Mystery Shawl 3 -- Clue 4

It took a lot of work. Clue 4 is finally finished -- just hours before Clue 6 comes out. Evidently, the stole is over half done now. I think the center back falls about 4" in from the needle. Next come short rows and feathers.

And, surprisingly for me, I've followed the pattern exactly.

Tomato finished -- Sweater #6

My tomato sweater is finally done. It's my sixth sweater for the year. This one gave me a lot of trouble. I'd originally made the yarn (KP Swish Superwash) into a v-neck on size 5 needles. It became too tight after washing. Plus, it was too warm for a short sleeve sweater -- because it was so tightly knitted. So, I finally frogged it. Then the Tomato pattern came along. So, I decided to use the yarn with that pattern (since the wider neck plus my using larger needles, size 7 this time, would make the sweater less warm).

Well, I miscounted on the number of stitches to set aside for the sleeves and didn't notice it until I was ready to start the sleeves and wondered why one sleeve was bigger around than the other. So, I had to frog to the underarms (and also undo the colorwork). It's finally done. I was worried that I'd have some yarn left over to remind me of my misadventures. But, luckily, there was absolutely no navy yarn left over whatsoever.

I guess that another reason it's taken so long to finish the sweater is that I hadn't figured out what to knit next. I started the Arbor-Pattern Sweater in some left-over DK yarn, but then decided that I really didn't want to try making an i-cord cast on for the first time with that weight yarn. The pattern calls for an applied i-cord as a last step, but I like to be finished when I'm finished. Plus, I'd have a better idea of the neck size and how long to make the garment top this way. To make a long story short, I decided to frog a white acrylic sweater that was too bright for me in the pattern I had knit it in, a ribbed boat-neck. I wasn't too sure which side was the right side for the i-cord cast on. But, I liked the underside better and so did a wrap and turn before starting the sweater itself. I haven't gotten far enough along to figure out whether or not I'll like it. But, it is fun just to start knitting and hope for the best.

I've finished the August dishcloth KAL but don't have a picture. I finished it the evening before my DH was to leave for a business trip to California. Our DS1 lives there, and so my DH is staying an extra day on the west coast. He also took along 4 finished dishcloths in addition to some clothes our DS1 left here before his move. It's the first time either one of us has been out to visit him. The only trips we've taken have been when my DSister has flown out from Oregon to stay with our mom while we were gone.

Finally, I've got great hopes of finishing Clue 4 on the Mystery Shawl before Clue 6 comes out on Friday. The cat paw prints for Clue 4 are really lovely, and now I know that they represent the pas de chat from the ballet. Cute. Really cute. I like leaps of imagination like that.

Mystery Stole 3 -- Clue 3

I'm making great progress on the Mystery Stole. I've now finished Clue 3. And even better than that, it seems to be approximately the same length as the creator of the stole had for hers (about 25"). I've never made anything like this before and probably wouldn't have if I hadn't joined the KAL after reading about it on one of the message boards and hadn't seen how lovely the shawls of some ladies in the knitting group I attend had turned out. There's no way that I'll finish Clue 4 before Clue 5 comes out. But, at least I'll be only one clue behind. I'm still not sure when or where I'll ever wear the stole. I really can't see myself wearing a stole around the house or to the store. But, maybe I can give it to my DD. And, if she doesn't want it, I might be able to give it to my DS1's girl friend for Christmas. But, it's worth making just for the beauty of it.

I haven't yet given my DH the socks I made for him recently. One of our cats (Tripper) likes to lie atop them.

It strange how perceptions change. About 6 months ago, I was having trouble finding sock patterns that I hadn't already knit and that looked fun. Now I have more sock patterns to knit than time or yarn (though it will be easy to change that latter). I've just finished test-knitting a sock pattern for Chrissy and am looking forward to making the second sock (even though it's not needed for the test knitting process).

Then the Project-a-Month KAL has decided to make socks for August and has chosen a cute pattern from Knitty. Finally, the sockamaniac_sockalong Yahoo group had an interesting mystery pattern for July that I would love to knit into a sock (but didn't mainly because of the shawl KAL). And there's an August KAL for the group which looks really interesting and fun to knit.

I never finished the July Project-a-Month KAL, a biscuit blanket -- mainly because I have issues with biscuits. -- I can't make them despite having lived in the South for quite a few years many years ago.

