Kiss My Knits!

Cribbed from .

That sounds about right.

A while back I came up with a design for a warping board made out of PVC pipe. It would be used for dyeing self-striping yarn. The design doesn’t seem to be quite like any others I’ve seen out there in blogland. That could either mean that it’s a new idea or a poorly thought out one with pitfalls I haven’t foreseen. I’m hoping for the former. The last time I dyed self-striping yarn it was a pain in the neck to unwind again and I don’t want to magnify that with some sort of Rube Goldberg-esque contraption.

I was going to use my Dremel to cut the lengths I needed, as I did when I made my PVC niddy noddy. In that case, though the edges were uneven and rough and I wound up having to use the Dremel again to sand down each cut. It was a lot of trouble. Right now I’m trying to decide if it’s worth $10 to buy a PVC pipe cutter to save me the hassle, since a PVC pipe cutter really isn’t a tool I’d be using a whole lot. I dunno. Probably what will happen is that I’ll decide to save a few bucks and painstakingly cut down about four of these with the Dremel, then throw up my hands in exasperation and go buy the cutter.

I’ll keep you posted on just how tangled and unruly the yarn gets using this contraption. This could turn out to be genius, but even in the worst case scenario it could still be comedy gold.

For your entertainment:
Rube Goldberg beer dispenser
Office Rube Goldberg
Best homemade Rube Goldberg machine ever.

S’mores socks
Yarn:Knitpicks Memories in colorway “Smores”
Needles: Two circular US 0 / 2mm
Pattern: MUMTU toe-up pattern by Zhenya.
Design: Beaded rib from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.


Comments:
This yarn was a gift from my friend Turtlegirl76 who gave it to me after I ogled it in her stash a while back. It’s been in my stash long enough to be discontinued by Knitpicks. It’s quite soft.

The MUMTU pattern is hands down the best-fitting sock pattern I’ve ever used. This is my second pair of socks with it and I predict many more to come. It’s customizable to any number of stitches and that it’s toe-up, which is my preferred construction. I’m a loose knitter, so I did 70 stitches on size 0 needles, which fit my 8.5″ circumference feet just fine.

The five-stitch two-row repeat pattern was very easy to memorize. Once a few rows had been worked, I didn’t have to pay too much attention to it, so I could read or do something else at the same time, which is always nice.

I had to eke out bits of time here and there to knit these rather than tackling them all at once, so these were knitted mainly in waiting rooms over the course of months. I had jury duty earlier this week and finished up the leg on the second sock while waiting around. Unfortunately, I was so keen to finally be done that I eyeballed the length wrong and bound off the second sock a few rows sooner than I should have. D’oh! Oh well, you can’t really tell when they’re on, and they feel fine, so that’s all that matters. Since the mistake was made while at the courthouse, I may rename these my “Justice is Blind” socks.

I was pleased with how these turned out. I’d use both the MUMTU and the beaded rib patterns again. Onward to the next pair of socks!

By now everybody reading this knows that I sell Jayne hats at wearwithstyle.com. Part of the packaging is the note that Jayne’s mom wrote to him, which he read when he received his hat. Sometimes people are delightedly surprised at how non-computer-generated the note looks and ask if their note is handwritten.

Yes. Yes it is. Every single time. Nothing but the best for my “Jaynes.”

I missed the post office on Monday by about five seconds, it was closed on Tuesday, I had jury duty on Wednesday, so today I literally have more packages than I can carry that need to go out. I apologize in advance to any poor schmoe who gets stuck behind me in line at the post office. And now, I’m out the door!

Crazy Groove Legwarmers
Yarn: 1/2 ball Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Stretch Crazy Color, Colorway “Crazy Groove” 119.
Needles: Size 2 needles for body, size 1 for ribbing.
Gauge: 7.5 sts per inch.
Comments: 40 st caston over a size 3 needle for looseness, approx 1 inch of ribbing on size 1 needles, switching to size 2’s for the body. These were made to fit little legs 6.5″ around to a length of 9.5″. I realized this morning that someone had sent me a mailing tube 6.75 inches around, which was handy for checking size.

They match! It’s a minor miracle! Both came from one ball. I got lucky that the color repeat started over at that point without me having to cut a lot of yarn out.

This yarn was a little scratchy off the ball, but after a wash and machine dry it softened up some. It’s a stretch yarn, so I wasn’t expecting gauge to grow, and thankfully it didn’t! I don’t want the recipient to have to follow elaborate care instructions, so it’s great that it stood up to the machine so well. The fiber content is 70% superwash wool, 23% nylon, 7% polyester so it ought to stand up to a lot of punishment.

