FO: Savannah Stole

Although this stole has been finished since March, I am finally getting around to blogging it! We can pretend that I was waiting until it reached it's new home, but the truth is that I am just hopelessly behind on FO posts. This was the Secret of the Stole II knitalong. Not only was the knitalong great fun, but the finished object is gorgeous. I really like DK's lace designs and wish I had known about the first SOTS early enough to participate in the first one!


Specifications
Yarn: KnitPicks Bare Laceweight
Needles: KnitPicks Nickel-plated circulars, size 3
Pattern: Savannah (Secret of the Stole II)
Mods: I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I knit it exactly as written.
Verdict: Love, love, love!!! A fun knit and a beautiful end product! Doing it as part of a group knit-along? Even more fun!


When my parents were here visiting, the stole went home with them as a gift for my grandma. At 93, she is known to get chilly even in warm weather, so I'm glad that it can keep her cozy. Plus, this is a lady that knows how to wrap others with the love of handmade. Each of her five grandchildren, six (plus one on the way) great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild have a crocheted ripple baby afghan. Plus plenty of other afghans for her boys, adult grandkids, and various and assorted spouses. My ripple afghan was my "lovey" for many years and the afghan I got for my high school graduation is still one of my most precious possessions. I'll have to take some pics and blog the story of that afghan some day...

FO and other fun

First, my finished alpaca handspun. It ended up being 161 grams (a bit more than 5.5 ounces) and 360 yards long. Since it is a two ply, that means the two singles totaled over 720 yards (I had to discard a bit of tangled mess at the end of plying...just 3-4 grams worth). Just FYI, that is 0.4 mile! No wonder it took a while to spin!


Second, my spinning update ('m not including washing and winding the finished product):

Spin My Spindle 22 Feb to 28 Feb 2008
Activity:	Plying
Fiber:	Alpaca
Spindle:	Ashford
Amount:	107 grams

Now, I need to decide what is going on my Ashford spindle, as well as getting back to the viscose. I'm thinking Corriedale.

Third, clue 6 for Secret of the Stole II was a bit slower than usual. I didn't finish up until yesterday morning and now clue 7 is already out and printed, ready to knit.



Fourth, last week, I went to Last Saturday Knitting and met Mrs. SABLE and her delightful son, BaxterKnits, and one other person, whose name I promptly forgot. Aaargh! I am so horrible with names that remembering two out of three isn't bad, but I still feel bad when I forget them. Beeb came with me, as I realized at the last moment that I didn't have any milk to leave with Kitty Daddy. He can't remember the third person's name either. *ETA: Mystery solved...it was Linda! I was thinking it might have been an L-word, but those random inklings are just as likely to wrong as right!*

Fifth, the sweet Beeb has been babbling "Da-da-da" for a couple days now. Treacherous little traitor! Can we just pretend that when he was saying "Gleh-gleh-gleh," he meant it in the sense of "Ma-ma-ma"? ;o)

Catching up...

First off, the various milestones:

Her diva-ness, Miss Bean Divine modelling her big-girl-that-uses-the-potty dress. We have been doing a sticker chart for big girl pottying and her reward was a pretty new dress that she is ever so pleased with. She is still in overnight diapy-pants and has the occasional "oops," but she is doing a great job and we are all ever-so-proud of her progress!

And Mr. I'm-ready-for-steak-now Beebster. Look at those two pearly whites! They both popped through over the weekend.

For the rest, we will go chronologically. For Valentine's Day, I got gifts from both of the bigger kids. Bug made me a "key" out of his big K'Nex:

Isn't that sweet? And Bean gave me a "card" (which is actually a refrigerator magnet that Kitty Daddy got from his co-workers when he left the VA for his current job):

and a rubber bracelet (that she pulled out of their dress up box). Since she doesn't read, I'm going to give her the benefit of the doubt on the "card" message. We had a heart-shaped take and bake pizza from Papa Murphy's for our big, fancy Valentine's dinner.

Friday was Knit Night at the Sow's Ear, which was very much needed by a mama with three cabin-fever afflicted kids. To add to the fun, the evening had a Beach Party theme in honor of a new book released by a local author. If that wasn't enough, one of our hog-and-bloggers brought some yummy French tarts in honor of (among other things) her birthday last week. Since this is a woman whose blog has brought me great delight even before meeting her IRL at the Ear's knit night and who introduced me to the first presidential candidate since Bill and Opus in '84 that I have been able to generate considerable enthusiasm for (Dolores's history starts here...NB: if you are drinking anything, swallow before you read or I won't be held responsible for your keyboard), I was taken by an impulse to make a hog-and-blog piggy finger puppet for her (the puppets in the previous post were the only way this one could make it out the door Friday night). [Did anyone survive the mega-sentence, parentheticals, and links?? I'll wait until you catch up, really!] All-in-all, a wonderful night out for Mama!

