knit 1 purl 2

The World's Most Boring Photo of an Armed Robbery

2009-06-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

The first time I drove past Texans Credit Union, I thought there was some kind of a "speed trap sting operation" being carried out since this is a notorious speed trap site anyway and there were several police cars in sight. As I turned the corner, however, I saw more police vehicles and other emergency vehicles. See the concrete pillars in the photo? Behind each pillar was a policeman holding a rifle. I don't know about you, but that was something I don't see everyday. As I drove past, I wished that I had my camera in the car and then I realized that I had one on my cell phone. I made a U-turn and came back by to grab a shot but was hampered by a truck that blocked my line of sight. One more try resulted in only a blur and I decided that I was contributing to the traffic problems surrounding the activity and left without my photo. I didn't get "the money shot" but I did get to see the police escorting a group of women (customers? employees? rather frumpy armed robbers?) out of the bank. This picture was taken a few hours later -- no SWAT teams or hostages but at least there is some crime scene tape (yes, there is too some crime scene tape -- look closer).

Back to knitting

Finished my Forest Canopy Shawl and blocked it this weekend.

Rudy guarded the blocking mat box while I pinned out the shawl.

Here's a closeup of the shawl:

Knit-A-Long Shawl Progress

My Swallowtail Shawl for the Knit-A-Long is progressing nicely. Last night was our knitting group night at Borders and I was really looking forward to seeing everyone's shawls. Unfortunately, several KAL participants were not able to come last night and those who did come didn't bring anything to show. I did take mine, though, so maybe I broke the ice and we'll see some more works-in-progress next week.

My circular needle is no longer long enough to really stretch the shawl out for a photo. This may have to be the last "in progress" shot I post for a while unless I move it to some waste yarn just for a photo shoot. I have 10 reps completed. The pattern calls for 14 but that is going to be a really small shawl so I plan to do at least 20.

My own version of "The Office"

2009-06-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

This week is a test for me - how productive can I be while my office is being torn out and rebuilt. This is not a rhetorical question because I am sitting about 30 feet from what used to be the front wall of our building and is now simply a hole. To be fair, The-Powers-That-Be did allow me to move to an empty cubicle; hence, the 30 foot buffer instead of what would have been only 6 feet of space. I did sit in my original spot yesterday while workmen pulled the ceiling down all around me. I'm sure I brought home a couple of pounds of ancient dust either on my clothes or in my lungs.

Here is a "before" photo from the perspective of my desk:

and, again, here:

Here is a photo from my current perspective:

I must admit that it has been interesting, albeit a little disconcerting, to have such major modifications taking place in such close proximity. They are removing the entire front (brick) wall of our building and replacing it with floor-to-ceiling windows. They are also removing the suspended ceiling (at least in the area directly over my head) and exposing the original pressed tin ceiling. We are in one of the original buildings from the city's early days and I feel like we are bringing a bit of history back into view. I just hope that no one drops anything on my head.

Enough of that! Back to Knitting!

I have a new project on my needles. Several of us from the Chains and Purls Knitting Group are having a Knit-A-Long and making the Swallowtail Lace Shawl by Evelyn Clark. We are using KnitPicks "Shimmer" yarn, each in a different color. I ordered everyone's yarn so we could get the free shipping and took it to our group meeting Monday night. "Shimmer" is a beautiful, hand-dyed blend of alpaca and silk and, like most nicer yarn, comes in hanks rather than pull-out skeins. That means it needs to be wound into a cake or a ball before it can be used (or else it will end up as one big tangle – ask me how I know).

Remember my swift that I bought last year? You can put the hank on the swift to make winding a LOT easier, so I took the swift and my ball winder to Borders Monday night. We set them up in the café area and everyone took turns winding the balls. That made me a very popular person because we each had about 850 yds of very fine, laceweight, yarn to wind and that would have taken all night to do completely by hand.

I got off to a slow start but picked up speed as the pattern became more familiar and, by Wednesday evening, had 5 pattern reps done. I laid it out on a light colored towel and stretched the lace out so that I could see the design. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself until something odd caught my eye - the bottom half of the lace had the right side facing me but the upper half had the wrong side. Somewhere along the way, I had either skipped or repeated a row. I had to rip the whole thing out and start over. I'm just glad I caught it so quickly. Here is the reborn beginning:

It looks like a blue sting ray, doesn't it? Or, to be more precise, a "Turquoise Splendor" sting ray. If you look closely, you can see that there are 4 pattern reps so I have nearly made up my lost work.

In the photo, I have it pinned out on my cubicle wall. I never thought about using them in this way before, but this was great! I have a gray wall for dark knits and a blue wall for lighter knits (whoever ordered these walls was obviously a Cowboys fan). No one wandering through my workspace has commented on it -- my coworkers just accept I'm a "little different" and move on.

Later that same renovation...

It is really hard trying to work under these conditions. I am trying to concentrate on building a Prediction Management page while saws, drills, hammers, and (I'm not making this up) a JACKHAMMER are all being employed a few feet from my desk. When the jackhammer starts up, I can hardly read my monitor because one of us (I hope it's the monitor) is vibrating so hard.

I've gotten pretty good at tuning out the clamor, but someone suddenly yelling "Catch it! Catch it!" followed by a horrendous, shattering crash could not fail to catch my attention. Fortunately, it was one of the old windows that was dropped (I'm sure shards of glass we scattered all over downtown Allen) but it still causes me to feel very uneasy at my desk (and not at all focused on Prediction Management).

