certifiably loopy

Gifts for The Season

2011-12-18T12:20:00.002-06:00

Gifts! The word strikes terror in the hearts of gift-knitting enthusiasts everywhere. It's not the gift itself that causes stress, but the amount of time remaining to do so. No matter when we start, there's never enough time to finish all our gift projects without major panic.

As my gift to knitters, I have two new toe-up textured sock patterns: Molly & Hector and Golly. Many of you may recognize the names from the BBC series Monarch of the Glen. I invested in the entire DVD set a few years ago, and never tire of the episodes, especially beloved for their breathtaking scenery, kilty goodness, and knitwear. But I digress. Molly & Hector is a unisex pattern, with charts for making a broad range of sizes.
Golly was written specifically for mansocks, but you can do with it what you will, as it has charts for a 60, 64, 72, and 80 stitch socks. Enjoy!

Molly & Hector

Golly

Fiberly Adventures: Fiber College on Penobscot Bay

2011-09-24T16:49:00.000-05:00

I've had mixed feelings about taking knitting classes due to a very bad experience at an unnamed (and now defunct) LYS in Austin several years ago. The experience has colored every subsequent thought I've had about taking another class anywhere. But time does heal, or at least make us somewhat amnesic. So when Amy Herzog announced she would be teaching her amazing Fit to Flatter class at Fiber College, the capstone experience to the series of the same name on her blog so many knitters have been raving about, I signed on, forked over my credit card, and never looked back. The long, intensive six hour format was the hook.

That the class was in MAINE was irrelevant. What's a few miles?

Well, it was a good excuse to tie in a vacation at the very least. Then I started looking at the other Fiber College classes, and there were so many enticing offerings: After agonizing for several hours, I chose Beth Brown-Reinsel's 6 hour Traditional Scottish Ganseys class, and Mary Jane Mucklestone's Fair Isle workshop. I pulled out my credit card and clicked the 'submit' button once again. Kent was thrilled at the prospect of fly-fishing to his heart's content and I would be knitting. A perfect vacation.

Suzanne

The next day or so was a flurry of logistics: I got a steal of a deal on air tickets to MHT (Manchester, NH), reserved a rental car, booked a cottage for a week right on Penobscot Bay about a mile from Fiber College, ordered several books on fly fishing in Maine from Amazon for Kent, gathered the needed class materials from my stash, packed up a separate class knitting bag, and waited for the next three weeks to pass. That's when the old voice about taking classes began bedeviling me once again: The fear that I'd just spent a lot of money for classes with a vacation built around them that would be clunkers. I was more than a little apprehensive.

Mary Jane gets into teaching

I need not have been: Fiber College was fabulous! I learned that a class is not a class, and each of the teachers of my chosen classes was engaging, well prepared, thoughtful, open, receptive, and eager to share their knowledge, techniques, and experience. I loved every exhausting minute. So much to process, practice, and retain for use in future projects. Lots of hands-on guiding and encouragement. Lots of patient practice coupled with technique and idea packed hard copy handouts. Interesting, friendly, and like-minded classmates. Weather in early September in mid-coast Maine is about as perfect as it gets: We had beautiful days with brisk ocean breezes in the upper 70s, with cool nights in the low 50s. It rained twice: Once the second morning of Fiber College and all of late Saturday night. Perfect. I was grateful to have packed a windbreaker.

Amy and Nicki after FtF class

I'd never heard of Fiber College until I read about it as the location for Amy's class on her blog. Googling it, I discovered it's an annual event in its sixth year. It runs for four days on the weekend immediately following Labor Day on the grounds and buildings of the Searsport Shores Ocean Campground. The site has 42 gorgeous treed acres right on Penobscot Bay in Searpsport, Maine. Owned by Astrig Tanaguay and her family, it houses her home, gardens, fiber studio, community buildings, and of course tenting and RV sites. Astrig is energy personified, and the driving force behind Fiber College. She is everywhere at once, coolly and calmly seeing to last-minute logistics with a cheerful, able group of volunteers who make the event run like clockwork. Offerings encompass the wide spectrum of fiber arts: Knitting, crochet, ethnic fiber techniques, felting, quilting, dyeing, spinning, batt creation, tatting, sewing, fabric creation, weaving, rug hooking, embroidery, silk painting, photography, shifu, bookbinding, Russian punchneedle embroidery, needle felting, and woodworking for fiber artists. There are over 60 juried classes ranging from 3 to 6 hours.
A large component of the Fiber College experience are the social events that wrap around the class schedule, from morning to late night. A pot-luck supper on Friday is a highlight, where everyone brings a whacking big dish to share and then dines at long communal tables in the ice-breaking atmosphere of great food and drink. There's a charity fashion show benefiting a local women's shelter highlighting various fibery creations by class participants, teachers, and local community members. There's also a benefit cocktail party, a hootenanny, fiber swap, a Saturday night banquet honoring the Artist-in-Residence (this year, it's Mary Jane Mucklestone), fiber gabs, ongoing demonstrations throughout each day, and of course, a shopping arcade with dozens of marvelous and unique vendors from Maine and beyond. Many participants choose to pitch a tent or park their RV right on the campground, a distinct advantage to socializing and immersion in the entire weekend experience. Camaraderie is what it's about at Fiber College. There are many motels, inns, and rental cottages nearby, too, if roughing it isn't for you, or, like me, you make a split-second, last-minute decision to attend. Campground spaces are reserved early and sell out fast. The more popular lodging spots sell out early too, with The Yardarm Motel being a favorite among repeat participants.
Think you live too far away to join the fun? Plan your vacation around Fiber College; everyone will find something to do in the beautiful mid-coast Maine area:

There are kayaking, sailing, and fishing excursions available in nearby Belfast, a scale model ship building workshop in Searsport, yarns shops to explore in Stockton Springs, Belfast, Northport, Camden; antiquing in all the little towns that
string together like coastal jewels, shopping, galleries, ice cream stands (John's on Rte. 3 in Liberty, is a MUST!), beautiful picturesque drives along the shoreline, great little eateries, and local parks. Less than 90 minutes away is the majestic Acadia National Park and Bar Harbor, a day or so unto themselves. My spouse opted to fly-fish on the beautiful St.George River and surrounding ponds, and had a great week tromping the inland waters. Or just grab a girlfriend or three and have a fabulous girls getaway. You won't regret it, and will likely find yourself retracing your steps back to Fiber College year after year. I know I'll be back.

B R E A T H E

2011-04-16T16:31:00.007-05:00

It was a long winter, but a very busy one.

No time = no posts. We sold our house in Austin, pulled up stakes, and hove back to the Mid Atlantic, landing softly and squarely in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a mere three miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. Mile marker 44, to be exact.

The cool thing about buying a house in winter is the joy of unexpected flora that is now your garden and yard.

Spring started yawning in late February with tiny crocuses poking up, daffodils stretching sunward, hyacinths bursting with fragrance and color, and forsythia arching all over the place. Now, it's the dogwood's turn. And for the last week, they've been glorious. I know they'll be back next year, because I had nothing to do with planting them.

We have them in the back yard, the front yard, the side yard, down the side slope, and probably behind the swath of bamboo on the eastern edge of the property. It's my favorite tree, a wonderful surprise, not having recogized it while house hunting in the dead of winter. I'll smile all spring as all the "new" discoveries keep make themselves known.

Knitting? Yes, I know this is *supposed* to be my knitting blog, but I just can't help but gush a bit about the new environs. I've done mostly socks, but also a couple of sweaters (in fit-and-starts progress), due to not knowing which boxes contained the bags ... or where those were. But slowly, slowly, much of my yarn stash and in-progress projects have been found. Still a mystery: Where did they put all my books??? They must be in the POD in the side yard, still shrouded in floor-to-ceiling boxed mystery until we have room for the contents. Going from a 3800 square feet house to an 1800 square foot one is a major shock, especially when considering all the 'stuff' we have. But it'll all work out. Life is simpler now.

Back to ogling dogwoods.

See the mountains in the background?

My view every single day now.

Aaaaaahhhhhh.

The Squirt

2010-09-12T13:47:00.004-05:00

Many of our meetup knitters know Squirt, having had their toes gnawed or their yarn toyed with over the last couple of months. But for those of you who don't know her, Squirt is a tale of compassion and insanity rolled together.

First, I am allergic to cats. So when my youngest daughter rolled in right after the Fourth of July with a tiny white bundle that was nothing more than a head and a belly, I thought she'd lost her mind.
"She has to go!" I said.
"But she was abandoned; she will die if we don't take care of her!" she said.

OK, I'm not unreasonable. The kitty was roughly only a couple of weeks old, and could barely stand much less walk.

"OK, but only until she can be adopted out" I sighed.

And then I promptly went to HEB for the economy size box of Benadryl.

Here we are, and Squirt is now of adoptable age. She is totally adorable, as you can see from her picture (thanks Alicia!), and she is socializing very well. Since I knit her the toy she is jealously guarding in this picture, I thought I could post it here. ;-) Which brings me to the point of this post: Are any of you interested in adopting her? She is ready for a permanent home, being at least 9 weeks at this point. She comes with a bag of food, too.

Now, how can you not love that little face? Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Give me a jingle via email (eastskye at gmail dot com) to set up a time to come meet her. I can't keep her any longer: The Benadryl is killing me; I act and feel like a zombie.

Now look again at that sweet face. If no one wants her by Thursday, she is off to the shelter.

Full Time Knitter

2010-06-15T19:45:00.002-05:00

I'm a wannabe full time knitter. Oh, I know I'll never knit my way through my stash, but gee, a gal can dream, right?

So many sweaters, socks, shawls, jackets, hats, mitts .... so little time and eyesight. Even with strong readers, my eyes go boggly after a couple of hours anymore. I've even learned to love knitting cotton, thanks to blends with a bit of silk, or wool (just a tad!) or bamboo.

For the last year, it seems I was on a sock binge. Now I seem to be on a sweater binge: Finishing the Mrs. Darcy cardie for Liz, almost completing Wendy Johnson's Favorite Cardigan for Claire, (only a button band away!), an angora/merino confection also for Liz, and a cotton /bamboo/silk/linen pullover for me. I've queued so many that I decided I better dive in and just DO THEM. Great movie knitting, even if it is 97 in the shade with 80 percent humidity outside. That's the key thing: outside. It's not even summer officially, but the annual Texas furnace is already going full blast. I'll knit blissfully through it, ready for our late autumn with new sweaters when it finally does arrive in the aft part of November.

Random information: I won a gigantic skein of sock yarn donated by Ravelry's Alaskan Nancy for the March Sock Knitters Anonymous board on the same site, and chose a gorgeous wool/silk forget-me-not blue semi-solid bordering on tonal hank. Oh, it is luscious. Check out her etsy site: http://www.etsy.com/shop/alaskannancy. Absolutely YUM!!!

In the intervening year, I've learned to tolerate then love a rabbit (yes, JACK, Claire's boy from Ohio that she brought home at the end of the spring semester last year), bake a wonderful challah, stay sane in the face of ... well, whatever we face. Also found a scrumptious apple cake recipe, made some fabulous women friends, and revisited West Virginia in winter. And bought far, far, FAR too much yarn .... even though my stash closet is already overflowing: We're helpless/hopeless, admit it. Or at least I am.

Pictures need to show up here -- what's a knitting blog without pictures?? Aaaah, now I'll have the time. Bliss.

A Bit O' Spring

2009-04-08T12:54:00.005-05:00

Spring is already here, and summer is knocking on the door here in Central Texas. I'm not oblivious to the fact that many of you are from a part of the country that hasn't seen a single sign of Spring: Not a hint of green, a crocus bud, or a forsythia bloom. That's the situation for all of my far-flung kiddos, who are more than ready for Mother Nature to make the transition. One daughter in particular, going to college in Philadelphia, pleaded with me to make her a pair of socks "that are bright green, cheery, SPRINGLIKE -- I NEED these!" I made up my mind to get them to her in time for St. Pat's day, so they include shamrock-like lacy legs and clovery eyelets on the foot. My favorite way to make socks is toe-up, Magic Loop, using Judy Becker's Magic Cast On, so they're that, too. Enjoy making Bit O' Spring.

If you need a Bit O' Spring in your life, I'm happy to share mine with you, provided you don't knit them to sell, don't claim them as your own pattern, and respect my copyright to them. Please DO knit them for charity: Sharing the love that way is a way of saying YES WE CAN.

NOTE: I'm having trouble posting the PDF for the pattern! If you know to do this (from a document folder; PLEASE leave a comment for me telling me how to fix this glitch!

Inaugural Spirit and Yarny Goodness

2009-01-21T15:08:00.009-06:00

At long last! It seemed as though it would never come: The Inauguration is a done deal, Barak Obama is our first African-American president and the 44th person to hold the office, and we can get on with the business of repairing the horrific damage that was done to our country over the last eight years.

