Well That was Interesting!

I did run out of yarn for the socks, and finished with some black. After all the angst about size and yardage, I remembered that I had used the brown yarn to decorate another pair of socks. with I had put a note with the yarn. anyway they are done and will be given some time in December 2014, either birthday or Christmas.

It keeps on snowing here. I'm ready for spring!

My knitting guild has decided to decorate a Christmas tree for charity next year. They need about 200 hats and mittens, which will be donated after serving as ornaments. I knit a pair of mittens. It seems I can't count. The first mitten was knit on 40 sts. The second on 52. Since this was for charity and I had plenty of yarn, I knit another pair like this. I also finished a smaller pair.

While I was on a mitten kick, I knit two pairs for great grandkids.

I also sneaked in a pair of fingerless mitts for ME before starting my Olympic challenges.

This is a pattern that I designed a year or so ago. I used the same yarn for me, since I had given away the originals. They'll be ready when the weather decides to cooperate.

I'm working on four Olympic challenges. Early in the day I have my Lady Macbeth sweater. I may not finish this, but and hour or so a day makes progress. It would qualify for the Ravelry event WIP Dancing, but I won't enter it unless it is finished.

Secondly, I have a pair of socks: event Sock Hockey. It's a Cookie A pattern which will also qualify for SKA and Solid Socks, I'm working with Knit Companion, which is great for a pattern with a 38 row repeat. It's the socks shown on the cover of her Sock Innovation book. I've done 48 of 63 rows on the first leg.

Thirdly is my Aerial Unwind event. I'm reclaiming the yarn from my TKGA Masters sweater. Lovely yarn. A great sweater! Too big for the body I have now. I found the pattern and will reknit and publish the pattern after rewriting in a smaller size etc.

Fourth challenge is another WIP dancing event. I started a skirt from leftover yarn. This is a Gwen Bortner idea, which I am probably going to have finished by the end of the games. I'm using up lots of odd balls of worsted weight yarn.

I've recorded the games and plan to do a lot of sitting and knitting in the next two weeks.

Third Time's the Charm

I've been knitting on a pair of brown socks and learning my new Knit Companion app for the iPad. I don't know which has been more frustrating.

I started the sock, which said "Cast on 72 sts" with 16 sts each on 4 needles. That does not equal 72, as I found out after doing the cuff. The leg pattern didn't fit the stitches on the needles. RRIIP!! I started again with 18 sts on each needle and the pattern worked.

As I got to the heel, I had to knit the heel flap twice. The second time I followed the pattern except for length. I shortened it to fit the target foot. The more I worked, the more it became obvious that the sock was too big and I was running out of yarn.

Started again with 16 sts per needle and revised the pattern to fit. I should have enough yarn to finish. I would have had to start over no matter what yarn I used, so I reused the same yarn.

I have Knit Companion tamed for the moment. I scanned the instructions out of a book and turned them into a pdf. This was saved in Dropbox, where it can easily be downloaded into the program. I cropped the charts as needed so that they are separate pieces. I then added smart counters that mark which row I'm on and how many times I need to repeat. A tap of the finger moves the marker up a row, and when I reach the op of the chart, it goes back to row 1. It even has a line marker where I switch needles in the middle of the chart.

I had a yellow line on row 1, that I was able to remove. I've figured out how to easily reset the counters after the sock reverted to a ball of yarn. The sock will go faster on fewer stitches.

Ideally, everything goes right the first time. At least I don't have an impending deadline for the socks.

Winter Beauty

The snow was beautiful while it lasted! It melted and we had a few days of rain.

Snow people appeared.

 

Christmas decorations were sighted.

 

Church was attended. Knitting happened. Some gifts arrived and were opened. It's cold and snowy in SE Washington.

 I received a nylon light cube between these two hats.

 

I need to learn more about photoshopping the resulting images

Tranquility

My favorite winter weather. Quiet, not too cold or windy. 

Solitude with dog

I knit this stocking ages ago for a customer. She sent two stockings back for name changes. This requires surgery.

First, chart out new name
Second, separate name from bottom of stocking. Of course these were top down.
Third, unravel old name
Fourth reknit with new name
Graft stocking back together again.

 

It snowed today! Dog walk time this evening was beautiful, with 25F temps and about 1" of snow. This photo was taken a little later.

Sometimes I Hate living Alone

There are many skills I've been learning that used to be delegated to my husband. Last night the power went out about 8:00 with a bang. It's dark out at that hour, so I went to bed. About 1:00 AM i woke up for a bathroom stop and a big truck was in front of my house. The was a light shining up my driveway and a man on the pole behind the garage. I don't think that is what woke me as he was just finishing up.

When the lights came on a few minutes later, I went down stairs to turn them off. Luckily my alarm clock and answering machines have battery backup. The computer shut off, as did the cable box and DVR. I had to reset the clock on the stove and timers for two lights. I stayed up for a while, having gone to bed so early and went into the bedroom to find the timer light on. Changed that right away. Just had to adjust the current time.

The cable box and DVR got reset this morning, and that went well. They have one of those uninterrupted power supply things that beeped when the power went off. Hit the off switch so I could sleep. (It's in the bedroom, thanks DH!) Stove clock is reset. Just need to reset the living room timer, but that's better done in daylight.

I had another challenge tonight. One of the smoke detectors started chirping. They are wired into the house, but have battery backup. I had never changed the batteries. and they are new enough that I don't think DH did either. It's hard to tell which one is chirping as three of them are in the center hall and the sound travels. I couldn't get the culprit to stop, even with a new battery. I called the fire department, but they didn't have any good ideas. It did finally stop.

I also realized that the furnace wasn't on. The house is well insulated, but 60 F is chilly. Something else to reset. At least I'd done this before, but it's still hard to find the switch.

I used to be protected from these frustrations! Even when I know what needs to be done, I often don't know how to do it and have to learn how. Grrrr!

I've been knitting Christmas gifts.Many must remain secret, but I don't think these recipeients read my blog.

I've been knitting up scrap yarn. I also have 3 hats and a scarf on the gift list.

Christmas stockings have generated some interest. I had a pattern request and someone else seems to have a chart, but wanted to know yarn weight and gauge for a snowman stocking that I did so long ago that I cant find much of a record. Luckily, the original customer wants the name changed and just sent two stockings back to me. I'll scan them and make notes for the future.

It's the holiday season

 

The first Advent candle is lit. I love this church building. It was built about 1930, but I love the old style. I'll try to get a picture of the wood carvings another Sunday.

I'm knitting gifts, but i can't show them yet.