I was not home much today. I started the day with a visit to one of my knitting teachers, Sarah Peasley. I had taken a class on how to do a “knit to fit” seamless sweater from her, almost a year ago. I made a very wonderful short sleeved sweater from beautiful German perle cotton fingering-weight yarn. It is the only adult sweater I have ever made, but it is just lovely and fits perfectly. I found it the perfect thing to wear to a few summer weddings this year.

Well, I got gutsy in early September and decided to make another sweater without a pattern. I determined that I didn’t want to purl much so I chose to try the “crochet steek” project from the Spring 2002 Knitters Magazine (article by Rick Mondragon) and see if I could dare knit a tube, crochet reinforcement, then cut the tube open for arm holes. I made the sample teddy bear sweater and cut it just fine, so proceeded to do this on a larger sweater for myself.

This sweater is more like a pullover coat than a normal sweater. It is double-thickness Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Worsted, a single ply wool/mohair yarn that is both soft and warm. I did very well on the body of the sweater (with a little help from my friends Marcia and Wendy who work at Yarn for Ewe). I knit the tube with special “steek stitches,” Crocheted to reinforce, and cut armholes. Then I used a three-needle bindoff to connect the shoulder seams.

I got stuck after that, where I picked up stitches around the armhole twice and neither time got an acceptable sleeve started. About a month ago I ripped out the two bad sleeves but didn’t know how to figure out how many stitches to pick up (the class notes were for a set in sleeve so the ratio of picked up stitches was different than my modified drop sleeve).

So off I went to Sarah, and she worked with me for about an hour figuring out how to proceed. Happy me. I’m not going to be able to do a lot with it right away but now I do not feel stuck.

After that, I drove to Jackson, a little more than a half hour south of me, to make a client visit. After that I drove to the small yarn store there, Dropped Stitch, and found three skeins/two types of quite affordable yet lovely turquoise yarn. I’m on a turquoise binge right now so that was great!

From Jackson I proceeded to Ypsilanti (near Ann Arbor) where my brother lives. I had a very pleasant visit with him, and his delightful wife, and their house guest. I got to knit and chat and sip tea with people I love. Very wonderful.

I got home in time to make a late dinner, which was the remaining pumpkin soup and some freshly baked herbed biscuits. Yum.

We have decided to stay home tonight rather than accept one of the two party invitations we received. I have had enough parties this season, and I really wanted to celebrate my partnership with Brian more than my social life.

We actually got the TV out of the attic (literally), and dusted it so we could watch Jay Leno’s monalogue and the Times Square ball dropping. That was the first time we had turned on the TV since the Olympics. I just don’t enjoy spectating at all, and all the jokes are about famous people I don’t know because I don’t watch TV or movies. I very much enjoy the Internet where I can be an active participant. Thank goodness for the Internet!

Happiness to all on this day of promise.

I am surprised that I’m posting about food again! I think of myself as someone who cooks out of necessity, not because I enjoy the process. However, I do love tasting good food.

Since I’ve had a list of food restrictions for about six months (which has kept me out of most restaurants) I’m getting much more adventurous in the kitchen. Hey, if you must cook, you might as well make something really good, right?

Not long ago I posted a pumpkin bread recipe. Well, the truth is that somehow I had purchased four cans of pumpkin and our cupboards are not very big. Today I decided to figure out another way to use some pumpkin, and I ended up making a fabulous soup. It was like going to a fancy restaurant, but it was right here at home! The soup was so fluffy and creamy, you’d swear it had dairy in it but it did not. Mmmm….

I have made similar soups before. The best was a Butternut Squash and Granny Smith Apple soup from a wonderful cookbook: The Vegetarian Hearth by Darra Goldstein. However, Ms. Goldstein’s soup requires baking a squash, peeling, mashing or pureeing, then grating apples, and all sorts of other high-labor tasks. My friend Ulyana makes an African pumpkin-peanut soup that is similar, although I’ve not seen her recipe. This recipe is a lot of bang for almost no labor, and is just great.

I made a lentil/bulgur pilaf to go with the soup. I had never made anything like it before, so I was a bit nervous it wouldn’t be good. However, it turned out well also. I’ll share the soup recipe with you today and save the bulgur recipe for another day. By the way, I may seem to use odd ingredients but they are staples in our house. You can substitute similar items if that is what you have in your kitchen. Cooking is not at all an exact science!

LynnH’s Easy Pumpkin Soup
1 can (1-3/4c) Pumpkin (not seasoned pie filling)
1 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
2-1/2 cup Broth
    (I used a fabulous organic chicken broth from the health food store,
    but you could use boullion cubes or vegetable broth, or even apple or orange juice, plus salt)
4 Tbsp Nut Butter (I used half cashew butter and half almond butter.
    Use peanut butter if you have that, but almond is fabulous if you can get it.)
1/4 tsp marjoram (or oregano)
generous dash allspice
1/4 tsp white pepper (this ingredient just makes a creamy soup right)

Heat all ingredients slowly, stirring frequently with a wire whisk until nut butters are evenly distributed. Continue to heat at a low simmer for 20 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. Serve with a dash of nutmeg, whole grain biscuits or bulgur-lentil pilaf, and a steaming cup of tea.

