Ah, nature

No knitting, but a bit of nature for you. When I visited my parents last weekend, I found lovely tiger-striped caterpillars resting in the parsley. A quick Google Images search revealed these are monarch butterfly caterpillars.

Yesterday I went to the park where I went on the bird walk (first time I’ve ever been and the last one for this year) and also spent some time looking at the herons in their tree. I saw 6 adults and 2 juveniles and managed to get a too-far-away picture of one of the juveniles. You’ll have to click for the big version and even then the bird is small.

Two families of geese, one with 8 goslings and one with 4, paddled around in Stow Lake in a group:

Then came out of the water to eat tufts of grass:

And were so enthralled by their snacking that they came nearer and nearer, until a couple of the older goslings got close enough to brush up against my shins.

Of each pair of parents, one kept watch and the other snacked along with the youngsters. An adult gave a brief quiet honk once and 15 birds hustled for the edge, ready to jump in the water to get out of the way of an approaching dog. Dog was on leash, though, and passed quickly, and all the birds went back to feeding.

Tonight I went up on the roof to look at the solar eclipse. I was oddly excited to see that little crescent reflected on my piece of paper, perhaps because it’s one of those things I’ve never managed to see due to unfortunately-timed cloud cover.

That’s all for nature, folks. Back I go to watching bad TV, plodding away at a couple of knitting projects, and wishing tomorrow wouldn’t be the anniversary it will be.

Bootie call

My mom called and said someone she knows is having a baby and she wanted to get a pair of booties from me. My stock was low so I spent my bus rides last month knitting a pair or two:

Pattern: own
Yarns: Dale of Norway Baby Ull in color 8523 (green), 4516 (pink), 2908 (orange), 5726 (blue); DROPS Fabel in color 153p (orange faux isle); Creatively Dyed Yarn Calypso in color Aruba (purple)
Needles: US size 2
Started 3/30 and finished 5/8/2012

Nine sounds like too small a number to describe the hours of work that went into these so I tell myself it’s actually 18 finished items. That sounds far better.

The antidote to weeks of tiny bus knitting: big bus knitting! This is going to be a felted hat and I’m showing it on top of a letter-size sheet of paper so you get a sense of scale.

It looks really funny on my head but no photo of that because it’s a bad day for vanity today.

A knitting challenge

My mom took a photo of a sweater in a shop window (shop was closed) on her vacation last year and asked me to try to duplicate it for her. This is the source photo I’m working with:

The body is knit sideways in one piece with short rows and it looks like the sleeves were added using short rows rather than sewn in. It has puffed sleeve caps and a deep ribbed collar. She plans to wear it over a dress. I’ve searched on Ravelry and have conceded defeat: I can’t find anything that looks like this.

This means I have to make my own schematic. She bought Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light yarn (she was surprised at the cost of yarn in general and this was one with an acceptable price in a color and fiber she liked) and I spent some time swatching. Here’s my sketch, swatch, and the start of a schematic, with Mama’s actual measurements covered up because a lady’s measurements are really no one’s business but her own and perhaps her tailor’s.

I sometimes enjoy a knitting challenge although it usually involves adapting some else’s more complex pattern to add waist shaping or to accommodate my always-off gauge. Now that I’m trying to figure out how on earth to calculate body length when you add a deep collar later and fiddling with where to place the short rows to get the swingy front and place the sleeves, I’m starting to wish the store had been open.

First-time Tosh user says: the yarn is divine.

And now for something completely different

A few months ago I went to the yarn shop and liked a sample scarf knitted up in Noro Kirameki. I bought the yarn and ended up making something completely different with it, and something crocheted at that.

Pattern: Half Granny Square Shawl by Anastacia Zittel
Yarn: 1 skein Noro Kirameki Singles, 60% rayon, 25% nylon, 10% wool, 5% cashmere, color 152
Hook: size G (4mm)
Size: 58″ across the top and 28″ from top to point
Started 1/8 and finished 1/26/2012

I didn’t understand the first couple of rows of the instructions. I made the chained ring, fiddled with the first row or two and ripped it out multiple times, then ignored the instructions and made three shells in the ring. That worked and I could get going on the first real row.