The economy is in the tank, housing is shot to heck, our troops are still mired in the Middle East, but it's going to get better. I just know it. It might take some time, but at least we have a president who is smarter and wiser than I, which is a huge relief.

This Inaugural couldn't pass without a special celebration, in spite of all the challenges that lie ahead for the new chief executive and us. Surely, there are a lot of others I know who would watch the proceedings at home, far from the record-breaking crowds in DC. Wouldn't it be more fun to do it together? So the Inaugural Watch Party was born. I invited our entire Austin Knitting and Crochet Meetup Group for it, and 11 other revelers (and Ravelers!) thought it was a peachy idea, too. All had our projects to work on as we watched.

At noon, we followed up with a potluck lunch. We had quite a spread: Cheese and crackers, salsa, queso, guacamole and chips, romaine salad, fruit salad, crazy lasagna, pizza, even Senate Bean Soup and a special red velvet cake that Gayle made with Obama's campaign logo sugared into the top. Oh, and brownies. It was a fun, communal way to celebrate such a historic event. Decades from now I will know what I was doing (and even knitting: A special Swallowtail Shawl, cast on just for the Inauguration). When the inevitable question of "what were you doing on the day Obama took the oath of office" comes up, the answer will be a cinch.

Today I'm off to contribute to the common good. We don't have a minute to lose.

June, July, August, September ... is it really October?

2008-10-18T10:56:00.027-05:00

I'll just whoosh through June, July, and most of August because there's nothing noteworthy in muddling through oppressively hot, unbearably humid days, and the less said about summer in Texas, the better.

At the end of August, I became an empty nester, but not before transporting the fledglings to their respective schools.
<---- The Girls saying their good-byes to the pooches minutes before heading out.
My poor little Subaru was packed airtight, the roof loaded with Liz' bike, and behind balancing a cargo carrier with Claire's scooter, with only a 22" wide slot for one of them to squeeze into behind the driver. Claire said it was even too small knit! The girls took turns riding there; about the only thing one could do was nap, or watch one State after another roll by. Usually it was a retreat for the one who finished driving a leg, so even though it was a close fit, it was a snug little nest for resting.
Three days later, we arrived at my mother's in northwestern PA, for a two day layover to rest up and finish school shopping. The Subaru couldn't begin to hold what they needed, so we raided discount stores in Erie for lamps, bedding, electronics, batteries, art supplies, books, and goodies.
<--- Claire, Grams, and Liz
Liz and her fella Caleb------>
Liz's fella drove over from Philadelphia with an enormous truck, and they loaded her entire life plus a brand new full size bed into it, and off they went. I promised to head over their way after getting Claire settled in her dorm. After all, Philly's only eight hours out of the way.

Claire and I repacked the Sube, heading west 90 miles to her college in Ohio. Move-in day was gorgeous: In the low 70s , with nary a cloud in the sky. I thought we were going to be in for a long morning of lugging boxes up three flights of stairs, but the college organized teams of returning students to unload cars, running boxes, baggage, and keepsakes to the the rooms! It was AWESOME! ---------------->
The scooter attracted a lot of attention, creating a small stir and some head scratching among students and faculty alike. "We've never had one on campus before!" exclaimed the Dean of Students. Everyone wanted to take it for a spin. Campus security wasn't sure if it should be classified as a car, sit in a remote lot and pay a parking sticker fee, or if it should be considered akin to a bike, parked next to the rack of Claire's dorm. After two days of leaving it on the front lawn of her dorm, they decided it was so cute and small that it could go next to the bike rack.
<--- Cuteness wins every time.

Now, after a week-and-a-half of being shoehorned into the car, it was absolutely empty. I was officially an empty nester, with a long roundabout drive back to Texas, where my new job as assistant to the Deans of the College Liberal Arts and College of Science at Concordia University awaited my return.
No grass grows under my feet.
So went all of September and more than half of October. This interminably long summer may just be beginning to winding down. A summer where water bills ran to high three figures each month, more than double the cost of electricity. Yesterday, for the first time since mid-March, it was in the 60s for a daytime high, and only a tad cooler overnight. It rained an inch earlier in the week, which was almost 20% of our total rainfall thus far this year. Mother Nature's been messing with us for months, and is finally cutting us a break, however temporary.
So where'd I leave off? Oh yeah, socks. I've been a sock knitting fool since my internal porch light went on, all six of my brain cells feverishly cementing the concepts into variations on patterns. Definitely toe-up, and definitely some sort of pattern.
<---I dyed it! At YARNORAMA, on WorldWide Knit in Public Day in June.
In July, the resulting socks, a pattern called 'SPRING FORWARD', which I knit toe-up. ----->

After one pair of plain stockinette socks with a ribbed leg, I called it a day. If it ain't interesting, I won't knit it. Besides, if I am crazy enough to knit socks, they should be challenging and noteworthy.
<--- The only pair of plain socks I'll ever knit. (Famous last words, right?) At least the yarn was interesting. A bit large for Liz, who modeled it in progress for me, but a perfect size 12 fit for her fella Caleb: Magic Loop, toe-up, two balls of Regia Crazy Color #86 on US size 3 circular needles, matching the yarn striping placement on both socks.

<----- First ever pair of completed socks in OnLine's SOXX APPEAL, 'Los Monos Locos.' For me!
'Scion' is my own pattern. Great guy socks, if I do say so myself. Sean will be getting these for Christmas. One hank of DREAM IN COLOR Smooshy, color "Midnight Derby", knit toe-up on US size 2 circular needles, using Judy Becker's Magic Cast-On.------>

<---- Little Pumpkins by Sabine Rupert. Knit in a 8 ply, DK weight Regia Uni 6 Fadig yarn, in the color-- what else?-- Pumpkin! on US 3 circular needles, toe up, Magic Loop. Very dense and warm! A Halloween Treat, I loaded them up with chocolates and sent them on their way to Claire today.

<----- Wendy Johnson's Double Eyelet Rib Toe-Up Socks. My Halloween surprise for Liz, made from the same Regia DK weight yarn as Little Pumpkins (I got a great deal on the stuff : less than $3 a ball at Jimmy Beans Wool). I may have gone overboard a bit, buying 10 balls, but I'll have Halloween sock yarn for at least three years. Anyway, they are knit toe-up, Magic Loop, and I eliminated two pattern repeats for a total of 48 stitches on US size 4 needles. Yes, these were stuffed with chocolates, too (second pic), and sent off to Liz a few days ago.

Which brings me to gift knitting, which is consuming all my off hours. I never claimed to have a life.
Next post. (Gotcha!)

Knitting on 100+ degree days

2008-06-27T08:57:00.002-05:00

It's been hot. Damn hot. 19 days over 100 degrees Farenheit in the last month kind of hot. And it's ONLY JUNE!!!!!! So why would anyone in their right mind knit during this spate of god-awful heat? And what WOULD anyone want to make?

Tiny stuff. Little things that don't drape in your lap. Things that don't FEEL warm while knitting. I have chosen to knit tanks/camisoles in non-wool yarns and socks. Even the tops seem a little much at times, but I have to switch up the projects to stay interested.

So what are you doing during this hellacious heatwave in Austin? Or wherever you live?

Finally, sock pictures

2008-06-15T13:01:00.007-05:00

I didn't find my camera, but did find an older one we have kicking around, so here is living proof that I made socks:

To the left are the toe-up version of the Monkey sock pattern, called Los Monos Locos. I'd give the pattern five stars: It's so well written that even a sock doofus like me could follow it to successful completion.

On the right is the first sock, nearly finished, for Liz' boyfriend. She tried it on for the picture. It's one looooooong sock: the boy has size 11.5 feet. Still have a few more inches of 3 x 1 ribbed cuff to make and another whole sock. It's a handsome looking sock to wear with jeans, I think.

Sixth Time Charmed: The Sock Curse BUSTED

2008-06-13T09:55:00.010-05:00

Everyone makes socks. Except me.

Until now, that is. I started five cuff down first socks: The first pair was on two circs and really skinny indigo/forest green/charcoal/ivory Opal sock yarn. Everything was fine until the gusset. My brain melted. Same with first sock #2: I tried the same yarn on two circs again, trying a different book and pattern. Same problem: My brain hit the wall at the gusset. Then I tried with double points for first sock #3, and by that time, the yarn was looking a little chewy. The whole mess went into the trash, needles and all.

I set socks aside for a couple of months. Meanwhile, everyone and their dog in our knitting group was making socks right and left. I fumed and fussed over the fact that socks were besting me, so I enlisted the help of a knitting goddess, Lynn. She's a great teacher who knits beautifully. Try a larger gauge yarn, she said. You WILL knit them on double points, she said. So I brought up the yarn weight a notch to Lang Jawoll sock yarn and size 2 double pointed needles. Everything was fine with this first sock #4. I knit up to the gusset. Then I actually knit the gusset. The only problem was, the foot was large enough for Bigfoot. I left this charred-bone-of-a-project up on the Ravelry board; it is the lavender sock that is hibernating at the bottom of my projects page. The sock is still under the sofa, sulking in a ziploc bag. Once again, I went on sock hiatus, knitting up a beautiful lace shawl for Claire, two lace shrugs, a pair of colorwork mittens, the Mr. Greenjeans cardie, and three different winter hats. No socks, but everything else under the sun.

Another person in our Austin Meetup group, Sherrie, wanted use the month of May to make socks together at our Thursday morning group. Everyone loved the idea, so I sighed, went on a stash safari, and yanked out another hank of sock yarn, this time going for the heavy artillery: Hill Country Yarns INSTANT GRATIFICATION. It is big yarn for socks, and I could use size 4 or 5 needles. Maybe being able to see what I was knitting would help, I reasoned. Sherrie had just finished a toe up pair of socks, and was singing their praises: Better fitting toe, better fitting heel, the ability to try it on while in progress, and NO PICKING UP STITCHES. What the heck. Why not.

So I selected the toe-up version of the Monkey sock by Cookie A, called Los Monos Locos. Sherrie taught me the Figure 8 cast on, which was surprisingly easy, and off I went on first sock #5 via Magic Loop. (Here is a great video tutorial for the Figure 8 Cast On; be sure to scroll all the way down to get to the video.) Everything was going along beautifully. I knit the gusset, then the heel turn, then the first row of the leg. I couldn't believe it: I had made a complete body of a sock. Without incident. Without tantrums, tears, ugly ragged picked-up-stitches lines, unlimited frustration or sleepless nights.

But. And there's always a but, right?

It was far too big, as in too wide, too much sock. Not exactly looking like a sock for Bigfoot, just far too large proportionally. It was my huge yarn and huge needles. That was the trouble. I really like the yarn, so I frogged and rewound it, hoping to find the right pattern for it eventually. Like maybe a squishy pair of slippers or something.

Knowing I could knit this sock, I went on another stash safari, and decided to use the Knit One Crochet Too SOXX APPEAL I had bought on a whim during one of our yarn crawls at Stacy Klauss' shop THE KNITTING NEST. Out came the US size 3 32"circs, and voila! Sixth time is charmed, the sock curse is broken. A perfect fit on sock one! As soon as I bound it off, I began sock two. And two days later, it was a perfectly matched pair.

You know I need a life when I am ecstatic about making a pair of socks that fit and match.

Things went so well that I thought I'd make a pair of socks for my daughter's boyfriend, Caleb. He is pining away for her back in Philadelphia, and bought her an airline ticket to come back for a visit over the Independence Day holiday. (Never mind that she's only been home from school for a little over 3 weeks!) It seemed appropriate that I make him a pair of gift socks. Truth is, I am now on a roll. After yet another stash safari in the Closet of Doom, I found two balls of Regia STRETCH COLOR , color 91, that would make perfect guy jean socks. After searching for a guy-ish pattern on the Ravelry pattern browser, I settled on Wendy's Fingering Weight Toe Up Socks With Gusset Heel. My modifications include using Judy Becker's Magic Cast on for the toe. That's a step up from the Figure 8, and Cat Bordhi made a humorous video to demonstrate the method here. I've completed 50% of the first sock, just now at mid-gusset. I also decided that instead of doing M1's, I'd knit through the front and the back loop (k1tfbl) for the edge increases so there'd be no holes. And Eye of Partridge slip stitching, so they'd be cushiony on the heel. Oh, and I am ribbing the leg to the cuff after the heel turn. Just not sure what ribbing style yet. (This is a 70 stitch sock with jacquard yarn ... got any ideas?) So far, they look great, even to me. Stay tuned.

I want to share these babies with you but have a new problem: I can't find my daggone camera! I have been searching high and low for two days now. I know it's here somewhere, but it's hiding very well. Must have thrown it in a drawer .... or a bag ... or something, during all the graduation/party/houseguests/visiting relatives hubbub.