No news (is good news) from Dad

2009-05-13T13:40:00.000-07:00

My father is making my blogging life difficult lately. It seems that almost every time I talk to my mother on the phone, she has some good or interesting news for me but my father will call out in the background, "Tell her she can't put that on her blog!" Dad is suspicious of anyone's motives for putting anything remotely personal on a public forum. According to him, Facebook is responsible for the current unemployment rate, rampant drug use among our teenagers, terrorism in general, and probably the creation of original sin. Any kind of blog is just a dim yet still dangerous reflection of Facebook and not to be trusted. I told him that not enough people read my blog to be able to overthrow any countries. [They might create a small insurrection at something on the order of a Starbucks but my typical readers would soon settle for a cafe mocha.] Whatever. I have been forbidden to pass along any of his information.

That's too bad because I would have liked to mention that he shared a hospital wing with some of the people injured in the collapse of the Cowboys' "practice bubble" the week before Mothers' Day. If he kept his door propped open, he could occasionally see someone famous walk by for a visit. But I promised not to mention that.

Also off limits was his recent gift to Mom. Which reminds me, Dad always writes each of us a Valentine's Poem. I would like to return the favor now:

There once was a horseman from Texas
Who felt that a car should protect us;
He was willing to pay for
A car that was safer
So he went out and bought Mom a **cough cough**

Oh well, I promised not to talk about it.

On another note...

Here are some stitch markers I saw advertised online:

The title for the ad?
"Accessories for the Not-so-Discerning Knitter"

I could have used one of these stitch markers this weekend (the "Oops" one -- that's as far as I go in my knitting vocabulary). I was working on my Branching Out scarf (see sidebar) and realized that I was short one stitch. I'm still not sure how that happened because I am careful to count stitches after each row. I'm working with a blend of mohair and silk that looks like sewing thread and it is really hard to pick out stitches. Not only are the stitches tiny, but this yarn (as most mohairs) really clings to itself. I finally found the dropped stitch which had fallen to nine rows below my working row! Nine rows! That is a lot of unknitting to have to do, especially in this yarn.

oops oops oops ...

but at least I didn't mention any of Dad's news

............................................. oops ..............

Happy Mothers' Day!

2009-05-08T11:05:00.001-07:00

Here are the beautiful flowers that Greg and Andrea sent me for Mothers' Day:

The roses look pink in the photo but are actually a deep orchid color. I have never seen purple roses before -- these are really unusual.

The End of Fourth Sock Syndrome!

Fourth Sock Syndrome has been defeated! I took the cushions off of my couch to give them a good vacuuming and found my missing sock. The discovery re-energized me and I finished the pair:

Now, I can't decide if I want to wear them or have them framed (maybe I'll frame this photo). I did put the photo on my iPod so I could show people; it beats having me stick my foot in the air to show off my work (safer, too).

New WIP* Sidebar

* WIP = "Works In Progress
I have added a sidebar to show how my current projects are progressing. The Branching Out scarf is about 4 feet long now and nearly complete. I am using the handmade needles that Mom bought for me in Durango. It is so wonderful to knit with beautiful tools. Speaking of beautiful needles, I have joined the Needle of the Month Club from Books, Yarn, and More in Seely Lake, Montana. Every month for six months, I will receive a pair of handmade needles in a different size and a different exotic wood. My first set was a pair of US10.5 in Brazilian Bloodwood -- absolutely gorgeous! Photo coming soon!

The Friday Night Knitting Club - a review

2009-04-29T14:35:00.000-07:00

In one word? Disappointing. So many people had told me that, as a knitter, I had to read this book. I really wanted it to be good but it just seemed to fall flat. The sections that were truly devoted to knitting were enjoyable to read but that only comprised about 2% of the book. Two percent of enjoyment is not worth 98% of frustration.

There were two main problems, in my opinion. Problem Number One was the use of profanity. I was truly taken aback when I encountered the first instance -- up to that point it had been a comfortable, pleasant read. The sudden appearance of this word was jarring to the point of taking me out of the story (rarely a good thing for a book to do). Those of you who know me may consider me a prude and wonder if I'm making too big a deal out of a word. Let me just say that, if it can't be said on network TV, it should not be said in a book purporting to extol the joys of knitting. Not only was the profanity unnecessary, but it felt oddly forced as if the author, once finished, went back over the text and randomly inserted colorful (yet incongruous) metaphors. Perhaps she was hoping for a more adult audience.
Note: there are those who may argue that knitting and profanity DO go together. I must admit that I could appreciate that point of view while I was attempting to start my toe-up sock with a provisional cast-on. But I demurred and now I digress...

Problem Number Two involved characterization. A character-driven plot demands a certain level of richness created by fully-formed characterizations and character growth. Neither ingredient was present. Georgia Walker, the main character, shows minimal growth over the course of the novel. Spoiler alert - do not read if you do not wish to see plot revelations): She spends the first half of the book regretting a prior relationship that ended abruptly, yet she needs very little encouragement to repeat the same behavior by leaping back into another commitment-less relationship (with the same partner, no less). It would be one thing if the point was to highlight a lack of growth on her part; instead, the reader is supposed to believe, along with Georgia, that this time everything would be different. At least Georgia had some good/bad qualities for her character. The minor characters seemed pulled out of a copyrighted list of stock characters. We have very little insight into their lives or choices. We are supposed to rejoice with them as they take control of their lives, but we never see the strength necessary to choose the control.

