off to London

My husband and I are off to London on Friday to go to our son's graduation next Wednesday. It will be nice to see the children again, all three of whom are attending university in London. We lived in England for 4 1/2 years. (We had a lovely back garden for the last house we lived in there. Plus, it was near a continuation of the White Cliffs of Dover. Years and years ago, the Spanish Armada went past that part of the coastline.) It will also be nice to be back in England again. Besides the graduation, we have plans to attend a football game with our other son and to go to the British Museum with our daughter.

I'm planning to take along sock yarn to knit a pair of socks for my DD while there, probably using the Wyvern pattern and Parade yarn with size 2 needles. I'm also working on a v-neck sweater for myself with KP Swish and size 5 needles and getting a gauge of 4 1/2 st and 6 1/2 rows per inch. I'm using the tweed-stitch v-neck pattern that I used for my DH's sweater except for doing a plain knit stitch instead of a tweed stitch. I cast on 100 sts divided 35 sts for the back, 9 for each sleeve, and 47 for the front. Because of this, I had to end quite a few more short rows with k2tog and p2tog. Also I didn't knit any sts together at the base of the v. I would post a pic, but sts in navy don't turn out well. (Of course, it could be that my camera still needs a little fixing.)

Obviously, we got our camera back from being serviced at Best Buy. However, we still haven't gotten back the laptop we took in for servicing over 2 weeks prior to that. We had hoped that it would be ready by the time we left for England. It's our son's laptop. He's had to share his brother's laptop for the first month of school -- which is hard for both of them. Well, there's a couple more days left for them to finish with it...... If nothing else, we can bring out there the laptop that I'm currently using which I inherited from my other DS -- though it's far from state of the art.

It's so nice to knit with better yarn like the yarn from KP. And so I'm redoing sweaters in wool or a blend that I had originally knitted in acrylic. The original sweaters have since then "melted" in the wash machine. (Too high a water temperature causes a sweater to double in size.)

Square summer raglan

I'm so happy. I've finally finished the summer sweater I was making in KP Shine Worsted. I redid it once because I didn't like the joins. But I finally found one that looked ok with a cotton blend (knit 1 st w new skein, knit 1 st w old skein, then continue w new skein - tying the loose ends in the back until weaving them in). Then in the middle of the project, I had to order more yarn. I finally ended up using all but a few inches of 7 skeins of the yarn -- and that's with ultra-short (8 or 9-row-long) sleeves and a simple bind off (knit or purl then slip st over). I didn't have enough yarn to do ribbing on the sleeves and so did the sleeve pattern there instead. It was really touch and go. I would have had to order more yarn if I weren't so short. I usually knit a medium size but take off an inch above the armhole and another inch below. To save yarn (and to make it more form fitting), I also shaped it around the waist by decreasing 4 sts every 10th row above the waist and increasing every 5th row below. (Added 12/17/06: I've changed the chart to show the underarm diamonds as well. In the underarm diamonds, one can see the first 2 decrease row. I've also changed the chart to show the full sleeve pattern.)
It looks really nice, if I do say so myself. A picture of the sweater in progress is at my August 8th post. I used a size 7 circ and got 6 rows and 4 sts per inch when slightly stretched. (I didn't do a swatch first. I just assumed that a size 7 with worsted would give that gauge. But it worked out ok because the material did stretch.) Here's how I began the sweater. Line 1 of the garment chart is line 45 of the sweater as I made it. (Also line 45 of the sweater is line 1 of the sleeve.) The pattern is knit across on even rnds. I also fitted a couple of diamonds under the armholes themselves - which is now charted here.

