Garter Linen Scarf

This is done with two skeins of Manos silk blend yarn, one in a solid blue-grey and the other in a variegated that included the same blue-grey color. On a US 9 needle, I cast on an uneven number of stitches and knit back and forth as follows:

Row 1 (solid color): *K1, Sl 1 with yarn in front* across, end K1. Turn work.

Row 2 (solid color): Purl all sts. Turn work.

Row 3 (variegated color): *K1, Sl 1 with yarn in front* across, end K1. Turn work.

Row 4 (variegated color): Knit all sts. Turn work.

Gauge is pretty much unimportant, but with this I'm getting about 4 sts to the inch.

Three Hats and a Scarf

This is basically what I've been doing. OK, this and sewing at mom's house nearly every Saturday.

The photo collage that starts the post is just something fun to show detail. I especially like how the colors change in the second two. Those are the two color-fusion hats knit with Jojoland Melody (2 strands of the same colorway held together). The matching hat and scarf are knit with Cascade 220 superwash (1 ball each of royal blue, lime green, and variegated blue/green).

I'll post the patterns tomorrow. I have to get supper out of the oven before it burns!

Sick Again

Dear Mandella,

I'm very sorry about the socks. Was it one skein of hand-dye? Well, at least you can think of them as Dobby socks (you know -- socks that purposefully don't match, a concept described by the house elef Dobby in the 4th Harry Potter book). And they'll still keep your feet warm, right?

Both my husband and I are at home and ailing. There is some sort of bug going around. In me it is manifested as a sinus infection (I get those more than anything). In him we're not sure because he refuses to see his doctor. *rolled eyes*

I have been working on finishing up the 2nd of the hand/wrist warmers I've been knitting up from the Berocco Alpaca/Wool/Nylon yarn (mentioned earlier). I've just held off the thumb stitches and will now finish up the tops of the mittens, but I can't remember how far I went and the first one is at my LYS for show-and-tell. I'll try to snag it back tomorrow. I knew I should have written out the full pattern before surrendering it!

Also on the knitting front, I've made headway on the back of a pullover knit from leftover Cascade 220. I'm getting all sorts of ideas as I knit it, ideas that should be written down as I go except that I've rarely got pen and paper at hand. Who can write when they're knitting, any way?

As for your knitting mojo fading, I'd say not to worry about it. You've been putting in so much time on your home and everything else that all of your creativity must be sapped. You're right: pattern books help. Maybe you'll want to sort your books and your stash and your needles in order to spur the creativity into action. Or maybe I'll let you select from the ton of projects I seem to have going on ALL of the time! (Perhaps I do this to ward off ennui?)

Time for a bit of a lie-down. I'm afraid I'm getting rather giddy thinking about all of that knitting!

Big hugs, and best wishes for your mojo to return!

Judith

Daring and Square-ish

Dear Mandella,

I'm scheduled to go over to my mom's today (instead of on Sunday, which has been the usual day for sewing) because I'll be at a "personal shower" for my friend M on Sunday afternoon/evening. I found a copy of Naughty Needles for M, which I wrapped up with three little skeins of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk. I was going to get Knitting Lingerie Style, but the local bookstores didn't have it. I was only notified of the shower on Thursday evening, so there wasn't time to order it.

So, the coffee is brewing and I'm trying to wake up and type at the same time. I am grateful that we get an extra hour of sleep this weekend (Daylight Savings Time ends here tonight).

We had extraordinarily good weather for the Trick-or-Treaters last night. Most of the time Hallowe'en night is cold and wet; this year it was pleasant and dry. How I remember having the wear a pullover with my costume, and always debating whether to wear it underneath would the costume still fit?) or over the costume (would the costume allow that?). We didn't open our home to the Trick-or-Treaters, though. It's been too busy, and for the past several years there have been very few children coming by. In fact, most people bring their kids to planned venue for trick-or-treats -- the office, shopping malls -- or just stay in their own neighborhoods. In the little town where I grew up we went to every house we could get to! Good heavens, we'd have gone to farmhouses out in the country if we'd had a car and a license to drive!

I've been looking through books of knitting patterns and have happened upon several that make me think it would be fun to knit up a bunch of squares in different colors and textures (i.e., to use up the leftovers of my Cascade 220 stash) and then make them into a blanket. I've knit 1 so far, a bright yellow mostly-square that uses a triangle type of pattern in knits and purls. The 2nd one I've started is called "sand stitch" and it's even easier than the triangle pattern. In fact, I'm rather liking this because it's giving me exposure to some knew knitting textures but in small enough swatches that I don't have to commit to a whole pullover in case I find it too tiring to keep up with. I suppose it's sort of like *gasp!* swatching, except that I'm not working it out on the yarn I intend to use for the final project. And these are much larger swatches (about 7" square-ish).