Mystery Shawl 3 -- Clue 2

After getting back from London, I've been busily working on the Mystery Shawl 3 -- among other knitting projects. Here's a picture of my progress -- to the end of Clue 2. It's lying atop of an afghan made by my MIL many years ago. I hope to finish Clue 3 in the next day or two, but I doubt whether I'll be able to finish Clue 4 before Friday. -- And, I don't even have the excuse of reading the newest Harry Potter book.

Two of my grown children have read the book, and we all went to see the latest movie. I was thinking about reading the HP books, starting with the first book on the trip back to the US. However, my DD said she wanted to reread the books, and so I gave my DS1's collection of HP books to her. I can always check them out from the local library. I read the latest edition of Analog, a science fiction magazine, on the plane. I was going to read a Dresden Files novel instead but brought along the wrong book in the series.

Yesterday, I knit the mid-July KAL dishcloth in its entirety. It took me less than 3 hours. (I left out the edging because a moss stitch dishcloth doesn't really need any edging.) The dishcloth looks good from both the WS and the RS. It's in navy, which showed up lighter in the photo.

Unfortunately, the reason that I had so long to knit at one stretch was that I was waited for our car (a Pontiac) to get its regularly scheduled oil change and tire rotation at the dealership (in Union, NJ). My DH's name was on the work order -- even though I was the one to bring the car in -- and so they never thought to tell me that the car was ready. I gave them my name after about 3 hours, but nothing happened. So, I ended up waiting for 5 hours before I got worried because I was the only one in the waiting room. I guess that in this part of the country, one has to bug people about when something is going to get done. Though, I'm not sure it would have helped. I was the one who finally found the car in the parking lot. They told me that it was probably out on a road test. I spent the rest of the time reading Analog. (They hadn't left a message on my cell phone, my DH's cell phone, or our home phone either.) That will probably be the last time we go back to that dealership. They were nice enough, however, to refund the price of the service. I'm not good at voicing my displeasure at lack of service, but my DH is.

From reading this post, I guess I should have titled it "Nothing is going quite right for me". But, the knitting, at least, is turning out well. I've almost finished Clue 3 of the Mystery Stole; I've almost finished the sock I was test-knitting, I've almost finished Tomato (after having to frog most of it); and I'm up to date on dishcloths for the dishcloth KAL (and really like how they've turned out).

I "got rid" of some of my dishcloths by giving several of them to my dear sister. This a picture of her, standing in front of our house. She came out here from Oregon to stay with our mom while my DH and I were in England. She's a lot better looking than I am. -- Our house is in the background.

London

We spent last week in London to attend our DD's graduation last Wednesday. Here she is after the ceremony looking at pictures on her camera while I took a picture of her with mine.
It was a nice ceremony. The university staggered ceremonies through the week. The afternoon of my DD's graduation, there were only 2 departments graduating students.
That evening we went out to an Italian restaurant in GX and also met her boyfriend for the first time.
We're not sure whether he's from East Anglia or Essex. Though, if he were from Essex, he would be unlikely to admit it. People from Essex have the probably undeserved rep of not being too smart.
I guess it's sort of like just after we moved to NJ. I told people that we lived near Newark -- even though we live 20-30 miles from Newark. I later found out from New Jersey-ans that I should say Northern NJ. People from elsewhere in the country are ok with the Newark description.

I bought along socks to knit. In fact, I finished the pair of socks for my DH. A picture of the socks is posted to SAM3.

I also started on test-knitting a sock for Chrissy. She designs such nice cabled socks. I forgot to bring a cable needle along and so had fun cabling without a cable needle. It isn't as hard as I thought. I used the method in which one leaves all the stitches on the RHN until done with the cable. (For a left-leaning cable, one first needs to slip knitwise each st onto the RHN and then slip them back purlwise before knitting the sts through the back loop.) Chrissy, of course, assumed that whoever was making the sock had a cable needle and/or would take the time to buy one. (And, yes, there are cable needles in London. But, I didn't see the need to buy one. I had a perfectly good one at home, and it was interesting looking at techniques for cabling without a cable needle.) I left my other projects on hold.

