BEM Hat on CLB

or, to be a bit more verbose: Bug Eyed Monster Hat on Cute Little Boy.

I do like it when I get photos back of my knitting in use.
Thanks CLB's Mom.

My First Heel

The things I like to knit best are things for the people I care about. The Engineer, my BelovedSpousalUnit, is one of the people I care most about (as it should be!)

The Engineer, however, is not one of the easier people in the universe to knit for. Here's the saga of the first thing I knit for him, a ski headband: http://thewitlesswanderer.blogspot.com/2008/04/interim-knitting-or-my-first-design.html and http://thewitlesswanderer.blogspot.com/2008/04/keeping-his-ears-warm.html.

He has yet to wear it because I gave him a ski helmet to protect his tender parts when he's on the slopes and the headband won't fit under it, nor does he need it for warmth with the helmet. (So I tell myself for consolation.)

He grumped a lot this fall about not having any good warm socks, so I decided that would be my next, hopefully not futile, project for him.

These are undoubtedly the world's most expensive socks. I bought three (just in case two weren't enough) skeins of Shibui superwash worsted merino and did test swatches on several different size needles. I presented the test swatches to the sock expert at Blazing Needles and was told to knit the socks on the size 2. Worsted, on size 2! These socks are going to be able to stand up on their own! Since I don't like dpn's, I had to buy an Adi circular needle in size 2. I really need the Adi slipperiness to be able to work the worsted on size 2 needles. Also bought a sock book so that I wouldn't have to return it to the library before the socks were done.

I started knitting on my Carolina trip back in November, but hibernated the socks after returning home to work on Christmas stuff. Then I had to knit thank you scarves for Mr. & Mrs. Good Neighbor. As soon as I was done with all that (last Thursday), I dove back into knitting on the socks.

And did not understand the directions on turning a heel. Went to Friday morning knit group at Blazing Needles where SockLady and a nice fellow knitter gave me some tips on heel turning.

Got that done, then came to the gusset instructions...

Huh?

Off to the library to get a more profusely illustrated sock book. Got the gusset done -- Yay! Hurray!

Now I'm working on the foot. I have no worry about the toe decrease, nor the Kitchener stitch to close the toe -- I can do that.

The one remaining problem is that the Engineer's birthday is Saturday. I hope he likes getting a sock and a half (maybe) for a present.

The Saga of the Yarn Twaddler

The Engineer's family requires a Christmas list be submitted by no later than Thanksgiving evening each year. Should one miss the deadline or fail entirely to send his list, dire fates such as receiving Chia Pets or nose hair trimmers are considered suitable punishment. This is definitely incentive.

Among the items on my list this year were a yarn swift and a yarn baller. Didn't really expect to get them, but, what the heck, a list was required.

Christmas was spent in Michigan. When the family gathered on the 23rd, Twin'sWife began asking EldestNiece if she had received a particular shipment yet. The answer was no. At the traditional Christmas Eve Opening of the Presents, it turned out that the missing package was a yarn swift for me.

Of course, no one else in the family had the faintest idea what the heck that thing was, so it was quickly dubbed "The Yarn Twaddler."

Seems that Twin'sWife, who lives in Texas, had ordered the Yarn Twaddler immediately after Thanksgiving to be sent to EldestNiece, who lives in Michigan. Instead, the box arrived on the doorstep in Texas. Probably a good thing, as it was not what she had ordered. So the beginning of December, after much time on the phone with the owner of the company, she sent it back to the place she'd ordered it from with their promise that as soon as they received the returned merchandise, they would send the proper item to Michigan in plenty of time for Christmas.

Murphy rules in all things. We left Michigan on the morning of December 26th. The Yarn Twaddler arrived at EldestNiece's house the afternoon of... December 26th.

This caused great excitement with the Engineer, his Twin and Twin'sWife. They tasked EldestNiece with sending it ASAP to Utah so I could begin twaddling my yarn immediately. My attitude was more along the line of "whenever you can get to it." EldestNiece works full time, has a sports crazy teenager that she chauffeurs constantly from game to practice to game, and her Dad's been in the hospital since August. Just a wee bit of stress on her.

