Where Do I Begin?

It's cold, cold, cold here in SW Michigan. As long as we have power, I don't care because I have so much fun stuff to do that I'm not sure where to begin.

The Aguave sleeves are finished. Now it's time to sew this sweater together, wash and block it.

Did I say fun? Sewing my knitting projects together has never been fun for me.

I do know how to do it moderately well, but I'm very very slow at it. It's my least favorite part of knitting and something I avoid by knitting in the round and/or picking up stitches and/or doing three needle bind off whenever the pattern design allows. Not this time. Aguave was knit in four pieces: front, back, 2 sleeves. They need to be sewn together.

And there's a Hanover jacket in my knitting basket that also needs to be sewn together. I've promised myself that both Aguave and Hanover will be assembled before I start a new project. Except for John's birthday socks. They have all ready been started. Sock picture in a few days. I want to knit a little more on the cuffs before I show them to you.


My Knitpicks order finally arrived. First thing I did was grab a ball of Andean Treasure in Fog and finish up the last inch of the first pair of fingerless mitts I started several weeks ago.

For those of you who did the math in your head and wonder why I didn't have a $40 order to get free shipping, I did. The part of the order not pictured belongs to a knitting friend and will be delivered to her at church on Sunday.

The Grape Sierra on the bottom of the pile will likely become a CIC sweater. I want to write an easy, no sew, top down pattern for CIC knitters.

The other five balls are Andean Treasure, 100% baby alpaca, sport weight. This stuff is so soft, warm, and pretty I want knit myself a sweater from it. I don't have a pattern in mind, though, so I'm looking forward to browsing sweater patterns for something classic and a little lacey.

Something with little or no sewing together required. Any suggestions?

This just arrived in the mail, also.

Oh my, oh my! What a wonderful book! Gorgeous lace projects. I want to sit down and knit everything in this book. Now!

And, if that's not enough, I have a pile of library books to read and a new, unopened Interweave Knits magazine.

So, where do I begin?

D is for Dumbbell

Hobby Advanced class at Briarwood Dog Training has started working with doggy dumbbells again. My dogs have been though the dumbbell training before. They are still flunking.

The dumbbell forced retreive is supposed to be a fun thing for the dogs. Some of the dogs who have learned how to do it in previous rotations of the class do appear to enjoy it.

The desired sequence of events goes like this:

• Dog sits on left side of owner about six feet in front of a hurdle.
  
• Owner tosses dumbbell over the hurdle and says "Take it."
  
• Dog enthusiastically jumps over the hurdle and takes the dumbbell in his/her mouth.
  
• Dog jumps hurdle with dumbbell in mouth to return to owner.
  
• Dog sits in front of owner and gives his/her owner the dumbbell.

Take your fingers out from under my chin so I can spit this thing out!


The sequence of events when Sunny does the dumbbell exercise:

• We don't bother standing in front of the hurdle.
  
• I stick the dumbbell in front of Sunny's nose and say "Take it."
  
• Sunny ignores me.
  
• I gently push the dumbbell into Sunny's mouth.
  
• I hold Sunny's chin up for about thirty seconds so the dumbbell won't fall out.
  
• Sunny agrees to this because she is being bribed by little pieces of turkey dog.
  
• After two tries at holding the dumbbell in her mouth, Sunny insists it's time to go out for a potty break.

The theory is that I will need to spend less and less time holding up Sunny's chin as she learns to hang on to the dumbbell without assistance. Gail the trainer thinks Sunny is making progress. We have practiced at home this past week, and I'm spending just as much time holding up Sunny's chin as I was last week. Sunny is starting to like the practice more, though, because she can guilt trip me into a great long game of tug afterward.

When Sunny's class did dumbbell training two years ago, she hated it so much that I used dumbbell time to take her outside for a potty break. This time around we're going to stick with it and see if we can get to the place where it's fun for her.

Pappy hates the dumbbell even more than Sunny hates the dumbbell.

I would do almost anything for you - except this.


The sequence of events when Pappy does the dumbbell exercise:

• We don't bother standing in front of the hurdle.
  
• I get down on the floor and secure him between my legs.
  
• I make all kinds of encouraging noises to let him know this is fun.
  
