It's All About that Math, 'Bout that Math

Knitting involves quite a bit of math, which can come as a surprise to new knitters.

Knit Companion solves a lot of math-related problems by allowing me to color code and enlarge what I want to work on and I used it this morning when I ripped back a couple of rows and re-knit them. Somehow I had the wrong number of stitches in some sections, but it's all straightened out now. Then I found two stitches that I hadn't even worked---how on earth does THAT happen?! Also, I do think there are some purls where there should be knits, or vice versa, but I'm not sure. This pattern is...quirky. That's the word.

This is part of the screen of KC that I am using for this project:

I colored the repeat section yellow, and then I enlarge the page so that I only see the parts I am working on. I count the stitches necessary for each section from the chart, and then count what I actually have. Ideally they match. But today, they didn't. YO's and SSKs and K2TOG mess up the count if I'm not careful. YOs right before or after a marker can really mess up the count. They get caught on the marker, and then...which side do they belong on? 

The turquoise (my signature color!) line shows that the row I am working on is on the back of the fabric. A yellow line shows up when I am on the front of the fabric. I can see the symbols and their meanings if I want; otherwise I just lower that part of the page so they aren't in my way. There are counters on the right and I can set them to indicate what I want them to count.  

KC gets way more complicated if I need it to to be, but I actually haven't learned how to do anything more complicated yet. First, I just need to conquer the math.

Mistakes Were Made

I think.

I'm not sure.

I am working on Umaro by Brooklyn Tweed, and it doesn't look right. I'm not blaming myself (yet) because lots of other knitters on Ravelry have commented on the confusing charts. 

There are several places where the pattern just doesn't work out right, but I think I will need to knit on and then see if I should just trust the pattern (and myself) to get it right. 

The last time I made a blanket, a small baby blanket, I said Never again! and I did mean it at the time, but I love this one; it's huge but worth the time (if I get it right).  I hope.

Welcome

to my fringe factory!

I don't usually like working on what the Yarn Harlot refers to as the fiddly bits, but once I figured out a simple process to add fringe to my wrap, the task became EASY fiddly bits. A long ruler, each of the two yarns in yarn bowl/yarn bell, scissors, and a crochet hook comprise the factory---easy, peasy as my youngest granddaughter says. (She adds "nice and breezy" but I don't know what that would mean in this context.)

Of course I had the help of my quality control inspector, AKA Baxter. He approved. In fact, he approved so much that he wanted to lie down on it. NO! NO! NO!

Finished! And just in time for really, really warm weather. 

So! Just in time for summer storage.  

Magic Three-Yarn Scarf and Wrap by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas

I Played Yarn Chicken

and lost.

My Doppelgänger

I do not say that she is my doppelgänger.  Other people say so. (Actually, they say I am HER doppelgänger, but I am more important to me than she is, so I say she is MINE.) When I am out and about in public, doing errands, going to a doctor's appointment, eating, shopping, at least every week or two, someone approaches me and I know what is coming. 

You look just like Blythe Danner.

I don't know what I am supposed to do with that information. Apply to be her stunt double? I don't think she does stunts so she probably doesn't need one. Maybe take over parenting Gwyneth Paltrow? No thanks. I like my own kids a whole lot better.

Also, I DO NOT LOOK like Blythe Danner.  I promise you that. 

I always say:  It's the hair.  We have the same hair.

My hair

Although hers is grayer. Mine has mysteriously stayed its original color.  

This past week, though, my protestations backfired on me. The nurse at a medical office said: You look like someone famous, but I can't think of her name.

I sighed and replied:  Blythe Danner. I hear that all of the time. It's the hair. We have the same hair.

She said that I shouldn't mind being told about the resemblance because Blythe Danner is pretty. Then she proceeded to ask the questions she is supposed to ask a patient. At one point she stared really intently at me and I was impressed. Wow, I thought, she is really concentrating on my answers.

But then she announced: You're right. It's the hair. You really don't look anything like her.

So I guess that means she took back the pretty part.  

sigh...

Focus!

I finished these socks yesterday; I started them in MAY of last year. Yikes. 

