Kiss My Knits!

Had coffee this morning with the lovely and charming Katie Bisbee, who is VP of East Region and Mobilization Marketing for Donors Choose. Basically she covers an area from Maine to SC, but since her home base is Charlotte, she thought she’d take some time with some local donors. Looks like a lot of coffee for Katie today, since she met with me at 8 and I know she’s meeting with my mom at 9:30. Pace yourself, Katie!

Hey, have I mentioned the Jayne hat Donors Choose challenge in the last five minutes? No? Well, consider it mentioned. The reading comprehension project for Em’s school only needs $210 now, so it’s very close to being fully funded. Yay! Maybe it’s time to do another Knitters Choose raffle. That raised a few hundred bucks last time and got some yarn out of my house at the same time. Everybody wins!

Sorry if I’m a little rambly – Julia’s Coffee gave me my Thin Mint Mocha in a mug this morning, and it was delicious. So delicious that I really wanted to finish it so I chugged about half of it before leaving. Now my brain is buzzing around like a hummingbird.

At right: gauge swatch in Noro Cash Iroha. I bought 14 balls of this silk, cashmere, and lambswool blend for $74 when The Sewing Bird closed its brick and mortar storefront in 2006. It was an amazing deal. However, if I never knit it up, then it’s not so much an amazing deal as it is $74 spent but never used. It was purchased for Joelle Hoverson’s Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and that’s just what it’s going to be. The desired gauge is 19 stitches and 28 rows over 4 inches on a suggested size 7 needle. I’m a loose knitter, so I used 6’s and got 18 stitches and 28 rows, so I’ll call that good enough.

This’ll be a nice project to work on when I need a break from Jayne hats. Customers, don’t fret – “Craziness prevention knitting” is built into the time estimate on each order. Believe me, it’s better for your order to take an extra day than for me to go bughouse and stop making the hats altogether.

Casting spoiler for Dollhouse.

Like everyone else in the knitting universe right now, I have made a 1×1 ribbed Noro scarf.

Pattern modifications: 36 stitches in 1×1 ribbing until scarf is about as long as the recipient is tall. Slip last stitch of every row.
Needles: #6US/4mm
Yarn: about 1.8 skeins each of two Silk Garden colorways, 201A and 268B.

Ravelry project page.

Notes: The colors aren’t quite as bright as they appear in these broad daylight shots. It’s a bit more subdued and traditionally manly without being monochrome. Also, for my own future reference, once they’re about halfway done, long scarves are no longer good “stuff in the purse” carryalong projects.

This was made for my husband, and I hope it kept him warm on his trek to the train station this morning.

+

_____________________

Super easy.

Materials:
Long size 11 needles
1 skein Noro Iro

Cast on 150 stitches.
Knit 10 rows.
Bind off all stitches.

Voila! Longways-striped scarf!

This colorway was 60A, but I’ve done it with others to good effect. This pic is from 2004 but this scarf is still Em’s favorite scarf. It’s weathered a lot of use, too, which is testament to the yarn. You want LONG size 11 needles because it’s a lot of stitches to jam on there. Here’s a picture showing how bunched up you have to make the stitches.

Very easy, and a good way to use up that one skein of Iro or Big Kureyon that you shouldn’t have bought but just had to have.

Okay, maybe it’s just me that does that. Heh.

My camera’s back, so let’s get caught up!

Pattern: “Fuzzyfeet” by Theresa Vinson Stenersen from Knitty.com
Yarn: Lamb’s Pride Worsted in M05 Onyx and Noro Kureyon in colorway 52
Needles: size 10 1/2 (6.5mm) 16″ circular (2 circs for toe decreases)

Notes: Well, I’ll say this: I got a lot of knitting done in the hospital waiting room. The Jayne hats flew by with no problem. I can do those in my sleep. But I was distracted by family and concern and fouled up the toe on these not once but twice. The first time, I carried the body of the foot too long before decreasing, so I un-knitted back to the proper point. The second time, I forgot that I’d made the toe on the first one strictly in black, so I striped the second one up to the end. I ripped back and re-knitted it to match the first.

However, these did give us something to talk about. One aunt liked the way these looked so much she asked about commissioning some for Christmas gifts for relatives. Unfortunately, this pattern cannot be used for profit. She’s dear family, though, so I’ll see what I can do for her as a gift.

Everyone who saw me knitting these said, “you know, the stripes aren’t the same color.” I know, it’s deliberate. I think it adds some nice visual interest. I was more concerned with how the Kureyon and Lamb’s Pride were going to felt. LP felts much faster than Kureyon. However, it only took one trip through the washing machine for these to felt to exactly the point I wanted. They fit perfectly.