Well, no time to be thinking about that now. The coffee is done and I've got to get to my mom's and start sewing up that dress if I want to have it to wear to a wedding on the 7th! (AUGH!)

Hugs and good knitting to you!

Judith

A Worse-than-Sad Day

Today we euthanized our dog, Charka. She fell down the steps (just four, but still awful) yesterday, and this morning she was clinging to my side and panting heavily. I think there was more pain in her than we knew.

Today I also learned that a friend's father died on Tuesday. This is my friend J, the amazing massage therapist, who is engaged to M, a knitterly friend. It was J's father who died. J and M will be married on November 7th.

You know how they say to take things one day at a time? Well about six days just hit me all at once.

I've been consoling myself with knitting. I have successful started (after at least one failed attempt) my first pair of toe-up socks. I'm knitting both socks at one time.

Somehow we'll get through this.

Rollercoaster Ride

Dear Mandella,

Have you ever read Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet? Let me give you selected excerpts from one of my favorites:

Were it possible for us to see further than our knowledge reaches, and yet a little way beyond the outworks of our divining, perhaps we would endure our sadnesses with greater confidence than our joys. For they are the moments when something new has entered into us, something unknown; . . .

I believe that almost all our sadnesses are moments of tension that we find paralyzing because we no longer hear our surprised feelings living. Because we are alone with the alien thing that has entered into our self; because everything intimate and accustomed is for an instant taken away; because we stand in the middle of a transition where we cannot remain standing.

. . . many signs indicate that the future enters into us in this way in order to transform itself in us long before it happens. And this is why it is so important to be lonely and attentive when one is sad: because the apparently uneventful and stark moment at which our future sets foot in us is so much closter to life than that other noisy and fortuitous point of time at which it happens to us as if from outside.

Rainer Maria Rilke
August 12, 1904

And this is where I have been for the past 2 - 3 weeks: Unable to see further than my knowledge reaches, then suddenly aware that the future had indeed entered into me and transformed.

I had been grousing about some major changes in the way my work was to be done and about the added responsibilities that were assigned to me; this week I discovered that all of this added up to a redefined job classification which will ultimately mean a significant raise in salary if it's approved. (I don't know when or if any of this will come through, but the signs are favorable.)

In addition to all of that, I've been on a rollercoaster ride with my beloved dog, Charka, who will be 13 people-years old next month (which is roughly 91 dog-years). She has been so weak in her hind-quarters that she can't get herself up the four steps from the back yard to our deck. The shot of cortisone we got for her on Wednesday afternoon kicked in about 26 hours later and she's perkier in attitude and behavior, but I know this is only a temporary fix because the cortisone lasts only 3 - 4 weeks and has the nasty side effect of eating away at her stomach lining. I know that eventually she will have to be euthanized (sp?) and it will be my decision. I am dreading it.

I also learned on Wednesday morning that Peg, one of the part-timers at the stationery shop where I work part-time, has gone home from the hospital for home-hospice care. That second round of chemo for the leukemia did so much damage to her and she just won't recover from it. Peg was diagnosed at the end of August and did so well with her first bout of chemo that we were certain she'd come through this with flying colors. It is impossibly sad.

On top of all of this, the yarn gods have been toying with me. I'd gotten out all of my leftover balls of Cascade 220 wool to start knitting a pullover (with lovely and colorful striping). Feeling plucky about the pattern of color and stitches I'd come up with, I cast on a front to knit simultaneously with the back. Alas, I screwed up the stitch pattern in a such a way that it had to be frogged. I pulled it all off my needles and put it back. The yarn gods were right: I had too many projects going anyway.

All of this was after I'd tried to start a pullover in the lovely Louet Gems sport weight I'd dyed to a lovely shade of red. That one was doomed by a poor plan and needed to be taken off the needles. (I've worked out the pattern now and all should be well, but I'm not starting it until after the beginning of the new year.) It was also after about a dozen failed attempts to get a scarf going with an 8 oz skein of the same yarn that I'd dyed into quasi-Southwest colors. I think that the first yard or two of wool on that skein is worn down to lace-weight!

My wonderful sister Mary is visiting from Albuquerque this weekend. She is the one for whom I knit the Opera Shrug. Alas, it's too small for her! It will go to her daughter-in-law and I will start anew on something for Mary. I have some new Cascade Venezia (wool/silk combination) in worsted weigh that will do very nicely, but I can't start it until I finish (A) the second of the hand/wrist warmers from the Berocco Alpaca fine and (B) the cardigan for Jane (which is now to the point where I bind off for the armholes).

