Rhinebeck: Faces and Fun

When Mom arrived with CJ in tow Friday night I was surprised since he and his sister had both said "No" to the original invite.

(He got his face painted like a pirate.)

We all settled down to watch the Yankees game.

I was happily knitting on Hubby's Striped Sweater when CJ asked me to teach him how to knit.

Now, most knitters might get giddy with excitement at such a request, but most knitters aren't as cold-hearted as I am.

"No," I said. "I tried that once and it didn't work out so well."

"I was four," he retorted. "I'm nine now."

Since I couldn't argue with that logic, and I didn't remember our previous attempt was so long ago, I fished out the US8 Colonial Rosewood Needles Cynthia gave me for Christmas a few years ago and a ball of light blue Red Heart that was lurking in the dining room credenza. (Proving it really was time to clean the credenza out.)

Despite firmly believing that if you don't know how to cast on you don't know how to knit, I decided to jump to the good stuff and cast on a few stitches.

He called my bluff and asked where the stitches came from and how I did it.

I demonstrated the long-tail cast on. He seemed to get it right away. I demonstrated the knit stitch. He started knitting.

Well, he had a little trouble remembering which direction to throw the yarn, but he got the hang of it awfully quickly.

He complained the wood needles were too pointy, but when I switched him to some metal #9 he said those were too slippery and wanted to switch back. So I said, "Just knit with the wooden one. When the metal one comes free, put it aside for the second wooden one." And he did!

Dude, I've met some adults who have trouble grasping that concept.

The Big Sock
There is a Rhinebeck connection to all this.

I had read that The Big Sock would be at the NY Sheep and Wool Festival and wanted to knit on it.

You can read more about it here but basically it's an effort to get a Guinness Record for the biggest hand knit sock.

It is distributed over several circular needles that all just feed into each other. The yarn was mostly worsted weight, as far as I could tell. It has been traveling around the country and the yarn store that has it contributes yarn, in this case Uncommon Threads.

You could just wander up and knit on it. Provided there was an open spot with a working ball attached (there were plenty of open needles, but no yarn).

Maybe you can tell, but I'm totally faking it in this picture. I didn't have yarn to work with, but wanted evidence. I did really add 20 or so stitches of my own.

CJ knit on it to. He did a good job, if I do say so myself. At one point I was next to him and said, "Remember not to pull to tightly." The woman next to me was like, "Oh I know, I'm just fixing this." Ooops! So I explained CJ had only learned to knit the night before. I guess that made someone else suspicious because she told me he had dropped a stitch. But he hadn't. He only split one. So I tinked back and fixed it.

After that, we got our commemorative buttons and moved on.

Of course, this newly acquired skill would explain why he wouldn't part with the yarn is his goody bag. If only I had known about the goody bag contents...but then hindsight is 20/20.

I know you!
Let's see. I ran into Lisa from when I used to take the train.

P from Knitting Central. (She has good Rhinebeck accounts and pictures on her blog too, as you might expect.) I had been chatting on P's Facebook page with one of her friends about how many layers of knitwear we could manage. Turns out it was P's sister, so I got to meet her too.

I saw MathCutie, who I only know from Ravelry and Facebook. She liked the Yankees Socks I made for Hubby and asked for the pattern. She found me at the big sock. I was looking down at the sock and she said she recognized my Coronet.

I also saw the Other Associate Editor from work (who doesn't knit) and G, the woman who does mysterious things with our website database (who does knit).

And I saw Bob! Ravlery's mascot. I don't think it was the real Bob, I don't think the real Bob is that tall.

This was at the Ravelry meet up. Bob was treated like a celebrity and got swarmed. I don't know these people in the picture, so I hid them in case they don't want to be online. :-)

I think that's everyone I saw. Really, I was focused on the yarn.

I had my Felted Ravelry ID Bag with me. As you can imagine, at an event like this, my bag finally got the recognition and respect it deserves. I spend most of my time with non-knitters, who admire the bag, but don't really understand.

Well, some people gawked at my bag in admiration from afar. Most told me how awesome it was. And a couple even took my picture! (link to someone else's flickr stream)

In addition to admiring all the fiber, we saw some cute animals, watched the shepherding dogs, and saw the Frisbee dogs. There were a lot of activities to take in. Did I already mention that CJ must have done the bouncy castle a half dozen times? And the big slide twice? I can see why some people attend both days of the festival.

Ravelry Party
We also stayed for the Ravelry party, which you knew from the goody bag in yesterday's post.
It was fun to see all the people and all their fabulous knitwear. The variety of hats alone was mind-boggling.

There were appetizers: spanikopita, chicken wings, mini quiches (which were burnt), pigs in a blanket, and fried veggies. Cash bar, but water, tea, and coffee were free.

There were also yummy cupcakes with fancy designs on the icing. I noticed the images were off the grab bag. How very coordinated!

My only complaint would be that it was cold. The whole damn day was cold. The party was in tents, and they had space heaters, but we ended up in the main tent which just had net sides. So unless you were right under a heater they weren't helping much. We managed to have fun anyway. Despite not winning any of the many, quality door prizes.

You might be wondering how a 9-year-old boy could stand all this. Well, when we were taking pictures of the cupcakes a 6-year-old boy appeared. He had come prepared with two plastic pirate swords. In case he happened to encounter a dueling partner, I suppose. They spent the evening running around having sword fights.

The Measure of a Foot
Also while we were admiring the cupcakes, a woman came over and asked if I knew how long my son's foot was. She said a friend was making socks for a little boy who wasn't around and couldn't believe that 8 inches was the target length.

I said he was my nephew so she would understand why I didn't know his shoe size. CJ and his new friend very obligingly took off a shoe each and let the lady measure their feet. They also reported on their shoe size. I also heard CJ tell her he was short for his age. How clever is that? I think they already knew the other boy was tall for his age.

Only at a gathering of knitters would this encounter not seem odd.

We didn't end up leaving until 10 pm! With a two hour drive ahead of us. We kept debating leaving earlier, but we wanted to be there for the raffle.

When we got in line for the shuttle bus we realized we'd be three, if not four, runs back. Did I mention is was cold? We ended up walking the mile to the school parking lot. In the dark. A bunch of other people walked too, so we felt safe. We also got to the parking lot at the same time as the second bus run, so we would have still been standing at the party if we hadn't walked.

Hubby was flabbergasted when he called at 10 to check on us (at least we were in the car by then!). The drive home was fine. I was flabbergasted at first that Hubby was still awake when we got home at midnight, but the Yankees game was still on. The two of us ended up staying up until 1 am, since the game went into extra-innings.