Saturday, we made our third trip to the annual model train show at the Alliant Energy center. Bug has been asking about the train show every time we go past the Alliant for about the last six months. The show was much the same as previous years, but Bug was delighted nonetheless and a good time was had by all (even Beeb who slept in the front-pack on Daddy)!

I think the only thing I am still behind on from yesterday's list is the Secret of the Stole. I finished clue 5 yesterday. I am now past the half-way point on the stole. I am still enjoying the design. If you click on the picture, I have the new part labeled:


Oh, and today, we did our civic duty and the kids helped me vote in the Wisconsin primary. I wasn't able to vote for Dolores, since the Fibertarians don't participate in the primaries, but she will have my vote in November:

More stole...

I am still completely taken by the Secret of the Stole. This week's clue included a lovely little plot twist...a touch of asymmetry:

It looks as though the center section will be a bit wider. I can't wait to see what other tricks DK has up her sleeve. By the way, I seem to be outgrowing my bulletin board that I am using to take pictures! With the increase in width, I have to pin it up in "landscape mode," so the length no longer fits.

I have been asked a number of times how I can possibly find time to knit while chasing three crazy kiddos. Here is one way:

We manage (at times) to integrate knitting and playing. Yesterday, while Beeb was taking a siesta, we wound up with a lovely game of restaurant. I sat at the kitchen table, while my waiter and waitress brought me gourmet meals and drinks prepared by one or both little chefs. As long as I was willing to pause regularly and sample the food, follow direction (dip here!) and heap lavish praise on the quality of the cuisine and service, I was (otherwise) free to knit away. They've seen me knit in public, so neither one of them batted an eye at the idea of me knitting at their restaurant.

As much as I am enjoying the stole, I will be glad when we are done, as I seem to be almost stalled out on a number of WIPs that are quite close to finished. By the time I get through my stole clue and get some spinning done for the week, it doesn't leave much time for other knitting! I have been plugging away a bit on them, but, boy, is progress SLOW! Plus, with Beeb threatening to get mobile, what little knitting time I have may see some sharp reductions!

Clue Three in the bag

I finished the last couple of rows of the third clue this morning. The pattern is just lovely and I am enjoying knitting it so much!

Friday night was Knit Night at the Sow's Ear. I took the stole with me and got almost through half of the third clue. Quite a few people commented on it and I found out just how difficult it is to explain a mystery knitalong to someone who had never heard of one! Progress slowed down considerably over the weekend though. Lots of piddley stuff (like groceries) kept me buzzing around most of the day Saturday, so we could be prepared to have our traditional family Super Bowl party. For several years now, we put together several kinds of appetizers and munchy stuff midafternoon and pick at it over the rest of the day. This year we made baked spinach dip with chips and lots of veggies, sausage bites in the crock pot, and wings. Yum!

More Secret Stole

Clue 2 is done. I really like the design so far and it has been kind of wild knitting something completely on faith. Especially since I am not known for following patterns to the letter. However, without any idea of what the finished stole is going to look like, the urge to think, "Hmmm, it would be easier/look better/suit me more if I did..." Of course, I didn't deviate (at least not on purpose) on the Frost Flowers and Leaves shawl either. Maybe I am still just a little less adventurous when it comes to lace. Anyhoo, without further ado is clue two. [No, that little rhyme scheme was not on purpose. Yes, feel free to swat me upside the head if you are so inclined!]:

Well, actually, it is both clues one and two. If you care enough about the actual boundaries of clue two, clue one is here (down at the bottom of the post) for comparison. And, just for fun, a close up:

I have decided that I am perfectly content with my needle size selection. I went smallish, even though I knit pretty tightly, but I'm glad the plain stockinette isn't any looser. I really am liking the contrast between the solid fabric and the open work. The stockinette is dense enough that the yarn overs really pop!

I am finding out that this knit-along is bringing out a bit of my competitive streak. Even though it is not a race in any way (other than trying to have certain clues complete in a timely fashion to be eligible for prize drawings), I just want to go-go-go once I have the clue and I get annoyed when people start posting finished clues on the yahoo group before I have finished. I am just obsessive enough that I could probably be in the first wave of "finished the clue" posts, but certain realities intrude. First of all, the clues come out on Friday morning and we leave for lunch and the library shortly thereafter. Last week, I actually brought the stole with me and knit on it at McDonald's while the kids played on the play structure (Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I am certifiably insane. Thanks for asking!). Then, our regular routine goes out the window since Kitty Daddy is home for the weekend. Not that having Kitty Daddy home is a bad thing, but our it's enough to break our rhythm, so the kids are less likely to get absorbed in playing, leaving quality knitting time for Mama. So, moral of the story: Competing with myself and setting realistic goals...good. Trying to race against people that don't have my time constrainst...crazy, even by my standards.