• He clamps his jaws shut. Very tightly shut.
  
• I pry his mouth open while he's playing keepaway with his head.
  
• I insert the dumbbell and hold his mouth shut around it while I continue making encouraging noises.
  
• When I can spare a hand, I rub his chest to calm him down.
  
• Pappy tries to spit the dumbbell out and run under the nearest piece of furniture.
  
• After about thirty seconds, I let him drop the dumbbell.
  
• I get very exited and feed him multiple little pieces of turkey dog.
  
• Pappy is excited too because maybe we're done with this exercise.

Sounds cruel, doesn't it? I feel like an unfit doggy mother everytime we do this.

All the activities that Pappy now thinks are wonderful fun started out with him balking, so I'm not ready to give up yet.

Fortunately, dumbbells only take about ten minutes of the two hour class. If things don't look better soon, I may teach Pappy that dumbbell time makes a good potty break time. Stay tuned.

Fingerless Mitts III

Pattern: Diamond Handwarmers from CIC knitter Ruth

Yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Wool, worsted weight 100% wool

Color: Candy Cane Red

Needles: #4 double points

Gauge: 5.5 stitches/inch, 8 rows/inch


Saturday evening I picked up Ruth's pattern and knit the first one of these in a little less than three hours. Sunday afternoon I cast on the second one and it went even quicker.

These are large on me, which is what is wanted. Most of the caretakers have larger hands than I do.

These are very pretty, practical, and warm for the CIC caregivers. The pattern is easy to follow with detail instructions for every row where there is thumb gusset or the diamond pattern. I followed the pattern word for word and didn't find any errors. Thanks Ruth!

Fingerless Mitts II

Pattern: Open Finger Mitts from Garnstudio

Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Treasure, sport weight 100% baby alpaca

Color: Lagoon

Needles: #3 double points

Gauge: 6 stitches/inch, 8 rows/inch

While waiting for the yarn to finish my first pair of fingerless mittens for the CIC caretakers, I knit up a second pair.

The CIC_Knit List challenge is 150 pair of fingerless mittens sent by the end of March. My personal goal is 4 pair.

The fingerless mittens are super quick to knit. This evening I finished a third pair, picture tomorrow, and now I'm back to knitting on the endless second Aguave sleeve.

Saturday Lunch

This afternoon the eldest three generations of women in my family met for lunch at the Oakwood Bistro. Granddaughter Kimmy was elsewhere with her dad. We missed seeing her, but it was nice to have an adult lunch.

Daughter Heather (in picture) treated for a belated my birthday lunch. Our family is not always prompt about things like that. We do things when work schedules permit.

Oakwood Bistro is an award winning restaurant. Its creme brulee is the best I've ever tasted. I don't want to know how many calories it has, but today it didn't have any because it was a birthday treat.


The other purpose for the lunch was delivery of professional pictures taken of John, Anne, and Sydney in Idaho.

The pictures were framed, wrapped securely in bubble wrap, and all sent to my house for Michigan distribution.

Here you see Mom (my mother, Heather and John's grandmother) trying to liberate the large picture marked for her. Heather is doing the same in the top picture.

Everyone loved their pictures. Thanks John and Anne and Sydney.

FLAK Part 5 Done

Pattern: Follow the Leader Aran by Janet Szabo

Yarn: Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool

Color: Antique Rose

Needles: US #5

Gauge: 22 stitches/4 inches in Moss Stitch


Once again I'm caught up with the FLAK assignments. This part was fun. My analytical mind got a nice work out charting the cables and how I wanted the neck increases to fit into the pattern.

Since I'm a novice at this type of planning, I made several charts over several days until I finally had it the way I wanted it. Only time and the addition of a neckband will show if my thinking was right or not.

Someone, sorry I don't remember who, posted a suggestion to the list about blocking. She said that we could wet down our FLAK at anytime to block the part that was done in order to make sure we were going to get a good fit.

I may end up doing that. Otherwise, I have to trust that the stitch and row counts calculated from my blocked swatch will bring this sweater up to the size I need.

At this point the front and back are both knit to approximately 1/3 their total length. Adding the sleeves, I roughly calculate the sweater is 20% done. Lots and lots of cable knitting to go.