The Friday Night Knitting Club could have been a lot of fun; unfortunately, we are not allowed to get close enough to enjoy the knitting camaraderie.

Fourth Sock Syndrome

2009-04-20T12:01:00.001-07:00

Sock #1:
Any knitter who has ever knitted a pair of socks understands the scourge of Second Sock Syndrome -- that dearth of enthusiasm that ensues after the thrill and satisfaction of a completed (single) sock. The first sock is a challenge; the second sock is mere repetition, a "been-there, done-that" feeling of drudgery. Compounding the chore of producing the second sock is the knowledge that the first sock is meaningless without its mate. After all, there is not much of a market for individual socks, no matter how cleverly and lovingly made. With this in mind, I was determined that I would not fall under the SSS shadow (would that be the SSSS?) and cast on for Sock #2 the same day I cast off Sock #1. Here is where my problem started -- Sock #1 did not fit well and I was not happy with the pattern I had used. There were errors in the pattern and my efforts to remedy the errors were less than satisfactory. Thus, Sock #2 would be done in Pattern #2.

Sock #2:
Pattern #2 was successful -- the sock was done and the fit was good. Unfortunately, Sock #2 bore only a fleeting resemblance to its predecessor, Sock #1. The whole idea of a pair of socks is that they create a pair and two such dissimilar socks as these simply did not meet that standard. Thus, Sock #1 was, in knitters' lingo, frogged (completely unraveled) and it was on to:

Sock #3:

Yes, Sock #3. Sock #3 was started a little less enthusiastically than Sock #2. After all, I was geared up to overcome the difficulties of Second Sock Syndrome (SSS), not Third Sock Syndrome (TSS). Still, progress was being made and it was coming along rather quickly. Sock #1 was not completely wasted as I was re-using the yarn and my sock-making technique was definitely improving. I have arrived at a pivotal point in the pattern -- it is time to "turn the heel." Since the pair should match (see Sock #2 above), I turned to Sock #2 to compare the length of the foot and ... no Sock #2. Sock #2 has vanished from the face of the earth. Disappearing socks have been the bane of sock-washers for years but normally, the sock has to go through a load of laundry before it can pull off its stunt and disappear. My sock must be exceptional or, at least, precocious to hide itself so quickly and so completely. It has been gone for over two weeks now and I am having a hard time forcing myself to finish S#3 since and inevitable S#4 is in the offing.

Box Score:
Sock #1 - frogged
Sock #2 - disappeared
Sock #3 - on the needles
Sock #4 - yet to come

I blame the cats.

The Big Read

2009-02-17T06:42:00.000-08:00

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest. The Big Read brings together partners across the country to encourage reading for pleasure and enlightenment.

Ok - normally I have little respect for the NEA (memories of Robert Mapplethorpe just don't fade) but this is an interesting exercise. Apparently, studies have shown that the average American has read only 6 books on this list. The idea is to copy this list, put the titles you have read in bold, and pass it along.
Here is my list:
1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
2) The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien
3) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
4) Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
5) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
6) The Bible
7) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
8 ) Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell
9) His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
10) Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
11) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
12) Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
13) Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
14) Complete Works of Shakespeare
15) Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
16) The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
17) Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
18 ) Catcher in the Rye by JD Salinger
19) The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
20) Middlemarch by George Eliot
21) Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell
22) The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
23) Bleak House by Charles Dickens
24) War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
25) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
26) Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh
27) Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 ) Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
29) Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
30) The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
31) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
32) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
33) Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis
34) Emma by Jane Austen
35) Persuasion by Jane Austen
36) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe by CS Lewis
37) The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
38) Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
39) Memories of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
40) Winnie the Pooh by AA Milne
41) Animal Farm by George Orwell
42) The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
43) One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44) A Prayer for Owen Meaney by John Irving
45) The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
46) Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery
47) Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
48) The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
49) Lord of the Flies by William Golding
50) Atonement by Ian McEwan
51) Life of Pi by Yann Martel
52) Dune by Frank Herbert
53) Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
54) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
55) A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
56) The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57) A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
58) Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
59) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon
60) Love In The Time Of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61) Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
62) Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
63) The Secret History by Donna Tartt
64) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
65) Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
66) On The Road by Jack Kerouac
67) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
68) Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
69) Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
70) Moby Dick by Herman Melville
71) Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
72) Dracula by Bram Stoker
73) The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
74) Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson
75) Ulysses by James Joyce
76) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
77) Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
78) Germinal by Emile Zola
79) Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
80) Possession by AS Byatt
81) A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
82) Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
83) The Color Purple by Alice Walker
84) The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
85) Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
86) A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
87) Charlotte's Web by EB White
88) The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom
89) Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90) The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton
91) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
92) The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93) The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks
94) Watership Down by Richard Adams
95) A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
96) A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute
97) The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98) Hamlet by William Shakespeare
99) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
100) Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

My (Late) Resolution for 2009

2009-02-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

Top-down half sock with curious cat looking on

I am bound and determined that this is the year that I will become a true knitter. To accomplish this end, I must gather my concentration and my patience and knit a pair of socks. The word pair is key, here. Many aspiring knitters have slaved and picked and despaired their way through that first sock only to succumb to the deadly Second Sock Syndrome -- that dreaded malady where the thought of casting on another set of tiny stitches in tiny yarn on tiny needles is so over-powering. Add to that the necessity of having Sock #2 be a reasonable facsimile of Sock #1 and many a knitter falls by the wayside. This is my year -- I WILL create a pair of socks.

