Holy Saint Francis!

Where the Holy Heck have I been since November of 2008 ?????

I have no excuse, really. I hang out at Ravelry and do my knitting writing there. I even stopped posting pictures so bad I had to post a mass production for the entire year of 2009 for a special project, The 2010 Ravelympics. Here is every project and every bit of unphotographed stash I needed to enter.



And my Medal for completing my event.



So yes, I have been knitting, though less than I used to because I like the community of online knitters a bit too much . . . and that nasty winter kept me in.

Must work on that.

Bonnie Bunnie

Did I mention that these projects are addictive? It took me all of eight days to finish Bonnie Bunnie. EIGHT DAYS! ME. Ms. Episodic, methodical, slooooow knitter.

BONNIE BUNNIE

The Ravelry Group, Helping Kids at Hopkins, is sponsoring this collection of toys for the kids in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. I had so much fun, probably more than this child ever will. As you can see, we get to attach names and personalities to them. I'll probably change her name to something unisex and I still need bunnie to let me know her personality, so I can give her an appropriate face. They especially are looking for Amigugrumi, but are taking all toys thank goodness. My crochet talent is marginal, although my eyeballs for Along Came A Spider did come out rather cute. I'm not even sure my single crochet goes through two loops or one. But I do have a crochet class at Stitches in two weeks. Then I can tackle that spider I have my eye on or find another amazing creature to delight a sick kid.

Cute doesn't always work when you feel horrid.

Lots of F.O.

Most of this stuff has been done for eons.

My husband actually began to nag me encourage me to take picture by putting the projects in a bag with the camera and sitting them in the kitchen by the deck. He even included my big glass head. I'm ashamed to say these are very late going to their charities, but now that they are washed and bagged, I can deliver them. And now, without further ado ~


Preemie Hats for Howard Co Hospital







Chemo Cap With Floppy Brim from Cancer Can't

It looks more like a cloche to me, but turned out nicely and is very soft, so who cares?

And of course another No Hair Day. This one I call Confetti.




Now then.

On Ravelry I have joined a new group that has become dear to my heart. Helping Kids At Hopkins (Ravelry link) is the brainchild of my friend Nittany Knits. You may recall her daughter Gabrielle had a brief but intense illness before passing last spring. The group knits items for (you guessed it) the kids at the Cancer Center at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. There are plans for projects in other Units too. The heart unit will be in February for instance. Every two months is a new theme - and there are even prizes, voted on by the knitters. But the incentive is the joy.

Our first effort was Halloween.

Isn't it he awsome? Oh! The hat too!

April Showers Brings . . .the Harlot?

Went to a fun lecture by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Yarn Harlot last night where she went on (and on) about knitting as her blog byline says. The girls saved me a spot right in the front row and it was great fun. She's an excellent speaker with a good sense of comedic timing. Her comments on her struggles to be recognized as a writer of knitting humor reminded me of my own pauses when people ask me what kind of music I sing. "Uhhh . . . A Capella. Bawdy and Humor. You know - songs of men and women. Drinking songs . . ." And they give me the deer in the headlights look. So yes Stephanie, when you told your tale of the publishers meeting and the woman who asked you when you were going to write a real book - I got it probably better than anyone else there.




At the end of the question and answer period, someone asked her the date of a blog entry mentioning Calgary and she couldn't remember it. We were then treated to a long bonus tale of her escapade into a hotel hallway wearing nothing but panties that said "Cowgirl" on the butt.

Priceless.

After the lecture, she signed autographs and I did get a book signed. On a whim I got her to sign my kitting bag which she thought was a hoot.

I think she was too.

I finished the little Mock Cables Baby Hat a few weeks ago. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I modified the decreases just a bit to keep the cable theme straight at the top and avoid the pointy top so many others got on Ravelry. It looks nicer I think. No, I didn't write that down for posterity. It's my secret formula.

BWAAAA HAA HAAAAAAAAA!

Funny thing is, they already had the shower for the baby and I didn't find out until my uncle, the Great Grandad told on me the day it was held. It was down in a basement though and I can't navigate steps yet. I'll try to get it to Billy and his girlfriend soon. I hope it gets lots of oohhs and aaahhhhs.