Now off to knit on something else until the next installment of FLAK is posted.

C is for Cosmetology

I graduated from high school with a math scholarship to Olivet College. To my 18 year old mind in 1963, this was not a cool thing.

What did a girl do with a math degree? And, since it was 1963 when girls did not do much, no one could answer that question for me. When they tried, it came out sounding like “develop your mind and find a husband.” Surely there were easier ways to find a husband than four years of college math.

I enrolled in the fall session of Wright Beauty Academy to become a Cosmetologist.

Nine months later I passed the state test and went to work for the best hair styling saloon in Battle Creek, Michigan. Hair Styles by Ferrari.

It was the decade of beehives, backcombing, French twists, flips, and lots of hairspray. Shampooing once a week was the norm.

In 1964 a haircut was $2, a shampoo and set was $2.50, and a perm was $10. Since we worked on commission, we tried to sell the more expensive perms for $15, but most of the ladies (our license did not allow us to work on men) thought the $10 perms were just fine.

I had red hair with the crown bleached out platinum. With the help of color rinses on the bleached part, I could have all kinds of outrageous color combinations.

In this Christmas picture, the top of my hair was a pale green color.


When I got married in February, 1965, I had a temporary auburn rinse put on the bleached hair. Since I was paying for expensive wedding pictures, I thought I might want to look as normal as possible so my kids wouldn't laugh at me in the decades to come.

When my daughter sees the wedding pictures, she is too busy laughing at the hairstyle to even notice the color.

4 Things Meme

All my projects are in mid-stream. Too early to take a picture.

Even my ABC Along post is waiting to see if I can find a picture to post with it. It's about something that happened 40+ years ago, and I need to dig in the archives. And, if I do find something, I need to load the scanner software. I've been procrastinating that since my big laptop crash last October.

If I don't post this afternoon, it isn't gonna happen today. Blogger is having an outage tonight starting when Sunny and I get home from doggy school.

What's a blogger to do? How about a meme that I've seen on almost everyone else's blog but haven't done yet?

List 4 Jobs you have had in your life:

1. Hair stylist
   
2. Geriatric nurse's aide
   
3. COBOL programmer
   
4. Systems Analyst

4 Movies you could watch over and over.

1. Blue Hawaii
   
2. Any romantic comedy with a happy ending, including Shreck
   
3. Shirley Valentine
   
4. ET

4 Places you have lived:

1. Arlington Heights, Illinois
   
2. Vicksburg, Michigan
   
3. Marshall, Michigan
   
4. Battle Creek, Michigan

4 TV shows you love to watch.
(We don't watch TV, so these are favorites from the past.)

1. Star Trek
   
2. Quincy
   
3. Johnny Carson
   
4. Laugh In

4 Places you have been on Vacation:

1. New Orleans
   
2. Atlanta, Georgia
   
3. Chatfield, Minnesota
   
4. Michigan's Upper Peninsula

4 websites you visit daily:

1. Jig Zone, Daily Puzzle
   
2. 5 Day Forecast for Paw Paw, National Weather Service
   
3. Bloglines, and many of my favorite blogs
   
4. Engrish

4 of your favorite foods:

1. Creme Brulee
   
2. Prime rib
   
3. Wendy's spicy chicken sandwich
   
4. Strawberry shortcake with fresh, Michigan strawberries

4 Places you would rather be right now:

1. Post Falls, Idaho
   
2. Working on my FLAK
   
3. In a lobster bib cracking and eating fresh buttery lobster with a good friend
   
4. Sitting in a hot bubble bath with a shot of blackberry brandy

Anyone who hasn't done this and is desperate for an easy blog post, consider yourself tagged.

Knitting Log for February 4

Pattern: Fingerless Mitts

Yarn: Knitpicks Andean Treasure, 100% baby alpaca, along with Blackberry Ridge Silk Blend Lace weight, two-ply, 25% silk, 85% wool.

Color: Fog and Medium lilac

Needles: Clover bamboo #5 circulars

Gauge: 20 stitches/4 inches

Our CIC challenge for February/March is fingerless gloves for the caretakers.

