Doggone Embarrasing

Don't let Baru's sweet face fool you.

Samson and Baru have outdone themselves today.

When I "walk" the dogs I take them across the street to a big field. There I remove their leashes and let them run around or we play fetch.

Various people on campus have informed me that it is a great source of amusement to them to watch the dogs drag me across the street every day.

But that is my life, so what are you going to do except laugh along with them? I'm out numbered and outweighed and the dogs know it.

When we take these outings I do my best to stop them on the sidewalk going and coming and to never cross in front of a car. It is my hope that these routines are seeping into their furry brains and will be applied if they ever get out alone (not that I really believe that will be the case).

So today they are all excited about the sunny weather and actually made it to the tarmac before I managed to bring them to a halt and drag them back onto the sidewalk.

During this struggle there was a police car coming down the street, but he saw us and stopped.

Once we were safely on the sidewalk I waived him forward.

He rolled forward a little, but since pedestrians in New Hampshire have the right of way he stopped again and waived me forward.

Samson is only controllable when asleep.

The dogs some how saw that, interpreted it correctly, and tried to take off across the street!

Really, puppies?!

But I hauled them up short, retreated toward the house, and waived him on again.

This time he pulled up to the curb, got out of the patrol car, and laughingly informed me that he had never seen that before. The dog seeing the signal and going.

I agreed that I was pretty surprised as well.

Then I told him they are friendly, but jumpy, and he already saw I had no control over them.

Despite that he bravely came forward, gave them pets, and told them how beautiful they are.

He suggested that I get them pinch collars, which won't hurt them, but will allow me to control them. He implied I might even get to be the Alpha when they are wearing them.

I've always wanted to be the Alpha. I think a trip to the pet store is in my near future.

Packing Decisions

We are going on a trip.

This is not unusual for us.

What is unusual is that we are taking nine high school students with us. Or is it they are taking us with them?

Anyway, it's a ten day educational (snicker) tour covering London, Paris, Florence, and Rome.

Now, you know I've already been to Paris. And I spent a weekend in London when I was in England for my Junior Year Abroad. I've never been to any part of Italy.

Don't get me wrong. I don't at all mind going back to London and Paris. But I'm really looking forward to Italy.

And the Chunnel.

What does all this have to do with knitting?

Why, I have to pack projects, of course!

Now a normal knitter would tell you that a 10 day trip needs an ungodly number of projects.

But, as we've established, I'm not a normal knitter.

My plan is to take my active project--Lucy Neatby's Sea Lettuce Scarf in her Cat's Pajama Yarn in Honey Pot that I've had for ages--and one back up project.

For reference, when we took a 10 day trip to California last summer I took four projects and basically only worked on one. Although I finished it and started a new one on the trip home.

The point is, two projects will probably be rather adequate based on past behavior.

The second project will, not surprisingly, be a sock. They are still tops for travel projects because of their portability.

But as I pawed through the dining room credenza trying to decide on which sock yarn to bring, a little voice said, "There are plenty of stockinette stitch sweaters you want to make. Why not bring one?" However I dismissed it since I wouldn't want to track multiple skeins of yarn.

That is another advantage of socks, generally a single ball is required.

As I was making my decision I first reviewed my Ravelry stash and was reminded I have a staggering amount of sock yarn.

Then I pulled it all out and put it on the dining room table, confirming how much there was, and confounding the situation because it's all so pretty!

There was a moment of panic when I realized I couldn't find one of the yarns I bought at Rhinebeck last year, which led to me realizing I couldn't find any of the sock yarns I bought at Rhinebeck last year.

After a few minutes of turning storage places over I realized they were in a bag next to the china cabinet. phew! Nine skeins of sock yarn would have been a big investment to go missing.

With them all laid out before me decision making could begin in earnest. I was debating taking a known quantity, like Jitterbug or Indulgence, that I could just cast on and go since I'd used it before. I also wouldn't need to carry multiple sets of needles.

But I also thought taking an older yarn that's been waiting for a while would be good.

After sorting my Ravelry stash half a dozen ways, I settled on the Dream in Color Smooshy Sock Yarn that I bought back in 2009(!).

