Projects, Projects, and More Projects

I know I have been really bad about blogging. While I have been knitting, I just have not been in the mood to blog about it. Usually I just post on facebook and Ravelry. Then in July a close friend committed suicide, and I definitely was not in the mood to blog. However, now that the year is coming to a close, I figured I really needed to update on my projects.

Last January I bought some Berroco Sox in a black and tan colorway, and I immediately got the idea of naming a pair of socks the Ultimate Irish Rebel Socks. One of the songs we sing at the pub is "Come Out Ye Black and Tans," and for a while it was considered the ultimate Irish rebel song. As I understand it, some of the British in Ireland wore uniforms cobbled together from whatever they had and were called Black and Tans. In the song there is a line about the British walking all over the Irish, and now the Black and Tan socks are getting walked in. (For the record, I have both British and Irish heritage).

After I finished that pair of socks I started on Anne Podlesak's Rattlesnake Creek Socks. I used Jojoland Ballad in Bay Blue to makes these. This yarn felt so wonderfully soft in the skein, but it did not feel quite as soft while knitting it. However, the socks softened up nicely after washing. Unfortunately, I recently discovered that one of the socks had a hole in it (and I had not even really worn them yet), so I ripped out past that point and am knitting it again.

Next I started some socks using Regia Galaxy Color. I started these in June, but I did not finish them until November. These were often put on hold to work on other projects, which I will talk about shortly.

I made two more pairs of socks after this--one for my stepsister and one for my stepsister-in-law. I made the pair for my stepsister in law out of Wisdom Yarns Marathon Sock in the McClintock colorway, since Shirley likes greens. This was the first pair of socks I had made for someone else, and frankly I was a bit jealous. I really like this yarn. It felt fairly nice while knitting it, and it felt even better after it was washed. Shirley seemed to like them--she put them on after getting them and modeled them. I made my step-sister's socks out of the same yarn but used the Camelback colorway, since Susan likes browns. I finished her socks up on Christmas Eve then washed them. Susan seemed to like them pretty well.

However, I did not just work on socks over the last few months. In June I started Kerra Quinn's Felted Chess Set. My dad did a lot for me while I was so sick last year, and I wanted to make this for him. I got most of the pieces done over the summer, but after a while I put them aside to work on other stuff. I finished these up on November 28 and gave them to Dad when I went for Thanksgiving dinner (my parents had their's the Sunday after Thanksgiving due to scheduling issues). Dad really liked it and he even set it up in a position.

This summer I joined a knit along where we made fingerless gloves to send to Marines serving in Afghanistan. I ended up making two pairs. My friend Stepheny also made two pairs, and her husband Rob made one as well. To save on postage, we sent all of ours at once to the guy who started the knit along. He later reported we sent fourteen pairs to Afghanistan.

I also had three baby blankets to make this fall. I use A Simple Baby Blanket with Knit-On Lace Edging by Nancy T. McGlynn. I found this pattern online years ago, but lately I have not been able to find it anywhere, otherwise I would provide a link to it. My cousin Kayla was expecting her second child in October, so I made a blanket for her. A coworker and his wife were expecting their first child in December, so I made one for them. My friends Shane and Nancy were also expecting a baby right before Christmas. Kayla knew she was having a boy, so I made her a blue blanket. Brett and Annie knew they were having a girl, and I do not care for pink, so I made them one that is a pale yellow. Shane and Nancy opted to not find out their baby's gender, so I opted for green as a neutral choice.

Between the first two baby blankets, I made a lap blanket for my grandmother's 90th birthday. She resides in a very nice nursing facility that is more like a big house than a nursing home, and a bunch of us gathered for her 90th birthday. Many of us were not sure what to get her, and I decided I might as well put my talents to use and make her something. As I understand it, she spends quite a bit of time sitting in chair in one of the sitting rooms just looking out the window, and it occurred to me she could use a lap blanket. I used some yarn I had in my stash and looked for a pattern on Ravelry that would work with the amount of yarn I had. Unfortunately, even though the pattern only called for 525 yards and I had over 600, I still ran out and had to get another skein of yarn. I did not get the same dyelot, but it does not really matter for this one.

