Podcast & Knitting
Over our vacation, my husband introduced me to Podcasts and I love them.
I haven’t been able to knit and watch t.v. at the same time very successfully. Either I mess up the knitting or I miss something on the screen. But now I can knit and listen to different Podcast shows at the same time, not sacrificing either. Tonight I’ve been swatching in the round for my Sockapaltwoza socks using the Magic Loop method. It’s not been going well. The Magic Loop is actually going well and is really cool. But the two points in the round where I switch needles, the stitches are really loose. This does not look so good. And I’m using size US 0 needles so it’s all so tedious to me. Time is marching on, and I’m starting to think maybe I should make these socks with some thicker yarn. I’m not sure what I’m going to do.
But listening to KnitCast and learning about the Sex & the Knitty issue and licorice thongs…it’s hard not to smile about that. Tomorrow I’m putting down the socks and making it a NBaT day. The guests were dropped off at the airport last night, and now I’m going to focus on the T. That is if Ella feels better tomorrow. I put her to bed tonight with a 103° temperature. Poor girl.
Rip, Rip, Rip
These are unfortunately the sounds coming from my NBaT right now.
Yes, you see the problem too, don’t you? The neck must be ripped back. Otherwise, I’m loving the T-shirt. I just picked up too many stitches for my first neck. I know, I’m learning. But after I started the neck, I realized I really wanted to be knitting it in the round anyway. So I’ll do that this time around.
But I still love how this top feels. So I’ve got some nice purple Calmer now to make a tank top. And my sister-in-law has some different purple Calmer for her tank top. I’m excited she’s knitting!
Best Husband Award Goes To…
…Bill Childs who just set the alarm for 2:50 am, for himself.
Bill’s going to pick up our guests coming in on the red-eye. His logic was that he could take a nap tomorrow, but that I couldn’t since I will be out buying yarn. Can you believe that! I’m the luckiest girl in the world. He also said he knew I wouldn’t go to bed early since I would want to finish unpacking first. He’s right. He knows me too well.
So after spending 7 hours in the car today, my NBaT looks no different than it did this morning. After working the hem of one of the sleeves a few times, I realized it’s going to be too big for my liking. So I designed a shorter and slimmer sleeve on paper. I also tried to do the neckline, but once I picked up all of the stitches, I realized I was picking them up too close to the edge. So I had lots of lovely holes all around the neckline. Rip, rip, rip. But I won’t make that mistake again. I’ll bring it all with me on the yarn store trip tomorrow and hopefully make more obvious progress.
My First Sleeves
Last day of vacation, and I’m up to the sleeves on my Nothin’ But a T-Shirt.
This is Day 22 and I think we’re all ready to be home. Hopefully we’ll be home by late afternoon. That should leave plenty of time for mowing, unpacking, laundry, and buying groceries. I leave for the airport the next morning (insanely at 3:30 am) to pick up Mike and Jenn and family. But I’ll be back in time for a yarn field trip with my friend Amy (and others) to Colorful Stitches and Wonderful Things. Some may think this all sounds a bit crazy, but I’m excited for it.
One quick NBaT update before we get on the road this morning. I’ve finished the body of the T and now I’ve begun the sleeves. I’m not sure of the order of seaming, sewing in the sleeves and knitting the neckline. I may be making a call to someone while on the road today for some help, if I get to that point.
I’ve just tried on the body to see if it’s even close to the right size. Oh boy! I’m going to love this shirt. It’s so soft and fits so nicely, and talk about comfortable. I almost don’t want to put on the sleeves. This would make a great tank top. I would love it so much more than Soleil. By the way, I wore Soleil the other day, and I did not love it. I kept fiddling with the bottom hem rolling, and I kept double-checking to make sure everything was staying in the top of the tank. So I’m not sure what I’m going to do with this top. I think I will at least add another crocheted row around the neckline. That may help. But I expect to be buying some more Calmer yarn in the future for a tank.
Vacation Update
We’re 3,000+ miles into our trip and there are five days left.
Here are only a few highlights since Chicago:
My brother Dave took us out on his boat on the St. Croix River and I got to experience knitting on a boat.
Though the Branching Out scarf turned me off of lace knitting, I think this leaf is inspiring me to make a giant leaf lace shawl.