It was a pinch battle between that and the Seacoast Sock Yarn I bought in 2010 that is so soft and pretty.

Basically, the Smooshy won because it was already balled.

To solve the needle dilemma, I paused the Sea Lettuce Scarf this afternoon and went ahead and swatched. My US 1.5 Darned Pretty Needles seem to be doing the trick.

With my projects settled, I just have to worry about packing clothes now.

The irony of all this is that I'll probably just work on the Sea Lettuce Scarf the entire trip and won't have to pull out the back up project at all!

First Pemberley Slipper

I'm back on track!

With my knitting, not my blogging, obviously.

I just took myself in hand and focused on the slippers.  Well, to be honest, I do have a pair of plain socks on the go. But just as sock yarn doesn't count as stash a plain stockinette stitch sock doesn't count as a WIP.

Right?

I started the first slipper on Feb 2 and finished off yesterday, which was about a week of knitting once I got going.

It worked up quickly, in the end, probably because it's small.

It hasn't been terribly difficult, either. Really, the hardest part has been picking up along the wee heel flap.

The flap is only 20 rows and you pick up 16 stitches and I could not squeeze that number of stitches into the allotted space for the life of me.

So I ripped it out and reknit it with a garter edge, thinking that works so well for my normal heel flaps it would work here.

It did not.

So I reknit it regular and just did my darnedest to get the correct number of stitches. Still, I was glad the heel flap was just a few stitches over very few stitches. I must have knit it three times sitting at Library Knitting last Friday.



Turned out I wasn't picking up my stitches in quite the same way the designer recommends, but I got them picked up and that is all that matters. Once I conquered the heel flap it was pretty smooth sailing. By Monday, just three days later, I was almost done the foot.

Which is pretty speedy, if you ask me, even with the lace and intarsia.

One thing I think I'll change on the second slipper is how I'm working the edging. By instinct I was crossing the colors to the inside of the sock, which is in theory the wrong side.

After the first repeat it occurred to me the lace would be folding over and the crossings might be visible, but I decided not to go back. Now that the slipper is done I don't think the fold over is enough to see the crossing.

However, I do think it is effecting the way the lace lays.

I think the crossings being on the inside are making the lace more like to stand up and roll to the inside of the slipper.

My hope is that by crossing them to the outside the lace will be encouraged to roll to the outside and lay flat.

None of which effects the lace that crosses the toe. That is very perky and I'm not sure how I can pick it up differently on the second slipper to get it to lay flat. However, if the rest of the lace is rolling out that might pull the vamp lace along.

Another momentarily tricky part was when I finished the foot and was ready to start the toe. The pattern says to pick up stitches along the vamp edging (which is the lace bit that goes across your toes) and my working yarn was on the opposite end of where the lace was attached to the slipper.

I finally realized I had to fold the floating edge of lace across to meet my working yarn. This totally makes sense when you remember that you are going to start working in the round at this point.

Still, I was glad I hadn't cut any of the yarn ends at all in case I had to go back.

Getting Distracted

I can feel my project monogamy slipping away!

My focus is being lost. Multiple projects are calling my name and I'm finding it hard to ignore them.

Despite all my big talk yesterday I haven't started the slippers yet. How quickly things change. Could it be the blogging? I looked at it too directly and caused it to shatter?

Instead of the slippers I was working on a nosewarmer.

I know. And they are as silly as they sound.

I made ones for my walking friend and myself last week when it was particularly cold. What? Cold weather in New England in January? Who would have thunk it.

Then I made one for my friend Mel out in Chicago because she had mentioned she wanted to be more active, but it was rather cold to be walking or jogging outside.

Well, she thought it was adorable and her husband got jealous and wanted one with a mustache.

So that's what I was knitting last night.

The other project that has been drawing my mental eye is a pair of fingerless mitts.

I made that Cable Brim Cap out of the Winter 2011/12 issue of Vogue Knitting. I used Juniper Moon Farm Chadwick yarn. It came out very cute.