I went to work today (I have a computer classroom at a local Community Center) and my friend Mandy gave me two balls of yarn for Christmas! It’s called Ethno, mostly Merino with nylon binder and quite textured. It says it’s hand painted, too. It’s just gorgeous, zillions of colors but predominantly purple and berry with bits of bright blue/turquoise and some greens.

I don’t know yet what it will be. It would be a gorgeous scarf with the pink or purple eyelash yarns I have, but I really don’t wear scarves. I would love it as a beret if it would hold shape properly, and of course every yarn looks good as socks. Maybe a beret and then a pair of sox with what is left as the accent yarn in the cuffs. Hmmm… so fun to dream!

I’m still trying to make the deadline today to mail two different versions of a sock I’m designing, for a publication. I just LOVE pushing deadlines, it’s awful. I guess I need an adrenaline rush every so often. Both versions of the sock are knit and blocked, and the pattern is written, but I need to do a once-over proofreading with the pattern and then get pictures. And it’s 6:20, and the post office closes at 7:00. I guess that’s just how I do things sometimes.

Brian and I went to visit his family today, the last Christmas gathering (although I’m also going to see my brother and his wife on Tuesday afternoon). It was very fun, and I did get to knit in the car.

Knitting this particular project was impossible once we got there, though. I’m proofknitting a pattern I wrote and was at a point that required thinking. Thank goodness I also took along some alpaca sox I’m knitting from my generic sock formula in my head. I got about an inch and a half done on two sox while at the party, and went back to proofknitting in the car.

Now I have to decide who is going to get these sox. They are not my colors at all, spring colors for a spring publication. If these were for me or someone with about the size feet I have, I could start the toe first thing in the morning. I may just do that and then find a recipient. If I can find the measurements for my Goddaughter, Sara, I may make them for her. We’ll see…

… I do have two sock swaps due after this, but both require hand-dyed yarns I don’t have dyed yet. I’m really backlogged in the dyeing department, unfortunately, and too many promises are waiting for me to get down there. It looks good that I can get down there this week, probably Wednesday (crossing fingers).

Meanwhile, before I start the swap sox I’m going to let myself knit a simple beret/tam hat out of purple mohair and novelty yarn (Charm?). I need an instant-gratification project, just to lighten up a bit.

Today I invited a few fiber friends to come over and spin with me. I only asked four folks, and one teen got the flu, one adult friend had to work midnights, one teenager was with her dad this weekend…

…but I did get my house cleaned better than it has been in a while (I’m still loving that dishwasher). Eventually, my friend Tony did come over for a few hours.

We ate homemade soup and pumpkin bread, then he knit sox and I spun a bit of beautiful multi-greens-and-turquoise superwash that will eventually be sox for me and for my mother. Someday. (I’ve never knit anything from my handspun though I’ve spun maybe a pound and a half of fiber in a little over a year). We talked about wool and yarn, spinning and knitting, and all sorts of creative and entertaining subjects. We had a great time.

My mom sent me a recipe for pumpkin bread that she had clipped from the Lakeland, Florida newspaper. There are many retirees in that town, so this was a no-egg (low cholesterol) recipe. That made it perfect for me, because I’m sensitive to eggs. It was so thoughtful for her to send the recipe, because she knows I’m very fond of pumpkin. It must be because I was born the day after Thanksgiving!

The recipe was set up for three loaves, a bit excessive, so that gave me permission to play liberally with the ingredients, adding some and subtracting others, as well as changing quantities. With some adaptations and a few changes, I got a largish single loaf. It was totally wonderful and quite simple to make. Here’s my version of the bread:

Crusty Pumpkin Loaf
2 cups Flour
1-1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1-1/4 tsp Cinnamon
1-1/2 cup White Sugar
1 small can (1-3/4c) Pumpkin (not pie mix)
3/8 cup Vegetable Oil
1-1/2 tsp Vanilla (real Mexican Vanilla is superior if you have a Mexican grocery)

Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Mix in Pumpkin, Oil and Vanilla (I used a wire whisk, slowly).
Pour into 1 large greased and floured bread pan.
Bake 1 hour until toothpick comes out clean.

(There is no picture today, we ate the bread so fast there is nothing left to photograph!)

I’ve turned both heels on my top-down two-color sox for publication. I have to mail them on Monday, but tomorrow I’ll have many hours in the car going to and from a party with Brian’s family. As long as I remember to knit an inch or so back and forth between the sox, I shouldn’t have any troubles getting these done. Countdown!

I did it! I finished Jane’s Turkish Zig sox and not a moment too soon.

