Baby Set Finito

Yarn: Socks that Rock medium weight in the color, Downpour; about 1.75 skeins--I don't know what happened with the color in the photo. There is no greenish cast to this yarn. Sorry about that. The color is correct in the pictures from 2 posts back.

Size: I was shooting for 6 months to 1 year. Most people think it looks big. The baby is due in October and I figure he will be big. His dad is well over 6 feet tall and strong like ox.

Needles: 2.75 mm/US 2, combination of circular and dpns

Sweater Pattern: Combination of Joelle Hoverson's Placket Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts and Elizabeth Zimmermann's percentage system. I used the measurements and the decreases for the raglan from Hoverson. I was proud of how I managed the placket. I picked up 5 stitches from between the 6 stitches at the edge and held them to the back. I knitted a couple rows in stockinette for a smooth placket bottom before I switched to garter. The waist band rib is a 2x2 garter rib (row 1:k2,p2; row 2; knit). The sleeve cuffs are 2x2 simple ribbing and I extended this toward the elbow by adding more and more plain rows between ribbing rows. I added a couple of long short rows in the upper back a la EZ.

Hat Pattern: Jewel by Sock Pixie. Thanks to S. Pixie's excellent instructions, I actually managed to count the decreases correctly without stitch markers. I used 11 little mitered squares. Again, I probably made the hat too big. What can I say? I'm surprised there aren't more of these in the Ravelry gallery. This hat has a beautiful shape though I had trouble laying it out for the photo. The mitered squares will flatter many types of yarn. I'd make one for myself if I wore hats that squish a person's hair. The pattern is such that even though it is written at 7 stitches per inch, I think it would work with any yarn up to worsted so long as you knit the strip of mitered squares until you reach the desired head circumference, pick up the stitches in a multiple of 10 and make a reasonable guess as to the length to knit before beginning the crown shaping. Kudos to Sock Pixie on this elegant design. It is elegant in both the scientific and artistic senses.

Sock Pattern: None. Worked toe-up on 32 stitches. Short row heels from memory. I'm getting better at short row heels. Seiding should be proud. She helped me learn. Of course it's easier on 16 stitches than on 30 or 36.

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All in all this has been a great knit. I am glad I finished the sweater 3 times because I can be satisfied with the end result knowing that I've explored my limitations and the characteristics of the yarn and pattern. Tomorrow is the shower. I'll go to my lbs (local bookstore) and pick up a sweet little storybook of some kind to throw in the box and I'm good to go! I hope there will be good food at the shower. No matter what, I expect cake, but if the mom to be's mother is involved, I am looking forward to a Polish food extravaganza.

Tutorial Fail

I was going to make a little tutorial for you here. A simple one, just for the entertainment value and to practice in case I ever want to tackle technique. The most difficult thing for me in knitting is the counting. I speak true, friends. I've tried a number of things including hash marks, safety pins, stitch markers, those little barrel row counters, etc. I have a row counter bracelet on order from Etsy even as we speak (write, type, read, peruse, or as my grandpa would say, squawk). I don't think I'm alone because over the years I've seen a number of posters ask for tips on keeping track of stitch patterns and/or rows.

I was inspired by a friend's long ago suggestion on how to keep track of ingredients in cooking. Put a spoon on the counter for every cup of flour to be added. Then remove a spoon every time you add a cup. Frankly, I thought this was ridiculous, though it works for her. Even so, I've never forgotten it and have been trying to improve on it mentally, in the same way that I work mental arithmetic while driving (myself crazy).

I am aware that this candy idea isn't original to me, but I was enjoying myself so much I thought you might like to see the pictures.

Candy Counting Technique (For the Kountry folc: Kandy Kounting Tekhnikue)
to count Rows and 2 different Stitch Alterations that don't occur every row such as increases, decreases, or stitch patterns ON TWO objects being knitted to be identical, such as sleeves or socks.

What you need: Some candy that comes in many small pieces, like Skittles, M & M's or chocolate covered strawberries (small being relative). I had a jackpot find when my pharmacy moved. Retro candy. Snaps. Anybody remember Snaps? They came in a red box. They are black licorice with the texture of shoe leather coated with some sort of hard pastel sugar that resembles housepaint. Now they come in a bag, but you have to be careful. Because of that, sometimes they are fresh and not tough enough. I like them to have slightly less chewiness than beef jerky. You also need a flat, relatively clean surface.

