FemiKnitMafia

Just when I thought I couldn’t go any longer, I finished the body of the Baby Dale. Behold.

Here are the 34 ends that I wove in tonight (which doesn’t count the 16 (?) that I did in the early virtuous days of this project.

Now that you’ve feasted on the glory, let’s talk about pain.

1) The bottom edge really wants to flip, and it’s totally my fault.  After the garter edge, I accidentally added two rows of green before I changed needle size. Those two rows are actively biting me in the ass right now.  ouch!  But see that orange grosgrain ribbon? Let’s see who’s biting whose ass when I’m driving a sewing needle in and out of said edge. Just sayin.  [thanks to the wonderful old lady at Windsor Button who suggested it.]

2) When I cast off for the front neck edge, my stitch count was off. After serious gnashing of teeth, I decided there must be 5 center steek stitches. I only had 4. So I grabbed a stitch from the bottom of the steek column and laddered all the way up. Now I have a SteekRidge Mountain from the tension of the floats. Whatev’. I’m gonna cut it anyway, right?     [ ... right? ... ]

3) So I drop-kicked it into the Eucalan bath. A full soaking. A towel squeeze. And we have 19″ long by 14 3/4″ wide. Good lord!!

With a little shaking and puffing and stroking and sweet talking, I coaxed it back to 17 3/4″, which is still much longer than the 15″ it measured prior to the bath.

Mind you, I realized my gauge was off weeks ago, but I was running the right size for 24 month. So I followed the instructions for the 24 month size instead: 15″ long and 14 3/4″ wide. When I finished the body, it was right on the money. Did it really grow by 2 3/4″ after the bath??

In any case, it’s done. A big chunk of this sweater is done. I’ve reached a major milestone in this project, and in my first true stranded colorwork.  I’ve done it in the round. I’ve done it back and forth. I’ve done it on the train and on a bus and on plane*. I’ve done it here and there. Hell, I’ve done it everywhere. And I do like colorwork, Sam I Am.

*not really on a plane, but I couldn’t resist the rhyme.

1) After reading about spinning silk hankies on Two Sheep and KnittySpin (via WhipUp), I was itching to leave the office. So I jumped on the train, destined for Lucy’s shop. I ran down to the Kendall Square station, and dashed toward the train sitting in the station. I slid through the closing doors, knocked my arm on the edge, and dropped my T-pass ($235/mo!). The doors closed and I watched my pass hit the yellow stripe on the platform as we pulled out of the station. “OH SHIT!” The entire car full of people looked at me. “I dropped my pass!” I got off at the next stop. I found a T staffer and begged him to call someone at Kendall Sq. When I told him it’s a “Zone 7,” he said “OhhhhNoooo” and fired up the walkie talkie. He beeped me back through the turnstile (i.e. free ride), told me not to worry, explained how he could “dig in the pit” (i.e. the tracks) between incoming trains to find it, and rode back to Kendall with me. When we arrived, an old man in a T uniform strolled up to me and handed over my Zone 7. I nearly tackled and kissed him. Seriously. Instead, I think I’ll bring cookies to his booth tomorrow.

2) I went back into the station, gripping my pass, and the train carried me to Lucy’s place. I introduced myself by name+moniker and got a big hug with “I thought I’d recognize you!” [which made my covert soul very happy. mwah ha ha] We chatted about spinning lessons (note to self: schedule one), fiber, drop spindles, yarn, patterns, etc. It was lovely. Shortly before I was due back at MIT, Guido walked in. I’ve never met him, but he’s very sweet, and when I got back to my office, I immediately downloaded a couple of his podcasts. Oh, and did I mention the wee indulgence (stash bust who)?

Want a closer look at Lucy’s hand dyed sock yarn? Yeah, I thought so.

What should I do with it? At first, I imagined socks. But the tencel is so shiny, it looks like silk. So maybe a shawl is a better plan? Perhaps a nice rectangular one that Wifey could use for a scarf? Would knitting a beautiful scarf for Wifey get me out of the indulgence dog house?

