Twas the night before Christmas . . .

. . .and like all knitters out there, I have "just a bit more to do."  Why do we do this to ourselves?  Every year?  Too many people we want to knit for and even toward the final date we are adding folks to the list.

Confession:  (and you'll be making the same one, I bet)  I didn't get it all done.

Here's the last bit that will be wrapped tomorrow before dinner at 4pm.

Hats --

backside -- before all the weaving

Grandson and his friends will each receive their own Grammy Knits hat, pattern courtesy of Tanis Fiber Arts free pattern.  I bot lots of Patons Canadiana worsted acrylic and mixed it up as I knit each hat.

The first one was fun; the second one, okay.  The fifth one?  Not exactly a "Ho, Ho, Ho."  But they are all done.  PS  I do not like duplicate stitch.  It's tedious and sloppy no matter how carefully you work it.

Enjoy your family time.  Drive carefully.  Eat what you want.  Laugh and hug and let the Light shine.

That Afghan #Completed

Finally, I can state affirmatively that the light at the end of this tunnel is not a train -- whoo hoo!  It's actually an afghan.

This afghan project was a good idea at the time but like a lot of projects took a right (or left) turn into a dead end street.  For me, a dead end knitting street includes addresses at

• 10 Boring Lane, 
• 26 Not Interesting Street, and 
• 43 Can't Bear to Pick it Up Blvd.
• With other addresses in between that mark the mindless and dull knitting.  (My fault entirely.  I joined a KAL for beginner knitters and didn't realize this until yarn was bot and paid for and Clue 1 arrived in the email.  Lesson:  read more carefully, Becky.)

During the now passed #AugustCompletionMarathon, I put my head down, got the birch needles clicking and turned up the creative juices while knitting YABS (Yet Another Boring Square).  Darliss wins for the comment of the century:  It looks like the dish cloths we knit to give as gifts.

Here's a collection of pix to show you what I finished and how I modified things to keep the target more interesting.

Library book:  Nicky Epstein's Crocheted Flowers, plus
a skein of Caron Soft in a variegated spring color scheme.
Fun to try each one and so I crocheted a flower garden.

Blossoms and buds

More blossoms

A border, crocheted so it would work up quickly.  One row of SC and then a row of shells.

Almost done.  There's no train, tho the light is shining brightly off of the new afghan for the end of my bed.  And just in time for the cooler temps when an extra bit of soft and cuddly is what the doctor ordered.

What's a knitter to do?

Here in Western WA (USA) we're all hoping the April showers bring more May flowers.  The trees are bright, new green and the bulbs bloom no matter what.  Flowering trees are glorious.

But it's still cold and wet and gray.  What's a knitter to do?  Well I can think of several things --

1. Buy more yarn.  Did that.  Box arrived last week; envelope this week; and I received the shipping notice on a third purchase.  
2. Visit with knitting friend.  Did that.  Hadn't chat-chat or knit-knit since before Easter so we had a good catchup.
3. Start more projects.  Did that, too.  Two new shawls.  Yes, shawls -- remember it's still cold and wet and rainy and gray (I said that, didn't I?)  Showing off one of the two shawls in today's post.
4. Take more walks.  Doing that -- put on the rain gear, put in the ear buds and turn on the book or prayers.  New iPhone app:  Map My Walk records pace and distance on my phone.  Very cool.

Cape Meares Shawl     This is from a wonderful new ebook from Knit Picks.  Rocky Shores has 6 patterns, each with lots of cables and texture.  I have stash yarn for at least 3 of these and decided to buy yarn for the Cape Meares Shawl.  (See numbers 1 and 3 above, please.)  I expect to hear lots of oohs and aahs after you've previewed the patterns shown at the link.

Isn't the texture just yummy?  I'm using US#13 Brittany birch needles.  The shawl begins at the point of a triangle and then after increasing on both edges the pattern shifts to an increase on one edge and a decrease on the other.  The result is a shawl that looks like it's knit on the diagonal.

I've downloaded Rocky Shores into GoodReader (another wonderful app) which allows me to highlight the rows, mark my progress, and of course, enlarge the tiny chart so I can actually read it!  Great app, if you don't have it.  Less than $5 US.

Using Knit Picks Bulky Brava, a soft, soft, luxurious acrylic that's working up just beautifully.  As always, the Knit Picks folks make things relatively affordable, so you will want to check this price.  I ordered 7 skeins and with shipping to my location (and taxes) the total was still less than $30 US.  I'm hoping your own personal situation has room for this kind of project.

Gosh that's dark, but wanted you to see the label.  Brava Bulky.

I hope your spring gives you opportunities to buy yarn, visit with friends (even those who don't knit), get outdoors for walking or just casual viewing, and especially time for knitting.

What's a knitter to do?  We do what knitters do, don't we!?  Buy yarn and patterns and knit!

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

Agatha Christie

Ms. Christie's name has been mentioned several times in the novel I'm listening to -- The House at Riverton.  It's one of those soap opera things, told by the former lower house maid.  Think Downton Abbey for time period, clothes, social change, war.  Ms. Christie's mysteries first appeared shortly after the end of WWI.