Neckline:
CO 92. Join.
Work *p1, k1* around for 6 rounds, starting w the p1.
*p1, k11, p1, k33* twice
p91 (ie stop 1 st before beginning of round)

Upper Body:
R1: *m1, k1, p1, k1, m1, knit to 1 st before next purl, m1, k1, p1, k1, m1, knit to 1 st before next purl* twice (For the first k1 on the first time knitting R1, p1 instead -- to complete the purl around.)
R2: knit the knit sts and the m1's, purl the 4 purl sts

Continue alternating these rnds to 17 increase rnds total and 238 sts total. Continue making just R2 until 45 total rnds for me (51 for most people) not including the ribbing. (The 45th rnd can be used to start the pattern by replacing R2 with: purl the knit st, purl the purl st, *k3, p3* around, p1.)
Then to start the lower part of the sweater: *k1, put the next 13 sts on a spare circ, co9 (w single cast on), k66* twice. (152 sts total)

Tempting II finally finished

It took a while, but my version of Tempting II from knitty is finally finished. It took a while because I frogged it after it was finished because I had made the yoke too long . Because of the ribbing and the length of the yoke, the sweater's neck was riding up around my neck. To make it worse, the arms were also too tight. It wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't made it top down.

However, I really like the neckline. I might use it for another sweater -- but a raglan this time. Here's how I started:

Neck:
CO 90 sts (chain cast on), join.
Round 1: p90
Round 2: k90
Repeat these 2 rounds for a total of 14 rounds in garter stitch On the next to last knit round, increase more or less evenly to 108 sts. End w a knit round. (There will be a line where the rounds begin.)

Body:
(yo, k1) 108 times
(p1, k1) 108 times (216 sts in round)

Continue working in p1, k1 until the sweater is about 1 1/2" shorter than my normal sweaters. Then divide the sts w 41 sts for the sleeves, 65 sts for the garment, and casting on 13 sts under the arm with a single (not provisional) cast on.

Zokni socks finished

My DD is modeling a pair of Zokni socks in KP Essential that I finished a couple of days before she left to go back to university in London. Universities in the UK start classes around the first of October. Hopefully, they'll keep her feet warm this winter.
They're made toe up with 2 circ size 1 needles, with a Turkish cast on, a round toe, a Widdershins heel, and a crocheted bind off (single crochet 1, chain 1).
Here's how I started the sock:

Wrap yarn around 2 circ needles 9 times (under, back, and over). k9 off of top needle. k9 off of bottom needle.
R1: k1, m1, k..., m1, k1 on top needle, k1, m1, k...., m1, k1 on bottom needle.
Repeat R1 to 19 sts on each needle
Alternate R2 (k across) with R1 to a total of 25 sts per needle
Do R2, R2, R1 to a total of 29 sts per needle
Do R2 on top needle and k across on lower needle. (31 sts on top, 29 on bottom)
After that, work the Zokni pattern across the 31 top sts. Knit across the bottom.

Approximately 4" (for me) before the end of the foot, start making increase as in the Widdershins pattern. Since I wanted a heel flap of 28 rows and 31 sts wide, I increased to 51 (= 28 + 23) sts then worked the Widdershins heel on the middle 23 sts.

I'm currently working on finishing Tempting II, which I hope to finish in a few days, hopefully before it gets too cold to wear. Though, it has been warm here recently -- a lot warmer than I thought it would be here in NJ.

Karen's Sugar-Free Diabetes Walk Socks

Karen's Sugar-Free Diabetes Walk Socks is an easily knit cabled sock from KnittinMom in sportweight yarn for size 3 needles (or thereabouts). Information on ordering the pattern plus a picture of the completed sock are also in the sidebar. Proceeds from the sale of the pattern will aid in the fight against diabetes.