I had about 33 grams of yarn left, which doesn't sound like much, but it's such lofty yarn it looks like a good amount. Anyway, I was thinking maybe I could use the leftover yarn to make matching mitts.

And, well, all that is keeping me from the slippers.

But I can salvage this.

The mitts are still just an idea. I can nip that in the bud.

All I have to do is go crochet a mustache and then nothing stands between me and the slippers.

Well, aside from giving Samson and Baru last outs and going to bed.

But at some point soon the slippers will be mine!

Joining in Pemberley Slipper KAL

You will not be surprised to hear that I follow knitters and crocheters on Twitter.

Really, who else are you going to follow?

Depending on how I came to their account, I might not make mental connections out their blogs or patterns I see in magazines (which I suppose defeats the purpose a bit).

Because of this I was pleasantly surprised to see Fiberfool tweeting about hosting a KAL for the Pemberley Slippers from the Jane Austin Knits magazine from Interweave Press.

That image up there is the official KAL image from her blog, which she said participants can use.

Back in November I took a pair of classes with Sally Mellville at the Elegant Ewe down in Concord.

They were good classes and since it was at a hotel up the street (it's a small shop) they cleverly had lunch back at the store. And a discount for class members. As I was waiting to check out with some sock yarn (of course) I saw the magazine on the counter, flipped through, liked the slippers, and bought the mag, too.

And promptly tossed it into a cabinet in my new desk and semi-forgot about it.

Well, with my new found theme of "knit it if you love it" (and I have been knitting, just not blogging, I have to work on that) joining the KAL seemed like a good idea.

In fact, right after I discovered the slipper KAL I discovered a KAL for Lucy Neatby's Sea Lettuce Scarf, which has been in my queue for quite a bit longer than the slippers.

The slipper KAL runs from Feb 1 to Feb 14 and the scarf KAL starts on Feb 29. It's like they planned it for me.

These struck me as two opportunities to have some guided KIFYLI projects. I mean, how else are you going to prioritize? If I was able to prioritize all this stuff wouldn't be languishing and I wouldn't have so many WIP/UFOs, right?

Anyway.

I was planning to use Ella Rae Lace Merino Worsted yarn for the slippers. You might remember this yarn took a brief turn as the top for the Uncooperative Sweater but got frogged. I've been looking for a project for it.

Sadly, I swatched last night and was unable to get gauge. Well, I was unable to take the steps necessary to see if I could get gauge.

I swatched on US2s and it was rather tight. I got 6 sts/inch, which was short of the desired 8 sts/inch. Of course, since I was watching TV I went UP a needle size instead of down. After the second swatch was even further out I realized my mistake, realized it wasn't going to happen, and selected a new yarn.

I'm going with Ella Rae Lace Merino. The original, thinner version. I swatched that on US2 and got gauge no problem.

phew.

This opens up color opportunities. With the worsted version I was going to be bad and use a variegated yarn. It might be just as well it didn't work out.

With the Lace version I'm going to go two-tone, which is suggested in the pattern notes. I'm going to do a brown slipper body and green lace edging (since the edging is leaf shaped). This might be an easy selection, but I had too many options in stash and could have been dithering forever.

I read through the pattern this morning and was pretty sure I see where to do the color changes, which was confirmed by a quick post in the Designedly, Kristi Knitters Ravelry group. All indications are that we can race ahead in the pattern if we know what we're doing. I'll probably cast on and see how far I get. It will be interesting to see the discussion of the construction and get the extra guidance on the pattern.

It will also be interesting to continue the project finishing momentum!

If you love it so much, why don't you knit it?

This is something I've been wondering lately as the new year has arrived.

It's not really a stash-busting impulse, but I suppose it can be viewed that way.

I've just been thinking of all the lovely yarn in my hoard.

I go to local yarn stores and I go to fiber festivals and I see yarn that I just can't live without.
That yarn comes home with me and then proceeds to languish in the dining room credenza.

Feeling alone and unloved. Well, alone except for the all the other languishing yarn.

Lucy Neatby uses the slogan "make your yarn happy, knit it." And I remember my mom saying about various things as I was growing up that it was "their life's ambition" to be used in the way they meant. (This could apply to anything from a doughnut wanting to be eaten to nice shoes wanting to be worn).

