Twelve Days Left

How can Christmas be that close?  It doesn't seem possible.

Here are my lovely children!

We had a great time in Florida.  The Nutcracker was fun, the little children were adorable, Smallest danced beautifully, there were some challenges with some of the dancers, but overall it was lovely.  I'm so glad we went, and Catherine sure seemed to have a fun time with the kiddos.  They all goofed around on Sunday while we drove to Orlando to see Lauren.  We got to go on a Lauren-guided tour of one of the Disney parks and had a great time.  The rides were fun, and it was just nice to see her.  The Star Wars area was really something.  Very cool.  She'll finish up after Christmas, so we'll see her when she's done with her program there.

Since Middle was on the trip, I didn't work on their hat.  I did start the hat for their person and that is going pretty well.  The swatch got better as I went and the hat is too.  I am remembering why I don't like knitting with dark yarn, but it's just a couple of hats and then I'll be done.  At least the needles are a different color.  Here are the hats so far.  I'm about 1/3 of the way through the patterned part of Middle's hat, and then just a couple of inches into the other, so a ways to go.  That one I can finish after Christmas though, as it will go back to Chicago with Middle.

I did work on the sock some, I'm through the gusset decreases, but I didn't take it on the trip because three projects seemed like overkill.  It was tempting though.

I need to find John's bug.  I think I know where it is.  I also think I need to buy some gold braid to finish it up.  We shall see...

I think that's it.  Hopefully at least one hat will be complete by next week!

Margie

All The Hats!

Great news!  I put the hat on Javi's head while he and Sarah were here and it fits nicely.  I might undo the decreases and make it just an inch bigger?  There wasn't quite enough brim for my liking.  Similarly, I'm about to the point of decreasing on Sarah's hat, so I will make hers a little longer as well.  Here's where her hat is:

I am also making hats for Middle and their person, so yarn and patterns were finally selected and I'm swatching.  Middle chose this cool hat - Divide Hat - and their person would like this very functional one - Ribbed Beanie - which I think will be nice to make as well.  Middle wants green for the brim of their hat, and then since there was no black yarn in the same brand/weight, we selected this nice brownish color to go with.  Person would like a black hat. (yarns below)

I'm a little worried about the black yarn, it's not as squishy/stretchy as I'm used to.  It has some alpaca or silk in it?  I think alpaca?  Perhaps that's why it's less stretchy?  I'll swatch it and see what I think.  There is time for more yarn.

While Sarah and Javi were with us, I needed something to work on other than their hats, and since the yarn for the other hats hadn't arrived, I pulled out some yarn I got a year or two (or three?) ago to make matching socks for Middle and Smallest.  That has progressed nicely, I'm about to turn the heel on the first sock.  Hopefully I can finish up the hats quickly and get to work on finishing the socks!  It would be nice to get more of the yarn sitting around worked up and shared!

Next week we're going to see Smallest perform in the Nutcracker - her first time to be in one!  We'll also see Jeff's other daughter, Lauren.  They're about three hours apart, so it's a little tricky, but I think we can make it work.  Catherine is coming too!

Catherine and I have started exercising together over the computer as a way to make me exercise between trainer sessions.  Plus, my trainer is taking the month of December off, so I _really_ need someone to keep me on track.   Catherine also reminded me that I need to finish the bug for our brother.  It's just the border now, so I need to get that done.  I think I ran out of the gold floss?

That's about it, I think.  I'm looking forward to post-Xmas knitting!  I have at least two cowls to make, one with the yarn I got in Florida recently, and one that Jeff bought the yarn for in New Orleans.  I don't know what he picked, so that will be very fun!  I'm having some surgery in January which will leave me convalescing at home for 3-6 weeks, so I'm thinking that's some prime knit and watch bad movies time.  Should be good!  And reading too!  So many choices...

Margie

Can you mail a hug?

 I'm back from visiting Smallest in Florida.  One of the things she said was that she misses hugs, and she hadn't had a hug since her dad had visited back in October.  Her friend group at school was very huggy, and we had lots of hugs at home, so I can definitely see how she is missing that.  Lots of hugs during my visit!

On Friday night, she picked me up from the airport (worries about rehearsal conflicts were resolved by my flight being delayed) and took me to my hotel.  She had picked up dinner before getting me at the airport, so we had dinner and visited for a bit.  I didn't realize that I had booked the same hotel as before, when I dropped Smallest off, so that was amusing.  We made a plan for Saturday so that I could grab her car to go to a yarn shop, and then she headed back so that she could get up bright and early for class and rehearsal.