Attempt #1

This is a traditional "top down" sock (while not actually knitting socks, I have at least learned the lingo -- socks fall into two general categories of "top down" and "toe up"). I bought some sock yarn without reading the label as carefully as I should. That means, should this pair come to fruition, I will be hand washing them in cold water for the duration of their lifespan. I thought it would be prudent to start with a child-size pair, also -- fewer of those tiny stitches to worry about while still learning all the ins and outs of sock construction. I found a promising pattern online (Basic Child's Sock Pattern) and went to work. The sock was really coming along fairly well until I got to the heel. ...cue ominous music here...
Problem 1:
At this point, the pattern says (I'll translate for any non-knitters reading this):
Put 26 stitches on working needle
Purl 12 stitches, purl next two stitches together, purl 1 stitch and turn, leaving remaining 10 stitches unworked.
No matter how many times I read this, I can only count 25 stitches being accounted for in this step. I leave 11 unworked stitches and continue, feeling a little nervous.
Problem 2:
Now, there is a series of rows that seem to follow a logical pattern:
Slip one stitch, purl 2, purl decrease, purl 1, turn
Slip one stitch, knit 3, knit decrease, knit 1, turn
Slip one stitch, purl 4, purl decrease, purl 1, turn
Slip one stitch, knit 5, knit decrease, knit 1, turn
Slip one stitch, purl 6, purl decrease, purl 1, turn
Slip one stitch, knit 7, knit decrease, knit 1, turn
Then:
Slip one stitch, purl 8, knit decrease, purl 1, turn
Do I really want a knit stitch in the middle of this purl row?
Then, again:
Slip one stitch, knit 9, knit decrease, knit 1
Slip one stitch, purl 10, purl decrease, purl 1, turn
No "turn" after that knit row? This has to be a mistake.

Things like this were eroding my confidence very quickly. I had my own problems to worry about and couldn't be bothered worrying about the integrity of the pattern. I suppose that's what I get from scrounging a free pattern -- you get what you pay for.

I went ahead and "turned the heel" (another bit of sock lingo) for the sake of experience. I will probably finish the sock but I doubt I will try to do a mate. I would rather take that time and effort and try a different pattern.

Rudy investigates comfort level of this half-sock

Rudy settles down for a nice nap

Update on French Market Bag

2009-01-29T09:27:00.001-08:00

My French Market Bag is coming along nicely -- and rapidly, too, especially considering that it could be such a monotonous knit. Since it is knitting "in the round" on circular needles, there is not even a "knit one row, turn, purl one row, turn" rhythm to break that long, spiral row of knit stitches. However, I have found that it is the perfect project to take someplace. I can knit a few minutes in the car on my lunch break, knit during TV shows that require more attention (I'm looking at you, Lost), and even knit while carrying on a conversation with friends. No pattern to track, no natural stopping point (i.e., the end of a row) that needs to be reached -- just that long spiral of knit stitches.

Here we are at the color change -- my next bag will have several of these

The body is almost finished in this shot. A few more rows and it will be ready for the handles and then it can be felted.

This is really a popular pattern. I have recently joined Ravelry.com, an on-line knitting/crocheting community, and found that over 1000 members have either made this same bag (not a similar bag but the pattern from knitty.com) or are working on it right now. It is interesting to see how other knitters have modified the bag by either adjusting the color pattern or changing yarns. One of my favorite versions had flowers embroidered on the bag before it was felted -- the final look was gorgeous. I want to try that, too. This bag would make a great gift -- I may end up making several this year.

A New Year and New Projects!

2009-01-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

First, a finished project -- this is a baby blanket for a friend expecting a little boy. Child's Knitted Blanket at Lion Brand Yarn. I bought the yarn at Lion Brand, too - 6 balls of Jiffy in Heather Blue. Look closely at the uuper left corner of the photo and you can see little white cat feet trying to get on the blanket (and into the picture).

One thing I really like about this pattern is that the reverse side is just as attractive as the front side. The front is an hourglass design while the back looks a lot like a basketweave (see below).

See the basketweave design? This was a great project for a baby shower because it worked up very quickly (3 weeks).

Not every project is a knitting project ...

Penny and I are working on the same counted cross stitch project. Right now, she is way ahead of me but she has recently started working full time so the advantage is about to be passed back to me (I have loads of experience in dealing with the battles of full-time work vs full-time hobbies). This piece is a series of six panels (all worked on the same piece of fabric, not six separate pieces) surrounded by a border. Last I saw, Penny had about 2 1/2 panels finished. I have done the outlining on three and started one of the scenes. I have to admit that I prefer knitting -- counted cross stitch takes too much concentration and too much, well, counting. I can knit while watching a movie but the stitching requires too much of my attention.

... but there is a new knitting project waiting in the wings

Here is the beginnings of my next project -- are you as excited to see it as I am? (Probably not)

This is my next knitting project but it is also something brand new for me because it will be felted after knitting. I've never felted anything before and am really looking forward to trying it. Felting requires a natural fiber yarn (like wool) which is knit and then deliberately shrunk in a hot bath. That means the knitted article needs to be larger than the desired finished piece. I am going to make a French Market Bag which I can use to carry my next project.

