The Thrifty Knitter

Today was a really fun (and super sugary–yum!) Spinster’s Club. I took a bunch of pictures without realizing I had no memory card in my camera. Exactly how many times do I need to do that before I learn my lesson? About a dozen and counting, apparently.

Charlene told me about a beekeeping seminar at Flint Hills Technical school & I’m thinking about singing up. Getting stung by a wasp last summer (my first sting ever) with no unusual effects cured–well, not cured, exactly, but softened–my fear irrational of bees and wasps.

The sad news is that Buffy the chicken keeled over today. She was fine this morning–that is to say, she bustled right out with everyone else (they tend to linger behind when they’re under the weather), so I really don’t know what could have happened. I did feel something in her throat, but I don’t know whether it’s normal chicken anatomy or a foreign object. I’ll check out the other girls tomorrow. But probably, her number was just up. She looked perfectly fine, felt perfectly fine. I’m thinking about popping her in the freezer for a few days to be on the safe side, just in case anyone else keels over and I need to get a necropsy.

Here she is a couple weeks ago and as a one-day-old chick. She was a very good chicken, brave and independent and curious. I never saw her pick on anyone, even though she was the second biggest. She didn’t get out all the time and run around like pain in the ass, and when she did get out, she was easy to scoop up. She layed lots of eggs, sometimes those freaky crumpled ones (maybe she had an internal defect that caused the weirdy eggs & that’s what did her in? who knows? I’m no chicken coroner). I’ll miss her no-nonsense attitude and skeptical gaze. Rest in peace, Buffy!

I spent last week in Austin & had a marvelous time. Gauge patrons made some great progress on the building sweater, then the Arts & Drafts knitters made it even longer, and now it’s at The Knitting Nest until the Ravelry Valentine’s Day Meet-up, so if you’re an Austin knitter, please head down there and add some inches!

I totally did a sin and bought a ton of yarn and fiber on my trip. I was very naughty indeed. When the sun’s back up, I’ll get out my camera and confess. Ooooh, the pretties! Besides Gauge & The Knitting Nest, I also went a little crazy at Yarnorama in Paige. That’s another occasion where I took a ton of pictures–including her adorable bunnies–with  no memory card. I’m a genius.

I also got to see Sue & Jay and Rebecca & Curt & Rachel and my folks nd hammer Suzanne at Scrabble, and eat lots of really delectable food (dim sum at the place over Musishino; Mexican at Guerro’s; Korea House; Late night French bistro at… Josephine? am I getting that right? and banh bao and pork sandwiches on some place on North Lamar and bun at Kim Phung!) and see Youth in Revolt at the Drafthouse and watch a True Blood Season 2 marathon with Rebecca and score some gorgeous if battered midcentury chairs at Top Drawer. I had to stay an extra day because of the snow storms in Oklahoma and Wichita preventing my drive home, but I still wound up in a ditch for a couple of hours, thanks to some ice under an overpass. Here I am getting winched out:

Oh! And I also finally finished Suzanne’s camisole, which has been waiting on just its straps for almost 3 years, and I finished the body and about half a sleeve of my Silk Garden Lite raglan.

Oh! And I can’t believe I forgot to post these before I left! Make any size long johns from old wool sweaters. Adult, toddler & baby ones are shown (the toddler & baby are really more little kid and toddler–they have a couple years of growing room built in; the adult ones are modeled by a women who’s a good dealer taller than me). Thanks to Sherri, Kyplee & Kailynn for modeling! My how-to on Craftzine.

Thanks to GAUGE for hosting the Harveyville Project Building Scarf this week! This scarf is being knit to wrap around the entire HRHS building for an alt/indie needlework art show in 2012. This baby was hibernating for most of last year, but she’s back out & if you live in Austin, I’d love your help knitting her. I expect I’ll only be able to tote it around until it’s about 150 feet & the remaining several hundred will need to be knit on site. So the more progress we can make now, the better!

There’s a big bin of yarn on hand, or you’re welcome to bring your own (either bulky or strands combined to = bulky–4 strands sock, 3 strands dk/light worsted, or 2 strands heavy worsted). It’s a great way to get rid of any hated yarn that’s crapping up your stash but that you fill guilty about tossing.