That Elsebeth Lavold book also includes the illusive CAT that I’ve been seeking for over a year! Little Man is clearly getting a sweater soon.

3) As I’ve mentioned before, I knit almost exclusively on the train. Since I spend so much time on the train, I get to know the conductors. Beth, with whom I share most evening commutes, thinks this is hilarious. But she also says that Brian has “twinkly eyes,” which is absolutely the truth. Every day, when he checks my pass, Brian asks how the knitting is coming along. He’s particularly interested in the Dale sweater, and after hearing about the steeking process, practically begged me to do the steeks on the train. [I'm considering it...] When I get tired of the Dale and switch to the Anastasia socks, he walks by and says “Moved to the socks, have we?” After I completed the bulk of the body of the Dale, he rejoiced like any good Stitch & Bitch member, saying “you’re out of the black hole!” [clearly someone's been reading the YarnHarlot after his wife goes to bed] So of course I asked him to pose with the Dale:

Sorry for the blurry. You only have one shot at such things.

I finished the Dale body yesterday (yes, it’s huge. don’t ask).

Since then, I’ve been fighting with the front neck cast off stitches. I suspect that there’s a typo in the pattern, but I can’t find Dale errata anywhere! Surely even the Norwegians make mistakes from time to time. So I’ve been knitting and tinking and knitting and tinking ad nauseum. Just when I figured it out (I think), the next step is to knit back and forth. Stranded purling? yuck! Then I looked at the pattern. Shit, it’s a 3-color row! Stranded purling on a 3 color row?? YuckYuckdangdamnYuck! More knitting and tinking, knitting and tinking. Just when I got the hang of the purl tension and the proper color dominance orientation of the yarns and remembered to read the chart from L-R (that would be three tinks, if you’re counting along at home), I discovered this:

I was knitting with the short end, not off the bobbin! Only Brian kept me from tossing the Dale from the moving train. For real. He’s a good muggle-conductor-man. Everyone needs a Brian.

When you find out that your boss threw you under the bus, what do you do?

Monkey, Dale (more here), and Surprise Love

Today I really need Favorite Things Monday. It’s the kinda day for which FTM was created: 1) I did not get a new job that I really really wanted. By the skin of my teeth. Like after they called my references (including my current boss). The other person had a “strong internal endorsement.” Argh. 2) Five minutes later, I got a call from Mr. “Why Can’t You Perform Miracles?” faculty member and I let the call go to voicemail. 3)Despite about 2 weeks of trying, I can’t seem to post this big blog-gift update. WordPress hates me. Or perhaps WordPress hates Flickr. 4) My sidebar sucks and I’ve been too lazy to fix it.

This picture came from a calendar. I don’t remember what calendar. I don’t remember what year. Considering that I’ve owned it for at least 8 years, I’m guessing it came from a political paraphenalia supply house of some sort or another. 99% of my political posters have relocated to a lovely cardboard box in the basement (as yet not the recycling), but I love this image so much that I cut it out of the calendar, framed it, and it’s hung in every home that I’ve lived in. Today, it seems particularly appropriate.

More favorites from an awesome weekend:

• a bottle of red wine with Wifey (yeah no preggie!);
• took Little Man to the lumber yard;
• re-built an 8′x10′ grape arbor with Wifey (yeah no preggie!);
• engaged in some dick swinging at the plumbing supply house (a story for another day);
• fixed the last bit of plumbing in my upstairs bathroom;
• rediscovered my local FreeCycle and scored a free lawn mower;
• celebrated a family birthday;
• knit the Dale;
• pulled the toe off a Monkey (that sounds bad);
• used a circular saw for the first time and didn’t lose a limb;
• used a chisel for the first time;
• felt like a baaaaadaaaaaaasss for most of those 48 hours; and
• got my SOCKPAL assignment!!

