Second Time's a Charm

Just dropped my TKGA Master Hand Knitting Level I resubmission in the mail. I dropped it in quickly before I could second-guess myself, like ripping off a band-aid. I didn't even watch the door close.

Hopefully, this is what they are looking for and I'll be done! I purposely haven't marked it as a finished project in Ravelry because I don't want to jinx it.

When I was at the Gourmet Yarn Company the other day, Margaret asked me if I had finished it yet, and I told her it was going to have to wait until after the holidays. She asked if I had signed up for Level II yet, and I told her no, our group had decided that this course had pretty much sucked all of the fun out of knitting. But now I find myself wondering about the second level. I know I could do it, but I don't think I would have ever finished the first level had it not been for our Thursday group that worked on it all together. Looking back now, our agonizing over the seed stitch swatch is pretty funny, but it was all serious business at the time. Level II on my own would be a lonely business, but I'm curious about it...

Christmas thoughts of my mother

Christmas is over, I finished most of my Christmas knitting, and for the things I simply ran out of time to do, I substituted another gift, so the stress is over. This Christmas was a bummer for me, not because I didn't enjoy watching my boys enjoy all the wonder of Christmas or because it's a lot of work, which I don't mind doing to make the holidays special. I really missed my mother this year.

I miss the anxiety and hard work and worrying and wondering involved in getting or making her a gift. I could have given her a stick of gum with a bow on it, and she would have exclaimed and fussed over it and admired it from all angles. She sewed and crafted, so she appreciated the time involved in making a homemade gift, but appreciated anything you gave her. She enjoyed a well-set 'fancy' table, and I make it a point to use her 'special' plates, silverware, crystal and linens for Christmas and Thanksgiving, even though it all has to washed by hand aferwards and the boys ask why don't we just eat at the kitchen table like always and why is the dining room only used twice a year.

Any new or unusual dish was first admired, then sampled, then discussed at length. A creative table centerpiece was a must, even though you eventually had to move it out of the way to make room for the food. She would cut the boy's ham into such small pieces that her own food was almost cold by the time she was finished. Yet, if the boys dropped food on the tablecloth or spilled their milk, she didn't bat an eye, she thought everything they did was wonderful.

My mom believed that anything worth doing was worth doing right, and a curtain fold that was misbehaving or a flower arrangement that had been whacked too many times with a whiffleball were very carefully set to right, even if it took hours and would be back in disarray on her next visit.

My mother absolutely hated the cold, yet she would have been sitting shivering right next to me at the boys' hockey games or any sport they chose to play.

My mother died from cancer when she was 64. She never got to retire, or see her grandchildren grow up. I never got to ask her a lot of things, because we never made it to the quiet time of life where you are no longer defined by jobs and children and home renovations and all the things you spend your early adult years chasing after. We never got to set down and talk about things, from her childhood, growing up, her parents, or anything. Towards the end she asked me if there was anything that I wanted to ask her, and I was so paralyzed from fear and exhausted from working full time, taking care of two small boys and driving back and forth to Norman to doctors and hospitals, that I just couldn't form a coherent thought. I should have asked her so many things, but I didn't.

Two days after she died, I was lying in bed about to drift off to sleep when I smelled her perfume. She was letting me know that she was alright. Sometimes I walk into my dining room and smell her perfume. I joke that she's just making sure that I'm taking care of her pretty things. I have a running list in my head of Things That I Should Have Done Differently while she was still alive. I know that if I were to show it to her, she would tell me that I did everything right and that I did the best that I could. As usual, I wouldn't believe her, but I'd feel better that she said it. I'll just have to ask her later.

Christmas Knitting

Just finished blocking the second teacher's scarf. They turned out really well, and each has it's own character, due to the different yarn used. The pattern is Branching Out on knitty.com. These really were a fast knit. I'll bet you could knock one out in one day if you had a straight day of no interruptions. As it was, it took 2 or 3 nights of rink knitting for each.

