I'm still here

Hi,

I just realised that it's been almost 2 months since my last post. I guess I'm not a committed blogger...there are too many things in my life away from the computer, and when I do have an hour or two, I prefer to spend it either knitting or reading.

I do have a story to share though...

I'm working on Meg Swansen's Puzzle Pillow blanket for my new baby. Here's how the blanket looks as of this morning. Last night I was just at the end of the first oatmeal triangle, but hadn't continued it to start the parallelogram part of the oatmeal color.


Here's how I got to this point... (see below for the arrows)

I cast on 54 stitches where the pink arrow is (A-B) side.

Then knit back 53, turn, knit back, leaving one stitch on the needle at the A-C diagonal.
Knit 52, turn, knit back
Knit 51, turn, knit back,
etc.. until you're at C with 2 stitches on the needle.

You do some funky slip/knit stuff and then start on the CC (oatmeal). Starting on the D-C side, you knit 2 towards the diagonal, turn, knit back. Then knit 3, turn, knit back etc.. picking up one stitch on the diagonal each time.

The last line of the pattern at this point says "knit 54, turn, knit back. You are now at A". Well, I was was at D at that point and very perplexed. I mean...if I"m starting at D-C, knitting towards the A-C diagonal and being told to knit back afterwards, I should logically be at D, not A. Hrm..

Let me google to see if there are any errata. None... Let me check Ravelry...None posted. Check Schoolhouse press for corrections. None...

The legendary Meg Swansen can't be wrong. No way no how.



Since it was kind of late, I decided to email Jennifer to ask her to bring her copy of the pattern to work the next day so that we could try to work it out over MSN/email.

The next morning, I explained my problem. She agreed that it didn't make sense, but tried to see if maybe I/we were interpreting the pattern wrong. We didn't think we were.

I said that maybe I should email school house press to see if they know of this issue..or maybe when there were less boss-like people around, I would call. Jennifer decided that now was a good time to call, and was it OK with me if she called Schoolhouse on my behalf.

Here's where it starts to get spooky...

Jennifer calls Schoolhouse press, says that she's having a problem with a pattern, says it's the puzzle pillow blanket and is transferred to another department. The lady answers the phone "Schoolhouse Press, this is Meg".

this. is. Meg.

I had heard that Meg Swansen answers the phones once in a while, and it happened to Jennifer. how cool is that?!?!

If it were me, I would have fainted, but from what Jenn tells me, she did remain mostly calm and proceeded to explain the dilemma described above. At one point, Meg just stopped and said "uh, yes, you're right" (or something to that effect -- Jennifer will be posting her version later today -- and she did see that you should be at the D side at that point. )

She said that there was an indeed a problem in the pattern, but then she says "You know what the worst part is? Just a few days ago, we got a delivery of 20,000 copies of the pattern, which all have the error.".

What freaked me out (aside from the fact that Jennifer talked to Meg) was that after 13 years in publication, no one had found the error in the pattern. How does that happen?

Anyways, Meg asked Jennifer for our names, so that we could get credit on the Schoolhouse Press site when they posted the correction. She gave our first names only.

....

....

An hour or two goes by, we're trying to figure out how to actually correct the pattern -- either adding an extra row or removing one row -- so I can keep going. Jennifer was going to write an email to schoolhouse asking them to send us the correction (in case it takes a while to be posted).

The phone rings at Jennifer's work, and it's Meg Swansen calling her back. I think that she must have stopped breathing for a moment or two. Meg was calling to let her/us know how to correct the pattern (we were right, remove a row) so that we would be able to continue knitting the blanket.

I'm so totally and unbelievably amazed by the service from Schoolhouse Press. I would totally recommend them to anyone.

Go on over to Jennifer's site to see her version of the story.

Hopefully I'll post again sooner than two months from now. I do have pictures of some finished socks that I might be convinced to post. Maybe...

Maaike and Jenn's most excellent adventure

Yesterday (was it only yesterday?) Jennifer and I went on a pilgrimage to Webs - America's Yarn Store. We actually left on Saturday afternoon as soon as Jenn finished working, and drove down to Massachusetts. I had borrowed a GPS (now nicknamed Artie) from a coworker, which did help us with directions, but it seemed to always want to go the shortest possible route -- and not always on the major highways.

As soon as we left Burlington, where we stopped for dinner, it wanted us to take the highway 7 straight down to Northampton. I didn't realize this until about 20 minutes out of Burlington when we didn't seem to be on a major highway, so I figured out that we could cut across the Green Mountains to get back to the I89.

The GPS made pouting noises when we kept ignoring his suggestions, and kept wanting us to make a u-turn to get back onto the 7. Poor little thing.

At the same time, I kept getting text messages from my husband about the score in the Habs game. We ended up losing. :(

We also got most excited when we saw a herd of sheep on the side of the road, and I *think* that Jenn wanted to stop to collect some fleece. (we didn't)

We stayed at the hotel near Webs, which was pretty plain. It was clean and quiet, so no complaints. I pulled out the spindle and did a bit of spinning (Jenn has a picture of that), and then we decided that it was time to get some sleep.

Next morning, we had a nice breakfast at the hotel, which included make-your-own waffles. The trick -- use enough waffle-off -- or the things will stick.




The it was off to Target to do a little shopping for us and our kids. I had heard fantastic things about Target, but it was just like our Zellers. Nothing too extra-ordinary. I did get a few cute things for Erika, but could have probably found most of it at home if I'd looked.

After Target, we went to Webs.


I think we got there just in time, because we were standing in line still in the main part of the store. Soon afterwards, the line for the signings went all the way into the warehouse and looped around a few times.


Just in front of us in the line was the lovely Leah and her mom. Leah is 9 and 11/12 years old, and is an a.m.a.z.i.n.g. knitter. She knit the sweater she was wearing (she's the cute kid just to the left on this shot with the purple sweater). Leah also knit the socks she was wearing, was currently knitting another pair of socks, and proudly told us that she has been knitting since she was 5 years old. She was quite an amazing girl. Later, in the warehouse when we were shopping, I spotted her with a cone of pink/purple yarn that she was planning to make into a top for herself.


We waited for about 30 minutes for Stephanie to arrive, and then the line started to move. We had our books signed just before noon, which was not too bad at all. One of the coolest things was spotting the hand-knits, and trying to figure out which pattern it was made from. We saw MANY clapotis, at least one "must have cardi" and a few others.




We brought Stephanie some bagels, squeeky cheese, and three dishcloths. Jennifer had designed them all, and I test-knit the Habs one for her. I think that they were appreciated. :-) I don't have the pic of us with the dishcloths, but it's on Stephanie's post. After having met Stephanie, and talking to her for a few minutes (there were hundred of people after us, so we tried not to linger), we ran into Kathy Elkins. If you read Jennifer's post, you'll know that she had placed a (rather large) order of Nuts, which were delivered to Webs for us. We chatted with Kathy for a few minutes, and I was asking her some questions about a Baby Surprise Jacket that I want to make. Kathy led us to *gasp* the back room -- Employees Only -- where we got to meet Pixie!!


I have to say that I've been a fan of Pixie's for a while, listening to her on the podcast, she always has informative answers and logical solutions to most problems. Talking to her about the BSJ, she gave me some good suggestions, as well as pointing me to a few good Valley Yarns that I could use. I ended up getting the Rainbow in the Royal Combo color. Since the sex of the baby who will get this isn't known, I thought this was fairly unisex. Pixie is exactly like I thought she would be. Her voice is just like the podcast, but it was kind of cool to be talking to her in person, hearing her laugh just like we hear on the radio show.

We were starting to get tired and hungry, so headed up the street for a bit to eat, and then to the Calvin.

Here are some knitters going to the Calvin.

and some more

Kathy and Steve started out by giving out some door prizes, but I think that because we were sitting on the left side of the room, we were unfairly disadvantaged. It seems like 95% of the prizes were given out to the right side.




After the prizes, we got to hear Stephanie give us her talk about why she's not stupid. You're not stupid, Stephanie :-)


The talk was funny, entertaining, and educational. Who knew that knitting was actually good for me?


There were about 1000 people in the audience...



There was one part where I laughed so hard, I actually had tears. If you've never heard her speak, I strongly suggest it.

After the talk, and the Q&A session, it was back to Webs for some shopping. I had wanted to ask a question in the Q&A, but never got the microphone. My question would have been: "There are video games about Tennis, about Golf, about driving cars and about eating little dots while avoiding ghosts. What do you think a video game abut knitting would be?". If anyone wants to comment with their thoughts on a knitting video game, please do. :-)

Before we did leave the Calvin, there were a few people blocking the aisle, and Jenn looked at me and asked why there was the hold up. I peeked ahead and whispered "I think that's Jess from Ravelry". IT WAS!! How cool is that!

I stole the photo above from Jenn's site, as I didn't get the pic with my camera.

There were people waiting in line to get their books signed while we were shopping, and when I walked out of the warehouse into the front of the store with this shopping cart, there were gasps all around. I had to tell them that it wasn't all for me. Actually, the top section of the cart is my stuff, and the bottom is all Jenn's. Just sayin'.


I ended up changing out some of the yarns for the blankets, which you can see in the pic below. The nice gentleman beside me is "justonescarf" who did make more than just one scarf. :-)



While waiting in line, we were right in front of Kimberly who had scored some awesome Lorna's Laces in a gorgeous chocolate/cherry with a hint of grape. I was very tempted to try to snatch it from her basket, but I already had enough picked out already. Plus, she's already taken a picture of me (she liked the sweater) and had written my name down in her booklet. Figuring that she knew who I was, I couldn't quite steal her yarn.

When I get around to photographing the individual yarn that I bought, I'll post them. In case I don't (I know myself), I got some Cascade220 Heathers for a Cobblestone Pullover for Dave, some Rainbow for a Baby Surprise Jacket, some Valley Yarns Plymouth for two Puzzle Pillow blankets, and some cool variegated purple Jaeger Baby Merino to make a sweater for Erika (probably Mia). I might have also bought a second spindle.



Edited to add:

We were nervous about crossing the border with all of our yarn (and nuts), but when we got there, the customs agent asked us "Anything to declare?" to which Jenn replied "Nuts and yarn". I think he gave Jennifer a confused look (they want to declare Nuts and Yarn??)

CA -- "No ma'am, any alcohol, tobacco or firearms?"
J -- "None"
CA -- "Thank you" and he hands us our passports back and lets us through.

Spinning, spinning

A few weeks ago, on April 12th, I took a spinning class at the Ariadne shop in St. Henry. I have been wanting to learn to spin for a while, and finally got my chance to get my hands into it. I figured I should post about the class before the coming weekend, cuz I will surely have a new post next week after going to Webs (America's Yarn Store TM) to see the Harlot!

There were 10 of us in the class, so we were a bit crowded, but our teacher Leslie was lovely and helped us all get over the hurdles we had.

The pictures of the class were all taken by Mary of Ariadne, who graciously allowed me to steal them to post here. The photos of the actual yarn were done by me. Thanks Mary!

You can see my car parked outside, dutifully decorated with a Habs flag (go habs go!)



Here we all are learning to draft the tops.


There were some lovely treats and breakfast delights to be had.

Starting to spin.


Doing the Andean Plying so that I can ply the yarn into two-ply .



This is the first yarn that I made. I was quite proud of the results -- especially since I've never done any spinning in my life. It was a little lumpy, but I don't care.


I was so proud, in fact, that I called Jennifer (who was on her way home) and asked her to swing by just so that I could show it to her. Like a good friend, she did come by and politely said that the yarn looked beautiful - even though it was a bit slubby.



I did do what Leslie suggested and did more spinning the next night. I was supposed to do about 10-20 minutes a day, but wouldn't stop and spent the night spinning. I made yarn that was MUCH more even (above) and less tightly spun.


This second yarn is still a bit lumpy, but considerably better than the first. I currently have a third attempt on the spindle, and it's even better than number 2. I'm proud of the fact that I am at least improving each time. Now, I feel like I need to get a bit faster, and maybe try spinning with the spindle turning, instead of the park and spin method that Leslie taught us. Then, I'll have to move on to a wheel!!



Last but not least a picture of the two first yarns together. First attempt on the bottom and second on top. If you click for bigness, you can really see the difference in the two.

My 7 deadlies

Jennifer is having a contest. She is making me think. She is also making me blog. Grumble grumble...

Without further ado (since I have no new pictures) here are my 7 deadly sins of knitting:

Pride -- I was indeed proud of the sweater I made for my nephew Joey. It has a few flaws, but I am sure proud I finished that one.
Envy -- I'm envious of all the people out there who can have a knitting-related job so they're surrounded by fiber stuff all day long. I"m also envious of people who spin and dye their own knitting yarn. I've remedied the dyeing last month when I learned that process (though I want to do more) and will be learning to spin in April. Now to get my hands on a wheel....
Gluttony -- I [heart] knitting books. I have at least 80 books now, and the collection keeps on growing. I do knit from some of them, but not all. I have also had quite a few signed by the designer (I'm also a glutton for signatures)
Lust -- I have to admit for a lust (quite severe) for luxury fibers. I have cashmere, quiviut, buffalo in my stash, as well as lots of alpaca. I just love the softness of them. I just have to actually knit them up, not keep them in my stash.
Anger -- Not exactly anger, but sadness -- the alphabet blanket that I made for my nephew (which did get used quite a bit at first) was accidentally washed in the laundry. I had made it from Zara which is supposed to be superwash. It's not. I'm not sure what setting it was at, but it was accidentally washed with the whites, so it might have been on 'hot'. It's felted now.
Greed -- related to lust and gluttony above - I will happily buy new knitting books or luxury fiber just to have them around. When in Calgary last spring, I bought over $100 on alpaca to make a log cabin blanket. When I got home, I even ordered more -- but in a navy color -- just to have all of the colors I wanted. Have I started it yet?
Sloth -- This one is pretty obvious - blogging. I don't blog enough. I just don't get around to it. I do take pictures of my stuff, but not enough, and even when I do, I don't always post them. I'm lazy about blogging and not afraid to admit it!

Hope I win. $30 would buy me a nice skein of cashmere, I also don't have any camel in my stash yet. Or some Alpaca with a little sparkle might make a nice scarf.

It feels good to give

At the last guild meeting the topic was making hats. We all were asked to bring in yarn and some big needles, and we would be making chemo hats.

I had some leftover fleece artist mohair, and Jenn gave me some chunky white yarn from her stash. They knit up together to make this:



I finished the first hat during the meeting, mostly because I was able to knit the whole time. It took me about an hour and a bit to make. I sewed it up when I got home. Here's another view of the same hat.




It was so addictive, so I asked Jenn if I could use the leftover white to make a second hat. I had enough, and figured that I should have enough of the same mohair. I ran out of mohair just at the top, so the top is plain white. I don't think it looks so bad.




I was addicted. I was loving making these hats. I remembered that when I raided Jenn's stash, she also had some dark green of the same yarn, and I had some white mohair in my stash, so the next night, I whipped up this:




I had about enough to make 2/3 of a hat left, so I made a kids hat (it was Jenn's idea, actually), so I also made this hat. The pompom at the top was a big hit with Erika (the model).


To quote the herringbone mitten pattern - respect the Pom. I used up all of the leftover white yarn, and there was next to no green leftover. All in all, quite efficient, and I have 4 hats for chemo patients who need them much more than I do.





If anyone out there has hats they want to donate (of any style, shape, size, colors, yarn makeup) please don't hesitate to contact me, or any members of the guild, and I'll bring them in to our next meeting. Our goal is to have 200 hats done by next fall when they'll be sorely needed.

That darn sock -- or Darn that sock?

Last year, at about this time, I finished a pair of socks for a co-worker. She picked the yarn and the color (STR mediumweight -- "In the navy")

She had told me a few times that she loved the socks, but since she only wore them at home, I never got to see them on her feet, nor did I know if she really wore them all the time or was just making me feel good.

Well, the other day she showed up at work with this:


and asked if I could fix her precious socks. She tells me that as soon as they come out of the wash and are hanging to dry, she sometimes can't wait for them to be fully dry, and was sad to see this big hole in the ball of the foot.

We think she probably snagged it on something on her floor, didn't realize it and then plopped them into the wash - which then made the hole bigger.

Anyone know how to fix this? The newer looking yarn in the picture is my first attempt to do some sort of duplicate stitch, but that failed miserably.

I was tempted to just take any live stitches and sew them together, but that might make it have a big pressure point on the foot.

Any help? Anyone?

Silk Twister

A while ago (read 2007) , I wend to Effiloche with Jenn -- she had promised me to buy me a skein of yarn as a thank you for some photos I took for her.

I had always wanted to have some sari silk, so that's what I ended up getting. Jenn bought me one skein, and I bought a second (just in case...).




I wanted to make a corkscrew scarf with it, I just thought it would be very cool one skein project.



So, this is what I did. I cast on a bunch of stitches (100, I think), and then every other round or two, I did an increase on every stitch to double the rows. I ended up with about 500 or 550 stitches to cast off at the end. Also, some of the rows were garter stitch and some were stocking stitch so that it doesn't roll too much. I found the pattern online somewhere - if you want it, leave me a comment and I'll try to find the pattern and post it)



In the end, I decided to give this to my mother for Christmas, as I wasn't thrilled with the final result. I liked it enough, but not for me. For the next skein, I'll probably just do a simple shawl with big needles like the Handmaiden bias shawl.

I have also been busy doing some hand-dyeing. I made three gorgeous skeins which I'll be photographing soon. I actually have photos of the skeins, the cakes, but need to take pics of the swatches. What a difference it makes when knit up!! I can't wait to make all three pairs of socks.