Shortly after getting back, I resumed my other knitting. Here is a picture of the July KAL dishcloth. I have yet to start the mid-July KAL. I also started working on the MS3 again and the Tomato. But, at least, I have a pair of socks finished -- just in time before the end of July.

While in London, we also went to the British Museum -- one of my favorite places. The area for the Mausoleum had been redone -- more befitting one of the Wonders of the Ancient World. We also saw the London Zoo for the first time.

To get to London and back, we tried out Zoom Airlines, a Canadian discount airline. It was a decent airline -- with a few caveats. The price in the ad is only part of what one pays. The amount we finally paid was about twice the advertised price since that price didn't include taxes, fees, and a fuel surcharge. It took a long time to leave JFK. We sat on the tarmac for a couple of hours before the air traffic controllers finally noticed us waiting to take off. Then, when we left from Gatwick, we found out the UK/EU regulations had changed and one was allowed only one carry on, including a purse or computer case. So, I dumped the contents of my purse into my carry on. However, the airline had a 5 kg limit on carry ons, and so I had to dump things like books from the carry on into one of our checked bags. At least, the lady at the counter was nice about it and did allow us to rearrange bag contents. She even suggested it so that we wouldn't incur an excess baggage fee. -- But, if one thinks about it, a 5 kg (11 lb) limit isn't much for something like a laptop and computer bag.

Mystery Shawl 3

I'm a little late in joining the MS3 KAL. I joined just before the deadline (after reading about it on one of the knitting boards). I ordered my yarn last Thursday and got it Tuesday. Then I needed to wind it into balls (I got 2 skeins.) and swatch. Here are the first 49 rows.

Unlike most people in the KAL who posted needle size used for KP lace-weight bare, I decided to use size 5 needles. (I also got my first KP needles -- which are nice.) The beads are size 8/0.

Putting beads on the yarn isn't nearly as hard as I had imagined. And knitting with such thin yarn is nearly as hard as I had imagined, either. Though, I was expecting the yarn to be even thinner than it is.

Frogging a Tomato

I don't think my navy KP Swish Superwash yarn wants to be made into a sweater. I knit it into a v-neck last October on size 5 needles. Then this spring, I decided that size 5 needles made a fabric that was too thick. So, I frogged it and decided to use size 7 needles on whatever I decided to knit with it next (probably another v-neck).

Then Knitting Daily came out with its Tomato. I loved the U-neck. Plus the colorwork looked interesting. I'd never done colorwork before. So, after a couple of false starts, I got the neckline done. The raglan increasing went well. And the colorwork went surprisingly well. Though, I have a new respect for English/American style knitters. I don't understand how they are able to let go of the needle each and every stitch. I did the colorwork by holding the main yarn in my left hand and the contrasting one in my right hand. Well, I finished the garment bottom k1p1 ribbing and finished it off with a p2tog k2togtbl bindoff. Then I started on the sleeves and discovered that one sleeve was a few sts wider around than the other. So, after taking the picture here, I frogged the sweater to the armholes. I'll restart it when the yarn dries. (I've become good at rinsing frogged yarn, drying it (The air conditioning vents are nice for that.), and then winding it into balls. Generally, I wouldn't post a picture of a sweater about to be frogged, but I'm proud of how the colorwork turned out. The contrasting color is KP Capri Swish Superwash, which I had to make another still undermined sweater. I bought one more skein of that than of the navy since I was thinking of doing a sweater with 3/4 length sleeves.

Before starting on the Tomato, I did one of my own patterns, the Summer Square in KP wave Shine Worsted. This is my Sweater # 6 for the year. So, I'm still on schedule to finish 12 sweaters in a year for the sweater KAL.

I can't follow my own pattern any better than I can someone else's pattern. This one has a slightly different neckline. I like this sweater a lot. The cotton blend has a nice feel to it.

I've finished sock number 1 of the Number 1 Husband socks. In my last post, I said they were ecru. They're actually in fawn. I should have made them into toe-up socks. But, it turned out ok. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish. But, I had a 1" round ball of yarn left over after finishing the toe. They look nice if I do say so myself. I'll publish a picture when they're done.

