She caught me...

Well, Sister#2 finally checked out my blog and discovered that I am knitting lots of things OTHER THAN the cloche-style hat that I had promised her over Christmas. OK, OK, it's getting moved up in the sidebar from "Potential Projects" into the current projects section. [Let's just hope my dad doesn't check my blog for the status of his argyle socks.]

Here is the hat she has selected. It's the Herringbone Cloche from Vogue Knitting Hats & Caps Two. It calls for Kersti Merino Crepe, but Sister#2 wants it in a plum color and I don't think that yarn comes in plum (some multi-colored purples, but no plum). Soooo, I'll have to look for other plum-colored options in the 22st=4" range.

Here's what I came up with:

• Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in color 023 (plum).
• Filatura Di Crosa Zara in color 1523 (dark purple).
• Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca & Silk in color 28 (plum). Or maybe their 100% Alpaca Sportweight in color 512 (eggplant).
• Rowan Cashsoft DK in color 513 (Poison - love that name) or Felted Tweed Yarn in color 151 (Billberry, or maybe 148 - Sigh).
• And, last but not least, South West Trading Company Optimum DK in plum.

It's hard to tell just by the online photos whether these colors are more grape (bad) or plum (good). If you have any experience with any of these yarns, leave me a comment. By the way, this doesn't count as me increasing stash cuz SHE'S supposed to buy it. I'm just the knitter. So no resolutions broken here.

Got my the Feb-Apr issue of Cast On magazine yesterday -- yuck, ick, ugh. And what is not yuck, ick, ugh is so very ho hum. Why, oh why, do I subscribe to this magazine? For the technical articles -- bah! Even those are not worth it anymore. The best thing in the magazine is this bicycle seat cover. Sigh.

In sock news, I have finally finished my Log Cabin Socks. I just have to weave in the ends. I have mixed feelings about them. Will post pics and details tomorrow.

I love my Tivo

So, I finally plop myself down on the couch last night after a some late-night blogging, to watch some Daily Show or whatnot and get some knitting done. I turn on my Tivo to check what I've got to watch and I am greeted with a big blue screen. Sigh. This usually means that my network cable has come unplugged or some such irritation, but THIS TIME it was a notice about a wonderful new Tivo update that I had just received. Turns out I now have the ability to listen to podcasts directly through my Tivo. Don't have to download through the computer or anything -- just type in the feed url and it plays. Woooo-hoo! Now I can be all comfy on my couch while I listen to Cast On and Knitcast. Yay, for Tivo. What a GREAT product. Love those surprise updates.

OK, enough with the product endorsements. I have been making slow but steady progress on my Log Cabin Socks. Here is the finished one. I just finished the heel flap of the second. Progress is slow on the second because I haven't been paying attention, and thus have to keep ripping out rows where I have knit too far (on the ankle and again on the heel). Anyway, the end is in sight.

Here's a shot of back of the ankle and the heel. These socks are so thick they practically stand up by themselves. But I think the cabling down the back is very cool. Can't wait to wear these. I'm sure they will be super warm.

By the way, I just joined Team Boston for the Knitting Olympics. Check it out if you live within 1 hour of Boston and are participating in The Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics.
I had better step up my training program though. Look what other team members are doing to prepare for the event. Go team!

Lookie what I got

I was in New Hampshire this past weekend visiting my mother, and since I was in the general vicinity I just had to visit Patternworks, and you know what THAT means... Goodbye, resolutions. Hello, yarn.

However, I did have a very good reason for breaking my resolution against buying more yarn. I'm competing in an Olympic event! Yes, it's the 2006 Knitting Olympics, hosted by Yarn Harlot.

I have decided to make Rogue for my main event. The yarn I bought for it is Bartlettyarns 2-ply 100% wool in the color called Scotia. I just LOVE this color. The pic does not quite do it justice -- it's darker in person.

