Pardon Me, Your Slip Isn't Showing (Or Is It?....)

I promise this isn't going to turn into a daily confessional column about how I screwed up my knitting on the Samantha Dress. But I have this vague idea that if I share these tragedies with the outside world, they will never happen again. I'll get back to you later about how that works out.

During a shift in pattern at the top of the smocking (a new word for me) on one of the front halves of the dress, I switched from carrying the yarn in front during the stitch-slipping process to carrying the yarn in back. All of a sudden my neat little hyphens of cotton disappeared. And I didn't figure it out until many rows later. This is what I get for watching TV while knitting. Try as I might, I'm not very good at multitasking.

This picture shows where the dashes should have been. Though I've been whining on these pages about knitting in cotton, one thing it has going for it is that it's not difficult to pick up stitches in it if you have to frog back. I had this ripped back and was back on track in no time.

The first half of the front is done, and I've cast on the for the second. Should be a bit easier since I don't have to worry about button holes. I am getting a bit nervous as to whether I bought enough yarn or not...

Watch Your Asterisk

I only recently realized that there should not be an extra stitch between the eyelets along the bottom edge of the Samantha Dress. I don't think it's violating much in the way of copyright to say that this eyelet row, as knitted, is *k1, yo, k2t*. However, the instructions are written as k1 *yo kt2*. Which is totally different.

I only noticed when I started working on one of the front halves of the dress. I couldn't figure out why the eyelets were so much closer together. I stared and stared and stared at the directions. They were identical for front and back. It was my brain that moved the asterisk.

I am not going to be re-knitting the back. So I'm going to continue my mistake throughout the rest of the garment. It won't look all that different, and luckily, this mistake didn't affect the stitch count. Which makes sense. Otherwise I would have caught this earlier.

Today's moral: Watch your asterisk.

Pink & Wink

It seems that if I'm not going to be knitting in one of my dark, drab colors (or non-colors as some of my fellow knitters have dubbed them), it's got to be pink. Hot pink. Must be going around.

Things are going much better with the Samantha dress now that I'm not periodically and randomly kitting into the row below. It's just a question of paying a bit more attention. Still not loving working with the cotton, but more pleased at how it's turning out. Weaving in ends with cotton always makes me nervous -- there's nothing to stop those little strings from working their way out. So I made a knot. I've read several times that knitting should always involve loops, never knots. But I'm doing it anyway for the peace of mind and I can now say that I've never not knotted my knitting. I'll do my best to hide them in the seams.

Although the patterned stitch band across the bodice looks quite different knit in cotton rather than wool, I kind of like the effect. It's a bit see-through, as you might be able to see in the photo, but luckily, 6-month-olds aren't known for their prudishness and modesty. It's going to look so cute on her!

A short while ago, I ran into Amy Wink, a college friend who teaches on my campus some semesters. We managed to get together for lunch Monday and it was wonderful. Amy is an English professor, and thus much better at writing about our catching up. If you'd like to eavesdrop, check out this post at her blog. It was great seeing her again and getting to spend some time together. Pie was eaten.

Amy has a horse with whom (which? -- "which" is probably more correct, but "whom" feels more appropriate...Amy would know!) she practices the art of carriage driving. I loved hearing her talk about it, and I'm looking forward to going for a drive with her and Will. So I've learned a bit about driving, Amy has learned a bit about the needle arts, and in that weird synchronistic way that new knowledge has a way of working into our lives, Amy ran across something on the interwebs about crocheted horse ear bonnets.

I wonder what Will would look like in hot pink...

The Next Generation

Last weekend, my Aunt June called to let me know that she had become a great-grandmother this summer. My oldest cousin's oldest daughter had a baby daughter at the end of June, Whitney Lynne. For those of you keeping score at home, she's my first cousin, twice removed. It struck me that she would have been my grandfather' first geat-great grandchild, born in what would have been his 100th year.

So, inspired by Julia's lovely example, I decided to knit Whitney a little something to welcome her into the world. I'm making Samantha in the 6 month size -- hopefully useful for the winter. But after consultation with some fellow knitters and in consideration of our mild winters down this way, I decided to knit this out of cotton -- Dale Stork, to be precise.