I’ve made many of these for others, but this is the first pair I’ve made for myself. I’m very happy with how they turned out.

Well, I’m still sick, but am definitely much better than I was. Very little coughing, a little sniffling, but I’m going to cook everything today, come hell or high water!

I’m doing the heel on those Crusoe socks, but am not far enough along for it to be worthwhile to post pics. Now that I’m better, projects for myself will take a backseat to the Jayne hat queue. Speaking of which, another Kureyon hat for someone in line is done. Things proceed apace!

Also have done another dinosaur toddler hat. Next up will be a space invaders hat and then more Jayne-a-liciousness!

Today, Cornish game hens with rosemary, garlic, and lemon, plus lots of other goodies including the mandatory pumpkin pie. Mmm! Here’s hoping you and yours eat until you have to loosen your belt.

Next in the queue: CA, IL, MI

Today was the 50th anniversary celebration for Park Road Shopping Center, which was marked by a little carnival in the parking lot with free games, snacks, music, and attractions. Since it was less than two miles from our house, of course we went. It also gave me a good background to photograph a roll brim beanie that a client requested for a six-year-old girl. I just happen to have a seven-year-old girl to model, so that worked right out.

The kid’s roll brim beanie on wearwithstyle is in a colorway of Noro Silk Garden that has been discontinued, which breaks my heart because it was GREAT for kid knits. My daughter loves hers and chooses it whenever I ask her to put on a hat.

Speaking of hats, there are now enough dinosaur hats in the queue to make it more cost-effective to purchase an entire cone of Christmas Green yarn.

Eiffel Tower for scale.*
The spines on the dino hats are a little tedious to do, but the result is so worth it. People order a wide range of sizes in this, from toddler to adult. Nothing says “I’m having fun and I don’t give a flying flip what you think” like a vivid green hat with orange spines running down the back.

I’ve been on a Fred Astaire kick lately, having watched The Gay Divorcee, Swing Time, andShall We Dance this week. The latter had a sequence in it that made me laugh so hard that I literally had to stop the movie to catch my breath and get a drink of water. I’m trying to see if I can’t dig up the sequence, or maybe even make a YouTube out of it. Holy moly, it cracked me up. I’m marking down Eric Blore and Edward Everett Horton as two of my new favorite character actors. By the way, check out the last paragraph of Eric Blore’s wikipedia entry. I think that fits the definition of “ironic.”

Up next on the needles: CA, CA, and CA.

*Note: Eiffel Tower statuette may be smaller than actual Eiffel Tower.

Huh. Well, now I think I like the new one (right) better than the hybrid one (left).

Also, it’s another little lesson in how blocking can help a garment. They’re a tad looser now, so less striping is lost in the roll of the brim.

Definitely bedtime.

I was so close to finishing up the hat in the new colorway that I went ahead and did it, and also altered the top a bit to have the pattern stand out a bit more. The photo certainly looks more polished than the one from 2004 that’s been up on the site. And I didn’t want to get caught out with an outdated colorway again, so I updated the listing for the Silk Garden beanie to include a description and price along with the new colorway. I’ll fix the kiddie version later.

Adversity becomes opportunity!

Hm. I’m starting to sound like a motivational poster. Time to go to bed.

Ah, but speaking of motivational office crap, before I go to bed, a post from today reminded me of a site I wanted to let y’all know about: http://www.overheardintheoffice.com/

Heh. Co-workers are funny.

Remember my wacky adventures with Noro Silk Garden colorway 87? How they mysteriously changed their formulation and the new one looked nothing like the old one?

Old hat. New hat.

Well, yarn I ordered in an older dye lot arrived today. Instead of E2 (current) it was E. It wasn’t the B that somebody had in an old picture (but wasn’t offering), but it was described as having pinks and yellows by the seller.

Apparently, when old 87 and new 87 love each other very much, they get together and make hybrid 87.

Again, I say “WTF??” It’s got some components of the old, and some of the new. Now Noro is just screwing with me! Bastards! Bastardy bastard bastards! ARRRRGGGGHHH!!!

I’ve written to the client, with a much more level-headed tone than above, of course. She’s happy to get a hat, regardless of which colorway it is. It’s just… Man! It burns my britches! Note to self. Change rainbow beanie pic on site. BURN NORO HQ.

Time to turn in, but I haven’t updated in a couple of days, so the high points!

Yarn and knitting