The Mock Cables were really fun. You slip a stitch, knit two more then use the slipped one to create the illusion of the cable cross. See? That long stitch that stretches sideways has two knit stitches going up through it. Verrrry cool. I'm finally able to "read" some of my knitting. (me?) It's about time.






My model is Emmy Lou. My Grandmother made her for my third birthday. The woman had thirteen (13!) children plus the grandkids(9 at the time)and still made me a present by hand. She made lots of handmade toys and samplers, so did my other grandmother. Guess I come by it honestly.







Bobby's scarf is now longer and gorgeous. This stuff is lovely to knit with but I wish the twist was the other way to better keep the definition of the two colors wrapped around each other. Ahhh me. It's soft and warm and he loves it just the same. Maybe I'll get it done now because (drum roll please)

my hands seem to be okay now

All of a sudden I noticed they weren't doing the wonky finger cramping thing any more. I swear it was related to the steroids/swelling putting pressure on some nerve somewhere. How come doctors don't know which nerve can affect hands that way? Nobody ever had their hands go wonky before? At my recent doctor's appointment they said it could be from the radiation or even the chemo. They don't know nothing.

Sheesh.

Anyway, I can concentrate my knitting efforts on his scarf now and won't have to stop every two rows. Of course there is the little matter that he gave me the yarn for Christmas when he asked for the scarf. But there was no real deadline and his birthday isn't until May . . . Weird thing is, I'm out of the knitting habit now. Since my hands got all weird, I haven't knit much. Gotta remedy that.

Obligitory New Yew Year's Post

It's been an interesting year for my knitting world. Changes in my body have affected it and motivation has been obsessive - but not as productive as one might think given all the time on my hands in the last 4 months.

I did get in these:

30 F.O. in 2007(okay, two aren't pictured)

I haven't figured out how to post my nice little collage of them so you'll just have to go to my flickr page to see it. Sorry. I didn't get a picture of my Banana Republic Neckwarmer yet. I still need to get buttons so it and the Banana Republic Knockoff Hat will match now that Christmas season is over. My little bird needs to hibernate in the jewelry box. Also one of my hats got taken in without a picture - it was in my bag and I was at the center so I turned it in I guess.

Looking at the stuff I did last year really made me take stock of my skills.

• 21 hats(1 not pictured)
• 2 blankets, and a few other squareish things using that same pattern
• 2 scarves, a pair of booties and a single mangled armwarmer.
  

BOOOOOOOORING!

So what's in store for 2008

• Knitting for charity of course
• Knitting for pleasure I hope
• Knitting for variety please

I do have some things in my Ravelry queue to spice things up. For instance I got an idea from a woman on "The Greater Good" charity forum to make an item and donate it for auction to raise money instead. One Lion Brand Homespun scarf on a Teddy Bear went for $600. Go figure. I can make an intricate lace scarf, a toy, or anything I want in quality yarn and still donate it. Cool!

I am proud to say that 21 of my FO were charity items. And I like making hats dangit. It's why I decided to knit. I will always have a charity hat in progress. I just need to branch out a bit and explore my possibilities.

Charity Begins at Home

To quote the old Bartles & Jaymes commercials, “Thank you, for your support.” The messages from you guys when I got home just THREE days after my brain surgery meant so much to me. My knitting community and desire to return to it was, for some reason, something to focus on in the midst of so much fear surrounding this thing in my head.

I‘m home. The surgery went better than expected and I’m physically capable of more than when I went into the hospital six days ago. I was knitting in ICU the day after brain surgery expected to give me more paralysis of my right arm than I started with. My whole rhythm has changed and I can knit faster. Smoother.

Life is good.

So.

I’ve been remiss about posting my F.O. because life got busy. This I can fix as easily. I’ve had several charity items finished and now it’s time for the Second Annual Knit-A-Thon at the Lakeside Café in Columbia, Maryland this Saturday. Since I’ll be saying goodbye to them, I finally got my camera out today and went out on the deck for a photo shoot.