For those joining us at this phase of the game, the pattern is one I’ve submitted to be possibly published in a book. The process could easily take a year, even if I’m accepted. However, that doesn’t mean I can’t knit it myself while I’m waiting to hear!

This time I tried knitting the pattern in a larger size than I’d originally written, to make sox for my friend Jane. Jane was the dear soul who traded me her spinning wheel in Fall of 2001, for two pair of handknit sox.

The two pair I traded to Jane she gave as Christmas gifts, to my friend Marian, Jane’ sister-in-law, and Eva, her neice. Those sox turned into a pattern I sell on my LynnH.com website, Eva’s Sox, because the visitors to my LynnH SockTour kept requesting a pattern for it.

Well, this year Eva and Marian picked Jane’s name in the family gift exchange and asked if I’d knit for Jane. Of course, I would! So here they are in all their glory. I have to deliver these early tomorrow morning, before I prepare to have some friends over for a small spinning/knitting gathering tomorrow afternoon.

Whew! Now I need to finish another design (Dancing Sox) in time to ship out sox for a photoshoot, deadline 12/31. At least *this* pattern will be published this spring, so the wait won’t be too long.

When the Dancing Sox package is mailed, I have only two more knitting obligations (both for sock swaps), and a bit of handpainted yarn to paint. When those are done, I can knit guilt-free for myself. I can’t wait!

My husband, Brian, has spent several months putting together recordings of himself playing banjo. Actually, playing many, many banjos all recorded as separate tracks on top of one another. Playing banjo is one of his passions, and he is very good at it.

Today he put up a page about The Heftone Banjo Orchestra, this pet project. I’m sure he would be delighted if some of you gave him a visit. There are MP3 files available on the page, and the tunes rotate daily.

One piece, Epley Breakdown, Brian wrote. The other pieces are very old. In fact, at least one is over 200 years old and still engaging.

Here is a print I did a few years ago. I made the print of many smaller print blocks, sometimes called “eraser carving” or “soft block printing.” In this case, some of the print blocks were truly made from plastic erasers I carved up with either linoleum block cutters or woodblock cutters. If you are interested in this artform, check out the Carving Consortium at http://www.negia.net/~unity/ and http://theccforum.proboards9.com/

I’m still cranking out stitches with size 1 needles, on the Turkish Zig sox. They seem so big compared to my small feet, but they measure properly for my friend: 9 inches around and 10-1/4 inches long. I like my sox at 8 inches long so this is a challenge for me. Nevertheless, I’m down to 3 inches left on both sox including the toes, so I’m going to make it by tomorrow as needed.

I am itching to knit something besides a deadline, but I expect I will not be able to do that until January. Pout. After I finish these, I still have to knit the feet on two sox for a publication, to be mailed by 12/31. This is a high-class problem, I am sure of that!

Someone on one of my knitting lists today recommended the Aran Knitting History page as a way to learn about the history of the Aran sweater. These are often characterized by a light creamy colored yarn and cables that are very intricate, often celtic-knot-type designs. I loved this page, and it even offers a short story which was pleasant to read.

Today I checked out the complete collection of poetry by Maya Angelou. It is so luxurious to work in the same building as a branch library! I am already on page 87, reading as I knit.

I’ve seen her speak twice (lucky me) and she is a powerful and strong presence. I aspire to even a minor drop of her wisdom as I earn my gray hair. I do feel I earned each one the hard way and I don’t have to go back and learn those lessons again! I learned slowly, so being 44 is a relief! Finally, I’m happy.

Tomorrow I expect pictures of the finished Turkish Zig sox for your viewing pleasure! Until then, be kind to yourself!

Happy Christmas to those who celebrate it. So many of us have a day off, whether or not this is our holiday, and it is good to slow down sometimes. We got about 10 inches of snow today so it was an especially good day for staying home.

This picture is of my first performance as Eudora, in 1998. It is good to celebrate all artforms here, I think.

I wish you could experience the artform that is my friend Altu’s good cooking! I purchased food to go at her restaurant yesterday, and we ate that for dinner today. It was true gastronomic bliss! In France they recognize cooking as an artform, but in the US it seems to be ignored, and what a shame that is.

I promise I’ll show you pictures of more knitting when I finish something. However, there is no news in that department today.

I did finally get the second cuff of the Turkish Zig sox to match the first cuff in size. I had to knit it four times to get the two to match, but that is how it goes, I guess. The heel flaps went without incident (they are gorgeous, a checkerboard with a solid dark purple and a variegated second color). I did need to rip out the heel turn once so far, but the first sock now is ready to decrease for gussets and I need to turn the second heel. Turning a heel when you are also trying to follow a stranded color checkerboard, may guarantee at least one confused moment!

Today I feel that I live in an artful heaven. I have good food, a lovely cup of tea, Brian who loves me, a comfy place to knit and many wonderful yarns to choose from.