I've also joined the Mystery Shawl bandwagon. I've never made a lace shawl before, but I have made lace socks and lace dishcloths. I ordered lace-weight yarn from KP last Thursday, which I hope will arrive shortly. (At last look, it was in a sorting center in Edison, NJ.) Then I get to knit the test swatch to find out what needles to make. Or, maybe I'll just start with size 4 needles -- since a lot of people knitting the stole with this yarn are using that size needle. I may just knit a swatch to see how lace on lace-weight yarn looks. I think I'll blame my joining the group on a lady at the knitting group I attend. She makes lovely lace shawls.

My DD is back in London now. It was really nice having her visit us for a couple of weeks. She is missed already -- especially by the cats who both adore her. We adore her and miss her as well.

Perfect Crime

This past weekend we went into NYC to watch a matinée play. We were debating which play to watch when a couple of the people there said why not go to the play "Perfect Crime." Another person chimed in that she thought it was one of the best plays she'd ever seen. So, not seeing anything that struck our fancy on the half-price board, we took a flier and went to the box office to get the cheap tickets to the play. As we walked there, we tried to decide whether or not the third person was a plant.

Since we had time to spare, we went looking for a place to eat. There was a place right next to the theater which looked a lot like an English pub. It was actually in the process of becoming an Irish pub. The newer parts of the decor were basically Irish, the older parts cowboy/Western. The food was good. Plus, there probably aren't many places around here where one can get bangers and mash. We should have had beer with our lunch (It probably would have made the play more intelligible.) but decided on something nonalcoholic. As we left, we each got a free pen advertising the restaurant (on West 50th St near the Snapple Theater). That's the first time we got a pen for dining at a restaurant.

The play was something else. We still haven't figured out the why -- including why it's supposedly the longest running mystery play on Broadway.

To change the subject to knitting:
At the right is the mid-June KAL dishcloth from the Yahoo! dishcloth group. I think it turned out nicely -- if I do say so myself.

For my next sweater, I'm working on Tomato from Knitting Daily. I love the U-shaped neckline. My choice of colors isn't quite tomato-y, and my choice of yarn doesn't exactly fit the hot summer season when tomatoes grow best. I chose navy in KP Swish Superwash on size 7 needles. I had made a different sweater with the yarn on size 5 needles, didn't like how it turned out, and so frogged the whole thing (after wearing it a couple of times). This sweater seems to be turning out well. Luckily I had some Swish in a light blue that I was planning on making another sweater with. So, I used that for the contrasting color. (I'd purchased an extra skein of the second color just in case I wanted to do something different.)

I don't see how people knit English/American style. I decided to do the colorwork on Tomato by holding one color in each hand. I knit the main color Continental and the contrasting color English. ---
One has to let go of the right-hand needle to throw yarn English style!!!

For my July socks for SAM3, I've started on Number 1 Husband Socks in KP Essential ecru. My DH had been wearing the first and only pair of socks I knit for him around the house recently. So, I took that for a sign that he might like another pair.

Diagonal Rib Sock

These socks, the Diagonal Rib Socks from Knitting Daily, were fun to make -- for quite a few reasons. The first reason is that they're quick -- even with the twists. The second is that they're squishy. The third is that I wanted to learn how to do twists, and this was a perfect project. Another picture of the socks is here.

The socks are knit in KP Essential on size 1 circs. I made a few changes. The pattern, as written, is too big around for my foot. (I like negative ease.) So, I ended up making one fewer repeat of the pattern around the leg and extending the diagonal ribbing panel by 2 sts -- to make a sock 30 sts around. Then, since I had only 4 twisted rib panels, I thought it would be a wonderful idea to practice left twists as well as right twists. So, the sock has 2 right twist diagonal rib panels and 2 left twist diagonal rib panels. This is a wonderful link on how to make left twists that look the reverse of right twists. (I used the method in the middle of the third paragraph in the link.)

Twists are slight different from cabling 1 st over or under another. Because of knitting 2 sts together as part of the twist, they stick out more from the background than a regular cable would.

I couldn't decide on what kind of heel to make (plain, eye of partridge, etc.). And so, I just kept working the pattern down the back of the heel. IMHO, this looks nice. Though, if I were to make it as a men's sock (which I think would be nice), I would use a plain or padded heel.

