Six More Stitches!

I knit in public this Saturday while volunteering…maybe instead of a day, we should have a day of the week…or make it an everyday habit. I was knitting my shawl because it is all garter stitch with an increase at the beginning of the first row or an increase at the end of the second row. It’s even easy to tell, because sometimes a girl needs an easy knit, even if it takes forever.

Shawl pattern is inspired by each of those I could find…but is, essentially, mine.

 I promised a company I would create and photograph some quilt blocks if they accepted my work (I left it up to the reviewing committee and they accepted it!). It’s for a magazine, for a July issue and it’s a Canadian press magazine. So, it’s either digital or Canadians have their own sense of time. When I made the promise, I expected I’d have a couple of weeks to months to finish the blocks and photograph them. I have five days. 

Five days to make seven blocks, okay two really are done…but I only intended to make three with a working copier (on my printer) and time to construct them, plan and hopefully have money for fabric. I may have to make a whole darn quilt…this publication better take me places… Alas, I’d better get back to paper piecing, but today I made progress on my shawl while interrupting my block assembly progress. (I did get the blocks done, in time to share them and my publishing story with my quilt guild too). 

Pattern is Toe-Up Travelers by Ann Budd in Sock Knitting: Master Class

A fellow volunteer is a knitter. She asked about my shawl, but I’m at the long part, so a row takes some time (it can be interrupted though). I’d been knitting furiously to show her the end of the increase row, and as she was about to leave, I look down and knit the seventh stitch to the end, so I feverishly declare “Six more stitches, I’m knitting as fast as I can.” We did have a good chat about knitting, and will forever have something to discuss when I review my notes better and volunteer there in the future.

Lovely bottomside and backside of Toe-Up Travelers from Sock Knitting: Master Class.

In addition, I did get some progress done on the socks, and need to change the needles in just one more row…Now, can I find my camera? (It’s not in my hand like my phone was earlier when I was searching for it)…but the dog needs some love first.

Until next time, Happy Knitting

Procrastiknitting…

Has two meanings…writing poetry when you might be knitting is one of them.Avoiding knitting mistakes, so you don’t have to work out cabling errors is another. I may have fallen into both categories this week. So, I began knitting to avoid necessary homework…I should know better. I don’t. I’m not sure any of us really know better, even when we should.

Scamp, showing off latest repair effort

I missed a purl stitch in the pattern…so I began procrastinating the fix. However, I finally took time to fix it. Tomorrow’s break knitting in Middle School (Spanish and Art), should be fun, provided it’s not first or second hour and they ask me to work for someone else. However, I’m now smart enough to say extra work. (Yes, partly because it’s hard to say, “No.”). In the meantime, this row is fixed and finished while watch Project Runway re-runs (and I thought Project Runway was over).

Tink showing off the latest cable knitting

Alas, I have to read for classes and catch another play–the hardship! I want to know how it ends, which is a good sign for A Raisin in the Sun, partly because I may know how Macbeth ends already (even if I don’t remember it–part of me doesn’t care). In the meantime, here’s the procrasti-knitting.

Tink, helping me show off my knitting.

Until next time,

Happy Knitting!

 

Over the Heel…

 

Over the heel and through the leg…

I finally knit the heel. Then I thought, try on that sock. I’m glad I did, the first heel I knit (since this type of short row heel was confusing for me) was two inches too long! I did a lot of frogging with that discovery, and re-knit the heel as best I could. This one fits. Yeah. I’m now into the leg, which I thought would be more of a bear.

Bring the pattern around the back…

The leg is laid out on four needles, and I have to tug those second and third stitches often to prevent ladders, but I think the layout makes more sense than the top of the foot knitting did. It’s at least easier to follow, for me. Until next time,

This needle layout makes sense to me! It’s becoming fun again. 

The knitting is still complicated, but fun. The pattern is Toe-Up Travelers by Ann Budd and can be found on ravelry.com or in Sock Knitting: Master Class.

Happy Knitting!

 

Half of the Fun is Getting There, Right?

Or perhaps half of the fun is accomplishment…And don’t ask me tonight about changing the pattern. I think the fatigue of a bug has left me addle-pated. Read on to find out what I mean…I hope.

Almost finished…one more row…then the next set…Toe Up Travelers by Ann Budd

 

I enjoy every moment knitting and snuck some in time class knitting this week on a particularly complicated row. To be honest, I started the row just before class and didn’t finish it before class started. So, in the midst of taking notes, I had a complicated row of cabling and knitting through the back loop six times. Half of the fun is getting there, which I’m working on now.