For now, you'll just have to take my word for it that I can FINALLY knit socks.

Mr. Greenjeans Does Paris

2008-04-29T14:55:00.006-05:00

Mr. Greenjeans is a DONE DEAL.

<----On the left is friend Ruth, and me happily wearing the newly-finished sweater, hot off the needles only moments before, on a barge on the Seine.

Working furiously for five days on a ship during long, sunny afternoons, I was unswervingly committed to finishing in time to wear in Paris. Even at that pace, I still had most of a sleeve remaining the night before we docked in LeHavre, France. But I was determined: During the 2.5 hour drive to Paris, I finished the last third of the remaining sleeve with twenty minutes to spare before we parked next to the Seine for our river cruise.

Sweet!

While I didn't have the button on it, I did have a cable needle, which acted as a chopstick-like closure.

The Sweater, in progress, hanging from the balcony railing --->

And Paris? It couldn't have been more beautiful that 22nd day of April: Sunny, warm (70 degrees), with all the Spring flowers and trees in bloom, including the infamous horse chestnut trees that line every street, boulevard, and park in the City of Light.

Mr. Greenjeans Disaster

2008-04-03T09:37:00.008-05:00

For MALABRIGO MARCH on the Ravelry malabrigo junkies board, I took on the challenge to make the Mr. Greenjeans cardie from the Fall 2007 edition of Knitty. Make no mistake: I love this yarn, Malabrigo 'Silky Merino'. I love this sweater: After reviewing hundreds of photos on Ravelry of this sweater finished and on every conceivable body type, I decided to make it. It looks good on EVERYONE.

But it doesn't love me. Not one bit.
After swatching and hitting gauge almost immediately, I started it on March 1, quickly knitting down to the armholes and then moving those stitches onto waste yarn while I finished the body. A few inches later, I had finished the top, and tried it on. Elated that it fit so well, I pressed on to the cables.

Two weeks later, I bound off the bottom and eagerly tried it on. It was no where CLOSE to fitting. The top fits, but the inward pull of the cables is merciless. After a day of shock, a heavy steam blocking was in order. This was my only weapon short of ripping it all back and starting the bottom cables anew. I tried it on. It was still a no-go.

Today, after a week of leaving it folded and resting in my knitting bag, it's going to be frogged. The only option is to redo all the cabling one size up and use a larger needle size as well.

In the meantime, I've been knitting smaller things, most notably Retro Redux Shrug from the book Lace Style. The owner of Yarnorama, Susan, had knit one up for a shop sample, and during spring break the girls and I stopped in Paige to fondle yarn on our way to Houston. Both Liz and Claire tried it on, and it looks adorable. So I moved the project up in my queue, and when Greenjeans turned into a nightmare, I turned to knitting the shrug as a confidence builder to get away from my sweater woes. I'm almost finished with one, in Malabrigo 'Worsted Merino' colorway Water Green. I've started the ribbing for the top and bottom edges. It knit up side-to-side very fast and without incident and the color is lovely.

BIG Decision Time

2008-03-27T02:17:00.010-05:00

Claire has heard from all the colleges where she applied. The last week has been one of agonizing decisions and sleepless nights.

Tonight, we have a winner: Hiram College, in Hiram, Ohio.

Above is the new Library, where she'll spend a lot of her time.

The scholarship award was a major factor, and it's a small, personal kind of a place, located in the beautiful wooded and rolling countryside of the Western Reserve in eastern Ohio. It boasts a unique academic calendar, small seminar style classes, and some fantastic study abroad programs.

Here are some pictures of the campus we took on our Grand Tour last summer. The barn above is a ceramics studio, located about a mile from the main campus at a field station. Claire really loved that, as she intends to develop her potters skills as a part of her art educator program.

One of nine residence halls, below

I LOVE last minute travel!

2008-03-24T15:46:00.011-05:00

So this morning I was reading through my email as usual with a cuppa joe when I spied the ever-dangerous one from my travel agent. My eyes popped out of my head when I saw an eastbound transatlantic sailing in less than three weeks on one my favorite ships going for peanuts. A chill ran through me when I saw the arrival port: Harwich, England. Shoot, I already have a return air ticket from London that I haven't used and will expire if I don't.

What to do?

Call the woman, of course, and book it FAST!

So I did. And I'm on it! It was meant to be.
Here's the skinny:

Day	Location	Arrival	Departure
Friday, April 11, 2008	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	--	04:30 PM
Saturday, April 12, 2008	At Sea	--	--
Sunday, April 13, 2008	Kings Wharf, Bermuda	04:00 PM	--
Monday, April 14, 2008	Kings Wharf, Bermuda	--	03:30 PM
Tuesday, April 15, 2008	At Sea	--	--
Wednesday, April 16, 2008	At Sea	--	--
Thursday, April 17, 2008	At Sea	--	--
Friday, April 18, 2008	At Sea	--	--
Saturday, April 19, 2008	At Sea	--	--
Sunday, April 20, 2008	Cork, Ireland	08:00 AM	05:00 PM
Monday, April 21, 2008	At Sea	--	--
Tuesday, April 22, 2008	Paris (Le Havre), France	08:00 AM	11:00 PM
Wednesday, April 23, 2008	Cherbourg, France	07:00 AM	03:45 PM
Thursday, April 24, 2008	Harwich, England	04:30 AM	--

I'll post pictures when I return.

<--- Our fantastic aft cabin on the same ship during last September's westbound transatlantic. The glass screen divides our main bedroom from a 2nd sitting room/bedroom (Claire's), which leads to a huge balcony out back.

Our aft balcony. Fabulous! Docked at the time in St. John, Newfoundland. --------->

On the knitting front: I am almost finished knitting the body of my Mr. Greenjeans cardie. I think two more complete cables will do it. Then it's onto the sleeves and the button band and it's finished.

My SOTSii got far behind the weekly schedule, and I am currently working my way through Hint 8 --- only about 80 or so rows to go to total completion! Whew! There will be another SOTS in August, and I think I'll do that one, too.

March 26 is the start of the MysticLight shawl KAL, and I signed up for that. I have a cone of Jaggerspun Maine Line fingering weight for this.

The Malabrigo Junkies board on Ravelry is winding up Malabrigo March Madness. I started the Mr. Greenjeans cardie in Silky Merino. And I've finished the Herringbone Mittens in Vaa and Frank Ochre Merino Worsted, a Tudora neck ruff and a Capitan hat in Amoroso, and will cast on a few more small projects before March is over.

A Maine state of mind

2008-03-15T20:57:00.019-05:00

Claire and I just returned from a few days in Maine. Yes, it's March, I know. She had an interview at a college in Bar Harbor, with the rest of our time spent enjoying the quiet winter beauty of the Maine coast. Oh, and a few yarn stores, too.
Of course.

Here are a few pictures of the campus. It's right on Frenchman's Bay, on Mt. Desert Island, just a stone's throw from Acadia National Park. I can't think of a more gorgeous setting for ANYTHING.

And yes, this all of these pictures are ON CAMPUS. Amazing.

College of the Atlantic offers only one major to its 400 students: Human Ecology. What the heck does that mean? Anything you want to self-design into a personal program.

The college grows many of the veggies used for meals on their own organic farm. The balance of the school's food is purchased from other Maine organic farmers. We had lunch on campus one day, and the food was fantastic! The entree was a pork tenderloin with fennel roasted with a teriyaki glaze, mashed sweet potatoes, fresh sesame green beans, steamed broccoli that was as good as a three star restaurant offering(read crisp-tender and very fresh), homemade whole wheat bread, and dense, crunchy, uber-dark-chocolatey oat bars. Not a pizza or a burger in sight. Who'da thunk?

Bar Harbor is a wonderful place once the crowds and summer visitors are gone. We got to know one of the owners at Ben and Bill's Chocolates, Yvonne, VERY well. Originally from Ireland, her rich accent and amazing expertise at all things chocolate AND TEA were just the ticket for us. It's so hard to get a good cup of tea at a restaurant or shop: No one seems to know (or care) that the water must be freshly boiled to make a decent tea. You can't make good tea from a Bunn coffeemaker, or a decanter of hot water on a warming plate, thanks very much. But Yvonne knew exactly what I was looking for when I asked for a "proper cup". Living above the shop, she dashed upstairs to find tea from her own personal stash! We were rewarded with huge cups of Irish Breakfast tea, perfectly brewed and delicious. We went back twice a day, every day, for tea and a few of her decadent chocolate offerings: Dark Chocolate Raspberry Creams, Buttercreams, Turtles, Maple Walnut Creams, Wintergreen Patties, Deep Chocolate Truffles, Coffee Creams, Bark, Honeycomb, Chocolate Walnut Fudge, Penuche, and more. That was only the tip of the iceberg of her offerings. Every time we'd walk past the store, she was hard at work, dipping and crafting chocolates or making fudge. She always waved when she saw us, and I think she must have recognized my bright yellow parka; it's pretty unique and hard to miss. Her chocolates are fabulous, so if you visit, you must go and savor them. For all the chocolates that we bought, not too many made it back to Austin with us, though. We just couldn't resist.

My birthday fell right in the middle of our visit, so to celebrate we spent the day traipsing around a wide area visiting local yarn stores. At Bee's in Bar Harbor, we encountered the lethal combination of hand-dipped chocolates and yarn. The shop is tiny and cram-packed with yarn, cards, handknit sweaters and an old-fashioned candy counter. There's no place to sit and knit -- barely enough room to maneuver in -- but the owner is friendly and helpful, whatever your needs or desires.

THE LILAC LILY was the highlight of our day, though. Located in Southwest Harbor, it has a wonderful selection of Maine artisan yarns and a wide selection of labels that are well known nationally. It started to snow while we were there, and Leslie, the welcoming and gregarious shopkeeper, invited us to stay and knit with her. Another regular patron, Nancy, came in and joined us, and we knit, talked Ravelry, and watched the snow come down in big, lacy flakes.

Back in Bar Harbor that night, we had dinner at Geddy's, which is lit by the silhouette of a moose on the roof. We dined on the best clam chowder ever, giant lobsters, and slices of sinfully good wild Maine blueberry pie for dessert. Then we trekked over to see Yvonne for our nightly chocolates and tea. One of the best birthdays ever!

We explored a little of Acadia NP one day, though many of the park roads are closed for the winter. Echo Lake, with the famous carriage road circling its perimeter, was frozen solid and deserted, in stark contrast to the crowds, traffic, and congestion of summer.

On departure day, we checked out of hotel at 7 a.m. for the 4.5 hour drive back to the Manchester, NH airport. We built in an extra hour and a half for a stop at Halcyon Yarn in Bath, ME, which was not much of a detour for us. It's a huge old warehouse, stuffed floor to ceiling with 10' tall aisles of bins loaded with skeins, hanks, and cones. There's even an entire aisle of roving for spinners. That's just on the first floor. You're looking at an entire aisle of Jaggerspun on your right. ------------------------------------------------>
I won't torture you by telling you there are also aisles for Harrisville Designs, Casco Bay yarns, Brown Sheep yarns, Bartlett, sock yarn, and much more.

On the second level, there are looms, wheels, and every spinning thing made or known to mankind. Claire bought her first drop spindle here, and a cloud of roving. Now she just needs time to perfect her technique.

View of the sunrise from our hotel room

SOTSii Clue 4 finished

2008-02-18T16:36:00.004-06:00

A week behind, Clue 4 is finished after waiting out a bout of the flu. My brain was not lace functional, which was maddening.

On Saturday my brain finally came home, and it was marathon movie & knitting day: I watched both versions of Pride & Prejudice, Barton Fink, and Phantom of the Opera. Claire picked out the last two, neither of which I would have chosen. But now I've seen them both and got some lace done to boot.

Yesterday at the North Austin Meetup, I mentioned that I'd languished about all day Saturday knitting and movie watching. When they heard I watched both Pride & Prejudice versions, they all wanted to have a movie day/night where we do the same. I'm definitely up for that!

See, I told you I was nuts.

Malabrigo Madness

2008-02-18T12:26:00.003-06:00

Again, biting off more than I can chew.

On Ravelry, in the Malabrigo Junkies group, I signed on for the Malabrigo March KAL for the Mr. Greenjeans Cardigan, the FOLIAGE hat KAL, as well as the Herringbone Mittens KAL. Then I volunteered to moderate a Capitan hat KAL!!

It's official: I am NUTS.

These are projects in addtion to the already crazy ones I'm working on.

Oh. Heidi and I are going to make Malabrigo Loafers, too.