Then, I decided to experiment by making the heel flap have a knit st edge instead of a slipped st edge. So, I knit the first and last st on each row of the heel flap, which produced purl bumps on the sides of the heel flap. The picture on the right shows these bumps picked up and ready to be knit. I like this just as well, if not better than the traditional method. The seam lies flat, and there are no holes on the side. What's left are some "decorative" bumps along the right side of the seam. The inside is smooth.

Finally, I get the Lion Brand email newsletter, which had a kitty bath mitt pattern as one of the suggested projects. I couldn't resist it. Here's an in-progress picture. I didn't want to wait to order Cotton Ease and so bought some Cot'n at our local store. The circs are size 7.

It's notable since it's the first time I've ever used a stitch holder, and this one has all three of my stitch holders on it. (I bought them years and years ago but never used them.) The base of the thumb is on one stitch holder. The base of the other ear is on the other 2. I cast on 33 sts instead of 44 and made the rest of the widths as 3/4 of the suggested widths. (I'm working it in the round because I try to keep away from seaming whenever possible.)

Finally, I don't know whether or not I should be allowed in the garden. I ordered several plants mail order, including some asparagus. I couldn't decide which side was up. So, I planted them so they looked nice. After looking on the internet for pictures of asparagus (I'd never grown it before.), I discovered that it was planted upside down with the roots sticking up from the soil like the top of a decorative grass. They've since been replanted the proper way.

Shawl finished

My shawl for the Yahoo! Project of the Month KAL is finally finished. It's made with size 10 needles and HomeSpun Prairie. I've never made or worn a shawl before, and so I'm not sure if it turned out right. (I'd also never knit with HomeSpun or size 10 needles before. It was a nice change of pace.) The pattern I was using, a wave and shell shaw pattern said that the shawl should be about 24" wide and 60" long. My first effort gave a shawl about 20" wide and finishable with about 2 skeins of HomeSpun. So, since I'd already bought 3 skeins, I frogged it and made it one panel wider. It's a bit wider than 24" and a bit longer than 60". This is the result.

I thought a garter stitch edging made the shawl gather together too much on the edges, and so I modified it. On WS rows 4, 8, 12, and 16 of the pattern, I did "k1, p to last st, k1". But on WS rows 10 and 14, I changed the first p5 to k5 and the last p4 to k4.

For SAM3, I'm making the diagonal rib socks from Knitting Daily. Ever since I frogged a whole sweater in part because I didn't like how my left and right twists looked, I've been looking off and on for an easy pattern to practice on and also a good way to make the twists. There are quite a few links for the right twist. This link gave me the best-looking and easiest way to do a left twist. (I used what the author said was her preferred method for making a left twist when both left and right twists appear.) The pattern from the Knitting Daily website doesn't have any left twists in it, but I altered it so I could practice them.

Sweater 5

My fifth sweater for the year is now finished. (The picture doesn't do it justice.) It feels so nice. Patons 100% Wool merino is really soft.

This sweater is my version of the knitty.com pattern Bob. However, the only similarities between the two patterns is the final result. This one is knit from the top down and in the round. I've knit this (my) pattern twice before. The major change this time, from the last time I knit it, is to use a simple narrow k1p1 ribbing at the bottom of the sweater in order to take away interest from the hips. The bind offs are decrease bind offs, which are fairly stretchy.

I just looked at my old version of the pattern from the May 2004 archives of my aol journal. That pattern is slightly different to the pattern for the sweater in the picture (and slightly different from the pattern in the April archives of my aol journal). Here is the revised pattern. I can't believe that I've been blogging for that long. The 2004 version was the first short-sleeve sweater I'd ever made.

One time I asked my daughter why things turn out so much better when we cook/bake something together as opposed to when I cook/bake alone. She pointed out that I always change the recipe -- even my own -- and that she "forces" me not to make too many changes on the fly. With knitting, one can make changes on the fly. If it doesn't work out, there's always frogging. With cooking, the best options are sometimes to start over or to live with it.

I've already started on sweater #6, a summer sweater from another of my patterns, Summer Square. I'm using KP shine worsted in a light blue for the sweater and have finished off one skein of yarn already. The skeins are smallish.