It was a very full day.

Three Miles. 12 Hours

How can I miss my puppies when I have little reminders of them all over my clothes?

According to my little pedometer I walked 2.7 miles yesterday and burned over 200 calories. Which might make up for that mini Snickers and mini Twix I ate, but probably not the cheesecake petite fore (sp?)
Boss Man and I conferred, agreed we were both exhausted and skipped the event last night. Which turns out to be just as well because I passed out around 6:30 pm and slept until 8:30 pm when Hubby called to see what I though of the Obama spot. Then I passed out again until 5:50 am. So I guess I was really, really tired.

Coronet continues
Despite that, Coronet is around 6 inches now. I took some pictures in the hotel mirror, not that you can see them at the moment. Actually, I fell asleep with my knitting on the bed but moved it after Hubby called.

Breakfast Horror Story
This is not for the faint of heart!
I went to the deli, which has such good cold sandwiches, to get an egg sandwich for breakfast. I was suspicious because I couldn't see a griddle anywhere. Turns out I was right to be concerned.
She pulled out two slices of white bread, got an already fried egg from a chaffing dish, and ran the whole thing through the pizza oven/giant toaster thing!
Authentic NY Deli it was not.
It was edible, but not something I want to repeat.
However, I have to say the greasy little potato pancake hashbrown thingys it came with were delicious.
Hopefully I'll have better luck with lunch and dinner.

Raveler in the Wild
I keep forgetting to mention I brought my Felted Ravelry ID Bag as my carry on luggage. While Boss Man and I were waiting for the shuttle to bring us from the hotel to the airport a lady asked what the "agm" means.
Turns out she is on Ravelry too! I didn't get her ID, but we had a little knitting chat.
I debated using my bag for my conference gear as a conversation starter, but it is on the heavy side, so I went with the bag they provide.
Still, first time my bag and I have been commented on out in public.

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.

Nell Progress

I spent some quality time with my Nell sweater last night. A few months ago I set the goals of having my Felted Ravelry ID Bag and my Nell sweater done before I went to Las Vegas. Well, obviously, the bag is done. But I still have to finish the button bands and sew the sweater together. And I have a 7:30 am flight Tuesday. I might make it, I might not.
This pattern is from a Rowan pamphlet that was four Kim Hargreaves designs for Wool Cotton. (It is not in the Ravelry database.) And I love me some Rowan and some Kim Hargreaves. I bought the pattern and the yarn back in 2004 during my glorious month working at the Patternworks store in Center Harbor, New Hampshire.
I finally started working on it two Christmases ago. Knitting the body and sleeves was a breeze. It all came to a crashing halt when I got to the button band. Apparently, my definition of "slightly stretched" was wildly different from Kim and Rowan's. When I sewed the first one in place in relaxed and drew the front in. bleh.
I might have made an attempt to resew it and knit some more, but I seem to remember ending up knitting a few rows, sewing it in place, knitting a few more rows, etc. Then I realized that I sewed the left hand button band on to the right front side. The left hand band has the buttons, the right hand band has the holes. I briefly toyed with the idea of leaving it, but there is a definite, gender based fashion difference for which side the buttons and holes are on, so I pulled it off and resewed it.
The other night I finished sewing the back of the collar on. And there is yet another issue. I was supposed to work almost to the center back and then cast of some rows to make this step effect for unknown reasons. Well, the piece reaches to the center back and I didn't do any shaping. grrr. So I put it on a holder and started in on the right hand band. I'm through 4 holes, it has 5, and things seem fine. I think the next step will be sewing it on before I do the front shaping, just to make sure it is the correct length/stretch.
Of course, I didn't get any knitting done tonight since I didn't get home until 7:30

Arrgyles, ugh
Ok, I suppose that isn't entirely true. I had all that extra knitting time standing on the platform.
I'm almost done the chart for the instep. I'm not sure if it will be long enough since I haven't sewed the leg yet, so I can't try it on. But I already know that the next time I do an argyle sock I'm going to find an existing pattern/chart. I worked this chart up three times before I got it correct. And, as it turns out, is still isn't. I had to tweak it once already (I had a color in the wrong place, which caused a cascade effect I thought I could work around, but it was too confusing). Then the other day, when I divided for the heel, I realized I dropped 4 stitches from the instep, so that part is screwy. That hung me up on the platform today, but I was able to figure out where I had made my mistake dispite the chart (take that!).
Still, a decision will have to be made soon. Although I'm moving along quickly and happily, this pair won't count for the Summer of Socks 08 (since I started them before the deadline). So I'll either have to put them aside again, or go ahead and finish them and loose valuable time. Decisions, decisions.

Once More About The Bag
My finished bag arrived today. Yipee! Since hubby absconded with the camera, I cannot show you the lovely job my mom did lining it. The fabric has a pink background and green and white paisley. But big paisley, so things won't get lost. She divided the center down the middle, then put a tall pocket for needles or such, a scissor shaped pocket and a little square pocket for my stitch marker box on one side and a random square pocket (for keys or such) on the other. It's all very cool. I actually have to transfer my stuff from my backpack over to my new bag. I think it will be fine for the commute. The handles are long enough to go over my shoulder, so it should be easy to carry.
Oh, and she was also concerned about the size, so she took a whack at felting it a little more. It might be smaller, I haven't measured it yet.
I am toying with the idea of trying to put the pattern into a PDF so people can download and print it easily, rather than trying to pull it out of the blog post. I'm also toying with the idea of entering it into the Ravelry database as an official pattern. It's up to 68 favorites. If it's an official pattern I'd be able to easily see if anyone else actually makes one.

Ok, I think that's enough for now. I must finish my prep work so I can take the train tomorrow. I must have been lolly gagging a bit today. I pulled into the parking lot as the train was pulling up. But the conductor saw me and waited. Bit embarrassing. :-)

KIP(T)

Which stands for Knitting In Public (Transportation).
On the ride in Tuesday I was sitting in the backwards seat facing the rest of the train car. I have been blasting along on my Arrgyle Socks. So although it's unclear still whether this public transportation business has saved us money vis-a-vis gas, it has fulfilled its potential of additional knitting time.
Anyway, I was argyling along and a man two rows in front of me commented that it looked good. So I held it up for a better view and he was properly impressed at the skill required and pointed it out to the woman next to him, who was also properly impressed.
Sadly, they initially thought the skulls were alien heads (but politely) , so I politely said "Jolly Rogers" and held the sides out flat for a better view. But their supposition might, unfortunately, mean there isn't quite enough contrast in the yarn. But it's too late to turn back now!
I have finished the leg and divided for the instep and heel. At which point I stalled because last night was a bit chaotic. (I have no pictures because I have once again lost control of the camera. But I've arranged to borrow Mom's for the Vegas trip.)

