Allons-y, Alonso!

I remember being a little girl and watching my 3 favorite shows on PBS: Sesame Street, The Electric Company, and Doctor Who.  To this day, whenever someone says "Doctor Who" to me, I immediately think of Tom Baker and his delightfully endless scarf, floppy hat, and 1970s fro-like hair-do.  He will always be the perfect embodiment of Doctor Who for me.  Running a close second is David Tennant.  I will admit it took me a little while to get beyond Barty Crouch, Jr. being Doctor Who.  (And it was really peculiar to see Barty Crouch, Sr. as the inventor of the Cybermen facing off against "his son" in season 2 of the recent Doctor Who reboot.)  But after a few episodes, it was clear that Tennant was the right choice to pick up the yoke of Doctor Who and run with it.  Some of the most memorable episodes in the recent series reboot of 2005 have been Tennant's.  I've found seasons 3 and 4 to be my favorites.

Every Doctor Who has their specific quirks and Tennant's Doctor, I think, was the funniest.  One particular thing he liked to say was "Allons-y!"  Quasi-proving that I didn't waste 6 years of French study, Allons-y means "Let's go."  In a couple episodes The Doctor mentioned how he always wanted to meet a person named Alonso, just so he could say, "Allons-y, Alonso!"  Well, The Doctor gets his wish in the Christmas episode of 2007, Voyage of the Damned, when he meets an officer on a space cruise ship bearing that most-desirable moniker.  The Doctor is ecstatic. 

After I finished knitting my Owls sweater on vacation, I started knitting these Tardis socks.  I had originally used a chart that I found on Ravelry.  But after knitting up the top portion and the start of the paneling, I just didn't like how it was turning out.  The letters were too indistinct, the window part was too smooshed together, and the door panels were not visible enough.  So I ripped out everything back to the ribbing and wrote my own charts with clearer lettering and devised my own technique for doing the windows/paneling.  I think they turned out really well!  The chart is available for free on Ravelry.  If you don't have access to Ravelry and still want the chart, just comment and include your e-mail address and I'll send it to you.

The rest of the sock is just the standard, awesome Ann Budd "sock recipe," with one minor exception: I do a circular, tubular cast-on for the cuff.  At some point I hope to write up how to do this cast-on.  But it is hard to explain in writing.  I'll have to make sure to include lots of photos.  It's a very easy cast-on process, once you do it a couple times. And it looks amazing.  It also maintains its shape, is very stretchy, and doesn't cut-off circulation in your calf.  It does use more yarn and it takes about 4 times as long to do it than any regular cast-on.  But the end result is worth it. I also use this cast on whenever possible for cuffs for sleeves, sweater bottoms, and hats.

Dear Barbara Walker:

You seriously rule for inventing ssk (slip, slip, knit). I can't tell you how much ssk beats the living snot out of k2togtbl, especially on sock gusset decreases. I will come kneel at your feet at this year's KDO in September. So when a chubby chick with crazy, curly hair starts cow-towing before you, it's me.

Forever in your knitting debt,

Gina

More Sock Love

I have been cranking along with my Talbot socks (the houndstooth pattern). I finished 70 rounds of the pattern, which is the official stopping point for the leg in the pattern. But I think I am going to have plenty of yarn to extend the socks another 20 rounds so that they will be knee-high. There is unique gusset stitching as part of this pattern that has me a little nervous. It sort of looks like a checkerboard---very cool. I hope that I can do it. Maybe I am just stalling so I don't have to do that part? The 39690 round sock leg....

Here's a picture when I had about 40 rounds done:

















Anyway, I am very happy with how these are turning out. I think part of the reason for my joy is the yarn I'm using. I just can't say enough good things about KnitPicks Essential (or Stroll, as it's now called) sock yarn. It's cheap as chips, soft as a cloud, and the yarn never frays, splits, untwists, knots or gets too thick or thin somewhere down the line. I've purchased many of the kettle-dyed solids, which are now on clearance. (I even bought another skein of the soot colorway that I am using in the Talbot socks, just to have it on hand.) I also have several of the hand-pained colorways, including Tiger, Tree Fort, Tea Party, and Make Believe. All more beautiful in person, truly.

I am interested in trying the Imagination Hand Painted yarn at some point. (I'm a sucker for anything with alpaca in it.) If anyone has tried this yarn, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Although, it's pretty reasonably priced that I could just buy a skein and try it out!