Amazing as it sounds living in Michigan and all, I have never knit a mitten. So this was a fun new something to knit for me. I selected a pattern with a thumb gusset because I think they look nicer than a buttonhole for the thumb hole. Even with the gusset, the pattern is super simple.

Since the Andean Treasure is sport weight and the pattern is for worsted weight, I added a strand of the lilac lace yarn. The lilac has the additional benefit of making the mitt much prettier.

The mitt looks a bit big on my hand because it is. I have small hands.

According to the CIC_Knit List

"Any size is acceptable, but more of the caretakers fall into the medium to large category than the more petite sizes."

I should have done a more petite size, anyway.

My kitchen scale says I'm going to be one-tenth of an ounce short of having enough Andean Treasure for the second mitt. This means I may need to come up with a $40 Knitpicks order when all I need is a few extra yards of yarn. Have to order enough for free shipping, right?

Note to non-knitters: Coming up with a $40 Knitpicks order is not something that requires sympathy.


Pattern: Aguave by Katherine Hunt in Summer 2005 Knitter's

Yarn: Knitpicks Shine, 60% pima cotton, 40% model

Color: River

Needles: Addi Turbo #4

Gauge: 24 stitches/4 inches in SS after washing

I'm working on the second sleeve which looks just like the first sleeve. Next time I knit something with unattached sleeves, I'm going to try knitting both sleeves at the same time to see if it helps reduce sleeve boredom.


Stitches of Violet Word Cloud

Seems like everyone in blogland is creating a Word Cloud.

How could I resist?

Dreamcatcher Socks Done

Pattern: Basic 56 Stitch Sock. k3 p1 ribbing with a 14 stitch stockinette panel down the front, 8 stitch stockinette panel down the back

Yarn: Opal sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon

Color: Dreamcatcher 1235

Needles: Addi Turbo #1

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

Done and on my feet. I wore them to doggy school tonight and they were warm and comfy.

Surprise Times Three

Remember these Opal Elements 1070 socks from last February?

Many many readers asked where I got the pattern and I wasn't able to help because it hadn't been published yet.


Remember these Opal Tutti Fruitti socks from last November?

Same pattern and same story. In fact, I almost didn't use the pattern again because I knew I was going to have to field pattern requests and wouldn't be able to be help.

The pattern, Rainbow Ripples, has finally been published! And SURPRISE, it's free in the February issue of the Opal Chatters Newletter.


Surprise 2, Only DH was Surprised
Since I've only been married twice I can't swear that all husbands are like this, but both of mine were. They do not hear what they don't want to hear about little things around the house and car that might turn into a bothersome or expensive problem.

Last time I was in DH's Jeep, there were mouse turds in the passenger seat. I told him. He didn't look. He ignored me, even though after fifteen years of living in the country I have become an expert on spotting mouse turds.

Yesterday DH and Glory (dog) were driving to the library and he spotted something moving on the console.

SURPRISE!

Guess what it was. Do I even have to finish this story?

It was gray and white. It was cute. Glory didn't see it. By the time he pulled over, it had disappeared.

I'm going to think twice before I get in that Jeep again.

Surprise 3, The Little Rabbit is Hopping Fast
I know that you've all been watching my little rabbit hop through the purple flowers on the sidebar and nodding your heads in approval as I drop the weight I gained over the holidays. Right?

It's been a very pleasant SURPRISE for me to see the weight come off so easily, 9 pounds in 5 weeks. I credit the teaching of over a year of Weightwatcher's meetings and a strong desire to get the little rabbit out of the flowers and into the cabbage patch.

I confess to eating half a carrot cake on and about my birthday. Fortunately, carrots were zero Weightwatcher points when I was a member. I can eat as many carrots as I want. The other ingredients don't count on a birthday.

Sleeves and Gray Sky

Pattern: Aguave by Katherine Hunt in Summer 2005 Knitter's

Yarn: Knitpicks Shine, 60% pima cotton, 40% model

Color: River

Needles: Addi Turbo #4

Gauge: 24 stitches/4 inches in SS after washing

Why is it that sleeves seem to take the longest to knit even though they're not as big as the back or the front?

Why is it that sleeves eat up so much yarn? The more concerned I am about having enough yarn, the quicker the sleeves eat it up.