Yankee Stadium

We went to Yankee Stadium yesterday to see the Twins play the Yankees. Our tickets weren't as good as the tickets we had to the Mets game, but they were nice. We sat in the loge section behind right field -- in the first row. The game started on time despite rain from what was left of Ernesto. It tried to rain several times before the bottom of the 8th inning when it started raining hard enough to first delay the game and then have it called on account of rain.
Rules have changed since I looked at them last. The official score for the game was 6-1 with the Twins scoring 4 of those runs in the top of the 8th inning. The Yankees were only able to have one batter in the bottom of the 8th before the rains came. Back when I knew, or at least knew quite a bit about the rules of the game, the final score would have reverted back to the score at the end of the 7th which was 2-1. But the official MLB site has the official score at 6-1. I wonder why the change was made.
On the way back to New Jersey, we decided to avoid traffic. (Yes, there was traffic even after the 40 minutes of rain delay before the game was called.) So, we went down through Manhattan by crossing the Harlem River and then going along the Hudson River. We passed by the USS Intrepid. It was very impressive.
The mountain picture is of Will Roger's Shrine on Cheyenne Mountain. Cheyenne Mountain, some people might know is the home of SGC. ;) My sister and I were driving along the Gold Camp Road west of Colorado Springs when we stopped to take the picture. We were lucky at the timing because we also got to hear the chimes from the Shrine -- which we hadn't heard in years. The Gold Camp Road originally connected the gold mines and miners of Cripple Creek and Victor with Colorado Springs and places to spend the gold the miners had accumulated. It's still gravel, 1-1/2 lanes in most places with some fantastic scenery.

Back from Colorado

I'm back in NJ after a week in Colorado. Before going there, I finished my DH's sweater which is modeled by my DS on my other blog. (He needs a shave and, in fact, got one while I was gone. He prefers to let his beard grow until whenever and then shaves it off.)
I thought I'd get some knitting done while in Colorado but didn't get any done. My mother is too old (90 in Nov) to live by herself anymore especially since my sister and her family just moved from Colorado to Oregon. (My family and I just moved from England to NJ.) So our mother is now living in NJ with us. My sister and I spent a week at her house taking items to Good Will and also the Marion House, cleaning, and also filling up a 15 cubic foot bin. I hadn't done so much lifting for quite a while. Fortunately, her house was in pretty good shape and didn't have as much clutter in it as I had feared. We worked every day from about 8 in the morning to 10 at night with time out for meals. We also got a lot of visiting done.
In talking to her, I learned that there were children other than my own who had refused to watch "Sesame Street". Our children, when of preschool age, liked shows like "Winnie the Pooh" but wouldn't watch "Sesame Street". Mine even liked to watch "Mr. Wizard" at that age. There's just something about the voices that was condescending or, at least, annoying.

Tweed v-neck update

I'm making good progress with my DHs tweed-stitch sweater, if I do say so myself. I've finished one sleeve and have started the other. (The sweater has a white sheet of paper so that the v-neck will be more visible.) To start the sleeves, I took the 13 provisional cast on stitches off of the chain stitches used in the cast on and put them onto a circular needle (the one holding the sleeve stitches -- 6 onto one end of the needle and 7 onto the other). Then starting with the middle stitch, I knitted 6 sts from the cast on, knitted the last cast on st together with the nearest sleeve st, knitted to the last of the sleeve sts, knitted that together w the nearest cast on stitch, and then knitted 5 sts to reach the middle again. (The last sleeve round was a slip 1, knit 1 round.) Then to start the new round, I looked at the sleeve sts to see whether I should start w a knit or slip stitch and then worked the *k1, s1pw wyif* pattern around.
I'm almost through with a sock for my DD who's attending university in London. (one almost done, one to go) She likes to save money by keeping the heat low in her flat. So, I hope she likes the socks. She doesn't know I'm making her any. But, I think she'll like them because the last time she was here to visit us (and especially the cats) she borrowed a pair of mine. The sock has a Zokni pattern with a Widdershins heel. I posted a picture of it on the Sock-It-To-'Em knitalong (See sidebar for link.).