The other yarn I'm using is Fortissima Colori Disco. I like this one too. It has a nice hand (though not as nice as the Essential) and the sparkly bits aren't scratchy. It's been discontinued, so if you are interested in getting some, Little Knits (linked above) is the only place that I've seen this yarn. And it's pretty cheap. I ordered another ball in the same colorway that I'm using in the Talbot socks.

I have another pair of socks going, too. Just a generic pair in self-patterning yarn -- another yarn that deserves a mention. Premier Serenity Sock Yarn. It's part of the Deborah Norville collection. Yes, Deborah Norville's el cheapo sock yarn is actually very lovely. This yarn runs about $3-$3.50 a ball, so you can make a pair of socks for $6-$7. The yarn itself is a blend of wool, bamboo, and nylon. It's super soft, easy on your hands, and it patterns very nicely. And they feel wonderful on your feet.

True story: I knit a pair of socks this fall using this yarn in the thyme colorway. I wore them once, washed them (washed beautifully) and packed them when I went to visit my sister in NC in December. One night she mentioned that her feet were cold and all she had available at that moment were trouser socks (those semi-sheer, hosiery-type things), and her little ankle-high running socks. So I said, "I have a pair you can wear." I pulled out the Deborah Norville socks. She put them on and had a nice, toasty evening. She wore them again the next night. And the next. That night she said, "Ok, so how much do you want for these socks? Because you're not getting them back." I laughed and said, "Oh, you can have them!" I was so delighted that she liked them. I think that was probably once of the nicest comments a knitter could receive. Just WEAR the stuff we knit!

So anyway, I had planned on experimenting with a short-row heel. I wanted to have the look of continued striping going, rather than the large blocks of color that you end up with when doing the heel-flap kind. I've heard that the short-row heels are easier, faster, and use less yarn. Uh huh. Oh. My. Dog. It took me forever to do that stupid short-row heel, and it looked horrendous. Very holey and flimsy. I ripped it out and did the standard heel flap, which, honestly, doesn't look all that bad and just seems sturdier and more substantial. There is another type of heel that I am interested in trying, the afterthought heel. This looks basically like your a making a toe dome where the heel is. Maybe I'll attempt that on my next pair.

Sock Love

So the socks I knit for Josh & Jen went over well! I think they really liked them, and it was a relief when they tried on their respective pairs and they both fit wonderfully! Whew!

If you would have asked me a couple of years ago what was the last thing I would ever be able to knit I would have said SOCKS. It's amazing to me how rewarding and enjoyable sock knitting has become for me. That said, I have acquired a lot of sock yarns. Even so, I don't have too many solid colors, but I saw this pattern on Ravelry today and I just fell in love with it. In fact, I bumped it up to #1 in my queue and I just might cast-on tonight!

So what would you think if I used these 2 sock yarns (yay -- from my stash) to knit it:

Knit Picks Essential Kettle Dyed in Soot and

Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Colori Disco (this colorway is #2) I used the close-up photo so you can see the metallic, sparkly bits in the yarn. But the color is a subtle ombre of gray and taupe and it's a little brighter/lighter than it appears in the photo.Since you only need a standard amount of sock to be able to knit a pair (around 400 yards), I was thinking of making these super-special: a pair of knee-length socks!

I also have that kettle-dyed Essential in a deep purple (almost eggplant) color, which could be an option as well.

Updates

Hello all! I have good news and bad (well, not seriously bad) news. Good news first: I am happy to report that my attempt to destash some yarn and make a little cash in the process has been successful so far! It's been really nice to have a little bit of a balance in my PayPal account to buy a skein of "must-have" yarn, or a knitting notion or two, or a little something special from etsy.

So far I've made $131 from selling yarn in my etsy shop; and another $61 selling directly from my Ravelry "will-trade-or-sell" list. So $192--- not too shabby! That total does not include the shipping amounts, either! There's still more that I want to get rid of. Given the good results so far, I am very encouraged!

Some more good news: I did finish the pair of socks for Jen (the orange striped ones). And I am on track to finish the slate blue "Data Socks" for Josh, hopefully at some point this weekend! So I'll be all set for them come the Valentine's Day weekend.

