Bron's Blog II

How often are you truly

How often are you truly pleased with your completed project? How many times have you woven in that last end and thought “Perfect, absolutely perfect.”

If you’re like me, not often. In fact, very close to “never.” You see, I say things like:
“If I had it to do over again I would...”
“The sweater would be perfect if it were just a little longer/shorter/wider/smaller.”
“It was great fun to knit, I just wish I’d chosen a different color.”
“The pattern is great, but the yarn just wasn’t quite right.”
“I messed up on the lace pattern...if you look real close you can see......”
And on & on & on.

I’m a perfectionist. I always have been. In everything I do I look for flaws and almost always find them. If I can’t find an obvious one I get inventive. ::::grin:::: Just recently I heard that perfectionists are more likely to come down with heart disease than our more laid back friends. That’s a no-brainer. Those of us who get upset over the little things in life - being late for appts, having our schedule disrupted, finishing a sweater that’s just a tad too small - will find the little things snowball into one big stress-induced heart attack!

In short, I need to go easier on myself. It’ll be very hard for me to do but I think it’s worth it if it improves not only my mental health but my physical health as well. I’m not calling this a New Year’s resolution because it’s more of a Life resolution. I figure writing this in my blog will help keep me honest. Like it’s helped me be a “finisher” rather than just a knitter. :)

In the spirit of my new outlook, here is something that finished up perfectly. It’s just like I imagined it in my mind’s eye, is soft as a cloud, and I (a confirmed disliker of scarves) love, love, love it!:




I'll still try & get a pic with me actually IN the scarf. I think it will look smashing over the neutral coat I knit last winter. The extra faux fur trim really made this one special. Now it's back to my cables!

May your knitting always be successful and perfect in your eyes because no-one else's opinion really matters.

Yesterday I wandered into B&N

Yesterday I wandered into B&N to see if the new Knitter's was in. It wasn't, but Knit & Style was. I let my subscription to K&S run out - there was never anything inside I wanted to knit and most of the patterns were really uggo. (Kinda like Knitting Digest, but that's another rant.) Anyway, I leafed through this one & a couple of things caught my eye. Since I'd just been to the bank to get a little Yuletide cash, I decided to treat myself & get the mag. But what really "caught my eye" when I got home was this:



Merry Christmas, eh, boys & girls? My, my, my. More on the actual magazine at a later date. ::::grin::::

Since my commitment to a yarn diet was half-hearted at best a little package made it's way to me yesterday from Elann. You see, I had to order 4 more balls of Coupe in the black/red colorway to make sure I had enough for a sweater for Colin. And since I was already paying for shipping, I looked around to see what else I could add to the order:



This is Koala in the "Kodiak" color and above it is Piuma Print in "Blueberry", both by Austermann. Hmmmm...this is great yarn, folks. I'd originally ordered the Koala to have in my stash for one of my "someday" sweaters. I have it in my head to knit a nice little sweater with fur trim at the neckline and cuffs - you know, something Audrey Hepburn would've worn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." But...when I saw these together I realized I had to USE them together. The brown in "blueberry" matches the brown in "kodiak" so I started thinking scarves. But not your basic "cast on & knit 15" scarf - I wanted something with a fur trim! So after about 15 minutes of thought, I've started the "Shape It Scarf" in Sally Melville's "The Knit Stitch." I'll knit the scarf from the 3 balls of Piuma, then go back (probably with crochet) and do a fur trim around the scarf. Here's my progress:



The triangle portion of the scarf is almost complete - this took me one ball of yarn & one hour of knitting time on size 11 needles. I love this yarn combo so much I went back to Elann this morning and ordered the last 5 balls of blueberry they had in stock. Also 3 more of Koala "Kodiak" and 3 of "Ocelot." If you're thinking "fur trim" on anything, or would like a fur-look scarf, check out this yarn! I don't like the new neon/flashy colors for scarves for myself but the natural colors/look is something I can enjoy.

Last, but never least, I wanted to show you my progress on the Buttons Vest. I couldn't get a decent close up without losing all focus with my camera, so here is the best I could do:



This is the first pattern repeat completed - the main cable up the back of the vest. This is really nice to knit. The large areas of garter make it go fast and the cables are easy but look complicated. This yarn knits up into a very light-weight, spongey fabric but the wool content makes it very warm. I know I'm really going to love this one when it's finished. Oh - and I also made some progress on my shawl, but rows of garter aren't terribly exciting to photograph.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend - I'll probably post again on Monday, when I've made substantial progress on one (or several) of my projects.

