The Knitting Pirate

I had a thought about the socks I’m working on, that perhaps I could stave off Second Sock Syndrome if I started the second sock before completing the first, and working on them alternately until they’re both done. Another reason for doing it this way is because I had to cut out a big chunk of mis-striped yarn from the first ball; I may have to do that again in the second ball, and if I work on both socks at the same time, I can better make them identical.

So tonight I cast on for the second Quick Toe-Up Sock, and was pleased on several counts: one, that I successfully knit a figure-eight toe on the first try; two, that the tail of said toe is within two inches of the length of the first sock’s tail; three, that the socks appear to be matched up perfectly so far. Having accomplished that, I’m about to move on…

…to a new pair of flip-top glove/mittens. The pattern is called Gnomittens and is only available on Ravelry. I am calling them “fleep-tops” because it amuses me. Anyway, I’ve been wanting a pair of fleep-tops for a few years, and now that I’ve knit a pair of gloves that fit someone else, I have the confidence to knit a pair for myself.

I have two reasons for wanting fleep-tops: one, because my new phone‘s touchscreen won’t register a thing through gloves; and two, because in five weeks I’ll be attending an outdoor stew cook-off, part of the Winterlude festival in Ottawa. It’s crazy, going to Canada in February, but it’s become a tradition for me to visit KnittingNinja for Bal du Neige. Last year I had a hard time eating my stew with bulky snow gloves on, and I said that I’d knit myself some fleep-tops before next year… which is now only a month away. Time to get started, eh?

I am using Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed in colorway 409, which is a discontinued color, very dark gray with flecks of gray and burgundy. Originally this was Pirate-Husband’s yarn, with which he was going to knit himself a hat, but it would be perfect for fleep-tops and so I asked if I could have it from him. He had no problem with that. I can always replace it if he decides to try knitting again.

Mom loved the gloves. She says they fit her perfectly. I thought the fingers might be a bit long, but she assures me that she wants a bit of extra room at the fingertips in case she grows her nails out for anything. Unfortunately, because it was a dark day, I wasn’t able to get any pictures that did any more justice to the gloves than the one I took the other day. But yeah, they came out really well. My brother commented, “When you decide to do something, you really take it all the way – that’s great work!”

She also asked me if I knew of any good baby blanket patterns. I sketched out one that I’d knit a few years ago, before I had a camera, that’s fairly basic. It has a seed stitch border, then alternating stripes of seed stitch and stockinette, and one of the stockinette rows has a run of (k1, k2tog, yo, k1) to make little eyelets. My guess is that without a real pattern written out, she won’t want to figure out how to translate my sketch to her blanket, but that’s all right.

And in more about Mom’s knitting, she is 3/10 done with the Upstairs Shawl (link in German) that she’s knitting for herself with KnitPicks’ Alpaca Cloud in Smoke Heather. I am so happy that she’s getting back into knitting more than just baby sweaters and blankets! Even though the shawl was going to be for herself, she’s considering giving it to her closest friend. One of these days, I will convince her that it’s all right to knit for yourself!

Five weeks after beginning, I have completed Mom’s gloves. I am happy with them, for the most part – I can see a few places where I could have sewn up gaps better, and I’m never happy with woven-in ends. Those are just small nitpicks; I know Mom will absolutely love them. I’ll be giving them to her at our family Chanukah celebration this coming Sunday, and I’ll try to get a picture of her wearing them. I really hope they fit her well!

I used the Hooray for Me gloves pattern with full fingers instead of partial. Because I wasn’t using self-striping yarn, I didn’t bother breaking the yarn to begin the first finger; I just knit around to that point and started it. The one thing that confused me is why the thumb gusset is set three stitches into the third needle. The stitches needed to be rotated in order to align the fingers with the thumb so that each glove can be worn on either hand. Not a big deal, really, just one more thing to remember while working.

The Silkie Socks that Rock yarn was wonderful to knit with. Soft and squooshy, but not too slippery, I think it will combine the right amount of warmth with luxury for Mom. I just love the way the greens peek out from the black, and how the color glows in the sunlight.

I’ll be knitting this pattern again for myself, with a few stitches added to compensate for my wider hands, and with a flip-top mitten added. I’d hoped to have my own pair done by the end of January, but unless I cast on right now, that’s not going to happen. Ah well, there’s always next year!