The yarn is a bit rough, but I was thinking that a more rugged yarn might work for a hoodie like Rogue. I did a little swatch to check gauge (right on with a US7) and to check that the fleckiness of the yarn doesn't overwhelm the cable pattern. I think it might be OK, but I'm not sure. Anyone have any experience with this yarn or care to comment about how well cables show up in a flecky yarn? Looking for some input here...

According to the official rules of the Knitting Olympics, I'm allowed to swatch, but I can't actually cast on until the start of the Winter Olympics on Feb 10. So I have some time before I need to make a final yarn decision.

Check out the other lovely items I got for myself while at Patternworks -- a new knitting bag and a matching circular needle case. Oh, and the 4th Barb Walker book at half price. Now I will no longer be toting my projects around in a dirty old canvas bag.

Free Zigzag Lace Scarf Pattern

I wrote up the pattern for the red lace scarf I recently made with Araucania Nature Wool Chunky. I thought I would share it with you. The lace pattern is my variation of one I found in Beautiful Knitting Patterns by Gisela Klopper. It is also somewhat similar to the Flemish Block Lace pattern in Barbara Walker's A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns.
Here it is. Enjoy!

Zigzag Lace Scarf

FINISHED SIZE

About 7.5" wide and 72" long (after blocking).

YARN

2 skeins Araucania Nature Wool Chunky (100% wool; 131yd/120m per 100g hank), color: 104, dark red

NEEDLES

US #10 (6mm)

NOTIONS

Tapestry needle

GAUGE

Not critical, but mine was approximately 15-16 sts = 4" in stockinette stitch

NOTE

This scarf is worked in two identical sections, from the ends to the center back, where the two sections are grafted together. If you want to avoid grafting, just repeat the lace pattern to make the scarf as long as you want, then end with 4 rows of seed stitch and cast off loosely.

DIRECTIONS FOR SCARF HALF

(Make two)
CO 29 sts.

Row 1 (RS):k1, [p1, k1] repeat to end of row.

Rows 2-4:Repeat row 1.

Begin lace pattern, following either the written instructions or the chart.

Lace Pattern Written Instructions

Row 1 (RS):k1, p1, k2tog, yo, k, [yo, ssk, k5, k2tog, yo, k] twice, yo, ssk, p, k.

Row 2 (and all even rows):k1, p to last st, k1.

Row 3:k1, p1, k3, [k1, yo, ssk, k3, k2tog, yo, k2] twice, k2, p1, k1.

Row 5:k1, p1, k3, [k2, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo, k3] twice, k2, p1, k1.

Row 7:k1, p1, k3, [k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k5] twice, k2tog, yo, p1, k1.

Row 9:k1, p1, k2, k2tog, [yo, k3, yo, ssk, k3, k2tog] twice, yo, k1, p1, k1.

Row 11:k1, p1, k1, k2tog, yo, [k5, yo, ssk, k1, k2tog, yo] twice, k2, p1, k1.

Row 12:k1, p to last st, k1.

Lace Pattern Chart

Complete rows 1-12 of the lace pattern a total of 13 and a half times, ending with row 6.

Final row (a variation of row 7 of the lace pattern):k1, p1, k3, [k3, yo, ssk, k5] twice, k2, p1, k1.

Do NOT bind off. Place these stitches on a holder or a piece of scrap yarn.
Cast on 29 sts and knit the second half of the scarf exactly as the first half.

FINISHING

Graft the two halves of the scarf together using kitchener stitch. Weave in loose ends. Wash in cool water and block by pinning to a flat surface. Let dry.

Pattern & images © 2006 Tamara Stone-Snyder.
May be distributed freely for personal use only. Cannot be reprinted on the web or otherwise without permission.

Back to some actual knitting content

I've been spending so much time tweaking the old template that I have not been getting much knitting done over the past few days.