Well, I’m off to turn my second heel. May you all experience the blessings of friendship, serenity and health, no matter what is your belief system.

I ripped out the cuff of the Turkish Zig again yesterday. This makes the fourth time I’ve knit the second cuff, I just can’t get the gauge to match the first one.

I am hoping for a slow day. I need to visit a client briefly (the same client I took silk scarves to yesterday) but other than that I will be cranking on those Turkish Zig sox to make the 12/28 deadline. I started plenty early on this pair, I knew I would not have a problem. Yet here I stand, frustrated. I’m at the same place I was on Saturday night!

I really should rip out both of them and knit back and forth, but the first one is so beautifully tensioned I hate to do it. However, that may be the only way to make my deadline and have two sox that look like they are really a pair. I knew better than to knit a whole cuff before starting a stitch on the second!!! I seem to never learn.

Have a beautiful and serene day, however you spend your time. I will be enjoying every stitch, no matter how many times I need to knit it again.

Oh, I added myself to the Knitblogs and Fiber Arts webrings today. The links are on my page, but they may not actually work for a while. I need to be approved by the webring managers first. (Don’t you hate waiting to be approved for anything? It feels like being a wallflower all over again!)

Today I visited my longest-standing client and gifted the six women who work there with tie-dyed silk scarves I had made for them. They went over much better than I could have imagined.

Each scarf was primarily colored with either blue or turquoise (mostly WashFast Acid dyes from Pro Chemical), and accented with either purple, green or berry. A couple scarves had tiny touches of a third color. I used scarves I got from Dharma Trading, a tie-dyer’s supply company in California. I got a nice crepe-textured fabric that really drapes well, and will work as a lightweight scarf for inside the collar of a raincoat for even those who don’t tend to do much dressing up.

I find dyeing silk very interesting. The colors on the fabric while I’m working wet, are much more vibrant than after drying the fabric. The crepe fabric is much better quality than the china silk scarves I’ve also used (I use china silk with kids because of the cost) but the crepe texture lightens the colors even more when dry. It does make a lovely watercolor effect which was perfect for these gifts. For my own favorite colors, I’ll have to really learn to apply dye which looks much too dark and see if I can get enough intensity and value that way. I don’t see as much difference between wet and dry when I’m working with wool and mohair.

I presented the gifts so soon after creating them, that I did not have time to take pictures. The picture here is the scarf I made for Anne, my dance friend whose name I drew for last Wednesday’s party. Anne’s scarf has many colors because she wears so many lovely pastels and I wanted to use her colors as best I could. I tied all the scarves the same but I really applied the dye differently on the scarves for my client.

Brian and I had another music gathering tonight. I think that makes 11 gatherings in 12 days. I have tomorrow and Wednesday without any holiday events, then I get to see my Godchildren Michael and Sara (and their mom JoDee, who has been a friend since perhaps kindergarten) on Thursday. I also take Sara to lunch later this week. I don’t see her enough during the school year, so this will be a big treat.

Sara and I are something of a mutual admiration society, we are fortunate that way. I took her to Montreal in August of 2001. It was a life-changing experience for both of us, we had a wonderful time. We put together a small travelogue of that trip if you are interested.

I have no knitting pictures today, and I realize I haven’t celebrated other artforms here for a while. Here is a picture of three wig heads I mailed from Florida to Michigan, sans envelopes, in spring 2001… just because I could, and because it made a LOT of people smile in the process!

We had Christmas with Brian’s family today. It was quite pleasant, and it allowed me to knit in the car over an hour each way. I got a little knitting done there, but had such fun chatting that I got distracted from the sock.

I am having more than my usual gauge problems. I am not at all happy that every time I knit the second cuff to this pair and often others, it is substantially not the size of the first cuff. I have ripped this one out twice, although the second time I maybe only ripped out an inch or two rather than the entire cuff.

Today I decided that I had had it! I had to try some other methods for controlling gauge with my right hand (my contrast color).

I normally knit Continental/German style, holding my primary yarn in the left hand. I hold my index finger very low, not up in the air and wrapped twice as many do. I wrap the yarn over the index finger, under the middle, over my ring finger and down, back and around my pinkie finger for tension control. I think my tension is actually controlled between the ring finger and the pinkie. I am able to knit very fast this way. It’s a two-motion process of inserting the needle, then scooping the yarn back out and off.

My right hand has been a problem, even though I once knit English/US style for about twenty years. Usually I drop the yarn between stitches, forcing a slowdown as I grope to pick up the yarn again for each stitch. This method is more of a three movement stitch rather than the two movements required with my left hand yarn-holding process: 1) insert needle, 2) grab yarn and wrap, 3) pull stitch through as I remove the old stitch from the previous needle. See versions of both English and Continental methods illustrated at Wonderful Things.