They aren't even remotely identical but I knit them from a Gale's Art sock flat, which is yarn already knit up, dyed and stamped, and you unravel the flat piece of knitting as you go. I'm not sure that it would be possible to cut the yarn to get identical socks; I doubt it.The yarn is all squiggly (technical term) and a little difficult to control. I'm sure I didn't get gauge because the squiggles (technical term) wouldn't allow me to hold the yarn tightly, but then, I never really try to get gauge, so it doesn't actually matter. (Don't tell the knitting police on me!) Kitchenering the toe was really fiddly because of all the squiggles.

AND, last week I finished my Easy Folded Poncho in this purple silk. The yarn, Shibui Knits Heichi, has been discontinued, and I can't imagine why. It drapes beautifully. Shibui! Re-think this decision, please!

So now I am laser-light focussed on finishing up projects before I begin another.

Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah............

Just Back

From Austin, Texas, where I went to celebrate second grand-daughter's 13th birthday.  My daughter now has TWO teenaged daughters!!! (Good luck, H.)

I went from this gorgeous weather:

back to Georgia, where it is now snowing. It's pretty, but it won't last.

We took Feebee to a dog park where she had the best time running and playing with other dogs her size, but what is a mystery is how dogs determine who is the leader. A dog that looked like a German Shorthaired Pointer, but with a long tail, arrived, and ALL of the dogs immediately followed it, chasing and running all over the park. Not fighting, just playing. I guess it was the alpha dog, but who decided that?

My 15-year old granddaughter, who must climb all.the.things found a tree to occupy herself in:

And the day before, when we drove through the LBJ Ranch, I found Air Force One-Half! No joke. That's what the sign said. There is a runway on the ranch, but it can only accommodate small planes, hence the tiny Air Force One-Half:

I peeked inside through plexiglass doors, and it is really small! It can maybe hold eight passengers.

We didn't have time to go through the house the day we were there, but we did drive around the ranch, which is still a working ranch, with cattle wandering loose on the land.  

We didn't have enough time because we were on our way back from Comfort, Texas, a cute, cute, cute town with lots to see, including shops in buildings from the 1800s. The prettiest yarn/needlepoint/cross-stitch/weaving/felting shop EVAR is there, in what appears to be an old Victorian style building, with large rooms and high ceilings. We spent way too much time there, of course, and even, imagine this, found yarn to buy. 

This is yarn in a bundle for this project, the Magic Three Yarn Scarf and Wrap:

I had more photos from the trip, but I can't find them. My 15-year old granddaughter helped me "organize" my photos by putting them in Google photos, so that I would have room on my iPad for games my 7-year old granddaughter wanted to download. Now I can't find the photos!!!

Not to worry. The next time I see her, I'm sure she will find them for me in a matter of minutes.

Asleep in My Yarn

I can't disturb the kitten and that means I can't knit!

So,

my husband always says that he doesn't know what to give me for my birthday or Christmas, and he claims that he welcomes suggestions.

Well, I will have a birthday this year, just like every year, and I told him what I would like:  a mini-facelift!

He said:  Not on my watch.

So, I guess that means I need to replace him, preferably with a plastic surgeon so I can have a FREE mini-facelift. That way, if I don't even like the guy, I get something out of it. I'm no dummy. 

Anyone know a single or soon-to-be divorced plastic surgeon or an unhappily married plastic surgeon I could stalk meet??? (Call me.)

He also said he is afraid I would end up looking like Goldie Hawn.

Now that's just unfair, says I. The paparazzo who took this picture wasn't using flattering lighting, filters and whatnot. Poor Goldie. She should totally sue the guy.

Plus, all I want is a little lift of what are called "jowls." No puffy lips, no eyes pulled up almost to my forehead, no mask-like skin. Just a mini-mini-mini lift.

See?  It's possible!


Two problems:  

a.  I'm a coward. I don't like being knocked out.

b.  Apparently, things can go wrong.

Ouch!  Those cheeks!

So, 


click here.  

Long Time, No Post

I've been busy avoiding rain, snow, winter weather, and also, being lazy and just knitting. And this weekend I went through some of my stash in order to record where each skein is stored. I had put my stash on Ravelry (or FB for knitters as my younger daughter, who is not a knitter, calls it) but I hadn't indicated where they were stored. My LYS is no longer holding knit nights (@#$%^&). Since the shop is about 15 miles away and I don't go there usually except on knit nights, I guess I will be doing more shopping from stash. Now I know which location each skein is: bin one, bin two, turquoise cabinet, or the closet. 