Hearts Aplenty

2008-02-14T16:00:00.012-06:00

Happy Valentine's Day. I always called it a Hallmark holiday, but most folks aren't as cynical as me. Daughter Julia ignores it completely, but still expects a package of goodies each year. Go figure. This year, I sent each of my far away kiddos Chicago-based Fannie May chocolates in heart boxes. When they were little bitty kids, Fannie May stores were in every neighborhood in the D.C. area. I would get each of them a half-pound heart shaped box and a card, which they'd find at their place at the breakfast table on Valentine's Day. I discovered that just because they grow up and move out doesn't mean I'm off the hook, either. They still expect their Valentine chocolates! And their Easter bunnies, Christmas stockings, etc.

Claire's been seriously under the weather with the flu since Sunday. I had a less virulent version, so I went to GAUGE on Monday and bought some Malabrigo worsted for both of us to knit a couple of easy (mindless) projects. My brain was too feverish to work on SOTSii lace project, but I had to do something while taking it easy.
The too-cute-for-words hat to the left is one of them. Called Si CAPITAN, by talented fiber artist Rosi Garmendia, it took only eight hours to make and fifteen minutes to pack up and Express Mail to Liz. Claire felt too awful to knit, so while keeping her company and supplying endless pots of tea and bowls of soup, I knit. Claire wasn't really happy about modeling it, but it was the only option before it vanished into the ether. I think it looks cute on her --- she claims she isn't a hat person.

I bought two hanks of this Amoroso colorway, so another one will be on the way to Julia in March, when I make it during Malabrigo March (a challenge on the Malabrigo Junkies board on Ravelry.)

There was a lot left on one hank, so I knit up and felted these little hearts, which Claire then stuffed and whipstitched together as little Valentine gifts for friends.

Our knitting group met this morning, so last night I made a batch of my Aunt Esther's justly famous frosted sugar cookies for everyone to enjoy. They are exactly as I remember them as a kid: Slightly crisp, sweet, sandy textured, and very vanilla-y.

Every year, on the day before Valentine's Day, Aunt Esther'd spend the entire day making an enormous batch of these, coloring the icing the same pale, delicate pink. I was transported back to her sunny kitchen some 50 years ago, when I wasn't even tall enough to look over the counter. I had a sixth sense when she was making cookies, and since our families lived across the street from each other, I'd appear at her elbow with wide, expectant eyes. She never disappointed, and always offered me my own plateful with a glass of milk at her dining room table. Every Valentine's Day, she set that table with a lace tablecloth and a bowl of pink carnations. She made the evening meal a treat for her family, with those cookies as the dessert. Every year. Without fail.

Years after I'd left the nest, I always sent her a Valentine's Day card thanking her for all the years of Valentine cookie baking days.

She now lives in a nursing home. During a visit last summer, she asked me if I remembered all the Valentine cookies we made together. Well, she made them; I just ate them. But her touching reminisce will always stick with me.

Happy Valentine's Day, Aunt Esther.

San Antonio Yarn Crawl

2008-02-12T22:33:00.014-06:00

This past Saturday, our Austin Knitting Meetup Group paid its last respects to a venerable fiber institution of 37 years duration in San Antonio, The Yarn Barn. Five of us drove on a yarn crawl there, and also included Yarnivore across town, and Old Oaks Fiber Ranch in Wimberley as a stop on the scenic route back to Austin.

The Yarn Barn isn't just a knitting and needlework store, it is a veritable archive. Nothing's been thrown out for the last 37 years on the premise that someone may need it later. That's a lot of interesting inventory in books, tools, yarn, patterns, buttons, bags, notions, needles, periodicals, and just plain curiosities. The doors close on April 15, due to the loss of the lease, but shop employees told us there are several buyers interested in the inventory. The owner just isn't interested in hoeing out and relocating after 37 years. Retirement looks mighty enticing when you look at the floor to ceiling bins of yarn, row after row after row of sagging shelves of books, and carousals of every conceivable size, make, and type of needle, knitting and otherwise. Wherever the new owner moves, the flavor of this shop that time forgot will surely be changed. Currently, all transactions are done manually, by hand. Not a computer in sight. Luddite heaven. On April 15, it all goes away. Where, we don't yet know. The Crawlees

NOTE TO OTHERS WHO MIGHT EXPECT GREAT SALES AND DEALS: Don't expect to find any great bargains; there are none. No sales, no inventory reduction. No need when you have potential buyers vying for the goods. It's just gracefully shifting from one set of hands to the next.

We spent a long time fondling and thumbing the goods there, which led directly to lunch at La Fonda on Main, a longtime San Antonio eatery away from the hordes at the Riverwalk and the Alamo, on the edge of the Olmos Park area. It was a gorgeous day, so we dined in the beautiful courtyard behind the main restaurant under a canopy of ancient trees.

The food was fabulous, and the company saucy and fun. A sunny, slightly breezy 70 degree day is as rare as hens teeth in this part of the world, where you are steamed and scorched into submission ten months of the year. All the planets aligned; this was perfection. Bliss.

Claire at our table at La Fonda on Main

Our stop at Yarnivore was one of convenience, since we were in the neighborhood, so to speak. They have a nice selection of roving yarn, so several of our Crawlees succumbed.

We wound our way back toward Austin on the back roads of the Hill Country up to Wimberley, where we made our final stop at Old Oaks Fiber Ranch. It's a beautiful spot, with lots of natural light, and comfortable chairs set around a big round table, looms and spinning wheels behind it. Yarn in cones, skeins, and hanks fill the side of the shop where the entry is located. The ranch is large, with alpaca barns and paddocks on either side of the long lane to the shop.
Lynn & Claire visit the alpacas

Not a bad way to burn up 250 miles and eight hours.

Hint #3: Caught Up. For a Day.

2008-02-07T19:57:00.000-06:00

SOTSii Hint #3 is finished after getting behind on Hint #2 last week. I'm rejoicing in a day off, knitting a dozen or so rows on the Mrs. Darcy cardigan for Liz.

Not so fast, though.

Tomorrow is the release date for Hint #4.

Ah well. The bliss is lovely to enjoy for a few more hours. This color is so spring-like, so fresh. It will be gorgeous once blocked, in all its lacy splendor. Right now, it is 21" wide X 24"long, unstretched, unblocked, un-anything. Eight more knitting installments to go.

Yesterday was sort of a knitting milemarker for me: I have been knitting exactly one year and three months! Who'da thunk I'd be doing this in such a short time?

SOTSii Clue 2 complete ... onward through the fog

2008-02-05T01:01:00.000-06:00

See that orange marker? I didn't mean to leave it on there, but since it's there, I'll tell you why. That's the point that I ripped back to this weekend. It was painful, but necessary.

As knitting friend Marilyn asked: "Could you have seen the mistake from a galloping horse at 40 MPH?"

Yes. You could have. So it had to come out.

This is the sound of ripping out 22 rows:

pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff

But now it's looking great, with Clue 3 already 12 rows underway (just not in these shots.) This should put me back on track now.

These pics are shown on the needles, unblocked in any way. I just spread it out. It is 20" wide now, and will probably block out at 23" - 24" in width. Since this is a "secret" KAL, the length is a mystery. Clues aren't a consistent number of rows each week, either, another bit of mystique.

Tagged! I'm an 'It' girl

2008-01-29T14:19:00.001-06:00

Pam tagged me last week, sending a Ravelry message to ask if that was OK.
Completely baffled, I wrote back: "What the heck does that mean?"
Then didn't understand her follow up explanation.
I am SO out of the loop, so unhip. So born-in-the-50s.
But there's hope. Maybe.

I read Pam's blog, which led back to Sandy's blog, which led to ... well, you get the concept. Sorry, Pam. I didn't mean to be a bad sport, a party pooper, a fuddy-duddy. You just hit me during an Oldtimers attack. My list is altered slightly because I don't watch TV very often. So there's a subcategory. You'll see.

4 Jobs I've Held:
burger flipper at McDonald's
floral designer
freelance literary events consultant
graduate program coordinator

4 Movies I've Watched Over and Over Again:
O Brother Where Art Thou
As Good As It Gets
Pride & Prejudice
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

4 Places I've Been:
Every state in the union except Hawaii, North Dakota, and Nebraska
<-------The Panama Canal Newfoundland Italy
4 Places I've Lived:
Erie, PA
Boston, MA - Rockport, MA
Lexington, KY
Maryland, suburban Washington D.C.

Part A: 4 TV Shows I Watch:
FRONTLINE
The Lehrer Report
Fawlty Towers
NCAA Final Four
Part B: 4 Radio Shows I Listen To:
The Diane Rehm Show
Fresh Air
This American Life
All Things Considered

4 Things I Look Forward To:
Inauguration Day 2009
The next trip/adventure
Moving back east
Knitting with friends ----------------------------------->

4 Favorite Foods:
LOBSTER in any way, shape, or form
CHOCOLATE
RASPBERRIES
Anything grilled over hickory

4 Places I'd Rather Be:
Sailing the Baltic
Living in the Blue Ridge Mountains ------->
Watching loons at dusk on Moosehead Lake, ME
Drinking Manhattans on the porch at Fool's Creek (see picture below)

4 People I email regularly:
My Kids
"The Table 622 Gang"
Ken
knitting buddies

4 People to Tag:
Melyssa
Amy
Dawn
Nanette

SOTSii progress pictures

2008-01-25T10:53:00.000-06:00

This is the first KAL that I've kept up with on schedule, and I'm bound and determined to finish it that way. Here is the first week's work in it's entirety.

I like working on shawls ..... no, lace .... this way. I don't feel as though it's eternal, and the light at the end of the tunnel occurs weekly, keeping me motivated and undaunted.

I'm working on short circs, which is a little dangerous: the stitches want to fall off when I spread out the work. Not cool at all. Extra vigilance required. As I took these pictures, 6 stitches came off one end. Thankfully, they were flat, so they didn't ladder down. I would've screamed if they had, believe me.

This is going to be a beautiful shawl, methinks.

The second hint was just posted an hour or so ago, and it reveals some lovely surprises. I'm glad the first clue wasn't too daunting, but just challenging enough. Clue two is a bit more challenging. I can't wait to knit it up! Weekly progress reports to follow. :-)

Irons in the Fire

2008-01-22T14:48:00.000-06:00

2008
New year. New projects. Christmas is now behind us for awhile, and knitting is more leisurely now, right?
Nope.

Here's a look at the current (all new within the last three weeks, with the exception of The Damn Socks ) projects on the needles:

THE DAMN SOCKS

Yes, these are the same socks, thank you very much. These socks are a curse. A plague, a pox. I started them in October. This is still my first sock. They are still going nowhere fast. I did finish the gusset.

Then I took a long look at the sock: It looked as though I were knitting for Bigfoot. What in the WORLD happened? The foot circumference was looking HUGE. There were SO many mistakes, too: It had fallen off the needles a couple of times, tension was erratic, and to top it off, a big loop of yarn appeared between two stitches. I took it to the North Austin meetup this past Sunday to get a diagnosis. (As far as I was concerned, it was terminal. Is there a sock hospice anywhere?)

Meanwhile at the meetup, Elizabeth, one of my knitting buddies, had just bought a lovely pair of size 1 wood sock needles and was working on a new pair of toe ups. She is not a violent knitter. She is witty, smart, plucky; rough and careless aren't words I'd use in the same breath to describe her. While knitting a stockinette stitch, one of them snapped. That's just crazy. These fancy-schmancy wood needles are not cheap. She despaired: She was now without needles, and nothing to work on for the next hour and a half. I looked at my Terminal Damn Sock. Without blinking, I whipped the needles out of them and held them before her. "Take 'em" I said. She protested, but I insisted. My decision was final, the action irrevocable. She was able to keep knitting her beautiful socks. I was able to punish mine.

So what did happen to make my sock so ..... malshapen? Alicia determined that my heel flap was the culprit: It was too long, and that's where all the stitches come from for the foot. This bit of information was news to me, but it makes sense. So I frogged the foot back about thirty or so rows. It felt good. All those mistakes disappeared in a pile of yarn. (With socks, I always seem to have a pile of yarn next to the skein. Very telling, isn't it?) Then I stopped. Maybe I could switch to size 0's instead, shrink the foot somewhat, then do a few decreases down toward the toe. So I stopped frogging. We'll see. It's just sitting, needleless, in it's grubby ziploc bag for now. Timeout for The Damn Socks. AGAIN.

THE MRS. DARCY CARDIE for Liz

So far, so good. I'm on row 23. Only four more rows of twisted rib. All the buttonholes are in, and I am about to begin shaping the V. Thanks to a generous and kind knitter in Thailand (THANKS, RIKI!) who participated in the KAL on Craftster.com, I have directions rewritten for knitting it in the round. What a relief that seaming is now limited. I worried about getting it right, since there is a wide band of ribbing right at the waist that would have to match up on the sides. A lot of knitters on Ravelry had problems there. The Malabrigo is so soft, so gorgeous: It is a real pleasure to knit with. Sometimes I just sit and pet it. The color is happy, spritely. My only (and very tiny) problem is the wide color variance in the skeins of Malabrigo. So I am knitting every other row on a different ball of the yarn so that it all comes out purty. Another knitting buddy, Heidi, called it "Macaroni and Cheese Sweater". Everyone at the meetup cracked up at that one.