Okay, back to socks, well sort of. One of my friends collects magnets, so I ended up getting a few magnets to give him when I did the 2010 Central Kansas Yarn Shop Hop. I also decided to make him a couple of magnets. I made a couple of tiny socks using Debbie Jennings' Key Chain Sock Blocker pattern using leftover sock yarn and size 0 needles. Once I finished the socks, I used some adhesive magnet backing that I purchased at Michael's.

More projects

While I have not been very good about blogging lately, I have been pretty good about knitting. Since Ravelympics, I have finished two pairs of socks, a pair of mittens, and a pair of fingerless gloves.

For some reason I got on a mitten kick. I have downloaded a number of patterns, and so far I have made one pair of mittens. I made the Rubya'it Mittens (available on Ravelry) by Heather Desserud using Black Louet Gems (fingering) and Wisdom Yarns Poems Sock Yarn in the Vista colorway. Because the first mitten only ended up using green and blue from the ball of Poems Sock Yarn, I used the another portion of the same colors for the other one. I have not gotten around to blocking them yet, so one is a bit bigger than the other.

After finishing the mittens, I felt the urge to make another pair of socks. I opted to use Brown Sheep Company's Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn in the Blue Grass colorway. It is the same basic sock pattern I do for most of my socks, but I think they turned out very well.

After finishing that pair of socks, I felt like making another pair of socks. This time I opted to use Regia's Kaffe Fasset's Design Line in the Landscape Jungle colorway. It is the same basic sock pattern, but I used a sturdy heel instead of a short-row heel. When the yarn tends to stripe, I find I do not always care for how it pools on the short row heel.

I also started on a pair of cabled fingerless mitts, but they are currently on time out. Needing another project I opted for another pair of fingerless gloves using the pattern and Laines du Nord Guinco.

Ravelympics 2010

Ravelympics is Ravelry's own version of the Olympics. Instead of sporting events, we had crafting events. With the exception of projects that were works in progress, we were not able to start our projects until the opening ceremonies. Mass cast-on was at 6:00 Pacific Standard Time. Works in projects could be started before February 12, 2010, but they had to be dormant for at least a month before the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.

For Ravelympics I belonged to two different teams: Team Bobble Crushers and Team Tardis. Team Tardis is a Doctor Who themed team, and Team Bobble Crushers is the name the local knitting group came up with (what can I say, we really dislike bobbles).

For Team Bobble Crushers I did another Habitat Hat, this time in Zaol Camelon. I entered it in the Hat Half-Pipe and Cable Cross Country events.


My other Team Bobble Crushers entry was the Wintergreen Gloves. Since they were a work in progress, their event was WIPs Dancing. For this event, projects had to be dormant for at least a month prior to the opening ceremonies, but this was hardly a problem since I hadput the Wintergreen Gloves on hold to finish up Cold Mountain in time for a wedding at the end of January.



For Team Tardis I did the Tam of Rassilon by Ellen Hyde, and I entered it in the Hat Half-Pipe and Nordic Colorwork Combined events. The Tam of Rassilon is based on the Seal of Rassilon. While no stranger to fair isle knitting, this hat proved more challenging than I had originally anticipated, but I think it turned out fairly well.

Side view:


Top View:

Surgery

I spent Thursday evening taking care of things that needed to be done before surgery, such as grocery shopping and laundry. I also packed a bag in case they could not do the surgery as a laparoscopy, figuring at least that way my dad would not have to hunt for stuff at my house. When Dad picked me up Friday morning, I also packed my computer. I did not take it with me, but I figured it would be a good idea to have it ready to go in case he had to come by and pick it up.

After checking in at hospital I got out my knitting to keep me occupied. I have been participating in Ravelry's olympics (Ravelympics), and I was working on the Wintergreen Gloves for the WIPs Dancing (Works in Progress event). I had been working on them on and off since the end of October, putting them aside to work on Christmas knitting and then Cold Mountain. To be in the WIPs Dancing event, projects had to be dormant for at least a month before the Olympic opening ceremonies, so I just opted to work on other stuff. I finished a pair of socks I had been working on here and there, and I also made some preemie hats for a friend whose daughter made her entry into the world a couple months early.




