nonaKnits

Trivial Pursuit

Trivial Pursuit is at the bottom -- way, way, down at the end  -- of my game list.  I'd much prefer a rousing game of Cribbage, Sequence, or Rummy-Cube.  My dislike for this classic American favorite stems from the inevitable moment when the reader of your question sighs, rolls his eyes, and exclaims how unfair it is that you get all the easy questions.  At which point he reads a question for which you have no earthly idea what the answer might be.  I suppose a twinge of public humiliation is good for controlling one's ego, but it sure ain't fun. 

Perhaps Trivial Pursuit would be more enjoyable to me, nona, if one of the Popular Culture categories was changed to Knitting.  Then I could be the one to roll my eyes and declare, "Too Easy!", when reading questions such as: 

Question:  What happens when the yarn-overs in a lace pattern are not immediately next to their paired decrease?

Answer:  Click Here

As fate would have it, I was just thinking about undulating, rippling lace fabric while stewing over Veronik Avery's Woolen Gloves pattern.  I love these gloves, but want to modify the pattern so I can knit the gloves from the top down -- fingers to cuff.  The long lace cuff, however, features just such an undulating lace fabric and I'm afraid knitting it in the opposite direction would ruin the effect.  What's a girl to do?  I-cord fingers on one hand -- pun intended -- and proper looking lace on the other.  Since my Grafting Epiphany eliminated all fears of grafting, I'm planning to work the gloves in both directions and graft the halves together at the wrist.  Who knows if my approach will work, but the attempt will certainly be more fun then a snoring game of Trivial Pursuit.

Working up from the cuff and down from the fingers.
Here's to meeting in the middle!

Under Gloves & Over Mitts

It was love at first sight.  The perfect mix of color, lace, fingers, and thumbs -- practical and versatile, yet fun loving.  Have you seen Veronik Avery's Woolen Gloves and Latvian Fingerless Mitts from her new book, Knitting Classic Style?  This dynamic duo has been designed to be worn separately or in combination -- mitts over, gloves under.  Come on, my friends, this is too cool to be resisted.  I've ordered the yarn, knit the gauge swatch, and am poised to cast on.  For those on Ravelry, I'm using these projects as my first foray into the mix -- check them out here.

I've found through experience that I'm one of those knitter's whose gauge differs when knitting in the round verses knitting back and forth.  It's most certainly related to my tendency to row-out and to purl purls slightly bigger than I knit knits.  One advantage of my self awareness is that I now know to knit my gauge swatch in the round for in-the-round projects.  The gloves and mitts each call for a slightly different gauge even though they use the same yarn.  In an attempt to front load my swatching, I knit this swatch for both project using three different needle sizes -- US2, US1, and US3.

Swatching in the round on US2, then US1, then US3.

An Old Favorite

Today was the first cozy sweater day of the season -- overcast with a bit of rain, chilly but not cold, and a bit of breeze here & there.  Time to pull out the wool sweaters and to put on one of my absolute favorites.

If memory serves me -- which it doesn't always these days -- I finished this sweater at the turn of the century.  Sounds longer than 8 years ago, doesn't it!  It's the "St Brigid" sweater (sans fringe) from Alice Starmore's Aran Knitting.  I love wearing this sweater almost as much as I loved knitting it.

Needle Organization

When you become a Knitter you also inadvertently commit yourself to a life-long quest for the perfect needle organizational system.  To take a quick poll, raise your hand if you have more than 4 pairs of the same size needle.  Now, raise your hand -- and don't be shy -- if you have more than 50 pairs of needles.  Just as I suspected, most of us have a plethora of needles.  But -- and here's the $64,000 question -- can you find the needle you need, when you need it, without a lot of rummaging and muttering?  No? Well, neither can could I.

Yesterday during my bout of arse-sitting interspersed with house cleaning I totally revamped my needle organizational system and I think this one might just work.  (Note to the new reader: nona's an optimist of the highest order who tends to be over confident).  Regardless of my mental disposition, here's my system:

Oh yeah, my needles are organized!

• I'm using plastic pocket do-das to hold my favorite, everyday  needles -- one for my circular needles (16" and 24" sizes 0 -> 10) and another for my double pointed needles.  Both do-das roll up, tie, and are surprisingly compact. 

• For all my other needles I'm using a plastic bin.  Inside this bin are resealable plastic bags, one per needle size.  This bin organizes the needles that are either not my favorites or that I don't use on a regular basis.

Being organized feels good!

