are working on and comments/notes they made. For instance, I want to make Iris from Rowan 35. I was able to see how much yarn other people used and what they used for closures and trouble they hit sewing the sleeves on. Now I have my eyes open to all that. Oh, and you can have a project queue, too. As you wander around seeing cool stuff you click a button and it is added to your list so you can keep track of what you want to make and it what order.

And you can organize your stash, what yarn, color, how much. But who has time for that?

The place is massive. It's like the Louvre, or a hall of mirrors, or the King of Prussia Mall. Some place you can wander aimlessly for a long time, ending up nowhere near where you started and not sure how you got there. You get in and start clinking links, you search for a project and click on one someone posted. You decide to check out their profile. Then you start looking at their other projects because something is pretty, which leads you to someone else's profile. And before you know it you are looking at socks when you started on cardigans and you have totally blown your yarn budget (mentally at least). (and yes, I did just compare one of the world's great art museums to a big mall in Pennsylvania. I considered throwing Versailles in there, but I don't remember the palace being all that confusing, even if it is big.)

But the part that really sucks up time is the group boards. Messages boards for information, fun and nonsense. That's were the real danger is. If you just go in and update a project you can be done in minutes. But if you wander over to the boards, well, an hour later your puppy will be pointing out it's midnight and asking if you're ever going to come to bed. (Really this happened on a recent weekend. Hubby was away chaperoning a ski trip at Okemo in Vermont. I got on Ravelry at around 11. Pups had just been out. Knowing it was bedtime they had gone straight to the bedroom when we got upstairs. An hour later I was still playing and Samson came into the office and whined at me.)

One group I ended up joining is the Crochet Liberation Front. A group intending to raise the profile of crochet and free it from the shadow of knitting. Although I haven't been crocheting much since I learned to knit, I have been crocheting since I was little so I qualified.

I read in my current issue of Crochet! that the Crochet Guild of America had declared March National Crochet Month. The current CLF activity is planning a (virtual) party in honor of it. During the early planning stages I was snickering over the posts. One person was declared the head of the drinks subcommittee and she said she could handle handing out cups. So I pointed out we have to write everyones' name on their cup to avoid confusion. Which landed me on the drinks subcommittee, too. For some reason that inspired me and I dug out some black and white yarn and crocheted a pint of Guinness. (So now I'm in charge of the beer subcommittee of the drinks subcommittee. Me. The designated driver before it was cool to be the designated driver. I'm on the drinks subcommittee. Good thing this party is virtual.)

I see now that I should have increased a bit toward the top to keep the pint shape, but it didn't occur to me at the time because I was testing the height against a pint glass. The fabric was, as you would expect, following the line of the glass and looked pint shaped. Oh well. I stuffed it and gave it to Samson.

He was not impressed.

But the next day, a Sunday, when I got home he had it in his mouth when he came to greet me. They continued to play with it all week. I woke up with it on my head, I found it in various rooms of the house. They randomly carried it around and fought over it. All in all it was a hit. We were all happy.

And then yesterday Samson gutted it. Drilled a hole in the the middle of the black and pulled all the stuffing out. Then came and told me about it. The might hunter with his kill--on my bed. Sigh. I knew it wouldn't last, but figured it would last longer than six days.

The Semi-Sad Tale of the Fingerless Mitts

taj mahal mitt right w/thumb
Originally uploaded by annmcclure2000

In the before time, when Hubby and I still lived in New Hampshire (2001-2004) and I was a fledgling knitter who was just discovering the joys of yarn snobbery, my mom came to visit.
The two of us got it in our heads to go to Littleton to see the Grist Mill. This was a good two-hour drive from where we lived, but the scenery was lovely as the route went through Franconia Notch where the Old Man of the Mountain used to be (RIP May 3, 2003).
The Grist Mill wasn’t running that day because the river was frozen, but we did the self-tour and saw a video (and made the tactical error of buying some buckwheat pancake mix, boy is that stuff hearty). Then we saw Pearl’s Yarn Shop. After wandering around a bit, mom bought me a ball of bright orange flecked Opal Sock Yarn and one precious ball of maroon Taj Mahal yarn, which is merino/silk/cashmere, and just enough for a pair of little ruffled bed socks from a Plymouth Pattern.
I made the socks (it was a squeak to finish them), but then wore them around the house, eventually wearing out the heels. Sigh, that’s a sad part of the story. Not willing to write the yarn off, I decided to reclaim it for another project and had been debating fingerless mitts as the project had to be small enough for one ball of yarn and actually less because of the worn out heels.
There was a rash of staff designed fingerless mitts at Knitting Central (ok, two) and since I had been thinking fingerless mitts, I decided to get in on the fun. But then I got my Ravelry invitation, where I saw a note that the yarn has been discontinued. Can’t very well sell a pattern using discontinued yarn. (That’s another sad part.)
Then Hubby and I went to Madison so he could get his quarterly case of wine. I went into Madison Wool, which is a cute little store, and bought a ball of lilac Ambrosia yarn, which is baby alpaca/silk/cashmere. I figure this will be enough for a pair of mitts. That’s a happy part.
The original mitts are done and there is actually yarn left over. Now I just have to make them again in the Ambrosia. Which makes a girl wonder, how many pairs of lace and cable mitts does she need?

I told the world

To date no one has probably read my blog because I didn't tell anyone it existed (not even my mom, although I probably mentioned it to Hubby.)

But yesterday I received my invitation to Ravelry. When you set up your profile you can enter the URL for your blog. Since I actually had one, I entered it. Then thought, "Hmm, guess I'll start having to update that thing." Then I went and told my Boss, who doesn't knit but wanted to know why I had finally made the switch to Firefox.
So here I am. Obviously the novelty wore off very quickly last time, we'll see how it goes this time.
Current knitting project is a double basket weave scarf for Hubby. It's slow going because I haven't been able to ingest the pattern since it changes every row.

Bear's basketweave scarf
Originally uploaded by annmcclure2000

I swatched the scarf that was a free pattern on Interweave Knits which is 28 sts. He wanted it wider, so I found the stitch in The Complete Encyclopedia of Stitchery and figured out the pattern for 46 sts. Turns out this is only between 5 and 5 1/2 inches wide (unstretched) and he was questioning that width, but I pointed out it would either be half as wide again or I'd have to switch patterns. He said to keep going.
Of course this has put a halt to all other knitting. Sigh. I'd really like to get my top down fingerless mitts done.
But this is not the day for talking about the mitts. Really I have to save content for the future if I'm going to keep this thing up.
In the mean time, admire my beautiful Samson.