Autumn

It's been a busy Autumn...far busier than I imagine in September. But, nonetheless, I keep knitting away.

From the Knit Picks special buy wool, I've made a hat and fingerless gloves and the never ending glitter shrug continues to be knit. The total cost for the hat and fingerless gloves is about $4.00. The colourway is Claret Heather. Not sure heathered yarns go well with my complexion but warmth first; fashion statement later. I didn't use a pattern for either of these.

I have to be patient with the glitter shrug. It's one large rectangle with ribbing at the ends that will be folded in half to create sleeves and then the rectangle is opened again for wearing. I like it because it is not a "boob" hugging shrug.

Now the next picture might be a little frightening. This is my first fingered glove. The yarn tails on the fingers need to be woven in and the markers are there so that I can write down the pattern (rows) for the left glove. This glove took a day to complete. It was knit with Knit Picks Andean Silk (23% silk, 55% Superfine Alpaca, 22% Merino Wool in the discontinued Cinnamon colorway, which I bought when the yarn was on sale. The fingers were a bit fiddly and I had to do some darning between two of the fingers where I failed to pick up properly. I am using size 8 needles for the ribbing and hand and size 5 needles for the fingers because my fingers are just so darn thin and I wanted a snug fit. But I think I shall use size 5 or 6 needles with this yarn in future to get a tighter fabric. Nonetheless, I suspect these gloves will be warm!

I will post a piccy of the finished gloves (sans yarn ends) when I finish the left glove.

One of the casualities of my busy schedule was the November Novel Writing Contest. I won't win but with what I was able to write, I have the characters and the plot firmly in my head and can attack the writing during my time off in December.

I've had problems with our local Target since it opened. My main complaint has been the carry out food kiosk. They were always either out of whole wheat hot dog rolls, the hot dogs weren't ready, the popcorn wasn't ready, or there weren't any pretzels. Hence my irritation at not being able to indulge in a guilty pleasure. Until yesterday, I hadn't been in the store in over a year. Much to my surprise, Pizza Hut has taken it over. There were hot dogs, four different kinds of pretzels, and pizza (which I'm never interested in). I treated myself to a salted pretzel. Instead of spraying it with water to make the salt stick they used some sort of oil which I'm sure had it's origins in tiger habitat somewhere in Indonesia.

Having read about Target expanding their grocery options, I didn't expect to be surprised, but man was I ever wrong. There's not a "great" variety (no canned cream corn, for example), but what they carry is nicely priced and packaged and cheaper than the grocery store. The find of the day was a box of no-brandname fabric softner sheets (100 for $1.99) that not only softened my clothes but reduced the wrinkles and clinging cat hairs. Now I wonder if Bounce at $8.99 for 100 sheets would work as well. Somehow I think not.

There is a new IHop in the mall and I am going there with Tim for brunch next Sunday. I love IHop. It's menu so incredibly sinfully full of sugar, carbs and saturated fat. They have a menu for people over 55.

The mall continues to be a disappointment. It sits squarely in an area where there isn't much shopping and yet there are so many retail spaces available. You'd think a population dense area like ours would attract more shops.

Toupie has found a friend. Their only frustration is they can't get to each other. I suspect this new kitty lives in one of the apartments with a patio and wanders in an out. Toupie and the cat meet and see each other through the window. Such meowing, vocalizing, pacing and quick changes in direction, I've never seen. The funny bit is the poor thing is so exhausted after one of these "visits" that he falls dead asleep for hours. No catnapping, puss boy is out for the count.

The leaves are almost all off the trees and yesterday I realized that I could see the bus coming when I looked up the street. It so different seeing trees that were in golden glory a fornight ago now with just limbs and branches reaching to the sky.

Haven't seen many movies; just been too busy. But I can highly recommend Billy Elliot. About a lad in the North of England during the miner's strike who gives up boxing for ballet.

Am looking forward to a quiet December and working on the Kidney Fund Awareness Event in March.

Pineapples

September was a busy month. Hence my neglect of the blog.

I finally got a chance to take a look at the Montse Stanley book. In it, I saw the knit pineapple purse. I can take or leave pineapple to eat. Actually prefer dried pineapple to fresh. But I love pineapple as a design element. Hence by obsession to find the pattern for the pineapple purse from Jane Gaugain's 1840 book the Lady's Assistant.

The book is in open source and .pdf format on the web and a Raveler has written the pattern in Spanish and English. Here's a piccy from someone who has made the bag.

I spent about a year embroidering this; never finished and the project was lost in one of my moves. I was able to purchase a brand-new kit on e-Bay in 2008 and still have it to do.

The pineapple was a symbol of welcome in the 18th century. It's used extensively as a motif in crochet doilies. The Yarn Council of America has a pineapple afghan pattern on it's website. 2011 could be my Year on the Pineapples.

I continue on the shrug--endless stockingnette and the blue shawl. I just finished the first of my second pair of fingerless gloves. I am making these longer; didn't mess up the K2P2 ribbing this time (woo hoo).

Saw a good film, ABCD, with one of my favorite actresses, Madhur Jaffrey. Liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Have started the Pascoe and Dalziel series of video. It took a couple of episodes for the dramatized Pascoe character to grow on me. Ellie and Dalziel are perfectly cast.

Wonderful Link

I found a wonderful link today. Free vintage knitting patterns. Downloaded several patterns but the real winner is the pattern for a pair of Rifleman Gloves.