Quick spinning and knitting update...

Spin My Spindle 18 Jan to 24 Jan 2008
Activity:	Spinning	Spinning
Fiber:	Alpaca	Viscose
Spindle:	Ashford	Turkish
Amount:	5 grams	4 grams

I have actually been spinning more than it looks like. The viscose is spinning up very thin, and seems to be a lot lighter weight than alpaca, so I spin and spin and spin and check the weight and, maybe, I have added a gram!

My knitting stuckness is gone. Clue #2 for Secret of the Stole came out this morning, so I am back to doing lace. Also, the kids and I ran to JoAnn's yesterday, so I am back in shape with the princess hat, as well as having the supplies (thread and buttons) to finish up the dress and shoes. Now I just need to get motivated to pull out the sewing machine. So there should be a lace progress photo before long and hopefully some FO posts coming!

Mmmmmmm as in...

Malabrigo. Laceweight.

So, Friday was knit night at the Sow's Ear. I had a gift card from Kitty Daddy from Christmas. Three precious little 50 gram lumps of luscious laceweight Malabrigo came home with me. I don't have a project in mind...I think I will just give each skein a name and buy them all little collars and leashes and a soft basket for them to sleep in. Seriously. I debated long and hard between this color (pearl ten) and indigo, but this one won.

Other than that, we have mostly been trying not to freeze our little tushies off in the deep freeze of Wisconsin. The high for both today and yesterday were around zero---that's in Fahrenheit people, around -18 for you Celsius folks. Brrrrr. Yesterday, we went to the Madison auto show. Bug left in tears because we wouldn't buy a Hummer for him. Beeb thought he was a total bad boy after getting to sit in the driver's seat of a H2. Other than that, the verdict was "meh." It was kind of cool looking at the cars, especially without any salespeople around, but for the most part, the cars weren't anything special. Not really worth the price of parking and admission, except that it was also a fund raiser for Hospice. Today we are watching the Packers and Giants freezing their nether regions. We made a big pot o' chili and corn muffins for supper. I always like chili and cornbread, but when the weather is this miserable...boy did it hit the spot!

I also found time over the weekend to do the first clue for the Secret of the Stole. It sure looks like it will be a nice looking pattern as it emerges! I can't wait to see more!

Spin my Spindle

I'm still spinning...it's amazing how much faster it goes when you do it regularly, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, I know. That's how most things work. I'm just a slow study. Either that or I like surprises. After I wound of the first single of alpaca onto a "bobbin" [read: cardboard toilet paper roll], I started my little blob of viscose on the Turkish spindle, just for some variety.

Spin My Spindle 11 Jan to 17 Jan 2008
Activity:	Spinning	Winding single	Spinning
Fiber:	Alpaca	Alpaca	Viscose
Spindle:	Ashford	[Bobbin]	Turkish
Amount:	12 grams	86 grams	2 grams

The first clue for Secret of the Stole came out today. I have it downloaded and printed and I am just itching to cast on, but it will have to wait. We will be leaving for lunch and library in about an hour and a half and I have to get books together, find shoes and socks, find coats, get one more kid dressed (yeah, I know, not in that order), etc.

It's coming, it's coming!

The first clue for the Secret of the Stole II is coming out on Friday. My KnitPicks order arrived with my laceweight yarn on Monday and I have been swatching. First up, the yarn...1760 yards of laceweight merino wool:

The swatch, fresh off the needles (Hey mom, pay attention here...you asked about why blocking)

Here is the swatch pinned to a bulletin board to block.

And, yes, I am aware that it really isn't a rectangle and the edges are all scallop-y. I just did a quick and dirty blocking to get an idea of how I felt about the needle size. And here it is, post-blocking (like every blog in the world, click to enbiggen):

I'm pretty sure I will be going with the size 3 needles. I don't think I would want to go any bigger. Just for kicks, I am doing another swatch with the next size smaller. I doubt it will change my mind though.

Beeb had about two days of being in a perfect baby phase. Over the weekend, he discovered the siblings and decided that he is absolutely transfixed. So other than some little inchwormy stuff, he stayed where you put him and watched big brother and sister with rapt attention. Then last night, he discovered toys and hands! He is completely taken by the plastic key rings. However, he needs a little help to get a good grip and still isn't in complete control of the little handies, so he drops it frequently. And when it drops, it is the end of the world, so the little dude is back to being pretty high maintenance again. Sigh. It was nice while it lasted. Maybe I can train Bug and Bean to fetch his keys.

Oh, and I loaded up on coupons and ran to JoAnn's to get another skein of Paton's Classic Wool for the princess hat and they were completely sold out of the color I needed. Crud. I had already picked out some buttons for the princess shoes, but no way I was going to wait in a humongous line with three little ones for a lousy card of buttons.