Speaking of the Joys of Public Transportation
On the ride home Monday our little three car train stopped dead on the tracks somewhere south of my station. Lights and air both went out. We must have been stuck for at least five minutes, it might have been longer, it was hard to tell (I read an article recently where researchers showed that people can estimate a wait accurately up to 5 minutes, after that our perception gets all screwy. I don't remember why that was), but it was long enough for it to get really stuffy because of the incredible heat and humidity the North East has been enjoying lately. (sarcasm? what sarcasm?) But they got it restarted, which is what counts. Still, I wasn't home until 7, so a good half hour was lost somewhere along the way.
That was nothing compared to Tuesday. Which was another scorcher weather-wise.
The ride in Tuesday was pleasant enough, but on the way home we were sure the little shuttle bus was going to breakdown and we were going to miss the 5:20 train. It didn't and our stress was unwarranted because the 5:20 was late. But the piece de resistance came when we got to my transfer station--and the train home was canceled! Never fear, they put us on buses.
On second thought...that is a reason to fear.
The buses were glorified MicroBirds, which might have been quite nice if they weren't packed full to standing room only with a bunch of overheated commuters at the end of a long, hot day. eeeww! Luckily I was one of the first people on and snagged a seat, and happily I was the first stop. Amazingly we got to the station earlier than the train is supposed to get in. Yipee! Then I had to go do the grocery shopping. All in all, not a good night for getting knitting done.
(And, let me take a moment to say that I'm totally aware that some people in the world don't have the good fortune of worrying about how to get to work, or having to do the grocery shopping. So I'm aware of what a princess I'm being. But for high princess form, don't get me started on the central air at home being on the fritz--of course that hissy-fit is all about concern for the puppies in their fur coats.)

The Bag That Ate the Blog
Oh, we thought we were done with it. It is still generating interest on Ravelry. yeah. Mom finished the lining the other night and sent it back. But it somehow ended up in the ground method of shipping, rather than the overnight/air method she had intended (pout) so I won't have it until tomorrow. Which is still plenty of time for my trip.

World Wide KIP
In case you were wondering, I have no plans for the official World Wide Knit in Public Day, which is apparently June 14. I figure I do enough of that on the train now. :-)

Hi There!

Holy Smokes!
I was going to tell a funny puppy story, but I've changed my mind. If you stopped by for my Felted Ravelry ID Bag, it's in the next post down. :-)
Yeah, so majorknitter (www.majorknitter.typepad.com) found my finished bag in my projects. I was just letting it sit there quietly, but she pointed it out on the main board and on the Knitting Central board. (blush, giggle)
As of press time, 33 people have marked it a favorite and it's been viewed around 150 times in Ravelry--and my lame little blog has received almost 600 visits. Wow! I'm flattered. :-)
Almost makes me glad I was slacking with the updates, considering you've all been looking for the bag.
I just want to point a few things out that I didn't mention in the post with the bag pattern. At this point it might be too late, or it might not matter (since people might not read it here).
Anyway. The Ravelry Logo is protected by copyright, it belongs to Casey and Jess (the creators of Ravelry) and you should not run off and do commercial things with it for your own profit. Ravelr Phoenix got permission from Casey and Jess to make the chart and post it with Creative Commons coverage. I made up the structure of the bag from my own fevered imagination. It was a bear to make and I don't intend to make more. Frankly, now that the Ravelry store is open, it would probably be quicker and easier for you to buy an official canvas bag (although maybe not a fun since it would hold your knitting/crocheting but not require any).
Of course you shouldn't use the combination of my pattern and her charts to attempt to mass produce these bags. In addition to being wrong, it wouldn't be very nice. :-)
But despite all that, I hope you enjoy my pattern. It would be very amusing one day to run into someone who had made one too!
[Hey, since you're already here...leave me a comment! Please? :-) ]