I'd love mittens, but when you're constantly whipping out your bus pass or using your smart card, mittens don't give you the dexterity required. The flip gloves are cute and I may still make a pair, but again it's the fiddly bit when it's cold and you have to focus on getting on the bus and doing your thing that makes me bulk.

The Rifleman gloves are a combination of mitten and glove. You knit a thumb and forefinger and the other three fingers are enclosed in a mitten. Volia dexterity and warmth.

I think I've also solved my sock knitting failures on this site as well. Heeless socks...like duh! I've bought commerically made heeless socks before. I wasn't wild about them because I could never tell which side was up, but if I knit them, I can put a design on the upside and knit the downside in either ribbing or stocking knit. Woo Hoo!

Labor Day

The first fingerless are finally finished. And yes, there is a ribbing issue on both mits, but they are my first and they are for me and I'm not bothered. The thumb for the left hand went much easier. I plan to make a few more pairs and to make them longer.










The yarn is 100% Peruvian Highland Wool from Knit Picks. The colourway is Pumpkin. KP received batches that were over-spun meaning the yarn is sport weight instead of worsted and came with a warning that it might knit up with a bias slant. The yarn was sold in lots of bags of 10 at $1 a skein. I had enough wool left over from the skein I used for the gloves to make a sizeable swatch for my next project: Lion Brand Glitter Shrug. So far no biasing issues.

It has taken me all afternoon staring at the picture and the diagram to figure out how the Glitter Shrug will be worn once it's made. It's basically a rectangle folded and seamed leaving armholes. I think I've sorted how the garment is to be worn. My first choice was a shrug from Creative Knitting. I kneel at the altar of Ravelry and prostrate myself in gratitude for its existence. Reading the reviews and the knitting issues the four or five people who tried it had (only one person finished it after emailing the company) saved my buns.

What a difference a year makes. This time last year I spent the entire weekend working 10-14 hours each day arranging a trip for visitors from Bhutan who were arriving on Labor Day. It was in the midst of that marathon that I recognized the years of experience which gave me the ability to move 8 people from city to city with less than six days notice of the details. It's odd how we don't often give ourselves credit for the things we know how to do.

This weekend has, by contrast, been an orgy of knitting, tidying, a few errands and chores (washed the blinds in the living room yesterday--give me strength) playing with Toupie and watching a few films on Netflix. That combined with the gorgeous, humidity-free weather--the only thing missing today was yesterday's breeze--has made yesterday and today so relaxing and tension free.

I saw an add on television for Gummy Vitamins for adults. Like finally!!! Horsepills are for horses. These are great tasting but they are totally bearable and doable. My pill chopper thanks you.

I took these snaps of Toupie, who napped on my unmade bed most of yesterday afternoon.

Is it a Bird, Is it a Plane....

No, it's my first fingerless mitt with a gusset thumb.

Here is a link to some dead cute buttons.

My current bus knit is a shawl:

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Looped Yarn Works

FINALLY! FINALLY! Washington DC has a yarn shop worthy of its knitters and crocheters. Looped Yarn Works is everything I’d hoped for and more. The shop is about a block and half north of the Dupont Circle Metro (North exit—big escalator). Come out of the escalator and start walking away from the circle until you reach 1732 Connecticut Avenue. Two short flights of stairs up and you are at Looped. It’s bright, airy and organized. Silks, DK, Sport, Fingering and other luxury yarns are in the back room. Worsted and heavy weights are in the front room.

The selection in both rooms is delicious. Yarns that I wouldn’t order online because of shipping costs and fear of being saddled with a quantity of yarn that I might end up hating are here: Berrocco, Cascade, CEY, Debbie Bliss, Rowan… The prices are reasonable and for the two skeins I bought, they were the same price as on the manufacturer’s website. I looked at a skein of merino lace weight 1573 yards for $21.00. Not outrageous at all.

I’m still on yarn buying hiatus but I couldn’t resist a skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light and a skein of Cascade 220. There is a good selection of needles. Addi’s, of course, and Chia Goo crochet hooks and circular knitting needles (in Bamboo and metal) in the standard 16, 24, 32, 40 inch as well as in sock needle sizes…yes!!!

And you are welcome to show up and just knit!

What I was most excited for was the steady stream of customers coming through the door. I encourage readers to check them out. You won’t be disappointed.

Knitting
I’m beavering away using up three skeins of Knit Picks Shadow in the Stained Glass colourway that I bought two years ago. It’s a half circle shawl: Garter stitch, no design (EZ would be proud). A perfectly mindless bus knit. I loved the colourway but everything I tried with it before just didn’t work out and I’ve ended up disliking the yarn until I started this project.

Movies
I Can’t Think Straight
Oh my, was this funny. Two Muslim girls, one a Jordanian and the other a South Asian discover by meeting each other that they are Lesbians. The scene-stealer in the movie is the South Asian house servant of the rich Jordanians. She does something early in the movie that makes you watch her every time she’s on screen. Good acting all round. Great soundtrack.

Books
For my birthday, I treated myself to a Tea Canister and some tea from Teavana and bought a used copy of Barbara G. Walker’s A Treasury of Knitting Patterns Vol 1. That’s going to be my bedtime reading for awhile.

Blocking with Feline or Whose Shawl is it Anyway