Knitasha von Stashenskeins

Christmas Knitting Continues

I was supposed to have to go to a nerve-wracking "meet and greet" dinner last night, but I got a late reprieve and I got to go to knitting instead.  And so did everybody else in Northwest Ohio!  So crowded I couldn't believe it.  Dale Ann and Bobbie are going to have to book auditorium space pretty soon to hold us all.

Because I am mistress Mary, quite contrary, I disregarded advice to put the name on the stocking with duplicate stitch and went a completely different way.  On my planet, the name goes on the stocking cuff, period.  There is no way to duplicate stitch over fuzzy yarn garter stitch, so I had to get creative.



Beads!  Is it cute or goofy?  I keep going back and forth, but I think I like it. 

Despite my honest attempts, the stocking turned out enormous, so there will be rioting around my sister's mantle.  Oh well, I tried.



Adleigh won't care how big her stocking is for several years, but her siblings will!

Too bad, so sad, I have to move on!  My seriously abbreviated Christmas knitting list is still longer than I like, so I am trying to knit fast.  I have started a pair of socks for my nephew Campbell who is the biggest 10 year old ever and wears a men's size 10 shoe.  Aaaack!  Two days later, I have one sock done and the second sock started.



I dug this yarn out of my (ahem) copious sock yarn stash because it was the most "manly" and didn't have any pink in it.  This is just cheapo Lion Brand Magic Stripes, but I am really happy about how it is knitting up.  It is also superwash, so my sister can throw them in the laundry without having to do any extra work.  (Four children - the woman has plenty of work!)  They should match fairly well with jeans, don'tcha think?

My hubby just called.  He got a positive progress report from the eye doctor this AM and now we are going to meet for lunch.  My hair is still wet and my face is naked, so I guess I better go!

A Very Monkey Christmas

So much to tell you - I haven't been able to post since Monday!  Holidays are nice and all, but they mess with my blogging.  Company left this morning, so I can finally sit at the computer without being rude.

First of all, my package arrived from my secret scarf pal!  My pal's name is Kim and she lives in Michigan - just one state away.  She sent me some super cool stuff!  Wanna see?  (Like I'm giving you the choice)

Beautiful box that I plan to stash my hand knit socks in.

Cute sheep card.  (Where does everybody get the cute knitting cards?)

Sheepy tape measure.

Assorted yummy smelling stuff.

And my scarf!!  I had a very hard time taking a picture that wasn't blurry, because I was so excited.  It is a beautiful charcoal gray with a central lace pattern flanked by cables.  Kim said she devised the pattern herself - clever girl!  I went snooping on her Ravelry page and found out she made it out of Superfine  Alpaca yarn on size 4 needles.  What did I do to deserve such a lovely scarf??  It will go with my new coat beautifully.

Thanks again Kim!  I got the best scarf pal in the bunch.

In my own knitting news, the hat making frenzy continued unabated for several days before I took a break.

The finished brown hat, a little large as predicted.

A sky blue version made of Wool Ease Thick and Quick.  This one is so dense, I think it would stand up on its own.

Finally, a soft teal hat made of Patons Shetland Chunky.  Like the baby bear's porridge, this one is just right - good size, nice and soft.

I have every intention of making a couple more of these before Christmas comes around, but I took a short hat hiatus in order to start another present.  Over the years, I have made Christmas stockings for all the members of my sister Jenny's family.  She had a new baby in September, so duty calls.

Recognize the pattern?  I am using Monkey by Cookie A., but working it toe-up to better control the size of the stocking.  My sister warned me that if I made the new baby's stocking too big, the other children would likely revolt.  Nothing like a bloody stocking rebellion to ruin Christmas.

I finished the leg last night - it is knit out of Paton's Comfort on size 8's.  Now I just have to knit on a cuff - I have some fuzzy white novelty yarn.  Anybody have any bright ideas how to get her name on it?

I have an appointment for a haircut in 25 minutes, so I guess I better go.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that you can still zip your jeans!

Scary Stuff

We have had a rough week here at Chez Knitasha.  The wheels fell off midway through Wednesday afternoon when my husband called me at work to tell me he had an abrupt loss of vision in his left eye and was on his way to the eye doctor.  Double yikes with knobs on!!!!  I was halfway home after work when he called again with the diagnosis: retinal tear with partial detachment.  Retinal detachment can lead to permanent blindness if it is not addressed quickly, so he was going to need emergency surgery. 

That same eye has had two surgeries in the last 12 months, and the retinal tear was a complication we had been warned to watch for.  Unlike a typical man, my husband didn't ignore it and he called the doctor right away, so the surgeon was optimistic that surgery could restore his vision.