Knitting w cotton

I never thought I'd knit with cotton until I joined a dishcloth Yahoo group after hearing about it at knittyboard.com. It was strange knitting with cotton at first. It felt as if I was knitting with cotton string that I remember from childhood when you were supposed to tie parcels before sending them. But that strangeness left when I found out how nice the finished object looked and how well it worked as a dishcloth. Now I'm working on a new dishcloth twice a month through that KAL.
Since people at knittyboard.com were talking about cotton being a nice type of yarn to use for summerwear, I decided to make a summer sweater out of cotton yarn, specifically, Knitpicks Shine Worsted. I'm using a size 7 circular needle and assuming 4 sts and 6 rows per inch -- even though it's actually more like 4.5 sts and 7 rows per inch. (I'm glad I didn't check gauge. Otherwise, the sweater would be too large. It is stretchy.)
I like to keep several projects going at once. I'm making good progress, at least I think it's good progress, on my DH's sweater. I'm almost finished with the bottom ribbing. I like separation between ribbing and the rest of the sweater. So, I ended the tweed stitch with a knit round. Then I knitted another round to decrease the stitch count by about 10%. Then I purled a round and joined it to the previous one the way one joins round to avoid jogs. (Rounds start and end at the center front, and so I had to do something to keep the purl round from jogging.) Then I knit a round before starting the k1p1 rib.
I'm working on a dishcloth from the dishcloth KAL and a pair of socks with a Zokni pattern and a Widdershins heel. By the way, I looked up Widdershins in Wikipedia. Among other things, it means anticlockwise or in the opposite direction from normal -- which is what this heel is. It's a heel-flap heel knit from the toe up with only 8-10 short rows and no stitches to pick up.
We're getting the piano tuned as I'm writing this. The piano hasn't been tuned since we lived in Sweden about 5 years ago. We bought it in Ohio. Then moved it with us to Sweden and then England and finally New Jersey. I'd forgotten how much one of our cats likes the sound of the piano. (It was so out of tune that no one had played it since we moved here.) She's usually the one who hides under a bed whenever anyone comes to the door. Instead of hiding, she's in the living room with the piano tuner.

USB cable found

My husband found the USB cable for me. Actually, he found a miscellaneous cable near the modem and asked me what it was for. So, now I'll be able to post pictures from the camera again.

The first is of my DH's sweater after I frogged it back to the neck ribbing. It was very satisfying to see his sweater that way. I hadn't liked how it looked before the frogging. But, now, with the yarn ball about half the size it was, I still like how the sweater now looks. So, so far, so good. (The doily is one crocheted by my mother-in-law.)

I have some hopefully good news to report about the tree in our backyard. It's possible that it isn't an Ailanthus. Although, Ailanthus is the tree featured in "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", it is also as close to a weed as a tree can get. According to the web, it looks like a walnut tree -- except it smells and is very aggressive. My hope that it isn't an Ailanthus comes from the facts that the only smell I can detect from the leaves is a "green" smell and that we've found 2 green walnuts in our driveway in the past week.

The other picture is of the game we went to at Shea Stadium. It was fun to go to a ballgame again. The last few "ball" games we went to were soccer games in England -- which were fun as well.

The only other thing I have to add is that I've finally made my sweater planner into an Open Office spreadsheet. I should have done it a long time before -- It's such a help. I wasn't sure about the row gauge for the tweed stitch and, in fact, changed my mind about what it was a couple of times. (I've finally settled on 7 1/2 rows per inch and 4 sts per inch.) Having a spreadsheet made it much easier to redo calculations. (By the way, I'm using Open Office instead of Microsoft because I'm using the laptop that I inherited from one of my sons.)