I'm having issues. First of all, it's been a long time since I've knit with cotton. Unlike warm, comforting and forgiving wool, it's cool, robotic and isn't interesting in protecting your feelings. But, I'm committed to making this washable and wearable as long as possible, so cotton it is.

As I was working, I noticed something that I first noticed last fall while working on the Cobra Sweater. Every once in a while, I do something weird while knitting stockinette. I think it happens on the wrong side as I'm purling across, and I think I'm purling into the stitch below. Perhaps one of my experienced readers can let me know? It's not as noticeable in wool -- in wool, you can feel it more than you can see it. But in cotton, boy can you see it! A weird little bump. Here's an example to the left. As I got back to knitting this morning, I saw many of these. I'm talking dozens. How did I miss this yesterday? I laddered down and fixed a few, but then I started inspecting more closely, and decided to just frog it back to the bottom.

What you see in the first picture is my progress after hours and hours of work. Sigh. I'm going to be more mindful of my purling on this from now on to try and avoid this in the future.

Postscript (8:37pm): It appears I was knitting, not purling, into the row below. To keep gauge, I've been knitting very tightly. So tightly, in fact, that I can't see the bar across the bottom of the stitch -- it's hiding behind the needle, making it quite easy to knit into the stitch below. Now that I know what to look for, things are going much better.

Wetfield

Finally. A wet, rainy weekend in Austin. I know, right? It was starting to feel like it would never rain again, as if we should all just give in and resign ourselves to the fact that we had just been annexed into the newest development in the northeastern suburbs of the Chihuahuan desert. But did it ever rain yesterday! I took advantage of the sogginess and a break in the rain to get some weeds pulled in the yard this morning. Two days ago they would have resisted with death grips, their roots entwined around the earth's core, but today they just slipped out with nary a protest. If we're supposed to make hay while the sun shines, we should also pull weeds while the ground is wet.

While the ground was getting saturated, I used the rainy days to catch up on knitting, too.

This is my progress so far on the Whitfield Jacket. I've finished the back and both sides of the front. I had to rip back a bit on the left side yesterday, when I came across those dreaded words that should never come as a surprise when reading a pattern -- "At the same time...." I always seem to read these after having plowed ahead. Everytime I read these words in a pattern, I'm reminded of Randall Thompson's "Testament of Freedom," the words of which are based on the writings of Thomas Jefferson: "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them." Here's a clip of a chorus singing this. Maybe it will remind you to look for the words, "At the same time, at the same time" in your patterns!

So now all that's left is the sleeves (and the sewing and the weaving in of ends and the blocking and the buttons). I got started on the sleeves at a meet and greet for Amy Singer at The Knitting Nest this afternoon. It was a nice, low-key affair with lots of good conversation and yummy grub. Stacy is the perfect hostess for this sort of thing. Several knitting friends were in attendance. I also got to meet Wendy and Jim (I hope I got that right) from San Antonio, friends of Janna's.

All in all, a great knitting-filled weekend.

KnitFlix

Bette Davis could knit. Who knew? And she actually knew what she was doing. This scene of Bette Davis knitting on the deck of a cruise ship is from Now, Voyager (1942).





Granted, she's knitting what appears to be a garter-stitch swatch for what I can only hope is a much more fabulous garment, but I suppose that's doing pretty well when one has taken to the high seas to get away from an overbearing Boston Brahmin mother and is putting the finishing post-breakdown touches on what we refer to today as doing one's "work." Here she learns about a rather dashing man she's been cavorting with from one of his friends, played by Lee Patrick. Love Bette's glasses. And it looks like Lee loves her glass. That's one tall drink!

Give this movie a chance. Not much action, but plenty of drama. And some excellent acting by Davis. Her creepy Baby Jane voice is just starting to develop. It also stars the always awesome Claude Rains, my favorite character actress of all time, Mary Wickes, and Gladys Cooper as the too-controlling mother. Apparently, she was good at this sort of thing. A few decades later she showed her domineering chops as Henry Higgins' mother in My Fair Lady.