Extreme Knitting

2009-01-12T08:34:00.001-08:00

Remember this picture from an earlier post? This would be Extreme Knitting in the sense of extremely small:

Here is the opposite extreme:

No, this isn't me in the second photo. I found the photo online on someone else's blog, but it is still an interesting shot. This woman specializes in giant knits and will use anywhere from 3-200 strands of yarn on these and other giant needles to knit things like rugs.

Other Extreme Knitting ideas getting some publicity - someone has created a Kniittiing app for the Nintendo Wii. Now, you can knit for scores as well as warmth!

Little Knits for Little Gifts

2009-01-06T14:15:00.001-08:00

I love to knit gifts. Here are little mini-stockings that I made for our church's Baby Day celebration. There is a music button in each stocking that plays "Jesus Loves Me" when squeezed.

Baby Day Mini-Stockings

I made mittens for all of the kids in the family this Christmas. Here is my selection of mittens hanging on the back of the couch (I had to take the shot fast because Rudy and Tux thought this was just a mitten playground for them). If you look closely, you can see the twisted cords that can be threaded through the sleeves of a jacket. Penny and I made the twisted cords by tying yarn to one of the beaters in Penny's hand mixer and then using the mixer to twist the yarn. (see instructions below)

Along with the mittens, each gift included a copy of Jan Brett's The Mitten about a grandmother who knits a pair of mittens for her grandson.

My friend, Penny, introduced me to the book which is simply wonderful. It is a sweet story with beautifully detailed illustrations. Knitting all those mittens was a lot of fun, but I did get tired of making all those tiny thumbs!

How To make a Twisted Cord

1. Cut a length of yarn twice as long as you want the twisted cord to be. Tie one end to a single beater that is placed in a hand mixer. Note that one beater will spin clockwise and one counter-clockwise. Give it a short "test spin" to see if the spin direction is making the plies of the yarn tighter or looser -- if the yarn looks like it is getting looser and unraveling, you need to use the other beater.

2. Once you are sure you are going in the right direction, hold the yarn so that it is slightly taut and then turn the mixer on. Let the yarn twist for about 30 seconds or until it is trying to "kink" on itself. For a long cord, you really need a friend to help hold everything. Stop the mixer.

3. Keep hold of the free end of the yarn and keep the yarn stretched straight as you use your other hand to grasp it in the middle. Bring the free end up to the end tied to the (stopped) mixer, and hold those ends together so that the yarn is folded in half. Let go of the middle and the twist will form.

To make a two-color twist (like the red and white twist in the photo), tie a length of red yarn to a matching length of white yarn and treat like one long strand. Twisted cords make a nice finish to lots of different craft projects. You can twist them by hand but that is really only practical for small (12" or shorter) pieces. Besides, using the mixer is a lot of fun -- people watching you will think that you have lost your mind before you "magically" create the twist at the end :)

A Finished Project!

2008-12-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

Tuesday night - 16 points

Saturday night - 30 points and complete!

The pattern suggested using snaps to connect the ends, but I found this lace is stretchy enough to just pull it over your head. Now, I just need some cold weather so I can have a chance to wear it!

Finally! A project that I can show "in progress"

2008-12-01T06:44:00.000-08:00

This new project is not a gift, so I can post photos showing it growing. It is a knitted lace neckwarmer (used like a scarf but without the long ends) and I am knitting it for myself. I started it Saturday morning and it is working up quickly. One nice thing about this pattern is that it is worked sideways so you just work until it fits around your neck -- the finished piece will probably have about 30 "points".

Saturday evening - 9 points

The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn and size 8 needles. I am using a lighter-weight yarn and size 7 needles, instead. The yarn is called Jasmine and is a blend of cotton, silk, polyester, and bamboo. (It's hard to believe that you can get wonderfully soft, silky yarns from a woody plant like bamboo but it is a popular new yarn fiber.) This particular yarn has tiny metallic flecks in it that give it just a bit of sparkle.

Tiny Stockings

2008-11-24T12:01:00.000-08:00

While in Durango, I bought a pattern for some knitted Christmas stocking earrings and a set of size 0000 double-pointed needles to make them. Here is my work in progress along with a finished stocking.

This was my third stocking and the best one so far

Mom said that, instead of using the needles, I could just use toothpicks. Unfortunately, these needles are thinner (!) than toothpicks -- only about 1.25mm. Toothpicks would not be strong enough, anyway -- the tips need to be able to withstand a lot of pressure. Typical needles are made from aluminum -- these tiny ones are made from steel. My first effort didn't come out as well as I had hoped (manipulating these TINY needles and TINY stitches is hard!) and took me three hours to make. By the third attempt, though, my stitches looked much smoother and I had the time down to an hour. Still, this is definitely not something that I will be mass-producing any time soon.

Leaving Durango

2008-10-23T18:34:00.000-07:00

Well, we have left Durango behind us. Mom had us up at 6:00 this morning and we were in the car and heading out by 7:19. It was 17 degrees outside so we were moving a little slowly! Leaving was sad but even highway driving has had its exciting moments. When we were still in New Mexico, we passed a red, white, and blue bus that proclaimed "Stop Obama Tour" down the side. We were very excited and wondered who might be on board. We hoped it might be McCain but found later that he was on the east coast. Sarah Palin, though, had been in Roswell the night before so it is very possible that this was her bus. (I am writing this not to promote a particular party -- I would be excited to pass this close to any candidate.) I told Greg to turn around so I could get a photo and he would not do it. It's been three days now and I'm still upset with him.