Up there is the Jimmie Johnson preemie hat I made at the NASCAR race in September. It is a lot stiffer than I thought, but I had a lot of fun with it. Even if a baby gets a picture and it hits the floor, it was fun. I’ll do more in soft sweet colors and cushy yarns, I promise. The little model is the Taco Bell Chihuahua. It was from the Godzilla promo commercial and says “Heeeeeeer leezard, leezard, leezard!” In the commercial he sees Godzilla and followed that with “I think I need a bigger box”. That used to crack me UP.

Next is the oldest Warm Up America block in the history of the charity. I wonder if I could get some kind of award. It’s been in the car forever. It’s been ripped out, re-knitted, put on the back burner, lost, forgotten, and pattern-changed. And I’m rid of it. Bwwwaaaaa haaa haaa haaaaaaaaaa!

After that is the Nemo II preemie hat. I actually started this little guy on the way to Richmond and finished him during the Busch race of the event. I decided to make a tail on the top and improvised some short rows to give it a scaled effect. It isn’t perfect, but again, a lot of fun. I like the creative outlet. Could be worth a pattern thing if I put my mind to it, but I don’t know if I’m ready for that yet. I still haven’t written Rainbow up yet.

It’s gonna look like a fish swallowing a baby’s head, eh?

When straightening out my knitting basket last week, I came across some leftover cotton. Knowing the Knit-A-Thon was coming fast, I used it for a face cloth for a knitting buddy’s pet charity in Pittsburgh. The name escapes me, but they give hand knitted cloths to battered women in shelters so they have something feminine and personal of their own. I used the same simple blanket pattern I’ve been using for a pet blanket I hope to have finish for the same event.

The simple rhythm of this cloth gave me someone other than myself to focus on for a while.

So yes. I’ve been busy. I’m gonna BE busy. But it’s so good to look at the little collection up there with pride.

Or simply choose a WIP and pick up where I left off.

Seasick Chemo Cap

I like this one.

After a lot of time and effort, I overcame several personal hurdles and am happy with the end result.

It started with a preemie cap Down by the Seashore - I couldn't get the hang of it. The repeats didn't make sense even after several tries so I gave up and finished it in stockinette. But I liked the pattern dang it and was peeved about being bested by it. In order to see the stitches better, I made appropriate changes to knit an adult sized hat. As chronicled in previous posts here, I persevered and even got great input from a friend at Ravelry and my husband. The final insult came when I discovered I had not two balls of the pink yarn but one.





The resulting yarmulke effect was hiddeous.

Remembering what a good swatcher I had been,

I did some eyeball calculations and frogged out the grey.













Since I saw how unattractive the plain decreases were, I dressed up the crown with a few sets of garter stitch to continue the wave effect.

It's cushy, squishy and oh so soft.

All in all, a fine chemo hat.

Saartje's Bootees

Thought I'd flash a picture of my Sjaartje's bootees and the little hat. Sartjee's are all the rage you know. So blasted adorable you can't help yourself from knitting up a dozen or so. Mike and Sully over there are modeling for the future little Monster.












The neatest part is I used buttons I found in my mother's old button box. Mom kept this old Tetley Tea can in the china cabinet with her sewing box. When one of our school blouses got ripped or was so threadbare from too many hand-me-downs, she would snip off the buttons and keep them for when we needed a replacement button another time. They were uniforms and always came from the same company. Other buttons were in there too, but the blouse buttons were perfect for the Sjaartje's Bootees.

And gee, if they're 40 years old or so are they antiques?

The Feminine Touch

I finished my Lace Edged Women's Hat for the Claudia Mayer Center ohhhhh last week some time. I just got around to taking pictures yesterday though. I swear. I am going to get some coaching on the lace thing. I know I'm using a non-breathing yarn (acrylic) because that's what the center wants, but I can see that my painstakingly following the directions didn't get the lace quite right. I know this for sure because I can compare my work to no less than 6 other knitters with pictures of their projects on ravelry.


I hate to sound like a broken record, but seeing how 6 different women knit up the same pattern with 6 different yarns is the biggest reason to sign up for a ravelry account RIGHT THIS MINUTE.

