No Caribou for you, me, or anyone else!

Update Since Last Post: I called Ardor Health this morning to let Jennifer know that Leslie never called me on Friday for the interview. She called me back at about 3:00 this afternoon (the 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. wait was ugly) to let me know that Leslie no longer needed an Ultrasound Tech in Caribou.

With hands thrown up in the air in a pose of "Why - Why!" I am trying not to submit to the overwhelming feelings of self-doubt and defeat, but it is getting really hard.

Instead I will share some of the things that have made me smile over the past few days.

1) I have completed just short of 12 of the 17 pattern repeats of the first half of the center panel of my Blind Assassin Stole.

Reason Number 314 of why I love to knit: Waiting is no longer done in vain. Regardless of my disappointment in not having a job I do have something very beautiful to show for my fret filled weekend. I love this stole. The Silk/Cashmere looks and feels wonderful. I also feel like a little fairy knitting with the triple zeros. There is one (okay 12 so far - eventually 34) bit of Wabi Sabi - one stitch in each pattern repeat is suppose to be a slip, slip, slip, knit 3 together - I have just been knitting 3 together like the stitch 6 rows below. Its okay, its the Assassin's Wabi Sabi.

2) My wonderful roommate Dan found this hysterical cartoon, Unicorn Planet. You can watch the first two episodes here. Dan and I especially enjoy singing the theme song. (Heyyy!) The episodes are really short and stream right over UTube - you won't regret it.

3) I was annalysing my account with blog counter and found this link in my "Top 30 Referers" - http://www.google.fr/blogsearch?hl=fr&q=sundara%20cherry%20blossom&lr=

Which brought me to a query done on Google: Recherche de Blogs. It was a Google Blog Search site - in French. After a Google search of "Google blog search" I found "Google Blog Search." I think this is pretty cool - and since my French is tres mal, it's a good thing I found the English version, right sisterjaan?

4) I had a wonderful time spinning with Tawana, Hila, and Tomo, from Sit N' Knit New York's spinning meetup on Sunday. It is so wonderful doing something that you are truly bad at with people that you truly like! Oh, not to worry drop spindle of mine, I will master you yet!

Tomorrow I am going to buy a new pair of "inteviewesque" walking shoes and begin planning my mission to bring - in person - my resume to every ultrasound department within an hour of my apartment. HEYYY! (If you watched Unicorn Planet you would have sung along with that!)

The Blind Assasin Stole

I am writing this post as I wait for a phone interview for a 13 week job assignment in Caribou, Maine. Knitting needles are crossed.

According to Wikipedia - "The reindeer, known as caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer (Rangifer tarandus)." I have been having an extremely hard time finding an Ultrasound job - how great would it be if a reindeer helped me get this job! Caribou, Maine is also not far from Montreal, which after a quick Google search appears to have many yarn stores! If I have to go Subarctic to work - much better in the Spring and Summer!


A while back I read The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. There is a story within the story which is told by a young man to his lover during their clandestine encounters. It is complicated, so I will just give the relevant detail. The location where the story takes place is known for their beautiful hand-woven carpets. The carpets are so intricate that they can only be woven by children - small nimble hands. The children eventually go blind because of the intricate work the carpets require. The value of the carpets are determined by the number of children who went blind while weaving them. I have begun a project that I will be calling: The Blind Assassin Stole. The pattern is the Print O' the Wave Stole designed by Eunny Jang. I decided I wanted to do the cobweb version. I ordered a cone of lilac silk/cashmere "yarn" from ColourMart Cashmere. This is why I call it "yarn". Okay it is literally thread. Luscious cashmere/silk thread - but thread. I ended up winding it triple - and although it adds another challenge to the knitting, it is worth it. (That is my favorite coffee mug - I got it this summer while on vacation in the Adirondacks at Blue Mountain Designs - it's hand thrown.)