Tweed sweater update

I still love the tweed pattern for my yarn and am still very, very happy that I frogged the old half completed sweater that the yarn came from. I'm past the bottom of the armholes now after doing a provisional crochet cast on (for the armhole base) which (--the cast on--) I learned about while making Tubey. I've changed my mind about the front center of the sweater twice now. I originally decided on a k3 for the center -- but after a few rows decided it didn't look good and besides it had accidentally been started off center. So, I got out my crochet hook and redid 2 of the k3's into the tweed pattern and then knitted a few more rounds of the sweater. It still didn't look right. So, I got my crochet hook out again, dropped stitches to the bottom of the v, and redid it in the tweed pattern. It looks good now -- even with rounds starting at the center front of the sweater. (I'll post a picture of it after I find my USB cord. It got lost again.)
On another note, we (my husband, one adult son, and I) went to Shea Stadium Monday night -- our first time there. It was a good game. We followed online directions to get there (by going through Manhattan and also through a couple of tunnels) and then after we got there discovered where it was in relation to the airport. So, when we left, we decided not to risk the Manhattan traffic again and instead went through Staten Island on our way back to New Jersey. It was just over 10 miles further but, in our opinion, worth it in terms of the aggravation of waiting to enter a tunnel.
Let me preface the rest by saying that weird things often happen to me. I don't know why. Anyway, while at the ball park, I decided to take a couple (and by a couple, I mean exactly 2) pictures of the field and scoreboard before it got too dark to take pictures. I took the pictures with my little Sony digital camera and was seated at the time. Well, a security guard comes over to me to say how dangerous it was to be taking pictures. He said I might be hit by a foul ball or a bat. I explained to him that my son and husband would protect me and I was done taking pictures anyway. (While our seats were just a few rows from the field, we were seated about halfway between first base and the outfield fence.) I still can't figure out why he felt it necessary to come over to give that warning. Other people were taking flash pictures. A lot of them were a lot closer to home plate (and "danger") than I was. So, I decided to root for the Cubs -- who eventually won the game.

Tweed sweater

I'm really enjoying the tweed sweater I'm knitting for my DH. The stitch looks so good with the yarn I'm using. I'm very, very glad that I frogged the sweater to the neck ribbing and started over. While frogging it, I discovered that I had started the sweater before I'd even heard of wrapping and turning or short rows. I'd used short rows in making the sweater, but there were many big gaps because I hadn't known about the proper way to make short rows. I had attempted to hide the holes by ending the neck ribbing with a knit round followed by a purl one. I kept these rounds when making the sweater anew. (Details of how I'm making the short rows for this v-neck sweater are in my other blog which is linked in the sidebar.)
At the bottom of the V, I decided to use something else I learned and knit the 3 stitches at the bottom of the V together to make that sturdier and to keep there from being a hole.
Now I have another problem. Rounds begin and end at the center front of the sweater. For now, I'm having the 3 center stitches in plain stockinette and the rest in tweed stitch.

WIPs

Using advice offered in the WIP KAL at knitty.com, I decided to frog some of my WIPs. The first one I frogged was a sweater that I had started a couple of years ago. Once I finished the body of the sweater, I discovered that I didn't have enough yarn to finish it. Then about 6 months after that, I discovered that the yarn had been discontinued. (It took me that long because I didn't remember what kind of yarn it was.) I even checked on eBay and actually found it -- a couple of hours after the bidding had ended. So, it kept sitting in the back of the closet -- until I finally decided that I really wouldn't care for the sweater even if it had sleeves. So, I frogged it and made it into a shrug. It was even touch and go for the shrug. I finally finished it with 3/4 sleeves and with a garter stitch cuff for the sleeves.
Today, I frogged a sweater that I was making for my DH. I frogged it all the way to the neck ribbing. It was a top-down sweater that I'd finished the body for. I had actually started on one of the sleeves. But, the cables, etc. that I had made on it never really fit with the yarn. I decided that the reason that it was taking me so long to finish the sweater was that I didn't like how it looked. I'm going to make it in tweed stitch -- and have my fingers crossed that this time it will look ok.
By the way, I'm also working on the mid-July dishcloth from the Yahoo dishcloth group and a Zokni sock.

mid-June dishcloth

The house we moved into a few months ago is next to a small stand of trees -- as many places in NJ are. Having never lived in the Northeast before, I recognize some trees here, but some are a mystery to me. This tree recently finished blooming. It's a good looking tree, but I have no idea what kind of tree it is. The flowers were pretty, and so I took a picture of them, and here it is.

The other picture is of the mid-June dishcloth from the Yahoo dishcloth group. It turned out pretty well. And I even got some help knitting it from one of our cats. She and her sister are 15 years old and still alert and still really, really sweet. We got them from a friend of ours who was adopted by a stray cat. They're world travelers, too. They were born in NC, but they've also lived in Ohio, Sweden, England, and finally NJ. They even understand a little Swedish.