Red Bird Knits, one of my favo(u)rite Canadian yarn shops, is having a Boxing Day sale. I spent a good hour putting yarn in my cart and taking it out again, flipping tabs in my browser to Ravelry and checking colo(u)rways, thinking about what I need (nothing) and what I’d like to knit (another stripey striped scarf), asking Pirate-Husband’s opinion, and calculating what I’d spend at $0.82 USD to the Canadian dollar, but then there’s $20 shipping…

Eventually I decided that I already have quite a bit of yarn, and there’s nothing on sale that won’t be available once I’ve worked through some of my stash. But I wanted to let you all know about this sale, because it’s 10-40% off some really great yarn, and because I really like Red Bird Knits. Kureyon, for example, is on sale for $6.38 CAD per ball. Lorna’s Laces is 40% off, $7.20 CAD marked down from $12.

So, as much as I’d like to, I won’t be knitting another Stripey Striped Scarf. Not now, anyway. I have Silk Garden in my stash already for a scarf for myself, the possibility of two dressier scarves for two guys to wear with black wool coats, and two scarf patterns that I really admire after that. I think I’m doin’ all right for scarves for now!

It’s Chanukah and also Christmas Eve, and I’m spending the evening in great happiness with Pirate-Husband and my cousin Michael (who is the only one of my cousins with whom I’m also friends) playing Rayman’s Raving Rabbids on Michael’s Wii and drinking some Bell’s Expedition stout. I hope that all of you are also spending your evenings in the best ways you can imagine!

When I saw my mother-in-law last weekend, she gave me this bag as an early birthday present. My birthday’s in January, but I’m not going to see her again before then. “Oooh!” I may have squeaked. “A knitting bag!”

She looked confused. “It’s not a knitting bag,” she told me, “it’s a purse. It has a glasses case–”

“I can put stitch markers in there!”

“–and a little cosmetics bag–”

“For my ruler and some bigger notions!”

Eventually we agreed that while it hadn’t been sold as a knitting bag, it’s going to be one now. It’s not exactly what I’d carry for an everyday purse, but as something to carry yarn and medium-sized works in progress, it’s perfect! In fact, this may be the best gift she’s ever gotten me.

One year she bought me a cape. I kid you not.

I finished re-knitting the heel on my not-so-quick socks this evening, then put it in my purse for tomorrow’s road trip to New York. We’ll be visiting Pirate-Husband’s family for the weekend. I’m pleased with the way it came out; it’s much more even this time.

Now it’s back to Mom’s glove. I’m cranking through the thumb gusset tonight. My schedule has me finishing the hand by Sunday evening and all the fingers by Wednesday evening. I know I can do this if I don’t let myself get distracted!

One distraction today was the fog which rolled up after the afternoon’s rain. I am continually amazed at the beauty which surrounds us up here, and so grateful to live on top of a mountain! It’s hard to believe that we’ve had the house for almost a year already. Yesterday was Pirate-Husband’s birthday. Coincidentally, yesterday we bought a Mazda Miata. If he’d like to think of it as his birthday present, I’m not going to stop him!

“What have you knit this year?” Pirate-Husband asked me last night.

First there was the Jayne hat that I knit from Knitting Ninja’s pattern for friend Otel. This was a quick project. I had to borrow needles for it, which have since been returned. Although I probably have enough yarn for a second hat, I need to get the right size needles before I can knit it up. Not that I know anyone who wants a Jayne hat… I already have one, and Otel is the brownest browncoat of all my friends.

Then a Baby Surprise Jacket for friend Gwen’s second baby, a little girl. I loved the 100purewool yarn I used for this project; it is so soft and easy to work with! The pattern got tricky a few times, but with help from Ravelers I worked through it. I finished knitting only minutes before my deadline, but Gwen loved the sweater. It should fit on her daughter right about now; I’d love to get an ‘action shot’ from her to post.

Something for myself, a pair of Garter Rib socks! The pattern is from Charlene Schurch’s “Sensational Knitted Socks”. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to get the basics of sock knitting. These socks were knit up in Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ Socks that Rock lightweight, and I was short by about ten yards. Fortunately a kind Raveler had some extra in the same colorway that she was able to send me.

Something for the house, a quick and easy Swiffer mop cover from Noelle’s pattern. This project took about six hours, which is about my tolerance for knitting with cotton. I plan to make several more of these, with an additional pattern repeat so that when the cover curls, it goes over the edges of the mop instead of under. Pirate-Husband mopped the floors this past weekend and was disappointed to find that the cover I’d made had been used but not yet washed; he used one of the disposables instead and afterwards said that mine worked a lot better!

I’d promised Pirate-Husband a pair of socks last November, and in July of this year I finally delivered. He has very wide feet and I was concerned that I’d run out of yarn, after my experience with the Socks that Rock, so I didn’t make the socks very tall. I had a few yards left over at the end, so I guess it worked out just right! He wears them often, especially now that it’s cold out, and I know he’d love to have another pair.