At lunchtime, Smallest picked me up and we headed over to dance where I dropped her off and then headed to A Good Yarn.  Such a cute shop!  They were having a birthday event, so they had a trunk show by DellaQ, and had new yarn bases from La Bien Amiée, and some new colors on the old bases.  They also had a nice display of local/Florida yarn companies, so I picked up a couple of things.  Some FL sock yarn for more Smallest socks, some Regia sock yarn as a stocking stuffer for Middle (who is close to completing their first pair of socks!), and some beautiful green yarn for a cowl for me.  Something to do once Xmas knitting is done!  Although I think I'm going to get some kits for Xmas too!

Anyhow, I picked Smallest and her roommate up from dance.  I got there early and ended up saying hi to the costume director, who I had met at drop off.  She gave me a tour of their Nutcracker costumes, which was fun!  Smallest was amused that I was in there when they got out of class.

Then, it was time for the big event!  Meeting Cannoli the kitten!  She is super cute and I think she liked me.  We played a lot.  She loves her new sock, and it was very timely, as she's hidden her first one.  After kitten play time, Smallest and I ran some errands and then went to get TexMex for dinner.  After dinner, we went to get ice cream because she wasn't done talking about stuff yet.  We were lucky to have stayed longer at dinner because there was a mob of people at the shopping area where the ice cream shop was.  Turns out there was a parade earlier, so I am very glad we missed out on that.  I'm sure the parade was fun, but it was a LOT of families with little kids.

Smallest stayed with me at the hotel on Saturday night so that we could get up and going in the morning more easily, and so that she could sleep in a big bed.  We had breakfast at a place we found before, and that was tasty.  Then we went to the Ringling Museum, which was very fun.  We didn't actually go see any art, but the grounds were nice, and his house was cool.  After that, it was time to pick up one of her roommates and go to the grocery.  Lunch and more errands after putting away groceries, and then we headed back to the hotel.  We watched a movie and got a tasty pizza for dinner.  When it was getting late, Smallest headed back to get ready for Monday.  In the morning, I Ubered over to the apartment when I had to check out and did some work while entertaining Cannoli.  Very fun.  Smallest came back earlier than expected, and due to changes in her schedule I had her drop me off at the airport early.  The trip back was uneventful and then I was home.  It would have been nice to stay longer, but Smallest has very little free time in her schedule!

I was working on the hat for Javi while I was there, and discovered that I was not smart enough to anticipate the need for DPNs when I worked the crown of the hat.  Alas.  I did bring other projects, so all was not lost.  

I finished the hat last night but it was right before we went to bed, so I waited until this morning to give it a bath.  I used warmer water than I usually do, in hopes of relaxing it a bit more.  Prior to blocking, it was the perfect sized hat for me, and we're going for a larger hat than that.  It does seem more relaxed after the bath, so fingers crossed it will be bigger.  Here's the post-bath hat.

I think until I can put the hat on Javi's head, I'll work on the Lantana top again (the summer top mentioned a couple of posts ago).  I have an unfinished prayer shawl that I found in Jeff's mom's stuff that should be finished, but I dislike the yarn tremendously, so it's hard to get motivated to do it.  It would be awfully good to get it out of the house though!

This will be our first Thanksgiving in many years that we'll be by ourselves.  We thought about going to Colorado to see family, since we could, but since we're expecting Sarah and Javi, we're staying home.  It will be odd.  We'll be missing three of the kids also, more than half!  I will share the hat update sometime next week.

Margie

Off to Florida!

I am heading off to see Smallest today in Florida.  It will be so nice to give her a big hug!  It feels like it's been forever since I've seen her.  We talk on the phone often, which has been nice, and we write letters too.

Her roommate has a cat, and earlier I mentioned making a small sock for the cat.  Well, I made another sock for the cat, and Smallest says this is a good thing because Cannoli has lost her first sock!  Oh no!  The first sock was just plain, but this one I made with a pattern that I used to make socks for Middle and Smallest.  She is excited to have a new sock for the cat.

The other thing I have to share today is the green shawl that I made a couple of months ago.  This is the Almina shawl that I made last winter.  I really like the pattern, and would definitely make it again, maybe even bigger than this one.  It's very cosy.