Felted Raverly ID Bag Recap

The bag, she is done! Well, the knitting and felting are done. Now I have to send it off to Mom to be lined. She says it will only take an evening, so it looks like I'll be able to take it to Las Vegas after all. Yipee!
To recap, I knit it with a single strand of Cascade 220. I used 3 skeins of Celery, 2 skeins of White and 1 each of Black and Ruby. I used a US10 needles and achieved a gauge of 4.5 sts/inch and 5 rows/inch. Pre-felting the bag was 25 inches wide, 23 inches tall and 3 1/2 inches deep. Post-Felting it was 21 inches wide, 17 1/2 inches tall and 3 inches deep. As advertised, the white did felt a little less than the green, which might account for the slight flaring at the top (or that might be from me yanking on it trying to stretch it taller).
The logo chart was created by Toni Blye and you can find it at http://phoenixpcd.wordpress.com/patterns/ or on Ravelry—her ID is phoenix. Of course you can also see my project entry on Ravelry, my ID is agm.
If you feel a burning desire to make one for yourself, I would like to offer some thoughts before I plunge into my "pattern" which might help guide some of your decisions.
I started knitting with out really planning it out, so the bag ended up being rather larger than I had originally planned and was also coming out wider than it was tall. I ended up picking up stitches around the top and going up to gain some height, so you might want to make it taller to begin with. (I have accounted for this in the suggested pattern.)
If you want to make a smaller bag, you can be subtle and just do the ball. Or Toni also did an upright logo with the ball over the word raverly, which should make for a narrower bag. In either case you are on your own stitch count wise, since I don't intend to make another one . :-)
(Vogue Knitting included for scale.) As for working the logo. I worked the red part of the ball in intarsia. The black and white details and all the lettering I worked in duplicate stitch. I have since decided most of the black details on the ball are large enough to also work in intarsia. I would still suggest doing the lettering in duplicate stitch as there is only one row of background color between letters, which could come out wonky in intarsia. Likewise, the white details are one stitch wide and easy enough to duplicate on. (There are pink parts on the chart for shading, which I blew off as I didn't want to buy pink yarn.) I'm not a big felter, but I understand that stranded knitting for felting isn't such a good idea as your work could end up puckered when the floats felt.
So, here we go:
Felted Ravelry ID Bag Pattern The front and bottom of the bag are worked flat. Then you pick up for the sides and back and attach them to the front as you knit.
Using Celery, CO 100 stitches.
Slip the first stitch of every row.
Work 3 rows in garter stitch (knit every row).
Work 12 rows in stockinette stitch (st st) (knit on RS, purl on WS).
Break Celery, switch to White and work 15 rows in st st.
Break White, switch to Celery and work 30 rows in st st. [or work 24 row and on the next RS row start the black part of the chart on the 28th st.]
Break Celery, switch to White work 4 rows in st st.
Next row: [This should be a Right Side Row, if it isn't work one more row (which is a hazard of adjusting the pattern after the fact.)] Begin chart on 27th stitch [if you are only working the red in intarsia. If you are going to work the black you will need to start six rows sooner on the 28th sts. (which is why you should always read the entire pattern before you start knitting)]
Continue in st st, working from chart and maintaining 30 row stripe pattern.
Work 5 more rows after the chart is complete (making final Celery block 35 rows total). Drop green yarn (do not break).
Switch to Black and work 20 rows st st. Break yarn, leaving last row live on a spare needle.
Stop! Do all your duplicate stitching now while you have this nice flat canvas to work on. (I think the duplicate stitch felted up beautifully.)
Return to dropped Celery yarn. With wrong side facing and using Celery pick up and knit 10 rows down the side of the bottom of the bag, Knit across the 100 live stitch on the spare needle, pick up and knit 10 stitches down the other side. (120 sts total)
Working in st st, turn and knit across all sts. [you might want to purl at the two corners of the back of the bag to add some definition. I can't help you with stitch count as I messed up my stitch count when attempting to knit the sides to the front. But it should be roughly stitch 10 and stitch 100. You're smart, you'll figure it out.]
You will now attach the sides and front of bag to the back of the bag in the manner you would knit on a button band. Check your big Vogue Knitting book, it has nice pictures and a clearer explanation than I'm about to give. Alternately, work it all flat and seam it when you're done. You've been slipping the first stitch of every row to facilitate this next part. Don't slip any more stitches.
Place one stitch from the front of the bag onto your left hand needle. Purl (or knit as appropriate) this edge stitch together with the first/next stitch on the needle. [I have an early blog post about this where I attempted to take pictures. But trust me, it's cool you should try it.]
Continue in this manner, working in st st and maintaining stripe pattern. At the end, work 3 rows garter stitch to match the front and bind off.
Weave in ends.
Handles (make 2)
[I should mention that I'm not thrilled with the handles, I think they are a little thin for the size of the bag. I'll see what Mom thinks. My current thought is maybe she can braid or twist them together with a strip of the lining fabric to bulk them up a bit. Anyway, you might want to make yours wider.]
Using US10 DPN and Black CO 8 Sts. Work in I-Cord [knit the stitches. Without turning work, slide stitches to the other end of the dpn, pull the working yarn across the back of the stitches and knit. Continue in this manner for every row, after a few rows the work will pull into a tube] for 24 inches. Switch to Celery and continue in I-Cord for 30 inches. Switch to Black and continue for another 24 inches.
The idea is to have the handles long enough to start in the middle bottom of the bag and offer extra support. I used black for the ends because I thought I would run out of Celery. Only the Celery should show when the handles are sewn on. Feel free to make them longer, shorter, or wider. Or use commercial handles.
Finishing
Get your Mom to attach the handles and make a neat lining. Enjoy.

Sock Debut

The Rainbow Swirl Socks had their maiden voyage today. Although I started them last year, I only finished them last night. Not for lack of love. When Cynthia chose them for the Knitting Central Sock Club, I used the rest of the skein to make the large size, and leftovers to have the medium size test knit. Then I got paranoid and hung out to the large one for ages, just in case, and I only pulled it out a month or so ago. So for all that time I had a mismatched pair because one didn't fit me.
But now I have a full pair and happy feet.
I was working I-Cord on the train this morning. Boy, did that make me feel conspicuous. As though knitting on the train isn't conspicuous enough as it is, I kept having to raise it all up above my head to check the length. Instead of trying to remember a measurement or row count I'm just holding #2 up to #1. I'm about 2/3 done. yippee! Still, I don't think I'll make the goal of being able to take it to Las Vegas with me. Even if I can finish the I-Cord and get it felted this weekend, I think the deadline would put too much pressure on mom for the lining. And, really, I want her to be able to take her time and mess with it and be happy with the results, right?
Of course once the I-Cord is done, which will hopefully be soon, I'm not sure what I'll work on for my commuting project. (glee, I need a commuting project.) My Nell sweater is too big at this point (so that Vegas deadline was also missed). There are my poor neglected TipToe Socks, but weaving ends on the train doesn't sound like fun. I'm thinking it will have to be my Arrgyles. At this point on sock #1 I'm through the intarsia scull & cross bones, so it shouldn't be too complicated for the train. (actually, I should get hopping on weaving in those ends too.)
Or, actually, I should work on the bigger size of my Cat's Pajamas Socks. The only trick there will be managing to write down the numbers for the gusset decreases and the pattern on the side of the foot. Still I'll probably find a way to manage.

Still Knitting I-Cord

That title about says it all. I finished the first handle and I'm about a third of the way through the second one, based on the three color sections. I might actually have enough black for both handles, which would be very exciting.
I did throw the I-Cord over for a while this morning in favor of my Rainbow Swirl Socks. I turned the heel and am working down the foot. I just love heel turns, they seem so magical some how. And I like the lines that form on the side of the heel where you pick up for the gusset and the gusset decreases. It is all so orderly.
Some time was also spent tormenting the Peace Lily I keep at the office. When I bought it it was a bit bigger than I wanted, but I got it anyway because I had just read an article about how this is a good plant for filtering out impurities in indoor air. It's a bit too big to have on my desk, so I put it on top of my cube wall at an intersection. The entire office can see it and I think people have developed a secret affection for it as I've had reports of random people watering it when it wilts and people occasionally stop by to admire it. Well, it didn't do so well when I was off for the weekend when Charlene Schurch was in town. It was very wilted on Monday and did not rebound quickly after I watered it like it usually does. Extreme intervention was needed, so The Guy in the Art Department took it to his window and gave it sips of water during the day. (It took a bad turn when I was at the convention in Philly as well. That time it was moved to a filing cabinet in Boss Man's office. See, people love the Peace Lily.) The Art Department then had a consultation and decided that I really needed to transplant it to a bigger pot. Since it was another 3 day weekend, I brought it home Thursday. I've transplanted it, after trying to loosen the roots up, but I'm not sure the new pot is big enough.