If you’re on Ravelry, the Ravelry project page is here although there’s not really any info there that isn’t already in this post.

I owe my friend two more sets of legwarmers in different colors, but this is a start. I feel better having gotten something out this year, at least!

Lot of glare from the window behind me, and Facebook is blocked from the county courthouse, but at least they have a semiquiet area where the Golden Girls aren’t blaring at TOP volume. This area is much, much nicer than the old courtroom, though. My needles got through without a second glance, although I of course had to power on my laptop.

An hour of videos about jury service, and we’re taking a brief break before they start calling jurors. I’ve knitted about an inch on my sock. I didn’t want to bring Jayne knitting because I didn’t want any hats or much-needed Jayne hat needles confiscated by the Alliance.

I’ve got a headache, but not a huge one, so things are going pretty well. I don’t want to jinx it, but so far this isn’t too bad. Back to reading John Scalzi and knitting socks.

ETA: Moments after typing that, I was called for a jury in a looooong trial. Thankfully, I was excused. Back to the “quiet” area, which is currently blasting out The Bucket List at top volume. Did I mention that the “quiet” area was right next to the bathrooms? It is hard, however, to complain about a jury selection room that provides free wireless, a snack area, and free popcorn with its afternoon movie, which is shown on a gigantic flat screen TV. This really is luxurious.

ETA-again: Got called AGAIN and excused at the last possible minute. WOO! I’ve done my civic duty for another two years!

Summer 1944 McCall’s magazine. Remember: just because you CAN crochet something, it doesn’t mean you SHOULD crochet something.

Sorry for the lack of updates recently – remember, I have evil hand issues – but there’s been stuff going on, no worries. Today Em and I went to a local production of Annie, Jr.. Our seats were in the next to the last row, and Em couldn’t see great swaths of the production. We moved to another set of seats about 3/4 of the way through the show and things went more smoothly. Em had a great time and wants to go again. It’s playing next weekend, so sure. Em loves theater. I feel better about spending that money on tickets than on another doll.

Jayne hats are chugging along. When my gauge and tension mess up due to evil hand issues – for instance, when a 24″ hat comes out 23″ – I just assign it to the next person of that size in the queue. It means folks are getting stuff out of order, but at least they’re getting stuff. The queue is actually just under 20 now, which is a minor miracle. I’ve had to order another large amount of earflap red, and consequently may have to temporarily stop ordering kits so that I’m sure I’ve got enough for my finished hat clients. We’ll see.

Non-Jayne on the needles: little legwarmers, pictured right. They’re around a pill bottle which is much larger than it appears, I assure you. I’m waiting to hear back from the client on whether these colors are what they had in mind. The yarn is Regia Stretch, so it ought to fit well. I am very skeptical that I can get the second one to stripe up identically to the first one, so I may go completely in the opposite direction, depending on what the client tells me she prefers.

Pardon, I need to go check on some Smurf cobbler which is currently baking. When blackberries are on sale, you’ve got to seize the moment!

I was updating my “who gets the next hat” spreadsheet today and realized that I passed a milestone last last month without even noticing it.

I have now sold more than 1000 Jayne hats and kits. WOOOOOO!!!

Someone stole my Obama sign! I mean, I know the election’s over, and I was going to take it down today, but what the hell? It was there at 1:45 when I went to pick up my kid and gone at 2pm when I got back. All that remained was the metal posts. They just lifted the sign right off and left me the trash to deal with.

Prime suspects:

• irritated McCain supporters
• Obama souvenir hunters
• the Evil Hand

Very, very weird.

Tvini: My hand is apparently making me knit tighter, so the 23″ hat I thought I made is only 22″ and now I’m behind again.
Mr. Tvini: At least your hand isn’t making you kill people or something.
Tvini: yet.
Mr. Tvini: o.O
Tvini: heh.

Maybe that’s it. Maybe it’s one of those evil hands like Lindsay had on Angel. It’s just that it’s only slightly evil. More on the order of “neglect to put on my turn signal” or “fail to put a penny in the ‘need a penny/take a penny’ bowl.” I’m just glad it wasn’t evil while I was operating the touch screen voting machine. That coulda been bad. I mean, NC is still listed as too close to call, but with an evil hand in the mix… brr.