At last!

Who would ever think that rain could cause so much excitement. Only fear of blinding the neighbors (and a smattering of modesty) prevented me from dashing out in the yard and dancing naked in it.

It has been so dry here that all the vegetation that wasn’t irrigated was dying. The area had been plagued with forest fires. Smelling smoke from these fires – some two states away – has been a daily occurrence for several weeks … a genuine nightmare for those who suffer from allergies. Rather ironic considering other parts of the country are experiencing heavy flooding. We didn’t get enough rain to eliminate the drought conditions but it certainly was a help.

I am astounded at how lush everything looks the day after a rain. My ginger plant doubled in height overnight. I actually have a semi-green yard again. Everything looks refreshed, revived and rejuvenated. Even the ants are happier. Hard to believe a chemical as simple as water – two hydrogen atoms, one oxygen atom; H₂O – could cause such an immediate change in life.

Has the rain a father?
Or who has begotten the drops of dew? – Job 38:28

I love knitting in the rain. The sound of the raindrops coupled with the rhythmic clicking of the needles is soothing to the soul. While my little one was playing in the rain, I knitted peacefully on the porch. One of those rare moments of absolute, parental joy. Should have recorded a video.

Spring Cleaning Update

I am still furiously working on my Spring Needle Cleaning. I must confess, this is a lot more fun than normal spring cleaning.

Currently, I am working on the long forgotten sweater vest I started for Hubby before Christmas [note to self: do not attempt to knit sweaters for Christmas gifts if you actually want to have something to put under the tree]. I am sure that Hubby will be positively thrilled to wear a nice warm sweater in July since we live in a place where the average July afternoon temperature exceeds 92^oF. What a thoughtful wife I am! Lucky for him, the person who sets the thermostat at the church building is notoriously hot-natured – evidenced by the collection of blankets, throws and wraps that stay scattered on the pews.

It is about three-quarters of the way complete. The back is finished and the front is almost at the half-way mark as you can see from the second photo. The color is a little truer in the second photo but I have yet to get a photo that looked very close to the actual burgundy color of the yarn. My camera apparently doesn’t like reds.

Barring some knitting disaster, I should have this finished sometime this week. Maybe I will pretend that it is a Father’s Day present. I am ashamed that I have had it OTN for so long. But at least it was only there for months, instead of years.

I have noticed a definite improvement in my knitting skills since this project was cast on. Hopefully, this trend will continue and one day I will be as good as the knitters I see in the books, magazines and blogs. I have to constantly remind myself from time to time that I cannot expect to be a master knitter after less than a year. Sometimes my perfectionist nature gets in the way of my common sense. I have improved tremendously and I am pleased with my progress.

Knitting has provided me with a sense of fulfillment that no other needlework has – and I have tried them all – crochet, tatting, cross-stitch, embroidery, needlepoint.
Oddly, knitting and I had a bumpy start. I took a class at the local library with my daughter. I did complete my hat but it was unbelievably too small (when the hat that is supposed to fit your daughter is too tight for her doll you know you have gauge issues). Then, discouraged by my first failure, I put knitting down and forgot it – literally. A year or so later, I stumbled upon some beautiful yarn on the clearance aisle and I picked up the needles again. Once I finally remembered relearned how to cast on there has been no stopping me. I have knitted nearly every day since I picked the needles back up last fall – even if it was only a row. (I don’t remember the exact date when I started knitting again but I consider Halloween to be my knitting anniversary date because that is about the time when stores start clearances on their fall colors).

Since that time I have been surprised to find fellow knitters everywhere. I discover them at church, I bump into them in stores and I find them on the internet. The one common trait of all those knitters is their willingness to help another knitter. I have learned so much from all you knitters out there. Thank you for sharing your knowledge, your experience and your encouragement.

Now how exactly did I end up here when I started out talking about rain?!

I am doing a little spring needle cleaning. In other words, I am clearing the UFO’s off my needles to make room for new projects.

Lucky 13

First, I finished my 13th pair of socks. Another pair of Horcrux socks. This pair matches the pair I made for my daughter. They are a birthday gift for DD’s best friend who is also a Harry Potter fan.

I knit this pair 2 at once on 2 circs – my first pair this way. The jury is still out on whether I like this method or not. I do like that I finished them both at about the same time but I am still not sure I like all the yarn tangles. My thanks to KyleAnn for the tutorial that helped me learn this method.