Phone interview update: It is now 5:30 p.m. and I have not heard from Leslie in Caribou who will be interviewing me over the phone. I called Jennifer, my contact at Ardor Health, and she told me to hang in there, Leslie should be calling today. It is going to be a long weekend if she does not call today.

Eunny's pattern calls for size 00 needles for the cobweb version and I ended up getting size 000 - since I was able to buy them at my favorite LYS - Downtown Yarns. That's the size 000 on the left as compared with a size 1 on the right. I know it is crazy - but look how crazy beautiful it looks (and it's not even blocked yet)!

OOOH! AAAAH! It is worth it! And it feels so light and soft. I tried taking a picture while stretching it out with my hands but I cannot do it myself, I'll have one at the next update. Oh, and in case you were wondering this is going to be for me!

5:50 p.m.: Still no call - outlook getting dimmer.

I finished the Lenten Rose socks and gave them to a very pleased Allison.
I gave them to her before a performance of Transfigures at The Woman's Project. I couldn't get her to put them on there and since I haven't heard from her, I can only assume that they fit.

6:05 p.m.: Still no call - have started drinking!

Somewhere in Kabul....

... my knitting is keeping a little girl's feet warm!


Two months ago I knit these Mystery Cable socks for Afghans for Afghans. A woman named Marsha took the socks with her to two schools she works with in Kabul, Afghanistan.

I just received this e-mail update from Afghans for Afghans:

"Marsha MacColl has returned from Kabul, where she distributed our wool socks to students at two schools operated by Afghans 4 Tomorrow. We can all be so pleased and proud of Marsha. She did a phenomenal job of conveying our messages of friendship, caring, and respect. Marsha creatively incorporated our socks in her English-language instruction, and we provided funds so she could purchase snack treats as part of a little celebration. Marsha distributed our gifts with tremendous personal attention and regard for both the students and the sock-knitters! The girls and boys were given the unusual experience of selecting what they wanted from the array of socks. These kids absolutely needed socks -- often their feet are bare when they remove their shoes in the classroom. Marsha kindly shared some larger socks with teachers and school staff, too.We'll tell you more about these experiences and provide some photos in the near future. Thank you, again, to all who responded to the needs of the Afghan Mobile Mini Circus and Afghans 4 Tomorrow. There are plenty of warmer and happier heads and feet now -- and all of our hearts are warmer, too!"

My heart is warmer too! There were tears rolling down my cheeks while I pictured a little girl picking out my socks! I read a great post on Knitting Knews a while back, that gave very valid reasons for not knitting for charity. It really made me think about why I enjoy it so much. I have come to the conclusion that the knitting is just as much for me as is for them.

I will smile often, thinking of those little pink socks on warmer feet in Kabul!

They are currently excepting items for the "Mother's Day Campaign for Afghan Mothers."
I am going to knit something and send it in honor of my mother as her Mother's Day present. (Mom, I doubt you are reading this, but if you are, promise to be surprised and honored, okay?)

My Sisterjaan and What's Knitting - A Post in Two Parts

PART I - MY SISTERJAAN

My sister Amy (aka Amyjaan), is currently living in Doha, Qatar - a middle eastern country across the gulf from Iran. She is doing post-graduate study of Arabic at Qatar University. She is there on a full scholarship from a program that is facilitated through Georgetown University. Yes, she is majnoona (Arabic for crazy girl), but in the most awesome sense of the word. She doesn't like Doha very much, her actual word for it in Qatartid, but she says that her Arabic is improving and she has been able to do a lot of traveling. Recently she got food poisoning and a kidney infection while traveling in Turkey with her American boyfriend Tom(he came to Turkey from Chicago). Hilarity ensued Amyjaan style due to her one semester of college Turkish. I only got worried when she told me that at one point they had called in a surgery consult - she assumed in was her appendix, since the Doctor had done a lot of pushing on her left side. Being that the appendix is on the right side and that my sister's Turkish is not very good, no one knows why the surgical consult was called (if anyone has any ideas I'd love to hear them). Just know that she is back in Qatar and must be feeling better since she just instant messaged me, while very intoxicated. The above picture was taken sometime before Christmas. She is wearing the Abaya that she is required to wear at the University. She actually loves it. It allows her to roll out of bed - throw it on over her pajamas - and go to class. (I love her so much!) She is holding her cat Oskar, who came to my parent's house with her for Christmas and ended up staying in New York. Oskar has the loudest, most annoying meow and eats everything - really, I watched him attack and eat a roll. He was abandoned at birth so he has food issues. Feel free to leave questions or comments on the blog for Amy -she will read them and will respond.