He had surgery early Thursday morning.  I will spare you the gory details - the description of the procedure actually made me a little woozy.   He had to wear a patch all day yesterday, and then he saw the surgeon again today.  The itchy patch is off, but vision in that eye is still bad.  There is an air bubble left inside the eye that resolves after a few days as your body replaces the fluid.  Until then, he says it is like trying to see through a dirty fishbowl.

We will be waiting it out over the next few days and watching to see how things heal.  The surgeon was very pleased with the way the surgery went, so I am trying to think positive.  We are both pretty freaked out at the possibility of him losing vision at the age of 44.  I remember when 44 sounded old, but it doesn't now.  It sounds way too young for partial blindness!

Before all of the drama, I did get to go to knitting night on Tuesday, and I finished the handspun Fetchings.  I got to experience the wonderful "I'm going to run out of yarn!" panic as I came down the homestretch.  Am I the only one who knits faster and faster as though it will prevent me from running out?

There was enough to finish #2, but just barely.  I felt compelled to take a picture to show you just how close it was.



Whew!

I needed a portable project for all the surgery waiting room time, so I dug out some big DPN's and I printed out Yarn Harlot's An Unoriginal Hat pattern.



This is attempt #1.  The pattern calls for 7mm needles, which are somewhere between a 10.5 and an 11.   I generally knit a little loose, so I tried 10.5's.  It turned out smaller than I wanted, but it will be good for a certain little girl in Pittsburgh.  The yarn is Patons Rumor, which is an alpaca/acrylic blend I bought at Michael's.  (Big yarn sale alert!)  The color is "Halcyon Heather" - light blue plied with a navy/green variegate.  This yarn is cushy and warm.



Attempt #2 is underway on size 13 needles, which will probably prove to be a little too big.  There are enough people in my family with large heads that I'm not too fussed about it.  Same yarn in "Hawthorn Heather", all lovely shades of brown.  When I make it to attempt #3, I'm thinking that #11 needles will be the ticket.  I am definitely getting a "potato chip" vibe off this pattern, so I know there will be several more.  Quick pretty soft hats = Christmas presents, don'tcha know.

I will leave you with the best of my Autumn photos.  I have been trying to remember to take shots of pretty trees I encounter for the past few days.  As always, there are more blurry pictures than clear ones, but I thought this one was pretty.

 

Letting It Go

While I was emailing to Kate this morning, I started thinking seriously about how close we are to Christmas.  Not a vague passing "Christmas in coming" thought, but an actual counting of days.  Dudes, I am in serious trouble!!  I have prided myself in year's past in knitting something for everyone, but I think it is time to let that expectation go.  Do I really want to spend the next 6 weeks in an absolute knitting panic and let the fun of the season pass me by?  No, I do not. 

For the first time I can remember, I am hereby making a resolution a) in November and b) not related to weight loss, dieting or working out.  I resolve to spend this holiday season knitting a few special gifts for friends and family that will really appreciate them.  I will not knit out of obligation, and I will not knit things that make me unhappy.  I will knit consciously and joyfully, relishing the process as well as the satisfaction of giving.  And I will realize that not knitting for someone does not mean I don't love them, I just will show my love a different way this year.

C'mon, who's with me?!

Of course, before I made this resolution, I had already begun a Christmas gift knit out of obligation.   Luckily, this little bag knits up super-quick, so it was relatively painless.



I hope there is enough pink here to suit my girly-girl niece Abigail.  Personally, I love these color together and I got similar comments from Muggles who saw the work in progress.  If they ever stop making Patons SWS, I may have to take to my bed.

Remember my latest Kool-Aid wool?  I had intended to watch my instructional DVD and then use it to practice.  But....it was not to be.  By the time I finished my chores on Saturday evening and had some time for myself, I wanted to spin, not watch somebody else.  So spin I did, for almost 4 hours in a row. My neck and shoulders tell me this was a little too long, but the colors hypnotized me and I had to see how it would turn out.



I love these colors!!  They are so bright and happy, a perfect antidote to the chilly gray days we have in Northwest Ohio lately.  Does this yarn remind you of anything?  Wait, I'll give you a hint:

On the left my new Kool-Aid yarn, on the right the Tangelo Tang that Kate sent me.  Can you believe how close they are?  Mine is a little more orange than yellow, but they could be sisters. 

Until you pick them up.  The Tangelo Tang is Merino and incredibly soft.  My Kool-Aid yarn is the generic wool I bought on Ebay.  It isn't Lopi, but it isn't alpaca either. 

Speaking of the Tangelo Tang, I finally washed it up last week, so yesterday I wound up one of the two hanks and took it to the youngest's basketball game with some #6 dpn's.  Look, look!