Now the "bad" news. Remember that wedding wrap that I started for my future sister-in-law? Yeah, well there is no way that I am ever going to get that thing finished. In yesterday's mail I got the invitation to her bridal shower, which is March 13. ACK. I didn't expect it to be that soon. Although, I must admit that I don't know where my brain is! I mean really, it IS already the end of the first week of February and the wedding is early May. Sigh. Anyway, it's not going to happen. I only just found where I stashed it away (to keep it from feline influence). Talk about out of sight, out of mind!

And here's some potentially actually bad news: we need to take Sophie to the vet again for a thyroid check-up. These never turn out well. First of all, she's always half a pound lighter than she was the time before. Not good. Sophie used to be a 22-pound cat. Seriously. One day a few years ago I happened to be paying closer attention to her and realized that she looked great. A routine vet visit confirmed that she had lost a lot of weight; she was down to about 16 pounds. But since that time, which was not more than 3 years ago, she's consistently lost about 1.5 pounds a year. This is a lot for a cat. So in less than 3 years, she's gone from 16 to 11.5 pounds. :-(

She started on a thyroid regime about the same time we first noticed the weight loss. So, obviously, we're STILL not getting the dosage right. I just want her to stop losing weight. Thankfully, her appetite is still good. She doesn't drink as much water as I'd like. In fact, the last time we brought her in to the vet, Sophie was pretty dehydrated and they gave her some fluids. The sight of the bag of fluids makes me very sad. That was the last step before euthanasia for Mr. Chesterfield.

There are other potential issues with Sophie, too. For one thing, I'm starting to doubt the accuracy of her date of birth, something we have long thought to be March 1996. My sister adopted Sophie in November of 1997 and was told at that time that Sophie was "a year and a half old." Given the debacle with Mr. Chesterfield's age when we adopted him, I have an ever increasing terror that Sophie isn't approaching 14, but 19 or 20. Also, she was in bad shape when she was initially rescued. She had a really bad case of pneumonia, the effects of which still plague her today. She is prone to respiratory infections and has had fluid around her heart and lungs a couple of times. Plus at her last vet check-up we learned that she has fractal cataracts. She can still see, but she might see as if she were looking through a kaleidoscope or faceted glass. Great.
AND she's been having accidents again around the house, which is really disconcerting. We had to move a small litter box into the front foyer for her to use because she was just randomly peeing on the floor right there for no reason. Todd is very diligent about keeping the boxes in good order and no other cats take issue with them.

I just don't want her to suffer along, getting skinnier and skinnier, sicker and sicker. Sometimes I truly wonder if the vet's office has Sophie's best interests at heart. She's a veritable goldmine for them by way of check-ups, medicine, tests, shots, fluids, etc. Maybe that's crazy talk, but....

Lots to Tell

Let me update you all on what's been going on over the last few days.

First of all, here are pictures of 3 pairs of the socks I've made!













Hope you can see the tubular cast-on in the second photo. Time consuming, yes. But also, SO worth the effort!

More!













More!











These striped kind of weirdly, but whatever. The balls were from the same dye-lot, so I have no idea why they look so different. I still like them, though!





Saturday 4/4: Awesome Pysanky Day at Beth's

Saturday was a super day that started with learning how to make Pysanky, Ukrainian decorated eggs. Thanks to Beth's excellent instruction and vast variety of supplies, my very first pysanky was a success. Here are a couple photos of the finished egg. Note: my digital camera is NOT cooperating at all. I took these with the Photo Booth application on my MacBook.











This is an oak leaf and acorn pattern. All aspects of the egg's design I drew on first in pencil, then again in the WAX. OMG I was so nervous when I applied that wax for the very first time. I think this went through 6 different waxing and color dipping processes. First was yellow, then green, orange wash, orange, brick, and black. It was so cool to see the egg come together at the end with the final black dipping. I still need to apply some sort of clear high-gloss sealant. I'll get around to it...eventually. Again let me apologize for the craptastic pictures.














Sunday 4/5: Sakura Sunday

An extremely fun day with may friends in Fairmount Park at the Japanese House and Garden and the Horticultural Center. The weather was absolutely fabulous, too. Here's a picture of me that Katie took.

Come on now, you know I HAD to have one of those hats....


Tuesday 4/7: A Heartwarming Surprise

First of all, I had my weigh-in on Tuesday and I am happy to report that I am down another .8 pounds. So this brings the total to almost 12 pounds. S.L.O.W. but at least it's coming off, right?

