Lanam Facio

Pattern: Classic Mittens
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Forest Heather
Needles: Size 4
Size: Women's Medium
Amount of yarn used: 62 g/2.1 oz (.15 oz less than they said)
Source of Yarn: Knitpicks
Modifications: I left out one of the plain rows on the second thumb because yarn was really getting tight. I was even splicing on the tails.
Thoughts: Fillyjonk hit the nail on the head with the comment she left. I'm trying to focus on the plain colors and larger sizes in what I knit for AfA. Being a teenager is a hard time of life, and I keep trying to show the kids I work with that I care about them and am excited for their happinesses and sympathize in their sorrows. I hope that these mittens will show someone who's in an even harder version of being a teenager that there's someone who's thinking about and caring for them even after the cute little kid stage.

Pattern: Basic Pattern for Children's Mittens
Yarn: Hyacinth Wool of the Andes
Needles: Size 7 dpns
Size: Large (8-10 year old child; fits me a little tightly)
Amount of yarn used: 48 g
Source of Yarn: Knitpicks
Modifications: I cast on over two needles.
Thoughts: It's a nice pattern, but I think I like the vintage ones better; the tighter gauge strikes me as more likely to hold up.

Afghans for Afghans is having a mitten drive, due on 20 November. They're trying to get 300 pairs, for children 6-16.

This pattern makes a mitten that is just barely too small for me, and knits up quickly. This one, in women's medium, makes one that fits me.

I'm trying to make ones for the larger end of the age range, since I teach kids that age.

Last night, I got to row 11 of the center motif and row 9 of the side motifs, and realized that I'd hit the length for the back. I cast it off, and it seems just right.

Starting the front requires my size six needles, so that's on hold until I get the back of the black sweater off of them.

Being ahead of schedule is a strange and wonderful thing.

Every day, I've been trying to do four rows on the Orange Aran. My preliminary goal is to have the back done by Thanksgiving, and I should actually have it done by the end of the week, if I keep up.

The second goal is to have the whole thing done for Rhinebeck 2009. I bought it at Rhinebeck 2004, so I feel that's a good hope.

Here is my mom's latest:



and

No pictures of Caleb's hat; he seems to have absconded with it. I'm taking it as a sign of approval.

I finally hit more or less the 5% point of the Ribby! I'm celebrating with a picture taken in New England in the Fall:



Not much else, other than head colds and allergies, going on here. It's getting gray and dark early. Even the dress I'm sewing (for a concert where I'm singing, so there's a dress code) is black.

(Speaking of black projects, Mom, you should really put your latest one up for the delectation of all.)

Pattern:
Open Palm Mittens
Yarn: Wool of the Andes in Onyx Heather
Needles: Size 4 dpns
Size: Medium, but lengthened.
Amount of yarn used: 71 grams plus about a gram or two of trimmed off parts
Source of Yarn: Knitpicks
Modifications: I lengthened the hand and the thumb; I should have lengthened the hand even a bit more.
Thoughts:
I'm hoping that doing them at this tight gauge will make them wear well.

Pattern: Mine!
Yarn: Wool of the Andes in Mocha Twist
Needles: Size 6 dps and circular
Size: Caleb-sized
Amount of yarn used: A shade less than two balls.
Source of Yarn: Knitpicks
Modifications: None; I rewrote the pattern.
Thoughts: I do like this pattern, and the hat looks good on him. He seems to like it too; no picture because he's wearing it to a talk tonight.

I was talking to someone about Pompeii earlier today, and that, along with the fact that it gets dark early and I"m knitting a black single-ply yarn into a ribbed sweater, is making me think about Nydia from The Last Days of Pompeii.

(She was also an early data point in my theory that all women named something like Lydia end the book dead or Ruined. See also Pride and Prejudice.)

I don't feel it makes sense to take a picture; this is barely showing up in person. Possibly I will when I've had more progress. I really want this sweater this winter.

Things have come along well.

1. I cast off for Caleb's hat, now that he's home (we'd spent, out of three weeks, four nights in the same state) and I got to try it on him. It looks like the best so far.

2. I finished the knitting on the mittens yesterday, and they seem like a pretty good pair. The weaving in and sewing up remain, but that's distinctly doable.

3. I cast off the first of the School's Out Socks and got most of the toe of the second done. I may yet have them done by winter break.

4. Rather than fussing over taking pictures with the flash, I pulled out my guitar for the first time in almost a month and noodled around a bit. Caleb was even able to recognize at least one of the songs.

It was a good day.