But it's only 5 bucks!

But it's only 5 bucks!

Actual conversation, overheard in Wal-Mart:

"Dude - that's cool. What is it?"

"Kitchen something. Only 5 bucks!"

"Yeah, but what does it do?"

"Kitchen crap, man - it's only 5 bucks!"

"Who you givin' it too?"

"My Mom, Dude. She loves this crap. And only 5 bucks!"

Ahhhh....Black Friday. Last year at this time I was standing in my local 24 hr. Wal-Mart, cheek to jowl with about 1000 other hopeful holiday shoppers, waiting for the official call of "Time." I was in line for Gameboy Advances - we needed 2 and Wally-World had them for $20.00 less than everyone else. For that I got up at 4:30 in the morning, the day after Thanksgiving.

Of course, I didn't get them.

You see - other people got up at 4:00 in the morning and stood in line for at least 1 1/2 hours to get the Gameboys. Obviously they were more dedicated shoppers than I.

But I learned that the herd mentality is evident the minute you leave your car in the parking lot. Move too slowly and you are mercilessly cut from the pack and devoured as a pre-breakfast snack. Move too fast and you're told to "Get to the end of the line!" Move at just the right pace and you are sucked into the holiday buying frenzy. And baby, if you don't have a large Starbucks cup (that you can leave on a shelf in Wal-Mart still half full at 6:30) then you ain't nobody!

If you see a cart in the parking lot, grab it - there are no guarantees you'll find one neatly corralled inside. Once you are through the doors, waste no time in asking, "What are you in line for?" Don't worry about ending a sentence with "for" - everyone else is doing it too so majority rules. You'll hear things like "sewing machines" "drill set" and....I kid you not...."socks!" (Yeah - there were two women in line to get tube socks for a buck a bag.) Once in line, DON'T MOVE YOUR CART FOR ANY REASON OTHER THAN MOVING FOWARD ONE INCH AT A TIME. You must eye with suspicion anyone who wishes to "cut across" your line. Hover with your cart until they are through, quickly moving forward to close the line gap, narrowly missing the butt of the woman in front of you.

The Gameboy line was particularly harrowing last year. Suddenly - about 1/2 hour into my wait - I hear a panicked cry come down the line. "She's trying to cut in! Don't let her! We have a line-cutter here!" Immediately we all began watching the side aisles, our grips becoming firmer on our cart handles. Sure enough - within a minute or two a small woman with a sickly smile and hopeful eyes appeared on my right. I glanced at my watch and snorted. 5:45. Obviously this was some lay-a-bed, too lazy to come out with the hard-core shoppers, hoping to cash in on all our hard work...er...line waiting. I felt the cart behind me graze my ankles, so I inched forward, casually closing the forward gap. I studiously ignored the woman trying to cut in - in fact 4 of us in line struck up a conversation - all to prove that we had no idea that anything was happening...but it would be a cold day in Wal-Mart when we allowed cuts!

At 6:15 the call came down the line - "They're out - Gameboys are sold out." After a few tearful good-byes and promises to write, my line disintegrated, all of us off to see what pitiful bargains might be left in other parts of the store, our Gameboy dreams broken on the wheel of corporate/consumer greed.

Hmmm....what do you think - was that last bit a little over the top? ::::grin:::::

Hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a great one - more knitting content on the morrow. ;)

The search for a second

The search for a second project....

Because the meditation shawl is meant to be knit when I'm in a calm & reflective mood, I decided I needed something to knit the other 95% of the time. ::::grin::: Trying to be meditative while watching Survivor doesn't cut it. Ha!Soooo...

During the last couple of days I pulled out all my knitting mags & books - you know, the ones with the little torn bits of paper marking patterns you might one day want to try - poured a few caffeine free diet Pepsis and perused. I had to keep in mind I couldn't buy more yarn so my options really narrowed. I found a few more things to mark this time through and I also pulled a few (what was I thinking? - sheesh) but I finally came back to something I mentioned before:


This is the Many Buttoned Vest from Folk Vests by Cheryl Oberle. There is a certain symmetry to be working on both a shawl & a vest by the same designer.

I can tell you right now I won't be putting all the buttons down the front! I think it will most probably remain plain. I'm really excited about this - there is a lovely cable going up the back (that you really can't see in this pic) - and enough going on in the pattern so I won't get bored. :) Plus....NO SLEEVES! Teehee. I wrote out the charts last night & cast on. I'll post a pic when I have something to show.

Here are the yarns I'm currently using:



On the left is Katia Beetle in a copper color (LOVE that yarn) and on the right are the three colors of my shawl - lavender, dark sage and light sage. That's the cheapo stuff, Red Heart TLC. But hey - when my shawl is finished and I decided to shlep it up a mountain to meditate for awhile, I think I'll be glad it's knit from wear-like-iron acrylic!

I wish everyone a peaceful Thanksgiving. As for me, I have pies to bake and salads to make. I hope you can all fit in a bit of knitting amidst the family revelry.

My bright red Sitcom Chic

My bright red Sitcom Chic has made its way to Fresno and Hubbie's Aunt Helen is thrilled. Whew! She loves it - "beautiful" and "elegant" were two adjectives I managed to catch while basking in the glow of a successful gift moment. (Believe me, the older you get the harder it is to do the "present thing" right!)

Helen is a knitter from waaaaay back (she's 80 now.) We still have sweaters, jackets and socks she knitted back in the 60's & 70's. She's been incredibly prolific over the years. No children of her own, but loads of nieces & nephews. When Dylan was born she sent a huge box full of knitted dolls - Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Sleeping Beauty and the Prince...and all 7 of the dwarves with Snow White! But DH was telling me last night that he doubted anyone, in all those years, ever gave HER a knitted item in return.

Awwww...shucks...that's a warm fuzzy glow that I can enjoy for a long time!

Hold on - I'm going to detour into general craft gift-giving thoughts. :::grin::::

I've been making things for as long as I can remember. (Ask me sometime about the amazing pocket-full purse I crocheted when I was 9. There were so many pockets inside & outside I couldn't put anything IN them!). Soon after I started making things I started giving things...and giving gifts - especially handmade ones - is a tricky, tricky thing.

I had the two extremes right in my own family. On the one hand there was my Mom - who treated everything I ever gave her as something precious and irreplaceable...even dishcloths which she insisted on using as doilies. Sigh. When she is gone I'll be able to open drawers in her bedroom and take home everything I ever gave her - just as pristine as when it left my hands so many years ago.

On the other hand was my bio-Mom. I remember one year I gave her a thread crochet doily - the first one I'd ever made that actually laid flat. I believe I was 11 at the time. She made the appropriate excited noises while opening the package and then her face fell. "Oh." ..."A doily." Flat, dead-pan - guaranteed to crush a fledgling doily-maker. Or a fledgling gift-giver for that matter!

So I've learned to be circumspect over the years. Yes, I still give handmade items, but not often ones that I've slaved over. Cute, quick little crafts are fine - I save my hours & hours of work for a carefully chosen few. I'm not asking people to worship what I've made - I want them to understand the love & thought that went into the construction....and lots of people don't "get" that at all.

I think in some ways, the Knitting Curmudgeon has the right of it. (I'm too lazy to do a hyper-link - check the blog links to your right :::grin:::) In a recent entry she talks about giving "real" gifts (cds, dvds, etc) instead of knitted ones. Yep, yep, yep. My best friend has 4 kids. The very LAST thing I want to be known as is the dotty old Auntie who gives knitted mittens for Christmas. Puuuuleez! I want to be cool! So I give Harry Potter stuff and DVDs, Barbies and jewelry. Yeah - they'd love me even if I gave 'em mittens, but they wouldn't LIKE me so much. N'est pas?

Dang - I'm runnin' on & on again. Here's a pic of my shawl:



There are two increase rows near the very beginning to help the shawl lay correctly on your shoulders, hence the slight waviness to the fabric. From here on out it's garter, garter, garter, eyelet, garter, garter, garter. I think I'll spare you another update pic for a looong while! :::grin::::

Caveat: I probably should've made clear in my original post that I HAVE made things for my friend's children over the years and they do love & appreciate my efforts. I think my point was more along the lines of new mittens every year for 20 years just *might* get a bit old after the first 3 or 4 pair.