However, I did make some progress on the Log Cabin Socks. I have 1 sock complete, waiting to be kitchenered. Working on the ankle of the second. I'm not really liking the way the cables look at the point where they move from one 'column' to the other - there is a weird bumpy area there. I'm going to play with another way to do that on the second sock. Yeah, the socks won't match, but these are for me so no big deal.

Here is the red Araucania scarf that I finished this past weekend. This is the one I started back here.

This was a fun project:  fast to knit because of the chunky yarn, interesting stitch pattern that didn't require too much concentration, and subtle color variation in the yarn to give it a hint of pizzazz. Very satisfying. And I think the gift was well received, which does make one feel quite "warm and cozy", as some would say.

By the way, I posted this picture using the Hello BloggerBot. It seems to give you more control over uploading photos than uploading through Blogger. For instance, you can pick the size that images are resized to. I'll have to mess with it some more though before I know if I prefer this method or not.

More technical difficulties

I just realized last night that my attempt at a 3-column template looked totally awful at 800x600 resolution (big sigh...). The middle column got shoved to the bottom and it generally was a hard-to-read mess. My display is set to 1280x1024 so it was quite a shock to see how nothing fit in the lower resolutions.

Well, I think I have fixed it now (fingers crossed). MOST pages/posts should now appear in the 3-column format. However, some of my older posts have pictures that are too big to display in that format -- they should show up with the far right column shoved to the bottom.

By the way, has anyone else noticed how totally CRAPTACULAR blogger's template preview mode is? What a piece of junk. Not sure why I bother using it, considering everything looks totally different once it is published.

On a brighter note, what do you think of the new color scheme and the new banner? It's a close-up of that Noro hat I made. Try to ignore the weird little characters on the far right side of the banner. I'm still working on getting that to display properly. Geez, who knew there was so much involved in setting up a template...I'm exhausted. I spent so much time on this I didn't even get to knit today -- bummer.

I found this the other day: Personality Project

It's an online personality test, supposedly being conducted by Northwestern University. It was kind of fun. Anyway, here are my results:

Check out my personality profile!

I'm a Joiner

Just joined the Count Your Socks knitalong. It sounds like fun. Check it out if you like to make socks but need some inspiration to get them finished. I started knitting in Feb of 2003, and since then I've knit 29 pairs. Of those, 10 pairs have been for me. However, I need to crank out a few more pairs for myself because several of my early socks have worn through in the heel and the ball of the foot. I used to knit socks with merino wool and wonder why they didn't last (duh). I darned some of them, but even the darning wore out. I learned my lesson after the first ten socks or so, and now I use only sock yarn.

I've got 4 more pairs of socks in progress (some of which are more "in progress" than others). Here is the rundown:

Jaywalker Socks in Plymouth Sockotta

Status = Inactive, abandoned for Christmas gift knitting, to be picked up soon.

Progress = About halfway through the first ankle.

Log Cabin socks (from Handknit Holidays) in Rowan Cork

Status = Active

Progress = Having issues with sizing. Completed the ankle of the woman's size, but the cables made the ankles rather tight. I switched to using bigger ndls (US6) and started making the man's size instead. I'm about halfway through the ankle on that (and now it may be too loose, sigh... this is how projects get abandoned). Oh, and yeah, I realize this is not sock yarn, but they are so cute in the book I couldn't resist. I'll have to reinforce the bottom of the foot somehow...

Argyle socks for my Dad (my stupid pattern, or lack thereof)

Status = Sick of them. This is my 4th attempt at an ankle that fits properly - don't ask.

Progress = uggh

Mountain Colors Bearfoot socks

Status = Inactive.

Progress = Was having sizing issues again due to poor choice of needle size. Need to rip and start over (sigh)

You might think that having made so many pairs of socks I would not be having so many sizing issues. Well, you would be wrong. Maybe I am just overly picky about sock fit -- but no one likes a floppy sock.

Update on the stupid 3-column template: I think I finally got it working. Leave me a comment if the columns appear to overlap on your computer (especially when you resize the window). Thanks.