Each time I look at this sleeve, I brace myself in case I find an error. I do not want to frog it. I want it to be done. Why? So I can knit another one just like it.

In an attempt to not knit my sleeves too long, I've knit my sleeves a little short on the last few sweaters completed. For the Aguave, the err needs to be on the long side. Aguave sleeves would not look good with my wrists hanging out. In fact, the sleeves need to hang down over my hands a little. Guess I won't be doing dishes in this sweater.


It's January in Michigan. This is the time of year I should be wowing you with pictures of huge snow drifts and beautiful snow covered trees and bushes. Instead, we have this.

The little snow we've had melts because the ground isn't frozen and the daytime temps are above freezing. Over the weekend, the temps were in the 50s (F). Completely weird.

Last week I saw a pair of bluebirds sitting on a nestbox. They aren't even supposed to be in Michigan in January.

It will be interesting to see what the rest of the winter is like. That is if you can call this winter. It's not like any winter I've ever seen before.


Update on Glory for Those Who Care
Glory had her tube removed on Saturday. Two vets looked at it, and I could tell they didn't really want to take it out, but they didn't want to leave it in anymore either.

They reasoned that the ear had grown together as much as possible with the tube still in, and that the tube had to come out for more healing to occur. They didn't give me confidence that everything was going to be OK, but so far everything is OK.

Each day I'm a little more optimistic that it's going to heal without any more surgery.

Isn't this where I knock on wood?

Friday Miscellany

Eris - Future Project
After spotting Eris on Close to my Heart, I bought the pattern and officially inserted it in my queue to be knit. But not to be started until a few other projects are completely finished.

The pattern spoke to me because -

1. I'm completely intrigued with the way the cables work with the simple stockinette stitch. It looks like it will be a challenge.
2. It's the type of garment I wear often.
3. I can pick out another of those luscious Elann colors and buy more yarn.
4. It's going to make me work on a knitting problem that's been nagging at me for years. In back and forth knitting I get ridges because my knit stitches and purl stitches are not the same gauge. I plan to do plenty of swatching and come up with a solution to this problem before starting Eris.

Not Too Late to Join FLAK
FLAK is different from a regular knitalong. It's much more than a pattern, it's a tutorial on knitting an Aran, one piece, top down, that fits your exact measurements.

We're getting bi-weekly lessons from Janet where she spells out each sweater step in detail. So far we're only on Part 4, the top of the back. Janet is spacing the lessons about two weeks apart.

Still plenty of time to join and catch up if you really want to do it. The lessons are on Janet's web site. You don't need to join the Yahoo group to see/print the tutorials.

Comments on Church
In response to the comments and email feedback on why people don't go to church, I completely understand how believers and potential believers get turned off by the actions of organized Christianity in this country. And especially some of the obnoxiously visible men who aggressively step forward to represent Christianity in the news.

I think the Lord has a special place in hell for those who use His name to their benefit and don't have Him in their hearts.

I went to dozens of churches before landing in the church where I am now. It's far from perfect, but there are many people there who love the Lord. I use it as a base for worship and learning, but I have never joined because of their attitude about some issues I feel strongly about.

It's a fallen world. We need to remember not to neglect our relationship with the Lord just because there is no perfect church.

Off my soapbox now. Have a great weekend.

Done with Top of FLAK Back

Pattern: Follow the Leader Aran by Janet Szabo

Yarn: Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool

Color: Antique Rose

Needles: US #5

Gauge: 22 stitches/4 inches in Moss Stitch

Tonight I'm celebrating the completion of Part 4 of FLAK.

The way my measurements and calculations turned out, I had no room at the sides for filler stitch. In fact, I had an extra half inch of cables.

Janet's instructions suggested eliminating some cables if we had too many. With only being a half inch over and not wanting to eliminate any of the beautiful cables, I recalculated the sweater to make it a half inch larger across the back.

After adding a quarter inch to each saddle, the entire set of cables fit fine. And FLAK is going to fit fine, also. I have sweaters with the same measurement as the new, larger FLAK and they're very comfy.

There must be some strange psychology with Janet releasing the pattern in installments. Everytime I finish an installment, it feels like a finished object.

