Here’s one showing the lace patterning (alongside a  bloom on our Joseph’s Coat rosebush):

This is by no means a pattern for beginners, but neither is it terribly difficult. It requires concentration, since the chart is impossible to memorize; very sharp needles (I used Addi Lace); and lifelines after every repeat. Once I’d gone through a repeat or two I felt comfortable with the pattern, and my only real hold up was just finding uninterrupted quiet time (in this house, not always so easy to come by) during which I could knit. I wouldn’t mind making another one, or maybe even the Morning Glory Wrap, which is a stole mostly in this stitch pattern. It would take me forever, but the end result looks beautiful.

Warning: completely gratuitous display of 11 photos below. Is it really necessary to look at 12 photos of the same unblocked knitting? Probably not. Do I care? No.

mmmm... texture!

By the way, if you really want to know… this is Anne Hanson’s That Little Scarf, which is so squishy and photogenic unblocked, done in Posh Yarn Sophia 4 ply,  Bark colorway. Ravel it! I started it in January of this year and just finished it on Saturday. Most of the year it has sat in a bag, 70% done… well, I was busy! Next photos I post should show it blocked and in full glory.

And the camera? Canon EOS 50D. Love.

Autumn is starting (here in the US, anyway), and kids are heading back to school–does the changing season change your reading habits? Less time? More? Are you just in the mood for different kinds of books than you were over the summer?

Yes. The start of the school year means that I go back to work, so I have less time to read. My interests shift, as well. Since my time is limited, I am more likely to go for something entertaining and less challenging than the books I might comfortably tackle in the summer. This works with the stressful start of the year – it’s like comfort food. The books I mentioned in the previous post are an example; next, I’ll probably read P.S. I Love You, which is on loan from a good friend who has been enabling my recent “chick lit” reading habits.

As the season progresses, I might also turn to more of Louise Penny’s mysteries. I read and enjoyed Still Life and have the next two titles in this cozy mystery series already lined up on my shelves, but for some reason, these books seem to call for cooler weather. I couldn’t imagine reading them in the heat of summer. If these books are anything like the first, I’m anticipating curling up on the couch snuggled under a blanket and holding a hot cup of tea in the other hand.

Another type of book I tend to want to cozy up to as the weather cools is classics. Sometimes I feel like I want to try something I haven’t read before by an author whose other works I’ve loved – I might read Dickens’ A Christmas Carol or David Copperfield, for example – but other times I feel like I might just want to read Wuthering Heights for a fourth time, or read Pride and Prejudice for what would probably not be the last time. Or try Jane Eyre again, which I’ve tried a couple of times but not been able to get into. I haven’t read The Good Earth since I was a sophomore in high school, but I loved it then and would like to revisit it. Even some of the short stories I read in college would be fun – I’ve been thinking of Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener” and Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter.”

He's sweet. He's smart. He needs to learn some manners.

We have been working on it since we got him in June – and he is another big reason for my currently non-knitting existence. You would think that if I felt up to a new puppy in the face of the new school year and two small children, I would at least be more sensible than to bring home a Parson Russell Terrier. You would think…

1. This:

Pattern: A Better Bucket by Amy Swenson (direct link to PDF file here)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Burgundy, one skein
Needles: Knitpicks Options size US 8

Not much to say about this one – I was in the mood for a quickie. It was Malabrigo March. I thought the hat was cute, so I decided to join a Buckethead KAL on Ravelry. It’s a great hat, if a little big; next time (there may be a next time: it’s a great pattern!), I might do something shocking and unexpected like try it on as I go. My husband says it’s fine… he says he likes everything I make, though, so that’s no help. I’m sure I will wear it, especially when I want to be all incognito (because that happens all the time. I’m a superspy, didn’t you know?) – this is the oversized hat to do it in!

The brim is fabulous (you believed me when I said I didn’t have much to say? Aren’t you gullible, Reader!) – it’s got this really cool construction so that it’s double-layered. Which means that the cast-on is a bit fiddly – but it’s worth it. Trust me. It also means that the brim has a really nice quality – not really stiff, but definitely not floppy, either – (Ah, the double entendres are all over the place!). The hat itself is so warm and cozy; if it wasn’t for the unfortunate timing of the project (late March in my parts isn’t particularly cold), I’m sure I would have worn it several times by now. No matter – it’s all ready to go for next winter!

2. What else is red? Ummm, meat cooked rare, or in my case, very rare (No, I’m not really implying that I am meat. This one is such a stretch, but points for effort in trying to work it in?). ‘Scuse the formatting from this point on – sometimes I really hate WordPress.

Your Personality is Very Rare (INFP)

Your personality type is dreamy, romantic, elegant, and expressive. Only about 5% of all people have your personality, including 6% of all women and 4% of all men You are Introverted, Intuitive, Feeling, and Perceiving.

1. When I opened the box, there was this:

And how cute are those buttons, by the way?

2. Here’s a shot of everything that was inside:

Wow. Wow. Right?