I helped Cogie Ann relearn how to knit.
I stopped resisting the urge to try on a pair of Keen sandals. Do you notice a trend in my 2005 purchases? I can’t seem to get enough of this color. This is what happens when your daughter mentions that you wear black every day.
We’re on our way to Santa Claus, Indiana tomorrow. We’ll spend two nights there and spend Friday at Holiday World.
In Nothin’ But a T-Shirt news, I’m now past the first decrease repeat. 
After several attempts to get the hem right, I’m off and knitting away. Actually the hem looks pretty good. It was just tricky doing it in the round. I decided to try the provisional cast on that other NBaT knitters had mentioned. The people at the yarn store tried to show me, but that didn’t work out. But once again, KnittingHelp.com came through. So helpful! Here’s a picture of me replacing the waste yarn with a smaller circ needle.
I have some crazy idea that I want to finish the t-shirt before I get home. I guess it could happen, if nothing goes wrong. But since I don’t have a really clear plan as to what to do once I get to the armholes, who knows when this will be done.
Knitting Dreams
I’ve been having knitting dreams for a while, but now Liam is too.
This morning I woke up and this is the conversation Liam and I had.
Me: You were in my dream last night. You were at the gym with me. Did you have any dreams?
Liam: I had no dreams. (Surprising, since just about every morning since November, Liam says he had a bad dream about Harry Potter.)
Me: Am I ever in your dreams?
Liam: Yes.
Me: What am I doing in your dreams?
Liam: Knitting.
I wonder if I was finishing my NBaT? That would be nice.
Searching for Calmer
When I stopped looking, more Calmer came into my life.
I’ve been obsessing over my Nothin’ But a T-Shirt dilemma about not having enough yarn for the main color. I’ve been digging through the NBaT knit along entries searching for answers. And I had made some tentative plans. But just as I was about to cast on (for the third time) again for my next NBaT attempt, we pulled into Tulsa, OK. After lunch I knew there was a yarn store just around the corner that I wanted to check out for a minute. I saw Loops and ran in quickly just for a peek since there was a grandmother, husband and two kids waiting in the car. The Loop folks were extremely friendly and pointed me to the Calmer instantly. And there sat a skein of Peacock! I grabbed it and a pair of Addi Turbo needles, size 7 and was out the door in less than five minutes. The color difference is slight between the two dye lots. But I think my idea of knitting the sleeves in the 6th skein will work.
Back in the car I did my 5th swatch of the Calmer on my new set of needles. I got the stitch gauge, and the row gauge was amazingly much closer this time. I’ve decided to work this sweater in the round, different than the pattern. So now I’m working on the hem and if it’s a success, I’ll post pictures tomorrow.
Not Enough Yarn
What! You say I need six skeins of Calmer, not five. F**k.
Yesterday was a big driving day, Minneapolis to Arkansas. And we made it by 11 pm with both kids still awake. Can you believe that? In our regular world they are usually asleep by 7:30/8:00 pm, East Coast time. But this bedtime shift will make things much easier when West Coast visitors (Mike & Jenn and kids) arrive the day after we get back from our vacation. They have a later bedtime.
Anyway, it’s nice being at the in-laws; high-speed connection, peaceful home, and LOTS of space for visitors. So I finished the Branching Out Scarf sometime in Iowa. It’s lovely, but I’m so glad to be done with it. Maybe I wasn’t quite up for lace. I’m surely not the lace queen. But this pattern just kept giving me problems. I can’t tell you how many rows I had to unknit. Fortunately the last four pattern repeats went really smoothly. Here’s a weird thing that I did that I really can’t remember why. I started the scarf on size 4 needles. Then after three pattern repeats, I switched to size 6 because I wanted to see if I liked it better that way. Then I just kept going, rather than decided on the needle size and starting over. So now I had this narrower end, which I don’t love.
So it would look intentional, I switched back to size 4 needles again at the other end. It looks fine when worn around a lovely neck. I’ll post a photo once I block it.
Now that I was done with the scarf, I worked on Blaze, amazingly the only other thing I had on needles. But I was finding it challenging to work on the first row where I just went up a needle size and had to start to cable.