It also happened to the first Tuesday of the month, which is one of our scheduled knitting nights at the Barnes & Noble in Exton. I hadn't been at one of these meetings in quite a while. In fact, I think the last time I had seen anyone was back on Groundhog Day! So I was really looking forward to knitting with my friends.

Once a nice group of us had arrived, Pat announces that they have a little gift for me --- a sort-of "fuzzy hug" from all my friends. My lovely knitting comrades noticed that I've been a little sad as of late, particularly since the loss of Mr. Chesterfield back in November. When I opened the bag I was greeted with a divinely gorgeous hand-knit scarf made from Noro Silk Garden and a card signed with a sweet personal message from each person. Every one who signed the card knit a part of the scarf! I think this is the most thoughtful gift I have ever gotten. I love handmade things and this fantastic scarf really was knit from the heart from all my dear friends.

And I have been more than a little down in recent months. This scarf was truly a testament to the power of real friendship and how important it is to never forget those who really do care about you. Some photos:




This is probably the best representation of the colors.






I wore it today (all day) at work and received many compliments, naturally. It is absolutely stunning. I really enjoyed telling everyone how all my friends made it for me.

Please Stop Raining! Please?

I don't think I can take another soggy, dreary, soaking-wet day. My morning commute was ridiculously bad today. It's always the days that Todd is off from work and I have to drive in that have THE worse weather. Like today; today it was pouring rain. And I absolutely HATE driving in the rain.

I'm really looking forward to egg-making tomorrow! Even if I do have to drive in the rain, I don't care. It will be early enough that traffic won't be too frustrating, especially since it's a Saturday morning. Speaking of things "Easterish," Look at this adorable pattern I saw on Ravelry this morning: Bunny Nuggets. Are these not the cutest things?? Oh and it's free! I might try my hand at knitting a few. They seem to be pretty simple to knit --- kind of like a cat-nip toy. God, I love Ravelry, seriously.

So last night I attempted to cast on socks toe-up. Oy. Back story: I made 2 pairs of socks (the first 2 pairs ever, as a matter of fact), a couple of years ago doing them toe-up. I decided after the second pair that I would try doing it the other way, cuff-down. And I've knit about 4 pairs of socks this way in the last 6 months or so; three of those pairs in the last 2 months. Anyway, I couldn't remember why I decided to start knitting socks cuff-down.

Now I do.

Sweet Jesus, that toe cast-on is a nightmare. I've seen a couple of different cast-on methods and none of them are very intuitive or easy to maneuver. I tried one that I hadn't seen before, where you cast-on 12 stitches, knit across them, and then you pick up 12 stitches from the back so that you have 24 stitches on two needles that are parallel to each other. Then you start increasing every other row by doing a KFB 2 stitches from every end. Yeah, I don't recommend doing it this way. Picking up those 12 stitches punched me in my soul. I tried it 3 times. And not only is it hard, but I don't like the way it looks either. I've heard of something called "Judy's Magic Cast-On," which is supposed to make this toe-up cast on much easier. So tonight I am going to try it again.

Why am I even bothering to do toe-up socks again when knitting them cuff-down is infinitely easier?

This yarn.

I bought that yarn back in September and it's been sitting in my yarn-storage cubby ever since. It stares at me longingly. Sometimes, at night, I can hear it whispering my name....

I thought I could maybe cheat and just knit it cuff-down, starting with the outside of the ball, instead of pulling from the center. But I don't have enough sock-knitting experience to be able to gauge how much yarn I have to knit the leg before I have to start the foot. I thought there might be a picture of the finished product somewhere on line, so I could figure it out that way. Nope. And with this yarn, you really want to use every lovely inch of it. So toe up it is. Sigh.

The sock I cast-on last night was with some random sock yarn I got really cheap from etsy. I didn't want to test the cast-on process with the real thing, so-to-speak. I hope I get a least a little comfortable with the cast-on. I really want to make these socks. If, for no other reason, to stop the yarn cakes from their distressing and inconsolable weeping in the cubby. They're starting to upset the other yarns....

Um, Yeah, Knitting?

