mittens BLOCKED

How come your mittens look so even - cause much like lace - I block the snot out of it! So this is a picture of the new mitten I've been working on and that very odd looking paddle well that's how I block.

About 13 years ago the hubby took a basket of my mittens into the office. He figured in Minnesota on a 20 degree below zero morning - someone might want to buy a pair. We put a price of $23 a pair for all wool mittens like the ones above was fair. He said people put stuff out in the lunch room and then if it sold great and if it didn't then the stuff came home on Friday. So my snowman of a hubby loaded up the truck and off he went to work - I told him there was no way anyone would buy them - they were too expensive - and lets face facts - Minnesota/Wisconsin is home to some of the best knitters I've ever had the pleasure to meet! I got a call at 8:10 am - after a little small talk - yup the eagles are flying over the frozen Mississippi - yes the road into Winona was a little slick - yup the school bus made it up the ridge today - sold all 12 pairs of the mittens they want to know if you take custom orders - and Jimmy has something for you.... Wait go back to the part where you sold my stuff - quit joking - you've only been at the office for a couple of hours!

He came home that night with an envelope full of cash and checks - short by $7 cause he'd gone out to lunch to the GreenMill - he mumbled something about being an "Artist's Rep". Anyway - the best part was sitting in an interoffice memo envelope - there sat two pieces of wood -- you got it - a mitten blocker complete with thumbs for a size medium woman's mitten - I couldn't believe my luck! I could now block a mitten in less than a minute! Then Jimmy's note said that his mom used to use them and if I wanted he could whip me out some more - how about a dozen! Be still my heart! Now I can do 6 pairs of mittens at a time! Well they're still working great - I must admit to having gifted 3 pairs to some very good friends (see I do share sometimes). And they still make stranded mittens look amazing! Thanks hubby for having such great friends like Jimmy! Oh and Jimmy asked for a pair of woman's small mittens for his wife as payment - man did I make out on that one!

Ya Can't Make this S#$% Up!

It's a beautiful fall Sunday morning - the sun is shining - there's a crisp breeze - and it's hockey season. So I load up the hardly stinky gear in the mini van - load up my knitting bag with yarn for preemie caps - load up the overly large beastie and head off to practice at the IceZone - which is in The Mills Mall! That's about 40 minutes from my house.

Pull into the parking lot - off load the beastie and the gear. Look at the mall - look at the weather decide to sit in the van in the parking lot and enjoy the sun and air rather than what goes on at high school hockey practice - can you really blame me?

So there I sat - peaceful - like not even the radio on. A 50 something, graying, chubby woman - knitting preemie caps for St. John's and a friend's grandchild. But no good deed goes unpunished - a mall security jeep pulls up and asks me if everything is alright. Of course - well he informs me that I need to either enter the mall or leave the mall grounds. Failure to do so means I will be sited for loitering. Stop laughing - it took me a minute to realize he was serious. I prefer sunshine to hockey stink so I decided to wait for the beastie over in the Steak and Shake parking lot - and the jeep followed me until I left the mall grounds.

10 minutes later the beastie called me to pick him up - which upon telling him my tale - burst out "Oh My God I can't leave you alone for 10 minutes and you're busted by the cops. You'd think that by the time you're 50 you could show some sort of maturity and be by yourself at the mall. What are my friends going to say when you're convicted of a misdemeanor? Wait until your husband gets home - you are in soooo much trouble!" That conversation lasted for almost the whole way home - it's a long 40 minutes to the house when there's a snot nosed teen who knows everything sitting next to you!

Zoom forward a day - I try to get a hold of mall security - they've got an email address but that's it - so after sending in my inquiry I get back a note saying that it is undeliverable - it's their site that I emailed from!!!

Oh well I have 2 weeks to decide how I'm going to handle the next Sunday Practice - but I will guarantee I will not be spending a single dollar at The Mills Mall in Hazelwood Missouri!!!! Oh by the way this is the legal definition that I found...

loiter v. to linger or hang around in a public place or business where one has no particular or legal purpose. In many states, cities, and towns there are statutes or ordinances against loitering by which the police can arrest someone who refuses to "move along." There is a question as to whether such laws are constitutional. However, there is often another criminal statute or ordinance which can be applied specifically to control aggressive begging, soliciting prostitution, drug dealing, blocking entries to stores, public drunkenness, or being a public nuisance.

So when you've stopped laughing - and wondering about my side businesses - you might enjoy this FREE Preemie Cap pattern - it's called the "Knit Baby Hat" by Bernat Design Studio. I made it in the round - so subtract 2 stitches when casting on and you can figure it out from there. I used Red Heart Ltd. Soft Baby Twinkles which I got from Smiley's Internet Yarn Riot. I managed to get 4 of the preemie sized caps and 2 of the 12 month size caps out of one ball - which was on sale for $2.99!

