Like Saturday Morning Cartoons, for me

Here is some very good art, with a video, so you can turn off the Saturday morning cartoons, particularly the mysterious one about this piece of cheese with ears.

Umschlag!

I am deep into planning my family vacation to this yarn store in Berlin:


The buzz: sock yarn heaven. To prepare I am memorizing these terms. When I return, I will be able to figure out that Rebecca sweater pattern that so puzzled Trouble.

Just A Round of 9 Holes Vest

So much to say about this recently finished piece, a birthday gift for Brendan.

A vest is nine holes of golf. No sleeves, because the tediousness of sleeves is the same feeling you get from holes 11 - 16: really long fairways and lots of counting. With a cardigan vest, you get to the Glory Hole of armhole, v-neck and shoulder shaping decreases almost when you think you should just turn in your cart and get a hot dog.

I used Noro Kureyon #XX with lots of greens and browns, like a nicely landscaped course. The little buttons look like sticks of wood - I had a chance to say that I made them myself, but since I live in the city I would be hard pressed to say where I got such nicely shaped twigs. You should always use Noro when you want to knit about the great outdoors.



And like golf - knitting is easy, knitting is hard. The pattern looks easy, but it really required a lot more attention than I thought. Here it is up close:




Iit's called Woven Stitch and it goes like this: Row 1 Purl; Row 2 K1, slip next stitch with yarn in front like you are going to purl. Repeat both rows for pattern. The pattern for the vest itself is from the absolutely perfect The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd.

Since I did it all in one piece you would think it was just whack, whack whack the ball all the way through. There is a lot of putting in this vest: finishing is the putting of knitting. There is even a sand trap in knitting - button holes. But I'm the Tiger Woods of button holes.

Knitaversary

Last week was the third anniversary of our knitting group. Here is a picture of some of us at an outing to Flying Fingers Yarn in Irvington, NY. And yes, that's a giant ball of yarn on the top of the bus - one of three giant balls of yarn and 15 foot needles. Flying Fingers will send this bus for free to pick you up to come and spend hundreds of dollars at their store. I remember the combined take for our group was upwards of a grand that day, bet they were glad to see us.

Three years is a long time for a knitting group. I can hardly stand to stay at a paid job for that long. We generally meet every other Sunday, at this place or that in Jersey City. We are currently struggling with finding a comfortable place to meet - one where the lighting isn't too dim, or the coffee too expensive, and where the seats can accomodate a variety of behinds. And where they don't play Cher.

See you Sunday women!

Tops

Here is a hat I knitted for my brother Fred for Christmas. It's a simple pattern: cast on 70 on size 8, 16 inch circulars. Then, do a rib of K2 P2 for 12 inches. To maintain the nice decrease at the top, decrease 1 stitch in the knit stiches off for the first round, and for the second round do the purl stitches. Then, decrease by working two stitches together in the k1 p1 pattern.

Fred also got a nice review recently; maybe when he gets this hat he will send me some of these homemade marshmallows they mention in the review.

Truth be told I knitted one of these for my brother, both my brothers in law, and my dad. It's a good project for any knid of leftover yarn and it goes pretty fast on the size 8 needles.

Bobble-licious

I love the Olive Bobble Hat.


Here is the every-obliging Emily in the most recent Olive Bobble Hat. This is knitted in some Classic Elite wool I found in the orphan basket at Purl. It's a fast knit, but I would suggest a variation on the crown decrease: instead of SSK at each marker, just slip one. And, finish by making a longer I-cord and tying it like a belly button at the top.

Did I say this was a quick knit? I pride myself at finishing fast, but I am freaked out by a recent post from Margaux in which she describes finishing the Swallowtail Shawl in just one weekend. Granted there seemed to be drinking involved - and we know that red wine is guaranteed to make you knit faster and better and into the wee hours, but this is wild!

I Forgive You, Yarn Harlot

I think you really had to love Stephanie McPhee these last few weeks to get through that Sock a Day business. Over the summer, I had my own personal Sockstravaganza, but I didn't limit myself to just socks. I made six pair in about a month, but I only took a few pictures.

Here is the pair made for Emily with the second greatest invention in the world, Regia Self Striping Sock Yarn. (The greatest invention in the world is EZ Pass). I used Size One needles for these: toothpicks are thicker.




But someone has to write about the perversly pleasurable tediousness of sock knitting, because Life Is Often Like That. As I was knitting (not a sock) on the bus to work this morning I realized that I love that blog because it reminds me of those EM Delafield "Diary Of..." books where we are frequently told that Life Is Often Like That. If you haven't read any of them, I recommend you just buy Diary of a Provincial Lady one from your favorite online book seller right now. I know from my many readings of all of the Diaries that the main character - never named, for after all, she is A Lady - is a bad knitter and never played golf.