Emergency Knitting!

I used to think I could crochet. Back when I thought this, and I was pregnant, I did crochet. I glanced at a baby blanket pattern, which called for two strands of yarn held together, and decided to make my own version. I got some fingering-weight acrylic with a good amount of shine - two skeins in New Mint and two in White. I started out with double crochet and went to town. The only problem was, I had a bad eye for proportions, a touch of laziness in crocheting, and absolutely no ability to turn my work correctly. The result was a long skinny piece of material with wavey edges. In hopes of evening it out a bit, I picked one wavey side, and crocheted along the edge for several rows in single-crochet. It was a wreck and by the time I finished, the baby had already been born. This is why I knit.

So, naturally it was this monstrosity of a blankie that my new daughter decided was The Blankie. She named it (him) Blankily, and took him everywhere.

So, there we were waiting for The Runner to finish his Thanksgiving day marathon, on the sidewalk near the Olympic gate in Atlanta, about 150 feet up from the finish line.


I told the children that they could run alongside their father when they saw him, but we had arrived a little early. The kids sat on the curb and busied themselves cracking acorns to see the meat inside. When I spotted The Runner, I told the kids to get ready. We mostly kept up until the finish line.


The Runner passed out some JellyBelly Sports Beans he had been given, had tried, had not liked, and the kids scarfed them up. They're like really gooey blue jelly beans. The Runner grabbed some of the fruit that was provided by the Atlanta Track Club, took a little breather, collected his belongings, and we headed back to Nana's house.


That night, she asked for Blankily. We looked a bit, then I had the idea to check my camera, since I knew she had brought him to the race.


So, I was fortunate to find one skein of New Mint and most of a skein of White from seven years ago stuffed in the bottom drawer of my Stash (thank you, yarn gods!!) and am knitting like mad. The Runner thinks I can get it done by tomorrow night. I don't think there's enough yarn left. I think I will run out of yarn and have to frog it out and make it narrower and start over. I think even if I don't, there's no way I'll be able to get it done by tomorrow night.

A Failed Attempt at Outdoor Knitting, or A Few of My Favorite Things

Yes, that is a pile of cats sitting on my lap, on top of my knitting, as I'm trying to knit it. So, like any good cat owner, what I do? Knit calmly and slowly, being careful not to disturb the pile of cats. Who's evolved?

I got the coolest knitting compliment ever. Petra, a lady who works in my dentist's office, saw me knitting. She's German and I know from the last time I went in that she's probably been knitting longer than I've been putting my own pants on. She complimented my evenness of stitches and taught me the German word for cable knitting - Sopf. It means braiding. Sopf is the same word applied to braiding hair. Of course, I'm looking through online translators now and am not finding it. But whatever.

Speaking of "a few of my favorite things," I'm once again considering starting a fiber-enthusiast group at work. We have a little cafe nearby. We could sit in there and sew-knit-crochet-scrapbook for an hour on Wednesday afternoons. Right? I don't know. I'm scared. What if you threw a party and nobody came?

Happiness Is...

Finding new yarn and needles in your mailbox. Wheeee!!

I ordered stuff I need for some stuff from WEBS and some other stuff from a Canadian seller on eBay. I got the WEBS stuff today, but the project I needed the eBay stuff for is due way much sooner than the projects using the WEBS stuff.

Even MORE happiness is finding yarn in your mailbox on consecutive days. Hurry UP, second batch of yarn!

omg - It's PERFECT!!

Ok, so I was thinking that I really liked the whole fingerless glove trend going on right now... but what about in 2 years? Will they still be hip then? If I'm going to put all the time and effort into knitting something, it better darn well be wearable for more than just this season.

But what's the point? I mean, cute and all, sure... but you could do the same cute patterns and just add fingers, right? Besides, who - besides bow-hunters - wears fingerless gloves anyway?

Knitters! That's who! These'll be PERFECT for outdoor knitting this winter!

Ribbed for his pleasure?

So, I'm starting to put a lot of thought into Christmas knitting. There are two small children to knit for (not mine), Best Friend, Mom, MIL... I don't honestly think I'll get it all done. But one of the challenges I'm facing is, What on earth do you knit for a guy??

Socks take too long. No way, even if that's all I touched, would I get socks done by Christmas. And I'm totally scared of sweaters. And if you knit a scarf/shawl/neckwarmer for a female relative, knitting something similar for the male relative would make sense. Since guys don't tend to wear shawls or neckwarmers or fingerless gloves... That pretty much leaves scarves. Which is perfect, right? They tend to not require checking guage (which I HATE); they tend to be fairly easy, most of the time; and they're usually pretty portable.

Only, what on earth makes the difference between a men's scarf and a women's scarf? There are a zillion scarf patterns out there that look like they could be manly. Maybe I just don't have a good feel for manliness in accessories? I mean, obviously, anything with lace or sparkles and almost everything in mohair is not going to cut the muster for manliness. So, is there a width requirement on Manly Scarves? Is there a weight or fiber requirement? I'm thinking wider is better and chunky isn't a bad thing. Right?

Waiting to Dye

Ok, I have this idea. Need is the mother of invention, and I need Daughter-sock yarn. It would be wool. Maybe with a little elastic, but probably not. Darling Daughter likes oranges, pinks, purples, and green. So, I'm envisioning self-striping yarn in tropical colors - Mango, and strawberry and a little sip of Margarita. I think one skein should be enough for DD's little feet.

I was thinking, oh, this'll be easy, right? You get some RIT and some squirt bottles and some kind of realllly long pan... like a loaf pan, on steroids... Unwind the skein, rewind it in about a 2-foot-long loop, and go to town, right? So I went to Ravelry and searched for notes on dyeing. There were a TON. Most about Kool-Aid dyeing.

Oooh! Even better! Kool-aid already comes in tropical colors and RIT might be hard to find in "Mango"! And it's non-toxic... just in case she decides to lick her socks... But what if it runs? Or bleeds? What if it just isn't dark enough? And then there were posts mentioning vinegar. Vinegar? And posts mentioning microwaving versus cooking. Cooking?!? And about a gajillion posts discussing the virtues and draw-backs of using squirt bottles. And there was the occasional mention of why you should (or shouldn't) use pre-sweetened Kool-aid (It comes pre-sweetened?).

So, I'm thinking:

• This can be put off until Spring, when I have a clearer idea of how to proceed... leaving fall and winter conveniently open to heavier-duty knitting projects. Like winter scarves and maybe - gulp! - a sweater. And the baby blanket I owe Cousin-In-Law. And the baby sweater/blanket/SOMETHING I have owed Cousin for AGES.
• A loaf pan on steroids will be hard to build, but harder to find. Maybe I should use a big bowl - ooh! or a pot! - and dye in sections.
• Kool-aid (even with the vinegar/sweetener/cooking problems) sounds like a better idea than RIT.

Conclusion:

About mid-to-late April, when I've finally finished "Christmas" knitting, I'll go get unbleached sock yarn. I'll wind it into a 2-ft-loop. I'll set three pots of Kool-aid-and-vinegar-and-sugar-and-NutraSweet-and-water to Simmer and dye it in sections. And then lay it out and bake it to get it to set. Or whatever the dispute about setting the dye entailed.