Enough I-Cord to Hang Myself

The beastly bag has about exceeded my attention span.
I have abandoned the idea of the flap, despite all that work toward it. I got about 20 or 30 rows in and realized it just wasn't working for me. It wasn't coming out as I had envisioned it. (no pictures. Haven't taken pictures lately.)
So I had a consultation with Mom and she confirmed that not only would she be able to install a zipper when she made the lining, but it would be no problem at all. The whole goal of the flap was to have a secure closure, so a zipper will be fine. She said she was happy I was abandoning the flap as she had thought it would be too bulky, but she didn't say anything.
She then proceeded to talk me out of my idea of working the handle off the live stitches on one side and grafted to the live stitches on the other. I was starting to waver on that idea as well. When I made her a felted bag last year I used a Fiber Trends pattern, but she wanted the handles to be long enough to reach the bottom of the bag for extra support. She campaigned for that method. I didn't want the handles on the outside, obviously, since it would mess up the design (she sewed hers to the outside as a design element), but she was pretty sure she would be able to secure them inside and the cover it with the lining.
Which leaves me making miles of I-Cord. The handles in the Fiber Trends pattern were worked flat in a funky manner, but I can't find the pattern (I suspect mom has it as I sent it to her for the felting instructions. But then she ended up felting at my house when she was puppy sitting once).
So far I've worked about 50 inches of I-Cord, which is probably going to be about half of one side. I did 24 inches for down the side and 30 inches to span the top and then I'll have to do another 24 inches for the other side. Of course I have to make two. ugh. Since running out of green is still a risk, I've done the parts that will be inside in black and the handle bit you'll see in green. Actually, I'm not sure I'll have enough black even(!) so I might have to do the second handle in white and green. Of course I keep reading stuff that says lighter colors, especially white, often don't felt as well as other colors. (I think it has something to do with the bleaching process stripping off the little scales which are the whole reason things felt. But I'm not sure that I ever heard that or I'm just jumping to that conclusion on my own.) This leads to worries that the handles won't be even, so I'm actually toying with the idea of working each handle in both black and white so they are messes up the same. :-)
For now, I'm tired of working I-Cord and I put it aside to work on the heel flap of my Rainbow Swirl Sock. Despite all the fun stuff I learned last weekend, I'm doing my normal stockinette stitch flap with slipped edges. After all, I want the socks to match.

Disobeying Orders

They started a blog at work. It is there for us all to post to randomly during the day as appropriate material presents itself. It went live today (and is causing me no end of anxiety for some reason).
When it was announced about a month ago, Boss Man specifically said there would be no knitting content (although he's left the door open to the puppies, which I have to imagine is a joke). He had to realize that I would find a way around that directive post haste. Which I did with, happily, very little effort on my part.
Because over the wire today came a press release about a student art show festival at Columbia College Chicago which includes, wait for it, a hand knit car cozy. (I didn't take that picture, it was sent to me by the mastermind Kari.) As this was something quirky but a good example of town/gown relations, I of course had to jump on it. Maybe it defeated the purpose of a quick blog post, but I also had to give her a call and find out what kind of yarn she used (Red Heart--phew) and how much it took (about 150 of the Jumbo Super Saver skeins, which--I did the math--is 365 yards, or just a little longer than a football field). She also said she had 10 people helping her with the knitting--they covered the inside too. I forgot to ask how long it took (the press release said all winter and spring) or what they intended to do with it afterwards.
I did remember to tell her about Ravelry.
The bag that ate the blog
When the needle popped apart yesterday it didn't occur to me that my stitch markers at the corners would have fallen off. Which I realized when I unpacked my bag at the office today. So on all those rows I knit last night the corners are wrong. But it will be an easy matter to ladder them back down and change them to purls.
It occurred to me as I was driving home that I don't know what I'll post about after I finish this bag. I swear every post must include a mention lately. This came to my attention when I doubled back to put labels on all my posts. I guess that's what happens when you focus on one project. It's like what happened after the wedding. After a year of planning it I didn't know what to do with myself in the evenings! (Obviously I managed to find other entertainment.)
About those Klingon sock...
Hubby nixed them. He said it would be too geeky. Which makes sense, we aren't costume wearing convention attending types of fans. Still, I might have to keep them in mind for myself. And I still think my Las Vegas gift idea rocks.

S-O-B

And I wasn't crying.
When I went to put my Ravelry bag into my work bag at the end of the day I saw a bunch of loose stitches waving at me. I have a Denise set and the needle tip had popped off the cable. It wasn't broken, fortunately, just untwisted. Since I carry my tool kit with me, and it include several scraps of yarn, I was able to catch the loose stitches (39. But 15 were still on the needle tip) and move on with my life. Luckily, since Cascade 220 has some grip to it, nothing ran.
I was starting to think it was time to switch to a longer cable anyway. I'm also starting to think the bag is getting a bit big to be a traveling project. But it's all stockinette stitch and that is so convenient to have at the office when I'm just proofreading or doing something else that requires focus and a fidget distraction.
I've worked 11 rows of white so far. The bag is measuring 20 deep now. I think I'll do 5 more white, then 15 green and then do the flap already. I'm also considering stopping after the 15 white and going straight into the green flap. But I'll have to see how tall it is. Of course I didn't do a full swatch with felting it an all, so I don't know how much it will shrink height wise.
One fun thing, since it's a bag, I can put the active yarn ball and the other colors inside it. That cracks me up. Well, it is going to be a knitting bag, so it's practice.
I finished knitting and blocking the monarch scarf on Tuesday. It was a very warm day yesterday, so the scarf was dry by Wednesday night. The only place I can block things is pinned to towels in the attic. The pups have access to everywhere else in the house. Since I don't usually bother to block things, this is not usually a problem.
Oh, forgot to mention, we didn't have a good piggy pink in stock over the weekend. So I didn't buy yarn for a felted piggy. Probably just as well really, I have so many other projects going on.
Ok, it's bedtime, so I must go. But I'm also thinking I really should start using labels/tags so the blog is sort of searchable. I wonder if I can double back and do that?