Today's drive had its own excitement. In the tiny town of Del Norte, Colorado, we saw flashing red and blue lights as traffic slowed to a stop in front of us. We thought there had been an accident but then saw a flock of preschoolers being herded across the four-lane highway. It was so cute. The police car had traffic stopped and all the kids were holding on to a rope so that they would stay together. We thought that was funny and went on through the town. Then, we saw the flashing lights again. Sure enough, another flock was being herded across the highway but, this time, it was an actual flock. We sat for about 15 minutes as a police car blocked the highway and a sheep herder with several sheep dogs moved a flock of sheep down the highway. It was so interesting to watch the dogs work -- the shepherd would whistle to the dogs and they would nudge the sheep into a cohesive group and move them toward the open pen about 100 yds down the highway. Occasionally, a dog would leave the sheep and jump into the back of a truck. I took a closer look and saw that there was a big tub of water there for them. The dog would get a quick drink and then take his place again with the sheep.

Right now, we are in Amarillo, eating pizza, and watching the World Series. Still a great vacation!

Could this really be our last day in Durango?

2008-10-22T20:23:00.001-07:00

Look close and you can see Greg on his bike crossing the bridge

I am trying hard to remember that Wednesday will be a full day in Durango even if it is the last day. I am not ready to come home. The high today was only 50 degrees, but I sat on the terrace and knitted because I did not want to waste a single minute of my allotted, but dwindling, time.

Greg eating breakfast

Mom in the Doubletree lobby

Greg had to finish his paper, so Mom and I went shopping to give him some room. We went to the gift shop at the hotel and bought enough to keep them in business for a few days. We drove downtown and bought some more gifts -- we have a great deal of our Christmas shopping done, now. While cruising (yes, Mom and I can cruise) the streets, we passed a shop with a large sign on the door that simply said "Yarn." I think we circled the block 5 or 6 times trying to find a place to park. It wasn't easy, but the shop was calling me... We gave up for a little while and went to a sidewalk cafe to have a cookie and a cup of coffee. Parking was better when we returned to the yarn shop and we were able to park right in front. I have to say, we made sure that shop had a good sales day, too. I found several things I really wanted but just couldn't justify buying for myself. That's when it's nice to be shopping with your mother -- she pointed out that she needed ideas for Christmas gifts for me anyway so offered to buy them for me. Now, however, she is telling me that I actually have to wait for Christmas to get them! That's what shopping with your mom is like.

Our hotel lobby

We gave Greg a call to see how the paper was coming along and he was not finished yet so we went to a park to wait. Mom had her book and I had my knitting and we had a great (but chilly) hour. For supper, we went back to our little cafe with the great Reubens and ate while watching the World Series on their big screen TV. (They had some football game on but Mom asked them to change it and they did. Go Mom!)

This is (was, sob) the view from our terrace

Mesa Verde

2008-10-22T19:40:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was a day of relaxation -- Greg took off on his bike and Mom and I relaxed. We sat on our terrace (yes, I said our terrace) drinking coffee and watching the river flow past our room. She had her book and I crocheted Christmas gifts. The weather was beautiful, the scenery (and leaves) were gorgeous, and the morning was just about perfect. We had lunch at a downtown cafe and then headed out to Mesa Verde National Park.

Greg drove, as usual, which was fine with me -- fine until we started climbing into the La Plata Mountains that surround the ruins. There is no guard rail and no shoulder -- it looks like about 12" of road separates your tires from an 8000 foot drop. Going up was bad enough but the trip down (trying to beat the sunset, no less) was gut-wrenching. It's not that I lack trust in Greg as a driver, it was just terrifying to me. He said that the worst part was having everyone pass him while he tried to go slowly to accommodate me. If you ever visit Mesa Verde, check the asphalt at the base of the mountain for a set of lip prints -- those would be mine.

Our room is at the far end of the hotel and one floor down from the restaurant where we have breakfast every morning (and it is a long hotel). Tuesday morning, Mom and Greg went ahead of me and I followed a few minutes later. I kept repeating to myself to take the elevator UP, take the elevator UP since I was having trouble remembering that the restaurant was above us. We had breakfast and they went back to the room while I checked out the gift shop. I then headed back to the elevator, still repeating my mantra, went up one floor, and started down the long hallway to our room. I was wishing I had a place to stop and rest my knee so I was only looking at the room numbers and counting the doors to our room. Once I got there, I could not get my key to work so I knocked on the door. I was not prepared to see the man who answered the door (he was not prepared to see me, either).

[This post has been a little late because Greg had a paper to write for (grad) school. Sorry if we kept you waiting.]

Happy Birthday, Dad!

2008-10-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

Today is Dad's birthday and he is having to spend it alone since we dragged Mom off to Colorado. Send him an email and wish him a happy birthday!

Travels with Grandmom

2008-10-21T08:57:00.000-07:00

Today (Monday) was our first full day in Durango. We had breakfast at our hotel this morning and had a table next to the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Animas River. There was a trail running along the river and we saw many joggers, walkers, and cyclists pass us. We have even see one man in waders fly-fishing about 50 yards from our room. Seeing all the bicycles, I said that it was a shame that Greg didn't bring his bike. Durango has bike routes marked all over the city. Greg liked the idea and wondered if there might be a place he could rent one. We stopped at the front desk to ask and were soon on our way to Pedal the Peaks bike shop where he rented a trail bike for $25 a day. We brought it back to the hotel and he took off. Two hours later, Mom and I were sitting on our terrace enjoying the view and drinking our coffee when he rode up the trail and over to us. He had been all over Durango and was having a wonderful time. Getting the bike was the greatest idea we had had on this trip.

One thing we all really wanted to do on our vacation was to recreate our picnic at Lake Vallecito that we had in July, 2000. We searched for a KFC (gotta keep that re-creation accurate), got us a bucket of chicken, and headed for the lake. There were rumbles of thunder and a few showers as we drove up into the mountains surrounding the lake but all was clear and beautiful again by the time we reached the lake.

Greg was driving and I had forgotten that you have to drive across the dam at the south end of the reservoir to get to the picnic areas. This is not a nice two-lane road with guardrails -- it is a narrow lane with a sheer drop off on each side. As we sped merrily along, I watched both sides wondering whether I would prefer to fall off the right side and fall 50 feet to the bottom of the spillway or off the left side where the cold, deep water would break our fall. Fortunately, it is not a long drive and we arrived at the other side intact.

We then started our search for a picnic table. We had already commented that there were very few people around. This was not a surprise because October is well past the prime tourist season. Getting a table in a prime spot sounded simple. The first site we came to had a beautiful view of the lake and three empty tables. We pulled to the entrance only to find that it was gated and sported a sign announcing that this area was closed. This was disappointing, but there were many more good sites up ahead. As we neared each one, we saw the announcement - "This area closed." We finally reached the northern end of the lake and the end of the picnic areas -- no luck. We knew it was late in the season, but we didn't realize everything would be closed. There we were -- at the end of the road with our bucket of cooling chicken and no picnic table.

Fortunately, Greg had brought the bike since we knew there were bike trails all around the lake. We dropped him off and told him we would meet him back at the dam. He took his time and had a blast on the trails that zigzagged along the lake road. When he caught up with us at the dam, he came to the car and asked if I would let him ride back across the dam. I said "sure!" and he and Mom both looked at me and said "Really?" Hey, I'm not that strict and he is an adult. He took off and I told Mom that I hoped he wasn't a little nervous and counting on me to tell him "no." We followed behind to be sure he didn't fall off. I don't know what we would have done if he had -- neither one of us was going to dive in and save him. Anyway, it was all worth a cold bucket of chicken.

Notice the single aspen on the island

You can see that the lake level is very low this year because of low rainfall. The mountains back behind it are beautiful, though.

As most of you know, Mom has been through a knee replacement and a broken ankle in the last year, so this has been a difficult way to take a vacation. Just getting in and out of the car is quite a production but Greg has it down to an art. We park and he hops out, runs to the back, pulls out her crutches, and then comes around to the side to help ease her out of the back seat. (She has to ride with one knee elevated so she can't sit in front.) There is a comfortable arm chair in our room but we have learned how to shore it up with some pillows to keep her knee in the proper alignment. We don't want this attempt at a vacation to set her progress back any. It's a shame that her real participation has to be so limited, but she is enjoying a change of scenery as we drive.

Sleeping is also an issue. We have devised a system of pillows to keep her knee in the right position at the right elevation. The bedding here is very thick and heavy and the weight of it on the knee is painful so we stood an empty suitcase on the bed under the covers to raise them off of the knee. Monday night, she climbed into bed (the word climbed is not an exaggeration - these beds must be three feet off the ground), arranged her pillows behind her and under the knee, positioned the suitcase, and pulled the covers up. I made a comment about something on television, so she tried to see what I was talking about. The bedding was in the way so she tried to beat it down a bit with her hand. That didn't help so I offered to climb out of my bed and help her out, but she said "No no! I can do it myself!" She then grabbed one of her crutches and whacked herself in the foot. Mom, aim for the covers, not your feet. (And we wonder why she isn't getting any better)

A Whole Lotta Blinkin' Goin' On

2008-10-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

We left Raton for Durango at about 8:30 Sunday morning but planned several stops and side trips along the way. We were curious to see how long the actual drive would take - Dad said 8 hours but Google Maps said 5 1/2. Normally, I trust Dad's travel instincts but Google Maps seemed so sure... Anyway, we drove to Taos, did some shopping and ate lunch, and then took a side trip through a scenic drive. We came at a perfect time -- the temperature during the day has been about 60 (colder in the upper elevations) with a very light breeze and almost no clouds. The aspens are a brilliant gold and look so beautiful against the dark pines and spruces. We have seen at least 100 antelope and almost that many deer and even passed a coyote trotting along the road. We stopped at a pottery shop high up in the mountains and took a tour; Mom bought a coffee mug and I wish I had bought one, too. We realized we had made too many stops, though, when it became apparent that we were not going to make it to Durango before dark (Dad-1, Google Maps-0).

Greg took this with my zoom lens

As I said, we had seen lots of antelope in New Mexico and were seeing more and more deer as we neared Colorado. This became a problem as we were driving that last leg from Pagosa Springs to Durango. Just before Pagosa Springs, we passed a car that had struck a deer. The deer was dead and the car didn't look much better; the entire front end was crushed. I was driving with Greg riding shotgun so we were both trying to watch the sides of the road. In Pagosa Springs, we saw an approaching car stop and a car in front of us stopped, as well. I tried to see what had happened and we realized that at least three deer had darted into the road. It was so dark that we could barely see them as they ran between the headlights. Ten minutes later, as we were leaving Pagosa Springs, a deer ran right at our car. Greg saw it just as I did and I hit the brakes and pulled off on the shoulder. The deer turned and missed us by what seemed like 6 inches. I thought the driver behind me had hit it but he managed to miss it, too. After the second close call, I felt like crawling the rest of the way. We noticed an oncoming car blinking his brights. Greg asked if I had my brights on and I said no but then a second car flashed his brights. Mom said that she thought they were trying to alert us to something so I slowed down to look and, sure enough, there was a deer standing on the road on my side. I stopped and he moved and we went on. As the next car approached us, the driver behind me blinked his lights at them. We decided that this was a friendly service expected while driving in the area. [This inspired Mom to name tonight's blog - notice that I am not the only one in my family who enjoys a bad pun.]