We took my sister to dinner last night at Rick's Cafe Boatyard which is on the Missouri River in downtown Omaha, but prior to eating we took a walk on the new pedestrian bridge that spans the Missouri and connects Nebraska and Iowa for walkers and bicyclists. It was dark when we walked it and it was lit beautifully. I'll have to check to see whether any of my pictures came out at all well -- it was windy so it was hard to stand completely still for the dark photos.

The bridge is an amazing structure. The suspension cables and the serpentine design gave me an impression of music, but I can't describe it any more distinctly than that. Here's a link to a web cam trained on the bridge.

Alas, today I have a migraine. I think it was a combination of dust in my nose from cleaning (long story) and the high winds in our area. But, the day is sunny and the trees are vibrant colors. I'll ride this part of the rollercoaster happily.

Hugs and good knitting to you!

Judith

Ah, Saturday!

Dear Mandella,

Today has been a long time in coming. Today means I will have no more frantic calls about that big wedding I was working on (I actually had two more last-minute name/menu cards yesterday). Today means we're going to lunch to celebrate Ed's birthday (which was Thursday). Today means I was able to sleep in until 7:45 a.m.

Today I think I'll do as little as possible except to knit on my swatches for class with Melissa Leapman. (I have four of the 8 done.)

Tomorrow I'll go over to my mom's and sew.

I might even do a bit of laundry.

OK, I'll be doing quite a bit of laundry because I got behind last week, but that's another story.

And I have some work to do for a free-lance client.

I should really pile up those boxes into the truck and take them over to the storage unit so that I can get my car into the garage again.

And it would help to clear out the stuff that has accumulated in the guest room.

*sigh*

Too much to do and too little weekend.

Hugs and good weather to you!

Judith

Uncharted Territory

Dear Mandella,

In an attempt to recover from the madness of this morning, I took a great leap into The Great Unknown: Knitting Gloves.

It started with a magnificent skein of Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine (50% Peruvian Wool, 20% super fine Alpaca, 3o% nylon) in the Prune Mix colorway. It is luxuriously soft and gives me a sinfully sensuous feeling as I stroke the ball . . . (never mind). I started out by knitting socks with a pattern modified from the Kimono Shawl in the Folk Shawls pattern book. The pattern as it's stated in that book is 10+1 sts. I make it a 12 st pattern (I like balance when I'm knitting sock) with 2 iterations, then added 5 sts at the beginning and end for a rib. I'm knitting this with US 1 circulars and getting 8 sts/1" in stockinette.

All was going well, I was about 3/4 of the way through the second pattern repeat when I decided to slip it onto my hand to check how the design was coming out. That was when the softness of the yarn made me come over all whoozie and, after all of the craziness of this morning and this past week, I decided that I really needed to have these not as socks for my feet but gloves for my hands. Thus, I took the aforementioned flying leap.

I have been using Ann Budd's Knitter's Book of Handy Patterns in order to figure out the basic structure of glives. Of course, the increases for the thumb gusset comes first and I have only 10 of the 20-22 total I'll need. (Ann has it at 21 but that's because she starts with just one stitch increased at the end of the round before starting the thumb increases. I know where she's going with that, but I needed an even number in order to make the ribbing come out right. It's a long story.)


Did I think I didn't have enough stress in my life? Did I take this up because I anticipate a big drop in stress this week after several projects at my jobs are finished?

And it's not that the knitting is stressful. Here's what's making me kind of nuts:

1. The gusset increases are coming every 3 rounds, but the Kimono stitch pattern changes every 2 rounds. *sigh*
2. It's a pain in the arse to write down everything so that I can duplicate my method on the second one.
3. I'm really not even certain this is going to work.

Ah, well, that's where knitting is NOT like life. With knitting, you can rip it out and start over again. If you're lucky, you'll get some bad knitting day make-up sex, but I'm not that hopeful.

Before you can mention it, yes, the Kimono Scarf is still in progress. It's about 3/5 done. I haven't knit on it for a while because I've been working on other things. And doing laundry. And cleaning up "dog cookies."

Autumn

Dear Judith

The black dog has been on my shoulder towards the latter part of the week, mostly because of work-related problems which I don't care to go into on what is essentially a public space. Let's just say that I have been devastated by the actions of someone else and as much as I try to rationalise them, I'm convinced they were unjustified and damaging to me.

Dave put his back out yesterday just by climbing off his motorbike. He's frustrated and upset because that means the decorating schedule has a temporary setback, but we're also thankful that he's been so capable for so long. I pulled out the box of his heavy-duty prescription pills yesterday and he got them on 10 October 2007, just after the last really bad episode when we got stuck in the USA for an extra 48 hours more than planned. He hates taking medication, which is why they've lasted for nearly a year!