Not much other than that.  A weekend in Florida while it gets cold in Houston.  The Astros won their second World Series, always a nice thing!  I'm making progress on the hats for Sarah and Javi.  I've almost finished the first hat, which is supposed to be the bigger hat.  It seems not that big, so after I finish I'll give it a bath and see if it does get bigger.  If not, then this will be the hat for Sarah and I'll make an even bigger one for Javi.  Sarah says he has a big head.  They'll be here at Thanksgiving, so I can measure his head or having him try on the hat if needed.

I am at the airport and two ladies next to me are discussing places they've worked/lived that were haunted.  Highly entertaining!

I'm hoping to pick up some souvenir yarn while I'm away, so if I do, I'll share a picture of that next week.

Margie

Swatching is good

 So... I have finished the socks for Smallest for Christmas and I'm on to the hats for Sarah and her husband.  These are intended to be like a favorite North Face hat, so I'm being careful about gauge.  I want the hats to be warm enough for the cold, windy NYC evenings.

The pattern calls for size 6 needles (US size), so I went down two sizes like I usually do.  Here's the swatch with size 4 needles before and after blocking (letting it soak for 30ish minutes, and then squeezing it out and plopping on the counter).  I'm supposed to get 28-30 stitches to 10 cm.

This is before blocking.  It looks like 9 cm for 29 stitches.

This is after blocking.  The swatch looks nice, but it's now 12 cm for 29 stitches.  No bueno.

After determining that the size 4 needles weren't going to do the trick, I dropped down to size 3.  My problem is that in addition to being a loose knitter, this is ribbed knitting (k1p1) so for some reason that makes the problem worse for me.  This has happened before with a cowl I made for Middle a year or two ago.  Anyhow, here's the size 3 swatch:

Before blocking, looking promising at 9 cm (again)

Here's the post-blocking, coming in at just over 11 cm.

When it's left to its own devices, it is a little smaller.  That's 9 cm for 28 stitches.

So, I think I'll measure the swatch again when I get home today and see if it's still hanging out at the 9 cm for 28 stitches.  It is also likely that as I knit the hat in the round, my knitting will loosen up a little more.  The fabric is nice and dense, so that's great.  Hats should be warm!  I like knitting a deep brim, so that will be good for keeping ears warm too.  

That's all the excitement I know for now.  Hopefully next week I'll have a fair bit of the first hat completed.  I haven't heard from Middle what the plan is for hats for them, so I'll need to check in about that too.  So many hats!

Margie

Mittenpalooza

As promised, I present to you the finished socks, originally started as a test knit, but paused because you can't see the cute pattern.  

   

    

Ta-da!  Socks!

After those were done, I made some mittens for Middle, because Chicago is cold forever.  These were made holding two yarns together, the bright green and maybe a zauberball?  I'll have to see if I can remember what I did.  At any rate, they're nice and squishy and warm and dense.  Warm hands for the win!  The yarn is the Seersucker mitten pattern.  It's super easy and the mittens are great.

I knit these mittens at the finals for a ballet competition (ADC/IBC) for which Smallest qualified for back in January.  This was in late March.  At the competition, Smallest auditioned for ballet companies and was offered some trainee positions.  After MUCH debate, she deferred her college acceptance for a year and took an offer from Sarasota Ballet.  She is very, very happy with her decision, and we are hoping that they love her as much as she loves them, and will offer her a second year in the spring.

This is the hat and mittens that I made for Smallest.  We bought the yarn in New York (Knitty City?) when we were there for a college audition in January or February?  I knit the hat first, I think.  I suspect it's also the Bankhead pattern - so simple and easy! - and then I got more yarn to make the mittens.  

Too much is never enough!  We went to visit Jeff's older daughter in NYC over President's Weekend in February and it was still cold, so I asked her if she would like mittens?  Of course she would!  We went to another NYC yarn shop and Sarah picked out this beautiful smoky purple colored yarn (Malabrigo, I think?).  I ended up getting a second skein so I could hold it double to knit the mittens.  They are still nice and toasty, so success!

This is our remaining cat, Ginny McSqueakins, sleeping on the shawl I recently finished.  It was still in progress here, but she loves wool anything and needed to have a snuggle on it when I had to get up.

Here's the finished shawl, I took a nicer picture of it in my office last week.  I like the colors a lot.