Green did not make me happy

Not only did the green yarn not make me happy, it added to my frustration. It is a different dyelot than what I've been using. But I went ahead and bought it anyway, what else is a girl to do?
This does reinforce a few axioms we already knew. First, happiness can neither be bought nor found in an inanimate object. Second, always buy enough yarn at the beginning of the project so you don't have to worry about running out. Of course I was only planning to use one green and one white for this bag, so I didn't realize I would need extra. It just grew out of control.
What did you ask? What is "dyelot"? sigh. When companies dye yarn they have a recipe they follow for each color. But each time they make it, it might come out a little different. Like when you make your chicken soup recipe from memory. So there might be variables from one batch of celery green to the next. Hence the dyelot number so you can ensure you are getting yarn from the same batch.
Now, I didn't take my bag to the store, so I wasn't sure how far off the color was (not that I had a choice, as I've already mentioned) and I don't remember colors true. So I won't really know until I get it in the sunlight, but the new ball seems ok, if a little more yellow. And as you can see from the pictures, it is just fine.
The bag annoyance didn't stop there. In a quite moment, I snagged one of the books of felted purse patterns and it cheerfully informed me that felted items (bags in this case) shrink more in height than they do in width. Now, my bag is already out of proportion, so I wasn't very happy to read this. I was explaining my dilemma to Pam and she suggested I make the bag taller to avoid it being shaped like a bagette. She also mentioned the steam coming out of my ears tipping her off that I was upset.
Making it taller is totally doable. I just have to open up the bind off, then pick up stitches around the cast on, and I'll be ready to work in the round. We decided I should do a white stripe and then a green one to keep the pattern sensible and to conserve yarn for the cursed flap. I think it was when I was talking about the flap that the steam started.
Anyway, the bag has been kicked to the curb for a while. I did a few rows on my Arrgyle Socks. But mainly I've been working on the scarf based on my Cat Pajama's socks that Cynthia wants. I'm probably halfway through the ball of Alchemy Monarch. Of course the bag will probably make a comeback tomorrow, I'll need something mindless to work on when I'm suffering from writer's block.

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.

Not a knitting receptacle

Last week was my birthday. See I told you that Hyde Park entry was holding me back! The only thing I asked for was a purse. I knew this was a safe request because Hubby has spontaneously bought me purses as gifts on two previous occasions. He got me this really nice bag that is a gold fabric, but not in a tacky way. The handles are just long enough to go over my shoulder, but short enough to hold in my hand if I want. And it's a good size with a few pockets for dividing stuff up. And it has a really cute pink interior. After I moved all my stuff over from my old purse, I still had more room in the new one. What was the first thing I thought, "There's enough room for a sock." But I resisted the urge. I think there is plenty of room, but I wouldn't want the interior fabric getting damaged. Although I do have to spiffy new DPN WIP tubes, so I wouldn't have to worry about the needles poking through. Still, I'm resisting the urge for now. But it has been grand fun and I really like.
Of course the other bag consuming my interest IS going to be a knitting receptacle. I'm talking, of course, about my Ravelry Bag. I've been working on it quietly and steadily while I was avoiding the blog. I have about 7 rows left to go on the back and then the flap. I concerned about the flap because I'm worried I might run out of green yarn. I've already bought two skeins of green and I don't know that I really want to get a third, but I have to do the flap and the handles still. I was considering doing the flap in green and white stripes to stretch things out. The other option is to skip the flap and have mom to a zipper when she sews the lining. Assuming she does zippers. I don't remember how she closed her own bag. I do like bags, especially purses, to close securely. I might have to think about the role of the Raverly ID bag. If it is just going to be a knitting bag a flap, and secure closure, might not be as important. But if it is going to be a knitting bag slash purse, then it will have to shut tight to protect my wallet et al. I suppose I have time to decide. I also have to figure out the flap decreases. I was thinking a triangle flap, but it occurred to me it will have to be like 50 rows long to account for the 20 rows on the bottom and the 30 rows down the side and if I start the decreases on row 2 that might be too soon and I'll have gaps at the top. sigh.
Anyway, since I'm lazy and didn't want to have to sew I decided to connect the sides to the front by knitting them in like you would

a button band. I didn't cut the green yarn when I switched to black for the bottom. So when the bottom was done, I just went back to the green and picked up and knit along the sides and edge of the bottom piece. Then I knit back and forth. When I started a row I picked up the next stitch along the side of the front and knit or purled it together with the first stitch of the row. Oh, I had slipped the first stitch of every row when I was working the front in order to have a nice, easy edge to pick up. Like on a heel flap. (Now she tells us, you say to yourself. Sorry.) Anyway, I didn't have my Vogue Knitting handy for the first few rows, so they are kind of bungled and I even managed to increase a few stitches, but after I looked up how to actually do it it moved along quite nicely. I'm rather pleased with it and have faith that the felting will take care of any wonky bits. I also am purling (RS, k WS) in the "corner" stitches, which I hope will lend some definition.

I have a crazed idea to knit a free standing Ravelry ball to make a pocket on the back, since it looks so plain at the moment. But the one on the chart I used is, as you know, huge. I would really want one just 30 rows high. Then I would sew it on with black and finish the swooshy details in duplicate stitch, which might be over kill. So I might have to think on that. I might wimp and just do a red patch pocket (because red is about all I'll have left!).
Anyway, it's bed time. Which should be lovely, considering it is pouring rain and the dogs got soaked and Samson was just laying on my pillow. sheesh.

More Jitterbug!

The problem with working part time in a yarn store is all the easy access to yarn. Especially on pay day. A girl can't be strong all the time. Remember how I was whining that I had left over blue Jitterbug and it wasn't going to be enough for peds?
Well, when I walked into Knitting Central today, what should I behold? A new batch of Jitterbug. So I snatched up this lovely purple one. It's a bit more berry than in the picture. I took it at night with the flash, so it's a little off. As far as I can tell, it has nothing to do with the blue I already have, which will make for some wild socks. Won't really be able to tell until I work it up. There is a little blue in it and there is a little purple in the other, so they might be more harmonious. Now I have to decide if I should pull out what I've knit with the blue and try to cut them in a little with one color for the toe, one for the foot, etc. Really, I'll have to knit up the purple socks before I move on the the hybrids. Oh, what a chore. snicker.
There were some other colors, but they were kind of boy colors and there isn't enough yarn left over from Hubby socks for what I want, so I went with purple. I don't have purple socks, so it was a safe color.
I finished duplicate stitching my Ravelry ID on my bag. It took a few tries. First I messed up the "a" the other day, then I messed up the "g" as you can see to the right. Trust me, it's wonky on the left side. I thought I'd have to pull the entire left side out, tail and all, but I was able to just pull the top out and alter it. The "m", happily, came off without a hitch. Of course I didn't take a picture of the current state. That would be sensible. I have started adding the white accents to the ball. At first I wasn't going to, but there isn't much and I think it will really enhance it in the end.
I've been invited to a knit night on Tuesday. It should be fun, but I just don't know what project to take. They all have deadlines of some sort. I could take the alternate size of the Cat's Pajamas Socks, but that might take too much concentration. Cynthia left me the scarf based on the Cat's Pajamas Socks, but again, concentration required. I might end up taking the Ravelry Bag, just because it should be straight stockinette stitch by then. Ignoring the plans I have for attaching the sides in a funky way. Well, I have a few days to decided.
In the mean time, it's now midnight(!) and I'm up waaaay past my bedtime.