SECRET OF THE STOLE ii
AKA SOTSii

Lace and I have a love hate relationship. I love it. It hates me. Clue 1 of the SOTSii had just been released. Everything was going along swimmingly. For once. Then, on row 35, I just lost the left needle. I don't even know what happened. Even though it was only seconds, it seemed like hours before I was able to look down and survey the damage.

It was bad. Really bad.
Five or six stitches had fallen off, and in a trice had melted into oblivion about 12 rows down. Blink. It happened just that fast. I had no lifeline. (Serves me right to be so cocky about a repetitive pattern.) How far back did I have to go? Row 7. At least I didn't have to start over. After a couple of days of moping, I was able to get back to row 35. Then I paused for a bit: Got up, made cookies, did some chores, then sat down to squarely confront it again and get past that row. I knit four more rows. Then stopped for the day. I've learned when to stop. So that's where I am right now. Tomorrow I'll finish the last 13 rows of the clue, in the morning. I am sharpest, most productive and attentive in the morning. No lace knitting at night for me.

On Friday, clue 2 will be released. You better believe I'll have a lifeline inserted at the end of clue 1.

SPRING SHAWL SURPRISE

This is for me. It's also a real cluster. So many of the KAL participants have thrown in the needles on this one that it's easier to count those remaining in the pursuit than those who've left. This shawl makes one cranky, ornery, frustrated, and profane. So why continue? Because it's going to be gorgeous and so worth it in the end.

I couldn't do it if I had small kids or anything else that interrupted me constantly. This is a religious experience: It requires long stretches of solitude, undisturbed time, in deep concentration. (So what the heck am I doing knitting it?!?) I am taking my sweet time with this baby. I don't want to get so frustrated that I, too, throw up my hands in despair. So I have a plan: My goal is to knit five rows every time I sit down to work on it. No more, no less. And only in the morning. Five rows will allow me to see some progress, but won't tax my six brain cells to the point of overfatigue. When I get fatigued, I make stupid mistakes. I don't want to frog or tink this pattern. It is unforgiving. It is stingy and ungenerous. It lets you know who's the boss. But Oh My God Is It Beautiful.

CENTRAL PARK HOODIE

Last summer, I bought a whole kaboodle of Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran and DK weight yarn at a local yarn store offering it for 60% off. I bought every single skein in the store. It amounted to almost four hundred dollars at that price. Two totally stuffed 28 gallon bins worth in my infamous stash closet. There were 21 skeins of navy Aran flecked with purple, taupe, and gray. I used 3.5 of them in a cabled bag for a niece. The rest is going to MY Central Park Hoodie. It will be so warm, so cozy, so ..... me. Though the original sports an open front, I want to find some great buttons for it. That's a ways down the pike, but I'm already thinking about it. Right now I have to make a swatch before Thursday, when our Thursday morning knitting group is starting a Sweater KAL. Everyone is making or continuing to make a sweater. Carroll is making a Central Park Hoodie for herself, so we'll keep each other company. We can help each other. At least that's the plan. Some of the participants have made sweaters before, so they will take the hit during any crisis that develops. I will owe them lunch, dinner, and my first-born by the time I'm done, surely.

My husband will be grateful that I am finally using a big chunk of this pricey stash. Now I just need to find projects for the other 40 odd skeins of pink, natural, green, taupe, and goldish-brown. I love this yarn, and the price was just too good to pass on. It will get used. Promise.

And the other 4 giant bins and five shopping bags of yarn?

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

DRUM ROLL: Finally, something for moi

2008-01-12T19:40:00.001-06:00

It's been a year and two months since I learned to knit. And I am not a scaredy-cat knitter, either. I keep pushing myself to try more complex projects with ever-wackier stitches all the time. Hardly a day goes by when I don't take a couple (or three) hours to zone out and knit. I have made something for everyone and their dog (literally), but nothing for myself. And that's included four tea cozies, two tank tops, one afghan, a baby blanket, two pairs of baby booties, a baby sweater, ten scarves, three hats, two shawls, six bags, and four DOG SCARVES (to go with the ones I made for their masters) ... and one sweater that I frogged after completing 7/8 of it. That's another story altogether, though.

That's about to change: I signed on for the Spring Shawl Surprise KAL, then got caught up, (what else is new?) knitting for everyone else. While swatching for the Secret of the Stole ii (which is for Claire), I stopped mid-stitch, right in the middle of the swatch, and thought "WAIT A MINUTE! MAKE SOMETHING FOR YOURSELF, STUPID!" Yes, I was screaming inside my own head. It was pretty scary. So I decided to get with the program and start the Spring Surprise Shawl in the gorgeous Malabrigo Lace "Geranio" that I'd just received a week earlier in a cute little box from Personal Threads.

Personal Threads is a brick and mortar yarn shop in Omaha, Nebraska. Through the never-ending stream of information gleaned on one of the Ravelry boards, I found out they were having a sale on darn near everything. And they shipped. Best Surprise of the New Year So Far: They are FAST! I received an online order acknowledgment in less than half an hour and had the cute little box from them in my hot hands in less than five days, standard shipping even. They're as good as Land's End, shipping-wise, and that's saying a lot. Woo hoo! The store must be huge, because they seem to have everything under the sun, in a dizzying array of colors and in decent quantities. I highly recommend checking them out. I don't know if I'll ever get to Omaha, but if I do, I'm making a beeline for this place. End of personal yarn store endorsement.

Back to the Spring Shawl Surprise: This shawl isn't for the faint of heart, but not impossible, either. It's a challenge. One just has to remember to breathe in, breathe out, and use a lot of lifelines. It has pattern on both sides. There are no 'resting rows', no mindless purling or stockinette to fill a lot of space. No, this is punishing stuff, row after row of YO's combined with k2tbl stuff or p3tbl, among other tricky athletic and acrobatic knitting maneuvers. Eeeek! 138 stitches in width and ultimately 570 rows, the first two clues of 88 rows reveal a beautiful, open, lacy extravaganza with an elaborate lace medallion border knit right into the pattern, mitering up the sides (no picking up and knitting at the end), and a large, rococo medallion just beginning to show a curve in clue 2. This one's for me. For making all those tea cozies, scarves, hats, tops, shawls, headbands, bags, baby gifts, and dog scarves. Oh, I'm still working on things for everyone else: Secret of the Stole ii for Claire, and the Mrs. Darcy Cardigan for Liz top the list. I'm just working this into the lineup, and stopped putting myself last on the list. That's my only resolution for 2008.

So there.

Secret of the Stole ii KAL: Swatching away

2008-01-10T13:59:00.000-06:00

I'm on Ravelry, which is an incredible resource for knitters about EVERYTHING knitterly. There are groupings covering every kind of topic imaginable. So it's easy to go to the pattern tab and simply type in 'KAL'; up they pop. On one such search in November, this new kid popped up: Secret of the Stole ii. I was instantly intrigued, clicked on the link, and checked it out. Im guilty of signing up for a couple of KAL's, but never got past a swatch ... or even less. The overwhelming amount of email that members generate just daunts the heck out of me, even in Digest form. But THIS TIME I am determined to work along as the clues come out. I will finish! There's a huge a huge incentive in it for me: Claire's HS graduation. She wants a shawl for it, and this is a perfect way to keep me going consistently all the way to weaving in the last loose ends. As such, it will be my first KAL. Hoo boy.

The Secret of the Stole ii is organized and sponsored by DK the Nautical Knitter and her hubby. Every Friday for 12 weeks, beginning on January 18, a new "clue", which is the next section of the pattern, is posted to a file on the SOTSii Yahoogroups site to download and knit during the subsequent week, revealing a little more of the shawl's theme. We have no idea what the shawl is going to look like, which is part of the thrill. The pattern is secret, revealed slowly in these weekly increments of 40-odd rows (I think it's 40-odd rows -- it could be less) where all the magic happens. It rather 'unfolds' before our eyes as we knit. This charms me no end.

There is even a supporting site to help those who need technical help along the way, called Knit With Us, with tutorials and technique support via video clips. Awesome! Even novice knitters can do this.

If you are interested in signing up for this adventure, (and what lace knitter, or hope-to-be lace knitter wouldn't be?) time is of the essence: Enrollment closes on January 17, when they lock all the doors and bar the windows. So if this idea appeals to you, hie thyself to the site and sign up NOW. You will need roughly 1500 yards of laceweight yarn, and make a swatch from the PDF file on the site. There's no time to dilly-dally around! DK will offer the completed pattern for sale to the public after the KAL. We participants have, as they say, the inside track.

Amazingly, there are prizes for participating. One of the prizes is a KILO of cashmere. Can you IMAGINE?!?!? I am knitting my SOTSii (as it is affectionately known) from Malabrigo Lace in the Apple Green colorway. Just think of Granny Smith apples, and you get the idea. Claire saw the yarn and fell in love with it, so my finished Secret of the Stole ii is my personal present to her. :-) She's my baby. ::sigh::

My "Apple Green" Malabrigo Lace

... and a Granny Smith. Yummy, right?

Sophie snoozes nearby while I knit.
Works for both of us!

FIRST DAY SCARF finished on the seventh day

2008-01-08T17:48:00.002-06:00

The scarf I designed for Liz to match her alpaca tam is done! Just need to weave in two ends. But it's washed and blocked and ready to go to Philly with her tomorrow morning.

So now I can rest, right?

Well, yes and no. I promised to publish the pattern here when it was complete. I'll do that. Just not on this last night of Liz' stay.

1/11/08: I'm back to post the pattern for the FIRST DAY SCARF, as promised. Enjoy making this for yourself or as a gift, but not to sell in any way, shape, or form. That's a no-no. Thank you for respecting that.

FIRST DAY SCARF

MATERIALS
2 skeins Fable Handknits PURE BABY ALPACA, color 03, lavender. (100% baby alpaca, 22 stitches and 25 rows over 4" on 4.5mm (US 7) needles; 145 yards per skein) -- you will use roughly 1.5 skeins (approximately 220 yards)

4mm (US 8) circular or straight needles
stitch markers (optional)
tapestry needle for weaving in ends

GAUGE
Not critical for this project. My finished scarf was 6.25" X 54.5", washed and blocked.

PATTERN NOTES
Odd numbered rows are WRONG SIDE ROWS.
The first and last three stitches are always knit.

LOOSELY Cast on 34 stitches. (I used a long tail cast-on.)

Row 1: (Wrong Side) K3, Purl to last 3 stitches, K3

Row 2: K3, *YO, K3, ssk, YO, sl1-k2tog-psso, YO, k2tog, K3, YO, K1; repeat once from*. K3 the last 3 stitches.

Row 3: K3, Purl to last 3 stitches, K3

Row 4: K3, *YO, K3, ssk, YO, sl1-k2tog-psso, YO, k2tog, K3, YO, K1; repeat once from*. K3 the last 3 stitches.

Row 5: K3, Purl to last 3 stitches, K3

Row 6: K3, *YO, K3, ssk, YO, sl1-k2tog-psso, YO, k2tog, K3, YO, K1; repeat once from*. K3 the last 3 stitches.

Row 7: K3, Purl to last 3 stitches, K3

Row 8: K3, *YO, K3, ssk, YO, sl1-k2tog-psso, YO, k2tog, K3, YO, K1; repeat once from*. K3 the last 3 stitches.

Row 9: K3, Purl to last 3 stitches, K3

Row 10: Knit the entire row.

Row 11: K3, Purl to last 3 stitches, K3

Row 12: K3, Purl to last 3 stitches, K3.

Repeat rows 1-12 a total of 23 times.

LOOSELY bind off the first three and last three stitches in knit; the middle 28 stitches in purl. Weave in ends. Wash in lukewarm water and mild soap, and block out to finished dimensions of 6.25" X 54.5".

* * * * * * * * * * *

Next up in the batters box: The Secret of the Stole ii swatch, and (eventually) the Mrs. Darcy Cardigan.

2008: First Day

2008-01-01T22:10:00.000-06:00

In celebration of the first day of this 2008 New Year, this morning I designed and started knitting a scarf to complement the Qivuik Webs Tam I made for Liz. The scarf that matched the tam was a pain in the tookus, but I was determined to make SOMETHING for her to take back to school for the cold Philadelphia winter. After poring through tons and tons of patterns and finding nothing that had the right 'feel' and 'look' to it, I decided to design one myself. Armed with enough of the matching lavender Fable Handknit baby alpaca yarn, I'm on a fast track to finish it before she has to leave for school on the 9th. I'll publish the pattern when it's done. Already there are things that I'd change. Liz loves it though, so this first First Day Scarf is safe from the frogging machine, and will likely be finished and blocked by the weekend.

