Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I still have one more day to work this year and then it'll all be over except for the celebrating. I hope you all have something planned that you really want to do to mark the occasion. As for me, I'll be knitting and keeping the cat company.

All the best for the coming year!

Craziness at the end of the year

Craziness at the end of the year

Perhaps that's overstating it. Maybe it just seems like we're getting more crazies because it's that week between Christmas and New Year's Eve when lots of people are not working and are just waiting for the next big thing, like the Rose Parade. I can spend an hour or more with someone who just doesn't know what she wants and then will turn around and buy the first thing she looked at. Or maybe she just wants to make conversation and doesn't realize that the person I'm sitting with is trying to learn something.

We have had a lot of out-of-towners, here for the Parade and/or the game next week. I'm sure they like the warm weather. Well comparatively warmer. South Dakota is a lot colder than So. Cal. but we think 48 degress F is pretty cold. And highs in the mid 60s is winter here. We feel the cold even if it's not as cold as say Michigan. And besides, you can't have a Parade when it's in the minus range. And I'm pretty tired of hearing about it.

There is talk of heavy rain for the weekend, especially on Sunday night and Monday morning. If that happens there's going to be a lot of wet, cold people. I'm planning to stay indoors all day both days, except for trips to the laundry room. We're closing early on Saturday so that will give me a head start.

Thursday night knitting was cancelled again this week because Mendy is still very sick. She hasn't said but it sounds like the really bad flu that is so popular right now.

I've started another hat and knit about an inch on the latest sock today. Lisa is coming over tonight and bringing the chulo hat that I made for her friend so I can weave in the last couple of ends that I forgot to weave before I wrapped it. And we'll have a practice New Year's Eve celebration. I got eighteen bottles of wine for Christmas so we should have plenty. And there's champagne from last year, just in case. So not much knitting tonight but I expect there'll be craziness.

One last time

One last time

In a last ditch effort to corner the market on all the yarn in Southern California I made one final trip to Stitch in Time. There's a rumor going around that there might not be any more sheep in the future. When I was there on Monday I saw this Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed. I knew there was a pattern somewhere in recent memory that used this yarn. So I went home and found it in the current issue of Interweave Knits. And it's by one of my all time favorite designers, Kristin Nicholas. Serendipity at it's finest. Too bad you can't really see what it looks like. It's a dark olive green almost charcoal tweed with flecks of beige and red. Since the sale at Stitch in Time runs through the end of the month I got fourteen skeins at 25% off. I can't make it to any of the other yarn shop sales so this will have to do for this year. I don't actually know how much I've spent on yarn this year. Does anyone keep track of that sort of thing? If I knew I'd probably get depressed and that would take all the fun out of it.

I've promised myself that I won't buy any more yarn until I catch up on some of the projects I've already either started or have planned and have yarn for. I'm not sure how likely that is to happen. I'd say not very since I already have a trip to Velona's planned for the second Monday of January. If you've ever been there you know it's impossible to not find something to buy.

I'm still on a hat kick and have completed two since Christmas. I'm trying to use up all the leftover skeins from my holiday knitting. I also have a new pair of socks that I'm using for my at Skein knitting. I need to replenish my gift box and get some stuff done for the Dulaan Project. And there's the cocoon jacket to be finished.

Back to work

Back to work

Well, after a couple of days off I'm back to work and pretty much recharged, at least for the week. Another couple of days coming up will help. It was pretty busy today. There are lots of people in town for the Rose Parade which doesn't happen until January 2 instead of January 1. There are a number of churches on Colorado Blvd. where the parade takes place so there is an agreement that when New Year's Day falls on Sunday the parade will be delayed a day. And the Rose Bowl game itself is a couple of days after the parade instead of on New Year's Day the way it's supposed to be! Anyway, we were busy with people we've never seen before as well as a few regulars.

I had a couple of new students today, one brand new one and one who is trying to teach herself. (She's wrapping the yarn backwards so she has twisted stitches. She'll be back in a couple of days and we'll work on that.) The third student needed some help finishing a sweater. It came out way too small. I have it at home with me to see if I can modify it enough so it will actually go over someone's head.

Christmas was delightful. Spent the morning with Lisa and her mom. Everyone was pleased with their gifts and everything fit. I got lots of good stuff. Most everything that I had on my wish list. The books in the picture are ones that I had put on my Amazon wish list.

Viva Ponchos by Christina Stork and Leslie Barbazette I asked for because a) Lisa likes ponchos; and b) because I know one of the authors. Christina is the owner of Article Pract in Oakland. She comes to Pasadena occasionally and I get to visit with her.

I also asked for Alterknits by Leigh Radford. It's an interesting book if you're looking for some stimulus to add some spice to your knitting life. I haven't spent much time with it yet. I think I asked for it mostly because I'd read about it on someone's blog and there aren't many knitting books out there that I don't already have. (Except the be happy, quick knits, mindless stuff. I can teach it. I don't have to buy it.)

The real book, the one I really, really wanted is the Ethnic Socks and Stockingsby Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts. I have a couple of her other books. They're for anyone who wants to delve deeper into the how-to of things. This is a book I will take with me to read over dinner. It's slow going actually. But it's fascinating. I've become very interested in alternative styles of knitting and this one is definitely about that. While I may not make any of the socks in the book I'll certainly gain a lot of knowledge from it that I can apply in other situations. There are plenty of well drawn illustrations as well as text to amplify the drawings. Can you tell? I really like this book.

Biscotti for breakfast

Biscotti for breakfast

I suppose I really ought to make an effort to get to the market. I had the last of the biscotti this morning. All that's left is some butter cookies, home made, and some chocolates. They're good but they stick to my ribs and everywhere else. We're closing a couple of hours early on Saturday so I may have time to get to Ralph's then.

I picked up a sock that I had put aside to do my holiday knitting. It felt good to get back to it. I've dropped a whole bunch of stitches already so tomorrow I'll be tinking that, unless I try a different delayed project. There's always time to rip.

Hat

Hat


Some assembly required.

When I was at Stitch in Time on Monday I spotted this yarn. There was only one skein of it. And I've been in a hat making mode lately. So this seemed the perfect combination of events. I thought I'd get it done before Christmas but it's still in the hank and I've run out of time, almost, for making things. But I'll get to it soon.

This has really been a hat making season. Hats are the new scarves I guess. I did have a few people on Wednesday night who needed help with finishing their hats but there were some who just wanted to be out with other knitters. It was a fun, busy evening. I had a record number of students. And today, Thursday, there was no one at all. I have no idea why. The same thing happened last week. I hope tomorrow is busier. Although I could use the time to finish that last couple of things that I need for Sunday.

We didn't have Thursday night knitting because Mendy is ill. Probably the widely available flu. So I went to another friend's house and knitted for about three hours. And ate pastry. There was a parade in the middle of the evening. We thought there must have been a major fire nearby. It turned out to be the annual fire department parade through the neighborhood, decorated fire truck with siren. Fun.

This is Winter?

This is Winter?

Welcome to winter, LA style, or at least Pasadena. It was over 80F outside today. That's just too warm for people to feel like it's almost Christmas. Well, not everyone. I had a record day today so far as number of paying students. But it was pretty much easy stuff. And I had lots of cookies and candy to share and keep everyone happy. The orchid in the photo is from one of my newer students. I'm not sure if I can keep it where it is right now. The first thing Patrick the Catrick did was try to sample it. I'll have to put it up higher when I'm not home. He's a bit too lazy to jump on anything higher than the kitchen sink.

The notorious scarves are all done and will be delivered tonight. I did manage almost one skein on the scarf last night but still haven't touched the sock. In the photo, if you look closely, you can see the four skeins of sock yarn that I got last week. (I'm looking forward to finishing my gift knitting so I can get back to some of the abandoned socks. I'm hearing that from lots of knitters.) Anyway, tonight I have to get some things wrapped for my Thursday night group. That'll make some room. I'll be taking pictures but can't post them for a couple of days.

Bear with me

Bear with me

'Tis the season. Gift giving and gift receiving. And I'm having doing well on the receiving end of the equation. Lots of chocolate, gourmet coffee, wine, gift cards and cash. And Mrs. Knitter and Pearl. (I assume Pearl is the cat sitting in the yarn bag.) I don't collect bears myself although I do have a few stuffed animal toys that are left over from a Christmas tree that I had a few years ago, when I still did trees. There are no grandchildren or small people in my life. So I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do with this.

I know there is someone out there who would love this bear. I think it's part of a collection; it's a little fussy to make a good toy. So for the time being Mrs. Knitter and Pearl will reside in the sturdy box they came in. I do appreciate the thought and the gift. I just don't think I'm the right caregiver for this one.

I really thought I'd be done with my holiday knitting by now. But I still have some on the needles. Two skeins to go on a scarf and half of a second sock. But I'm almost done with scarf six of the ten that Skein is doing. I hope Ann Mary has at least four done. I'm pretty tired of this project.

We've been busy for the past few days. And I'm still teaching basic hats. Tomorrow is the last late night opening for the pre-Christmas season. I expect to be very busy answering last minute questions about decreases and how to use double points. And I hope to get some help with getting rid of all this candy.

Done. At last!

Done. At last!



After what seems like months and months these bedsocks are done. And I still have a week to go before I get to present them. I used some Interlacements Toasty Toes, 100% merino, that I got several years ago at a weaving show. Size 3US dpns. And a pattern that I made up based on similar socks I've seen here and there.

The hardest part was figuring out how to keep track of rows so I'd know when to shift the rib one stitch to the left. You'd think I could count the rows but in this yarn it was really difficult to see the knits and purls. I finally used a marker at the beginning of each set of four rows and then kept a scratch pad handy to record each round as it was completed.

It was so long between socks that I had forgotten how I did the toe decreases on the first one so I had to spend some time "deconstructing" the first sock. I think they match pretty well.

Now. On to the final multi-directional scarf and maybe one or two other things and I'll be able to get back to all those other projects that have been on hold for the past month.

We're having Thursday night knitting on Friday this week. I expect it to be sparsely attended, maybe only three or four people. It really throws me off when fixed events shift. It's like losing a landmark. I have a hard enough time knowing what day it is without all these changes. Even the cat is confused.

Contrast

Contrast

Yesterday I went into work an hour early so I could get started on another of the glitzy scarves we've been commissioned to make. I got about 35 stitches cast on of the 80 stitches I needed and that was it. I spent the rest of the ten hours helping students. And that was good for me.

Today I knit the whole scarf and had no students at all. And I cast on for the fifth one. I hope tomorrow is better. The scarves will get done in time but I'd rather be teaching that garter stitching all day.

The new sock yarn I wrote about a couple of weeks ago is almost gone. I did get four different skeins today. I'm just going to admire them for a while though. I still have some gifts to finish before next weekend. And to wrap everything.

Dearth

Dearth

There's really a dearth of photos right now. Most everything I'm knitting is for someone who generally reads my blog. It's even hard to talk about the stuff. I can tell you though that I finished one half of a project last night and cast on for the other half right away to avoid the bad luck risk. And I can also tell you that I like the way the first half came out.

The knitting rescue mission yesterday was a success. Mostly the problem was with the actual pattern. I used to rely on Berroco to be error free. That no longer seems to be the case. My friend has been trying to get this thing sorted out for at least six rips. But I think it's on track now.

During the chatting part of the mission we both realized that we needed more of one of the yarns we bought last month at Stitch in Time. I stopped by there on the way home. Panic! They didn't appear to have any more of the colors we needed. Turns out they had just moved it but no one remembered it. I found it and was out of there in about ten minutes. I didn't want to be tempted by their 25% off on all knitting yarns sale. Really! I'm just not going to buy any yarn for a while. Unless I need it to finish something. Or if it's just irresistable. Or sock yarn.

The holly and the knitting

The holly and the knitting















I don't really "do" Christmas anymore. I mean I don't actually get out the dusty boxes of ornaments and the plastic bags of tangled lights. My only holiday decoration is the one needlepointed pillow, a design of poinsettias in a wreath. It doesn't have quite the same effect as a giant tree covered with ornaments but it's enough. And it's a lot easier to put away.

I do still have all the boxes of ornaments. Who knows? Maybe next year I'll decide to put up a tree again. I almost did it this year but I got to looking at all the yarn and knitting projects that abound in my living room and decided it just wasn't worth the effort. So I was happy when I got this holly plant from my sister. The berries aren't real. And after Christmas the plant can go in the ground. Lisa has promised to find a home for it.

It's been really crazy at Skein, at least for me. We've had to ask some people to come back at another time for help. There's just no room at the table. I had at least ten students yesterday all in a three hour time period. That's a lot of hand holding and shuffling around, trying to keep everyone busy and getting their questions answered. I'm supposed to be knitting some scarves for one of Ann Mary's relatives. That is so not happening right now. I've done two and half of the ten that she wants.

Most of the really important knitting I'm doing as gifts is done. I have a few more fairly simple things to get started. I'm going on a knitting rescue mission today but I'll be able to work on some tube socks and maybe a scarf while I'm helping. And I'll be close enough to a yarn shop that I can get another skein or two of Noro Kureyon just in case I need to make another hat.

Merry Chulo!

Merry Chulo!

It's finally done. Not blocked exactly but steamed to within an inch of it's life.