For many moons I’ve suffered from a serious case of knitter’s ADD. Serious. I get halfway through a project and I jump ship for the next beautiful butterfly to cross my path. Yes, I have tons of excuses (buying our first house, owning an old-old house, parenting, the surrogacy, working multiple jobs, etc…………into eternity……), but the reality is — I have a serious case of knitter’s ADD. And I’m about to jump ship again, leaving yet another UFO in my wake. I’ve been working at PepperKnit’s beautiful Anastasia socks in Sophie’s Toes Froggy that was a birthday gift from Suzanne (ow, my link finger hurts). At some point I’ll post a picture (and get back to those posts sitting in draft mode - see?-ADD).

Enter shitty weather and a Wifey+LittleMan+Nora weekend departure (yes folks, I’ll be ALONE this weekend. ALONE! I’m not sure when that happened last. Did I mention ALONE?). Now I have a quandry.

After spending time with Surro-Baby and her Dads last night, I’m desperate to knit her a beautiful sweater that expresses how truly blessed I feel to have contributed to her fetal development & her birth, and my hopes that we’ll stay close for a long long time. That level of love and devotion begs for a Dale, doesn’t it?

And I need color. Lots of it. I want to sit alone in the sun and knit something bright and cheery all weekend.

F–k the stash pledge, I’m getting lunch at Windsor Button today.

ETA: I got some Baby Ull and Book #162 to do …

in green & white with bright turq & orange accents. It’s gonna be a good weekend! [and Roro's absolutely invited]

CONTEST NEWS

The correct answer to the Mafia Week ‘07: Game #1 is — the birthmark above my right knee is shaped like a HEART.

When I was a child, my Gramma said I was kissed by an angel. So sweet. In later years, I imagined being kissed by this angel.

Because nobody guessed the correct shape (and what’s with all the land mass guesses?), I used the random number generator to decide the winner.

And the winner is:

Kathy!

Congratulations!! I’ll send the Knitting Rules book out tomorrow. Enjoy!

KNITTING NEWS

I spent a week on the Monkey socks in the Frickmeister STR and got to the heel.

I love the yarn, and although I had several moments of doubt during repeat #2, I love the colors.

Then a cold spell hit Boston, and I realized that commuting in Massachusetts is bitter. So I put the Monkeys down in favor of a much-needed Jenny hat in leftover Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran in Jewel. As of today, it’s about 2/3 done.

I’m hoping to have enough JS yarn for a pair of much-needed Massachusetts commuter mittens.

Last weekend, I did two lousy rows on the Arwen sweater. I’m the worst KAL co-host in the world. And at this rate, it’ll be 90 degrees outside before I finish it.

Oh, and did I mention the mistake I made on the back of the Arwen cable? For some reason, it doesn’t appear on the front. Strange. I’m still trying to decide if I should rip it out, which might explain the languishing. Any thoughts?

PERSONAL NEWS

Wifey is ready to pull a small baby girl from her belly, but has been advised by her doctor that this isn’t a great idea. So she’s waiting. And god love her, she hasn’t killed me yet. So all is well. In fact, I believe she’s walking the mall right now, trying to get that baby to ‘engage’.

While playing with the wee one and beating on Ms. 1890, I managed to knit a stitch or two on the Arwen cardigan. The back is entirely finished, and represents an alarming amount of fabric. [am I really that big back there?]

Then I started the left front, knit about 6 rows beyond the hem line and decided I didn’t like it. See how the bottom edge of the cable panel is all wavy, perhaps even scallopy?

Me no likey.

So I ripped back to the purl hem turning line, and tried something else. If anyone is interested, here’s what I did:

On the RS, knit to the end of the row, and without turning, use a purling-on cast on. It’s very similar to knitting-on, only you purl the stitches instead of knitting them. Apparently I unvented a Lily Chin trick, which was broadcast on an episode of Knitty Gritty that I just discovered via the magic of Google. Who knew?

Anyway … you purl-on the 26 sts that create the cable panel, then do two rows of seed stitch before doing the cable set-up row. See?

Better.

But, I’m still not 100% thrilled with the one row difference between the hem line and the beginning of the cable panel, but I’ll probably just ignore that. If I felt like starting over again, I might cast on at the end of the hem turning row and see if it lines up perfectly. Hmmmm…

* special thanks to hand model and camera ‘ho Danielle

* x-posted at Arwen KAL blog.