Now I'm looking forward to working on a few other things until Part 5 is published. If it takes another week or two before we get Part 5, that will be fine with me.

Update on Glory for Those Who Care
Glory, our 66 pound lab mix, had surgery on an ear hematoma almost 3+ weeks ago.

She still has the tube in but the drainage has decreased to almost nothing. She has an appointment Saturday morning to see if the tube can be removed.

Since I am the designated doggy nurse and the tube needs to be cleaned several times a day, no one - except maybe Glory - wants that tube out more than me. However, I want the vet to be over cautious not to remove it prematurely. We do not want the ear to swell up again and require more surgery.

B is for Bible . . .

Yes, I write in my Bible.

Maybe, since I don't usually mention my faith on Stitches of Violet, I should back up and start this post again -

Yes, I do have a well used Bible. And, I write in it.

I believe the Bible is God's message to me about His nature, His Son, His love, and what I'm supposed to be doing and learning during this lifetime. The more I read it and study it, the more I love it and believe it is the Word of God.

I've been studying the Bible for eleven years now, and have come to the opinion that none of the religious sects and denominations have the total picture. This makes it very difficult to join a church or join a Bible class where they think they know all the answers. I do it, thought, because it helps my study of the Bible to hear others talk about it. I respect my groups by being quiet about the places I disagree.



I've been attending a Bible Church for eleven years. I've done five years of Bible Study Fellowship and two years of Community Bible Study. All three are non-denominational in-depth Bible study organizations where you bring your own Bible.

This is my Bible case. It has pockets inside to hold my Bible in place and a good strong exterior to protect it from the elements. In the midwest there are many Bible toters and most of us use a case. I've had this one for eleven years. It's aging well and I have no plans to replace it.

My Bible needs to last the rest of my earthly life, because I don't want to give it up. I love turning to a passage and finding notes and thoughts that I wrote five or ten years ago.

Some of my very favorite passages are left completely unmarked. They speak to me in different ways and I want them to be fresh every time I visit them.

Mindless, Dreamcatching Socks

Pattern: Basic 56 Stitch Sock

Yarn: Opal sock yarn, 75% wool, 25% nylon

Color: Dreamcatcher 1235

Needles: Addi Turbo #1

Gauge: 8 stitches/inch, 10 rows/inch

Shortly after writing last Wednesday's post, I split the prize Opal into two balls and cast on socks. For me.

I like my socks snug, knit on 56 stitches for my thin ankles and feet. The rest of my sock recipients need 64 stitch socks, so once the socks were started they had to be for me.

Son John said he liked the colors. He will get his March birthday socks in the same colors, except they will be Opal Magic, not Dreamcatcher.

It's been nice to knit on something mindless, but that all ends tomorrow when the next installment of the Follow the Leader Aran project is posted. I love these breaks we're getting between FLAK installments. They keep my enthusiasm going for the project. Of course, we haven't knit a substantial piece of the sweater yet. Just two swatches and two saddles. There hasn't been much reason to tire of the project yet.

Aguave needs some sewing together and blocking before I knit the sleeves. And yes, Hanover still needs to be sewn together.

The Hanover pattern says to crochet the pieces together with a chain stitch. Since, for once, I followed the pattern exactly, I hate to break rank in the last step of the project. I have my doubts about the chain stitch construction, though. On the other hand, it should be easy to rip out chain stitch if it doesn't look right.

Inspire me! What is your favorite stitch for sewing in knitted sleeves?

Happy Birthday to Me!

I've never understood why most people are hesitant to tell their age. How old we are is an important attribute of who we are.

Today is my 61st birthday. That means I am starting my 62ed year of life.

It's important for me to say that, to accept that, and to plan the rest of my life with that in mind.

As for the picture, it makes me laugh. Here's hoping it gives you a chuckle, too.

Free Yarn and ABC Thoughts

Look what I got in the mail today! Opal Dreamcatcher 1235, beautiful blues.

This is my prize yarn for having Stitches of Violet mentioned in the new Opal Chatters Newsletter. Is that a good deal or what?

I'm ready to cast on a pair of socks as soon as I figure out who will be wearing them. It's time to start John's birthday socks if they're going to get done by March 18. Gail, the dog trainer, has a birthday the same day and I'd like to have a pair of socks done for her, also.