The scarf will be at GAUGE thru Thursday & Thursday night I’m bringing it to Arts & Darts at Rio Rita.

Two can knit at once, so bring a friend!

New Art Club fiber this week at artclub.etsy.com!

Okay, this whole not-casting-on-anything-new-until-I’ve-finished-or-frogged-everything-on-the-needles business is KILLING ME!

It’s madding how enticing everything else looks when you’ve got a big fat pile of WIPs taunting you. Worse yet is reknitting the same section of the stupid project because you can’t get the fit right. Right now, I’m working on another sweater for Ron, this one cast on back in February of last year. I’ve had to frog the sleeve twice because something’s wonky with the armpit.  I always battle with his arms a little because his chest and shoulders are really broad, and he likes a trim, fitted sleeve, which upsets the raglan math. Usually I pop in a steep pit gusset to quickly reduce the excess pit stitches and that does the trick. But in this case, I think the stubborn pucker is happening because the little stripe of handspun is a slightly thicker yarn, so there’s simply no fixing it. Of course, I didn’t strike on that genius until I’d frogged it twice. So that’s that. And the pucker’s not horrific or anything–probably not even noticeable if you’re not looking for it. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it will become more subtle when the thing’s blocked. I can’t remember how the Peruvian Highland blooms.

According to ravelry, I still have 8 WIP and another 13 hibernating projects that require finishing or frogging before I get to start anything new. Hopefully, there aren’t any other limbo items I’ve neglected to catalog, because 21 projects is PLENTY. Anyway, to torture myself, here’s my little list of things I desperately want to knit right this second:

1. Sideways short row DROPS sweater, in some Noro Silk Garden Lite
2. Ganomey Hat
3. Colorwork mittens with a chart I designed months ago
4. Secret project sweater or socks or both
5. Some kind of fair isle vest, maybe with a variation of the mitten chart
6. A long cozy hoodie jacket thingy, maybe something shaped like my Target coat
7. My Linen Times Two skirt in wool
8. Some kind of dress
9. Nether garments
10. A pigtail hat
11. Mitered Mittens

Hm. That’s not so bad. Naming the objects of my desire somehow makes them less urgent. Fancy that!

Well, I’ve finalized my 2010 Überlist! I’ve got a lot of crafty items on it.

One is:

#36. One substantial knitting project per month–must use Rhinebeck haul EOM

This month, my “one substantial project” is actually another item on the list:

#37. Hunt down and frog or finish all WIP before casting on anything new

So for January, I’m finishing or frogging what’s on the needles! Because one of those WIPs uses Rhinebeck yarn, I also get to count it as a Rhinebeck month. I have so many WIP, this may stretch into February, but I hope not, because I really want to knit a Ganomey hat. I think it will be the perfect sleeping cap.

And I’ve already finished my first 2 WIPs for the year, Drusilla (on the down-low for now, but I can mention that it’s for Vampire Knits, out this fall from Potter Craft) and Ron’s Hurryup sweater, which I finished and blocked last night. Ta da!

Ron’s Hurryup

Pattern: Hurryup November Sweater from The Knitter’s Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann. You can also find it on google books. You can’t print it, but if you’re already knitting in front of your computer, it’s no bother. I actually own the book, but I can never find anything I own, so I used the online pattern.

Yarn: Lion Brand Kool Wool (50/50 wool/acrylic), 11 – 12 balls + a bit of Knit Picks Decadance (100% alpaca) for hem interiors. It’s a nice lightweight, soft bulky, but the balls are a little small, so that was a LOT of non-spit-spliced ends to deal with. Honestly, the main reason I usually use 100% wool is so I can spit splice. But it was the right weight & color and kept me in my stash.