But it's not all doom and gloom on this side of the big pond. The weather is gorgeous; we're having a real Indian Summer. Look at what's on my passion fruit plant:



Disappointingly it's completely hollow, so I won't be getting any passion fruit for breakfast, but what a wonderful colour.

In between applying for jobs, I've found some time to do a little quilting and (horrors) a little knitting! I've been working on the penguin baby jumper, but there's nothing to see, only a plain back and have started the Back-To-School U-Neck vest by Stephanie Japel. I knew the lack of desire to knit wouldn't last.

Also, I'm practically salivating over the latest offering from Knitpicks, the Palette Samplers with the accompanying bag patterns. I've got a couple of fair isle jumpers kitted up and ready to go, but it would be great to knock up one of these before diving in. It's been a while since I've knitted any stranded colourwork.

But before then, I've got a few job applications to complete.

Not for Debate

I've finally found a political party I like: The Fibertarians. Check out the latest update at The Panopticon. These are definitely my people.

I'm sorry it took me this long to find them. I sat through the presidential nominees' debate this evening and got bored with the same-old, same-old that I've been hearing from both of them for the last God-know-how-many months. As I listened I turned to doing something productive: Knitting.

Thus, as the pundits and the spin-doctors rattle on and on now that this debate is completed, I actually have something to show for my time: A finished pair of socks. These are the pair that my SIL "won" in a Christmas gift swap at my mom's last December. She knew it would take me a while to finish them since I had a zillion other things to do in the meantime. But, they are done and I can send them off to her.

Oh, and the yarn is from one of my favorite dyers: Lisa Souza. These are knit on US 1 with Lisa's Superwash Merino in the South Pacific colorway. (Yes, I know the ball band says it's 4.5 sts to the inch on US 10, but I get about 8 sts to the inch on US 1 and I get a very nice pair of socks from it.)

These are knit in my standard "waffle" pattern, which is (on an even number of sts, divisible by 4):

Rnds 1 - 3: *K2, P2* repeat to the end
Rnds 4 - 6: K all sts

Referring back to my New Year's List of projects, here is my progress to date:

Socks for Marky *Done • Sept 08*
Socks for Deb (#1 near heel turn)
Socks from Austermann Step yarn — Frogged and rewound
Hoofle-Foofle Socks *Done • 1 Feb 2008*
Cardigan *Done • 10 May 08*
8-3-5 Pullover for Marky (back done; front started)
Scarf from bulky weight Silk Road *Done • 5 Jan 08*
Scarf from 2 strands of Manos del Uraguay *Done • 10 Jan 08*
Socks for Alice *Done • 5 Jan 08*
Shrug for Mary *Done • 24 Sept 08*
Baby Blanket for Jorge y Liliana — Frogged and rewound
Socks for Joan *Done • 26 Sept 08*
Swag Socks sample for String of Purls *2 samples done*
Marjaana/Hermione pullover for myself — Frogged and rewound
Scarf (non-wool) for I-Pie (about halfway along)

May our politicians be able to brag about having accomplished half so much!

I can dream, can't I?

I just found this lovely stole pattern which I downloaded. Kits (yarn and pattern) can be downloaded from The Woolen Rabbit. I have no idea when (or if) I'll get to knit this, but it's lovely to think about the possibilities.

Gimme a freakin' break!

Dear Mandella,

Life has been crazy. And that's the nice word for it. Both of my jobs have me busier than a .... OK, let's just not go there. On top of that, I had one of those mornings when nothing went right

• I overslept
  
• I ordered a bacon & egg biscuit sandwich (no cheese) at a McD's but they gave me a sausage, egg, & cheese biscuit sandwich — which I didn't discover until I was zipping down the Interstate highway at warp speed, trying to get to work (the full-time job).
  
• At the office, I had to log on to a special site in order to take an annual bit of training. My logon info had expired.
  
• OK, now I have to call to get everything updated except that the phone number on the web site doesn't work.
  
• I locate a toll-free number, finally get through to the person who can help me, finally get the new logon and password, I get to the right site, get logged in, and then the network goes kablooey.


• I keep trying the web site (I get a little further each time before the dreaded "TCP/IP" error shows up), and finally get the training done, something that takes 2 hours instead of the usual 20 minutes.


• I try to print the certificate at the end, but the printer keeps giving me an error.


• Then I found out that I'd misprinted a name on a hand-painted name card at my other job and they need it redone ASAP.

Honestly, I gave up at that point. I took off for the remainder of the day (it was 11:00 a.m.) -- I'll make up the time this weekend -- and drove like a madwoman to the stationery shop (the part-time job) and reprinted the name tag.

And that was when I learned that one of the people who would have worked from 1:00 to 8:00 had major car trouble and couldn't come in. I went home for a shower and a short nap, then came back to work from 3:00 to 8:00. And I'll still be in tomorrow afternoon from 2:00 to 6:00 because I have 400 name cards (for a different event) to print up.