I really wanted to start my Nothin’ But a T-Shirt. I just love how the Calmer feels.
But I had already done two swatches and was having a hard time getting the right gauge. Size 6 wooden needles, 20 sts/4 inches. Size 7 metal needles, 18 sts/4 inches. I needed 19 sts/4 inches. Then I did a swatch on size 7 wooden needles and got 18 sts/4 inches again. When we got to rest stops and coffee shops with free Internet access, I would check out what other people were saying about their problems with getting an accurate Calmer gauge. Many people were having problems. But most found that after washing, the gauge did get smaller; how much, I do not know. So I went with the size 7 needles.
Now it was time to cast on for the back. But as I’m reading the pattern to figure out my size, I notice that the size I think I’m supposed to make, 36, actually calls for 6 skeins of the main color, not 5 as I thought. Not only am I far away from The Yarnery, I bought their last skein of the Peacock color. So that’s the dilemma. How do I deal with this?
• Do I just knit along and hope I only need 5 skeins?
• Do I make the bottom hem in the contrasting color to save MC yarn?
• Do I add a motif/words to the front in the CC to save yarn?
• Do I make shorter sleeves/shirt to save yarn?
• Do I make the smaller size and have a really fitted T-shirt?
• Do I alter the neckline to be more open to save yarn?
• Do I try to find another skein in the MC of the same dye lot?
• Do I get another skein of the MC and use that for the sleeves, hoping the difference isn’t that great?
• Any other suggestions?
What should I do?
Blog, I Have Not Forgotten You
Dial-up connections and so many yarn stores have kept me from blogging.
Actually, seven yarn stores in seven days has also kept me from doing as much knitting as I was hoping. But it’s been fun. And now there is a lot of yarn and new needles in the minivan. Today we’ll be driving to Fayetteville, Arkansas. So there should be a lot of good knitting time.
Quick update on projects. The Branching Out scarf is still moving along. I had to start a second skein, but I should finish this before we reach Kansas today. The Blaze sweater is now on the needles and I’ve just started the cables. It’s going slowly, but I should speed up as I get used to cables without a cable needle. And I’ve got the Calmer yarn for the Nothin’ But a T-shirt. And this yarn feels so good I can’t wait to get started. But I’m having a difficult time figuring out what needles to use to get the correct gauge. Size 6 wooden needles are too small; size 7 metal needles are too big. So, I’ve got some new needles, and I’ll try to figure out what’s going to work when I get to Fayetteville. Maybe the people at Hand Held can help. This will be my LAST yarn store on the trip, promise.
Tomorrow we’ll have high-speed access, so expect yarn store reviews and lots of photos. Oh and by the way, this has been a wonderful vacation so far.
Hot, Sweaty Knitting
Four days into our vacation and I’ve gotten two projects finished up.
I finished Maggie’s purse the first day in the car. I tried embroidering flowers on the front flap, but didn’t like it so I ripped that out. Bill suggested an “M” which seemed like a good idea for a three-year-old’s purse. I did it completely free hand and it turned out ok. I wrapped it up the next morning and now it’s at Maggie’s house waiting for her August birthday.
Two days later I was at a Cubs game, knitting away in the heat at an afternoon game. Hot and sweaty knitting. 
This is the view Bill says I was missing.
But I was on a mission to finish my Merino Belt before the end of the game. With one minute to spare, I finished the belt and the Cubs win!
Here’s the beauty shot.
I was able to do a Blaze swatch on the drive to Chicago and I’m still in love with this yarn. Is it weird that I make pleasure noises while knitting? I did only one cable stitch with my new cable needle and quickly decided to learn how to do the cables without a cable needle. Several rows later I got the technique down well. And I really like how this yarn is knitting up too. Did I mention the pleasure noises?
Tonight I’m planning to go to Mosaic Yarn Studio in Des Plaines, Illinois to buy some needles for Blaze and maybe check out some sock yarn for my Sockapaltwoza Pal. Tomorrow’s another driving day, so I’m hoping to finish the Branching Out Scarf by the end of the day. It’s coming along well and I’ve stopped making terrible mistakes. I’m still not sure about the yarn. It’s not as soft as I was hoping, but who wants fuzzy wool wrapped around your neck when it’s 95° and humid.