<------- click the shiny blinky ravelry button over there <-------

I'm currently working on the preemie hat. Arrragh. Well, it thinks it is a preemie hat. Once again, my gauge is right, but this thing looks rather large for any preemie I ever took care of in Labor and Delivery or The Nursery. Hrumph! I did wimp out on continuing the lace up the body of the hat. Instead I did a color change. It's very soft and suitably cute. I found a project for booties on ravelry too from Saartje, one of the designers who has her patterns available for download directly from the site. You can see them on the right side of her blog here. She has a newborn and should know a thing or two about what stays on a baby's feet. Besides, I've alway's wanted to use some of the ton of antique buttons from my Mother and Grandmother's button can. I plan to cast these on as soon as the hat is done - they are calling my needles so loudly.

Oh I hear ya. If I ever stop playing with ravelry and this computer long enough to knit anything again, right? Well in 30 minutes I'm off to Sit-n-Knit with K1P2 down at the Lakeside and have dinner with my husband at the concert afterwards while I finish this hat.

Watch me!

Swearter gets the Checkered Flag

Well, I finished my Swearter on Sunday, you win Nittany Knits. With four laps to go and Jeff Gordon battling for first place I began to cast off my four stitches. I crossed the start/finish before the checkers. Jeff came in second but retained his first place standings for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship. Go #24!

I can't turn the lap blanket in until two weeks from now. We won't meet on the Fourth of July for some reason ;) I know the ladies will be proud of me. I picked up some baby yarn last week so I can do a few preemie hats. I need some instant gratification. Baby yarn isn't something I got in all the donated yarn my bag o'yarn stash from columbiafreecycle. I chose some soft, silky, shiny white partial balls leaving the whole skeins for the blanket and sweater makers. I really do like this mindless pattern though. It begins each row with a simple 4-5 stitch pattern and then it's k,k,k,k. It's knit on the diagonal and increases each row until the middle of your available yarn or when you've reached you're desired length. Then you start to decrease until you reach the other side. Brilliant! It's great for Thursday nights down at the Lakeside. A pretty eyelet forms around the edge and Miss Mary tells me she threads a ribbon through it for her baby blankets. Maybe a baby blanket the next time, they do get a fair amount of pastel at the Senior Center and I do need something mindless when I talk..

In other news, I am sad to announce my retirement from knitting. ravelry is so much fun and time consuming that I have decided to give up knitting and concentrate on the world surrounding knitting. I feel really fortunate to have the account. It's like manna from heaven. When I got the invite from frecklegirl (one of the originators) I was excited. It wasn't until I began to explore the site that I got so amazed. From the site 10 days ago:

We are up to 3063 users, 682 unclaimed invitations, and 7303 people on the waiting list.

Geez! I'm more in awe than ever. I was reading in the forums today and realized something. They only started the site nine weeks ago on May 2,2007. Nine weeks ago! These people live in our heads. It has everything I've been thinking about for organizing my knitting and more, so throw away your little books and spreadsheets. They do have plans to tweak several areas like the needle inventory. It's still in Beta testing after all. But there is a forum dedicated to working out any kinks. Turns out Firefox is the browser of choice so I'm in the pink as far as that is concerned. They had no idea it would fly off the needles like that.

Huzzah! Revel in ravelry!

I've been busy exploring the site (screenshots here), entering data about my projects, FINDING the data for my projects, taking pictures of my stash to enter, gathering data about my needles . . . the list goes on ad nauseum. Seriously, no knitting for two days. Haven't looked at the needles or fondled the Austermann yarn now that the Swearter is done.

So go! Get in line. It's only going to get longer. I'm tinkknitz there too and you'll see Javagem, KnitGlit, StormMoonKnits and GiantsKnitter too. There are others I recognize and designers too. C'mon over to the dark side.

I only hope I can keep up. Back to ravelry now . . .

No Hair Day Red Hat Society

Finished another fuzzy chemo hat last night. I must say, it is magnificent. Lavender yarn with a red eyelash this time – perfect for those Red Hat days we all need so much. I figure ladies on chemo must like the red hat thing too, right? This one is very soft, much nicer than the other two for some reason.

I hope it makes her laugh, she’s gonna look like a giant dandelion.

Gee, I hope the No Hair Hat design is a hit. I’m not going to make another until I know for sure though.