It was a morning of odd coincidences. The patient care technician who had taken care of me with my last ERCP three weeks earlier saw me and recognized me. He was not the patient care tech taking care of me this time, but I ended up being in the same pre-op room as I had been three weeks earlier. Then one of the nurses who took care of me was one who had taken care of me during a previous ERCP--the one on December 24, if memory serves.

So I get changed into the hospital gown and keep knitting. Eventually they started an IV, and the managed to put it in a vein in my right arm, which enabled me to keep knitting. And unlike last time, someone came in from anesthesia fairly early on. It was not the person who would be doing my anesthesia, but he did take a history.

After all the times I have had anesthesia, I have learned a few things. I need to make sure they know I am asthmatic and have had problems with anesthesia before. I also have learned that using my inhaler before being put under actually causes me more problems with anesthesia, and I told him this.

I did not get one of the people I had requested for anesthesia, but I knew I probably would not. Nor did I get the guy who did my last ERCP. The guy who did my last ERCP was not bad, but he also does not like using Versed. However, I like getting Versed. It helps me relax, and I seem to do better with it than without. This guy did give me Versed though which helped. Actually he said something about how if I had not talked much before I would be talking a lot. I made a remark about it being Veritaserum and the guy laughed. I actually did not talk quite as much after it kicked in--I tend to talk more when I am nervous.

I remember being wheeled into the operating room and getting on the operating table. After that the next thing I remember is waking up in recovery. I had an easier time coming out from under the anesthesia than I did last time, but I still felt kind of sleepy. The nurse in recovery told me that was okay and to sleep if I needed to. I did have some pain, and she gave me morphine. I was not particularly thrilled about that, but she said it was the standard procedure.

More importantly, I learned that the surgeon had managed to remove my gallbladder laparoscopically.

Eventually I was wheeled into another room back in the pre-op area. I got there right around 1:00 p.m. or so, so I turned the television on and watched As the World Turns. I did have some pain in the area of my back that tends to spasm, and the nurse who was taking care of me post-op said something that was probably the gas they used during the surgery. She said getting up and moving around would help with that. I managed to send out text messages to a bunch of people letting them know surgery had been laparoscopic--it took a bit longer though because I was having a little trouble focusing.

I got home around 5:00 p.m. or so. I had left the hospital about 4:00 p.m., but we had to go to Walgreens to get a prescription filled. I posted an update to facebook and sent messages to people who are not on facebook.

Not wanting to wake up a bunch of times during the night, I ended up staying up for a while. It is kind of funny, but I would sort of nod off while I was on the computer. However, I did not really do it if I was knitting, so I divided my time between both.

Today I feel pretty good. I am still a little sore in areas, but I know that will get better with time.

Cold Mountain

Back in August I started working on Cold Mountain by Kieran Foley. The plan was to have it done in time to wear to my friend Lynn's wedding on October 3. I used JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk in the colorway Ebony.

I actually managed to get a good portion of it done before I got sick. This is the second Kieran Foley design I have done, and I think it was easier than Seascape. After I started feeling like knitting again, I tried working on it, but I would find mistakes and get frustrated, so I decided not to work on it for a while. Then I received an invitation to the wedding of a friend's son. That was the motivation I needed to finish. I was so close to finishing on January 22, 2010, I decided I was finishing that night. It did not happen. I ended up having to rework a section three times, but I finally finished it on January 23, 2010.

Here are a couple of pictures of it I took before blocking.




I am not enamored of the yarn. The first skein of yarn had a number of bad spots where either the yarn simply came apart or otherwise looked bad. By the time of Irish Fest, I had spliced it seven times. A couple of my friends have used this yarn and not had any problems with it, but I happened to mention it to one of the judges for the knitting contest, and she indicated she knew what I was talking about. I ended up having to splice it another time before joining the new skein and one time after joining the new skein. And then to top it all off, it ripped along the bind off edge when I was blocking it!

I had been incredibly careful when blocking it, but I guess this yarn just is not very strong. Or maybe it was just the skeins I bought that were bad. Fortunately I was able to undo the bind off and splice the yarn again. This time I bound off even more loosely. I did not block it again, but it is not terribly noticeable.