I've always enjoyed a mystery, but I gotta tell ya -- this afghan thing.  I have all the clues and bits and pieces of the final product.  The solution is beginning to present itself.  (Wait for it -- the butler didn't do it.)

The center line runs down between the two dark blue
triangles.  The green and pink ones will be joined
by two more, forming a pink/green pinwheel right in the
middle of the afghan.

The glass IS half full, after all.  The inventory of blocks is increasing.  Here are my needles with the last of the pinwheel green/pink blocks.

Total of three blocks.  The green topped ones are in the
decreasing stage while the pink one in the center is
still growing.

Again, seemingly unable to learn from my past adventures with multi-tasking knitting style, I had to finally separate the three-in-one.  I finished one of them and started sewing together the blocks in the inventory.

Lots of knitting.  Lots.  I don't wanna even think about the number of stitches and throws that even one block represents.  Well, that makes me curious.  The diamonds start with 1 stitch and increase 2 stitches every other row to 55 stitches.  That would be 110 rows and I don't wanna search for that formula that adds up 1 + 3 + 3 + 5 + 5 + etc.  Boring.

If you haven't read The Mysterious Affair at Styles, get it from the library.  It has a very interesting twist and I won't spoil it for you except to say -- again -- it's not the butler.

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.

Joyce Fassbender

Joyce is an independent designer whose talents are featured at Knit Picks.  She's known for lovely, elegant, yet simple-to-knit- shawls.

I've used her Deja Vu Scarf at least 4 times.  The pattern gives instructions to increase (or decrease) the size.  This scarf/shawl begins at the middle of the neck and expands as stitches are added.  Joyce's original design created two triangles, with a lacey pattern finishing the edges that wrap around your arms.

The center back (with a triangle on each side) can be
seen in the right of the photo.

If two is good, then three must be better.  I took out my pencil, calculator, a scrap of an envelope and proceeded to expand Joyce's 2-triangle design into a three triangle shawl.  I'm thinking that the final will wrap around the shoulders more securely and sit quietly without a lot of tugging or pulling or fretting.  You know shawls -- they look great but can sometimes be a fashion bother.

Here's the 2-triangle vs the 3-triangle.  The pin is where you wanna focus your attention.

Almost finished with the gold shawl (color is called Chamois.)  I'm knitting thru stash and will not have enough of the Chamois.  I've decided to finish the last of the border lace with the green, Asparagus.

Since I increased by another set of 18 rows in the st st
area, the final lace border has more repeats.  Lots of markers
to keep this one on track.  I Heart Markers.

The yarn is Red Heart Eco-Ways, 70% acrylic blended with 30% recycled polyester (old Nehru jackets and tacky plaid skirts, perhaps?)  This is one of the very nicest acrylics I have ever used.  It's soft and well-plied, which means the stitches are well-defined after knitting.  Check it out.

Now that I know I like the yarn, I'll be looking for the next stash-buster item to use the other skeins I have, in Cinnabar and Bark and Yam.  The color names are as wonderful as the colors.

Around the globe -- the Fassbender shawl is headed for Ocean Park, carrying prayers

NUFO? UFON? UFONL?

Acronyms.  The world needs more acronyms -- NOT!  Tis hard enuf to remember the ones we really need to know (and which ones are they?) without adding a bunch of new ones.  Think URL, NFL, ACL (CIO), etc.

Anyway -- the blue afghan is, as I write, in the wash with a triple dose of fabric softener.  Two in the dispenser and one mixed with the detergent.  The other clothes in the load, for balance, will likely slip right off the wearer because of softness.  But a fiber artist's gotta do what a fiber artist's gotta do.

Here's two pix

Here you can see the rows of colors.  Quite like the rusty brown with the denim blue.  How about You!?  Also you can see the stitches of each of the two crochet rows.

Denim blue with cream and rust accents

And as for the acronyms in the title

• NUFO -- Not an UnFinished Object
• UFON -- UnFinished Object Not
• UFONL -- UnFinished Object No Longer

Crochet Interlude #2

Yes, yes, need to knit swatches.  But I'm stuck in the solemn oath territory that says:  Gotta finish the UFO's before embarking on a new project (becoming a Master Knitter.)

Here's the latest in crochet (and you thought this would be about knitting, silly reader with unmet expectations!).  And you knitting snobs -- alert -- for this one I'm using an acrylic (sshh, whisper this please.)

Blue and Rust afghan, Bernat Super Value

Acrylic is indestructible and perfect for heavy-use items, like afghans.  It feels harsh while you work with it, but my sister taught me to wash it with a double or triple dose of liquid fabric softener.  Voila!  it's soft and wonderful to cuddle with a grandchild.  Best of all, you can keep washing and softening and it gets more wonderful. 

It's not wool or mohair or silk or pima cotton -- but it has its place.  

Lumps of Knitting seem to be a theme so here's a picture of the afghan in a lump with the three skeins/balls of yarn.  The cream color was a total Lump of Tangles when I picked it up and the inside section decided to separate itself from the outside section.  This stuff comes in a long pre-wound skein as the picture shows, but when you pull the loose yarn end from the middle it gets squishy as you use the yarn.  Then it gets unruly and becomes a Lump of Tangles.

Afghan in progress with cleaned-up cream lump of tangles and two other skeins of Bernat Super Value