See more progress on: make 43 'chemo caps'

Chemo Caps

I have found a rededication to chemo caps. I finished this one the night before I left to go to a family reunion on Friday and started another in the car. It felt good.

I got off track for a while, making things for other charities, making other projects for my family at Christmas. I shopped for new yarn with my own projects in mind. Tackling new skills on my list of knitting things to do. Stitches East is on the way and I signed up for four classes. I forgot why I started this knitting thing in the first place. By far, the chemo hat is the most satisfying for me.

I need to always be working on one.

For John.

Goodbye

I bid a non-tearful farewell to my Knit for Kids "foreversweater" today at the Post Office Drive Thru. Less than five bucks and it's off to New York state for distribution. I know I've bitched about finally getting it off my needles and out of my sight, but it was done with care and it felt very good to produce such a good and needful thing. As I slid it into the mailing bag, I noticed a row about halfway down the body. The stitches are twisted backwards all the way across. It was there I had to rip out several rows for a dropped stitch or other catastrophe and loaded them back on the needle flipped the wrong way. My fellow knitters were kind. "That's not a mistake, that's a design feature".

God bless 'em.

And God bless the kid.

Tiny Socks!

Anybody read Mutts?

In two days I knit a little pink sock. Okay a tiny sock but a sock nonetheless.

The pattern is Tiny Socks! from Cider Moon.
Needles: 5" bamboo dpn size 4
Yarn: Some leftover cotton I got with my "Learn To Knit" kit


I figured before tackling a full sized pair with my lovely sock yarn from Maryland Sheep and Wool some "training socks" were in order. While searching for pair of arm warmers I spotted my starters. I used a more sturdy yarn than called for in the pattern because I've never done a sock before and wanted to see the stitch definition. Tiny Socks has all the elements of a grown-up sock except there's no pad at the toe I think. It's 6 inches long from the back of the cuff to the toe if you stretch it out. The pattern called for just drawing up the last few stitches with a needle and weaving in the end. Nah. I whipped out my Knitters Companion and did a kitchener stitch with the last eight stitches. In the directions it says "used to close the toes of socks and under the arms of sweaters knit in the round". Sheesh! I wish I had known that when I was gnashing my teeth over my Knit for Kids sweater. I know I was only doing eight stitches, but the rhythm was no worse than what I was doing I think. Very cool how the top of the toe joins the bottom. It was impossible to photograph, sorry.

There were two places I think may have been mistakes in the pattern or at least I may change for the second sock. One is a missed SL at the beginning of the first heel flap row.

---------------------->

It looked sorta wrong to me after a few more rows and I ripped it back a few rows and reknit it. When I saw it was in the pattern I thought there might be a reason and moved on.

There wasn't.

<-------------------- I'm also not thrilled with how the weird triangle area at the heel looks. Only four stitches are picked up on the side of the heel. It's kinda holey. But c'mon we're talking 22 total stitches cast-on. The thing is, I did all the elements without a hitch barring my own decision to check out the hiccup with the slipped stitch.

On to sock two.

Knit for Kids

The damn Knit For Kids sweater is done. I never thought I would be so glad to be done with a charity project. Seaming up from the bottom was easy, but going across the sleeves was a NIGHTMARE. I must have ripped it out 8 – 9 times. No lie. I had 4 references for seaming and just couldn't get it through my thick skull (or thick fingers in my case). Then while studying the diagram for the umpteenth time I heard a click. Yup, my brain actually clicked. I picked up that tapestry needle and began to seam that puppy.

Somewhere along the right sleeve I must have added a stitch so I had to do some fancy work to make the edge work out but finally

IT IS FINISHED.

I washed it and blocked it on a cool piece of insulation Bobby got for me for a blocking board covered with a towel. After I show it off to my knitting pals it’s off to the post office and some little kid who will love it more than me. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great experience. But if I never see another seam again . . .

Oh, and there's one more thing that blew my mind. The Gauge. I knitted according to gauge. I measured and counted obsessively. Throughout the whole process I picked up only one stitch on my first sweater. The freaking thing came out waaay too wide in the body. I was a fraction off on two other dimensions but we're talking four inches. But check out the drawing from the pattern.