On New Year's Day 2007, I searched the web for dog rescue organizations in Austin, and found Ginger! Ginger is the star of my RAVELRY avatar, and has been a wonderful 'sister' to our senior pooch Sophie for the last ten months. It feels as if she's been a part of our family forever. A perfect fit.

New Year's Day is probably productive for me as I can't stand to sit around and mindlessly watch football for hours on end; a girl has to do something to entertain herself and drown out the trite and inane commentary, afterall.

Claire and Ginger this afternoon.

Holiday Ho Ho HO

2007-12-29T15:58:00.000-06:00

Christmas was mass confusion as usual: Loads of people, presents, food, drink, and zaniness.

Here's my wish that your holiday season is as happy and full as mine has been. I had the good fortune of having all my kids home for a few days: Liz arrived home from Philly on 12/18, the oldest two descended from DC on the 23rd. Now the older two are back in their regular lives again, and Liz will stay to enjoy her semester break until she leaves us on January 9. Claire's break ends on January 8, so at least she'll be able to enjoy a little time with her sister (and us.)

Happy Hanukkah! (belated ... it sure was early this year.)
Merry Christmas!
Happy New Year, everyone!

TAMS! FINISHED! Before Christmas, even!

2007-11-20T12:15:00.000-06:00

Man O man, why do I always bite off more than I should chew? ;-)

The list of Christmas projects is as long as my arm, but the amount of time left for completion is becoming more precious by the day. I just finished my first stranded colorwork project, which is also a Christmas gift: a tam in an ombre yarn (Patons Classic Merino "Retro") and a solid that is the favorite color of the intended recipient (Patons Classic Merino "Burgundy"). Sort of a 'cheat' Fair Isle look. It took less time than I anticipated, only a week, for which I am forever grateful. I'm not Speedy Gonzales on the needles either, so it would be a really fast project for most anyone else. Once I got my tension and strand separation issues worked out, it went very fast. Many thanks to Kathleen Taylor, who created the pattern and posted it on her Dakota Dreams blog. She offers a new free stranded colorwork pattern every Friday. Be sure to check out her site; she is a wonderful knitter and designer. Her Ravelry ID is GrammaK; go look at her projects there, too.

This tam is in the Interweave KNITS HOLIDAY GIFTS 2007 issue, called the Qiviuk Webs Tam, but I substituted a delicious baby alpaca for a HUGE floppy tam. It was so large that I had to haul out the heavy artillery to block it: my trusty 18" round Christmas cookie plate. The yarn, Fable Handknits "Pure Baby Alpaca", is so so so so SO soft, but is tough to work with on the needles. To say nothing of the fact that this entire pattern is PURLED almost exclusively. UGH. It looked so floppy and lifeless, seeming to resist any kind of pattern. I was not happy while knitting it. It was very hard to stick with it, but knowing that it would be well-loved kept spurring me on. Knit on US size 2 needles, it took me three weeks to complete, an eternity for such a smallish project. But after washing and blocking, it miraculously bloomed into a gorgeous, ultra soft, ultra luxurious, lacy, ENORMOUS tam .... exactly what the recipient has been looking for! If I did it again, though, I'd figure out a way to knit it on the wrong side to avoid all the purling. It's those K1TBL, crazy P2TOG combined with YO's that would make that a tough conversion, though. But it sure would be a lot easier.

There are still three more bags and two vests to complete. Do you think Santa could use a couple of crack knitters on her staff? Pictured to the right is the Autumn Woods Bag from the Patons Yarn website, on it's way to becoming yet another gift. I actually started this before the fair isle tam, hoping to figure out the tensioning and stranding issues before working on the tam. Great plan, worked like a charm. The beauty of this bag is that even my beginners efforts won't show in the long run, because the bag will be felted and lined. No one will ever see my haphazard, uneven, beginner's-type stranded tensioning. Once I got the hang of it, I set it aside to work on the quicker tam project. Gotta have a little gratification to keep me going.

Thanksgiving is this Thursday, and it's going to be the quietest one ever for our family: Just three of us. Claire is working that day, too, which predetermines and dictates our celebration time to Noon. I'll be making the whole schlamoo: Fresh turkey breast and dressing, butternut squash, garlic and bacon green beans, an apple/cranberry relish, pear and spinach salad, mashed potatoes, gravy, and homemade dinner rolls. Hubby is making his potato leek soup recipe as a starter. Claire wants a Coconut Cream Pie, so I am caving and making that. I can't bear to have Thanksgiving without a fresh, warm Pumpkin Pie, so I'll be making that too. ( Pie is always perfect for breakfast the next morning, especially pumpkin pie with leftover homemade whipped cream, of course.) Calories be damned!

The other three kids and the rest of my extended family are still on the East Coast. The kids are driving together to PA to spend it at my Mom's. I can't complain about that; she's 86, and the more time they spend with Gramma, the better I feel. Liz is catching a bus from Philly to Maryland, where Sean and Julia will pick her up and continue onward. Now that Sean has a car he loves, he can't stay off the road. :-) My brother's family lives in the same city as Mom, so they'll all be together for a big, happy, noisy, excessive-as-always feast. We're already missing them all.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!

Knitting Between Meetings

2007-11-07T10:36:00.000-06:00

Yeay! I finished one Christmas gift. The only hint I can leave, unfortunately, is that it is a pale blue-lavender baby alpaca something. The yarn is to the left. It is soooooo yummy-soft. If you are on Ravelry, you can see it in my Projects list, and the mystery will be solved for you. :-)

I'm smack in the middle of our quarterly business Board meetings, but will find the time to start two more Christmas gift projects: One is a tote that'll be lined and felted. I hate the colors the original pattern specs, so I redid the palette to rosier reds, olives, golds, deep teal, black, and an accent of hazy purple. Going to cast on when some of the guys go out for their cancer break, which they usually manage to drag out to a half an hour.

The second is another nameless project. I have it in my Projects list on Ravelry. Hints: It involves Fair Isle stranding, is a smallish project, and the pattern is available in the Interweave Holiday Gifts 2007 issue. That's all I can say right now.

I started another blog that has nothing to do with knitting but everything to do with expressing gratitude for the small (perhaps even infinitesimal) things in daily life. Even if you are having having a world-class shitty day, at least one good thing happens, even if it's just one teensy-tiny speck of a thing. We can choose to dwell on the crap that inevitably takes over our lives sometimes, or we can thank our lucky stars for small happinesses. That's why CHOCOLATE CAKE FOR BREAKFAST was born. Go visit and tell everyone about the good thing in your day .... or leave feedback.

Crawling Around for Yarn

2007-10-24T13:57:00.000-05:00

Busy, busy, busy. Two yarn crawls. Yes, TWO. The first, on October 6, was sponsored by a LYS, carrying 50 yarnaholics just like me on a chartered bus to five different LYS in the Texas Hill Country.

The second Yarn Crawl was one that I organized for our local Austin Knitting and Crocheting Meetup Group. This past May, I organized one where we visited Sandra Singh in Spicewood, Yarnbow in Lakeway, Craft -O-Rama in Austin, and Artisan Yarns in Burnet. We had, in a word, a BLAST. There was such a clamor for another one that I figure we could do this each season, covering different shops.

Personally, I like this smaller scale yarn crawl a lot better: We rent a 12 passenger van. The ideal capacity, we discovered, is NOT 12.

It is 10, reasonably, in comfort. On our May crawl, we had 10. On this second one on October 20, we filled it to the stated capacity of 12, and it was tight. Twelve is just a tad too many, for a variety of reasons: First, the van. People need elbow room; we're knitters, after all. Second, most shops are overwhelmed when of us 12 arrive at once.
Tough to get personal service that some need, as well as make purchases a timely manner, since there's usually one computer per shop for all transactions. And as you already know, each computer transaction takes forever. Multiply that 12 times and you have wasted a precious thirty to forty minutes at each and every shop when you could be ogling and fondling yarns someplace else. All that time adds up fast: On our small scale crawl, we spent a total of more than two hours just waiting to make purchases in the various stores. That's a lot of waiting-around time. Third, it's tough to get timely and good service in a restaurant for a party of 12. We time our lunch to be on the late side, but it's still difficult on a Saturday. On this latest trip, we tried the Dodging Duck in Boerne. They offer wonderful homemade beers, and the menu choices include a delicious German lunch complete with homemade soft pretzels. Lastly, we plan an ambitious itinerary: This time around, we visited Sandra Singh in Spicewood, the Old Oaks Ranch Fiber Studio in Wimberley, Ewe & Eye and Rosewood Yarns in Boerne, and a brand new shop in Austin, The Knitting Nest. See? We could have used those two hours!

The best discovery? There are so many yarns and so many yarn manufacturers and small-scale hand-dyers that there are only a few common overlaps in the products each shop offers. Even with products overlapping, the colorways each offers are different. Everyone wins, and it is a bonanza for knitters, crocheters, and fiber artists.

So, all this yarn means I must have a lot of projects.

Projects?

Christmas is coming, and this Santa is busily working away on various items. I don't think it prudent to be more specific, since some of the giftees may peek in on this blog. Sufficeth to say there are currently 8 Christmas gifts on the needles. To top it off, I joined two Knit-A-Longs: The Mystic Waters Shawl KAL, which started today (eek!) and a Spring Shawl KAL, which begins January 1.

I can thank (or blame) Ravelry for my absence, too. I found the KALs there, and a bunch of patterns that I am adding to my queue soon (well, after Christmas is over). It is an astounding, globally diverse community of knitters making a mind-boggling array of projects. It's fabulous!

Teaser: A FEW Photos from Giverny, France

2007-10-01T14:29:00.000-05:00

Giverny. Just saying the word evokes beautiful light, tangled gardens, the perfume of roses and waterlilies. It was amazing. Here are a few I just can't keep to myself. They are meant to be shared, like Monet's work.Not coincidentally, this is Monet's house, surrounded by those amazing gardens. Heaven. No wonder the guy lived to almost one hundred.

You can't imagine how heavenly it was to wander around his place and see the paintings come to life. There were so many "AHA!" moments.

Inside the house, the salon walls are covered with his work. COVERED, top to bottom. All the furnishings in this public room are shades of gold and ecru, so your attention is carried up and down the walls. It is such a happy feeling room.

Each and every room is painted in a different palette of colors, and all the furnishings are yet an entirely different palette, making for a strikingly lively yet harmonious scheme. Monet's love
affair with color really glows and shimmers here. Unfortunately, no photography is permitted inside the house. So you must go for yourself and see. Imagine the palette of the gardens in an interior space. That'll give you some idea of how color is splashed and dabbled around inside.

Home Again!

2007-09-30T17:42:00.000-05:00

I missed my Austin Knitting Group friends. It was so good to see some of you again today at the North Austin meetup at Kneaded Pleasures.

A lot of you asked me about pictures. Well, they're coming. Soon. I promise. First things first, though: I really do need to finish all the laundry we generated from this trip and unpack the last bag, which is the wheeled carry-on loaded with the goodies we bought while cavorting around Europe.

Every time we travel, I SWEAR I won't buy any breakables. And every time, I break that promise. This time on the third to last day: I saw a lovely Portmerion 'Sophie Conran' teapot and mortar and pestle in St. John's, Newfoundland, in a WONDERFUL shop called HOME. I just couldn't come home without it. I came soooooooooooo close to keeping my vow, but that last port did me in. Mea Culpa.

Above: St. John's, Newfoundland
downtown area as seen from the ship

Another Crossing!

2007-09-10T02:26:00.000-05:00

This will be the last post for awhile, as I am absconding for yet another transatlantic crossing, this one on Celebrity's CONSTELLATION, leaving from Dover, England with stops in Dublin, Cork, Cornwall, Le Havre, St. John's Newfoundland, Halifax NS, and Bayonne NJ. Yes, I will be knitting on sea days. No, I don't plan to take the Cherry Leaf project or any lace knitting, for that matter: I need uninterrupted time to do lace, something that isn't realistic on a crossing. So my Shoulder Shawl in Cherry Leaf Pattern is going to sit home and sulk for a few weeks. I will be casting on the Pea Pod Baby Set and the Tweedy Vest during this trip, though.

