Knitting Cybrarian

Wishing you a wonderful 2008!

Today I went back to work after the holiday break.  2008 got off to a great start in the library -- my first in-person reference question of the year was

I'm looking for some 17th century bawdy songs in English.  Do you know of any?

My patron left with 4 scores of catches, glees, and rounds that I pulled for him less than 5 seconds after he asked me the question.  Yes, that's five seconds. 

Next question?

My place of employment was closed 22 December - 1 January.  I look forward to this forced break and this year was no exception.  I had lots of plans involving cleaning, reorganizing, knitting, baking, piano practicing, maybe even sewing.  This year's plans were thwarted.  The sinus CT I mentioned in my last post was negative, meaning no sinus infection.  Thank goodness.  The allergist called in cough meds for me.  I've loaded up on generic mucinex (with a decongestant) as well as the cough meds.  I've still coughed, sneezed, blown my nose, etc.  Ugh.   I've coughed so hard that my ribs hurt as well as the muscles around my ribs.  I've downed gallons of water to move the gunkus out of my body.  I finally got to sleep in my own bed the past two nights, but apparently I coughed too much last night and Joel got up and slept on the couch.  Guess where I'm sleeping tonight?

I went in to work today for about 5 hours or so.  I got there a little late and left early -- I was pretty pooped and my voice was gone.   When I talked with Joel today he said he wasn't feeling good.  We made dinner plans (homemade potato soup) and then when he got home he didn't want soup, didn't want anything and went to bed.  Now I'm wondering if I had some allergy or sinus thing and then caught a cold or other bug -- and now Joel has it?  ERRRGH!  Poor guy! 

And he took good care of me while I was sick!  He made curried carrot soup, hot tea, rubbed my back, and did other wonderful things to keep me comforted.  Guess it's my turn to give now.

Knitting.  I didn't get as much knitting done because it's not fun to have yarn and needles covered in ... well, mucus.  But I did get the body of Joel's Aran sweater done.  I need to have him try it on to verify that the chest length is correct (the part between the armhole openings and the shoulders) before I join the shoulders and start on the sleeves.  I won't wake him up for that!

I also blocked a wrap I made for myself.  It's based on a Feather and Fan or Old Shale pattern and made out of Colinette's Prism yarn.  I think mine is in the color "Dusk."  Photos to come!

Last night I cast on and started knitting That Little Scarf by Anne Hanson.  I'm making it in Handmaiden Sea Silk, color Nova Scotia (and often available at The Loopy Ewe). 

And I need to cast on for a pair of fingertipless gloves for a friend.  I did wind the yarn this evening (Louet Gems "pearl" wool in Charcoal, also at the Loopy Ewe) and now I'm contemplating gauge.  Have the pattern -- Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns is a wonderful resource.  If you knit items for friends and family who are a wide variety of sizes AND you have the imagination to add some texture and design elements of your own, I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Stay warm and stay well, dear readers!
 

Recap

Mom generously bought some patio furniture for us from Plow and Hearth.  It arrived weekend before last, and we've really enjoyed it.  That translates into less computer time for me in the evenings.  We've had lovely weather for the most part, so Joel and I have eaten dinner outside most evenings, watching the birds and other critters.  I've been knitting outside as well and it's really been quite relaxing.

As dusk fell last night, I thought I'd take my laptop out and check e-mail.  I heard something rustle through grass and tree branches.  I heard whatever it was move south a little.  It made too much noise to be Mr. Groundhog or a rabbit.  I looked up to see a young deer in our garden.  We had fresh corn for dinner, and Joel put the shucks and corncobs next to the compost bin to decompose.  The deer sniffed at it, nibbled, and moved on.  Slowly.  When the wind shifted, the deer would lift its head and look towards me.  I kept still-- it could probably smell my scent in the wind.  The deer walked through the garden and over to the edge of our property to eat leaves off the trees on the property border.  I do love watching them on their spindly legs.  Graceful and a little awkward all at the same time.  Yes, I know deer can be destructive to plantings, but they don't seem to like too many of the native prairie plants we've planted. 

My evening knitting has alternated between the prayer shawl for my family member and repairing some of Joel's socks.  Instead of darning, I just snipped off the toe part of the socks (after measuring, of course), picked up stitches, joined yarn and knit away. 

Last week I did a workshop on Music Reference for the KCMLIN.  I was pleasantly surprised with a gift certificate to a bookstore.  After the workshop, I promptly bought Knitting Beyond the Edge, and it arrives today.  I own all three books (the first two are Knitting Over the Edge and Knitting On the Edge).  I can't wait to drool over this new acquisition tonight!

Duh

I decided to use a free knitting pattern from the net.  I'm knitting a belated baby present, but thankfully the baby is four months old.  Time for a new hat and baby mitts, right?

I had a number of duh! moments with this.  Let's start out with how I converted the pattern.  The pattern called for flat knitting and I wanted to do circs.  I wanted to avoid seaming.  So I reduced the cast on by two stitches (to take away the stitches needed for the seam).  Fine.  After knitting the ribbing, I decided to increase one at the end of each needle (that would be adding 6 stitches) to allow for a little more room for small fists.  Did that.

Knitted up in stockinette, then paused to find out how long the little one's hand is from base of palm to longest fingertip.  I realize babies seldom have hands outstretched, but it should be big enough that he can do so.  Resumed stockinette.  But came to the decrease.  The pattern called for all knit two together decreases, which I thought a  little strange even in flat knitting.  So, I recalculated the number of stitches between decreases and knitted away.  When I finished, the sad little mitt looked like the kid's hand must be a soft-serve cone -- swirled.

I ripped.  And fussed at myself.  However, I came up with a lovely end result.  Here's the pattern (and I changed enough from the free problem pattern to not cause a problem).

I used Rowan Yarns Classic Cashsoft Aran, 1 skein, size 7 US double point needles.

Cast on 30 stitches, join in the round, taking care not to twist stitches.
Knit in a K1 P1 ribbing for two inches.
Next round, increase six stitches (I did this by doing a make one at each end of the three needles - went from 10 to 12 stitches on each needle)
Next rounds, knit in stockinette stitch for about 3 inches, or until the length from the base of the baby's palm to the tip of the longest finger (or the first joint of that finger).
Decrease rounds:
SSK, K16, K2Tog, SSK, K16, K2Tog
then
SSK, K15, K2Tog, SSK, K15, K2Tog
and so on until 8 stitches total are left.
Arrange onto two needles and graft (Kitchener) edges together.

Beauteous and even!  And NO THUMBS!

Poncho-free zone, please

If I get one more e-mail from a knitting/crochet mag publisher or big box craft store advertising a free "freedom" or "welcome home" poncho patter, I'm going to take my knitting needles and stab my computer.

Well, maybe not.  That would be expensive.  But I could scream.  Other than the poncho I designed and knitted for my niece, I'm declaring this blog a PONCHO FREE ZONE!!!