 Love and UFOs

There is supposed to be a coorelation.

You hear knitters and crocheters all the time talking about getting bored with their current WIP and wanting to start something new and they don't know why.

The consensus is that if you really love the yarn and the pattern this won't happen. And when it does happen, people usually say you must have learned what you need to from that pattern and are ready to move on.

This phenomenon is partly behind my impulse to knit small projects this year so I can finish them. But, really, I just want to finish things.

But then I thought if I use some of these yarns in my hoard that I'm so in love with maybe that boredome won't set in.

On the other hand maybe what I need to be doing is sticking with mindless projects I don't have to focus on.

After all, look how quickly I finished the Electric Bunny Sweater.

Drawing the Line
This was all going through my head as I was finishing the Electric Bunny Sweater and beginning to contemplate my next project.

Should I try to finsh on of my WIPs that was approaching UFO status? Or should I use one of my "precious" yarns that I just had to have at the time? If those yarns were so compelling, why was I avoiding them?

And I decided to go for it.

The first weekend in December Hubby and I went to Portland, Maine.

He was taking a wine appreciation class so was locked away all day. I was along for the ride and ran loose in the Old Port area of the city. I was able to track down three yarn stores to visit.

Including Tess' Designer Yarns. Now back in, oh, 2005, Cynthia gave me a hank of Tess' hand painted silk...which I haven't knit up yet. Just terrible. See what I'm talking about? These poor neglected yarns.

Anyway.

She does lovely stuff and I came home with a hank of Kitten, a 65% Cashmere, 35% Silk blend that is just to die for and cost a pretty penny to boot.

I brought it home and tossed it in the dining room credenza to join all the other precious, expensive yarn I don't actually use.

But when the Electric Bunny Sweater was finished I said, "Enough!" and I got out the Kitten. And I told myself I would not complicate things. I would not find a pattern with lace or cables or something else that would slow down my progress.

I would just knit the damn yarn. And then I would wear it. And the ownership of it would be justified.

Random Scarf
So I present to you the Random Scarf. Eleven days from start to finish. It would have been less if I didn't have a couple false starts.

First I cast on 100 sts and decided it didn't look good and was too short. That was fairly annoying because I'd done a knitted cast on, which took forever, because I didn't want to guess for a long tail.

Then I accidentally cast on 50 sts and decided that was too wide and would get annoying.

Finally I cast on 400 sts (I was aiming for 300, but decided to use the entire tail because I wasn't doing another dang knitted cast on).

Then I just knit. I alternated stockinette with reverse stockinette and drop stitches and I didn't sweat it.

It also would have been finished sooner if the cast off hadn't taken two or three days.

The end of the yarn was approaching as I was working a double wrap row. I decided to listen to the frantic little voice that kept saying, "You aren't going to make it!" and picked it out.

I knit a regular row and started casting off. The frantic little voice came back and got all smug when I ran out of yarn half way through.

Do you know how much of a pain picking out a cast off is? Then I had to unpick the last row to have enough yarn.

Finally I cast off using one size larger needles, but it still came out a little tight. All the ladies in Library knitting said to blow it off, so I did. Since I was supposed to be relaxed about it.

I ended up with more leftover yarn than I expected since I'd run out before. I couldn't bring myself to clip it off so I worked a crab stitch with it along the cast off end. Only made it about half way, but noone whould be close enough to my scarf to know that but me!

Anyway. It was pretty cool to not only use up some precious yarn so quickly but to actually finish a scarf. (Scarves usually bore me to tears.)

I'm on to my next precious yarn. I was thinking of using the Maple Creek Farm Fredricksburg that I'd bought at Rhinebeck in 2010 and have actually used to cast on a sweater. But the Merino/Silk blend I bought at Ellen's Half Pint Farm during the 2011 New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Festival has been calling my name since it joined the family.

So I'm going to go for the Spring Pansy. My reasoning is that the NHSW is in May, which is right around the corner, while Rhinebeck is in October.

After all, I'll have to prioritize these lovely yarns somehow.