PART II - WHAT'S KNITTING
I finished the Pea Pod Baby Set. I am really happy with how it came out. Things got a little dicey with adapting the guage - chart repeats of the lace, number of rows, increasing the arms and decreasing the hat - but no one got hurt and I think it looks great! I felt like a real knitting ninja while knitting the arms two at a time magic loop style! The problem that I always run into doing two at a time is the way the two balls of yarn wind around one another - creating crazy knots. I solved this by putting each ball in a zip lock bag and unwinding every row or two. I think the thing that I like best are the "bobble instead of buttons." Now I don't have to worry about my knitting choking a small child!

I also have done some work on my Lenten Rose socks. They are the 30th birthday present for my friend Allison. She is 6 feet tall and her foot measures 10" from heel to big toe - so it is sort of on a dare that I am knitting her socks.
The legs are on the short side - due to my absolute paranoia about having enough of the one of a kind Sundara Petals Collection sock yarn. I turned the heel on the first one and was working my way down the foot when I decided that I should start the second to avoid second sock syndrome. I love the way the lace looks on this huge sock! I knit several chart repeats on the size ones that the pattern called for - but Allison couldn't get the few rows of cuff over her heal - so I frogged and am knitting with two's. Although this does allow for faster knitting it only increased my yardage worries. However, with only a few inches of the sock to go you can see that I will have pleanty of yarn. A note about Sundara Petal's Collection: I will not be ordering the next three month installment. I was generally disappointed with the Lenten Rose yarn - mainly because it did not match the tone of the flower that inspired the yarn. As for the Bird of Paradise - there is only so much love I can give to varigated dayglow pink, yellow and green. I only got angry when I saw the Cherry Blossom yarn that she did for Sundara Yarn's one year anniversay. It is so incredibly beautiful that it made me feel as though she really cheated the people who had paid more for the Petal's Collection. Even if SOCKATION 2007 didn't last long - it made me realize that there are a lot of things I want to knit and a sock club might just not be for me. Sundara's April better wow me though, because right now I am feeling really burnt!

stupid, STupid, STUPID!

Last night, on row 58, as I started the underarm decreases of my Pea Pod Baby sweater, I realized that I had 12 too many stitches. I must have counted the stitches 10 times and could not believe that I kept getting 147 when I should have had 135. I put it on a long Knit Picks Options chord, set it aside, and used my stress relief device.

I just couldn't figure out how I ended up with 12 extra stitches. It must have been an evil knitting sprite who changed my knitting while I slept. I checked my numbers again this morning - just in case the good fairy had come and changed it back - but still there were 12 extra stitches. There was nothing to do but start over. I did leave the 58 rows on the chord - someday I will finish the sweater as a larger size, or I will need the yarn and frog it. After the 7th row of my "start-over" I realized my mistake. In the 3rd row of the ribbing there is a yarn over - in the 7th row you knit a section of stitches out of order and KNIT 2 TOGETHER. Guess how many times this happens? That's right - 12! Somehow during my first attempt I didn't do the knit 2 togethers. The only thing that is keeping me knitting is knowing how much faster attempt two will be with 12 fewer stitches in every row. That's 612 fewer stitches! WOW!