I tried new methods with my right hand. I tried wrapping the yarn up and down and up and down like I do with my left hand. No way. I wrapped my yarn over the right index finger, holding it high. Didn’t work. Tried wrapping the other direction. No luck. Ugh. Now what?

I’ve heard from two people in the last year who tension their yarn around their neck as is done in Turkey. I’ve never seen it done except in pictures. However, I figured, what did I have to lose?

Well, it works much better for me than I expected. In any case, it’s faster than English/US style because I don’t have to go grabbing for the yarn each time I need that color. The jury is still out on how this will work over time, but I’m liking it better than I expected. The first try I did was too tight and I ripped. The second time I went up a needle size and tried to relax a bit. So far, it is working out well.

Here’s how I did it: (click link below to continue)
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I finished making a tea cosy today. I was proofknitting for someone, and my version ended up different than hers. I think that was because either I had the wrong yarn and gauge or my teapot was much larger than hers. She does seem happy with the input I gave her, so we’ll call it a success both in product and process.

I think the picture looks good. I am a fan of Hall teapots. I have a small collection of them, although the last one I bought was at least a decade ago. I use them, as I’m a tea fanatic. Many of my teapots are imperfect by a collector’s standards, but the shapes are lovely. Some, like this one, actually function very well. Some are more sculpture than functional item. This is my favorite six-cup teapot, though you can’t see it well here. I think it is called the Rhythm pot, because it has visual “waves” on the sides.

Oh, the yarn I used was Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Bulky on size 6 needles. (It’s my favorite color in the world, Aztec Turquoise.) The pattern called for Brown Sheep Worsted weight, and therefore my gauge was far too dense to be pleasant knitting. I also tend to knit tightly, so a size 6 for me is a size 5 for most patterns. My wrists are tired!

I determined this morning that the second Turkish Zig cuff is far too loose in gauge, it totally does not match the first cuff. I’ll have to rip it back to maybe two rows after the ribbing and start over. The size difference is enough for a non-knitter to notice.

I know that I need to knit back and forth about one inch at a time on each sock. This time I didn’t, because I had only one skein of the multicolor yarn and I didn’t want to break the yarn. Next time I’ll have to use my ballwinder to wind approximately half of the single ball into another half ball so I can really go back and forth. Sigh…. you would think I would learn. My gauge changes a lot, and I just can’t tell what causes it or when it will happen.

Ribbit, ribbit, rip-it, rip-it. Back to the frogpond.

The most exciting thing in my day was getting a dishwasher (and a garbage disposal)! I’m so excited, my enthusiasm is probably out of proportion. I tend to excite easily, which is often a character asset (passion for life, right?) but looks silly when one gets this hyped about an appliance.

The creative task of the day was figuring out where to put all the stuff that used to be stored where the dishwasher now sits. We had seven drawers and now we have four, so this is a bit of a challenge. I can figure it out somehow. I got a magnet strip to put on the wall for holding knives. We will figure it out. What this will mean is some counter space not designated for dishes pre- or post-washing. Well, enough about that…

I also am knitting the second cuff of the pair I pictured for my friend yesterday (Turkish Zig). I will probably finish the cuff before the end of the day. In addition, I worked on the socks for the spring publication, and am ready to start the heel flaps on those.

I usually knit both sox approximately at the same time (on separate sets of double-pointed needles) so that my gauge is approximately equal on both sox. I have a real problem with “the gauge of the hour” where I get looser and tighter for no apparent reason, and going back and forth between the two sox helps me a lot. I also don’t suffer from “second sock syndrome” that way, which is an added bonus!

Whew! I went to my eighth gathering in seven days today. Now I have only three holiday events left: my beloved Godchildren, and two gatherings for Brian’s family (these two are over an hour away, but I get to knit in the car so I don’t mind). I don’t know why, but I feel a huge weight lifted from my shoulders, even though I still have work deadlines and knitting deadlines.

One friend has asked me to knit sox for another friend as a Christmas gift. I am delighted to do this, the recipient really loves my work and I’ve never knit for her before. That deadline is Christmas. (The picture shown here is of her yet-unblocked sock cuff. The pattern is one I’ve submitted hopefully to be published. It’s called Turkish Zig Sox.)

I also am proofknitting a tea cosy (cozy? I’ve seen it spelled both ways) for a member of the Knitlist, and I’m behind on that obligation. I’m also putting together a design for publication, which needs to be received by the publisher by December 31. That pattern will be in two weights of yarn, and I have written both patterns and proofknit the worsted weight version. I’m past the middle of proofknitting the fingering weight version now.

When all this is over, I’m going to get out my purple and pink Koigu and make a pair of gloves, probably with cropped fingers, plus a matching beret and sox. I have four skeins! I feel rich! My brother and his wife bought me two skeins for my Birthday/Christmas gift and I got myself two more because I loved it so much. There is no yarn I adore as much as Koigu, so knitting it will be a delight.