I love finding knitting in movies.

Desperate Times...

...call for desperate measures. Like buying a 14" pair of size 7 straight needles at, well, let's just say the name of this big box store is somewhat reminiscent of, but is definitely not, Wool-Mart. This is the one option in my in-laws' little town because I left my size 7 Addi Click tips at home.

There used to be the coolest little knitting shop here in Granbury, Texas called Dot's that had the best yarn and knitting accoutrement. I called it my far-away local yarn shop, and my in-law's got me gift certificates to this shop so that I could go on shopping sprees when I was up for visits. Good times! The staff was so helpful and not at all weirded out by a guy coming into to buy yarn. Alas, Dot's is no more.

But I'm now back on track, plugging away at the Whitfield Jacket on a sleepy holiday weekend Sunday afternoon. What could be better -- besides having remembered to bring those darned size 7 needle tips? (Actually, I kind of like this snazzy anodized aluminum purple they came in.) Hope your Labor Day weekend is full of lots of relaxing knitting.

Word Cloud

I'm totally copying Janelle here, but I thought this was cool. We've actually been using Wordle at work for a few things. Never though to apply it to my blog.

Without further ado, a Wordle image of my blog. Note that Janelle gets a shout-out on the far right! How did the word therapist get in there?...

Whitfield

I bought a pattern for Anne Hanson's Whitfield Jacket at The Sock Summit earlier this month. I, too, thought it was strange that I would buy a non-sock pattern at a meeting devoted to footwear. But I saw a women's version of this on a mannequin, and the helpful salesperson at Briar Rose Fiber's helped me find this. It was mentioned in one of my classes later, so apparently I'm hanging ten on the wave of men's knitting fashions.

I wasn't capable of making decisions at the Briar Rose booth to choose some of the gorgeous yarn they had. I couldn't figure out yardage, plus my brain, while not focused on sock patterns, was still focused on sock yarns. I just wasn't in the mood. When I got home, I swatched with some leftover Cascade Eco Wool, but wasn't happy with the results. Then, I remember that I still had some bucks left on a gift card from Knit Picks.

Yesterday, several hanks of Knit Picks Swish Bulky in Onyx Heather (there are at least two awesome drag queen names in that phrase -- see if you can find them) arrived on my doorstep. I like this stuff. Very soft and I got gauge on my first try. Well, actually just slightly under gauge, but just spreading the fabric out by hand worked. I checked gauge with a new iPhone app that Janelle hipped me to, KnitGauge. You just pick two points on your fabric, count the number of stitches between them, line up the "pins" on your screen with the points, and voilà!, it tells you your stitch (or row) gauge. Genius.

So, I started a heavy wool jacket yesterday -- a day that reached 102 degrees. I suppose I'm engaging in magical thinking, hoping that I can invoke cooler weather by knitting warm clothing.

It was 104 today...

قرطبه

Translated, or rather, transliterated, that's "Qurţuba," the Arabic name of the city in Spain founded by the Romans and today known as Córdoba. The city became known for the production of horse leather, and in English, the word "cordovan" refers to this leather and/or its rich burgundy/brownish color. Thus ends today's history and linguistics lesson.

I started these Cordovan Socks, made from Malabrigo Sock in the Cordovan colorway at the Sock Summit. I'd started some with this yarn before I left Texas a week or so before, but I'd picked a too-busy pattern for this dark yarn and it just wasn't reading. While taking The Max back and forth to the Summit, Janelle was working on a very cool pattern, and I just decided to copy her. She was knitting socks in a pattern called Charade by Sandra Park (a free Ravelry pattern). I'm not using the sock pattern, but I am using the stitch pattern. Otherwise, I'm basically using the same toe-up construction I used on the 14505 socks, upping my usual 72 stitches to 76 to make thing come out evenly. And I'm using Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks as a guide through the heel turn.

While knitting these, the late Ricardo Montalban's voice keeps going through my head, describing the "soft Corinthian leather" of his Chrysler Cordoba. Corinth, Cordoba -- hey, it's all Mediterranean. My college roommate had one of these babies. That lead sled was a smooth ride...