Caleb's paternal grandfather wrote his autobiography, and then, as a present, wrote his wife's biography. I read the autobiography, and am now reading the biography. It's incredibly sweet; there are all sorts of homey little details about their life together. At the point where I was when I started this entry, they're about the same age Caleb and I are, but had both also served in WWII.



As I kept on reading, interrupting the blog entry to make cookie dough and keep knitting, I've gone through the birth of Caleb's father, Caleb's birth, and am now at their fiftieth wedding anniversary, which was about a year before Caleb and I met each other. They've been married for over sixty years now.


In between getting all misty-eyed, I finished the first School's Out sock. I think that, since the mitten is still small enoughto be portable knitting, I'm going to start swatching for the next sweater I'm making myself.

I finished the knitting on my first mitten today, just as the cold snap is settling in. I had hoped that, as per past experience, my making firm progress on cold weather gear would make things warm up. I looked at the weather, though, and saw that it's supposed to get below freezing on Thursday. I suppose that, like the stock market, I'm learning past performance is not a predictor of future results.



I also, with my mother's help, went through my sweaters and weeded out three that just didn't fit right.

Here's a picture of the Rhinebeck swag:



On the right, a skein of sock yarn from Ellen's Half-Pint; I've been wanting it for a year or two. On the left, a distaff, a sophisticated yet rustic piece of spinning equipment, a literary sign of femininity. Or, as my mother calls it, "A stick."

It was a good Rhinebeck.

On the first day of Rhinebeck, my mother and I bought

two cups of apple-pear cider,
a curried dal samosa,
spinach pie,
a cinnamon roll,
transcendent apple crumble,

and a stick.

As you can see, the Orange Aran is distinctly not finished in time for Rhinebeck this year. Still, I think I'll bring it along.

I'm looking forward to the festival; it seems that it should be sweater weather.

Well, I went to do the Great Day of Service today. The site where I worked was supposed to go from nine to noon, but I got there before 8:30, and things were well under way. We were basically done by ten, but I stuck around for a bit after that, and was still home by about 10:30.

I've been making slow progress on the School's Out Socks.



Because of the broken rib, I have to keep track of the rows, and for some reason, the 3x1 isn't a natural pattern for me to do. It's definitely coming along, though.

It felt great putting the sweater in the priority mail box last night, sealing it shut, and sending it off. It's also really wonderful to think about the yarn starting out on a sheep in the Peruvian Highlands, getting processed, going to KnitPicks, coming to me, going to California, and finally ending up in Afghanistan. The carbon footprint may not be that great, though.

While that sweater was drying, I started on a new hat for Caleb (he left his favorite that I made him in the pocket of a jacket that disappeared in the Philadelphia airport). He picked out some Mocha Twist Wool of the Andes, which I got in the same order as the yarn for the green sweater, and I'm knitting it up in the hat pattern I came up with for him a few years ago. It's so liberating to have the project and yarn be small enough to fit in a coat pocket.




I prefer knitting from the top down because it's easier to get the ribbing the perfect length. (It's also easier to fix ribbing that's sub-par.)
I'm also starting to daydream about sweaters for me, but next up after the hat is a pair of split palm mittens for me. My favorite vintage pattern is now online, which is exciting.

(It isn't actually lopsided; I was just balancing on the edge of the couch, trying to keep from falling and landing in my guitar and trying to catch some of the late afternoon light. Ahh, the joys of New England. At least the chances to wear wool make up for it.)
Pattern: Basic Chic Hoodie
Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in a heathery green so lovely people kept coming up to me and petting it. (Forest Heather). Also3/4 inch La Mode Buttons in Style 2918.
Needles: Size 8 dp and circular
Size: 36"
Amount of yarn used: Thirteen grams less than eight skeins. I did leave off the hood, but her estimates seem to run on the generous size, I've noticed.
Source of Yarn: Knitpicks
Modifications: I left off the hood, replacing it with ribbing, and didn't change to smaller needles.
Thoughts: I used the two row buttonhole on it. This is a really nice pattern.

It's my Rhinebeck sweater, even though I'll never wear it; I got it finished by then.

A meme I've seen around:

I'm thinking about what I'll knit when the sweater is done. This is such a fun part of knitting; I love planning these things out.

I finished ball seven, just shy of the end of the cuff. I guess each sleeve takes a healthy bit more than one ball of yarn.



I'm a lot more hopeful about getting this in on time than I had been. It now needs an inch of cuff, the collar, the front bands, ends woven in, and buttons sewn.