I went to the holiday party of my dance troupe tonight (I’m in Habibi Dancers, a middle-eastern nonprofit dance organization). We all pick one name and are to buy one gift that is not particularly pricey. Dancers love glitz, though, so there were many gifts of earrings and other baubles. I made a hand-dyed silk scarf for my friend Anne, whose name I had picked.

Well, I was getting ready for this party yesterday, not particularly happy that I’d had so many parties in so many days, and not particularly excited about dressing up. I was wondering if Anne would like my gift (of course she will). Then it crossed my mind that the person whose name Kay picked would luck out as usual.

Kay is a fabulous seamstress who loves costuming, and who is retired now so has lots of time to do it. She’s a very generous person who gave me three gifts last year even though she did not pick my name. Anyone she gifts, is lucky indeed.

So I got to the party a half an hour late and feeling stressed about it. And we had a zillion little gifts and some pretty great food. And then the major gifts were opened. Anne was not there because she was ill. Then came Kay’s time to present her gift, and I was the lucky one.

I got three gifts, not one! She knows I love bright colors. She made me a stole with two layers of silk crepe in hot pink, trimmed with hot pink ostrich feathers! Very fun.

On top of that, she made me a beledi dress, an a-line dress which is worn with a hip wrap, plus a two-piece ensemble with a cutout vest and panel skirt, a type of costume I did not own yet. Both costumes are of a sheer purple fabric with silver glitter in dotted patterns.

On top of that, Kay did hand-beading of silvery glass beads at the top of the vest’s armhole like an epaulet, and more beads around the neckline and the bottom of the vest. You should SEE the sleeves on the dress, sort of a tight fit to the elbow and then a long pointed trailing fairy tale sleeve with beaded trim. An incredible extravagance. Any one of these items would have been a welcome and delightful gift, but the package was just overwhelming! Kay knows I appreciate her work, and she really understands my style. I’m thrilled.
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There is just too much to post today!

I took four of my knitters from the community center where I work, to the local chapter of TKGA (The Knitting Guild of America) holiday party today. They were so good, and I was so proud of them. We were given a bag of yarn for their program, and they already had projects in mind for about 3/4 of it before we were through the night. Even my 11-year olds learn to stash early!

We have a hat contest each year. The guild issues grab bags of unknown combinations of yarns, and you are to take a bag and knit a hat from it. I took two bags. One was dreadful, a baby pink with white, all acrylic, one textured, none the same weight. I made a teddy hat with tassels from that, it was pretty bad but I didn’t have good supplies.

However, my other bag was a treasure trove of goodies. It had mostly wool yarns, and a few acrylics or blends. There were seven or eight colors, including one handspun which changed from greens to pinks. Gorgeous.

I made a hat from the Anna Zilboorg hat book (well, it called for three fairly subtle colors and I spiced up the palette considerably but I followed the pattern pretty much exactly). It turned out just fabulously. I won the hat contest, and the prize was a $25 gift certificate to Yarn for Ewe which pleases me. OK, so the girl knitters all voted for me, but I did get 7 votes, and I noticed one person voting for me whose knitting I deeply admire. I am delighted to have attracted her approval.

Well, I survived four holiday parties in two days. No wonder we all stress out at this time of year!

Even though I’d sworn I wouldn’t knit for Christmas this year, I’m doing bits and pieces as time passes. I did one mini sock for Barbara yesterday. Then, when we got home from the last party, I picked up stitches around some of those stretch gloves that fit mostly anybody, and knit a second “cuff” in two strands of eyelash. The pink is Peacock by Skacel and purple is Plume FX by Berrocco. The Peacock has many more eyelashes so you may not be able to see the subtle purple bits in the picture.

I got this great idea from the Knitlist. Bobbie Reich from EweKnitKits had a few pictures of them on her picturetrail site and I had to give it a try. (By the way, I got my incredible purple sportweight alpaca yarn from Bobbie not too long ago, and they are the softest sox I own.)

The pair took nearly no time, and they look so fun! (I just love the Peacock yarn.) Next time, I may pick up the stitches further down where the cuff joins the bottom of the hand, and then reattach perhaps at the top of the ribbed cuff. The ones I made seem slightly too long in the cuff to me.

Tonight I went to my holiday party for Working Women Artists (WWA). There were seven of us, a cozy group.

We first spent a good long time decorating sugar cookies in all shapes. I hadn’t decorated Christmas cookies since I’d been a child. We had so many cookies! I didn’t contribute any to start with, but I went home with a large platter and a small plate, full of cookies. I’ll take them to the community center tomorrow, probably. Those kids seem to always have room for more food!

My gift for the WWA gift exchange was the gloves I’d made last night. My friend Marian got my gift, and pronounced them just right. She has a black coat and needed new gloves, or so she says. Whew. I always worry, because my style is so unique and colorful that it isn’t for everyone.
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Today my friend Tony and I went to our spinning guild meeting. I talked him into driving so I could knit (to be fair, I did drive the last two times we’d gone on knitting/spinning excursions). It takes a bit more than an hour each way, so I really enjoyed the luxury of knitting time.