None of this takes into account the political posturing that's going on by everyone with half an opinion on the big $700 bazillion bail-out of failing financial institutions that our lovely government is planning.

I don't have time for any opinions on the current economic crisis, the current presidential race, the civil wars in various countries, or any of that because my life has enough of its own crises, races and wars.

I'm wondering whether I can get a bail-out. And not just the money. I need to be bailed out of my life on days like today.

But, the bright spot (and you just knew there had to be one) is that I finished up the lovely shrug for my sister Mary.

Is that just too lovely for words? Modeled by Louise at String of Purls (who is test-knitting the pattern for me using Rowan Kid Silk), it is everything I had hoped it would be.

As if that weren't enough, did I show you the quilt top I'd finished?


*sigh* Something beautiful in a crazy world. I need that.

Hugs and good news to you,

Judith

I need to be three (or four?) people

Dear Mandella,

I've arrived at the end of a very long week only to find an unreasonably short weekend in which to recoup. The sun is bright, the sky is blue, and all of creation begs me to come outdoors. Alas, that also means that my overgrown yarn is also begging for attention, as is my old, fat self that needs a nice walk (and the dog who thinks she'd like to come along).

And then there is the quilt top at my mother's that has been sitting in pieces for several weeks now, plus a load of fabric that would love to be cut up into quilts, and even more fabric (along with patterns in my size) that longs to be made up into wonderful clothing.

None of this takes into account the shrug for my sister Mary (just a little more on the one sleeve and then the ribbing around the outside to finish it), the socks for my SIL Joan (about 2/3 done -- only about 40 more rows until the toe decrease on the 2nd sock), the Ab-Fab throw that is so colorful it nearly begs to be lifted from its current state of dormancy, the Kaffe Fassett stole/thing I've been crocheting, the scarf that is fashioned after the Kimono Shawl in the Folk Shawls book, and about a dozen other projects blooming in my brain.

Oh, yes. The house. Yes, there is laundry to be attended to, there are clothes to be mended, there are items that really should be ironed properly; there are things that need to be loaded into the truck and taken to the storage unit (so that I can get my car into the garage again); there are carpets to vaccuum (Hoover, to you) and numerous surfaces to dust, mop, and clean. There are walls that need to be painted (that's going to be some time in the future) and clutter that needs to be sorted and . . . and . . . and . . .

Someone had this whole work week thing wrong. It should be 2 days of work and 5 days of weekend!

I don't know what I'm going to do at the moment. Maybe I'll just get a cup of coffee and keep playing around on the Internet!

I hope the sunshine is reaching your side of the Atlantic.

Hugs!

Judith

City of Tiny Hats

Dear Mandella,

I have to stop making tiny hats because I'm not getting any other knitting done. I knew I was on the edge of sanity when I was knitting the little hat with cables (top left) on US 0 needles for the second time because I didn't quite like the design of the first one.

From top left (and proceeding clockwise) they are:

• OnLine sock yarn with tiny cables and a few twists in the ribbing.
• My-dyed (leftover from Marky's socks) in DK weight done with a ruffly brim and a mohair (also my-dyed) hat band.
• Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Blueberry Hill with a lacy turned up edging (the quill lace motif I'd used in the socks I have on knitty)
• Sock! yarn by Lisa Souza in Valentine Red and done in the twisted waffle pattern with flowers embroidered on it. (I'll be posting that twisted waffle sock pattern soon.)
• Sock! yarn by Lisa Souza in South Pacific done with a simple rib at the bottom but a ruffly closure at the top.
• Basic stocking cap done with leftover Fiesta Boomerang in Iris colorway.
• Socks that Rock (BMFA) medium-weight Fire on the Mountain with rolled brim and seed stitch hat band
• Socks the Rock (BMFA) heavy-weight in Henpecked with an eyelet hat band threaded with Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Java.

Oh, and they're all modeled by Mukluk, my Beanie Baby Malamute/Husky (I'm sure it's the latter, but I prefer the former). I'll pack these off to Kay G. this week.

In other news from our abode, my husband has chicken pox. Yes, chicken pox. He'd had to be innoculated prior to starting his classes and, wouldn't you know it, he's one of the 1% or so that actually come down with it after getting the vaccine. Well, we're hoping this is a mild case as he has only broken out a bit and it doesn't seem to be getting worse. He's feeling run down, though, which means you-know-who had the pleasure of doing all sorts of stuff on her own today (which is also why I have to stop knitting tiny hats -- no more time).

I've called my boss to take today (Monday) off from work so that I can catch up on laundry and other cleaning that desperately needs to be done. My husband's bathroom looks like ... never mind. It's bad. I shall be tackling the germs tomorrow. No knitting until the work is done.