I think the orange scarf is my favorite. Skye's teacher said her favorite color is orange, so I had bought a ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze from The Gourmet Yarn Company. Knitty's pattern directions say, and I quote, "if this is your first lace project, the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool is an excellent choice. It is extremely soft and light-weight, it does not split, it is easy to frog or tink if you make a mistake, and it has wonderful stitch definition. If you are a more experienced lace knitter, the Douceur et Soie makes a beautiful, feather-weight scarf." Well, I have knit lace before, have knit with the Silky Wool before and hated it, but the mohair turned out to be out of my league. Any pattern screwups could not be frogged without swearing and yarn breakage. So, in desperation, I went stashing diving (yay, me!) and came up with some leftover balls of Valley Yarns Southwick, which is a cotton/bamboo blend. Doubtfully, I combined the two together. It is wonderful! You get the soft, heavy cotton feel with a little mohair fizz for added luxury. It took two balls of Southwick and used about 75% of the Kidsilk Haze for 28 pattern repeats.

The white scarf is Elann Super Kydd (I had originally bought a package of three balls of it, one pink, one white, one blue for teacher's scarves and an extra, but the orange request threw that plan out the window). I didn't have any wool that was bright white and the cotton yarn was all 100% and too heavy, so I came up with a thin baby acrylic (Yarn Bee Baby Bee) that I had used for hats and was pretty soft and combined it with the Super Kydd. The result is nice. It has the light and lacy feel without the heaviness of the cotton. It's not quite as soft as the cotton/bamboo, but it's lacier feeling and still has the mohair fizz. I used probably about 50% of the Yarn Bee and 75% of the Super Kydd for 28 repeats.

I still have a blue and a pink ball of mohair that I may knock out last-minute Christmas gifts with, while the kids and I are home next week.

Elf Attire

Finished the Elf Attire for my son's play this Thursday (with 3 days to spare, oh my!). The hat pattern is on the Lionbrand website, Santa Claus Hat.



The boots are Curly-Toed Elf Slippers from Weekend Knitting. I used stash yarn (yay!), one skein of Red Heart worked doubled on #15s, and one skein of Lion Brand Fun Fur worked tripled. Unknown red stash scrap for the tassels.

Wet Fingernail Polish and other Knitting Roadblocks

Still plugging away on the kilt hose. One is completely finished with ends weaved in, the other is lacking 3 pattern repeats on the foot before toe decreases. I discovered yesterday that in my haste to fix a big problem and reknit the yarn laying in a tangled heap, (I failed to stop for the heel and did an extra 16 rows that had to be ripped back), when I did the heel flap I failed to add in the reinforcing thread, so now the heel feels floppy. I've gone too far forward, I've already turned the heel, picked up stitches and continued on the foot. I'll have to turn the sock wrong side out later and duplicate stitch the reinforcing thread in. I got the idea from Designs for Knitting Kilt Hose & Knickerbocker Stockings published by Schoolhouse Press. The author, Veronica Gainford, says you can go back and duplicate stitch the reinforcing thread on the wrong side of the sock, especially if you'd like to reinforce the sole but don't want to carry the thread across the top of the foot.

.With all of that going on, of course I've cast on for (Ravelry links) an Elf Hat and Slippers for my son's Christmas play next Thursday.

And I haven't even started the Christmas scarves and slippers.

So, with all of this going on, why am I pecking on the computer instead of knitting? Wet fingernail polish. Husband's office Christmas party is tonight at the Petroleum Club downtown. Now I remember why I stopped painting my nails -- decreased knitting time!

Stash-busting light-speed blanket

Husband's coworkers in Florida had a baby two weeks ago, and I'm still plugging away on the kilt hose. Enter Cascading Colors Baby Blankie on the Lion Brand website. Two colors of yarn held together on size 15 needles. Finished in 8 hours total! Best of all, completely knit from stash, no purchase necessary. Woot!

Of course, I had to change it. The size 17 needles called for made really big holes since I wasn't using the fuzzy Lion Brand Jiffy called for, so dropped to size 15 needles and cast on 10 extra stitches. Almost wish I'd done another half repeat. Also added 3 rows of seed stitch at beginning and end, and two seed stitches along the size to tame curling.

Still Alive

I'm still alive, just plugging away on a pair of kilt hose for a fellow piper. I ran out of yarn after buying up all the closeouts from SWAK in the City, now I'm buying the last 4 balls of it from Webbs. Hopefully I can come up with a heavier substitute should any more pipers want kilt hose, these size 0 needles are taking FOREVER! I would post a picture, but I didn't ask the pattern author's permission to sell items from her pattern because I really didn't intend to do this pattern, the recipient insisted on it. I am going to make up some swatches with a heavier yarn and different cables/patterns should this request come my way again.

I have lots of Christmas knitting and a baby blanket to do, hurry up hose!