This meant I was able to finish a mini sock as a Christmas gift (yes, I know I said I wasn’t going to do this) for my friend Barbara. Barbara, Brian and I and three others are in a band, Abbott Brothers, and our holiday get-together is tonight. It came very quickly, I must say!

Fortunately, I had three mini socks already knit, so I only needed one more. It was pretty fun to knit this one for her. I really like knitting with color, especially when I don’t have to fit anyone. I can just make things up as I go along, no worries about gauge. In this case, it was even better because I needed to make only one, so it doesn’t even have to match anything! Oh, as a point of information, the sock is about 3-1/2 inches tall.

By the way, you may want to check out Jenny Bowker’s quilt site. These are just amazing on both a visual and spiritual level. Some have incredible depth, as if she had painted rather than pieced fabrics. Breathtaking!

I did it! I finished Altu’s sox today. These are the pair I ribbed after the fact (see earlier December 4 entry). She was so surprised, and couldn’t believe I knew her foot size. She had forgotten that she had loaned me her “flip flops” one day when I was helping her paint her restaurant.

For the other yarn fans out there, I used Cleckheaton Tapestry 8 ply for the accent color (toes, rib and heels), and Encore for the main color. I had never used Encore before because I’m such a wool fanatic, but even though these are only 25% wool and 75% acrylic, I thought it felt pretty nice. It just happened to be the right color and weight when I was making my choices at Yarn for Ewe, my Local Yarn Shop. Altu loves purple, and I wanted to use worsted weight yarn since it is winter.

These turned out quite nicely after all. I had completed a different pair for Altu, before I realized I had made them my size instead of her size! Well, I got a new pair of sox, but then I started over and made hers.

I started these on November 30. It’s so funny, I had them done except for the toes in about five days, and then it took what seemed like forever to get those toes done! I kept counting wrong and missing decreases. Some projects just seem to go that way, don’t they?

Funny, I finally sat down and realized that I have too much knitting for the holidays. This is surprising, because I told myself I would not do knitting this year.

I bought clothing for hubby at a couple of stores. I got books for my godchildren (my Hershberger Art Kazoos tm and a sculpture were included in the book Polymer Clay by Jacqueline Gikow, and they had loaned me the kazoos I’d made for them to be photographed for the book). I got a calendar I’m in for their mom (the one for whom I am playing with cotton yarns).

I bought gifts for my family except for my mom. Mom’s sox I have up as a free pattern, “Mom’s Fast Florida Footies” (made in Cascade Fixation again).

We have Christmas with Mom in early November because she goes to Florida for the winter, so her gift, the one I thought I’d be knitting, was done long ago. Yet then I found this Mississippi 3 yarn and got excited. Then I decided the person I drew a name for at my dance troupe, would love sox. Then my friends Marian and Eva (a mom/daughter duo) asked me if I’d knit a pair for their SIL/aunt. Well, all three of them are good friends (the aunt is the one from whom I got my spinning wheel). And she will REALLY appreciate them, both as an artist and because she has a hard time finding sox to fit properly.

So here I am with three pair to knit? What am I doing?

I sat and chatted with Brian about this last night. I decided to put the cotton sox on hold because I have the calendar for Jo. And I surely can find something that will make my dance friend happy that won’t take so long (the gifts are supposed to be something like $10 anyway). I do have to do the pair for the friend/aunt, and those are due the 26th.

I’m designing a pattern for Dawn Brocco’s Heels and Toes Gazette, have done one version in worsted and now need one in fingering. So I figure I will work up the fingering wt. pair for the auntie in the pattern I’m doing for Dawn, and cover two bases at once.

Whew! Close call!

I have a friend who is truly allergic to wool. Last year for Christmas, I gave her sox made of Cascade Fixation yarn, a cotton and lycra blend. They look good, but the Fixation is sport weight and I think it might be lumpy underfoot, as she has very sensitive skin.

I did buy her a gift this year, so I don’t have to knit for her. Nevertheless, I heard of a yarn that might work and ordered some.

The yarn is Katia Mississippi 3, it’s cotton and acrylic. Now, I’m a wool fanatic, but this yarn is pretty soft and since it’s also fingering weight, I think it might actually work for sox for my friend. (It would also make nice baby clothes.)

I set out to doodle with yarn. I figured that I could make a wrist warmer for myself without having a perfect gauge, and that would give me some stockinette I could use as a gauge swatch. OK, so I cast on in the round and ribbed for a while, then I switched to stockinette.