Home again, Home again

I've actually been home since Monday night. I have a 5 pm train out of Philly. I take back what I said about it being a civilized way to travel. The train randomly stopped on the tracks out of Penn Station and south of New Rochelle. With no explanation offered. Well, after we'd been sitting there a while, a guy came on the loudspeaker and said something obscure about letting another train go east before we continued north. Anyway, we were supposed to get back to my desired station at 8:19 and didn't get in until 9, which made for a late night.
I took some time to read the plaque explaining the sculpture in the freaky big room at the convention center. (You probably can't read that.) It was all about how the rail shapes of the sculpture (it did remind me of a roller coaster) was meant to honor the original use of Reading Terminal as a train station. And there was stuff about glass forms that represented various constellations. So I found Orion, which is my favorite constellation because I can always find it in the sky. I actually think the dippers are a little tricky. So I suppose I developed more of an appreciation for what was going on. However, my mom and brother had the same reaction to the room and the stuff hanging from the ceiling that I did, so I'm glad to know I'm not alone in my "what the heck?" reaction.
Speaking of them, we had a nice visit. The food at the Hard Rock was fine. There was a bit of shocking moment when the music stopped and this guy started yelling for everyone's attention. But it turned out to just be the birthday for the 8 year old boy at the next table--so everyone in the restaurant yelled "happy birthday" and we got back to our meal.
Oh, and remember that wine the other night? Yeah, well, as I was carrying it back to my room I spilled some on my superhero sweater. Aaarrgh! I rinsed it with cold water as soon as I got in the room, so I think it survived. I think I'll wash it in the normal manner before I start busting out the Wine Out or other extreme measures.
As for knitting. I moved along on the Arrrgyle Socks much faster than I expected. What with how fiddly they are and on US1 needles and all. But I suppose this is the third time I've attempted them (kept calculating an incorrect number of stitches to cast on. Yeah, is was fun creating the chart in excel 3 times, why do you ask?) so I guess I've got the hand of it. When I hit the eyes I took a moment to count--17 bobbins in play. No wonder they kept getting tangled. It wasn't so bad. I actually made it passed the nose and was trying to figure out how to manipulate the yarn for the mouth when I stopped working on them.
I went to a number of sessions on the first floor of the convention center on Monday. As soon as I came down the escalator I was greeted by this:
Which got another "what in the world" reaction from me. Can you tell I'm not into the modern art so much? In case you can't make it out, I took a close up. Yeah, bowls and cups and little Chinese restaurant spoons. They are all stacked under an set of escalators and there are numerous "do not touch" signs around it. Which of course made me want to touch it, but I didn't.
At least the sessions made more sense than the art.
I finished the lettering for "ravelry" on my bag on the train ride home. So I can safely say it took about 7 hours. Wheeee. No picture because I haven't taken one, and don't you think this post has enough pictures as it is? I got the "a" in my ID done last night while I was watching "Enchanted". It's a Disney movie about a cartoon princess who is sent to NY City but retains her bubbly personality. It was so preposterous it was good. But then I looked down and realized I had managed to mess the "a" up. Rather than dealing with it, I went to bed. Tonight I yanked it out, and rather than redoing it, I came up to drop all my pictures into my posts.
Well, the bag was looking good.
I guess that's about it for now. I'm sure there was other stuff I was going to tell you about my trip, but it escapes me at the moment. Maybe I'll go work on that "a" now, maybe I'll clean the kitchen. Or maybe I'll just flop into bed.

Dateline: Philadelphia

I'm at a convention in Philadelphia. (See I really do travel.)
There are women here in prom dresses. I'm running around in jeans and my superhero sweater. It's really quite strange. But I think they have some event tonight, so they aren't just dressed up for the fun of it.
Amy Tan was the keynote speaker tonight. She was really funny, which made me glad I came down tonight rather than rushing down in the morning.
The show floor opened after the keynote, there was food and drinks. Never saw that before, at least not on the floor. I've already collected some Tasty Cake chocolate cupcakes, a note pad, a flashlight (!) and numerous chocolates. And I turned in my ticket for a glass of wine. wheeee!
Now I'm going to head back to my hotel and flop.
I grew up about an hour south of Philly, so the idea of ever staying in a hotel here never crossed my mind. But here I am. I took the Amtrak down, such a civilized way to travel, and arrived at the hotel around 4. After registering for the hotel and the convention, I hit Reading Terminal Market, which is right across the street from the hotel. I think I was there once with mom when I was a teenager.
Man, you could get lost in there, and I don't think it's really that big. It's really cool, I wish we had something like that near us. I told Hubby I'd do my best to stick to our healthy eating regime while I was down here. In support of that I found a place making big salads and got their version of a chef salad, mixed green, prosciutto (sp?), grilled chicken and some veggies. Really, I think it's a bit protein heavy, if anything, although I did get a piece of foccaci (sp?) bread as well. I was starving, but the event that included the keynote started at 5, so I dumped it in my room and took off!
And as yummy as that sounds (I had a bit of chicken and it was very tasty), I also bought a mint chocolate chip cupcake from the Flying Monkey Bakery. $1.75 for a cupcake, it better be damn good. Luckily there is a Starbucks in the the lobby, so I'll be able to snag a cup of tea. There is tea in the room, but the choices are chamomile or Earl Grey, neither of which I'm in the mood for at the moment. Of course I still have to finish this wine....
I do have the camera with me, but no way to download the pictures. I don't have a laptop, I'm actually on the public computers at the convention. But as it's 8:45 at night, no one is in line. Still, I should wrap it up, I have a long day tomorrow. Sessions start at 8:45 am and my mom and brother are coming up for dinner tomorrow night.
But first, in knitting news, I finished the black detail on the ball on my Ravelry bag. Since hind sight is 20/20, I think I could have done the black by intarsia also. The lettering is moving along apace, as I suspected. I got "rav" done on the train down. During the keynote I worked on the large version of the Cat's Pajama's Socks. I finally made it past the first pattern round, sheesh, and can start the heel. Remember, I'm just doing an anklet to test the size. I also brought my arrgyle socks, which are at the point where the skull comes in.
I'm not sure I can work on any of this while I'm tipsy. Of course the wine will wear off once I get some food in me. And since the food is in my room, I really must go!