A-Feltin' we will go

First, the good news...

The felted princess shoes are going swimmingly. They felted up beautifully...

...and fit the princess's feet.

I still need to put on buttons and button loops to hold the straps shut, and I am thinking about doing some embroidery/embellishment with some of the leftover sparkly yarn.

The bad news is that the princess hat has, shall we say, issues. It is the same yarn as the shoes and felted beautifully...

...however, the fit leaves a LOT to be desired:

Next trip to JoAnn's, I am going to pick up another skein of Paton's Classic Wool and start over. I think it was the felting, not the pattern, so this time I will try to find a time for felting with fewer distractions and see if that goes better. Hopefully, taking it out sooner will be the key. That whole "check felting progress every five minutes"? Yep, not just blowing smoke.

I am anxiously awaiting my yarn for the Secret of the Stole II. I ordered it last Thursday, but due to various glitches in the new warehouse at Knit Picks, it didn't ship until today. So think speedy delivery thoughts on my behalf as the first clue comes out in 9 days! I may try some swatching before it gets here as I have some Gossamer in the stash, and if I understand correctly, Gossamer, Shadow, and laceweight Bare are basically the same yarn, just hand-painted, heathered, and undyed respectively. It will look different, but at least I will have a good idea of needle size in case the yarn arrives at the last minute.

I actually got a little spindle time in earlier this week. After reading about it in Knittymama's blog, I am planning on joining Spin My Wheel (or in my case, Spin My Spindle). And, if that's not enough to keep me entertained (HA!), I am also starting another blog. The new blog is going to be less about staying in touch with the outside world and more about just having a place to keep track of stuff. For now, it will be mostly books we read. I am finding that I keep checking out the same books after forgetting that I have already read that one by my favorite author. I also want to keep track of some of our favorite read-together books and topics.

I still have a pile of pictures and blog fodder from our Iowa trip that I will hopefully get around to. Just a teaser for now: Marshalltown, Iowa has a used car dealership name Clemons. C-Lemons? They also have the local Chevy/Pontiac gig, but the sign that keep catching my eye every time we drove to and from the hotel was the used car lot. Seriously, you can't make this stuff up!

Other Knitting Stuff

Other knitting that has been going on...

First up, Kitty Man socks:

Yeah, I know that this isn't how "two socks on two circulars" is supposed to be, but it is what works for me! I did the cuffs of my mom's patriotic socks at the same time using magic loop, but 32" circulars just aren't quite long enough, so it felt really awkward. Also, doing them at the same time made it seem like they were moving SO SLOW! Going back and forth between the two works better for me. Only working on one at a time goes fast enough to make noticeable progress, but taking turns prevents second sock syndrome and ensure that I do the heels and other stuff the same.

Second in progress is Bean's Princess dress.

Except for weaving in the ends, the bodice is finished. We stopped at JoAnn's yesterday and picked up the fabric for the skirt...very shiny and fancy. Now I just need to get the sewing machine out to finish it up!

I am also working on the pointy, felted princess hat in New Knits on the Block. No pictures yet as it isn't particularly attractive in it's pre-felted form. I think it will be a quick knit though. Out of the same yarn I am also planning a pair of Fiber Trends felted ballet slippers as princess shoes. I'm thinking that both the hat and shoes might end up with some sort of embroidery using the sparkly red and gold yarn. We'll see.

I also (finally) got around to ordering yarn for the Secret of the Stole II. I ordered two hanks of Laceweight Bare from KnitPicks, as well as some needle tips and sock circulars with some of my Christmas money. I have just a little over two weeks for waiting for the yarn to get here and to swatch before the first clue comes out on the 18th. If you are curious, there is a button on the right sidebar that links to more info about the KAL.

Another FO

Specifications
Yarn: Blue Sky Organic Cotton, Bernat CottonTots for Trim
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, size 7
Pattern: Easy Knit-from-the-Top-Down Hat from Knitting for Dummies
Verdict: I have made quite a few of these hats and love the pattern, but this one turned out too big (I couldn't find good numbers for the size of a newborn head). I actually had the knitting done before I went into labor, but didn't have the ends woven in. I took it with me to the hospital with ends dangling, but discovered it was huge on him. The picture above is a recent one and it's still pretty big. I made it to match the Baby Kimono, but he had grown out of that by the time this fit! Oh well, live and learn! At least he can wear it as a winter hat.

In other knitting news, I really would like to get my shawl finished by the end of the year, since in January, I am planning on taking part in the Secret of the Stole II. The swatching instructions are out, but I don't have yarn yet. I am planning on getting a couple of skeins of KnitPicks Bare lace-weight. I have always like natural yarn colors and if I decide that another color would work better after the theme is revealed, I can alway dye it.