3. Of course, as cool as all this stuff is, my most favorite part is the knitty gift! Sarah made me Monica’s Fingerless Lace Mitts with Cherry Tree Hill yarn in the Mountain Hideaway colorway. I don’t remember ever having seen this colorway before – but I love it. I love the mitts. They’re so pretty and warm! I’d wanted to make myself some mitts before winter is over this year, since my hands are always cold, but probably wasn’t going to get around to it. Now I don’t have to!

Seriously. Did I mention that I love them? Are they not drool-worthy?

4. Part of the swap assignment was to include something that reminded you of home:

A pickle puzzle (almost immediately stolen by my son – he did let me take pictures first) and magnet from Tony Packo’s outside her local baseball stadium; yarn (Plymouth Happy Feet), sock pattern, and pens from her favorite LYS. The yarn is different from anything else in my stash; kind of reminds me of embers dying in the fireplace. I really like it!

5. Bags! And there is the card Sarah sent to explain all my goodies, as well:

Okay, here is a teensy confession. I was so excited to get my package, and the first thing that came out of the box was the Target reusable shopping bag. I knew there were other things in the box – knitted goodies, even! – but did that stop me from playing with that Target bag for a full minute before I pulled anything else out? Nope. I guess I’m just that easily amused – I opened it, zipped it back up, opened it again – I’ve never seen one that zips into a little portable deal like that, and I have wanted to either buy or make a reusable shopping bag for a while, so I played with the shopping bag and wondered why I’m not genius enough to come up with something like that… I am completely silly sometimes.

But that’s not the only cool bag! Have you ever seen a Piddleloop bag? Me neither! Isn’t it adorable? Perfect size for sock knitting. And there’s a little notions bag that I think came from Piddleloop as well. So cute, and I love the chocolate / pink and red / pink color combinations.

6. More stuff! Sarah, you went a little crazy. Not that I don’t love it all and appreciate it very, very much!

I wanted to wait until I’d taken pictures to open the bucket o’ candles, but then forgot and opened them anyway, so that’s why the packaging might look wonky. They smell really good, though! I can’t place any of the scents for sure, probably because I’m still sick. Some kind of pie, and fruit. Pretty much they’re just yum. And then! Those felted stitchmarkers from jelby – adorable! And the Sephora nail file, and stickers, and key chain… little cute things make me happy! The Oscar Wilde magnet (says: “experience is the name everyone gives their mistakes”), the hippo (also a magnet), and the sticky notes are all coming with me to work!

Thank you so much for all of it, Sarah! It really made my Saturday extra happy.

Hippo says he feels his jedi ninja powers would be taken a bit more seriously if I’d remove that tag from his ear.

That Little Scarf in Posh Yarn Sophia 4ply in Oak – 15% done

or who really belong to someone else.

Loopy Swap Prezzie (Ravelry link) – I’m not telling what it is, what color it is… nuthin.

She’s just so

Seductive

She leaves my fingers blushing (they’re tinged pink after she’s had her way with them – a small price to pay for pleasure)

Ravishing in red

(man, does she look good in garter stitch)

Easy.

(a few yarnovers on RS rows, knit all the way on the WS. Oh, yes.)
This, by the way, is the Wool Peddler’s Shawl (Rav link) from Folk Shawls

I can’t seem to tear myself away. I know you aren’t supposed to fall in love with this type, but it was destined to happen. It’s the yarn.

Posh Yarn Laura in Squirrel colorway

(Thank you to those who messaged me about Jake. It’s definitely not the same here without him, and we are each in our own way still trying to adjust to his absence. I thought I would try to get on with the show here tonight with some knitting. )

This is perfect weather just now. Bitter cold. Ominously grey clouds in a great swath across the sky. My husband has been griping about the lack of rain and snow that was promised us by the skies and the weatherman – because he is never wrong! My husband is a little bitter because we’ve watched many a storm pass us by in favor of areas just a couple of miles away. It’s happened enough times to make it a geographic feature and more than just coincidence. The skies over our house are all bluster, lots of talk and no action – but I’m not complaining. This frosty gloom is enough to warrant this,

and this makes me happy. I can sit and drink tea and knit and read by the fire, next to a large window. Not much worth complaining about, if you ask me. I go back to work on Tuesday, and boy am I going to miss being able to just do this for a bit and feel like this is enough of an accomplishment for the day – no papers to grade or lessons to plan, and I have mastered the art of ignoring housework when there is a fire to cozy up to in the living room.

Of course, today I got nothing done. No knitting and hardly any reading, due to unexpected company in the morning for a few minutes that lasted until mid-afternoon. That’s okay – it was my parents, and I love to have them over; in fact, they’re the only company that I don’t mind just “popping over.” My mother fell in love with the clapotis I made that she is to pass along to my grandmother for me (I lost the battle of trying to make bright pink look good. My grandmother, however, can. I should have handed it over to its rightful owner long ago), and now she’s going to pick out a colorway she likes, and I get to make her one! I am more than happy to do this for her after all she has done for my little family and me, and I’m even more happy to knit this gift knowing that it will be much anticipated and desired by the recipient. Yay!

falls off soapbox

I have a small bit of time to myself this morning. It’s so rare and precious that I’m determined not to waste it by going back to bed, even though I could use more sleep. Instead, I’m going to sit by the fire and work on either my husband’s socks (another post) or Anne Hanson’s That Little Scarf.