That, my friends, is a handspun Fetching !  I am inordinately proud of it and could hardly stop admiring it to cast on the second one. 

These gloves take such a small amount of yarn that I just might get a whole pair out of this first skein.  That means I'll have enough left to knit a second pair!  One to give, one to keep.  Life is good.

Origami Knitting

As I was knitting on the Lotorp bag this morning, it occurred to me that it is a lot like origami.  The flat knitting doesn't look anything like the bag you eventually fold it into.



This is for my niece Abigail for Christmas, and I just might finish today.  I have reached the strap, but I think I better stop to stitch it together.  It is looking like it will take every inch of the 3 skeins I had, so I don't want to run short of yarn to seam it with.  Then I'll keep knitting the strap until the yarn is gone.

I finally pinned my daughter down yesterday to get a picture of the UK punk hat.



This has become the hat she grabs as she rushes out into the cold, so she is actually getting some use out of it.  Since I worked so hard on the darn thing, this is gratifying.  It is a little odd for me to walk beside her while she's wearing it, as it definitely attracts attention.  But that is what the punk fashions were all about, n'est-ce pas?



Grrrr! 

I ordered a video from Paradise Fibers entitled "Spinning Wool - Basics & Beyond".  I have been itching for another spinning lesson, but spinning teachers are few and far between around here, so I thought an instructional DVD might be the next best thing.  I tried to watch it last night after a busy day and fell asleep as the instructor was reviewing the parts of the wheel.  I'm hoping to give it another try later today.

Hoping that the DVD will give me some new stuff to practice, I dyed up a little wool to play with.



Kool-aid again - orange and black cherry this time.  It is almost dry, so maybe I'll get to it later today.  Meanwhile, the messiest kitchen in North America awaits.  My daughter and her friend made pancake AND sugar cookies this morning.  Sigh.

42:28

Ever have one of those weekends that is so busy and full of chores that you are almost happy when Monday rolls around?  My weekend was truly exhausting and I don't think I accomplished half of what I had planned.

Part of the reason I'm so tired is that I participated in a race this weekend.  My husband had the crazy interesting idea that he and I and our youngest daughter should sign up for a 5K race.  (In his defense, I do believe that he assumed being registered for a race would encourage us to train for said race.  Alas, no.)

5K = 3.1 miles = a heck of a long way for a woman who hasn't really run for years.  The last time I ran 3 miles was probably 2002 or so.  But the race was for a good cause, so I bundled up and found myself on the starting line with many other people, all visibly in much better shape than I am.  Uh-oh.

I told my husband and daughter to run their own pace and let me fall behind, as I am the world's slowest runner on a good day.  They quickly vanished ahead of me, and I was alone near the back of the pack.  But I had my IPod mini with good tunes, so I just put my head down and slogged along.  I figured I would end up walking eventually, but Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out For A Hero" came on exactly when I needed it and I kept running jogging shuffling forward at speed of snail.  And I did it!!  I finished the whole race without stopping to walk once.  With a finish time of 42:28, I was the very last runner to cross the finish line, with only the walkers behind me, but I didn't care.  It felt really good to do it.



So good, in fact, that I suited up this morning and jogged before my shower!  I hesitate to proclaim that this will last, but I really hope it does.  Being surrounded by all of those slim, fit runners made me want to get back into it.  Feel free to needle me about it if my enthusiasm wanes.

Very little knitting was accomplished this weekend.  I got about 1 1/2 hours done on the Denim and Leaves sweater, which does not add up to very much.



Very hard to see any progress - this sweater is progressing about as fast as I run.

My older daughter had a pre-season basketball scrimmage on Friday night, so I needed something a little easier to knit.  I have been missing sock knitting, so it was inevitable that I start a new pair.  Having failed to plan ahead, I was left at the mercy of my mobile stash.



This is TLC Cotton Plus - Princess colorway.  I think I picked it up at a closeout sale this summer.  Because it is worsted weight, I used #6 double-pointed's with only 44 stitches around.  I knit these toe-up with Wendy's easy toe and a shortrow heel.  Because they are 50% cotton and bright, I decided to make them ankle socks.  I didn't even use up one of the two 3 oz skeins I have, so I could make a whole other pair if I wanted to.  I will throw these in the Christmas present pile - they should fit my youngest just fine.

Now that they are done, I need another easy, portable project.  In a flurry of productivity this morning, I washed my Tangelo Tang handspun and hung it in the basement.  Once it is dry, I'm going to try a pair of Fetchings for my mom.  Until then, I may start another Lotorp bag - my niece was very jealous of her mom's and wants her own for Christmas.  How could a good aunt say no?