I did have a lot of fun at Sit N’ Knit Crochet today. Forbes Magazine is doing a story about Meetup.com and a reporter and photographer came to our meetup. Here is a picture of the photographer and Chante taking a picture of the Meetup.com themed name tag that I knit.

I am a HUGE dork ... and that is so cool!

My day of "REPRESENTing" was perfect. I woke up in the morning and realized that my "Represent Hat" was still damp. First I ironed it... then I blew the inside with a hair dryer... then I just put it on my head and decided it was dry enough and the dampness would allow for perfect blocking. I have to admit that I was a bit confused by the whole hat thing. For some reason I thought that everyone was suppose to wear a hat to represent knitters who couldn't be there - it really was itching by the end of the day - but I had to keep it on because the hat head was ridiculous!

In the morning I took the train to Strawberry Fields for the "sock photo op." I met another knitter on the train, who told me about this must have t-shirt. At the park, we were interviewed by KAT from the knitting video podcast Let's Knit2gether. I also met Guido (2Skeins) Stein ,the knitting show host of the podcast It's a Purl, Man. He is a really cool guy. I just subscribed to his podcast and I am looking forward to having something new to listen to while knitting.

Here are all of our socks around the "Imagine" mosaic. Mine are the at about 11 o'clock, just outside of the large white "thing". I like to think John is pleased.

Here is Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot, signing my copy of Knitting Rules. As she signed the book, I explained that my knitting circle had a contest to knit a name tag, and I won the book she was signing. She looked at me - with the admiration of a mother who just watched their child play a baked potato in the Thanksgiving play - and said, "I love knitters." Now, not to turn this into something that it isn't, but it was really great to have someone who didn't know me at all - see me.

Here's what she wrote.

In case you can't make it out it says, "To Allena - Obsession is normal. Stepanie Pearl-McPhee"

As people started to leave the park I realized that I had a voice message from Anne-Marie, the fearless leader of Sit N' Knit, New York. We had e-mailed earlier about me being the contact person for Sit N' Knit's reserved seats. Anne-Marie couldn't be there because she had just delivered "the future knitter," Anastasia Marie, on the 16th of March. Anne-Marie decided that it would be easiest if I just came by her apartment so she could give the stuff that I would need. It was so great to see AM(Squared). I even got to hold the "future knitter," and she is absolutely beautiful. Anne-Marie looked great, and seems to have adapted to motherhood perfectly.

From Anne-Marie's, I made my way to FIT to see the Yarn Harlot "Represent." It was a little stressful figuring out how Sit N' Knits reserved seats were going to work, but it was all worth it once we were seated in the front row.

Here's a decent picture of the crowd, but we did fill up the place. Special thanks to Wendy, for holding my camera above her head to get the shot. The red bags that you see were on each chair and contained size 8 Boyle needles, a skein of Patons SWS, and patterns to knit a square for Warm Up America! I ended up having to finish my square at home, but I am a big fan of the Patons SWS. It feels really soft, and I love the color repeats. I gave the leftover to Dan, I think doing a square will be a good way for him to recognize the difference the difference between knit and purl stitches.

Here is my failed attempt at one of The Harlot's sock shots. Believe it or not Stephanie is on stage behind that sock, but I realize that I might as well have taken this picture in a dark room. Special thanks to Judes for holding it out for me, unfortunately hers didn't come out any better... but her sock rocks enough for me to show the picture anyway. My picture of Stephanie on stage tuned out horrible, so I won't bore you with it.

To Be Continued.......

Speed Knitting for the Harlot

I decided that I needed a hat to wear/donate for the Yarn Harlot Represent events tomorrow. I had yarn - so I knit, I knit as fast as my Knit Pick options would let me ... and what were 2 skeins of Cascade 220 this morning is now ...
The pattern , Center Square - Knitty, Winter 2006, called for decreasing 8 stitches every row for eight rows - but I was getting huge ladders and it didn't fit, so I ended up frogging back and decreasing every other row - and I think it is pretty cute! It is even worth the sore index finger! For any of you out there who cannot be there tomorrow - this cap is for you! I am so excited!

And so much for my Sockation - I will be going to Stawberry Fields tomorrow and I will be knitting socks.

SOCKATION 2007!

I have knit and frogged and knit and frogged so many patterns with that Colinette Jitterbug, that I am taking a vacation from socks - a SOCKATION! I feel so free! I found out yesterday that my Sherry Godmother's (she's my Godmother, her name is Sherry, so she's my Sherry Godmother, get it?!) son and his wife had a baby boy - Henry Butler Tate ... so I cast on! I chose yarn from my stash that at one point was in various stages of becoming a cardigan for my Grandma Elizabeth. Since Grandma Elizabeth passed away before the cardigan was anywhere near completion, I frogged it - promising myself I would use the yarn for special projects. My Grandmother was very fond of my Sherry Godmother - having known her from her childhood - and I know that she is very pleased with my yarn selection. I am half way through the body of sweater from the Pea Pod Baby Set. The yarn, Zara Extrafine Merino, is small on gauge so I am having to knit the largest size in order to get a 3 month size, but it is worth it due to the sentimentality of the yarn. I am knitting bobbles instead of using buttons - on the same row as the button hole I am knitting a bobble on the opposite band. I am also doing the matching hat - so I might have to do a pair of socks, no booties, booties to match!
I am also about to start my first lace! I have chosen the Print O' The Wave Stole, designed by Eunny Jang. The yarn came in the mail today! I purchased two skeins of wool lace weight yarn from handpaintedyarn.com in Satin Rose.
It was only $5.95 for a 950 yard skein! I just wound one skein into a ball and I did not notice one single break in the yarn.

Oh, and not to worry secret feet, your socks are just a ribbing cuff decision away from being complete!

So much better!

I bought a skein of Colinette JitterBug yarn yesterday. I love the colorway, castagna - it feels really nice - and I was excited .... until I had it in a nonreturnable ball and I really had to: The skein is less than 300 meters! None of my sock patterns call for less than 350! OOOOOH I WAS MAD. I left a message at the yarn store, even though they were closed to inquire about what could be done. Since nothing else could be accomplished until morning I took a while drinking a "Chick-a-lobe" and enjoying the wonderful aroma of my new Eucalyptus Spearmint Scentport refill.

The owner of Downtown Yarns called me this morning and was genuinely kind. She assured me that many people had knit a pair with the skein, just as the manufacturer promised. Well, lets clarify, Colinette says that you can knit the pair of socks on the back of their label, which is just a plain stockinette sock - not for me thank you. The women told me to start knitting and if I ran into any problems to please let her know. Downtown Yarns is now officially my favorite LYS in NYC.

Once my pity party ended I grabbed my Barbara G. Walker "A Treasury of knitting Patterns". I decided to stick with Chapter Five: Slip Stitch Patterns, since they would most likely use the least yarn.

For attempt one I knit the "Diagonal Weave" - after charting to be knit in the round, rather than flat I thought it look ... okay. But like most things in Bon Appetit I just don't want to make the whole thing - let alone two. So I moved on to the "Little Butterfly", and my And for the close up .... Oh, and special thanks to Blogless Penelope (hint, hint) and Chante for their advice. And thank you Necia for raging with me! (Oh, I'm knitting with size ones)

Should I be mad?

I am really mad, but I want your opinion. At a yarn store today (which will remain un-named until I am able to see what their perspective is on this) I bought one skein of sock yarn. I know that I should have looked at the yardage, but they told me that one skein would knit a pair of socks. Actually one girl in the shop said it should knit a pair of socks and "a little something". I really love this colorway - and it is perfect for my secret feet - but the skein cost $21, about the amount that I would spend on yarn for a pair of socks. After winding the skein at home I was able to properly examine the label (the way in was stapled on the skein made it impossible to read all of the information) and came to two horrible realizations.

#1) It is only 267 yards/ 292 meters. This is not enough for a pair of socks.

#2) On a part of the label that I could not see until after I had removed it said:

"Colinette yarns are all hand dyed and therefore colours may vary from hank to hank to achieve an even colour effect it is essential to work with more than one hank at a time. Try working 2-4 rows from each hank, carrying the yarn up the side."

What? What? I cannot imagae knitting a sock this way! And it is not meant for a skein to knit a pair of socks - you need two skeins!

I called the store and left a message. I know that they don't take back skeins after they are wound, but I feel like these are difficult sercumstances.

What would you do, or expect the store to do?

Oh, the good news is I am not going the Texas, the bad news is I am not going to Texas!

(After two days of waiting by the phone, the phone interview never even happened.)

My New Roving Braid

Sienna Miller has nothing on my new roving braid!

I bought it on e-bay from jenyalovesfiber. It is super soft and I cannot wait to see how it spins up. I like the name best, "Meadow in Springtime".

Paradise Found!

After several horrid starts I have found the perfect pattern for the Bird of Paradise Yarn (Sundara Yarn Petals Collection - Feb.)!

The color repeats are working absolutely perfectly. If you look closely you can see that the crossed over slipped stitches maintain the same color across the row. These rows are also repeating in the same order. I think it is perfect.

I bought the pattern from Amelia Raitte of My Fashionable Life. It is part of a set of three. I recommend getting the set – all three patterns are great. What I have knitted here is the Badcaul. I tried the Nautalis, but the yarn is too busy. The sock is knit toe-up with a short row heal. This is the first toe-up sock that I knit – I like the pattern so much that I have used it as my template when converting leg-down to toe up. Below two useful links for casting-on.

1) Tutorial for cast-on using 2 circulars: Turkish Cast-On
2) Tutorial for cast-on using 4 double point: Cyber Socks

Let me know if you want my trick for avoiding the horrid whole that often occurs as the join in heel and instep stitches on a short row heel.

Wabi-Sabi Wasabi ... in Space!

As every knitter knows mistakes happen. Much of the joy that I get from knitting comes from the fact that a mistake only needs to be noticed to be corrected. It often happens that a mistake is not noticed until hours or even days of knitting will be lost in order to correct the mistake. I heard a Japanese phrase that allows me to leave some of these mistakes - Wabi-Sabi. Wabi Sabi is the Japanese aesthetic that true beauty is found in imperfection.

Wikipedia defines Wabi-Sabi as: (in Kanji: 侘寂) represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centred on the acceptance of transience. The phrase comes from the two words wabi and sabi. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is a concept derived from the Buddhist assertion of the Three marks of existence — Anicca, or in Japanese, 無常 (mujyou), impermanence.

I heard a story this morning about a Wasabi mishap on the International Space Station. Wasabi is a very spicy green horshradish used primarily in Japanese cooking. According to the AP this is how it happened:
The spicy greenish condiment was squirted out of a tube while astronaut Sunita Williams was trying to make a pretend sushi meal with bag-packaged salmon. The three space station crew members are given a certain number of bonus packs of their favorite foods to help endure their months in space where most meals are the equivalent of military MREs.
Since everything is weightless, spilled food is no ordinary clean-up challenge.
'We finally got the wasabi smell out after it was flying around everywhere,' Williams told her mother this week in a conversation arranged by Boston radio station WBZ. 'We cleaned it up off the walls a little bit.'

So next time you decide to frog back several day of knitting remember this: It sure beats scrubbing Wasabi off your walls! Or the next time you see a mistake and decide to let it go you can look at with a new perspective, and say proudly, "Wabi Sabi!"

When a good day/yarn goes bad! (Is it as bad as I think?)