I restarted the shawl I was working on. I decided to make it wider. So, now, it's one pattern repeat wider than it was in the picture in the last post. I still like Homespun. It's kind of fun to knit with. I'm already thinking about other projects that I might make with the yarn. (I'm also thinking about other projects to make with Patons -- probably a long-sleeve sweater.) I'll probably make a fitted shawl for my mom with Homespun next, the Fitted Shawl from KnittingDaily. I almost always end up making changes to patterns, even my own. However, I don't think I'll end up making too many changes. Though, it would be nice to add a couple of pockets. ...

The dishcloth is the midMay KAL dishcloth from the Yahoo! dishcloth KAL group. It's an interesting pattern. I haven't decided what it reminds me of in its orange yarn which I'm still deciding whether or not I like.

Shawl

The project for the Yahoo! Project of the Month KAL is a shawl. Actually, it's the project for both May and June. I'm making a wave and shell shawl with Homespun Prairie yarn. I don't know why, but I'm having no problems knitting with it. I probably should be using a needle larger than the size 10 one I'm using. But, I had the needle from some project that I never even started and wanted to use it for something.

Also, I've posted an easy-to-make pullover pattern on my other knitting blog. It's a knit-from-the-bottom and seam-up-the-sides-and-top pullover. In writing and rewriting the pattern, I've gotten the urge to make it again -- especially since the pattern as it now stands is so much better than the one I originally used. But, I've got a couple of sweaters to knit before buying yarn for this one. I debated (and am still debating) on whether it would be better to have a slip-stitch edging or a knit-stitch edging (knit at the beginning and end of every right-side and wrong-side row). I opted for the knit-stitch one (since I saw on one episode of Knitty Gritty how easy it was to sew up seams with that king of edging). Then I thought about how to pick up stitches with a knit-stitch edging. So, I picked up stitches off of one of my dishcloths and liked the look.

So, my next philosophical question is why haven't I found any sock patterns in which the heel flap doesn't have a slip-stitch edge. It seems to me that a knitted edge would give an edge that is just as easy to pick up stitches from. (Pick up a stitches between bumps.) Plus, it might lie flatter and be less likely to leave gaps. I haven't tried it yet. But I most likely will on my next pair of socks.

Finally, I've started knitting the mid-May KAL dishcloth. I started over on it because it's one of the times that, to me, variations of the ssk won't do. It's looks so much better with slip 1 knitwise, slip 1 knitwise, knit the stitches together through back loop.

Mother's Day

Yesterday was Mother's Day. All three children called to wish me a happy day. It was really nice hearing from them. My oldest and my DH both sent/got me flowers.

My DH and I also went to a soccer game at Giant's Stadium. Evidently, there were over 7,00 people there, but it doesn't look like it. We got to see, Angel, a player that we'd watched quite a few times on British tv. This was his first game playing for a MLS team. Angel and Mathis are in white near the top of the box.

I've finished my Baudelaire socks. I'll post a picture of them on the SAM3 KAL page later. I've finished half the body for my next sweater in Patons Merino. The yarn is really soft. It behaves like I thought 100% wool would in its springiness, but it doesn't behave like I thought it would shrinkwise. Since I'm surprised its lack of shrinking, I've soaked it a couple or more times on the needles already, wrapped it in a towel, and then blocked it. It still hasn't shrunk. And I'm still getting 4 sts and 6 rows per inch.

Sandy Hook

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in New Jersey. So, my DH said let's go for a drive and that I should pick out a place to go. So, I used mapquest and entered "beach" as my intended destination. After looking at the list of possibilities, I entered a state, NJ. On page 2 of the possible destinations, there was a beach that looked interesting and fairly near. So, I printed off directions.

A road trip wouldn't be a road trip without me getting lost. So, when US 9 and NJ 36 divided, I told my DH to follow US 9. I hadn't gotten to the NJ 36 part of the directions yet -- although evidently the car had. Then quite a few miles later, probably about a third of the way to Atlantic City, I told my DH that he should start looking for NJ 36. He said we'd passed it quite a while back. So, I looked at a NJ map, we turned toward the coast, and started going north on NJ 36. It's before Memorial Day and so we were able to visit Sandy Hook for free. We got to see seagulls! Seagulls are in the foreground of the picture and NYC is barely visible in the distance on the horizon.