Back to Knitting

While I was in the hospital, I did not feel well enough to knit. Even after I got out of the hospital the first time, I did not feel like knitting much. It was Cailyn Meyer's Wintergreen Gloves that got me interested in knitting again. The pattern calls for Knit Picks Palette yarn, so once all of the colors were available, I put in an order.

Before I started the Wintergreen Gloves, I did finish a pair of black fingerless mitts for me using the Maine Morning Mitts pattern in Lion Brand Wool-Ease yarn. I also made a pair of fingerless mitts for my friend Shane. His were based on the same pattern but made longer and with a few stitches added to make for a better fit. Unfortunately I did not think to get a picture of him wearing them when I gave them to him. And somewhere in there, I started on another pair of socks.

I started the Wintergreen Gloves on October 29, 2009. I have worked on them on and off, sometimes opting to work on the pair of socks and other projects depending on my mood. My Habitat hat is hiding from me, so I ended up making the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat out of some Rio De La Plata bulky yarn I had. The pattern went fairly quickly and it only took me a few days to complete--good thing too with all the snow we have had.


I also ended up making a hat for my stepsister and her partner. Originally I was going to make the Unoriginal Hat for each of them. I had bulky yarn in colors they liked. Then it occurred to me that they probably would not appreciate hats that could not be thrown in the washing machine. About that time, the Winter 2009 Knitty went live and I found a pattern I really liked: Knotty But Nice. So I went looking for Lion Brand Wool-Ease in suitable colors.

It was easy enough to find Wool-Ease in green for one hat, but I did not find anything in brown other than one called Woodland Print. Well, I started knitting that one up, and it was looking too much like camo--which would be great for some guys I know, but not for my stepsister. So the Saturday before Christmas, I managed to drive myself to and from the Yarn Barn in Lawrence to get some Plymouth Encore in a light brown color.

I started the green hat on December 15, 2009 and I actually finished it while at the pub on December 19, 2009.


Knowing I was close to finishing the green hat, I had taken some of the brown Plymouth Encore with me to the pub, and I started my stepsister's hat that night. I finished her hat in the wee hours of the morning on Christmas Eve.



Once I finished the hats, I went back to working on the Wintergreen Gloves. I finished the right-hand one yesterday.

Celtic Knot Stole Pics

Here are some pictures of the finished Celtic Knot Stole.




I think it turned out very well, especially considering it is only my second serious lace knitting project. And while I feel like I am still a novice lace knitter, one of the judges at KC Irish Fest told me I should not call myself a novice lace knitter, because I would be setting the bar too high. Speaking of Irish Fest, I did enter the stole. There were some very high caliber entries, including a circular shawl that they actually put through a wedding ring. Not being a serious lace knitter, I am not entirely sure of the significance of that, but I know it is important. Upon hearing that they did that, it was no surprise that it won first price in the wearable item category. In all likelihood, it will win the grand prize.

I will be entering the Once Upon a Time Blanket today. Mary was kind enough to bring it to town so I could enter it, and I will be heading out to Kansas City in the next hour or so.

This may be the last year I enter anything in the knitting contest at Irish Fest but not because I did not do well. The same judge who told me I should not say I was a novice lace knitter expressed an interest in having me be a judge next year because I clearly knew what I was doing. Additionally, now that I have paid off the student loans, I want to start attending Scifi/Gaming conventions again, and Dragon Con in Atlanta is usually held at the same time as Irish Fest.

FO--Celtic Knot Stole

I finished knitting the Celtic Knot Stole at the pub late Friday night/early Saturday morning and then wove in the ends Saturday morning.


When I had blocked the Seascape Stole, I discovered that by the time I had it on the blocking wires, it was pretty well dry, and that made it more difficult to block. So this time I put it on the wires first. I started that process yesterday, but I did not have much energy, so I did not end up putting it in the tub to soak until this morning. Per the designer's instructions, I let it soak for about an hour. Then I drained the tub and rinsed it a bit. Next I held it up to let the excess water drain off. Once the water stopped streaming off, I put it on a towel to blot up more of the water.

While it was soaking, parts of it had come off the blocking wires, so I threaded the edges back on. The wires help make a nice straight edge, and it beats using hundreds of pins to get a straight edge. Once that was done, I laid it out on the daybed I have in my spare room/craft room and started stretching and pinning it. It took probably at least half an hour to get it all pinned.