Yesterday, I received a call from a potential employer! I have been looking for a job as a Medical Sonographer for a really long time. I recently passed my last exam to become a Registered Diagnostic Sonographer and things are starting to look up. The gentleman was calling from a company that does short term (13 week) travel assignments. They have amazing benefits and this would be the perfect way to get my resume the on thing it lacks – actual work experience as a Sonographer.
Today started out fantastic. I got my March yarn from the Sundara Yarn Petals Collection, and it is striking. It is based on the Bird of Paradise flower and I was really excited. Then with Dan acting as my swift I was actually able to wind the skein without any terrible knot wads. Then the gentleman from yesterday called and said that he had an assignment that was interested in me and he would be calling back in about an hour for a phone interview!!!
I was so happy! I wanted to be ready for the call so after doing a little research on the assignment I sat at the kitchen table – knitting with my new yarn. I decided to give the Fuego Socks that I saw on Chante’s blog.
How could this day go bad?
#1) I never got the call. I waited all day, doing nothing but waiting and knitting. I am very confused. I can only assume that if something sounds too good to be true or too many things seem to be going your way ….. the call may just not come in.

But why did my sock have to turn out like this?

I decided from the moment that I saw the yarn that I was going to use the yarn to make socks for myself. In honor of the colors they were going to be my "Austin Powers Socks". I guess I just should have stuck with the broken rib pattern that came with the yarn.

Please let me know what you think - I will have a prize for the person who can make me laugh the hardest at all of today’s possibility turned disappointment.

MYSTERY CABLES

I realized that out of all of my 13 posts I have yet to post a work in progress. I started these socks yesterday, and they are really cool. The pattern is the Friday, February 23 and Sat./Sun., Feb. 24 & 25 from Paulette Lane and Friends Knitting Pattern a Day 2007 Calendar. The pattern calls for Cascade 220 and I am making them in a child's large for Marsha's Students through Afghans for Afghans.

Here is the completed leg. What do you think?

Okay, your thinking how your going to break it to me that there must be something wrong - but here is the mystery! It is knit inside out! Now that the cabeling in finished you turn it inside out - which is really outside out and ....
I think it is really cool! However, the socks need to be delivered by March 7th, so no more blogging, just knitting! (I can hear the intro to Cast-On with Brenda Dayne - "Knit, knit like the wind!") Wish me luck!

SEE DAN KNIT!

I am teaching my roommate Dan to knit!

Here he is knitting his first rows!

Here he is frogging those first rows! (rip-it, rip-it)

On Valentine's Day we trecked through the newly fallen snow to get Dan yarn for his project at Purl in Soho. It had stopped snowing several hours earlier, but the roads were still a mess. This is why I love New York City; even when the roads look like this: you can still use public transportation to get to a yarn store! The first yarn that Dan picked up in the yarn store was a dark brown Rowan Scottish Tweed Chunky with flecks of color out of the 50% off bin. I suggested that he might not want a dark color for his first project because it might make it more difficult to see the stitches. His response was that of a true knitter- "Well I'll probably just get it anyway - it is on sale." Bless his knitter heart, he was about to start his stash before he had completed a single project. (I just hope that there is enough room in our apartment for two knitters!)
He did end up getting the Rowan and I think he is developing great technique, what do you think?

And here it is .....Dan's first finished project!

TA DA! ENTRELAC!

I was so inspired by Judy's knitting on the Entrelac Socks from the new Spring issue of Interweave Knits I decided to give entrelac a try. I googled "knitting entrelac tutorial" and found a great tutorial -nice clear instructions, with great pictures. Here's what I have so far ....

I know the colors are bad, but I learned something new! I love my ugly little entrelac swatch!

MY MARINE'S "SOCKINGS" ...CONTINUED

I just read my last post - oranges in the toes? What can I say? Hey, if you're reading this then chances are you have had moments of equal crafty insanity! Right? Anyway, I made Pomanders using clementines instead of oranges. Basically, I just stuck cloves into the clementines, working in concentric circles until the entire clementine was covered. I then left them on the kitchen counter to dry out. In about a month they were as hard as rocks - and smelled wonderful.