One of things we discussed in Stephen Houghton's Making Socks Manly class, was how the male foot is differently anatomically than the female foot. Some of the proportions around the ankles are different, meaning that just adding stitches or going up a needle size may not be enough. Heel flaps might need to be longer, insteps might need to be narrower and any shaping needs to take place further up the leg. I'm trying to be mindful of this as I kind of wing this pattern, but it's so easy to fall back on what I've done before.

I got some cool patterns at the Sock Summit. And one is not even a sock. More about them later.

Summit Wrap-Up

Wow. I'm so tired and energized at the same time. I can't say that I recommend going to a very busy, class-packed sock-o-rama within days of climbing the highest mountain in the continental U.S., but I'm still glad I did both. My posts from the road were made with a cruddy phone camera and less than ideal internet connectivity conditions, so I thought I'd add this wrap-up to cover some of the highlights of what was a very memorable four days.

On my first day, I had a 6-hour class with Nancy Bush, chronicler of Estonian knitting and author of many knitting books, only one of which I have: Knitting Vintage Socks. This class was built around this book, so it was a mixture of history and techniques. We made a we sample sock using methods from Weldon's as she taught. And, in this picture, you can see some of the socks that were photographed for the book. Knitted celebrities!

That evening, we were treated to an early run at the marketplace -- acres and acres of yarn booths. It really was a bit much. I tried to be restrained (I posted earlier with my actual purchases), but it wasn't easy. It was wonderful to see Caro there selling bags like hotcakes. It was also cool to see fellow knitters in classes throughout the weekend pulling out their Splityarn bags.

Day two was a class on using handpainted yarn with Merike Saarniit. Her class was about how to use handpainted yarns and solid (or semi-solid) yarns to create beautiful color effects. It was challening and quick-paced, but we managed to knit several examples in the class and mine turned out great. I'll definitely be incorporating some of these techniques into my sock knitting. That afternoon we helped break the Guinness World Record for the number of people knitting in one place simultaneously. A local TV crew shot some footage, and my tummy, clad in a Knitting Nest t-shirt, appears at about 2 minutes in. The gentleman speaking while I knit was in some of my classes and Janelle and I had an opportunity to chat with him during the conference.

Knitters attempt to break Guinness World Record

Day three involved two classes taught by Stephen Houghton of the Yknit podcast. One was about making hems for socks -- the sock's "third edge." I LOVED the Channel Islands cast on that he taught. It took me a while to get it, but it does create a nice crenelated edge -- kind of the effect of 1x1 ribbing just, well, stopping. His second class was about making socks for men -- choosing yarns, colors and patterns that work, as well altering lacy patterns to be more studly.

I'm not always comfortable monkeying with patterns, but he did give me a lot to think about -- and maybe a little confidence that I might be able to do it. I also go to meet his personality-filled pooch, Janie Sparkles. I think she was the knitting celebrity I most enjoyed meeting the whole week!

On the last day, I took Carson Demers class on knitting ergonomics. He is a physical therapist as well as a knitter, so he had some great insight into the strange positions that knitters put themselves in to pursue their craft. (I just had to remind myself to sit up a bit straighter!) He was an excellent teacher -- anyone who sits and does anything for any length of time should take his class. Later, in the marketplace, Janelle and I posed for a picture as superheroes at a booth for a knitting comic called HandKnit Heroes. We called our epic battle The 2 Circs vs. Magic Loop Smackdown!

The afternoon featured a panel of knitting luminaries. It was amazing to hear these women, who have been so influential in the world of modern knitting, speak. I mean, I was sitting in the room with Barbara Walker, inventor of SSK, the left-leaning decease I use the most. How awesome is that? At the end, on what would have been Elizabeth Zimmerman's 99th birthday, we sang her happy birthday and all ate cake.

Perfect.

Sock Summit, Day Four

The first ever Sock Summit is over. I'm exhausted.

This morning, I attended an excellent workshop on knitting ergonomics with physical therapist Carson Demers. VERY informative with lots to think about. He was quite enabling about buying more yarn and more anatomically friendly furniture. More yarn and new furniture? Total win-win!

Knitting comfort is all about finding a balance between efficiency, performance and safety, all of which I'm going to be more mindful after this great class.

Around noon, I saw this cool sock knitting machine demoed (see photo above). I'm still fascinated by them, but I no longer want one -- too fiddly.

This afternoon we attended a Luminary Panel featuring such personages as Lucy Neatby, Cat Bordhi, Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, Meg Swansen, Barbara Walker, Judith MacKenzie-McCuin, and Nancy Bush, among others. We all sang Happy Birthday and had cake on what would have been Elizabeth Zimmerman's 99th birthday.

So it's back to Austin tomorrow. Maybe I'll post more details then. Right now, I'm very, very weary.

Sock Summit, Day Three

Today I took two classes from Stephen Houghton (hizknits) of Yknit. In Hip Hems for Him & Her, we learned about cool cast-ons and hems to make "the third side" of socks look sharp. And in Making Socks Manly, we discussed all aspects of knitting socks for the men in our lives, from color to style to masculinizing lacey motifs into something guys might wear. He was a knowledgable, humorous, and patient teacher -- take a class from him if you get a chance.

But the highlight of my day was meeting none other than the internationally famous ce-web-rity, Miss Janie Sparkles.

Indeed, she does!

Sock Summit, Day Two

On Friday, I took a class with Merike Saarniit on using solids mixed with handpaints in socks -- a very intense 3 hours, to say the least!

Then, Janelle and I participated in the Guiness World Record for the number of people knitting simultaneously. Word on the street was that there were just under 1000, but it seemed like more. Here is a picture of a few of our fellow knitters.

I hear I might be in a video about this somewhere, but I can't view Flash videos on my phone. :-(

Sock Summit, Day One

Yesterday's class with Nancy Bush was awesome, of course. In addition, we went to a quite emotional (and giddy) opening ceremony in the evening. But, before that, we spent a little time in the Summit's marketplace. What fun! I stopped by Caro's booth to get this cool bag (I clearly need more) and got the following sock yarn (left to right):

Lisa Souza sock yarn in the colorway Black Coffee

Wool Candy BFL in colorway Caramel
Toots LeBlanc Jacob/Alpaca/Mohair

All lovely colors, or, as my knitting friends might say, non-colors.

Knitting on the Road

This is me in front of Twisted in Portland on the eve of The Sock Summit. An awesome shop.

Tons of sock knitters around -- kind of frightening, actually. Tomorrow is my class with Nancy Bush!

I'm just doing fast and dirty phone blogging -- more details when I get home. But in the meantime, check out my kniiting and traveling companion Janelle's far more detailed and insightful posts:

Tourists Boost Local Economy
Cupcakes & Crobots, Cha, Cha, Cha!
Portland, Day 3

14,505

That is the elevation, in feet, of Mt. Whitney, up which my two feet were clad in these cozy socks. Mt. Whitney is the highest peak in California and also in the lower 48 states. I'm fairly certain I was the only hiker on Whitney in handknit footwear. We climbed over 6,000 feet in elevation during a 22-mile round trip hike to get there, but it was worth it. It even snowed on us!

We're in the lovely Sequoia National Park today and tomorrow, and then it's off to Portland and a summit of a very different nature!

Into the West

Here is little Johnathan, now four months old, teething, and finally getting to enjoy the cozy baby blanket I knitted for him on a 100+ degree day. Poor thing. He seems to like it, though. While I was quite capable of getting this knitted before he arrived, I was incapable of getting it in the mail or driving across town to get it to him for four months. How lame is that? Like a bad actor, lousy comedian or poky pizza guy, I need to work on my delivery.

Just a quick post to announce that posting may be hit or miss over the next two weeks. The day after tomorrow Jeff and I head to the southern Sierras in California for a week of site-seeing and hiking with my brother. I don't get to spend nearly enough time with him and I'm really looking forward to hanging out with my little bro in the great outdoors. And then, of course, it's up to Portland and The Summit.