The yarn is clingy, sticks to itself firmly. This was good for not losing the last dozen stitches when I threw the shawl into my messenger bag and the hook fell out, and bad for when I discovered a mistake a few rows back and had to rip. Luckily that only happened a few times and I only broke the yarn once trying to tug it free while ripping. It reminded me that one of the reasons I like knitting better is I can usually drop down just the few affected stitches to fix a simple mistake. When crocheting your only choice is to rip back entire rows. Well, you could also repeat the mistake and call it a design feature.

It blocked out nicely. If you want yours to block out wider at the top, make those chains when turning a row looser than I made mine. Mine are a little tight.

Tee-hee

My inner 12-year-old enjoyed knitting these hats and giggled as she worked her way up the one particular chart. It’s not that reindeer in the process of making little reindeer is so funny, it’s more the idea of putting this scene on a hat that got to me. I wanted it to be for my brother. Hat the first:

Wait, that reindeer is just running.

These two are just running, too.

There you go! And before anyone makes any inappropriate comments about supposed genders here, both male and female reindeer have antlers.

Pattern: Hat pattern is my own (co 92, inc to 108), running reindeer is from a Norwegian book, humping reindeer and tree from the Fornicating Deer Chart by Anne Rutten
Yarn: .45 skein Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted, 75% acrylic, 25% wool, color 1237 (black) and .25 skein Plymouth Yarn Encore Worsted Tweed, 75% acrylic, 22% wool, 3% rayon, color 0217 (tan/taupe)
Needles: US size 8
Size: adult
Started 1/3 and finished 1/21/2012

See how far down Sancho’s eyes are covered? Unfortunately, this hat ended up so big and slouchy that I knew my brother won’t wear it so I had to make a second one. I went down a needle size, changed the lower border to make it the same as the upper, changed the decrease pattern at the top, and worked fewer rounds altogether.

Hat the second, looking pretty much the same. You’ll notice in both that the two running reindeer are discreetly facing away from the action:

Same details as above except:
Yarn: .40 skein of black, .20 skein of tan/taupe
Needles: US size 7
Started and finished 1/22/2012

The floats are long so I had to trap them:

I put a piece of paper with the word “censored” on it over the action part of the hat before I mailed it, which both my brother and his wife got a giggle out of, too.

Non-knitting content: today I made naan bread to go with my aloo gobi. It was delicious!

Edited to add: WordPress tells me this is post #300 (over 5.33 years of Mmm… Yarn). I am definitely a non-prolific post writer.

Overstimulated

“…you’re overstimulated, [...] we’ll get some beer in you and then it’s straight to bed.” *

I spent a big chunk of today running errands and just being out and about, enjoying a really warm day and spindling out by the lake, and another big chunk looking at my yarn and looking at patterns and browsing on Ravelry and going back to look at my yarn… well, you get the picture. Actually, I took a carefully edited picture. There was more than this piled on the table. I pared it down lest someone question my sanity.

Yarns/patterns for baby smocked dress, swirl jacket, custom design for my mom, booties, Shur’tugal sock still in progress (I swear there’s no end in sight), Wa na na na na na na na Bat Shawl, Citron shawl.

I’ve had the beer and cast on for a Citron shawl. It’s still a little early and far too warm for bed, plus my brain is absolutely whirling with potential projects. I think I’ll watch “Blink” and try to focus on Citron, see if that quiets things down in there a bit.

* Marge Simpson to Homer.

Even better than the real thing

Maybe, maybe not. Behold the real thing:

And the knitted thing that may be better than the real thing.

On the yummy scale the sushi wins over the sushi wallet. But for long-lasting enjoyment, take a durable little bag!

Pattern: “Sushi Wallet” by Maggie Pace, purchased as a kit by Pick Up Sticks!.
Yarn: it doesn’t say, but to me it feels like Cascade 220. It weighs 50 grams so I recorded 110 yards used.
Needles: US size 10
Size: 4.25″ x 7″
Started 12/19/2011 and finished 1/8/2012. Knitted 12/19-12/20, felted 12/25 and 12/29, sewed 1/2-1/8.

The pattern comes with three options: large sushi, small sushi, and striped plate. I made the small sushi for the front and the plate for the back.

The bag is worked back and forth in stockinette stitch in one piece, from to-be-zippered edge to the other to-be-zippered edge, then seamed on the sides. I started with the striped part and when I reached the halfway point switched to red only. Seaming before felting was kind of a pain until I remembered it doesn’t need to be super neat when you’re going to be felting something.

You do have to be neat when sewing in a zipper and I achieved that nicely on the 5th go:

One tip for anyone making little sushi disks: cast on loosely! My cast on was too tight and I didn’t end up with disks so much as cones, both before and after felting. It initially gave the bag a bit of a 1986 Madonna feel although the disks have flattened a bit with use. And felting in the washing machine didn’t work too well for the disks, either. They’re so light that I presume they just didn’t get enough agitation even with towels in there with them. I ended up finishing felting them by hand in the sink, then sewed them on very tightly to reduce how much they protrude. Tight sewing:

And lastly, a pre-felting and post-felting size comparison:

P.S. to S.F. readers: if you’re in that neighborhood, go to The Ice Cream Bar on Cole Street! Talk about yummy. I had a hot fudge sundae for lunch there today. (Yes, for lunch, not after lunch, because I’m a grown-up and can do what I want.) The folks sitting next to me were commenting than any sundae is too big for one person and I felt 4 sets of eyes on me as I was spooning up the last bits. I thought to myself, “well, yeah, if you fill up on lunch first…”

Wee nephew sweater

My little nephew greeted the world at the end of November. I was a little more on the ball with his older sister and had her sweater done in time for her pre-arrival baby shower; despite this cardigan’s speedy execution it wasn’t done until he was more than a month old. My fault, of course, but it’s just as well: he has to grow into it.

Pattern: One-Skein-Wonder Baby Sweater by Linda Burt, published in One-Skein Wonders: 101 Yarn-Shop Favorites
Yarn: .63 skeins James C. Brett Marble Chunky, 100% acrylic, color MC10
Needles: US size 10.5
Size: one size
Started and finished 12/23/2011

This was a great one-day project and I recommend this pattern to anyone who has chunky yarn and needs to whip out a baby sweater in a day. You don’t even need to make buttonholes because the buttons fit in between the stitches.

A few changes to the pattern:

• The one row of garter stitch at the bottom isn’t enough to prevent the body from rolling. I cast on 73 st instead of 72 (so the rows would end on the same stitch) and did 3 rows of seed stitch, then started the pattern. It took me under 3 hours to knit the entire body and do 3 needle bind off at the shoulders.
• Collar: I picked up 36 instead of 34 st and worked in seed stitch.
• Sleeves: I picked up 38 instead of 34, worked them in the round, and did seed stitch at cuff.

I estimate I spent between 5 and 6 hours on this, including weaving in the ends. I had enough yarn left over to make a hat to go with it:

Pattern: own (co 52)
Yarn: .15 skeins James C. Brett Marble Chunky, 100% acrylic, color MC10
Needles: US size 10.5
Size: infant
Started 12/23 and finished 12/31/2011

They look good together:

While I really like how this looks, I can’t say I love the yarn. The acrylic just feels wrong in my hands and it bloomed up with little fuzzy bits after going through the washing machine, making me think it is not going to wear very well. Fortunately, with baby things you never need to worry about anyone fitting into anything for too long so even though it gets washed often for the few months it’s worn, it’s not like an adult garment you hope to wear for several years. I am supposed to meet my nephew for the first time next month.

Hats of orange and blue

Back in August I bought a lovely Bluefaced Leicester sock yarn from Girl on the Rocks at the trunk show at Urban Fauna Studio. Long before then I had a rough plan that I wanted to make a hat with a Golden Gate Bridge design on it “someday.” This particular yarn caught my eye because it was a great shade of orange.

Oddly bright light here.

I petted the yarn and checked the label: the color name was “International Orange.” Obviously destined for this project.

Rather dull light here.

Two days later I cast on with the yarn held double and quickly made a k2p2 brim and a little bit of a stockinette body. Then it languished a few weeks until I went to the library to get the bridge book, then that languished again until I finally printed out graph paper and sharpened my pencil.

One washer and dryer cycle in October later (yes, after all that languishing, the graphing went quickly), I had a workable and to scale graph that I then knitted into the body of the hat.

The setting sun apparently captures its color correctly.

Pattern: own
Yarn: Girl on the Rocks Superwash BFL Sock, 80% superwash Bluefaced Leicester wool, 20% nylon, color: International Orange
Needles: US size 4
Size: adult
Started 8/22 and finished 12/3/2011

Because this design goes around the hat and it’s not a circular bridge, I took a bit of artistic license. I included the archway that’s under the road on the San Francisco side and made both swoops of the bridge meet it. So hard to photograph in the round: it does indeed have both towers and the suspension part on each side even though only one tower is pictured in any one photo. All in all, I’m very happy with it!

I took the leftover blue yarn from the Brattleboro Hat and quickly made a simple k2p2 child-size hat. It’s really not as skewed as it looks in the photo, I just had trouble arranging it on a balloon.

Pattern: own
Yarn: 0.4 skein Malabrigo Merino Worsted, 100% wool, color 186 Buscando Azul
Needles: US size 8
Size: child
Started 12/16 and finished 12/26/2011

I did a 4-point double decrease at the top:

You know when the dates are getting into December that 2012 projects are coming soon.

P.S. Golden Gate Bridge 75th anniversary is May 27, 2012. I may have to wear the hat that day.

Mixed graft!

Not much knitting today quantity-wise, although it was satisfying level-of-difficulty-wise. I worked the last couple of rows on the buttonband of the Ode to Joy jacket, laboring 90 minutes over various types of buttonholes before settling on a combination of the Improved, Improved Horizontal Buttonhole in The Principles of Knitting and the Tulips buttonhole on TECHknitting. Only a few more tails to weave in, plus button-shopping, and it’s done. Finally.

I spent an additional two-plus hours attempting to graft the neckband strip of the Landon cardigan to the cardigan front. The instructions have you pick up the border pattern from the border already on the cardigan front and knit it upward along the neckband; however, this would mean everything’s offset by half a stitch. I chose instead to knit a border strip that starts at center back (once I sew it on) and meets up with the front. This means grafting a mix of knit and purl stitches. The Principles of Knitting to the rescue again (did I mention I bought The Principles of Knitting?) for its description of a mixed graft.

This is what I ended up with (the graft, not the bad cell phone photo at night).

The basic instructions of “do this when a purl stitch is on the back needle” didn’t work, though, because when stitches meet up, the loops on the front needle are the tops of stitches and the loops on the back needle are the bottoms. In stockinette and garter stitches this doesn’t matter. In a pattern stitch, it matters a lot. I tried following the instructions blindly anyway, and everything was very noticeably off by half a stitch. After several further attempts, I pulled the needles out of each half and left the stitches hanging loosely, still on the strands of white thread so they wouldn’t go anywhere, then ignored everything rote I know about grafting (“as if to knit” and “as if to purl”) and instead carefully followed the stitch path using thin pink thread so I could really see what I was doing. Then I wove over the pink thread with the actual yarn and removed the thread.

I say success! I have one half-stitch that’s a knit where it should have been a purl. I can live with that. You’ll notice I also managed to graft the twisted stitch in the middle of the row. Whew! One more half-neckband and graft to go, and Landon is done.