WiP Wednesday: Bits and Pieces

It has been a crazy busy week at chez DPUTiger. And it's not going to get any better. I’ll get to the “other” stuff tomorrow, but here’s what we’ve got knitting-wise

First Koigu Kermit sock is done. Second is on the arch increases.

Progress!

Please pardon the harsh-morning-light-on-the-TV-room-floor photos. I knew if I didn't take them first thing this morning, it wasn't going to happen.

If you are familiar with the New Pathways socks and remember what I was saying a week ago, you will notice something.

I said it was a Master Ridgeline. But that would put the arch increases on the sole and this sock has arch increases on the top of the instep. Well, I turned the heel at a special Fifth Wednesday Hurricane Knitters gathering last Wednesday. At the Bloomin Yarns stitch & bitch the following day, I was knitting away on my sock while helping a knitter with starting a sleeve when it “clicked” in my brain.

I put the heel on the wrong half of the sock. There was swearing and throwing of knitting when I discovered this fact.

Now it’s an Upstream, not a Ridgeline.

One would think that this is a potentially fatal flaw in a sock. Not so much when you’re dealing with the genius that is Cat Bordhi. I guess this is proof positive that arch increases really can go anywhere!

My only other knitting news came from Dave-The-Chatty-Mailman (serioiusly. the whole neighborhood hides when they see this guy coming) in yesterday’s USPS delivery.

Yay! ... Return address labels removed to protect the innocent ;-)

Yarn to finish my Incredible Shrinking Barts. I’d say I’d tackle that at knit night tonight, but my brain is shot to hell, so this may be the right week to knit brainless. Hopefully I’ll even be able to screw up the second Kermit sock in the same manner?

So not all that much knitting but LOTS of quilting. I’d take pictures, but it’s all M&Ms quilts, so I can’t show you now. I’m hoping Lisa will be kind enough to take pictures of all eight quilts at the Big Reveal on December 8 so I can show you all of these quilts. They’re gonna be awesome.

I have photos of all of “my” rows on everyone’s quilts and am planning a bunch of posts after the big reveal.

But basically, a week ago today, I had three of the eight group quilts in my house. After a quick stop at the post office on my way to Hurricane Knitters, I’ll have just one. HOORAY!

So that’s about it around here. I’ve been trying to stay out of the Pit of Despair, but I think the ROUS’s just might get me this time around. Wish me luck!

Tuesday Report

First a last little bit of business from my trip.


RT is peering over a ledge, looking straight down from where I spent four full days sitting on a very hard wood bench.


My seat was on the far left in that window that’s closed. Why am I showing you this crap? Because my cell phone slipped off the ledge on Friday and fell the whole way down. BOOM!

Fortunately, all I had to do was replace my SIM card and battery and it was good as new. Small pockmark on the side, but yikes, that was scary!

In other news, here’s a pic or two of my first Cables & Corrugation sock. I’ll save the full photo shoot for when the pair is finished, but here’s the small cable mistake that I chose to ignore


After I made my second mis-cross, this time on the back of the sock, and decided to fix it, I eventually regretted that decision. Of course, it was (to me) a much more noticeable mistake which is why I decided to fix it.

It took three tries to get it fixed. And then? When I had all the stitches in the right place?


Ugh. I have huge gaping holes on the left side of the cable. I know there are multiple Hurricanes who have fixed a cable, so I’m hoping one of them will have a brilliant idea for how to fix this. I’m 99% sure it’s just a matter of moving yarn along the round so that it’s more evened out.

[I know, I know. I should have just sucked it up and ripped back, but I was trying to knit at softball and didn't want to cast on a new plain sock like I should have, so this is what happened. I also realize that I should have evened out the stitches as I re-looped them, but it's too late for that now, isn't it? Live and learn, I guess!]

If you live in the Greater Pittsburgh Area and feel like witnessing this transformation, please feel free to drop by. We’ll be at the Waterworks Barnes & Noble from 7-close on Wednesday night. Adios!

Three Cheers for HOME

I got home yesterday just in time for the Penguins game. YAY on both counts!

My cousin and her family came to the Championship game on Saturday. It was great to see them! No pictures, though. Camnesia and all that.

The trip home was uneventful, and I was back on the work “horse” today. Of course, I was too tired to get as much done as I needed to. Which means I should be asleep now instead of blogging.

I finished my first Cables & Corrugations sock on Saturday night, and got most of the toe done on Sunday. I’m now increasing and am most of the way to the heel. I’ll get pictures on Wednesday before I go to Hurricane Knitters.

Speaking of Hurricane Knitters, I’m going to need their help. I ripped down a mis-crossed cable on the back of the sock and there are serious holes on the “end” side. I should have tightened it up more as I went along ‘cause it’s going to be harder now. Yeesh. (pictures tomorrow, I hope)

I also got my Zen Yarn Garden shipment today. Yay! It’s a pretty green. Not sure when my STR for May will show up but I’ll be quite well stocked for my trip to Oklahoma City next week. And dammit … I’m taking a plan vanilla sock! No more pattern screwups while knitting and watching softball.

I’m going to try to take pictures tomorrow. I hope!

WiP Wednesday: Snails Edition

Why snails? Because these projects have been moving slower than snails.

Yeah, the sick had something to do with that, but still.


First, the side-to-side vest. I seamed the shoulders just hours before The Sick and haven’t touched it since. It needs to have the shoulders picked up and knit, as well as the neckband. And yeah, it’s going to need a good blocking when it’s done.

I didn't take time to straighten it out right for it's photo shoot. I got distracted by the cute puppy next door and therefore was running late to get out of the house and on the road.

Oh, and I found good buttons at Bloomin’ Just forgot to photograph them.

In other news …


Here is my Cables & Corrugation sock. It’s still smarter than me. Damnit. I’m faking the slipped stitches on the heel. I can’t figure out how they got “off” but I’m not going to worry about it. It’s not worth it.

Oh, and I was supposed to rotate the toe 90 degrees, but I didn't read that part of the instructions. Oops.

I attended the Fifth Wednesday festivities tonight because my softball dinner got cancelled. No worries. I’ll see everyone tomorrow at the game.

So that’s about it from here. I cant’ believe how crazy busy I’ve gotten all of a sudden. I’ll be running around with the softball groups all day tomorrow, then BAM it’s Friday and I need to get my act together for MDS&W. Can’t believe it’s almost here!

Stuck

I showed you my Brooks Farm Riata vest yesterday.

That photo was taken pre-Hurricane Knitters. By the time I was done with the Hurricanes and came home and knit for a relatively short period of time … I’m now through two of the nine rows of button band, at which point all I have left is finishing work.

Hence, the problem.

I should have thought of this last Saturday when I was at Bloomin’ Yarns. I need buttons for this thing!

Speak up, Burghers! Where do YOU go when you need great buttons?

I can field trip on Friday. I do plan to check at Bloomin’ then possibly go down to Canonsburg and check out the Knit Shoppe and will probably swing by the J-store as well.

This problem needs to be solved pretty quickly. I don’t want to lose momentum on this project and the last thing on earth I need is another UFO!

In other news, I’m swatching this yarn


So I can knit the last architecture in New Pathways. WOOT!

Mom, Suzie and I checked out the Three Rivers Quilters quilt show today. I didn't take many pictures and none were particularly blogworthy. I must admit that I became quite spoiled going to Road to California and Glendale annually for the last seven years.

The good news is that we found multiple good shops that are between here and the Lake, mostly right off of I-79. I got two charm packs of 6” batik squares and a very reasonably priced kit for a cute Safari quilt.

Since the show was basically at South Side Works, we visited REI while we were in the neighborhood. I got a pair of fuzzy Merrells at a very good sale price, and I was weak and picked up another pair of the most comfortable sandals I have ever put on my feet (today, I got the Oak Tree Blue colorway. Already own Shirley Wedgewood).

It was a beautiful day and I didn’t go for a walk. Shame on me. Perhaps I’ll either do that tomorrow or Ill take a walk PLUS mow the lawn/leaf wrangle.

I love our trees, but damn, those leaves really kicked my ass this year.

Start talking buttons (please)!

Things I Know

• Staying up until 3 am is much more fun if you are knitting/quilting/reading a good book/hanging out with friends than it is if you are working.

• Working until 3 am is OK if you can do it in your sweats/PJs and it buys 24-36 hours of guilt-free field trip with mom and aunt.

• Barnes & Noble sucks. First the one at South Hills Village was mean enough to my closest-to-home knit group that they moved to the nearby Borders. Now, the host B&N for Hurricane Knitters has decided to close (along with almost all the other 'Burgh B&N locations) at 9 pm instead of 10. They made this change on Sunday and only had teenytiny signs announcing the fact. We were all surprised when they announced at 8:55 pm that they were closing in five minutes [side note: the collective "WHAT?!?!?!" from our string of tables was probably pretty amusing]

• Giant Eagle didn't like that five of us sat in the cafe to talk and knit for an hour or so until our normal departure time. They sent a scary-looking employee to watch us until we left.

• I am probably going to be not-quite-ready when mom and aunt show up unless I wrap this up NOW.

• I am picking up my pineapple quilt today from the machine quilter. Yay!

• I had several other good ideas for this bullet-point list, but it was 3 am and sleep was a higher priority. Sorry!

Brrrrrrrr!

It’s freakin’ cold outside. At 2 pm, it’s 20 degrees with very few clouds, fresh snow and it’s just … COLD. The year I lived in Minnesota, we had a week where the high temperature for the week was -10 before windchill. It’s not that cold, but after eight years in SoCal? BRRR!!!

So I sent Joe outside in his jacket to model a finished object!

It started out as this


That’s the yarn with the parka I’m hoping will wear it with. Pretty damn close match, huh?

I started it on Christmas and finished knitting and blocking it on New Years Day.


I fringed it last night at Hurricane Knitters. Since I didn’t have anything on the needles. At all. Really. (that is no longer true, btw)


Pattern: Year 1-2 House Scarf from Charmed Knits
Yarn: Cascade 220. Two skeins each in 9487 (Puget Sound/blue/from Natural Stitches) and 8412 (Pear/gold/from Bloomin Yarns)
Needles: US 8 16” KA circs. Still lovin’ these needles, even though they got put away weird at some point and the cable needs to be steamed back into shape
Started: 25 Dec 2007
Finished: 1 Jan 2008
Mods: I finally got smart and did two things with this scarf (my third of this ilk): 1. I wove in all of the ends as I knitted. 2. The stockingette edge was curling on itself as I started and I decided to encourage this behavior, as seen in last week’s WiP Wednesday post. Made it much easier to wrangle, although once I got to the halfway point, I could roll it no farther. It still was easier to twist/untwist the thing this way.
Destination: It's a birthday gift (Jan 2 b-day) for the head coach I worked with last year at UCLA. My goal in life is to make it to the post office tomorrow to get it on its way to LA.

I have two more FOs ready to post. One has had its photo shoot, the other has not. I'll be back!

Applesauce vs. Sour Cream

I was listening to all the holiday music on my iPod while doing the Craft Central thing today. Almost exactly two years ago, the Hubster and I went to a Barenaked Ladies holiday concert where the opening act was the LeeVees. Best. Opening. Act. EVER.

They play Hanukkah songs. Yes, I said Hanukkah songs. And they’re AWESOME. As a Goyim Friend (if you don't know what a Goyim is, YOU ARE ONE!), I can’t get enough of their CD “Hanukkah Rocks.” It’s hysterical. Highly recommend. Hit that link and listen. Or go to iTunes and take a listen. You'll enjoy it. No matter which "Tribe" you're from.

Oh, and one of their songs is “Applesauce vs. Sour Cream,” which I’ve had stuck in my head ☺

Anyhoo, like I said yesterday, a good chunk of the day was spent in the basement on a little crafty project. It’s actually one out of Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. I originally became aware of this book when Javajem mentioned it on her blog on Sunday (Geez, it took me a long time to figure out which of the blogs I read mentioned it. I was sure it was a quilting blog. I guess not!)

While doing some Christmas shopping at Borders the other night, I found the book on their shelf and perused it. I found a pattern for these really cool “patchwork” notebooks in the 1-2 hour projects section. Here’s what I wound up with!


That’s why I had the scraps out yesterday. And was playing in the thread (it's almost all from Superior Threads. Can't say enough good things about their stuff. It's all fantastic. I used two different colors from their Rainbows line for this project with my favorite Metrolene in the bobbin) Here’s some of the other stuff I used today


I show this photo primarily because I planned poorly and would NOT have been able to finish the project without my appliqué pressing sheet, and my super awesome flat iron, which is by far the best gift I’ve ever gotten from the in-laws (it was specifically requested several years ago, and it rocks for appliqué projects). I also had a whack of Wonder Under lying around and that came in handy too.

I used the 3.5"x5.5" Molskine Plain Cahier notebooks, which is a fewer-pages soft-cover version of what I carry all the time. I hope the recipients like it!

There are several other projects in this Last Minute Gifts book that I liked and eventually want to make, so I’d have to say it’s a pretty good buy.

Hurricane Knitters was fun, although we were all very sad that our friend 40Guy did not appear this evening. The White Elephant swap was a success. I’ll have photos of my score later on. Now? Bedtime!

PS-- I have a potentially big work-related phone call tomorrow (Thursday) morning. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

Greetings from the Natural State

Well, we successfully negotiated a stupid-early flight (left the house at 5:30 am for a 7:30 am flight), lunch with all the Hubster’s family plus the bride-to-be and her mother, then back to the hotel to check in and take a much-needed nap.

You see, the Hubster is a BIG Cubs fan. Their first pitch was at 10 pm ET on Wednesday night, and they didn’t finish until almost 1 am ET, which wound up being bedtime. Combine that with a 4:45 am wake-up? Yeah. I needed that nap.

Post-nap, we went out to the Hubster’s brother’s house for a little BBQ action. Hung out there for a while, then came back to the hotel while I crashed and the Hubster watched the Cubs … lose … again. Now he’s picking up his penguin suit then we’ll visit Arkansas’ most famous double-wide and hit the yarn shop I wanted to check out. No clue what other plans we have between now and set-up for the actual ceremony tomorrow. I’m wingin’ it.

So, what in the world could have brought the Channel 11 News truck out to the Waterworks Barnes & Noble on Wednesday night?



Well, Jen suggested that it might have been the rockslide on Rt. 28 earlier that day, but my vote is that they wanted to cover the Hurricane Knitters! Sadly, they never made it inside.

We had a good time as always, Calvin was AWOL, and I almost got the heel turned on Bart II.


This sticker is in honor of Jenn and her friend (Dawn? I can’t remember. GAAA!), who joined us at Hurricane Knitters. Booger Hollow came up in conversation (yes, really!) and this sticker was on my brother-in-law’s beer fridge at his house last night. I just had to take a picture!