This afternoon I dropped by The Knitting Nest to make sure I was all set with circulars and DPNs and yarn for the classes I'm taking. Fortunately, none of my classes require homework, but I do have to have all kinds of needle sizes and yarn types. It's a bit confusing. I have a few days to take care of last-minute things once I get up there, so I'm not terribly worried. I'm more worried that everyone else in the classes is going to be light-years ahead of me skill-wise and that I'll have trouble keeping up. I know this isn't true, but I have to worry about it anyway. That's just me.

I'll try to do a bit of blogging from the road, but if it happens it will be sporadic. Of course, I'll share in more detail upon my return. I'm so excited!

Postscript

I finished the 14505 socks tonight, so I thought I'd add this to the post. The plan is to use these as hiking socks on the trip. Hopefully, I'll have some exciting shots of them in action on the trail in a week or so. Why am I calling these 14505 socks? You're welcome to guess, but if you do, please don't comment on this post and spoil the fun. Just email me directly (stevenself at gmail.com). Stay tuned!

Green Socks

I'm making some socks. And they're green. As students in my library would say, "I know, right?"

Now that you've recovered, I can give you a few more details. I'm making these for an upcoming hiking trip that Jeff and I will be taking with my brother. I didn't know Cascade made sock yarn (how didn't I know this?), but The Knitting Nest had a whole bunch of this green. It knits up wonderfully -- very sturdy -- perfect for hiking. Plus it's put up in 437 yd. hanks, so plenty of yarn for a lengthy pair of manly socks. AND it was only $12.00 What's not to like? This colorway is known as Mossy Rock. I like to think it's named after a Tacoma Public Utilities park where my family spent a very soggy Memorial Day weekend in the mid-1970s. I remember it raining a lot, catching tadpoles and garter snakes and keeping them in coffee cans, and laughing hilariously when I heard my mom's friend Gerri uttering the phrase "crap-ola" while playing cards.

I'm using the six-stitch pattern dimensions from Charlene Schurch's More Sensational Knitted Socks, but I'm not following a particular pattern. I did a 24 stitch magic toe cast-on, increased to 72 stitches (my standard circumference), then started a 4x2 ribbing across the instep. I didn't want to work a short row heel, so I'm doing a heel flap where the flap is actually on the sole. It worked pretty well. I did a slip-stitch heel for reinforcement purposes, but I don't know that it's noticeable. I wanted to put these cool blast-from-the-past stripes in with some leftover KnitPicks Essential that I had, but I made the cuff too short, so what you see here is more than is what is on the needle now. I had to do some ripping back. But overall, I'm pleased.

I need to get this pair done before I leave next Saturday.

Herz Broken

Do you remember the third Star Trek movie? It was the one between Star Trek II, where Kirk yells the immortal "Khaaaaaaaaan!" and the fourth one where they go back in time to San Francisco to save the whales. I thought so -- hardly anyone remembers it. One of the plot points involves getting Spock's soul out of Dr. McCoy and re-implanting it in Spock's body during a very rare and dangerous Vulcan ritual. The point of all this is the outfit Spock wears during this process. You see, I just made a cabled version of it.

Get a load of those shoulders. Yep -- I made that. I read some time ago that when looking at the modeled shots of knitted objects, one should pay special attention to the parts of the garment you can't see in the photos. In the photos for the Herz & Baum Vest in Guy Knits, the model is always wearing a jacket over the vest. You cannot see what the armholes look like. That's because, unless you're a linebacker, these armholes are going to stick out. I mean really stick out. Ridiculously far.

I'm not sure what to do at this point. I think I may just chalk this up to experience -- knit and learn. I put a LOT of work into this, but I'm not going to wear it if I'm going to look like a clown -- or a Vulcan going through fal-tor-pan. If anyone has any ideas -- besides donating this to Home for the Criminally Broad-Shouldered, please let me know.

To help get my mind off this colossal disappointment, I buckled down and finished the Sailor's Rib Socks that I made out of Malabrigo. Beautiful color, perfect match of yarn pattern to stitch pattern, and they fit wonderfully. So there.

Plus, I've got in mind another pair of socks that I want to knit for an upcoming special milestone. I'll share some of it, but I think I'll keep some of it back as a surprise. We'll see...