Germ-free hugs and good weather to you!

Judith

Magical Socks, Mittens and Things

Dear Mandella,

My niece loves her socks and hasn't stopped wearing them (well, except to shower) since they arrived yesterday. These photos arrived in my virtual mailbox today.

In my snail mailbox I received a gift from Marky, her brother, and their mom and dad. It was a cool Land's End canvas tote, embroidered with a logo that I'd developed for my brother-in-law's business. The gift also included Harry Potter pens and a Magic Wand that has a light at the end and which makes the sound of breaking glass when you press the button on it. (I'll be taking that to the office, believe me!)

Anyway, I've asked my sister to send hand measurements so that I can knit mittens for the kiddos. Also, I need to get some measurements on my nephew (he will be six soon) so that I can knit him a few things.

I don't know why I love knitting socks so much. They seem to be rather magical in a way, and I think it's because of the heel turn. Back when I was knitting in 4-H club all I'd ever known was how to knit flat things (we weren't even knitting in the round) and then I gave it up altogether until about five years ago when I started back in earnest.

My second love is knitting mittens. I love how the idea of the thumb sticking out at an angle and how it's no trouble at all to work it in with everything else. In fact, in preparation for colder weather to come, here is the pattern for a pair I'd knit for a friend's 7-year-old son:

Mittens That Rock

Materials:
US 4.0 dpns (or two circulars if you like, but this is written for dpns)
Socks that Rock Heavyweight (Rocktober colorway) from Blue Moon Fiber Arts.
Markers (I used three total)
Tapestry needle

Abbreviations:
M1/K1 = Make one (and knit it), then K the original stitch on the row. To "Make One," use the tip of the right needle to lift up the loop of the stitch in the row just below the tip of the left needle. Place that loop on the left needle and knit through the back. Thus, each "M1/K1" direction results in two stitches worked: an added stitch and the original stitch.

PM = Place Marker

Cable CO = Cable Cast-On. Insert the right needle between the next two stitches on the left needle as if to knit. In fact, continue by looping the yarn around the right needle and pulling it through to the front as if to make a knit stitch. The difference is that the loop of yarn pulled through is then placed onto the front of the left needle and becomes the first stitch to be worked from that needle. Therefore, to Cable CO any succeeding stitches, you insert the right needle between this new loop and the next stitch on the left needle and repeat the process. There's a very good description (with photos) at Knitty.

Gauge: 6 st / 1" in St st

Finished Measurements: 6" palm circumference

Seed Stitch (even number of sts; worked in the round) = Row 1: *K1, P1* (repeat to the end). Row 2: *P1, K1* (repeat to the end). In other words, you knit the purls and purls the knits. It should have a bumpy texture when you're done. (If it comes out as smooth 1 x 1 ribs, then you did it wrong.)

Cuff (both mittens)
CO: 36 sts. Join in circle (without twisting) and work 1x1 rib for 12 rnds, placing a marker at the beginning.

Base and Thumb Gusset (Left Mitten):
Rnds 13 - 16: K 18, then work seed stitch (K1, P1 on even rows; P1, K1 on odd rows) across rem sts.

Rnd 17: K 16, PM, M1/K1 in next 2 sts, then work seed stitch over rem 18 sts (38 sts total, 4 btw markers)

Rnd 18 and all even numbered rounds through 26: K all sts to 2nd marker, then work seed stitch over rem 18 sts.

Rnds 19, 21, 23, 25 and all odd-numbered rows: K16, sl marker, M1/K1 in next st, K to last st before marker, M1/K1, sl marker, then work seed stitch in rem 18 sts. (Incr 2 sts each rnd. At the end of rnd 25 there should be 12 sts btw markers and 48 sts total)

Divide for the Hand (Left Mitten):
Rnd 27: K 18 sts to 1st marker. Remove marker, slip next 12 sts to holder. Cable CO 2 sts to left needle, then K those two sts. Place marker and work seed stitch over last 18 sts. (36 sts total on needles)

Rnds 28 - 48 (or until the body of the mitten comes to the tip of the smallest finger): K18, then work seed stitch over last 18 sts, slipping markers as you come to them.

Shape Top (Left Mitten):
Arrange sts on three dpns as follows:

Needle 1 - first 9 sts (1/2 the palm)
Needle 2 - second 9 sts (1/2 the palm)
Needle 3 - 18 seed sts (back of hand)

Rnds 49, 51, 53:
Needle 1: K1, ssk, K to end
Needle 2: K to last 3 sts, K2tog, K1
Needle 3: K1, ssk, work seed st until 3 sts before the end, K2tog, K1
(4 sts decreased each time)

Rnds 50, 52, 54: K all sts on Needles 1 and 2, work seed st on Needle 3.