This leaves me with only 4 pair OTN. Will keep you posted on the progress for those.

Shrunken Bag

Next, I completed a felted bag for my husband’s niece – her graduation gift. It turned out really cute and I hate to part with it. It is a great size for a knitting project bag – just the perfect size for a sock.

This was my first attempt at deliberate shrinking felting. The whole process is fascinating.

Before.

After.

I am surprised how long it took me to get the bag felted to the correct size. If I had thrown a wool sock or sweater in the washer by accident it would have shrunk the instant the water hit it. I actually ran this bag through 3 prewash cycles. Go figure.

Miss Hattie’s Shawl

Miss Hattie is a 93 year old widow from the church where I attend. She always comes to services alone and she drives herself. She is in good health for her age but she does have her health problems. Miss Hattie recently broke her wrist and was confined to her home for about 8 weeks. As soon as the doctor cleared her to drive, she was right back at worship services. I find her to be quite an inspiration.

Like a lot of aging ladies, Miss Hattie gets cold easily. And what does any self-respecting knitter do when someone is cold? That’s right, whip out those knitting needles. Her favorite color is pink – hot pink. I found a simple lace shawl pattern that would work well with a bulky yarn. I have had this OTN way too long but since this project had no specific deadline – i.e. it wasn’t a birthday or special occasion gift – it tended to get pushed to the back of the stack. I pulled it out when I started my Spring Cleaning.

This is the shawl before blocking. The color is actually a little brighter – a very bright pure pink – but the photo was taken indoors. I used Homespun acrylic from Lion Brand. I know there are a lot of you who don’t like acrylic but this yarn is light, soft and warm at the same time. I have a shawl knit from it that I adore. Plus this cost fits my very tight budget a lot better than wool, silk and cashmere.

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Deets
Lucky 13 Socks
Pattern – Horcrux Socks by Susan Pierce Lawrence
Yarn Caron Simply Soft – Autumn Red, Lemonade
Needles – 2 Size 4 circulars

Shrunken Bag
Pattern – Amanda’s Squatty Sidekick from Knitting Daily
Yarn – Lion Wool – Autumn Sunset
Needles – Size 11 circular

Miss Hattie’s Shawl
Pattern – Easy Triangular Shawl from Lion Brand
Yarn – Lion Brand Homespun – Cotton Candy
Needles – Size 13 circulars

I love knitting socks for my 6 year old son. His enthusiasm for hand-knits is unsurpassed. The problem with this enthusiasm is that he tends to disappear with the first sock before I have had a chance to complete the second one. Case in point, the Horcrux socks. When I knitted Gryffindor socks for his sister, Stinky Pete immediately had to have Ravenclaw socks. We picked out the yarn together – the avid Harry Potter fan will realize that these are not quite Ravenclaw colors but they are the colors that Stinky liked best. He pestered me non-stop until I finished the first sock and promptly vanished with said sock before I got a photo to prove that it existed. I knitted happily on the second sock until I got to the point where I needed to check the length of the first sock to know where to start the toe – I am a bit weird about having both socks the same length. I asked Stinky for the first sock and he had no clue where it was. I sent the entire family on a fruitless search and ended up so disgusted that I slipped the sock onto waste yarn and started another sock. We have been searching off and on for about a week for this sock to no avail. I was beginning to think that it had committed sock suicide and jumped into the black hole at the back of the dryer.

Well, the unfinished sock kept taunting me until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I slipped it back on the needles and finished it off using my son’s foot instead of the other sock to determine the length. I immediately took the sock outside for a photo shoot – once bitten, twice shy, you know. I also refrained from giving the second sock to Stinky until he found the first one. I was contemplating Photo Shopping the picture of the first sock to make it look like I had a pair – but I would have known that it was only one sock so that would have never worked.

Last night, I was gathering a load of laundry and there buried underneath Stinky Pete’s dirty blue jeans was the missing sock. Lest you think I never do laundry, I had checked the hamper for the silly sock before – even though there was absolutely no reason for a clean sock to be in the dirty laundry. Obviously, the alien life form that had previously stolen the sock thought that hiding the sock in the dirty laundry would keep me from realizing that the sock had been stolen in the first place. Hopefully, next time they will not steal the hand knitted socks.

So now, Stinky has two socks – which is handy since he has two feet – and I have photographic proof that I did, in deed, knit a pair of socks rather than just one. Balance has been restored to the universe.

The Horcrux sock is a fun pattern to knit. This is the second complete pair from this pattern and I have another Gryffindor pair about half way complete – these will be my first time to knit 2 socks on 2 circs.

The pattern got a little hairy around rows 15 and 17 where the stitches have to shift from one needle to another. This is really easy on dpns but proved quite problematic on circs. I am sure there is a trick that I just don’t know but I ended up getting the stitch shuffle completed with the aid of a spare dpn. Think in the future I will reserve the patterns with stitch shifts for dpns. I should have this third pair of Horcruxes finished by tomorrow – which is good since my daughter is giving them to her daughter’s best friend on Wednesday for her birthday. And after that I will FINALLY get to knit a pair of these for myself – maybe.

In other news, I got this

from my wonderful LYS on Friday. Joan, the owner, has also gotten in some new sock yarns that I MUST try as well as some Louet Euro-Flax in fantabulous colors. I think it would make life much easier if I just direct deposited the paycheck into Joan’s account. Did I mention that she is teaching a Fair Isle class in June? I have dabbled with Fair Isle before but nothing as ambitious as a sweater. Can’t wait.

In honor of all our mothers I would like to share the following with you from the Tabitha’s Heart and Hands Newsletter. If you would be interested in receiving the newsletter, you may sign up on the Tabitha’s Heart & Hands website I wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day.

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The Meanest Mother In The World

I had the meanest mother in the whole world. While other kids ate candy for breakfast, I had to have cereal, eggs or toast. When others had cokes and candy for lunch, I had to eat a sandwich. As you can guess, my supper was different than the other kids’ also.

But at least, I wasn’t alone in my sufferings. My sister and two brothers had the same mean mother as I did.

My mother insisted upon knowing where we were at all times. You’d think we were on a chain gang. She had to know who our friends were and where we were going. She insisted if we said we’d be gone an hour, that we be gone one hour or less–not one hour and one minute. I am nearly ashamed to admit it, but she actually struck us. Not once, but each time we had a mind of our own and did as we pleased. That poor belt was used more on our seats than it was to hold up Daddy’s pants. Can you imagine someone actually hitting a child just because he disobeyed? Now you can begin to see how mean she really was.

We had to wear clean clothes and take a bath. The other kids always wore their clothes for days. We reached the height of insults because she made our clothes herself, just to save money. Why, oh why, did we have to have a mother who made us feel different from our friends?

The worst is yet to come. We had to be in bed by nine each night and up at eight the next morning. We couldn’t sleep till noon like our friends. So while they slept-my mother actually had the nerve to break the child-labor law. She made us work. We had to wash dishes, make beds, learn to cook and all sorts of cruel things. I believe she laid awake at night thinking up mean things to do to us.

She always insisted upon us telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, even if it killed us- and it nearly did.

By the time we were teen-agers, she was much wiser, and our life became even more unbearable. None of this tooting the horn of a car for us to come running. She embarrassed us to no end by making our dates and friends come to the door to get us. If I spent the night with a girlfriend, can you imagine she checked on me to see if I were really there. I never had the chance to elope to Mexico. That is if I’d had a boyfriend to elope with. I forgot to mention, while my friends were dating at the mature age of 12 and 13, my old fashioned mother refused to let me date until the age of 15 and 16. Fifteen, that is, if you dated only to go to a school function. And that was maybe twice a year.

Through the years, things didn’t improve a bit. We could not lie in bed, “sick” like our friends did, and miss school. If our friends had a toe ache, a hang nail or serious ailment, they could stay home from school. Our marks in school had to be up to par. Our friends’ report cards had beautiful colors on them, black for passing, red for failing. My mother being as different as she was, would settle for nothing less than ugly black marks.

As the years rolled by, first one and then the other of us was put to shame. We were graduated from high school. With our mother behind us, talking, hitting and demanding respect, none of us was allowed the pleasure of being a drop-out.