Forgive the shadow…What would this sock look like if I inverted the pattern?

The other half of the fun is the sense of accomplishment from getting there. I got within one row of finishing the repeat this afternoon. However, class was cancelled and I felt simply worn out. I came home and decided to try to nap. Not only did I find I could sleep, I found myself going hot/cold. I really don’t like getting sick. So I took most of the night off, and slept, and sewed and worked on a little homework.

 

However, serious concentration is out the window, so that last row is debatable if I should get to it or not. Part of me says I could do it, part of me says read a book and go to bed. Okay, okay; you talked me into it. Mostly, because if I let it wait, I won’t get to take the photo I want. Instead, I just went ahead and knit up that last row, and voila! I’m one-third of the way done with the foot.

 

However, as I look at this pattern, I want to knit the second part of this round upside-down and turn this repeated triangle of meandering twisted stitches into a diamond…This could get interesting to see…Stay tuned, folks. 

Back To School

…or It’s not lost on me that stories could be created from a lone sock laying around on a college campus…

what do you say when your instructor asks you what kind of medieval torture device you are holding in your hand? Knitting needles, of course…He’s never seen more than two needles…poor bloke. Alas, today, he met my favorite wooden needles…then he asked me if I ever stabbed anyone, and I had to admit, that it’s a risk for my boyfriend if they get left on the couch, by accident, course. (It may have been more honesty than he was prepared for today…but he claims you can ask him anything.)

This ledge with these pretty flowers are right across from the library, and it was warmer than the bench…

Alas, I’m still at the stage of classes where I can work on knitting before class, instead of trying to catch up on the latest reading…the catching up part will come later. The second sock is going much quicker this past two weeks I’ve had some spare time to actually just knit. Now, if I had fewer campus involvements, my homework might be done too…

Apparently, fall is in the air here…

Nevermind, I’m still working on catching up to the first sock, and am looking forward to the day when they match, though I’ve become aware that patches will be either purple or gray as I will most likely have no green yarn left. I’ll show you how much I have to work in once I get to that last row of green…but there isn’t much left now. We’ll see how it goes. In the meantime, I have reading to do, and socks to knit.

And yes, I’m curious what your single sock and medieval torture devices story would be if I left this behind (which I likely wouldn’t).

Until next time,

Happy Knitting!

Knitting at Quilt Week

Current progress on the sock before I headed home tonight…These are in my best friend’s front yard.

Of course, I was busy taking pictures of quilts, not knitting. Though knitting does break the ice to begin conversations. The socks currently look like socks. I love that. However, do to all the conversations, there are more errors than I wish to admit to… I did pick up some useful quilt tips…I’m surprised I didn’t think of a chalk line before…but I have no tips for knitting a complicated pattern while talking to others, except: take a simpler pattern.

More of the sock before I left Grand Rapids tonight, I think I forgot to turn the frog back around…

I have no idea of the errors. I’m not looking or counting. Currently, my head is full of quilting…and possibilities. Some days, I feel as if I could use this sort of retreat for fiber minded friends. Perhaps I need to find myself a fiber festival. (But that’s one more thing the budget will be mean about, while I sit here and wonder which path I will be following next). Alas, for now, I’ll pet my fabric, knit another row, pour a glass of wine, and call it a day. In the meantime, Happy Knitting… and may your travel patterns be simple.

Putzer’s new digs.

Of course, sometimes things change while I’m away. Putzer is normally content to sleep on the lap desk below us, but in the past two and a half days, he convinced dear James (dad, to him, or head bill payer), to gift him a new Cat Bed. I do not believe he has shared said bed since it was set up.

No Knitting Before The GRE

I mean, I should have expected it when they said no analog watches…I still want to know which genius got caught writing his answers on an analog watch, and how tiny he tried to make them… I’d give him a licking that keeps on ticking…alas…knitting. See, lack of knitting while I wait makes me cranky. But I can’t complain, my unofficial scores are decent…by no means, outstanding…but good enough to be considered for graduate school, and likely not bad enough to have to subject myself to four more hours of no-knitting time. I get no patterns (they’re on paper and codes are hard to decipher…), but not even mindless knitting was allowed. I could have knit some on break, but break time was only ten minutes…and I’m on the heel.