Shetland Scarf in Cashmere

So this is my cashmere scarf. I started by grabbing my copy of Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller - I really like the chart on page 140 called Shetland Twins with Lace Hole Diamonds Pattern. I used a provisional cast on for 46 stitches knit plain for 4 rows and started the chart! Finished 7 repeats and knit 4 more rows of garter stitch. Then picked the chart for the edging on page 173 - Fine Lace Hole Diamond and Zigzag Edging - without breaking the thread I cast on 28 stitches for the edging. I was trying to fit a large-ish edging around a narrow center band so I ended up doing the following join sequence

2-2-2-2-2-2-3-3 -3-2-2-2-2-2-2

for the corners with the remainders being a 1:1 join. I think I could have gotten away with using only one triple but we'll chalk that up to lessons learned!

Final dimensions were 17.5" x 56" which should be reasonably warm. It used about 80 grams of a 2/28 cashmere from ColourMart in a colorway called artichoke! Which I must admit is my favorite color! It will be offered for sale at the beastie's school fundraiser in November! I'll post a picture on a model as soon as it's done drying!!!

Sour Apple Cherry Fizz

I hardly ever knit with anything heavier than a sport weight but here is "Cherry Fizz" knit in a heavy DK weight on size 9 needles. The fiber is ColourMart 2/6 NM
5% cashmere/95% merino in "Pistacio" which is this very yellow green pea soup color. I'm not sure if I'm digging the color, but as usual it's soft and fluffy! I'm not sure about the pattern either. It's okay, but if I were to do it again - and I'm not - I would switch to a sport weight and still stay with a size 9! It was also a mystery as to how to block it - I first tried it with wires but ended up just using straight pins so the "bubbles" had more definition on the sides.

Re-Crash

So I did it again - this time on a size 7 cause it was the largest Addi Lace Turbo I own. It came out a depressing 44 inches across with the same 18 inch drop in the center...Then it finally hit me - not only is the fiber unwilling to give - but those slipped stitches on the edges are the culprit! I'm guessing I could have gotten a couple more inches by switching to just garter stitch!!! If you ever try it let me know about the outcome I'd appreciate it!!!

Crashing Waves

This should have been the end of my beach knitting! Every year my mom and her family head over to Cape Cod for a couple of weeks of fun in the sun - but they are always cold when they go out to eat in the evening or when they sit out on the deck to read! So this year I thought I'd make them a trio of cotton/silk shawls they could throw in their bags.

Well, every once in a while despite the careful swatching - something goes terribly WRONG! So this is the Echo Flower Shawl - a freebie over on Ravelry. It was an easy knit - but mine seems to be the smallest Echo Flower ever knit! I used the Exotic Cotton from the ColourMart site - I swatched - heck I've done two other projects out of the exact same fiber (in different colors). But my finished shawl after blocking measures 39 inches across and only an 18 inch drop in the center! It used about a 1/3 of a cone of yarn on a size 5 needle. I'm guessing I'd have been happier with a size 8 or 9!!!! This thing is dense folks!

But as luck would have it and with the help of Ravelry someone saw it and loved it and now it has a good home!!!! So I'm off to try again on a much larger needle! Check back for the rematch!

Bluebirds at the Beach

Well this one is out of some more of the ColourMart Exotic Cotton - this time in River Sand (or according to the beastie cream of wheat cereal)! My Auntie is allergic to just about everything but I'm guessing this one will actually cause no itchy-scratchies! I used a US size 5 needle but I'm guessing I'd have been more happy with a 6! I used some seed beads rescued from Grace's old rosary in a bronze color (they are definitely metal cause I used a magnet to pick them up out of the carpet after a little excitement with the dog). Final measurements are 22" x 68". The pattern is by Romi called "Bluebird". Made a few adjustments - 31 repeats of the center diamond, added an extra repeat of the "big wings" section, added beads to the spine of the leaf motif, and added flowers instead of the small wings, slipped the first stitch of each row to allow easier blocking.

Now since everyone asks - knit it right off the cone while still oiled (I'm lazy). When finished put it in really hot water with some Dawn dishwashing detergent - followed by a good rinse - followed by a second plunge in Dawn and hot water, followed by a good rinse, followed by 10 minutes in a really hot dryer. Pinned out using wires run thru the slipped stitch at the beginning of each row.

Now I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you to check out Romi's pins that she makes to go with her shawls - they really are spectacular!!!

And now for those of you who know me well - this gift was actually done 4 weeks ahead of time - I believe I may be growing up!