I just didn't want to leave the impression (even though you don't know who the heck I'm talking about) that my honorary nieces & nephew are an ungrateful, materialistic bunch because they aren't. There - my conscience is now clear. ::::grin:::::

I had a knitting weekend

I had a knitting weekend of hills & valleys. Obviously the big accomplishment was the completion of Dylan's sweater. But then I found myself with nothing else to knit! I was thinking hard about my cardi (I'd even envisioned how I'd do the eyelet row up the fronts for the button bands) so I decided to cast on & dive right in.

Thus, dear readers, I knit blissfully into my first valley. Bottom line: I'm not going to have enough yarn. (Altogether now): DAMN! I swear, it's my continuing nightmare. KnitList should have an acronym for this one - NEY - Not Enough Yarn. I even went to Elann to double check the Austermann Coupe supply. They have every color EXCEPT the one I need. Sigh...Frog...Fume.

Then I turned to my Bird's Nest Shawl and began to climb out of the valley. At least it was cast on! But then I started thinking, and measuring, and thinking some more. Since everyone's entitled to change their minds - especially with knitting projects! - I changed mine. I decided NOT to go with Bird's Nest after all. I want a meditation shawl to be all-enveloping, all-encompassing...and I'm a lot of girl to encompass! Bird's Nest is really pretty but just wouldn't be big enough for what I had in mind. So I turned back to the shawl I really wanted to make: the Feather & Fan Triangle Shawl. Here's a pic:



This shawl is about 108" wide at the top with extra long tails you can wrap and tie to your heart's content. Plus, even though I love stoles, I love triangle shawls even more. Must be that Kansas girl comin' out. (After all, I watched every episode of Little House on the Prairie.)

Now - here's my little rant for the day. I feel fairly safe saying this since I really doubt Cheryl Oberle reads my blog. Or that anyone remotely related to Ms. Oberle reads my blog. I'm ashamed to admit it, but this is the reason I didn't choose this shawl to begin with:

"Because of the shawl's special shape, once the lace pattern begins, the instructions are presented only in charted form.If you haven't tried charts, now is your opportunity. Remember, if you want it, you can knit it!"

First of all, I don't do charts (haven't you heard me whine a time or two or ten about that?) and secondly, "if you want it, you can knit it" strikes me as a trifle smug if not condescending. I know she doesn't mean it that way, but I'm brought to mind of the Wizard of Oz: (imagine lots of swirling smoke and mysterious green light)

Me: "Pu-pu-puulease Ma'am, may I have a shawl?"

Wizard: "NOOOO! NOT until you prove your heart, mind and soul are DESERVING! So - read this chart while I fiddle around behind this curtain. If you WANT it you can KNIT it! Mwhahahaha!"

Yeah - I want it. But not enough to knit from a chart. Once again I'll take the time to write out every line on my little index cards. Hey - it worked with Vines, it'll work with this.

I'll have a pic of my progress tomorrow. The main (non-charted!) shawl body is fairly straight-forward. I did frog once because I didn't like my increases. I went back & did the lifted increase and it looks much better. So far, great meditation knitting.

Have a great Monday & stay clear of curtains & wizards!

Update as promised.... Neither rain,

Update as promised....

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor dark of night....

Nor 24 hr. stomach sickness....

Will stop this knitter from her appointed finishing rounds...

A little magic and 4 hours of work later:





The sleeves are precisely the right length and the sweater has been pronounced, "Cool!"

My work here is done.

Whew! There's one thing that

Whew! There's one thing that is almost guaranteed if you volunteer in a classroom full of children....you're gonna get sick.

I managed to pick up some weird 24 hr. stomach bug Wed. and by 4:00 AM on Friday I was laid pretty low. Luckily it really does seem to be a 24 thing since after sleeping almost 12 hours last night I'm feeling quite a bit better! But I did more than my fair share of moaning & complaining yesterday!

Before all this hit I managed to finish & bind off the sleeves of D's sweater. So today (while still taking it easy) I'll be doing some sewing & finishing & a wee bit more knitting for the placket & neckline. If all goes well I'll have a pic of the sweater on the happy recipient later today.

So - I hope your weekend is knitting-full and sickness-free!

I'm so close I can

I'm so close I can taste it:



After measuring & re-measuring (Dylan hates too-short-arms as much as I do) I've found that I only have 2 1/2 to 3" left to go on the sleeves. I'll make it the 3" just to be on the safe side. THAT I can finish today. Woohoo! Then just a few rows for the placket, 5 rows around the neck, a few ends & voila! That light at the end of the tunnel looks mighty fine, let me tell you. ::::big grin:::::

Of course, I almost hate to admit it, but I kinda-sorta somehow managed to...um...screw up on the pattern. It's amazing - I did the entire Dancing Vines sweater and NEVER frogged. I had a couple of small goofs but never with a cable in all it's twists & turns - and dang it, they twisted & turned a LOT. But THIS .....this....."simple" sweater, I've had to tink & frog, tink & frog, tink & frog. You can see the very obvious vertical ridges in the sleeves. There's nothing wrong with that, but technically they aren't supposed to be there. I think I did reverse stockinette when I was supposed to do straight garter. Something as simple as that & look what happens. This has taught me a hard lesson - stay clear of graphed patterns that change for each section of the sweater. In other words, the back & front used a different graph than the sleeves...obviously I didn't figure out how to change with it! Of course, to add to the confusion, they both switch right & wrong sides every few rows. My brain just can't wrap itself around the concept and my synapses are too old to start making new connections now! LOL I really like the looks of the pattern, but I won't be making it again. Uh-huh!

But - on a bright note - I'm really kicking butt with my left-handed carry. It's become my method of choice now. So maybe there are one or two new tricks left in this middle-aged dog. ::::wink:::::

Oh - by the way - does anyone watch Jon Stewart? Well, here it is, my moment of Zen: Knitting along on my couch yesterday, watching the new Governor of CA carrying a coffin out of a crypt while opening up on the police with an Uzi.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Serendipity in action.... The set-up:

Serendipity in action....

The set-up: there was a mini-flurry on the KList about a hat w/ flaps pattern - where to find, which was the best, etc. I didn't pay much attention 'cause I didn't need a pattern for hats with earflaps.

Now....I've been in a quandry about what to buy/make for my best friend's middle daughter. She's 13 and an incredible tomboy. (Do you see where this is going yet?) So I emailed my friend and asked what the daughter's girlie-girl quotient was these days and would she like one of those fun-fur scarves (or "scarfs" as some on the List continue to say - aaargh!). I was at my wits end & figured I could whip out of those skinny things in no time.

My friend answers, "Probably not. Her girlie-girl quotient is still non-existent. But...she is hankering after one of those ski hats - fair-isle with ear flaps, braided tieds with tassels and big pom-pom on top. If that's any help."

A big pom-pom on top.

Yeah - I can do the pom pom, it's the rest of it that I really can't manage. I started thinking yesterday that I could retrieve the emails about the earflap hats from the Klist, but ... I'm really not interested in trying out two color knitting right now. I haven't done it in over 20 years and if I get the stranding too tight on a hat she'll never be able to wear it! Plus I just think it's too finicky for me to do right now - I need a calm, quiet project (meditation shawl) these days. I debated back & forth with myself and long story short, I've decided to try & find a hat for her at the stores - if the big pom pom is non-existent, I can always make that much for her. ::::grin:::: Then in January I'll start playing around with fair-isle just for her....just wait 'til she sees NEXT years' present!

But my point is that I should pay more attention to the major discussion points on KList - about 80% of the time they suddenly become pertinent in my life within about a week of showing up. Actually, it's kinda creepy. I'm not sure if it's the fact that so many knitting subjects are ubiquitous and will show up in your life whether you want them to or not or if there is a higher knitting power directing it all. Either way, talk about an all-encompassing hobby!

Still plugging away on those sleeves! I finished the increases last night & will be knitting straight for about 6". I should have several uninterrupted knitting hours today and am planning on making significant headway.

My knitting suffered a bit yesterday - P/T conferences at the school which really bit into my time (the boys are out early every day this week). My conference went well with C's teacher, but I won't be having my conference with D's this week. Poor man tripped & fell in the classroom before school and is in the hospital with a compound fracture of his right arm! I feel so sorry for him - the pain and just general inconvenience. He has to reschedule all 25 of his conferences this week - I can't imagine trying to do that during the regular school schedule.

Once again, before I leave, I just have to say that the plural to "scarf" is "scarves." I'm sorry - I minored in English and some things just really bug me. Not often....I'm able to ignore a lot....but some things just drive me nutso.

Maybe I should join Grammar Avengers? Ha!