Duplicate Vision

The duplicate stitch on my Felted Ravelry ID bag is moving along quite nicely. I'm around the bottom of the ball and have the swooshy thing on the bottom and one swooshy thing on the side done. No pictures because I haven't taken any yet. I just have to close the loop and finish the slashes that go through the middle. I'm thinking the lettering will go quicker because it's a little more linear and straight forward. The stitches should follow logically with less counting since they will be forming letters. Or at least that is what I hope. The "ravelry" will be easy since it will be positioned in relation to the ball, my Ravelry ID could be a little trickery, especially considering I haven't officially charted it yet.
After the duplicate stitching is done, the next question will be what color to make the bottom. I had figured I would just work in green for the bottom as well, but now I'm not sure I won't run out. The bits I did already used almost a whole ball, and that's with the logo taking up territory. Anyway, I'm considering doing the bottom in black, since I should have left overs. The bottom is just going to get dirty anyway so maybe the black won't show as much.
And I have to decide how many rows to work the bottom. I was thinking 15 but I might to 30 to match the color blocks. I'll have to measure again.
I wonder if I'll get the duplicate stitch done before I have to leave for Philly Saturday...probably not. I'll probably be stitching on the train.
My other projects are a bit in limbo.
I had some blue Jitterbug left over from a pair of socks I made. Even after weighing it, I wasn't sure how far it would get me. So I started a pair of toe up socks. Taught myself Judy's Magic Cast On in the process, that is a cool cast on and I'm glad I learned it. Anyway, I was thinking they would be peds, but now I think I'll be lucky if I make it over the heel. I've been at the point of working a short row heel for at least a week, but haven't had any quiet time. And not much motivation since I won't have anything to show for it. I'm willing to do the leg in another color and/or yarn, but we haven't had Jitterbug at Knitting Central for a while and I haven't worked up my Sol Joy or Madelintosh yet. (Which is a good argument to get those out.)
At the same time I realize that I have to work up the other sizes of the Cat's Pajamas Socks which the pattern is fresh and I have momentum. So I cast on for what I think the large size should be. I'm just going to make an anklet so I can have someone try the foot on for me to make sure it works.
Still, I want some mindless knitting for when I'm proofreading or watching a TV show I actually want to see. Which is another reason to get out the Sol Joy (the Madelintosh hasn't been rolled). I was swatching with my ball of Bearfoot the other day, but I have another patterned sock in mind for that.
I actually got a good amount of the duplicate stitching done Sunday night. Hubby and I watched American Gangster. He put on the unrated, extended version without realizing it was 3 hours long! It was a good movie, but good grief, it was a school night. It didn't end until 11 pm. But it was more of a talky movie than an action movie so I didn't have to pay close attention to the screen. Unlike Stardust, which we watched Saturday, which was a very visual, swashbuckling kind of romp.
Anyway. Lunch time is over, so I should get back to work.

You'll poke your eye out kid

Actually, the duplicate stitch on my Ravelry ID bag is moving along much faster than I expected. This is about 2 hours of work, one hour on each of two nights. Wow, maybe I'm not doing as well as I thought.
Anyway, I just have to get the rest of the way around the ball and then do the lettering. My two concerns are that the ends will work out as it felts, so I'm trying to leave long ends. And that it will look like heck once it's felted. Some of the columns are coming out nice and dense, but others the white is peeking through. I'm not sure what I'm doing differently, since it's one column to the next in the same session, but I'm afraid the white will show after it's felted. I suppose I'll be able to go over it again with more unfelted black. I wonder if I can just color it in with a Sharpie....
Goals are Good
Or so I hear. In honor of that, and since my knitting has felt a little scattered lately, I've decided that I want to have my Ravelry bag done and felted and my Nell sweater done by the time I have to go to a conference in Las Vegas in June. Then I can take them with me. Hopefully that will keep me focused on those two projects and I'll actually get them done.
Of course one landmine is the conference hotel is the Hilton, where the Star Trek Experience is located. I want to do the rides, but I'm not sure I'll have time. At a minimum I'll eat in Quark's Bar and hit the shop. I have a brilliant idea for a present for Hubby.
Of course all those thoughts of Star Trek led me to think it might be cool to have socks with the emblem of the Klingon Empire on them. (The Star Fleet emblem would be too fiddly with all those little stars.) I don't know if I would to a varigated background with a solid logo, or vice versa, or both solid. I emailed Hubby, but he hasn't gotten back to me yet.
With that in mind, I checked Ravelry. No other socks. But someone did a cool felted bag. I sent her a message asking if she'd share the chart she made, so I don't have to figure it out. Her version might be too big for socks, but I won't know until I get my hands on it.
Scattered, but focused
I actually haven't been terrible with my knitting.
I finished the Stars and Stripes sweater a few weeks ago. When it had its office premier Boss Man said I looked like a superhero because I had a big star on my chest. Hadn't thought of that. But people thought it was cute. Now it has to be washed because it has two muddy paw prints on the belly. Gee, I wonder how that happened.
And I finished the Cat's Pajamas Socks over the weekend. We were up at the in laws on Catholic Easter weekend and I had time to just sit and knit. They are lovely. Cynthia said she would consider the pattern for the store, so I just have to work up additional sizes. I have to start designing socks that either have more stretch or can be resized by switching needle size. Oh well.
But she also really liked the pattern stitch in general and wanted me to work it up in a scarf version for the store. I threw some figures out before we went UpState and she was going to work on it over that weekend. I'm working at Knitting Central this weekend, so I'll be able to see what she came up with. That should be easy enough to write up.
So I have been finishing projects, just not the projects already in progress.
Oh, and another Raveler asked about my Yankee's Socks. I took another look at the pattern and it is more comprehensible than I thought. I might run those by Cynthia, too. Of course, the Yankee's logo is a trademark and I wouldn't be able to sell it, so it would have to be something funky like people buy the base sock pattern and get the logo as a gift.
Ok, there is duplicate stitching to be done and Hubby is going to start thinking about dinner soon.
The blog is a vicious circle. I don't update often because it takes so long since I write such long posts. But I write long posts because I don't write often. I have to learn to do sudden impact entries!