I am hosting a charity knitting event on sea days, for Stitches From the Heart, asking those on the Cruiseline Fans and Cruise Critic roll call boards, and anyone else who is on the ship for this crossing to participate and/or donate machine washable/dryable worsted, DK, sport weight, or fingering weight yarn in baby/child colors, and/or straight needles in size 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8, to make their preferred knitting patterns or crochet patterns. Don't forget to print out the pattern directions and put them in your knitting tote! We will meet on sea days, beginning with the 2nd sea day, on Deck Twelve forward, in the Revelations Lounge, at 2 p.m. If you are on this crossing, I look forward to meeting you, continuing the tradition of charity knitting events aboard ship on sea day afternoons that Ann Landau started last year on CENTURY.

A Gorgeous Setting for Inspiration

2007-09-09T12:25:00.000-05:00

Of all the schools we visited, our first one, Appalachian State University in Boone, NC has the most beautiful setting, hands down. Home to roughly 10,000 students, it nestles into the hillsides of the Blue Ridge Mountains at 3,000'+ elevation, with amazing views. It's a good 6 to 10 degrees cooler here than the base of the mountain. It's a campus where walking is a pleasure. And it's a darn good thing, since you will do a lot of walking. One thing is for sure: You will stay in shape.

We made a reservation for the generic campus tour, but our group of 43 was so large it was impossible to hear the student guide most of the time. Tours begin in the admissions suite auditorium to view a slick video designed to make prospective students warm and fuzzy. A short Q & A follows, where the admissions rep asks most of the Q's, eliciting raised-hands responses: Who is from NC? Who is from out-of-state? What made you decide to visit? .... etc. Finally, the walking tour begins, which lasts roughly 2 hours. Most of it is what I would call a 'fly-by': our student guide points to buildings, stating their uses as visitors continue along the footpaths. We did visit the Student Center (FYI: there is a spiffy new one under construction, about 70% complete) the library, a dorm and a dorm room (typical: concrete block walls, Cargo-style furniture, central hall baths), business school, bookstore, and student union building. There has been a lot of construction activity here in the past six or seven years: There are at least a dozen new buildings, and campus expansion/updating continues at a brisk clip. It is all beautifully maintained, with a lot of native flowers, colorful annuals, and seasonal perennials in abundance. Try this link for a quick-and-dirty tour.

After the official tour, Claire and I made for the College of Fine and Applied Arts building on our own, home of the fiber arts program. We were in luck: the program's lead faculty member, JEANA KLEIN, was in a studio. (Here is some of her work.) How often does that happen in JULY? She was very cordial and friendly, answering Claire's questions with great detail. We wound up in a neat discussion, concluding forty minutes later with Jeana chronicling some of the future plans for expansion of the program, which includes adding more faculty. This was a great start!

Physically, the large studios are in a 1970's-era building that is undergoing some renovation, and there are an impressive number of looms in all sizes. Jeana noted that students keep their work on 'their' loom(s) for as long as it takes to complete a project, eliminating set-up time each class. Students can come after class hours to work, which means the dead of night as anyone with college kids knows. There is also a dyeing area, and a studio with sewing machines, drafting tables, small looms, quilting frames, spinning equipment. Design is heavily emphasized, including all things knitted, sewn, woven ... whatever students want to pursue. There is also a wonderful study abroad program, high on Claire's list of "must haves".

More about the Appalachian University College of Fine and Applied Arts is on their blog.

So You Want To Make Fiber Arts Your Life

2007-09-03T18:01:00.000-05:00

All of my kids have varying artistic afflictions. The latest to go off to college is majoring in painting in an extraordinary dual program between Penn and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. We just finished delivering her to her new life, driving a total roundtrip of 4,009 miles Texas - Philadelphia - Texas in 10 days with a rented van packed to the ceiling. Not so oddly, we haven't heard from her much. But when she has called, it was clear that she is loving every minute of every day, finally living the dream she's had for most of her short 18 year life. She did a lot of painstaking research, national portfolio day reviews, and visits to find exactly the right program fit, and it paid off.

So what about all of you who don't want to abandon your knitting or crocheting or other artistic fiber pursuits when you go to college? What if you want to make it your life? Don't despair. Programs exist. REALLY! I only know this because my fourth and last child is attempting to go this route. So guess who did a lot of initial research? Of course you know. Mom.

This past summer was highlighted and dominated by the culmination of a two and a half week college tour road trip that included all the colleges with programs that passed my dear daughter's investigative muster. She and I did all our initial research on the web, which led to receiving loads and loads of information by mail from over 30 schools. From this, 20 colleges were chosen. And from that 20, 11 were selected for a visit, and we actually visited 9 of those. The ones discarded weren't bad schools, they just didn't have all the elements my daughter was seeking, or were located someplace she didn't want to live. I hope all of our research and experiences help you on your quest. So if this is what you want to do, keep checking back. This will be an ongoing odyssey with frequent posts highlighting specific schools visited, with all their pros and cons.

THE LIST

Here is a relatively complete list of four year schools that offer majors/programs in fiber arts/textiles/weaving, either formally or by designing your own major and receiving faculty support. There may be more out there, but if there are, I don't know about them.

Feel free to add a school to the comment section below the post, or pass along your own information about the schools on the list. Even better, if you are enrolled in one of these programs, we'd love your feedback about your school.

Included are cut-to-the-chase links so you won't waste your time wading through huge, deep and sometimes daunting college websites. This lets you look at the program first, then decide if you want to look at them more closely. Believe me, I wish someone had done this for us!

July 8: Claire at the start of our road trip. I picked her up at the beach house of her best friend's family in the NC Outer Banks, then drove to the opposite end of the state for our first college, Appalachian State University, the next morning.

Academy of Art University
http://www.academyart.edu/fashion-school/bfa_program.html

Appalachian State University
http://www.art.appstate.edu/degree_programs/fibers.htm

Beloit College
http://www.beloit.edu/~academic/fields/majors/art_arthistory_overview.php
http://www.beloit.edu/~academic/fields/majors/idst_overview.php

Bowling Green State University
http://digitalarts.bgsu.edu/art/degrees/undergraduate/3d_studies/index.cfm?link=degrees&sublink=undergraduate&sublink2=3d

Bridgewater State College
http://www.bridgew.edu/art/DegreePrograms/BA/Craft/index.cfm

California College of the Arts
http://www.cca.edu/academics/textiles/

Chester College of New England
http://www.chestercollege.edu/academics.php?pageID=26#academics

Cleveland Institute of Art
http://www.cia.edu/academicPrograms/undergraduatePrograms/programs.php?action=fi&department_id=4

College for Creative Studies
http://www.ccscad.edu/future/majors/crafts/

College of the Atlantic
http://www.coa.edu/html/academics.htm

Colorado State University
http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Art/bfa/fibers.html

Cornell College - Mt. Vernon, IA
http://cornellcollege.edu/art/courses/studio.shtml

East Carolina University
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/textile/index.cfm

Hiram College
http://admission.hiram.edu/learn/majors/major.php?id=28

Kansas City Art Institute
http://www.kcai.edu/majors/fiber/

Kent State University
http://dept.kent.edu/art/academics/crafts/crafts.html

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania
http://www.kutztown.edu/academics/visual_arts/arted/programs/bfa-craft.asp

Longwood University
http://www.longwood.edu/art/crafts.html

Maryland Institute College of Art
http://www.mica.edu/PROGRAMS/bfa/fiber/index.cfm?id=356

Massachusetts College of Art
http://www.massart.edu/at_massart/academic_prgms/finearts3d/index.html

Memphis College of Art
http://mca.edu/academics/fibers.html

Moore College of Art and Design
http://www.moore.edu/index.cfm/nodeID/7810b000-10e0-4452-9c51-795eee746a63//fuseaction/content.page

Oregon College of Art and Craft
http://www.ocac.edu/Departments/fibers.html

Philadelphia University
http://www.philau.edu/schools/tmt/Ugrad_Majors/textile_design/

Rhode Island School of Design
http://www.risd.edu/textiles.cfm

Savannah College of Art and Design
http://www.scad.edu/fibers/

School of the Art Institute of Chicago
http://www.saic.edu/degrees_resources/departments/fiber/index.html

State University of New York College at Buffalo
http://www.buffalostate.edu/depts/design/programs/prog_fib.html

Syracuse University
http://vpa.syr.edu/index.cfm/page/textile-design
http://vpa.syr.edu/index.cfm/page/surface-pattern-design

Temple University
Tyler School of Art
http://www.temple.edu/tyler/fibers.html

Tennessee Tech University
Appalachian Center for Crafts
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/bfa.html

University of the Arts
http://www.uarts.edu/academics/cad/cr/bfacrafts.html

University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth
http://www.umassd.edu/cvpa/areas/textiles/bfa-overview.cfm

University of Michigan
http://www.art-design.umich.edu/Programs.php?aud=u&menucat=pr

University of North Texas
http://www.unt.edu/pais/insert/ustar.htm

University of Oregon
http://art-uo.uoregon.edu/index.cfm?mode=areas&page=fiber

University of Washington
http://art.washington.edu/div_art/fibers/index.html

University of Wisconsin - Madison
http://www.wisc.edu/pubs/ug/09sohe/ugstudy.html#ind

Virginia Commonwealth University
http://www.vcu.edu/arts/areas_of_study/craft_and_material_studies/index.html

Western Carolina University
http://catalog.wcu.edu/preview_program.php?catoid=4&poid=46

Western Washington University
http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~artdept/program_options.html#Bachelor%20of%20Arts%20in%20Art%20-%20Studio

From that, we whittled and honed our list to visit to these:

Appalachian State University
Virginia Commonwealth University
Longwood University
Moore College of Art and Design
University of the Arts
Kutztown University of PA
Hiram College
Beloit College
Cornell College

NEXT BLOG POST: First stop: Appalachian State University in Boone, NC

Knitting Is Way More Fun With A Group

2007-08-20T06:53:00.000-05:00

If it weren't for learning to knit within a group, I probably wouldn't be knitting today. Why? It's about energy, personalities, and eclectic creative perspectives all coming to the table together forming a synergy with whatever degree of experience each knitter possesses. And experience, as we all know, is an invaluable commodity.

Thursday morning meetup group

I know that knitting in a vacuum isn't for me. I'm just an unabashedly social animal, and love a sense of community. Tapping into their expertise and experiences saves me a thousand tears and provides a million inspirations. There was one small problem, though: As a relative newcomer to Austin, I didn't know anyone else who knit. Didn't know many other people, period. Once again, I used Ann's advice to utilize the internet for knitting resources, this time looking for a knitting group who were as crazy as I am.

Google is my friend. One of my best friends.

Typing 'Austin TX knitting groups' into the search bar, I was feeling lucky. The very first search result produced the Austin Knitting and Crocheting Meetup Group. I immediately joined, attending my first knitting meetup a few days later. About 7 other knitters attended that chilly November Sunday, and I knew I'd found the kinship that would keep me interested and juiced. Skill levels of members run the gamut, all of them were friendly and helpful. On my first day, I was the only one there who was brand new to the craft.

Saturdays at Central Market

Many meetups later, I found I was not the least experienced person in the group, no Sirree Bob. Some newcomers come to learn from scratch, and are always made to feel welcome. They are encouraged and supported, and, little by little, will spread their wings as I have, leaping into projects they wouldn't have dreamed of trying on their own.

What better way to learn techniques for more complex projects? Who better to get great ideas from? Why, from kindred spirits, of course. Tackling my first sweater, my first bag, my first tank top, my first shawl were all due to the courage that knitting within this supportive community provides. We laugh, share, and the gorilla glue holding us together is the passion for exquisite fibers and beautiful objects.

In a little over a year, this group has grown from a handful to over 300 members. If you live in Austin, come join us. If you are visiting the area, we'd love to have you come, too!

Two North Austin Meetup members

This post is inspired by and dedicated to one of the very first Austin Knitting and Crocheting Meetup Group members I met, Amy. Through my many trevails and knitting foibles, Amy is among those I consult (harrass?), patiently showing me techniques that mystify me, and rescuing me countless times from dropped stitches and pattern disconnects. She's leaving us for the Bay area in northern California, and she will be sorely and profoundly missed here in Austin, not only by me, but ALL of us. (We love you, Amy!)

Amy, one talented knitting/crocheting/designing fiber goddess and Renaissance woman extraordinaire, working on socks of her own design

Gimbiya's Headband

2007-08-17T00:23:00.002-05:00

I've been doing a bit too much talking so far: Too much tell and not nearly enough show. So I thought this post ought to include at least one original creation and the pattern. I'm happy to have you make it for yourself or for a nice little present for someone else, but please do not make it to sell. That's a big no-no.

I made this headband for a dear friend visiting us from Washington, D.C. last weekend. She has incredibly thick and curly hair, and I thought she would like this. (I haven't sent it yet, so this will be a nice little surprise for her.) The back of the headband is finished in garter stitch, for stretch, then stitched together with mattress stitch, but you could join it any way you like.