Our financial arrangement is that Mom and I are splitting gas, food, and lodging and Greg is paying for anything special he wants to do. For now, Mom is paying for the hotel room each night and I am paying for everything else. On the last day, we add up our expenses and whoever has paid less will pay the other to make things even. We stopped to eat in Taos and had the following conversation:
Mom: Oh no, I left my purse in the car.
Me: Do you need it? I'll be paying.
Mom: Oh that's right. I can't get used to you paying for everything.
Greg: Don't worry, Grandmom - it gets easier.
[He should know]

We have already taken close to 100 photos. I'll pick out a couple to put on each day. Here's a couple from our drive yesterday (I took the one of Greg and Greg took the one of the aspens and the river)

Vacation Day 1 - Raton, New Mexico

2008-10-18T18:23:00.000-07:00

Whew, an early start today! Greg did a good job of getting up, getting the car packed, and being ready to walk out the door at 5:45 AM. We stopped in Amarillo for lunch at the Cracker Barrel (Greg and I twisted Grandmom's arm until she gave in) and made it to Raton by 5:00 Mountain Time. We stopped about every two hours so we could get out and stretch. One rest stop would have been a bit of a stretch for some family members:

Dad and John, this photo is for you

Greg always has to get a sunset photo (this morning, he could have had a sunrise photo, too, but he just wasn't motivated enough). This is the view from our hotel room.

Before we left, Andrea told Greg that she wanted him to have a good time but she didn't want any more mysterious women appearing in hot tubs with him. Most of you have seen our optical illusion shot from our last vacation together. Almost everyone who looks at it says "I don't see anything odd -- it's two people sitting in a hot tub." Except, of course, Greg was all alone at the time. I took the shot and can attest to that but we might have trouble convincing Andrea a second time.

We plan to leave tomorrow morning, have lunch in Taos, and be in Durango by late afternoon. We'll try to avoid those mysterious women and have an update tomorrow night.

Things are moving more "swift"ly now

2008-10-10T17:41:00.000-07:00

If I can't show photos of my work in progress, I can at least talk about the complication this organic cotton yarn has brought to my life. For some reason, the more expensive a hank of yarn is, the less likely it is to come in a pullout skein. That means that it needs to be rolled into a ball before attempting to knit with it. To accomplish this, the yarn is untwisted from the hank and then held in place while the winding takes place. This was not a problem when Greg was here -- he could usually be persuaded to hold the yarn looped between his outstretched hands while I rolled it. Now that Greg is out on his own, I need a new yarn holder. I tried several arrangements -- first looping the yarn around large cans and then around two chairs placed back to back. I was making progress at one time by holding the yarn on my feet that in turn were propped up on the coffee table. This looked like it had a chance of success until it caught the attention of my cat, Rudy. It took me over an hour to disentangle my feet, yarn, and one unhappy cat. Somewhere in the mess, I decided it was time to invest in a yarn swift.

My new yarn swift

Swifts date back to the 18th century. According to Wikipedia:

One substitute for a swift is to have someone else hold the skein. This has several disadvantages however, first a willing second person has to be found, and secondly unless the other person has had a lot of practice holding skeins, the yarn winds off a swift much better.

Apparently, yarn-holders like Greg have always been hard to come by. Another knitting website mentions that yarn swifts "are lovely to look at even when not in use." You be the judge. I suppose I could hang ornaments on it to create a faux Christmas tree (a faux fir?) or hang catnip mice on it to use as a cat exerciser.
This was also my first purchase from eBay -- history meets modern technology (and certainly beats my feet)!

It sounded like such a good idea at the time...

2008-10-10T14:12:00.000-07:00

Like so many other dubiously-inspired goals, the thought of a knitting/needlework blog sounded like such a good idea at the time. It would be fun to publish photos of my works-in-progress and could even be an incentive when that extra push is needed to get past a rough spot. I even knew what that first, exciting shared project would be because it was freshly finished and I was still basking in the glow of a completed goal.

The Problem

The problem? It is a gift. A gift as in "surprise! look what I made for you!" A gift as in "posting it on a public web page for all eyes to see will negate all the fun of the surprise." A gift that will need to remain unseen just a little longer. Sigh...

No problem! This project, which I will now refer to as Project A, may have been my primary focus over the last few months but it is certainly not the only project in my [knitting] bag of tricks. For example, I recently purchased some rather expensive organic cotton (no pesticides, no herbicides, no dyes) to make ... another gift. Hmmm - I am sensing a trend here. I suppose I can post updates for Project Organic's progress but, with no photos or descriptions, it sounds a little dull.

Looking through my knitting bag, I see no shortage of projects but I could run into a dearth of suitable ambiguous descriptions. Every single thing in that bag is destined to be a surprise for someone with "surprise" being the operative word. It might be better to revisit some old projects. At least I can publish their photos.