At the end of Rnd 53, there should be 24 sts total on all needles.

Rnds 55, 56, 57:
Needle 1: K1, ssk, K to end
Needle 2: K to last 3 sts, K2tog, K1
Needle 3: K1, ssk, work seed st until 3 sts before the end, K2tog, K1
(4 sts decreased each time)

At the end of Rnd 57 there should be 12 sts total on all needles.

Cut a long tail of yarn (about 9") and graft the final sts, or, using a tapestry needle, draw it through all sts and pull tightly to close. Secure the ends and work in the final tail.

Thumb (Both Mittens):
Slip the 12 sts from the holder onto two needles. Join yarn and knit those 12 sts, then PU 4 sts in the open space (where you had cast on 2 more sts) for 16 sts total. PM and knit 9 more rnds.

Rnd 11: K2tog all around (8 sts)

Rnd 12: K2tog all around (4 sts)

Cut yarn leaving a tail. Thread yarn onto a tapestry needle, then run it through the remaining 4 sts. Pull tightly to close the hold and secure the end. Work in all tails.


Base and Thumb Gusset (Right Mitten):
Rnds 13 - 16: Work seed stitch (K1, P1 on even rows; P1, K1 on odd rows) across first 18 sts, PM, then K last 18 sts.

Rnd 17: Work seed stitch over first 18 sts, PM, M1/K1 in next 2 sts, PM, then K rem 16 sts (38 sts total, 4 btw markers)

Rnd 18 and all even numbered rounds through 26: Work seed sts to 1st marker, then K rem sts.

Rnds 19, 21, 23, 25 and all odd-numbered rows: Work seed st over first 18 sts, sl marker, M1/K1 in next st, K to last st before marker, M1/K1, sl marker, then K to end. (Incr 2 sts each rnd. At the end of rnd 25 there should be 12 sts btw markers and 48 sts total)

Divide for the Hand (Right Mitten):
Rnd 27: Work seed st over 18 sts to 1st marker. Remove marker, slip next 12 sts to holder. Cable CO 2 sts to left needle, K those 2 sts, then continue K rem sts (36 total on needles).

Rnds 28 - 48 (or until the body of the mitten comes to the tip of the smallest finger): Work seed st over first 18 sts, then K rem 18 sts, slipping markers as you come to them.

Shape Top (Right Mitten):
Arrange sts on three dpns as follows:

Needle 1 - 18 seed sts (back of hand)
Needle 2 - first 9 sts (1/2 the palm)
Needle 3 - second 9 sts (1/2 the palm)

Rnds 49, 51, 53:
Needle 1: K1, ssk, work seed st until 3 sts before the end, K2tog, K1
Needle 2: K1, ssk, K to end
Needle 3: K to last 3 sts, K2tog, K1
(4 sts decreased each time)

Rnds 50, 52, 54: Work seed sts on Needle 1, then K all sts on Needles 1 and 2.

At the end of Rnd 53, there should be 24 sts total on all needles.

Rnds 55, 56, 57:
Needle 1: K1, ssk, work seed st until 3 sts before the end, K2tog, K1
Needle 2: K1, ssk, K to end
Needle 3: K to last 3 sts, K2tog, K1
(4 sts decreased each time)

At the end of Rnd 57 there should be 12 sts total on all needles.

Cut a long tail of yarn (about 9") and graft the final sts, or, using a tapestry needle, draw it through all sts and pull tightly to close. Secure the ends and work in the final tail.

From the Work Basket

Dear Mandella,

No worries on not touching the knitting needles. Sometimes the muse just calls you over to something else. In fact, I'm hoping to get over to my mom's on Saturday or Sunday to work on a quilt top I've had going for a while. I'll post photos when I have some. Right now it's nothing to look at.

Aside from the tiny hats (I've made three this evening while sitting through reruns of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, two shows I think they should broadcast everywhere), I've got the following project in the works:

Opera Shrug

This is a shrug I've been designing for one of my sisters (Mary) from Nashua's Grand Opera yarn. It's a wool blended with a touch of viscose and a strand of "metallized polyester."
I used the "swag sox" pattern for the back panel and along the top of the sleeves (left sleeve done; right sleeve in progress). There will be 2 x 2 ribbing all around the opening (top, sides, and bottom where you see a circular needle employed to hold all of the stitches until I'm ready to pick them up.)

It's like a short jacket with sleeves that only go out to the elbow. I had the back panel done a long time ago, then struggled to get the sleeves just right. Now that I've got those figured out, I just have to finished the second sleeve and then do the ribbing all around. But, as I said, earlier, I've been a bit sidetracked by making tiny hats.