Smallest has asked for more socks for Christmas, so here is a Daisy sock prior to finishing the toe.  I've adopted the Finchley graft to close up the toes and love it so much!  It's easy to remember and easy to execute.  This is the same yarn that I used to knit the sample sock shown at the top of the page.  It showed the stitches nicely, but I wanted it to be something else.  I'm not crazy about this pattern with the yarn, but Smallest approves, and the socks are for her, so there we go.

Oh! I also made a small sock for the cat that belongs to Smallest's roommate.  Apparently the kitten really likes her knit socks.  I would rather the cat, Cannoli, not play with the socks, so I made one just for the her!  She likes it, so I'll make another.  It was super fast.  Here she is playing with the sock.

So now I'm working on Sock #2, and then it will be hat time for Sarah and her husband.  Middle would also like hats for themselves and their boyfriend, but we haven't selected patterns or yarn yet.

Thinking about Halloween and holidays.  I'll be visiting Smallest in just a couple of weeks, and then there are holidays, another Florida visit to see Smallest and Lauren, and holidays, and seeing kids.  It should be nice and busy!

Margie

 

Worst post-er ever!

 How can it be that the last post was in January?!  I thought for sure I'd posted since then.

Alas.

Okay, so projects mentioned in the January post.  I don't have a picture of the socks for Middle.  I don't even know which socks they were! (looking back, I see they were the tiger striped socks, no finished pictures of those)

Lauren's hat

The Hue Blanket!

Awakening of Flora

Skirt

Bodice

On the dancer!

I did finish the Almina shawl, but I didn't take any pictures, so I'll get one of that.  I do have a picture of the socks mentioned.  They were from a test knit.  I didn't think they would show the pattern well, so I paused to knit the test sock in another color which worked better.  I have since finished the pair and they are nice!  I need to see if I have a sweater picture from Smallest's sweater as well.

In the past nine months, Jeff's mother has passed away, and our grey fluffy cat, Gandalf, died as well.  Smallest has left for a ballet trainee-ship and is having a wonderful time.  Middle is still in Chicago, and The Boy has moved back home.  He's in a program that trains kids to design video games.  The initial evaluation period was not awesome, but he made it through to the regular classes and seems quite excited (for him) so that seems to be going well.  

My shoulder is all better, and I'm working with a trainer once a week to do things with weights to help my body.  I work out 2ish times a week on my own and that's good for me.  I've been diagnosed with anemia, which has been around for at least a couple of years now, but I've finally found an iron pill that works better with my stomach than others, so hopefully in a couple of months I'll be doing better.  

I've finished another shawl and some happy yellow socks.  There was also a lot of hat/mitten knitting this spring.  I'll post those soon.  Right now I'm working on a summer top for me, and starting Xmas knitting.  I have hat and sock requests so far.  Always good to have projects.

Catherine and Darren went camping in Big Bend National Park in Texas last week.  I haven't checked in to see if it was fun, but I suspect it was.

Which hat? That hat?

Well, Christmas has passed.  I didn't finish the sweater for Smallest, but I did have to undo it and start over because I wasn't following the directions.  Sigh.

I still need to sew up the toes of the socks for Middle.  They go back to Chicago on Sunday, so time is short.  Today is Wednesday.  Oh! I do have a sock picture to share.  I knit these back in... 2014? They're matching socks for Middle and Smallest - toes and heel yarn are swapped with the main yarn between the socks.

Over the holiday, Lauren asked for a hat with a larger brim than her current hat.  I thought that I had made her a Bankhead hat, but alas, I was just looking back through the blog to remember what the yarn was and I made her a Turn A Square hat!  I have completed about six inches of 1x1 ribbing at this point, so I think I'm just going to stick with the Bankhead.  Hopefully I'll have enough yarn.

I bought some nice tweedy olive yarn to make an Almina shawl, so I think that will come next after the sweater, hat, and socks are finally finished.  I did also discover a 3/4 finished sock while looking for something else, so I have that to finish too.  

I've started on the last row of the Hue blanket, so that's exciting.  Hopefully I can finish it this year.  Goals!

I'm making a new ballet costume for Smallest also.  This year it's the Awakening of Flora, so it's a romantic (long & droopy) tutu with an overskirt and a bodice.  Much less challenging than last year, and I'm behind on getting it done.  She needs it for the 23rd of the month.  I've got the mock-up of the bodice done, and made the skirt (and screwed it up) so we'll see if I can get my act together.

Happy New Year!

Margie