By the way, I also finished a new pair of socks. It's the mix and match pair described in the June 11th post. Details and a picture of the sock are at my other knitting blog (on aol). By the way, thanks to one of my sons who is here on break from college, I now know what a Wyvern is. He showed me the Wikipedia article. He's played a few video games that had Wyverns in them. The sock pattern does look like a Wyvern's scales now that I think about it.

flowers for my birthday

Here are the flowers my children and husband sent me on my birthday. It is so sweet of them to send me flowers.

plans for new sock

I decided to try another toe-up sock since I decided that I shouldn't give up on it after one bad experience and because I had a ball of yarn that was barely enough for 2 socks -- if they were short enough. But this time I decided to do everything differently using a completely different toe and heel than the short row ones from before.

I'm going to use the closed toe from Bradyphrenia and Debbi Young and the heel from Denise Powell and Dianne Martin. To make it a little more interesting for the self-striping yarn, I'm going to use the Wyvern pattern from Marnie MacLean

Hedera finished

I actually finished this Hedera sock a couple of weeks ago. It was supposed to be my April socks for the sock-a-month KAL, but now it's my May one. I thought I'd better post this before it became my June socks.
The socks are done in Fortissima Colori Disco Socka Color, which is 71% superwash, 26% polyamide, and 3% metalized polyester. It's the first expensive sock yarn I've ever used. At least, I consider it expensive. For me, with short legs and narrow feet, it took 2 - 50g balls to make the socks. To get the colors to match, I did one sock by taking yarn from the outside of the ball. I did the other sock on the other ball by taking yarn from the inside.
If I had it to do over, I would have used smaller needles. (I used size 3 since I hadn't yet bought any size 1s.) I would have also done the second yo differently. I did both yo's in the pattern by yarning over front to back. If I had it to do over, I would have done the second one back to front -- hopefully, to keep the holes approximately the same size. Or, maybe, to get bigger holes, I would do the first one back to front and the second one front to back.
My other project, other than unpacking boxes and working in the garden, is Tempting II.

Things settling down

Things are settling down -- not so much as they have settled down but that things have started to get into a routine.
The trip to Turkey was great. The weather for the eclipse was almost perfect. (For details, look on the web at eclipse-chasers -- which is hosted by one of the leaders of the tour.) Turkey is a fantastic place. Highlights for me (other than the eclipse) were visiting the ancient site of Troy and, in another part of the country, seeing formations just like the ones on Tatooine (in the movie with the young Anakin Skywalker).
When we got back, it was time to resume unpacking from our recent move. (We closed on a house about a week before going to Turkey. We had been living in a rental until we could find a house.) Happily, two of our children came to visit also. They'll be leaving for university later this week. (Spring break at British universities lasts for a few weeks. Then after the break, students have exams that cover the entire year.) My 89-year-old mom is here, too. She's here for a visit now (since my sister and family are preparing for a cross-country move to the west coast). She'll be moving here in June.
As for knitting, I'm working on Hedera socks. I'm going to see if I can make them knee length (which isn't too hard) and if they will stay up (of which I'm hopeful given the stretch in the pattern).

Vacation

We'll be heading off for a week plus in Turkey soon. We're planning on watching the solar eclipse there as well as doing a lot of sightseeing. We'll also get to see our children for the first time since Christmas. (They all attend university.)

Tubey finished

I finally finished Tubey!! It's a great way to use up extra yarn. (A doorknob is hiding behind one of the sleeves.)
After redoing Tubey (from knitty.com) quite a few times, I finally came up with something I like. I'm still not sure about the neck. I might add some stitches to the bottom of the neckline to make it higher. Instead of knitting 60 sts back and forth for the entire top, I decreased the number of stitches to 30 for the middle of the top with a garter stitch edging to keep it from curling. I'm short; so I decreased the arm length by about an inch before the stripes and an inch after. The body is as in the pattern -- except it was long enough after I finished the last stripe.
I've been making a concerted effort to finish up projects since we close on a house tomorrow. Then the next day (and the day after) we'll get our boxes unloaded to our new house, and I'll get to start unpacking.