I took it off the wires this evening. I am pretty happy with it, but I may block it again before KC Irish Fest. I do not have a picture of it off the blocking wires yet, but I will post one once I get a good one.

Getting There

I know I have been bad about blogging. Most evenings I just do not think about it. That being said, I have made substantial process on the Celtic Knot Stole. I finished the main part of it last week, and I finished the first edge last night.


After finishing the main part, I started working on the edge. The designer has the edge charted so that the right side rows are read left to right instead of right to left like I am used to, so that kind of threw me for a loop. I ended up recharting it so it would be easier for me to deal with, and that helped me quite a bit.


Today I put the other end on the needles and removed the provisional cast on. So far all I have managed to do is knit the first row it called for and then do the crochet cast on to get the edge started. I am still new to this particular crochet cast on, and it is a bit tricky for me. Hopefully, I will be able to start this edge with fewer missteps than the other one.

Picking Up Speed

Since the designer of the Celtic Knot Stole has a full Excel chart available on her blog, I broke it into pattern repeat sections and told Excel to print each section on one page. So now instead of having to switch back and forth between charts on different pieces of paper, I have one sheet of paper and can go across the row without having to look at different charts. It has made a noticeable difference and I can now get anywhere from 4 to 6 rows done within 20 to 30 minutes.

I have not knitting that much these days--usually only on my lunch breaks at work or when I go to knitting group. Most evenings I spend online playing games and talking to friends (you know who you are). However, the Kansas City Irish Fest has announced that this year the knitting competition will be lace projects. This has actually motivated me to work on the stole more as I am determined to enter it in this year's competition on September 5.




I have actually made some progress since taking these photos. I even knit at the pub last night. One guy saw me get out my knitting and made a comment about how I was knitting too (my friend Brigette knits at the pub and had arrived before I did). I informed him that I am the original O'Dooley's Knitter.

Proscastination

I don't know what it is, but lately I just have not felt like knitting much. I even procrastinated on this blog post--I started thinking about a few weeks ago. I mentioned this to my friend Brian, and told him that I could envision my dad bursting into song and him (Brian) coming up with some pun. He told me I was an amateur crastinator until I got paid for it.

I started working on the Celtic Knot Stole by Sarah Kendra Hughes on February 13, 2009. I am not an accomplished lace knitter, so it has been slow to progress. If I am lucky I can get 3 or 4 rows done in an hour.


It is also not a good project to work on at the pub. Yes, I have knit complicated stuff at the pub before, and I have worked on this there before. I did finish up a couple pairs of socks during this time, but one those it was just a matter of weaving in the ends. I also managed to make another pair of Maine Morning Mitts for my friend Sharon.

Socks in Regia with peasant heel:


Socks in Lane Cervinia with sturdy heel:


Sharon's second pair of fingerless mitts:

Once Upon a Time Blanket

I finally finished Peanut's blanket.


I really need to find a better place to take a picture than the spot on the floor I used. The shadow on the left side is probably from the end table the lamp is on.

It is a bit longer than I had originally intended, but I rather like it. I wanted something before starting the castle to make it appear further in the distance so I used a cabled pattern for a few pattern repeats. It can either represent a field or perhaps the hedge that surrounded Sleeping Beauty's Castle.

Peanut's Blanket--Knitting Part 2

By January 22, 2009 I had finished the first panel of trees and a section of reverse stockinette. I had not had much time to work on it, and I was still tinkering with the design a bit before starting the next section.

January 30, 2009--I really did not like how I finished the window and door on Enchanted Cottage swatch, so I used a reversible cabling technique to bring the cabling to a point. I like the finished result much better.

I finished the Enchanted Cottage motif on February 6, 2009 and continued working on the Gingerbread Castle. I am knitting from the instructions I typed up, which has enabled me to edit the pattern as I go along.

This morning I discovered I left out a row on the instructions for the Gingerbread Castle motif, so I had to refer to the book I got the pattern from. I also made some slight modifications to the flag flying over the castle. I managed to finish the Gingerbread Castle motif and another section of reverse stockinette. Now I am working on the final section of trees.

After Rich called the trees spooky, I asked a number of my friends if they thought they were spooky, and they do not. Rich has also decided they are not spooky.