The Knitting Pirate

Saturday morning found me hurrying to finish the heel flap and turn on Mom’s second sock so that I could bring it with me to my parents’ house, where we went in the afternoon to meet my second cousins once removed, who were visiting from England. It was wonderful to finally meet them! So wonderful, in fact, that I got caught up in conversing and completely forgot that I was supposed to be knitting while we talked, even though I had managed to get into the gusset before we drove down to their house. Mom tried on her first sock, and *whew* – it fit perfectly.

Dad’s asked me if I can make him a hat in charcoal gray – a standard toque or watch cap, with a turned-up brim. I’m going to see if I can get that done in time to be his Chanukah present. The due date list has been shifted around to accommodate for the hat and also to account for babies who aren’t going to be born until Spring. I’ve been told that I won’t need to have the twins’ sweaters in time for their birth, since I’m making them in a size for *next* winter, but I’m still going to aim to finish them in advance.

I did get to work on the sock a little more over the weekend, but most of my knitting time was aimed directly at the second of Michael’s Fleep-Tops. I’m knitting both hand sections first, leaving off the mitten tops and thumb caps until I can measure their placement on his hands. By knitting as fast as I could until bedtime, I managed to finish the ribbed cuff and knit the hand section to the base of the thumb opening. The second glove needed no measuring since I’d taken careful notes on the first one, so it goes along much faster. I’m sure the fingers will be just as fiddly, of course.

Due Date …… Project
10/3 ………… Angie’s gifts
11/1 ………… Second Fleep, hand section
12/1 ………… Mom’s sock #2
12/1 ………… Dad’s hat
1/1 ….………. Gift for Janis’s baby boy
2/1 ………….. Mitten tops and thumb caps on Fleeps
2/1 ………….. Jacob Hat
3/1 ………….. Twins’ sweaters

I have a confession to make: I love lists. I love writing lists. I especially love writing lists on paper, putting line-items in order, and then re-writing the list in my neatest handwriting on a fresh sheet of paper. It makes me feel better about everything I have to do, helps me to see that my queue isn’t life-threatening. And it really isn’t! I’m feeling a lot better now, though I know I’ll have to be fairly disciplined in order to get everything done on time.

The cats are headed to the vet on Saturday to be spayed and neutered, and due to a bloodwork requirement we won’t get them back until Monday. The boarding is free, at least, but I feel a little bad about leaving them all weekend. On the other hand, that totally frees up two whole days for knitting without kitten assistance. (And cleaning the house, I suppose. These things have to be done.)

This weekend I can finish up Angie’s baby shower gifts and get started on the one for Janis. (Hey Janis, do you want it to be a surprise, or shall I blog about it as I go?) If I am vigilant about knitting some every day, and if I account for the usual life-craziness and procrastination, I can expect it to take about a month.

That leaves me with one sock for Mom, which I can’t start until she tries on the first sock, and the glove part of the second Fleep for Michael. If I can get all of that done by Thanksgiving, I can spend December on the twins’ sweaters – but I can’t even buy yarn for them until I know if they’re boys, girls, or one of each, so I’m just not going to think about it until I get that piece of news. And then I can spend January on the colourwork hat of the Jacob yarn I spun, and putting mitten-tops on the Fleeps.

So, for my own records and your amusement, here is my list of projects and their deadlines. I will probably certainly without a doubt look back on this list and laugh, next year…

Due Date …… Project
10/3 ………… Angie’s gifts
11/1 ………… Second Fleep, hand section
12/1 ………… Mom’s sock #2
1/1 ……….…. Gift for Janis
2/1 ………….. Twins’ sweaters
2/1 ………….. Mitten tops and thumb caps on Fleeps
2/1 ………….. Jacob Hat

Is that realistic? Am I crazy?

On Saturday, Michael and I went to Maker Faire. It was pretty freaking awesome. We saw some really cool stuff – self replicating 3D printers, the Egg-Bot in action, and a fully functional lifesize game of Mousetrap. Not to mention the ArcAttack performance! We went wandering through the vendors and I was tempted (without any arm-twisting at all, really) into buying a 4+ ounce braid of locally sourced and hand-dyed merino top in deep blues and greens. I haven’t taken a picture of it yet, but as soon as the sun comes out I will.

I knit while I was riding the train, and it made the trip go by super-fast. On the way to New York, I finished off the fingers on the first Fleep-Top and got started on the Gnome Baby hat (link to pattern page on Ravelry). I held my breath when Michael tried on the glove, but there was nothing to worry about. It fits perfectly, and all the fingers are the right length. Whew! On the train ride home, I came close to finishing the baby hat. I’m already into the decreases which will form the point. (That red should be much more red. It’s not easy to get a good picture of such a saturated colour while on a moving train!)

Cascade Fixation is a funny yarn to knit with, but I’m not yet sure if that’s good funny or bad funny. It doesn’t hurt my hands like most cotton yarns do, but I find it difficult to keep an even tension due to the elastic content. I don’t want to pull too tightly on it, but I have to be extra careful of my tension between needles or I’ll get ladders. It’s great for baby clothes since it’s not rough or scratchy, and the elastic will certainly help keep the hat and booties on the baby rather than on the floor… but I think I’d rather knit with wool.