Have I mentioned – probably not – I have a bit of a knitty crush on Anne Hanson. I started reading her blog when Cara of January One posted about her Wing of the Moth Shawl, and it’s been love for both her designs and her blog posts ever since. I just finished her Two-Needle Mittens for Cole (yay for purple!) on the way to the San Diego Wild Animal Park on New Year’s Day, and I’m going to follow those up with this hat, also in purple.

Specs:
Knitted December 22, 2007 to January 1, 2008 (they don’t take that long; I just had so little time to work on them!)
Pattern: Two-Needle Mittens – Child
Size: Small
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Sweet Grape
Needles: US size 6 bamboo dpns
Mods: knit in the round instead of on two needles

I mentioned before that I’d had to start over because I was making them in the medium size. He barely measures small enough to fit into the smallest size, so I thought that if I went up a size, they would only be slightly bigger and he could wear them longer. When I had him try on the first partially finished mitten, I saw that they would reach halfway up to his elbow. Oh. Heh, I guess there would be no point in making a “medium” size if they were only slightly larger than the “small” size… so glad the portion of my brain responsible for logic picked up on that one half a mitten too late. Had I not needed to begin again in size small, I might have finished them in time to get them under the tree for Christmas. I considered staying up very late to get them done, but I decided not to stress myself out so close to the holiday. The drawback here (and my point) is that since I only had time to knit them here and there, the decreases at the fingertip are different. I screwed up on the decreases on the first one because my stitch count was off (I forgot to subtract a stitch at the beginning and end of the rounds to compensate for the conversion to knitting in the round), and so I winged the parts where my rounds didn’t match up with the pattern. It still came out fine and in fact still looked pretty similar to the mitten pictured in the pattern. I thought that these were such a small project that I would remember what I’d done and needn’t bother writing anything down, since I would finish the second one shortly anyway… right. This from the person that has to look in the hamper to remember what she wore yesterday. And then came the holidays and I forgot everything.

So, I purposely flubbed the second mitten’s decreases by not subtracting those two stitches, just as I’d done on the other one – but then I couldn’t remember how I’d done the rest. This is why I should give up on trying to be clever – my mommy-brain is already overloaded and can’t take the pressure! The first mitten ends with eight stitches to be bound off, and somehow I only had five left at the end of the second mitten. No matter, though – somehow, they still look (more or less) the same, and I’ll probably have to replace them with larger ones next winter, anyway. My only other quibble, aside from what is my own miscalculating-I-can’t-count fault, is sewing up the seams for the thumbs. I wasn’t quite sure how to do that neatly, since these are my first mittens, and so I used the mattress stitch; while they look okay, I’m not entirely pleased with them.

Here’s something cool I came across and used in the making of these mitts: the (very nearly) invisible increase as explained on the TECHknitting blog. The pattern says to M1, and I wanted something that wouldn’t show or worse, create holes, so I did a little internet digging. It’s easy, and yes, nearly invisible. TECHknitting, with “TECH-niques to turn HOME MADE knitting into HANDMADE knitting,” is a fabulous resource with a lot of helpful knitting explanations, tips, and tricks, and pretty diagrams for visual learners like me. If you’ve never seen it, have a browse through the subject index – it really is a wealth of information. I don’t know who writes it, but someone in Wisconsin has me all amazed at their knitting expertise, and grateful that he or she shares it so freely.

Off to enjoy my quiet by the fire with some knitting…

Who am I kidding – this one is screaming “Pick me!” much too loudly to resist!

1. Read more. I really miss it! I’m shooting for at least ten, which may seem like nothing, but to me, working mom of two young ones (and a freak dog!), that would actually feel like an accomplishment. I haven’t counted last year’s, but I’m a bit afraid to look.

2. Be a better blogger: post at least once a week. More would be even better, but I want to try to keep these realistic and do-able, and I know that once a week will probably be a struggle at times (see #1 for reason why).

3. Be a better friend: reply to all emails within 3 days of receipt – this would be a big change for me. A good one, though, as I always leave those on the backburner due to reasons listed in – you guessed it – #1, knowing that my friends will understand… but I have great friends who deserve better than that from me.

4. Be healthier: eat less junk and start exercising.

5. Be a better mom: my little boy has obviously enjoyed the extra time I’ve had for playing more games and reading more books with him while I’ve been on break, and it makes me sad to think that when I go back to work, he will miss that. I want to find more time in my crazy schedule for just him and me.

6. Do something around the house every day, even if it’s small – like just one load of laundry, one dusty corner, whatever. Just so at the end of the day I can say I managed something, and maybe then it won’t all pile up on me as it tends to do… maybe I can enlist the help of a certain three-year-old, heehee!

7. Buy less yarn and use more from stash. Notice I didn’t say buy “none” – come on, that’s crazy talk! But I have been on a bit of a binge lately, and I’m buying much more than I’m knitting (again), so less would be a good idea. I haven’t decided how to work this one yet… again, I’m shooting for “do-able.”

There, now I’ve gone and said them all out loud, so I’m accountable.  Happy New Year, everyone.