Working Lamb's Pride Worsted on size 4US needles is really hard on your hands. It took a couple of days for my hands to loosen up. After that it wasn't as painful but was still tiring. I'm working on a couple of other still secret projects using the same yarn, one on size 2US. Now that is real pain!

And I'm not even sure if I'll finish in time. I had planned to do a lot of my holiday knitting while I was at Skein. Yesterday Ann Mary asked me to help her knit ten frou-frou, glitzy scarves for one of her relatives. So I'm doing that instead of my own stuff. But it's Christmas and a little extra money isn't going to hurt one bit.

Excitement?

Excitement?

This is about as exciting as it's been for the past couple of days. My new license plates. So the car is officially mine I guess. Other than that there's very little that I can post. I am spending hours a day, going round and round in small circles. On sorta tiny needles. Some projects are a bit larger but I'm still going round and round.

Keeping busy

Keeping busy

There's not much I can really write about right now. Like a lot of people, I'm way overwhelmed with all I'm planning to knit for the holidays. And I am making progress but I can't really be more specific than that. But I have plenty to keep me busy.

I've taught a lot of different combinations of knitters, mother/daughter, sister/sister, father/daughter, mother/son. Saturday was my first husband/wife class. Nice, young couple. It was interesting to see how they differed. Both more or less got it right away but her knitting was a lot looser than his. He seemed to get the concept overall but she was more relaxed and less concerned with having it be right.

Other than that it was a fairly quiet weekend at the teaching end of the shop. The floor was quite busy though.

I think I've finished my yarn shopping for the year. I went over to Unraveled to see if there was anything left. There was but there's a lot less now. One of the sale items I really wanted was some Annie Blatt wool. It was still there and was 45% off so I got seven skeins of that. I wanted to get some Cascade 220 for the man's sweater in Holiday Handknits but there wasn't enough left in any color that I wanted so I'll let that go for now. I know I have enough in my stash but that's buried too far back for me to get to right now. Anyway I don't have time for that until at least March.

Why can't I have that yarn?

Why can't I have that yarn?

There's a big sale today at Unraveled in Monrovia. (If they have a website I can't find it.) A gumball sale. Your discount is determined when you check out. Your draw a number from the fishbowl and that's how much discount you get, as much as 75%. And it applies to everything, including yarns that are already discounted, some as much as 50%. I know a couple of people who are going but I'm not one of them. I stopped by last night on my way to Knit Night just to see what I'll be missing. That was not such a good idea. I'm practically depressed that I have to work today and tomorrow and Unraveled's hours do not extend either way from my hours. So no Mountain Colors or Artyarns or Noro will be coming to live with me. Drat!

And, if that's not bad enough, Skein got in some new sock yarn. I think there are eight new colorways. Colorways that I don't have. Some of it is XXL Trekking and some is Step. Step had aloe vera and jojoba oil in it. I don't know why it has that but I don't think it would keep me from knitting with it. Why am I not buying this yarn? The Trekking is $16.50 per 100 gram ball and the Step is $21.50. Pricey but that's not usually a problem. This year though I'm trying to be more realistic. I have three large sized plastic tubs full of sock yarn, and two cubicles of sock yarn in my living room storage wall. And I just spent a couple hundred dollars on miscellaneous yarn on Monday. And I have five or six pairs of socks started already. However, the new sock yarn is right next to my table at Skein. I can keep an eye on it. If the supply starts to get low, well, I'll just have to intervene.

Why is it?

Why is it

that every time I drop one of my dpns (often)it will fall between the arm of the chair and the seat? Not on top of the seat but way down inside to that I have to disentangle myself from the knitting and take out the cushion and then dig down to find the needle. I don't even bother to try to retrieve stitch markers anymore. And then, once I'm all settled in again, the cat comes and wants me to accompany him to the kitchen so he can have a couple of nibbles before wandering off somewhere until the next time.

Progress is being made but I'm beginning to worry. Another hat is almost done though, and the secret project is nearly there too. Tonight is Knitting Night so I'll get a bit more done on the bed socks. I'm already wishing the holidays were over so I can get back to some of my bigger projects. Hope I can hold off for another three weeks.

EC to the rescue, once again. I have a new student who comes in on Wednesday evening with her mother. The mother sits and struggles with her knitting while the daughter takes a class. I was watching the mother last night and realized that she was purling clockwise but knitting counter-clockwise and going through the front of the stitch rather than the back. (Of course I didn't tell her she was wrong!) I just suggested that she try knitting though the back of the stitch. She was amazed at how much faster it was and how much better her knitting looked. "I've been knitting for sixty years and no one ever showed me that. It's so much easier!" I just love it when that happens.