My sister-in-law has asked me to hold off on knitting for the twins until she finds out if they’ll be boys, girls, or one of each. She’d like to colour-code her babies, and so that project has been put on the back burner for a few more weeks. So far, the leading pattern is the Presto Chango – I really like the idea of having swappable front panels in which I can try different stitch patterns. Even with this delay, I have renewed confidence that I’ll be able to finish all my gift knits by their deadlines. Working up most of a hat in just a few hours has reminded me of how fast a baby-project goes.

Almost home, waiting at Metro Center for the train. I’m fascinated by the shapes of the concrete in the metro stations. That must be a good thing, since I had to wait twenty minutes for my train to come along…

After yesterday’s post I was linked to two more baby sweater patterns that have made the list of potentials!

The first is Five Fruits (Ravelry link). This is an adorable striped sweater in colours that remind me of my 1980s childhood: a Lifesavers rainbow. For anyone who doesn’t have a Ravelry account, you can see a picture of the sweater here. It has buttons running along one shoulder, to make it easy to get over a baby’s gigantic noggin without having a giant saggy neckline. And it’s knit from the top down in one piece, which means no seaming!

And the second, which might now be at the top of the running, is the Presto Chango sweater. This clever construction for a baby sweater has interchangeable front panels. When it’s all buttoned up, it looks like a pullover – but when there’s the inevitable baby mess, only the front panel needs to be changed out. And, I could try out different stitch patterns on the front panels! Two sweaters and four front panels would be come out to about eight or nine skeins of Swish Worsted, the yarn I plan to use regardless of what sweater I end up knitting.

In other news of knitting for babies, friend Angie is having her baby shower in mid-October, so it’s time to get started on her gifts! Perhaps I can crank them out on the eight hours of trainride that I have scheduled for this weekend. I’m going to the Maker Faire in New York, and I am so excited about it! Anna Hrachovec will be doing a demo there from her book of patterns for adorable knitted toys. Most cute little toys, called amigurumi, are crocheted, but she’s one of the few designers who makes patterns for knitted amigurumi.

In the world of non-baby knits, I’ve gotten a few fingers done on the first of Michael’s Fleep-Tops. Tonight I’ll finish the rest of the fingers and then this weekend he can try the glove on, without the mitten top, to be sure it fits. I’ll mark the placement of the mitten while it’s on his hand. The second glove should go a lot faster once I know my measurements and row counts are correct.

Lots of knitting for other people going on lately – the Fleeps, gifts for four separate babies, and Mom’s socks. Once these are all done, I can get back to knitting for myself! Fortunately, I know that everyone who’s getting a knitted gift from me will thoroughly appreciate the work that goes into them. Otherwise, I’d just be ordering gifts for them all, and be done with it.

Last week, Pirate-Husband and I went to visit my parents for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. My brother, sister-in-law, and the nieceling were also there, so we had nice festive family meals together. I was thrilled to hear the happy news that I’m going to be an aunt again in April! Yesterday, my brother called me and said that not only are they expecting Baby #2, but also Baby #3. That’s right, she’s pregnant with twins. I am so happy and excited for them!

Of course, I want to knit something for each baby. So I’ve gone back to my current projects with a frenzy! I want to get some things finished before I begin working on the baby knits. Last night I sat down and worked on Mom’s sock, and finished the first one before it got to be bedtime. My sock blockers are too big for her socks, so I refolded a wire hanger into a foot-shape. Not that the socks need blocking at all, but they’ll photograph much better if they’re stretched a little to show off the ribbing.

My sworn-brother Michael came to visit over Labor Day weekend, and I made him try on the Fleep-Tops that I’ve been working on for him. I’m glad I did, because they were still a few rounds too short for his hands. I’m going to add those rounds and the fingers before the next time I see him, so that he can try on a finished glove. I’ll have to determine where to put the mitten part while the gloves are on his hands, or they might end up in the wrong place. Customized knitwear for people who live far away, what fun – but they will be done in time for Winterlude, I swear it. I have to come up with some way of marking his Fleeps as separate from mine. Sure, they’re slightly larger, but they’re made of the same colour yarn, and they’ll be easy to confuse. Maybe I will put a little stripe into the mitten tops for him.

I’m just past the gusset decreases and into the foot of the first Timey-Wimey Jaywalker, and very near the toe of the second Sibling Sock, so I’ve swapped them out: the Jaywalkers are going to become my traveling sock and I’m cranking away on the Sibling sock right now, hoping to finish it (and the pair!) tonight. Pirate-Husband and I are going to be at a party from tomorrow morning into Monday afternoon, so I should be able to put a few more inches onto the Jaywalkers then. One of the goals of the gathering is to fell three large trees, something I’m just not physically up to right now, so I plan to knit and watch stronger people swing axes and wield chainsaws.