It made me very happy to picture my Marine opening his Christmas care package and have this wonderful aroma drifting out. I am sure that even the toughest Marine appreciates something that smells good in their foot lockers. The rest of the "Sockings" was pretty boring. Just basic goodies and some essential comforts. Looking back I now realise that I was hanging pretty far out on the hope that he would appreciate hand-made items.

In the first care package that I sent to my Marine I included a one-time use camera. He took some pictures with it and sent the camra back to me. I developed doubles, kept one for myself and sent the other set to him. I was so appreciative of the shot he got of himself wearing the socks. This is by far the best my knitting has ever looked!

Here is his picture. It was taken after he benched 350 lbs to win his units bench press contest!
Either it came to you right away or it is on the tip of your tounge .... it's Chuck Norris! Chuck Norris has found his way onto a knitting blog, pretty cool if I do say so myself!

MY MARINE'S FEET ARE SAFE AND WARM ... AND NOW THEY'RE COMIN' HOME!!!

Last October I did something that changed my life. I adopted a Marine through Soldier's Angels. If you can commit to writing a letter a week and sending a care package a month - I highly recommend it. If you cannot commit to this for 6 months to a year - go check out the site, there are plenty of one time giving opportunities. I was very lucky in that I received several letters back from my Marine and we exchanged e-mail on a regular basis. My proudest moment as my Marine's Angel was when he was promoted from Corporal to Sergeant and talked about applying for an officer's program! Today was a great day too. I received official word that he will be returning home sometime in late March or early April (dates are kept confidential for security reasons)
The first thing that I knit him was a wool helmet liner. It gets very cold in the desert, especially at night. It is a really great pattern and since it calls for Cascade 220, it's relatively inexpensive to knit. If you want to learn to knit socks this is a great lead up project - it uses many of the same skills, but on a larger, easy to manage scale. I'm sorry for the scary head - it was my old roommate's, and the only model I had available at the moment. There used to be two of them, starring down from on top of the kitchen cabinets!
For my Marines Christmas present I really did out knit myself! In Interweave Knits Special Holiday Gifts Issue, they had a spread of some of their favorite things. As soon as I saw it I new I needed the American Red Cross Knit Kit for One Pair of Serviceman’s Socks!

It arrived in this really cute tin, which I now us for my knitting notions.









The tin contained one 4 oz skein of yarn, plastic size 5 dpns, a plastic embroidery needle, and the sock pattern that the Red Cross distributed in 1940. I just loved the idea of turning the same heel, of the same sock, of many of kthe nitters who have come before me. I also loved the idea of my Marine receiving the exact same sock as all of the servicemen that came before him. There was only one problem with the kit, the yarn was way too thin for pattern. I had to knit with size 5's in order to get gauge, but it just seemed too flimsy. Unfortunately I did not make the decision to double up the yarn until I had already turned the heel of the first sock! I had to frog the entire thing! The other problem arose after I had finished the ribbing of the second sock. Even though that 4oz skein looked like 3 times too much yarn - it wasn't even enough to complete both socks with doubled yarn. I called the Red Cross store to see if they would sell me just yarn, but no, I had to buy another kit. (It really was almost worth it for the cool tin, the second one holds my sewing notions!)Anyway, I had asked my Marine for his foot measurement, and the finished product was worth all of the frogging - and most of the hair that I pulled out has grown back in!


Now, for them to go from socks to "Christmas Sockings!" In theory I wanted to put oranges in the toes. Typical WWII era stocking would have had an orange in the toe. I don't want to think about what actual oranges in the toes would have looked like by the time they got to Iraq! - My solution in the next post.

.... to be continued!

"KNITTA PLEASE!" DOWNLOAD THIS SONG!

Hey Knittas! Penelope from Sit n' Knit New York just posted this song. DOWNLOAD IT NOW! It is the funniest ever!