Oh, here's the photo of the socks I finished for my niece, Marky:

This is the first yarn I ever dyed. It's a DK weight and I space-dyed it in a class last year in November. I started with cool colors (violets and blues) on one end and warm colors (reds and oranges) on the other end.

These were knit on US 4.0 needles. My niece wanted something colorful, but short. And she's only 9 so she still has kind of little feet.

I did feel rather clever in fudging the placement of the heel flap on the second sock so that I could mirror the color pooling, but that only worked for the top portion. Well, I think she'll like them anyway. I told her that they might be a bit thick to fit into her regular shoes, so it's OK if she just wants to wear them around the house to keep her toes warm. I mailed them to her on Wednesday.

Just two more pictures (well, three more, but only 2 subjects) and I'm done, OK? Here's one I took on Wednesday morning (on my walk back to the office from the post office that's on the air base where I work full time):




You asked me to send you some sunshine, and here it is. This was at about 9:00 a.m. (my time) and the weather was heavenly!

Of course, yesterday was humid and eventually raining, and today will be something of the same.

At any rate, I hope some nice weather came across the pond and brightened your day.

(Oh, this is looking approximately north and the building I work in -- although it's not in the photo -- is on the left. My building is a converted dormitory. It's not great, but there are certainly a lot of nice compensations what with having lots of trees around and a large campus for walking.)



Last but not least, here are photos of my dog, Charka. As I was telling you on the phone, she's mostly Malamute. We know the bitch was pure bred Malamute, but the sire was unknown as the owner of Charka's mommy had taken her into the vet to be spayed and the vet said, "Ooops! Too late!" Charka was in a litter of nine live pups born the weekend after Thanksgiving (the 4th Thursday in November) in 1995. She'll be 13 people-years old this November.

We think the sire was a German Shepherd (or a Shepherd mix) since Charka is actually small even for a female Malamute, (she weighs only about 61 lbs) and her body shape is very like a German Shepherd. But she is definitely a Malamute in characteristics!


And here she is asleep in her favorite chair. This is generally where we find her in the mornings.


It's also one of those rare moments when the living room was clean. (These photos are from 2006.)


Well, I should get my behind into bed. We have one of our corporate VPs visiting the office tomorrow, so I should try to at least appear to be alert when he meets with all of us. I'll be at the stationery shop again in the afternoon, and then I plan to come home and go right to sleep as this has been an unreasonably challenging week in so many ways.


I'm so glad we got this blog going, though, because it's one of the bright spots in my day to check it.

Hugs and good knitting to you!


Judith


PS - I'm a "House" addict, too! I'm on pins & needles waiting for the new season to premiere! Check out the web site for some great House-isms. Among my favorites are "Occam's Razor. The simplest explanation is almost always somebody screwed up."

We Are Here! We Are Here!

Dear Mandella,

OK, OK, I know I've jumped the gun, but I just couldn't help myself. Like all those little Whos in Whoville, I want to shout at the top of my lungs that We Are Here!

Who'd have known that . . . was it just last year in January, or was it before that? Anyway, who'd have known that two such different gals would have so much in common. We're forty-ish, married, have pets instead of children, have aging parents, love to knit and love to eat (and have nearly the same fitting problems as a result).

Of course, there are differences. For instance, you "Hoover" when I "vacuum," you write "colour" when I write "color," you say "to-mah-to" and I say, "Not for me, thanks."

OK, and you ride a motorcycle whereas I terrorize morning traffic in my zippy red car.

But somehow we found each other and clicked, whether it was because of the knitting or the hysterectomies or the aging parents.

Day-um. Who knew?

Now, before I get too carried away, I want to make it clear that, although I suggested this format because I'm a devoted fan of the Mason Dixon Knitting gals, this is in no way meant to steal their thunder or to be snotty copycats. It's more of an homage. I really just thought we'd have an easier time sharing one blog than forever posting on each others' blogs. Besides, I always seem to start out my posts as a letter to you because I just can't imagine not telling you what's happening on my side of the pond.

(Prayer today: Thank you, God, for the Internet, which allows me to connect to my gal-pals without having to run up the equivalent of the National Debt in telephone bills.)

Well, I'd better get going. I have only about 30 minutes before it's bedtime. Tomorrow's a long day: I work both of my jobs, plus I have choir practice at church (which means I'll miss Project Runway again, but, I can catch it in reruns on the weekend).

Hugs and good knitting to you!

Judith

PS: I programmed the time to be GMT since that's about the only way to keep track of these things. I mean, what with Daylight Savings Time and the fact that it starts and ends of different days for each of us, how would we ever know what time it really is for either of us. Just remember that I'm always about 6 hours behind you (which explains why I'm always huffing and puffing as I try to catch up).