1. Place a candy on the step, table, chair arm or other convenient, cat/child/other scavenger free surface every time you complete a row. If you have an alteration on that row such as a new stitch pattern, a decrease, or an increase, place a candy above the first piece. In the photo you can see I've completed one row which in my case had a k2, p2 pattern, then 2 plain rows.

In the next picture I've completed another plain row.

2. When you have a row with a second type of stitch alteration, add a candy below the piece for that row when the row is complete. In my case, the row in question is an increase row. My picture shows five rows completed. The first row and the fifth row had stitch alterations. Now I need to remember that a candy above my line of candies means that I did a k2, p2 and that a candy below the line means I increased.
I could keep knitting on this sleeve, but I want to get both done at close to the same time. (This is a lie of omission. While it is true that I want to finish both sleeves more or less at once, the real reason it's time to switch to the other sleeve is that I want to eat the candy. It's bad form to drool on your gift knitting. Calling Mr. Pavlov!)

3. Now for the good part! Pick up your second sleeve and begin knitting by reading your line of candy from left to right, in just the order you built it (not backwards as was my first inclination). The superimposed pink piece over the first candy is telling me that the first row of sock 2 must be worked as k2, p2. Once you've finished that row, eat the candy! Not all of it! Just the candy for the first row. Geez. What do you need maybe? A tutorial?

So why is this a Fail Tutorial? This is a Fail Tutorial (not to be confused with a faille tutorial, which would be about sewing with fancy fabric) because the day after shooting, a cap came off one of my teeth while I was eating some nice pineapple upside-down cake. I have to attribute the Dentistry Fail to the Snaps.

Sequencing Activity

Can you put these pictures in order?

Unfortunately you are correct. What gave it away? The wiggly-tiggly unraveled yarn or the fact that I asked the question?

I made this

It was for a fellow teacher's surprise 50th birthday party which was July 22nd. That was the same day as knitting camp started, so I couldn't go. I did wrap it and drop it off ahead of time. I knit it in less than a week. I believe the pattern is called Seafoam. I've seen it in a number of stitch dictionaries, but there is a well-written version by Ali Green here. I didn't have the 2 edge stitches in the one I used, but I can't find now.

Pattern: Seafoam stitch

Yarns: Opal Hundertwasser and very pale blue vintage Red Heart baby wool double stranded.

Needle: Size 7 US

Size: 65 x 9 inches

I like how double stranding and combining with another yarn softened the self-stripiness of the Hundertwasser. I was just crazy about finding this yarn for a good price when it came out. I bought five, but now I'm not as excited about it. This actually was my favored colorway of the ones I had. I would have liked socks from it. I do have enough left for a small pair of socks. Maybe enough for Amy of the small feet or for some kid. I destashed 2 others and that leaves 2. One is pretty similar to this one. I can't remember the other and I don't see it in my Ravelry stash. I either knitted it up, or it escaped or I imagined it, albeit poorly.

Gourmet S'Mores & Knitting Camp 2008 .

A good time was had by me at this year's knitting camp. I can't speak for "All." I was told by Nola from Monday night knitting to take lots of pictures. Here they are.

The weather was great.

Breakfast morphed into lunch. We had lots of sausage. There is talk of naming our camp Sausage Camp. (Okay, that was just me.) There were 3 kinds, 4 if you count weenies. You never sausage food.

This, in particular was delicious. Elizabeth cooked it. I think everybody had seconds. Some of us had thirds. Of course I'm not talking about the salad part. Elizabeth worked her tail off, by the way. She also carted my ass, did the shopping, provided lodging, cooked more food for us and made the coffee.

Making S'Mores on night number one. You can tell it's the first night because the S'More making started before the fire was truly mellow enough. The S'Mores were gourmet because there were regular grahams, chocolate grahams, peanut butter cookies, Hershey bars OR fancier chocolate. Yes, I tried the peanut butter cookie s'more! Note: Choose a cookie with a mid to high degree of structual integrity. I think Oreos show promise.

The accommodations were accommodating. There was another tent, too. That does'nt look rite with to m's.

Knitting happened.

So did the weaving in of ends on a crochet project, though I don't believe the actual crocheting occurred at camp. If more crocheting was this nice, more of us would like it better.

I thought the yarn swap was pretty big. This by the way, is only part one. JPKnits came later, bearing mohair.

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I'm up for doing it again next year. But if I win the lottery, we're going to the Washington House Inn or some such place. They've got fireplaces for the s'mores. I know I can win. I just need to buy a ticket once in a while.