Mr. Greenjeans Disaster

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.

Little Hearts

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 chocolates in heart boxes. When they were little bitty kids, Fannie May stores were in several neighborhoods 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. 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.

Secret of the Stole ii KAL: Swatching away

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!