We traveled all the way to almost the northernmost part of Sandy Hook. There are battlements there that were constructed during the War of 1812 to protect the NYC harbor and the entrance to the Hudson River. It was surprising to me that the lighthouse was so far from the shore. But, it's a nice looking lighthouse. And, even with the getting lost part, it wasn't too bad of a drive. Plus, it was nice to see the ocean and seagulls. (I miss the seagulls we used to have in our back garden in Broadstairs.)

As to knitting, I'm halfway done with my second Baudelaire sock. I've finished the May KAL dishcloth (of a daffodil in bloom). And I've restarted the sweater I've been working on. -- Paton's Merino Wool doesn't shrink much, if at all. It's also fairly stretchy. But, so far it's holding its shape and feels soft. So far, it's working out to 4 sts and 6 rows per inch for me with size 7 needles -- my usual for worsted weight yarn.

Sweater 4

Finally, it's finished -- just in time for the warm weather we're having now. :) This is the last sweater for quite some while that I'm going to make on size 3 needles. But, at least, I've finally found a pattern for this yarn and have used up some of my stash. The yarn is Robin Double Knit, which I purchased at a post office when we were living in Kent. It's knit from the top down. The neck is garter stitch in first red, then a knit and then a purl round of the main color, then a knit and then a purl round of red again. The basket-weave stitch itself is k4, p4 for 8 rounds then p4, k4 for another 8 rounds. The sleeves are finished with 4 rounds of garter stitch in red (starting with a knit round), then a knit round in the main color, followed by a set-up round and then by k1, p1 ribbing. The bottom of the garment is finished off the same way (except for the change in color -- no need to emphasize the hips). I made double decreases every 16th round on the sleeves and also decreased evenly around before both the garter stitch and ribbing finishing. (To decrease for the ribbing, I did k1, p1, k1, p2tog for the sleeves. For the garment, *k1, p1* 4 times, k1, p2tog. Next time, I do ribbing I'll replace the k1's by slip sts in this set-up round.)

For the next sweater, I'm going to make a simple top-down boat-neck short-sleeve raglan in Patons Merino denim with size 7 needles. I've never knit with this yarn before. So, it will be a bit of an adventure. To make it more exciting, I'm not going to swatch. Instead, I've knit 4 rounds of the neckline and washed it while it was still on the needles. (So, I guess I really am doing a swatch.) I'm going to let it dry and then see whether or not I'll have to frog and reknit in order to get it over my head. I've made this pattern a couple of times in acrylic. It's a basic try-on-as-you-go pattern.

My DS is now back in London. His flight left last night. We had a really nice visit. The cats miss him, as does the rest of the family. I hope he'll wear the socks I knit for him around the flat. They're Thuja socks in Sassy Stripes and size 3 needles.

Now, I'm on to getting the second Baudelaire sock finished. To finish the first, I bought my first set of cable needles. I had been using DPs for cabling but didn't have any small enough.

Chocolate standards

I just read a Washington Post article that the FDA might change the requirements for what can be called chocolate. It seems that they are thinking of relaxing the requirement that chocolate have cocoa butter in it to be called chocolate.

The Washington Post article has a link to DontMessWithOurChocolate.Guittard.com. Evidently, this company is leading the campaign against the change.

Trees

One of my favorite Clint Eastwood songs is "I talk to the trees." Well, it seems, in this case, that the trees were eavesdropping on a conversation my DH and I had about them. I was telling my DH that the 3 trees seen in the picture hadn't had more than 10 leaves at a time from when they suddenly dropped all their leaves last April and that, if they didn't get any leaves this spring, we'd have to cut them down. (I'm guessing that when the previous owners of the house had someone come in to kill termites that the poison affected the trees. I had trouble growing annuals next to the wood that was treated.) Well, it seems that the trees overheard the conversation and got scared that they might get cut down. They were some of the first trees to leaf out this year. I hope they don't mind being anthropomorphized. ;)

I've finished the mid-April KAL dishcloth with the Yahoo dishcloth group. It's done in hot pink in Sugar 'n Cream. It took a while to get it finished because I kept forgetting yo's.

I've started on the second sleeve on the basketweave pullover and hope to have it done in the next week or so -- just in time for the hot/warm weather. Maybe I'll have to use the rest of the yarn in a short-sleeve pullover.

I've put my second Baudelaire sock on hold since my DS2 said he wouldn't mind me knitting a pair of socks for him. I'm making him Thuja socks. He has big feet, but the socks are going along nicely since the Thuja pattern is so easy to knit up. I hope to have them finished by the time he returns to university.