I figured it high time I put some photos on here of some recent knitting that I've done. For one thing, I mentioned that I finished the socks, my first pair ever. Here they are:

Overall I am happy with how they turned out. Not sure if you can tell from the picture, but they are WAY too big for me and I imagine that they'd be big for most average women's feet. So I gave them to my dad! I think he really liked them.

While I was in North Carolina in December, I knit up a 45" long by 7" wide strip---just plain old garter knit---for a charity blanket project that someone in our knitting group (Elizabeth) was kind enough to administer. Afghans for Afghans, I believe it's called. It was super nice to be able to just crank out this strip. Nothing fancy, just all wool, colorful yarn. I like the strip a lot! Would also make a funky scarf too:

This was knit with Patons Classic Merino in the Autumn Harvest colorway, I think. With Panda Woolbale in Grape as the purple parts.

While visiting Todd's family over Christmas in Illinois, I started my second pair of toe-up socks. I got pretty far before having to ask for help. (Pat, you are awesome.) So far, I have turned the heel on one sock and am ready to go up the leg. Well, actually, I DID start to go up the leg, but I picked this screwy pattern that was meant for straight knitting and it just didn't translate properly to knitting rounds. So I have to frog the rows on the leg---not many---and work in the new, improved pattern (again, Pat, you are awesome)! The second sock needs to have the heel turned. I need help, again, figuring that out. The wording in the pattern is a little confusing to me, so I like to have some reassurance before I dive in. Skinny yarn on tiny needles scares me a little, still. :-) Anyway here they are:


So far, so good. These are going MUCH faster and seem a lot easier. Only a few snafus. :-)

Then I decided that I wanted to make a luxurious scarf for ME. So I got some lovely cashmere yarn from a woman in New Hampshire who has an e-bay shop. Fantastic price and the cashmere quality is superb. This is the softest most decadent stuff I've ever touched. Anyway, her e-bay store is Cashmeres by Kate. I highly recommend her yarn. So I picked an aran weight cream-colored cashmere. I decided to use the Steam Scarf pattern, that my kitting friend, Elizabeth, found on the internet. Here's where it stands so far:



I guess I have about 15" done so far. I'm absolutely loving the pattern and loving this yarn IN this pattern. I recommend trying this pattern too!

So I've been busy! So busy that I haven't had time to take pictures and talk about all the stuff I've been doing!

Babies, Cats, and Knitting

Hey, everyone. So I just returned from visiting my sister and my new baby niece, Aubrey, in North Carolina. Oh my DOG, she is so cute. I took TONS of pictures. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Here's Aubrey having a "chat" with her mom. She is so alert and really wants to communicate with all of us. She is only 3 weeks old, but she really wants to talk to us!

YAAAAAAAWN...

Awwwww.

Here she is with the hat I made her as part of that kimono/hat/booties matching ensemble. It fits her perfectly! Now I am going to make her more hats. Because, hey, babies with hats are like over-the-top cute:

Yeah, so, my sister recently got a pure-bred Siamese (the cute, apple-head, non-cross-eyed kind). They named him Neko, which is the Japanese word for cat. I think he's about 5-6 months old now. He is awfully cute, and a very sweet cat too. And he has THE bluest eyes I've ever seen. Just magnificent. He also...well...really loves the baby....

He would periodically sneak in there with her whenever we weren't looking!


Here are my sister's 2 other cats:

Molly

Mitzy

(who is actually a boy, but, well, it's a long story....)

And here is the baby blanket that I had been working on for the last few months. I finished it and did a semi-block on it the day before I left. Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out. I think my sister really liked it, too.


While I was in North Carolina, I made a dishcloth to match my sister's kitchen. I happened to have with me the cotton yarn that my Dishcloth Swap spoiler from the last round gave me! The dishcloth is actually the same pattern as the blanket above. I absolutely love that pattern. It was a free one from the Dishcloth Boutique website.


I also managed to finish one sock out while there! I switched to Addi Turbo needles (size 2 on 12" cables) and it was infinitely easier. Like, WHOA. Now I am working on the gusset portion of the second sock in this pair. So it looks like I will actually finish my first pair of socks ever! And I DO see more sock knitting in my future. Thank you, Addi Turbos!!! My only beef with the sock is that I made the foot portion too long for me by about 3/4 to 1 inch. But, hey, for the first pair ever? I think that's ok! :-)



And I leave you now with pictures of a couple of my cats being very, very silly:





Sophie

Hercules











Titus