GIMBIYA'S HEADBAND

MATERIALS
Shine Sport, by KnitPicks, 50g/110 yards per ball, 60% Pima cotton 40% Modal
1 ball in 'Coral'
Size 5 needles OR SIZE TO OBTAIN GAUGE
One tapestry needle

MEASUREMENTS
Finished Length before joining: 19"
Finished width after blocking: 2-3/4"

GAUGE
6 stitches per inch in stockinette

NOTES
Note: this headband was made to accommodate African American hair. My daughter, who modeled the headband in the photo, said it could have been 1" to 1-1/2" shorter for her.
Each ball of yarn will make 2 headbands.
Headband is made vertically all in one piece.

Cast on 13 stitches.
Row 1 (RS): k1, p2, ssk, (yo, k1) 3 times, yo, k2 tog, p1,k1,p1
Row 2: k1,purl until two stitches before the end, k1, p1 last two stitches
Row 3: k1, p2, ssk, k5, k2 tog, p1, k1, p1
Row 4: k1, p1, k1, p7, k2, p1
Repeat rows 1-4 until piece measures 16-1/2" then:
Do garter stitch rows (knit every row) for 2-1/2"

FINISHING
Bind off and join. Block to 2-3/4" width.

I can knit, I can purl, but can I get it on the needles?

2007-08-16T20:42:00.000-05:00

On returning to Austin from the crossing, I made for the closest store that had yarn, a Hancock Fabrics, which pretty much carry Lion Brand yarn exclusively. So I loaded up on a dozen skeins of LION WOOL, and a few balls of MYSTERY to make the heretofore mentioned scarves. But before the scarves, I was on a mission to make a tea cozy for moi.

Prior to the Austin move, I lived for 22 years in the DC metro area in Maryland. My dear friend and back door neighbor there has relatives in Ireland who make a pilgrimage to the US every couple of years for extended visits. Her Auntie Nyna was a knitter, and she made both of us the most remarkable tea cozies: they were honeycombed in texture, giving them fabulous thermal properties. Her cozy would keep a pot a tea hot for over two hours, better than any carafe on the market. But over the years, my grey and salmon cozy slowly but surely lost it's elasticity and most of the buoyant thick texture that made it function so well. I still have it (sentimental fool that I am) but it is pretty much useless. Auntie Nyna died several years ago, and with her the tea cozy pattern. No one knew anything about it. The first project idea that lept into my head was finding a similar tea cozy pattern and actually and knitting it. Myself.

God Bless the Internet, long may it reign. On the ship, Ann told me there were veritable storehouses of information about knitting on the Internet, including video tutorials and patterns. Once home, a Google search produced not only the tutorials I needed, but also a nearly identical tea cozy pattern! I couldn't believe my luck. It had the same double walled (I call it honeycomb) construction as my Auntie Nyna cozy. The pattern called for worsted weight 100% wool yarn, so I chose two skeins from my new stash: Lion Wool 'goldenrod' and 'winter white', and dove into my first project on my own. Then a real dilemma then arose: I had never learned casting on while under Ann's protective custody. The process just stymied me. Instead of belaboring it and delaying other progress, she merely did it for me ... as did others in our group. A definite disadvantage, but one that I could fix when I returned home with Internet video tutorials, she reasoned.

I sat before the computer armed with needles and yarn, replaying the long tail cast on tutorial over and over and over and OVER. I just couldn't figure it out. My youngest daughter wandered in, and sensing my frustration, came to see why I was so near tears. "Let me try" she said, having never even seen a knitting needle in her short 16 year life. She studied the tutorial a few replays, then took the needles and the goldenrod yarn and cast on 40 perfect stitches!

Another knitaholic was born.

Claire knitting Christmas gifts for friends,
with Sophie placidly snoozing in "her" chair.
Claire made all the baby hats on the table.
She's a natural!

I'm all for role reversal, especially when it's my kids teaching me. Over and over, Claire cast on and demonstrated the necessary finger movements. Once again, I started to feel like a knitting retard, until suddenly it just CLICKED. We were both jubilant. Claire quickly learned to knit and purl, and suddenly we had a new interest we could share.

Once the cozy was on the needles, I was fine. My first solo project had colorwork! Every four stitches I had to change colors, but it wasn't a big deal. Claire made one for her own small teapot in Lion Wool 'lemongrass' and 'purple'. Both cozies were made on size 6 needles. With her usual flair, Claire added two amber glass beads to the tails of her bow.

Happy teapots are cozy teapots. On the left, large cozy in Lion Brand Yarn, LION WOOL. Colors: 'Winter White' and 'Goldenrod'. This is a 48 oz. pot (large!), and I cast on 84 stitches to get the correct size. Right: Small cozy in Lion Brand Yarn, LION WOOL, colors 'Lemongrass' and 'Purple'. Claire cast on 76 stitches for the small teapot.

With My Grateful Thanks ..... to Ann Landau

2007-08-15T12:20:00.000-05:00

Catching Ann knitting

One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art.
~ Oscar Wilde

The mogul of style, both literary and artistic, had it right. In a nutshell: If you are going to put all the time and effort into making something, it might as well look good. Something your kids will fight over after you are long gone. Something their kids will look at in awe. Something that, in the murky haze of the distant future, you will sigh and marvel over, given your former visual acuity and the amount of time needed to create such visual and tactile confections.

Welcome to the blog of an intrepid baby boomer who hasn't run of out creative gas just yet. No thanks to me, though: For decades, I was convinced that I couldn't knit, based on the flawed and weirdly misshapen scarf my cousin taught me to knit for my first boyfriend in the late 1960's: God only knows where those holes came from and how it grew to look more like a pyramid than a graceful, drapey rectangle. I was mystified, frustrated, miserable. Couldn't purl, either: Just knit, knit, knit, knit, knit. Boringly. Horribly.

I love to travel, especially by ship. In November 2006, I made a transatlantic crossing from Barcelona to Miami on Celebrity's CENTURY. Fourteen days in toto, with five days exploring wonderful French and Spanish ports. The remaining days were "at sea", a few interlaced between ports, with the rest devoted solely to relaxing and being spoiled while crossing the Atlantic to Miami. That was the plan.

Prior to the crossing, I chimed in on the online roll call board Cruise Critic for those interested in getting to know each other prior to sailing. One post in particular caught my eye: One of my fellow passengers was organizing a charity knitting group to make baby caps and blankets for Warm Up America, to meet on sea day afternoons for a couple of hours. "Even if you don't knit, donations of machine washable acrylic yarn and pairs of size 7 or 8 needles would be greatly appreciated" the post read. She even gave packing tips to make it painless: "Just stuff the skeins in your shoes and in the sleeves of your shirts". Linked to the post were pattern directions supplied by Warm Up America and a list of yarns that would do the trick. I already knew I couldn't knit a lick, but nothing prevented me from being a donor, did it? I dashed off a note with a heads-up to the organizer. She responded with gratitude, and I trundled off to Walmart to buy a dozen skeins of Caron Simply Soft in sweet pastel baby colors and two pairs each of size 7 & 8 needles to give to more industrious and gifted souls than I. She was right: it was easy to stuff the skeins into shoes and shirts.

On the second sea day, it was simple to track down the knitting group in a forward lounge on Deck 12. There were five women assembled, with a tiny, energetic whirlwind of a woman named Ann passing out information about the charity, and sets of directions to those who had forgotten to print and pack copies for themselves. She saw my loaded tote bag and smiled, "You're joining us to knit?" "Oh no, no, nooooooooooooooo. I'm the one who emailed you about donations" I said, cheerily waving the tote in front of her. "I can't knit AT ALL." She straightened, still smiling, eyebrows arching up, "Now what makes you think you can't knit?" I told her my horror story from the past, and she laughed, saying "I already know why you made the mistakes you did, and I haven't seen you knit a single stitch!" Flabbergasted, flustered, I stammered " No, you don't understand. I REALLY AM a knitting retard. I am not the least bit capable AT ALL", this time thrusting the bag toward her while edging away slightly. "I'm sure you ladies will turn this stuff into adorable little hats and stuff." She cocked her head a bit. "Did you ever wish you could knit?"
It was a trap!

"Yes, but ......" I trailed off weakly "I just can't knit." "If I showed you that you could knit, would you like to join us?" her eyes twinkled. I was sunk, certain of complete humiliation in front of these five other women. "I'd love to knit but I just CAN'T..." I mumbled again. She motioned for me to sit next to her, pulled a pair of the needles I had brought out of their packaging, and cast on a dozen or so stitches. "Show me how you learned to knit." I took the needles from her, settled into an awkward, uncomfortable position, and stuck the right handed needle into the first stitch. "OK,STOP!" she cried. "This is your ENTIRE problem: You are trying to knit into the loop of the stitch and not the first stitch itself."

HUH?

"That is what you did when you made that first scarf. Do this instead", she said, proceeding to place the needle correctly. "OK, NOW knit." And I finished the first row. Correctly! Without any holes! Without going into pyramid mode! Encouraged, I started the second row, when she immediately stopped me again. "You're doing it again!" she said laughing, replacing the needle in the correct position, showing me, then pulling it out.
"Try it on your own." This time, I placed the needle correctly and knitted the entire row without a hitch. "This is GREAT!" she said, " Of course you can knit! Why, even your tension is wonderful, natural. And this is what made you think you couldn't knit?" she asked incredulously. "Uhmmmm, yeah, it was. I could still screw up, you know." "You will, honey. But at least you will know WHY you are screwing up, and HOW to fix it."

If only it were that easy.

And that was that. No longer simply a benefactor, I was knitting. She assigned me squares at first, but in the middle of the second session, Ann thrust a sheet o paper with some heiroglyphs on it before me. "You'regoing to knit the squares in a stitch pattern" she saidbrightly, full of confidence. "But I can't purl!" I whined. "I'm going to show you how" she said smilingly, proceeding to sit beside me for the next half hour while I struggled with the stitch, back and forth, row after row, until she pronounced,

Ann on the left, yours truly on the right

"You're ready to do patterns" nodding toward the sheet she had given me earlier. She picked it up, pointing to each weird notation, decoding it for me while I read along and listened. AHA! K5, P5 = knit five stitches then purl the next five. I was amazed. So this was knitting. For real. The square I made that day was frogged a half dozen times before I got the hang of it, but I was knitting. In pattern. (For the truly curious, it was the basketweave pattern) For the next two sessions, I made basketweave squares with a religious fervor, knitting deep into the night in my cabin instead of reading before lights out. I hadn't learned to cast on yet, so every time I needed to start a new square, I called one of the women in the group, and we would meet someplace between our two cabins, where she would cast the requisite number of stitches onto a needle for me and then we'd go our separate ways until the next knitting session. (More about my cast-on-aphobia in another post.)

Meanwhile, the group grew from the original five to thirty-three! Ann cajoled the ship's Cruise Director into placing an announcement of the knitting circle and its meeting place in the ship's daily newsletter. We grew and grew, with women from Spain, Mexico, France, Ireland, Canada, England, Scotland, Finland, Russia, Romania, Africa, Sweden, Australia, as well as from the states of FL, TX, MS, MO, VA, NC, GA, MD, PA, MI, LA, CA, WA, and OR! Many brought their own projects to work on as well, which sealed

Group member Wanda transforms squares into baby blankets

my fate completely: the array of gorgeous socks, Aran sweaters, lacy baby blankets, shawls, booties, tops, and fair isle mittens took my breath away. These gals were making works of art!

Charity items we made ... in progress

We quickly gained celebrity status on the ship, with folks stopping by to see the knitting phenomenom for themselves. The donated yarns and needles vanished quickly, transforming the mountain of frothy pastel skeins into adorable little hats and blanket squares. All told, the group produced 86 baby hats and enough squares for 9 complete blankets during seven sea days. Three of the women pulled an all-nighter assembling the squares into finished blankets before the last session. The CENTURY photographer took a picture of the group with the completed items on the last day of our get-togethers, and Ann sent the whole shooting match off to Warm Up America when she returned home to Miami.

Thanks to Ann, I am learning the process and zen of knitting late in my baby-boomerism, but still have a lot of catching up to do. The picture to your left is a scarf I made for a friend of my daughter's (who is modeling it here) as a Christmas gift. I came home and dove into the first place I could find that sold yarn and wasn't a Walmart. The scarf is about nine feet in length, and was made out of different colors of Lion Wool, on size 7 needles. I also made seven other scarves, all different (and never photographed ... it just never occured to me at the time!) as Christmas gifts for each of my kids, several friends (including a dog owner and her dog ... 'twas a cute matching set!) and an afghan for my mother-in-law.

Buckle your seat belt, and stay tuned.

NOTE: Photos on the ship were provided by Ann and her more-than-significant other, Ira. Thanks, guys, for making my text come to life.