We went to a Rockies-Mets game yesterday evening. It was a fun game. I even got some knitting done there. We've yet to see the Rockies win a game even though we used to go to approximately 1 Rockies game a year when my DS and her family lived in Denver.

Tulip Bud dishcloth

This must be my year for joining KALs. The latest KAL I've joined is a Yahoo! group project of the month KAL. The first project is a dishcloth, the one at the left. It's done mostly in garter stitch. One unusual part to the pattern is that the tulip bud itself is raised. The dishcloth is on top of a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle that we recently completed.

I'm almost done with one of the sleeves of the basketweave sweater. I finished off the main part of the garment with 4 rows of garter stitch (the middle of which contains a decrease of about 10% spaced evenly around -- on a knit rnd) and then 10 rnds of k1p1 -- all in the main color. I'm planning on making the sleeve cuff match the neckline in some way.

I'm also continuing work on the Baudelaire socks. I've had to redo the heel a couple or more times because Fleegle's no-hassle sock heel doesn't come up high enough on the back of my ankle. (I have a high arch.)

I've finished off one ball of crochet thread for the curtain I'm still making and have started on another ball of thread. I'm glad it's for a small window. Though, by this time, the pattern is second-nature to me, and I can knit it even while watching tv. (I like to have several projects going at once. That way, if I need to stop and think about how to proceed with one project, I can work on another. Plus, it's nice to be able to switch from one needle size to another.)

On the weather front :) , we've had a nor'easter for the last couple of days (produced when a low forms off the New Jersey coast). We're fine. Though, a lot of people living in low-lying areas experienced flooding.

Finally, the picture on the right is of Mel Stottlemyre, a former Yankees pitcher. He was at the book store last Friday signing copies of his new book. He was there for a couple of hours. While waiting in line, my DH and I discovered that the person behind us in line works for the same company that my DH worked for -- though at a different location.

PT Cruiser

We learned a couple of miscellaneous things this long weekend. The first is that if you go to the car rental counter and say that you don't care what kind of car you get, prepare to be surprised. My DH and I did that and got a Chrysler PT Cruiser. From the outside, it looks like a London cab. It drove nicely; it had the first in-car analog clock I've seen in quite some time; plus we had no problem at all finding it in parking lots. It's the car in the picture. -- Colorado Springs is beautiful even in an ice storm.

Second, online motel reviews need to be taken with a grain of salt. We booked a motel using aol travel. Then a day later, I read reviews of the motel. They were a bit scary. The only consolation that I had was that although the reviews gave the motel a maximum of 3 stars, the average rating was 3 stars. We stayed there 2 nights (our entire stay in the town) and had no complaints at all about the motel. In fact, we liked the motel a lot. It was a pleasant surprise.

Lace curtain

I'm slowly making progress on the lace curtain for my DD's bathroom window. (I realize that I'm going to great efforts to get rid of the Venetian blinds there. But, right now I'm in the lace making mood.) I've frogged it several times so far -- once to change the pattern and to change from knitting from the top down to knitting from the bottom up; once to change the width and the edging. I've gotten far enough now that I probably won't do any more frogging. At least, I'm past the 4" mark, which seemed to be my favorite length to frog at. Though, it's still up in the air whether it will make it to the window. I'm using size 5 needles and size 10 crochet thread. (The thread plumps up a little when washed. -- I've washed it a couple of times on the needles to check washability.) The pattern is what Stanfield and Griffiths call "Candlelight." The edging is the wrong side of what they call "Shadow Rib." The bumps on the edge are created by ending each row with a purl st and starting each one with a slip (with yarn in front) st. (My other blog has details on the edging.) I'm hoping that I won't have to put a separate edging on it. My plan is eventually to have the Shadow Rib across the top and to fold it over to fit around a curtain rod. -- But, that's a long way off.

I've finished the main part of the garment for the basketweave pullover that I'm making and have started on a sleeve. It looks so weird with no sleeve on one side and part of a sleeve on the other that I'm going to wait to post a picture.

Finally, for my April socks, I've started on Baudelaire socks. I'm planning on using the heel from Fleegle's no-hassle sock pattern.