My mother was a complete failure as a mother. Out of four children, a couple of us attained some higher education. None of us have ever been arrested, divorced or beaten his mate. Each of my brothers served his time in the service of this country. And whom do we have to blame for the terrible way we turned out? You’re right, our mean mother. Look at the things we missed. We never got to march in a protest parade, nor to take part in a riot, burn draft cards, and a million and one other things that our friends did. She forced us to grow up into God-fearing, educated, honest adults.

Using this as a background, I am trying to raise my three children. I stand a little taller and I am filled with pride when my children call me mean. Because, you see, I thank God, He gave me the meanest mother in the whole world.

Bobbie Pingaro ©1967

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Mother’s Day in the Bible

How much do you know about Bible mothers? Can you name the mother to each of these famous Bible characters?? If you get stumped, you can check the comments section for some hints. If you are still stumped, email me and I will send you the answers. Happy hunting. And Happy Mother’s Day!

1. Joseph

2. Timothy

3. Obed

4. Solomon

5. John the Baptist

6. Moses

7. Mark (John Mark)

8. Samuel

9. Jesus

10. Jacob

11. James

12. Isaac

13. Cain & Abel

“I feel strangely confident today.“
– Charlie Brown

There comes a point in the process of learning something new when you have the great epiphany – that “I really get it” moment. Well, I have finally reached my sock knitting epiphany. I needed a gift for my MIL’s birthday so I decided a pair of slipper socks would be a nice yet fast to knit gift (she doesn’t really appreciate hand knits so she wasn’t getting lace socks from fingering yarn on Size 0 needles – ya know). I found a pattern I liked in Interweave Knits BUT the yarn they used was much smaller than the yarn I wanted to use. Being the persistent type that I am, I decided to knit a swatch – egad, I am swatching now. After thousands of several swatches, I found a modification of pattern and needle size that would accommodate the selected yarn – holy cow, I actually modified a stitch pattern.

So, I was happily knitting along on the pattern – using the necessary mods – when I got to the heel turn. The instructions seemed a little odd but since I have only knitted a couple of different types of heels, I thought that this might just be a new heel type so I knitted it precisely from the pattern. When completed, the stitch count of my heel turn didn’t match what the pattern said I should have. Okay, I said to myself (I talk to myself a lot late at night), it’s late, maybe I made a mistake somewhere. So I frogged the heel turn and reknitted it, all the time telling myself that the numbers just didn’t add up – the instructions given just couldn’t yield the number of stitches the pattern said I should have. Could there be a mistake in the pattern – oh the horror??

Upon completing the second heel turn on the same sock, I realized that I had not made a mistake. The numbers just didn’t match. The pattern had an error!!! It was late and hubbie was already asleep, so I didn’t want to turn on the computer to check for pattern errata for fear of waking him – yes I am probably the only person on the planet who doesn’t have a laptop. I would just have to figure out this heel turn without correct pattern instructions. So I re-read the instructions again S L O W L Y. I recognized what the mistake was and reknitted the heel turn the way I KNEW it was supposed to be. The next morning, I checked the IK website for pattern errata and sure enough there was, indeed, a mistake in the heel just exactly where I made my corrections. I had figured out a heel turn without a pattern there to hold my hand!!! I was so thrilled I couldn’t breathe. I tried sharing my excitement with the hubbie – but alas, he is a muggle and doesn’t understand knitterly things. I know this is not a big deal to those who have been knitting socks for centuries years. But to me, who knitted my first sock in January (2007, in case you were wondering), it was a major accomplishment. I have actually reached the level of understanding of sock construction that I can recognize and correct mistakes and make significant changes in patterns. Surely, I deserve some sort of trophy for this – well, maybe not a trophy – but I have at least earned the right to blather on and on about a silly sock on a silly knitting blog. Thank you for kind indulgence.

So without further ado, I give you the Epiphany Sock

Pattern – modification of Cowgirl Slipper Socks by Ann Budd (Interweave Knits Winter 2006)
Yarn – Bernat Denim Style – color Faded Khaki
Needles – Size 6 dpns

They look huge because (a)my MIL has really, big feet and (b)this is a very thick, cushy and soft yarn. They are intended to be a slog around the house kind of slipper so I didn’t want them to be restrictive or tight. They are quite comfortable – even if my MIL will probably never wear them – but that’s another story.

In other news, the Green Leaves sock has grown another inch and now the the MIL sock is done I can go back to them and the other 5 pair I am working on.