But my birthday is Friday and I forgot to knit birthday socks for myself. How did that happen? Next year my birthday is going on the sock knitting schedule with the rest of the birthday sock recipients.

Time to go Opal stash diving, pick out yarn for the three of us and cast on some socks.


I've been giving some thought to topics for the ABC Along, the 2006 meme where we post a biweekly picture with the subject starting with the corresponding letter of the alphabet. 26 letters, 26 picture posts.


For my ABC Along picture posts I'm going to use the following guidelines, exceptions allowed if I feel like it.

• No knitting topics.
  
• Find topics I don't normally blog about.
  
• No people's names. I already made an exception to this guideline when I posted A is for Anne . . . the first two weeks. It was Anne's birthday and I felt like it.

And here is Anne again, out in the Idaho snow with nine month old Sydney Anne.

Complete story on Tah Tales.

CIC Socks

Pattern: Basketweave ribbing

Yarn: Cascade 220

Color: Violet (actual color name unknown)

Needles: Clover bamboo #5

Gauge: 5 stitches/inch, 8 rows/inch

One of my goals for today was to finish the last pair of CIC socks for the challenge and wash the six pair I made so they will be dry by Sunday. And I did.

My knitting friend and I both knit for CIC. We take turns packing the box and hauling it to the post office, and it's her turn. We attend church together, so I'll be delivering my socks to her on Sunday in the church parking lot.


Are You In Charlotte, NC?
Speaking of church, our senior pastor of ten years is leaving to pastor at Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.

We have a large church for Kalamazoo, but Dr. Munro's new church is over twice as large with a sanctuary that seats 5,000.

While it's great that the Lord has given him this opportunity to reach and teach so many people, I'm going to miss his Sunday morning messages. He gets more teaching and meat into a sermon than any preacher I've ever heard before. Plus he's got a cool Scottish accent.

If you're in his new city, know that you're getting the best in Dr. Munro.

FLAK Saddles and Aguave Front

Pattern: Follow the Leader Aran by Janet Szabo

Yarn: Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool

Color: Antique Rose

Needles: US #5

Gauge: 22 stitches/4 inches in Moss Stitch

Janet Szabo posted part three of the Follow the Leader Aran Saturday, the saddle shoulders.

These two little pieces of knitting will go from neckline to shoulder and are the base for the seamless knitting of the sweater. The front of the sweater will be knit downward from the front of the saddles. The back of the sweater will be knit downward from the back of the saddles. The sleeves will be knit downward from the stitches on the stitch holders. The neck ribbing will be picked up from the cast on edge of the saddles.

First, using our own measurements and desired neck width, we calculated the saddle length needed for our personal fit. Then we cast on 20 stitches and knit to the calculated length. My saddles are 3.75 inches long and about 2.5 inches wide.

When I've previously knit cabled sweaters, I tired of the cables way before being done with the sweater. Doing the FLAK with one lesson every two weeks, I find that I'm looking forward to the next installment and can hardly wait to knit more cables. I'll reserve judgment until the sweater is complete, but it appears the FLAK is going to provide a lesson in project pacing for pleasurable knitting.


Pattern: Aguave by Katherine Hunt in Summer 2005 Knitter's

Yarn: Knitpicks Shine, 60% pima cotton, 40% model

Color: River

Needles: Addi Turbo #4

Gauge: 24 stitches/4 inches in SS after washing

I have a pretty high tolerance for pain as long as I know the source is non-critical. After having a molar pulled Thursday, I stashed the Vicodin in a drawer and started taking Tylenol so I could think to knit.

With a fun audio book for distraction from the painful, swollen jaw, I finished the front of Aguave on Saturday evening.

Next, I need to block the front and back and sew them together at the shoulders so I can see how long the sleeves need to be.


The sleeves on the model are just the right length to drag in my food and get in the way of whatever else I want to be doing.

I have short arms and I prefer my sleeves to be wrist length, which means I'm going to have to measure carefully and recalculate the sleeve increases. To add to the challenge, this yarn has a different gauge when washed, so I'll be calculating with the washed gauge.