Now, I’ve only made one pair of mittens in my life but I thought maybe I’d make a little thumb gusset and make the wristwarmer into a short handwarmer. However, I forgot that cotton doesn’t stretch like wool does. So I had a couple of problems right away. The cast on edge is very inflexible and even though the ribbed area is probably the proper width for a cuff, I don’t think it will pull on over a heel. Ugh. In addition, I started my thumb gusset far too soon, so that the rib pulls up and doesn’t rest on the wrist at all.

Because I’m using tiny size 0 needles and non-stretchy yarn, I needed to use more stitches for the thumb anyway. I have to frog the stockinette part (I’ve knit maybe two inches). That is OK, because I did enough to get my stockinette stitch gauge figured out for my friend’s sox.

I even cast on for my friend’s sock and did a few inches of ribbing. The cast-on edge won’t stretch enough to fit, again. That one I have to rip out entirely. I think cotton knows that I really don’t like it.

Maybe these sox will be for her June birthday, instead?

I drove today to Ann Arbor, to meet another knitter from the Knitlist. We had a great time. First we met for a cup of tea, then we went to the Knit A Round yarn shop when they opened. I found some beautiful Koigu (I’m such a sucker for their colors) and a skein of Lorna’s Laces almost-solid worsted weight. The Koigu is turquoises and purples, and the Lorna’s Laces is a wonderful intense pink. Of course, they are destined to become socks, every one!

I also stopped in Howell on the way home, at the Stitch in Time shop. Charlene had sent me a $5 discount card for my birthday, so that gave me all the excuse I needed to stop by. I found two skeins of a very hot purple alpaca sportweight. More sox. I just don’t get tired of knitting sox!!!

When I got home I got to teach my CityKidz Knit! class. Those kids are the best thing that happens to me each week. I’ll surely wax poetic about them in a later post!

I’m usually a socknitter. I can’t feel grounded without at least one sock project in my knitting bag, which goes with me everywhere. However, lately I’ve been trying different projects in addition to the socks.

I’ve got a rug in process, made of Peace Fleece (I’ll full/felt it when it’s completed). I’m currently working on a tea cosy, an eternal sweater for myself, a stole for the kids I teach to knit, a scarf for charity and several hats. I also completed my first mittens and some wonderful cabled legwarmers in the last month.

The most recent non-sock project I did was a tiny sweater made of some of my very early handspun. It was what they call “energized singles” yarn which means it knit in a spiral, but in this tiny garment it looks like a design element. I’m very pleased with this project!

Today a group of artist friends, most of whom are in Working Women Artists with me, held an “Art for the Soul” sale at one member’s house. We always have a good time getting to know each other between sales.

It was a delight to get to know our visitors, especially some women who are interested in joining us. One woman, Martha, used to live in Detroit. She told about a man who is a curator at the Detroit Institute of the Arts, and who has an art space deep in a neighborhood in Detroit. He is apparently quite involved with installation art and experiential art. She said once he walked from Detroit to Boston wearing a cardboard box with a message, to raise funds for an art program. She had met this ArtMan and apparently he is both inspiring and approachable.

Right now she said he is spinning a thread from his art space in the inner city, to 8 Mile Road which is where the suburbs symbolically start. The thread is a metaphor, and as a spinner I find the whole concept wonderful on both the physical (spinning) and metaphorical (connection thread) levels.

I must meet this man! I’ve done some surfing and haven’t found him yet, but I will. The Working Women Artists may take a day trip to visit this gallery when we find it.

By the way, Tyree Guyton is another amazing Detroit Artist. He was the man who dreamed of the Heidelberg Project. It’s pretty hard to describe the Heidelberg project, forgive me if I fall short.

Tyree and his neighbors (especially children) in an inner-city Detroit neighborhood transformed several blocks of ignored homes, by collecting found objects and arranging them in logically-organized (though unkempt) vignettes of sorts.
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I got time to actually dye some yarn, preparing for an art sale. It’s so fun once I get started, but it is enough of a mess that it requires changing clothing just in case I spill. That means I can’t do it in an hour here or there. It is amazing how hard it is to get several hours all at once, especially not late at night when I’m starting to tire physically.

I tried some new sportweight yarn this time. It started out as a base color of a very light mint green. I think it worked out well. The turquoise reminds me of sea spray, mostly blues with bits of white fizz. I made two versions of the springtime meadow color, one sunny and light and the other more grassy.
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I’ve been knitting sox for a friend as a surprise, and they have been a challenge. I made her one pair and found out (fortunately soon enough to not disappoint her) that they were too small. I started again and this time they were just slightly too baggy. After knitting both cuffs, I didn’t want to tear them out and reknit, so I played with a crochet hook. I dropped a stitch on purpose, let it “run” down to the top ribbing, turned the cuff inside out and used a crochet hook to re-chain the dropped stitches together.

I kept working my way around the tube, dropping every third stitch and working the stitches, until those repaired stitches were all purls and it made a ribbed sock. They fit much better now. I’m eager to have a pair I can actually give to her soon!

Here is a picture of the transformation: