My friend Darliss

I can see her smiling, my friend Darliss.

Darliss is a great knitter and a great friend.  Her faithfulness makes her the kind of friend it's a blessing to have.  Her knitting makes me wish I were her.

You see, Darliss finishes things.  IMO this characteristic sets Darliss apart as a knitter.  She has a very simple pattern for this activity and accomplishment.   Only four steps.

• *She picks a pattern.
• She buys the yarn.
• She knits till it's finished, including the sewing together part.*
• She repeats from the *.

Now, let's talk about my stuff.  Sure I've got lots of finished projects, gifts, home decor, etc. that I can brag about, but I also have these.

Baby afghan -- crochet, Bernat Baby Softee

Sox, Magic Loop method with Chia Goo #2

Baby Afghan -- knitted, Patons Astra, vintage pattern

Bernat Waverly KAL Afghan -- needs 3 squares (I got bored.)

Cascade Sierra summer cardi I really did wanna wear this season.
(Some would say we haven't had summer, so that's my excuse.)

KAL top down that Knitting Daily did last winter.
Cascasde Superwash 220

Fledge Shawl from Megan Goodacre of Tricksy Knitter.
Sweatermaker Yarns, silk / merino

Patons Kroy sox on 2 sets of DPN's

Plus three (no, wait, four) quilts in various stages in the sewing room.  And more embroidery for pillowcase dolls.

When I grow up, I wanna be Darliss.

You get the idea . . .

My Bernat Waverly Mystery KAL Afghan is almost finished.  I can hardly believe it myself.

See, I need just three more blocks and a bunch of border.  It's been one of those projects I turn to when I'm tired but still wanna knit.  You know, when the spirit is willing but the body is weak -- oh, wait!  That goes the other way I think.

Well, anyway, you get the idea.  The patterns are mindless and non-taxing.  The yarn is soft and wonderful.  And I do love the colors.

The pink and green pinwheel is in the center.  Maybe this is a better view?

This view shows the textures in each block.  The border
strips will pull it all together.

So, you get the idea -- this one will be done when it's done and not a minute sooner.  I drag the border knitting around with me, to meetings and for waiting till the school bell sounds the dismissal.  

I confess I'm excited to anticipate the arrival of my Mother's Day gift.  I decided on some very special yarn from Megan Goodacre and one of her Tricksy Knitter fabulous new patterns.  Peek here.

My husband asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day.  You get the idea . . . (so, apparently, did he!)

Heel Back Border

That title sounds a bit like dance steps, maybe for square dancing?  Each noun refers not to the next step in the waltz nor to the end-up-here spot on the dancing diagram.

Instead, these words are a way for me to quickly update you on the three major items in my knitting bag.  (Note I said "major" which means -- no surprise, huh! -- I have a few more in the beginning stages, thinking-about-them stage, the matching-pattern-and-yarn stage.)

The Harry Potter Sox.  Both heels are done.  Finishing the gusset on sock 2 and making my way down the foot on sock one.  I really enjoy working the socks individually on dpn's, but with two sets of needles I can keep up with myself on sock 2.  Great motivator.  The yarn is Heritage Superwash by Cascade and I love, love, love this yarn.

The Luna Cardigan from Cascade Yarns.  The designer, Vera Sanon, deserves a special mention.  She has a note about shaping with lace patterns that really helped me to create neck and armholes while keeping the lace on track.  You know how sometimes it takes just the right combination of words to hit the neuron in your brain?  Well, this one worked for me.  Many thanks to Vera.  She's got lots of designs on Ravelry, so check her out there.  I am using Cascade Sierra for this cardigan, though Cascade Luna is what the designer used.

Working my way up the left front.  Back is all finished.
I've used every stitch holder I have, including a set of
the sloppy cord Kollage needles.  Stitches on holders
are waiting for 3-needle bind-off at shoulder, and then neck
ribbing, all after blocking, of course.

The Bernat Mystery Afghan KAL uses a wonderfully soft acrylic, Waverly by Bernat.  Square by square I'm making my way.  Sewing and knitting and weaving in ends.  I pick up the border when I want something that shows quick progress.  It's a 14 row repeat and not difficult.  But still, it seems the box has more yarn left than has been knitted.  Sometimes I think the yarn skeins conspire when I am not watching, creating more skeins and more tangles.  I try to remember the glass is always half full.

The green strip is the border (right edge) and the bit of
light blue triangle will become another square.  The little ball
of pink is all that's left of that wonderful color.

You're thinking:  "That crazy lady could finish at least one of these projects if she'd just stick with it.  But NO she has to float from one to the other, doing a few rows here and then a few rows there."

Yup, and for good reason.  The dark yarn in the sox is too dark to work at the end of the day, even with a good Ott light.  The lace pattern requires 150% attention which I don't always have.  The afghan has some simple stitches and patterns that are often very relaxing.

So I drift back and forth, like someone learning a new dance.

Heel Back Border

Repeat

Ultimate Flexibility

Knitters have it and enjoy it -- ultimate flexibility.  We can begin a sweater at the neck, at the yoke, at the end of one sleeve (and knit 'across') or the traditional way, from the bottom up.

Top down is the appropriate adjective for this one.

This KAL is proceeding nicely.  It's the Lapis Yoke Pullover from Interweave and is the subject of their KAL.   You will have to purchase the pattern; look for an Interweave special or coupon.  Reliable patterns, always.

Start this one at the neckline with a US6 and a few rows of
knit and purl in the round, to make it look like garter stitch.
Then move to 1x1 ribbing.  After a few rows, increase to
create 1x2 ribbing.  Follow this pattern for a few rows,
increase again to 1x3 ribbing. . . etc.

The yoke expands and the 1-stitch knit in the ribbing is on display.  Here's a close-up.

For my size I ended the yoke with 1x5 ribbing.
The body of the sweater, and the sleeves are knit
in stockinette stitch.  1x1 ribbing at the end of the sleeves
and around the bottom of the sweater.
Some shaping at the waist.

This one allows me to report several items of good news -- 

• I'm knitting up stash;  bot this Cascade 220 Superwash when they wound the skeins as part of manufacturing.
• I'm already at the body of the sweater, which means I'm keeping pace (I think) with the KAL.
• I'm knitting with one of my absolute favorite colors.
• I'm knitting with size US7 needles and in the round so things are smooth and easy for knitting.

Can't get much better than that!

No, wait!  The SUN is shining in Lakewood.  Now that is something to see and celebrate and enjoy.

Some assembly required.

That afghan, the one with the gorgeous colors?  That one.  Squares are piling up

I took an inventory yesterday and today.  24 blocks in total using 5 different colors and 4 different block patterns.  Sounds like one of those horrible map-coloring problems -- you know the ones:  "How many colors do you need if you have 13 countries and no countries which share a border can be the same color?"

Today, I really believe I'd almost rather color the map.

Big however!  I have completed more than half of the blocks.  Still love the colors, but tis a lot of knitting my friends, a lot of knitting.

Inventory follows.  The box of yarn I showed last week (check label afghan) is slowly being converted from skeins of yarn to squares.   Some assembly required.  Tomorrow's clue, I hope.

I need four of each.
I have four of the beige/pink.
I have three of the blue/pink.

I need a total of eight and I have only two.

I need four of each.  I have one of each.

George and I and telling the truth

The Washington one, the one that could not tell a lie according to the iconic story of his childhood cherry-tree-chopping episode.

And for all of my hints and tips about keeping multiple strands of yarn untangled while knitting several items at one time -- well, I cannot tell a lie.

I can hear you laughing ---

Yup, bits of yarn, skeins of yarn, even another needle.  Can you see the cord of the circular needle at the top of the foto?  This mess is connected to the following:

• One rose/cream square that's just on it's way to becoming a diamond;
• One rose/blue square that's only a few decreases from completion;
• One rose/? square that's about half way to the middle, growing with increases every other row; and
• One rose/? square that's 2 sets of increases from the middle, waiting on the circular needle.

Each square grows from 3 stitches to 55 before the color change and the decreasing.  When I got to about 48 stitches on each of the three on one needle, the knitting got both crowded and heavy so I put two onto a circular to wait their turn.  Then when the top half, now in blue, started getting smaller, about when the stitch count was 25, I add a new square.  Knitting along on these two was a snap -- one growing and one losing stitches.  Then the losing-stitches square got to about 20 stitches and I decided I had room (and patience) for a third square so I transferred one of the pieces from the circular.

If you haven't followed all the bread crumbs, no matter.  Here's where I am now.

You're looking at the back side (see the ridge of blue
snuggled inside the rose toward the bottom center?)
Left -- rose/blue, almost finished.
Center -- the new fourth square nestled in between its
neighbors and growing.
Right -- rose/cream and just beginning the down slope
decreasing.

More efficient this way?  Probably not.  I can't lie to you.  There's a bit of fussing and untwisting now and then.  And transferring pieces off and on needles.

Truthfully?  I think it's a self-made deception allowing me to convince myself I'm really knitting more than one thing at a time.  

Truthfully?  Each piece still requires the yarn to be wrapped around the needles for each stitch and a knitter can only do one stitch at a time.

Did you notice how that's like life?  No matter how much we pretend we're multi-tasking, we're still only doing one thing and often in small steps.

Truly.

Not even for Bacon

And that's saying quite a lot.

It's time to get busy on the Bernat Afgan KAL as I am 'behind' -- though the pace and end date are really of my own choosing.  I reckon I don't really need to finish when the clue givers tell me to finish.  How's that for knitter rebellion.

As for the bacon and the time, the dots are connected this way.  Decided it was time to make haste on the many blocks of the Afghan KAL.  The latest clue calls for 8 more blocks.  The first clue was for 8 and the second clue for 4.  I'm hugely and majorly 'behind.'

So I decided on three-at-a-time.

The blue block is this week's clue, so it might be a
'spoiler' for any readers who are also doing the KAL.

There are three Clue 1 blocks on my US8 Brittany wood needles.  The purple pins at the bottom of each tell me which is the right side, which is where the increases take place.  The blocks shown each have about 13 stitches.  The blocks are all knit, garter stitch, where each row -- back and front -- are knit.  BUT you have to increase on each side of the right side.  Thus the pins.

Bacon?  I love bacon and as a small gift many mornings, my husband will add a few slices to his microwave plate and present the finished items on a paper towel for me to nibble as I finish my coffee.  Yes, quite sweet.

This morning when he presented the bacon gift, I was in the middle of a row of the three blocks.  And here's the essential rule: do not -- underline not -- stop in the middle of a row, leaving one or two blocks on a needle, with the remaining on the other.  No matter how carefully you put down the set of needles, Murphy says something will happen, and you will lose your place.  Not irredeemable but a pain when there are many more stitches on each of the three blocks.

So the bacon had to wait.  The treat was worth it.

Sample blocks of Clues 1 and 2 follow.  I love the colors, though I had no idea how they would be distributed in the afghan.  

Clue 1 -- I will need 4 of each combination.

Clue 3 is blue.  I'll need 8 of these.
Clue 2 is the partially completed
cream one on the holder.  It's knitted as a regular
square, not on the diagonal.  I'll need 4 of these, I think.

Close-up of the various textures.  The designers have
done a great job making sure the afghan will be
snuggly.  Texture stitches add depth to the appearance
as well as to the final fabric.  The yarn is also quite soft
but this doesn't interfere with knitting.  It's a very
knittable yarn.

Making a fair bit of progress.  The 3-at-a-time keeps the project from being portable, but I can always slip off two of the squares, make a note of the stitch count, and take one of the squares with me to the dentist's waiting room or next baseball club board meeting.  

Lesley asked me about keeping multiple items on one needle, especially for a tip about how to keep tangling to a minimum.  Here's the secret that works for me.  At the end of a right side row I establish how I will turn the left needle, now the one with knitting on it.  I use the point as a reference and turn it either away from me or toward my body.  Opposite turn at the end of the wrong side row.  This goes a long way toward keeping things fairly neat.  Even if you forget once or twice it's not a mess to undo.  

Another tip -- keep the balls of yarn lying on the floor next to the couch.  Keep them in order based on the right side knitting.  This will give you a hint when it's time to turn at the end of a wrong side row.    You could label the label with a 1, 2, or 3, depending on which ball of yarn is being used for which piece on the needle.

After all of that I think I need more bacon.  

KAL

No matter your opinion on the benefits and/or drawbacks of social networking, you have to admit that it does allow people with a common interest to 'convene' even when geography, finances, and circumstances keep them physically separate.

I have an account on www.GoodReads.com and enjoy this a lot because the focus is books and only books.  Readers come from all over, with diverse reading interests.  The demographics -- age, gender -- are also diverse and so different views emerge.  I enjoy GoodReads.

Another great example is the KAL/CAL (Knit-A-Long / Crochet-A-Long) where people who love yarn and their chosen craft can 'convene' to explore a new pattern, a new yarn, and get help from others.

I've decided to participate in two KAL's.  One will yield a sweater and the other an afghan.

This is a new acrylic from Bernat, taken from the lovely and elegant colors that you find in Waverly upholstery fabrics and wall coverings.  The afghan pattern is a mystery, which means the Afghan Master/Mistress reveals one clue every 1-2 weeks.  The idea is that you try to keep up so that your afghan is finished at the appointed time (but truly, it could just as easily go into the UFO closet.)

Links you'll need (and it's never too late to begin):  Bernat Waverly Yarn, Waverly Afghan Knit Along
I used the color tutorial to help me select the combination of yarns for the afghan.  I like the yarn; it's soft and the colors are just wonderful.  The afghan uses size US8 needles.  You'll have to join their forum to get the clues.  No big deal.

When the suggestion for a sweater KAL came from the Knitting Daily blog, I checked the pattern, checked the stash and I was good to go.  The sweater is a top-down with an increasing rib yoke.  You'll have to purchase the pattern or maybe find it in an old issue of the magazine at the library.   Everything HERE to get started -- weekly knitting expectations, link to pattern, etc.  Take it away!

Stash yarn:  Cascade 220 Superwash in a teal heather.
Needles:  US7 using a circular and Magic Loop method.

So that's what's new on the needles.  I'm binding off and decreasing for the armhole on each of the vest pieces.  Don't want to sound over-confident, but I may just get to wear the vest this winter.

Nope, not thinking about spring knitting yet.  I'm not that fond of cotton yarns unless they are blended.  I'm enjoying each of the projects on the needles and enjoy switching from one to the other.

Find the form of social networking you enjoy.  It's probably here to stay, though its path is not yet long enough for us to discover just where it's headed.  Maybe Mark Zuckerberg can tell us this on his way to the bank?