After I finished Pirate-Husband’s socks, I cast on for the second baby knit of the year. This one was for friend Asa’s second child, but as she hadn’t chosen to find out the sex of the baby, I had to knit a gender-neutral blanket. Feather and Fan seemed fitting, as did these muted colors. Once again, I finished knitting the night before I needed to give the gift. Once of these days I’ll break that habit.

I sure didn’t break the habit with the Bloo Socks, knit in Trekking XXL for friend Michael. I finished these in the afternoon and gave them to him that very evening. I also didn’t learn the lesson of splitting the yarn in half before beginning; I used more than half of the 100g ball on the first sock and had to frantically call yarn stores all over the country to find another ball in the same dye lot. I’ll be writing this pattern up in the near future, as soon as I work out the heel and toe numbers in other sizes. There is a shortage of fine-gauge sock patterns out there. These were knit up at 45 stitches to 4″ on US size 0 DPNs.

Mom’s gloves will probably be the last completed project of the year. Her birthday present is knit up of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silkie Socks that Rock in Ravenscroft. She’d requested a colorway that would go well with both her black wool dress coat, and her green winter jacket, so what better than a black yarn with subtle greens that glow in the sunlight? I am using Marnie MacLean’s Hooray for Me pattern, just making full fingers instead of partial. I’m sure she’ll love them; I just hope they fit!

Eight projects in 2008, not a bad tally! In other accomplishments, I read 23 books in the past year, and I learned to spin on a wheel. Pirate-Husband commented that I should knit more for myself, and I want to commit more time to spinning as well. Those will be my goals in 2009!

I spoke to Pirate-Husband, and he said that his cousin is unlikely to want a sweater that’s hand-wash-only, not to mention that I shouldn’t feel obligated to knit for her in the first place. As much as she would love and appreciate the sweater, she’d also throw it in the wash.

So I’m nixing the idea of the Baby Surprise Jacket. I’m okay with this decision; I’ve got two more gift knits at the top of my queue – one a quick six-hour project of a Swiffer mop cover, the other a much more complicated colorwork bag – but after that, it’s purely knitting for me, me, me! I hate to sound selfish, but most of my knitting lately has been for other people, and it’s been starting to drag on me. I don’t like working to deadlines and I don’t like feeling as if other people are anxiously awaiting my work.

Tonight I’m putting the thumb onto the first of Mom’s gloves and if there’s time, I’ll cast on for the second. I’ve made a lot of plans to go places and do things in the next few weeks, and so my schedule for these has been pushed up. I need to hurry.

In administrativia, I’ve made a change to the blog feed, by request – now the whole entry should be showing to anyone who reads via RSS. I hope this is a positive change for everyone!

At Thanksgiving, we found out that Pirate-Husband’s cousin Ro is pregnant. Today we found out that she’s expecting a baby boy in May, and now I’m torn! Do I knit another Baby Surprise Jacket, or not?

On the yes side:
1. I already have the yarn in a good boy-color.
2. I made Ro a blanket for her first baby and she loved it. She understood how much time and effort it took. And back when Ro got married, I worked up this Marriage Poem in the best calligraphy I could do at the time, matted and framed it, and gave it to her and her husband as a wedding gift. She absolutely loves it, and it hangs by the front door of her house.
4. Therefore, I know that the work put into a baby sweater would also be appreciated (except maybe if it’s hand-wash-only, see #2 below).
5. Also, it would be a relatively fast project.
6. Not to mention, the timing is right; the sweater will knit up to a 6-9 month size with that yarn, so it will fit the baby just in time for winter.
7. This is yarn purchased specifically for a sweater that must fit a baby boy born in the spring.
8. I had no other babies in mind for it.

On the no side:
1. I don’t feel obligated to knit her anything.
2. I don’t know if she would appreciate a hand-wash-only baby sweater.
3. There are other things I want to knit.
4. Ummmm…

Well, I guess I’m going to knit another Baby Surprise Jacket, then!

Last night I had a dream that made absolutely no sense. The one thing I remember very clearly is that there was a pair of handknit socks.

I dreamed I was getting dressed, and I thought “I’ll wear those socks I just knit,” and then I unrolled a pair of gorgeous knee-high socks with big white Nordic stars and snowflakes on a blue background, very much like these socks from DROPS, but coming up to just under my knee rather than just over it. Some part of my dreaming brain started to complain that I’d never knit any such socks, but I hushed that up and let myself enjoy the dream of having actually finished knee socks, let alone complicated colorwork knee socks.

I remember that they were soft, fine but not too fine gauge, and that there was elastic in the cuffs. The blue was a deep rich color, the kind of blue I think about when I think of Chanukah, and the white wasn’t pure white-white but just slightly off. Both yarns had a little bit of a fuzzy halo.

Of course I’m going to have to design and make these at some point. It’s not every day that I dream up a pair of socks… and I really love knee socks.