Putzer, holding down my lap and demanding snuggles as I knit…

That’s right. Lack of knitting at an officially controlled testing site (that is simply doing their job) did not prevent me from reaching the heel. If I behave and knit some more, I might be a quarter to halfway up the leg before school starts up again. Part of me hoped to be done, but I’ve been working on quilts;-).

Putzer and Briannag helping with knitting, Briannag may just want my spot…

Alas, here’s the latest progress, as I finally got in some evening knitting time. Even after a crazy week of learning that one of my boyfriend’s cats, Squib, is diabetic (which has only required me to be supportive and make sure he has good cat food available and is not sharing with the other cats), I’ve gotten a good amount of knitting in. The cat and dear James are adjusting, and meeting with snuggle time, but it has been everyone else this week, (except Tink, who’s busy hiding from the camera or trying to sneak Squib’s diabetic food), like I said, just about everyone else wants to help me…See what I mean? This isn’t always easy folks, and I don’t just mean the Stealth Argyle pattern by Eunny Jang in Sock Knitting: Master Class that is probably one of the more challenging I have ever undertaken.

Zeus-y was here, right nearby awaiting snuggles or food to drop…perhaps he’ll get into next weeks photos…he’s not as camera curious as Briannag, and he leans more on the knitter… And now, back to turning the heel.

Until next time, Happy Knitting!

New Cast On…& New Needles…

…not once, but twice, Dear James got me some new needles.

 

• 
• This could get exciting;-) He’s so good to me;-)

 

In the meantime, I’m playing “Are we there yet?” with the sock pattern, and hoping for the best for making two pair so large…I just may cast on a second sock shortly…but that will take some work and another gift finished and marked off the books before that happens.

Need to work on settings…those are supposed to be green and purple…looks blue in this light…Perhaps as we knit on…p.s. one set of the new needles are covered.

I’ve also gotten this lovely large pair of knitting needles in size 10 (which are substituted for a size 9, because I’m a tight knitter). Since I have them, and I took the time to wind the skeins the hard way(the skiff is hiding, and the skeins weren’t sure they’d work with it anyways), I went ahead to cast on the Indian Cross Scarf by Marci Richardson from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. It’s an interesting pattern requiring 216 stitches to be cast-on…This is probably the definition of love…in case you were wondering.

Still…casting on 216 stitches is a lot of love…

“It’s only a few rows,” she told me. The first time I looked at the pattern, I thought it was twelve rows…anyone can put up with this, I thought. Then I read the pattern. Wait, you want me to knit 4 rows before I begin the pattern…okay, not bad. But that makes sixteen rows. Then I read the pattern…after row 12, it says “repeat rows 1-12 one more time.” It’ll be fun they said…but that’s 28 rows total. Then I read rows 1 and 2…you want me to do what?!?…I get to wrap the stitch three times every other stitch…in the next row, I get to drop it…This should be fun, she thought…see why I’ve spent so much time quilting. Alas, maybe it will knit up easier than it looks. It’s a lovely scarf, but I suspect it’s going to be a challenge to knit up…

 

Almost there…just a couple more rows…then, more knitting;-)

So, while I knit up three more rows and work towards a needle change, I also got another pair of needles in a surprise shopping experience…yes, I’m broke…but dear James and I have a tacitly quiet agreement, and he’s given approval. If I put something in his amazon.com cart for a reasonable price…he checks out before he notices it and buys it for me…So, when I need new knitting needles (that week, not that day), I simply click on the pair to add them to his cart, and let him surprise me with them. I like this system. One day, I’ll remember to add a second set of rechargeable batteries for the camera;-).

Getting to the heel of the matter;-)

In exchange, I promise to occasionally make him a tasty bacon covered meatloaf surprise on my nights off or other tasty dishes he likes. I earned those knitting needles this week, really.  It was a good meatloaf…and photos are not possible as it was a little too good to wait to take photos…Now to bag up the chicken soup for when I get sick.

 

Shh…I should be studying…

But who can with this new addition…this is Smokey, yet to be given her middle name, which she will go by here. (Taken once the dogs were put in the bedroom)

I should be studying has become my motto this semester. I don’t feel as if there isn’t a time when I’m not studying for the next test…all while trying to keep up with my other classes. I’d tell you “Oy and Vey,” but my boyfriend insists this phrase doesn’t suit me. He’s probably right. In the interest of genuine…”Dammit!” Okay, grumbling over (for now).

Perhaps I snuck in more than six rows…but I haven’t been counting…maybe I should check where I start increasing…though I have a little time.