We were informed that the Twaddler had been mailed on January 5th. It had not yet arrived by the 9th, when the Engineer and I had to go out of town for the weekend. I had hired the 10-year-old next door neighbor to pick up the mail. When the Twaddler wasn't with our stockpiled mail and newspapers when we got home, the real hoohah commenced. I kinda figured they don't call it snail mail for nothing.

Friday, the Yarn Twaddler finally arrived. In the bottom of the slightly battered box was a yarn baller as well.

Thanks so much to my sister-in-law for giving it to me and my niece for sending it to me. I appreciate both of you. (Though if I'd known it was going to be so much trouble, I'd have asked for a nice toaster instead.)

Guess I'd better set it up and get my yarn a-twaddlin'.

The Technicolor Dragon Skin Scarf

On my way to Michigan for Christmas, I started knitting a scarf for my favorite cousin. She's a big fan of "jewel-tone" colors, and I'd made two abortive attempts at knitting her a scarf of Bernat Boa in brilliant, mottled, orange and red. I won't make any editorial comments about the Boa yarn as this blog is rated PG.

So there I was, on the airplane, knitting as fast as I could with five skeins of Queensland Collection Big Wave in Rainbow Bright Multi colorway in my bag.

The Big Wave is a lovely yarn, which, sadly, is no longer being made. It's 90% merino and 10% cashmere (soft, soft, soft), thick and thin with a nubbly texture due to a thin binder cord.

I didn't manage to finish the scarf before I arrived at my cousin's house, but I did finish it before I left.
Most of my projects (the ones I like, anyway), get named. This one was a no brainer, I called it what it looks like, Technicolor Dragon Skin.

Hope my cousin enjoys her scarf as much as I enjoyed knitting it.

Puttin' On the Dog

My friend KC has two dogs she's pretty much crazy about, so I decided that the best thing to give her for her birthday and Christmas were puppy presents. Puppy Protectors to be precise. I saw an extra very cute pattern for a "Doggie Mac" in Jil Eaton's Simple Chic and decided to go for it.

Since the dogs' names are Ruby and Rusty, there was no problem picking out colors for the coats. I hunted around until I found a red I liked for Ruby that went with a rust I liked for Rusty, bought the yarn and knitted up a swatch. Even tried running a couple of lines of contrasting color through to see how they really looked.

I was not enamored of the color combo I'd thought would be a winner once I'd finished the swatch. When I felted it, I decided to deep six making a plaid Doggie Mac and went for a contrasting color bordered Puppy Protector instead. In the end, the main thing I used from the pattern was the general shaping; I changed the yarn from bulky to worsted and changed the fastenings as well.

As senior dog, Ruby is getting the first Puppy Protector. It looked kinda shabby at the knit stage, kinda okay once I'd crocheted on the border, and pretty darn good once it was felted.

What really makes it look good, though, is Ruby herself. Cute little bitch, ain't she?

Thanks to KC for the puppy portrait.

Rusty won't get his Puppy Protector until after Christmas, it may even be as late as Ruby's was after KC's birthday - 10 weeks (yes, I'm blushing, but I had to do a custom fitting and find the buttons, knit the belly band, needle felt the button holes and...) Rusty will get his jacket before the weather warms in spring. Then those puppies will be, to quote Kate, "stylin'".

Color coordinated dogs. What a hoot.

Knit, Knit, Knit, Knit, Knit...

I've been working my needles to the bone lately, trying to get the Christmas knitting done. Trying will probably be the operative word. I've already fessed up to GuiGirl that she's not going to get her Christmas handcraft until well after the season to be jolly. I'm allergic to one of the yarns I'm using in it and my fall cold was too recent. Every time I pick it up to knit, I start coughing.

But that's okay, it means I can finish up (or start on) other projects.

I finished the dish cloths for my favorite Mother-in-law-in-law. I think she'll like them.
I'm half way through elf hat number last. It must be finished by this Friday because that's when I go to the Christmas party for the company were Mom and Gramma of the two toddlers and one fetus work. That's a gimme, though, it should only take about another hour of knitting and maybe a half-hour, forty-five minutes to sew up and trim.