Added 10/29/2007 -- The plastic pocket do-das are officially called "Stick Sacks" and are made by Ashland Sky.  For a list of online Ashland Sky retailers, click here.  There are lots of other great needle organization ideas in the comments!

Sit On My Arse Day

Life as an empty-nester has been busy and fun -- leaving little computer time, yet plenty of knitting time.  The last week and a half have found me simultaneously fighting a bad cough and laryngitis while watching fur-balls and dust bunnies skate across my floor.  Clearly it's time to combine a touch of arse-sitting with a bit of house cleaning.

For the arse-sitting portion of my day I focused on football watching and mini-sock knitting.  I recently picked up a copy of Cat Bordhi's new book, "New Pathways for Sock Knitters".  In her book, Cat introduces 8 new sock architectures or "sockitectures" to use Cat's terminology.  Cat's instructions are easy to read and her techniques novel, but I'm left with a few questions.  How do these alternative sockitectures fit the foot?  And what advantages -- other than being novel -- to they have over the 2 traditional sock architectures?  Only an adult-sized sock will tell!

My first two "learning" socks; Little Sky Sock (right) & Little Coriolis (left)

Time to Finish Up

For the last 8 days I've successfully fought off the ubiquitous end-of-August urge to buy my fall knitting projects.  This is no small feat, as I've already seen several -- read many -- projects I want to knit and new yarns I want to use.  Why put myself through 8 days of such torture?  The answer is clear, UFOs.  Three to be precise.  Three that are almost finished -- a sleeve here, a vest front there, another sleeve yonder -- three projects that I'm enjoying and want to finish, albeit now !

My strategy is one of divide and conquer.  Work for a while on one, then turn to the other, then put in a few rounds on the third -- repeat until complete.  Once I've finished my Mermaid Jacket, Maude Vest, and Top Down Cardigan I'm dashing out to my LYS for a new fall project!

Left You Hanging

Good gracious my friends, but I left you hanging for way, way too long!  As Jo correctly surmised my Mystery Vacation Spot was the wonderful Capon Springs & Farms in West Virginia.  We've been going every summer for the past 35 years and treasure this annual respite in the place that time forgot.  In the true Capon Spirit, Jo will be receiving some homemade goodies.

Shuffle board is actually an extremely fun -- dare I say -- sport.

Hanging on the porch with one of the nona-sisters!

I'm back home, the boys have been deposited at USC, and nona returns to knitting content tomorrow.  Are you as ready for Fall knitting as I am?

Mystery Vacation: Day 5

Oops, missed a day!  I suppose I'll have to blame the excitement of the evening BINGO game. 

Bingo!

This morning we enjoyed a vicious thunderstorm -- a wild adventure for us West Coasters -- from the 2nd floor porch, giving me ample opportunity to knit my toe up sock.  I'm using Ann Budd's toe up sock pattern from the Summer 2007 issue of Interweave Knits.  Ann's variation uses an Eastern Cast-On -- which I believe is the same as the Turkish Cast-On -- and a short-row heel.  Note to self, I love knitting toe up socks.  I'm also using a new yarn, Regia's Kaffe Fasset sock yarn.  The colors are everything you'd expect from Kaffe.

Mystery Vacation: Day 3

On Tuesday morning at our Mystery Vacation Spot golfers and duffers alike join in harmony to compete in a 9-hole Best Ball tournament. The stakes may be high – a jar of apple butter or a honey bear -- but the sportsmanship and friendship is higher.  Although I often include myself as one of the duffers, today I opted for the cheering section on top of the club house where I watched the golf and worked on the sleeve of my Mermaid Jacket.  After dinner the family gathered for several competitive rounds of croquet.  I’m happy to report that not only did I successfully launch my brother-in-law into the creek, but I also survived the attacks of my siblings and won my round.  Once you throw an excellent apple crisp into the mix it becomes clear that nona had an excellent day.

Coming into the tricky 9th green.

Cut Throat Croquet!

Mystery Vacation: Day 2

The pool at our mystery vacation spot is filled twice a week with fresh mountain spring water, eliminating the need for chlorine and other assorted chemicals.  Refreshing yes, but bone chilling -- I typically walk down the steps, dive under, and high tail it out.  nona-son-the-younger claims this pool is his "go to pool".  After a filling dinner of tomatoes, grilled chicken, pickles, and apple pie I'm off to hang out on the porch, play a little cribbage, and knit a sock from the toe up. 

The chilly mountain spring pool is enjoyed by
the young-at-heart and polar bears.

Cold and Refreshing!