In the meantime…I think I knit four to six rows on the socks, but I did make progress on the hat…as I sit here and think, 1) I should be studying, and 2) Why did that person use dark purple highlighter in the book they sold me? There’s also writing all over the margins that I don’t need. I know I bought it used, but she said it was in Very Good condition(which I hoped meant it was used by a person who never opened it). With as many marks as I’ve found, and as dark as they are, it should have been sold as “Good.” I hate when people ruin books I’ve paid a little extra for to keep them reasonably good.

Putzer doesn’t care that there’s a new cat in the house…so long as she doesn’t bother him…

Okay, okay…enough about school… let’s get back to the hat and cat…(and no, the cat is not in the hat–she has not been given the opportunity. I got the provisional cast on removed and the brim knit to itself and have begun the pattern work. I’m over half-way through the first repeat. Yeah! (I think). I’m currently beginning a four row rib…I’m not in a terribly happy place. And I’m thinking of knitting this hat inside out in the future. I think it might get a bit easier and develop fewer ladders, which purl stitches don’t like to snug out as I knit. However, it’s coming along…and if I keep this up and use it during morning breaks or study breaks and between classes, I just may get it knit before winter ends.

I have no idea why I don’t knit hats in the summer…so we’re ready for winter…perhaps its to give us hope that winter will end;-).

If not, the knitting of a warm hat will herald the end of winter, right? It’s not bad, and we get a little snow each day instead of a bunch of snow on one day this year, so far…but it’s gotten cold and windy again. Now, before I start complaining about winter, as I’m overwhelmed with school…she found me…sort of.

Briannag is a big scary dog…who just wants the new cat to like her.

I had an offer for a kitten, but couldn’t get to them in time, and they’d let you pick them up, but none were definite snugglers. Alas, they had other takers…and my girlfriend posted on Tuesday night that she needed to rehome her cat, so I messaged her, and made sure I wasn’t obligated to pick up a barn kitty. She is not yet renamed, so she’s either Smokey, kitten or the cat until we learn her personality. She’s in the running for Scamp II…but Scamp would be pissed at me for years to come if I tried that. In fact, Scamp is guarding Mama now, though she won’t snuggle. I’m told Smokey Kitten snuggles, after she gets used to the rest of the clowder and two big dogs…which is an adjustment for her.

Scamp isn’t sure what to make of the new kitty…but she will guard Mama, just in case. (But I can’t snuggle her…)

I may have to knit these guys a blanket yet with some old and useless yarn….or they’re own shawls(only after I start mine)…but in the meantime, they like my sweaters and I’ll keep knitting hats and socks.

Trying Knitting and Walking…

Hello fellow knitters,

The brim of the hat…soon to be folded over…

So, for the next three months(yes, only three months left of this crazy schedule–oh, sorry, that’s my reminder), I have scheduled a possible but crazy back to back set of three classes. Is my college kind enough to put them near each other? Not on my life. So, only three more months of dashing from class to class. I usually have enough time I don’t have to run, yet…which means I can knit, but some days the schedule feels tight if I even use the bathroom. And I was taught never to pass up that particular activitiy…never mind, you’re here for the knitting.

…As I re-learn how to work with a provisional cast-on…

We’ll blame the Sam Adams Coffee Black Porter I’m testing as I unwind and prepare to hit the books. Alas, it is much harder to walk and read, than it is to walk and knit. Trust me, I run into fewer people knitting, and one of these patterns is quite repetitive…almost thankfully. Since today was warm enough to walk without gloves and extra ear protection, just barely…I decided to attempt a photo anyways….

It’s truly hard to knit with one hand on the camera…but here’s a mock-up…

I’m just about ready to form the brim on the This hat is the Copy Cat C.C. Beanie by Emily Ingrid available thru the link.  hat…but we’ll save that for a study break, as it’s going to take some paying attention. I won’t be walking and knitting for this part. However, I’m enjoying a simplistic, quick knit…and I now “know” how to twist a stitch…maybe I’ll be able to recognize it someday if I do so again;-).

Latest pair of socks…yes, that will be the bottom of my foot…

I also got in some appointment knitting on the latest sock…so that foot is seeing progress as well. I’m hoping to truly catch the stealth in the Stealth Argyle sock by  Eunny Jang. I’m still working up a pattern repeat at this time. I suspect I’ll be doing two of these though.

And now for the visual interest…I believe I’m going to love these socks!

Until next time,

Happy Knitting!