I still need to fringe scarves for Cousin-in-law and her daughter, that won't take long. And block a few scarves. And finish this hat by tomorrow evening since my friend's coming to dinner and it's probably the last time I'll see him this year.



Yeah, I scanned the hat and the pompoms below instead of photographing them. I'm in the basement, it's after dark and the scanner's sitting right next to the computer. So they look a little squished. Live with it.

I haven't even started on the planned felted bunny slippers, or the scarf for FavoriteCousin. Actually, I take that back, I did start a scarf for FavoriteCousin, but I frogged it and consigned the yarn to Perdition. Must start anew with new yarn and new design.

No missed deadlines for me, no sir.
But I've had fun too. I needed to make some pompoms for Kate's hat. She wanted a clone of the Remorse Hat, but she's not as conservative as the renewed friend the Remorse Hat and Scarf went to.



Kate just isn't a spherical pompom sort of person, she's more of a free spirit, more adventurous, so I made Official Free Spirit Pompoms for her hat. And just to add my own little touch of nerdishness, I used my solar Casio graphing calculator as a base to wrap them on.

How's that for classy?

Traveling and Knitting

Home again from my travels. Actually got back late Friday, but the Engineer has kept very busy keeping me busy. Sometimes I wonder whether he sees keeping me busy as a hobby or an avocation...

I knit quite a bit while I was traveling, working on two Christmas gifts (can't blog those yet) and making dishcloths.

At the home of each friend I stayed with, I knit a dishcloth as I talked with my friend. When I completed it, I gave it to her. Three dishcloths knit and given away -- I guess it was the hat-trick of my trip. It seemed to go over well. I did not knit one for Mom, though I stayed there the longest. She knits her own. She's been knitting her own since before I knew which end of the needle to stick into the yarn.

I've knit one and a half more on the plane and since being home because I plan to send a set of three to my beloved Mother-in-law-in-law. It takes longer now that I'm home and the cats are trying to "help." I've not been as insistent about "Not yours, mine!" because I have a case of the guilts for abandoning my fuzzy darlings for two weeks. They're still in VelcroKitty mode. Both of them crowd onto my lap whenever I sit in my knitting chair. Right now Kitsu is curled up on top of my forearms as I type. I am not psychologically capable of evicting a purring cat.

Maybe I need to go on the road again to finish up my Christmas knitting.

Bad, Bad, Bad Yarn Junky

Went to JoAnn's today to get inexpensive machine wash and dry yarn for baby hats. This is really kindof bizarre for me, baby hats...

Anyway I've already knit one elf hat (see last post) for a four-year-old. It was quick and easy, so I decided to do one for a friend's baby who's due to make her initial appearance on the 10th of November. Then I thought I should make one for S's one year old boy. Oh, I has a one year old girl. Crum, I can't make a hat for I's baby if I don't make hats for L's two granddaughters (one still in utero), their desks are right next to each other. Geeze o' pete, that makes a total of six baby hats.

That's why inexpensive yarn from JoAnn's. The machine wash and dry requirement is due to the nature of babies. (I don't have to have a baby to know about that.)

So I blithely waltzed in to JoAnn's Moonlight Madness sale this afternoon. Okay, rock me back on my heals, fifty bazillion women with small children running amuck with green grocery carts. But I'm brave, so I grabbed a cart and plowed into the milling masses.

Onward to the yarn department!

Of course, it's not possible to go to the yarn department and not push my cart up and down all of the aisles. Nope, not possible.

Wowzer! Cosetta on sale 75% off. So I went through the whole bin and got the seven that had the same dye lot.

One skein of Moda Dea in a loverly color, looking so lonely rattling around in its big bin.

Pacaboo, what the heck's Pacaboo? Feltable... wool, alpaca and bamboo... cool. Just one skein to experiment with, that's not much.

I hadn't even gotten to the baby yarns yet.

Ah well, I guess $45 for 15 skeins of yarn ain't bad. And I smuggled it down to the basement before the Engineer got home to make editorial comments on my excess too.


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Baby Hats

There are four little kids in town who I think are in need of Christmas hats. Warm and cozy Christmas hats. I've found the pattern. It knits up fast, it's cute and out of the ordinary.

Elf Hat #1

Now to decide on the colors for Elf Hats numbers 2 to 4.