The math to convert my Fleep-Tops to a larger size for Michael was giving me fits. I mis-read my notes, then I mis-judged, and then I mis-calculated, but eventually figured out what to do. The numbers should all be right now, but there’s only so far I can go before I’ll want him to try them on for perfect sizing. Once I have the first one done, the second will be much faster.

Happy news: I just found out that my friend Angie is pregnant with her first! She’s only seven weeks along, but I’m already planning out what to knit for her. I ordered the yarn from WEBS this morning, and downloaded some patterns from Ravelry. Knitting babyclothes is total instant gratification!

Last night I gave in to further temptation and started a new project – the second pair of Fleep-Tops, slightly larger than my pair. I struggled with my notes and the math for a little while until I realized that I was making it much more difficult than it really needed to be: mine were sized down from the smallest size, but these can be knit following the small size of the pattern. I’m using Cigar from Knitty, and then I’ll add mitten-tops a la Gnomittens.

There’s a method to my madness. I don’t need to start a new project now… but these are for Michael, and he’s visiting this weekend, so I can conveniently try them on the live model, instead of guessing at the size and hoping to get it right.

I’ve got the cuff done (right size! woo!) and now it’s on to the gussets. Hopefully I don’t have to make too many edits and adjustments. Maybe this will be something I only knit on when he’s visiting… as long as I can get them done before next February.

P.S. He didn’t sucker me into anything. It was all the yarn. I could hear it calling me from upstairs. *sigh*

I wasn’t too happy to hear that one of my favourite yarns, Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed, was being discontinued. It’s the yarn I used to knit the Fleep-Tops, and I just knew that I would want another pair – and my swornbrother Michael kept eyeing them enviously, too. When I was in Canada this past February, I was able to find some in “Cedar,” a deep green colourway, but Michael only wanted black or dark gray. So I happily kept the green for myself, thus ensuring that my next winter coat will have to be something that goes well with dark green, and went on a quest for “Night,” the colourway I’d used for the original pair.

Apparently, the “Night” colourway was discontinued two years ago, but after some serious web-searching, I finally found two skeins for a great price at the Red Bird Knits moving sale. What a deal! Of course I bought them right away, before anyone else could. I will have to size my pattern notes up to fit his larger hands, but that shouldn’t be too difficult at all, and I’m sort of looking forward to the challenge of it.

In looking around the web, it seems as if the yarn isn’t actually being discontinued, just no longer shipped to America and Canada. There are plenty of colourways listed on Jo Sharp’s site and no mention that it’s going out of production. Does anyone have anything further about this?

Last weekend, while my house in Virginia was buried in more than two feet of snow, I went to Canada. Ironically, the weather there was beautiful and clear, if really cold. It was even too cold for me to want to skate on the canal. Instead, my sworn-sister the Ninja and I, along with our friend Amy, took an afternoon to visit yarn stores.

Our first stop was Wool N’ Things in Orleans, where I was thrilled to find some of the discontinued Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed, the same yarn that I used to knit my Fleep-Tops. I picked up two skeins in Cedar, a gorgeous dark green with red and yellow flecks. They’ll probably become another pair of Fleeps, as backup for when my first pair inevitably wears out. The green totally doesn’t match my dark blue winter coat, but it’s time for a new coat anyway. Perhaps something in green, or preferably black. Black goes with everything.

Then we headed over to Yarn Forward in Ottawa proper, where I bought two skeins of this super-soft (and superwash!) Lang Merino DK in a gray so dark it’s almost black. My first thought was that it might make a pair of Fleeps for Michael, but he wanted something thicker and tweedier, so I’m going to use it for a pair of classy office armwarmers for myself and pick up some Rowan Felted Tweed in as black as it comes for him. Not that I mind being able to use this pettably soft stuff for myself, not at all! I am thinking about making something like these Cafe au Lait Mitts from SnapperKnits, or perhaps I will come up with my own pattern for them.

I did have a disappointment this year: My old Stellar Toque, now over four years old, may be nearing retirement. It’s gotten stretched out and too large, and lets the wind through to my ears. I am thinking that before next Winterlude, I will knit a colourwork hat with earflaps and line it with fleece. We saw many of them in the Byward Market when we were there for the Stew Cook-Off on Friday, and I was seriously tempted to buy one – but why buy what I can knit? Pirate-Husband suggested that I could salvage the Stellar Toque by knitting earflaps onto it and lining it with fleece, instead of making a whole new hat. I could also felt it a little to shrink it and make it more windproof.

Today I actually left the office on my lunch break, which almost never happens. I decided to walk over to Home Goods to buy bread pans, and because it was cold outside I put on my beloved Fleep-Tops. I was fleeping the tops over when the man riding the elevator with me commented, “Those are really clever!”

“Thank you, I made them myself!” said I, and demonstrated how they fleeped. “I figure that no matter what you’re doing, you really only need three fingertips, right?”

He looked impressed and said “You have the best of both worlds with those!” Had it been a longer elevator ride, he might have asked me to make him a pair. As it was, we got down to the lobby, I grinned and wished him a nice day, and we went in opposite directions.

Totally made my day, I tell you.