Changes from the pattern: I can’t ever get the fit right on bottom-up sweaters, so I had to unravel and frog the last several inches of the hem. Initially, I cast on the sleeve stitches instead of knitting the sleeves bottom up, because I realized I’d have the same problem gauging the length. But you could see a line along the picked-up edge, so I went back and unravelled the cast on edges so I was working with the first row of the yoke, and worked the sleeves down as well. Ron has a broad chest for his size, so for the chest to be right, the arm math was off. I rapidly decreased in the pits to make a gusset of all the armpit stitches, then decreased on the 8th, 7th, 6th, and 5th rows, then knit straight to the hem. I cast off all edges, then picked up  a hem lining out of Knit Picks Decadance, which is nice around the throat and provides a pretty contrastif you happen to see the hems. I knit 5-10 rows, depending on hem, and then loosely tacked down live stitches to the purl bumps.

Will I make it again? Yes, definitely. It’s a quick knit and a simple, striking look.

What will I do differently? I’ll CO the total yoke and arm stitches with a provisional cast on, work from the shoulders up for the wishbone shaping, then work the body and arms down for an accurate length.

What’s still on the needles? Look to the right! I’ve got my WIPs in my sidebar now!

If you’re in Kansas or western Missouri, head out to Wamego tomorrow for Winter Woolfest, organized by the amazing Jennifer Schermerhorn of The Wicked Stitch Yarn & Fiber.

It was great fun last year. It’s free, with tons of free classes. I myself will be teaching thrums and knitting wire, and I’ll also have a booth for Art Club selling fibery goodness.

In knitting news, Drusilla’s finished an dall but out the door. I lost one component & with this utterly ridiculous weather, I haven’t been able to replace it. I don’t think I can show the full thing, but here’s a little detail peek:

I’m well pleased with the result. I’ll post info on the book when I know more.

I’m also one slipper into a pair of Bunny Hops for Ron. They were a Christmas present, but I only had one slipper and half of two sweaters done when Christmas actually rolled around.

Hurryup, knit out of order because I never get the length of anything right bottom-up. I think my idea mod for bottom-up sweaters is to start at the pits with a provisional cast-on, work the yoke as directed, then work down. Otherwise they look like art pieces for 8-foot aliens instead of proper human sweaters, particularly for short people like me and Ron. The shaping really suits him, with his broad shoulders & chest, and I love the shape, so I’m probably going to have to make myself one, too. Maybe from Rhinebeck fiber?

Off to get all my stuff together for tomorrow! Yippee!

I’m taking a break from what has become the neverending pattern, Drusilla. I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to post about it, so I’ll just say it’s lovely, rather Victorian, and somewhat goth. And also fucking maddening. Every time I think it’s it’s perfect, I find I’m wrong. But I think I’ve subdued it and I’m embarking on what had better well be the final version, or there will be blood.

In the meantime, new datebooks! I love making these. I’m a big Mad Men fan, and they’re all of the era. Some you can imagine Don Draper or Peggy working on, some are even campaigns mentioned on the show. These are the choose-your-own-cover listings ($2 extra, but you get to pick–click for the esty listing), and there are also plenty of potluck options.

Happy New Year! You can tell who’s half-empty & who’s half-full by how they feel at the new year. I’m definitely half-full. I love love love the new year! Fresh start, all past failings vanish into a mist and life’s full of promise and potential! Huzzah!

My favorite part of the new year, and the chief occupation of my New Year’s Day, is the Überlist, my big fat to-do list for the year. The idea behind the Überlist is to come up with a number of easy, achievable goals for the year, so you can pat yourself on the back all year long. That’s the theory: easy peasy lemon squeezy. In practice, I always make it way too ambitious (part of the half-full pathology).

I give myself until the first week of the year to make my list. Last year I also made a list of alternates I could call upon when I decided a month in that one of my critical goals from January first was actually completely idiotic and I had no desire to do it. That way you can swap out the dead goals with some lively ones, and still get credit for them at year’s end. It keeps you from getting defeatist.

Here’s my list so far.

As soon as I’ve finalized it, it goes into my Year of the Tightwad datebook! Huzzah!

(By the way, you should totally buy one of my fabulous datebooks, which feature a big section at the front to enumerate your Überlist.  All the covers here have been sold, but every OOAK cover comes from vintage magazine ads from the same era.)