See any similarities?

It looks like short stubby arms are all the rage.

Group Therapy

I took the pink vacation cap over to the The Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource and Image Center here in Columbia. They liked my design, saying the ladies often complain the hats are too tight at the top. One of the women I met there a few weeks ago said she like exotic hats. She was wearing a green eyelash hat at the time resembling a Koosh Ball .

Knitting groups are cool. I already look forward to every Thursday night at K1P2. Before vacation, I decided to step up my efforts with charity knitting. So. Twice a month, I now knit with the ladies at the Center. It is a homey place associated with Howard Co General Hospital & Johns Hopkins. There is a humongous cancer resource library and salon for free consultations and product purchase/guidance for everything body image. Operators from some of the top salons in the area donate their time and talents there. We meet in the front room which is set up like a comfy living room. Many of the knitters are clients of the center, but the group is open to the community. There is someone to guide new knitters, donated yarn and needles and a few designated charities although you can knit what you like for whichever you like.

I picked up some baby yarn from them and made my first preemie hat for the hospital. Whew! Sooooo many stitches for such a little thing. 2 x 2 rib takes a long time. I finished it in two weeks though (me?) and am quite proud of it. I used the pattern provided by the center, but I would look for better resources if I make another. It was knit on straight needles and sewed. The crown had just a few decreases and was . . . odd looking. I got to use some of my ebay needles - size 4 (thanks Dad). That’s the smallest I’ve used so far. They felt strange in my hands at first, as did the cheap yarn, but after a few rows I trusted myself to not break them and we got along fine. The thought of keeping some little wailer from loosing body heat seems right after all the babies I worked with in Labor and Deliver and theNursery.

I decided to knit Koosh Ball lady (gotta find out her name) a new hat since hers had definitely seen better days. I found a site with a free pattern, No Hair Day from Headhuggers. and some unidentified donated yarn from my stash. Their site has lots of caps to knit and crochet geared/sized for folks without hair. I swear Koosh Ball lady's hat was made from that pattern. I went with another variegated yarn because her green one is made with several greens, yellow and cream. The pattern calls for 1 ball of yarn for a small. Since she is not a large person I went with that. Wrong! Luckily, a picture on the site showed a variation with a yarn crown, so that’s how I finished it off. The lavender yarn is very soft and should feel comfortable against her head. If she likes it, I'll make her another with two balls so it can be furry all over.

I hope she’s there the day I take it in.

Knitting on the Road

Knitting in the car works for me. Don’t worry; I’m not driving at the time. We love to take driving vacations, and often there are long stretches of highway with absolutely nothing to look at. This is when knitting has been a godsend for me. I used to fall asleep a lot, leaving my husband to fend for himself when it came to looking for the next highway. Of course navigation has always been one of his strong points, but I like to follow along and note places of interest.

I polished off two (count ‘em 1-2!) projects in the car. I had started a scarf for my niece in my crochet class back in February. I had mostly put is aside and had about 14 – 18 inches done. I really needed to get cracking for her Birthday on Easter. Working in the car, I finished a scarf about 4 inches wide and 6 feet long. I made it like that to double and wrap around, slipping the end through the loop. Pre-teens love to play around with fashion so I left her options. Since I had never done it, I asked for some help and added the fringe at K1P2 one night. I’m glad I took their advice to hold off on cutting the fringe – Jessica wanted it just the way it was. I wish I’d gotten a picture of her in it but I plum forgot to.

Next was a pink chemo cap. At Stitches East last year I made a miniature hat knit top-down. I also saw an adult pattern called Karlchen and experimented with my own top down version. It has a nipple at the top (tee hee) and four peaks to let some air circulate or keep the crown off sensitive scalps. I put in a little eyelet while I was working my increases. It adds a bit of a feminine touch. I still had a good bit of the yellow left, so I designed a little fairisle pattern too. I wish now I had thought to do a Mickey Mouse head for my Disney vacation, but working out the simple design was tough enough. I had to guess on the look with hand drawn long-box graph paper. I kept it veeeery simple.

That makes four chemo caps so far for me. For John.