What fun going through it. I found yarn I hadn't remembered that I had! Too bad I don't know what projects I might have bought them for, but some are so pretty, I can name them and call them pets:

Does anyone know what this is? There is no label.

100% mink!

They are so FLUFFY!


AND, over the weekend, I finished this:

What hot water bottle doesn't dream of a turtleneck sweater?! It is made from soft, soft, soft Malabrigo Rios.  It would have been an easy project had I read the instructions a little more carefully.  

I read the measurement for the ribbed flap at the bottom as 3/8" instead of 3"/8cm. I realized the error when I had almost finished the cozy. Knitter Anna suggested I just pick up stitches and knit until I had 3".  It worked!  And Hey!  I read instructions! Not carefully, I admit, but at least I did read them.

And to cap off the weekend, I found that I could stream my favorite British police drama DCI Banks.  PBS has only played series 4 and I love it, the stories, the actors, the characters they play. I've started streaming from Amazon and it's fun to see how the characters started out, how they all met and worked together, and to watch the character development.

I have half of series one, all of series two and three to go!

Snow? Rain? I don't care!!!

Forget Turkeys and Pedicures

Let's get back to knitting, shall we?

I just finished this cowl:

Får Away, free pattern on Ravelry

I made it for a gift, although I hadn't chosen the recipient yet. As it turns out though, I made it for me. It is so soft and so comfortable that I decided to wear it ONCE, then wash and block it and give it away. Never happened. It's mine, all mine. Another knitter, less selfish than I, made a beautiful scarf as a gift, wore it once, then washed and blocked it, and gave it to her daughter-in-law for Christmas!!!  

I am in awe!


I am also working on a second Easy Folded Poncho in a purple silk. It requires about fifty inches of stockinette stitch knitting, so it's both easy and boring. I'm making good progress.

Easy Folded Poncho

AND, I have promised myself that I will finally finish the sweater (Trillium) that I (on my broken ankle) hobbled into a yarn shop to buy the Shelter yarn for, oh, two years or so ago . I have swatched multiple times, knitted, frogged, knitted, frogged, and by all that is holy, it's time to finish the %^&*I(* thing. 

I'm using the same color yarn that the model is wearing in the pattern and I may not do the zig zag patterning. I don't think it shows up well --- or at all in this photo. Shaping for the armscye is done with short rows, and although short rows are easy, so I'm told, I am always intimidated by them. 

So we'll see.

But first to finish the poncho. It's dark out at 10:30 in the morning and cool and damp and promises to stay that way all weekend. Good knitting weather.

Health Risk?

I may have just inhaled some of my skin.  

Is that a bad thing?

I bought one of those Amopé skin sanders (might not be its real name, but it should be). Ouch. I bought it because when I asked my dermatologist about all the scary things I have seen on the internet about nail salon-caused infections, she said that there is no way that the workers can reliably get at all of the evil things that are in the pipes of the foot baths. Even if they put disposable plastic bags in for each customer, the plumbing can still carry bacteria or whatever. And those scary things the internet says pedicures can cause---they are TRUE, according to my dermatologist. And the internet.

So I can do this myself, I thought. But there was a white cloud of what I can only assume was bits of ME in the air as I used the sander. (Probably TMI, sorry.) And the bits of the cloud went everywhere.  

So I have inhaled me.  

Does that count as some sort of recycling? 

Back Home

and this mess proves it:

I am very good at packing.  

I am not very good at unpacking. I get distracted by everything that has to be done after a week and a half absence and go from task to task, doing all.the.things, but spending only seconds on each, and thereby accomplishing no one thing in its entirety for days.  

I should probably work on this, but actually, I think I don't care. It will get done, eventually.

Next post up, watch for turkeys, dead and alive.....

Credit Fraud

Not MY credit cards, because if they were mine, SOMEONE ELSE would be using them.

I have been a victim of credit card and social security number fraud for the past couple of years.

First offense:  Someone was charging things on a Visa card that had never even left my house. I keep it sort of hidden in a drawer next to the sofa where I knit (and shop online a little). I had used it for my gym membership, but over the phone. So how was someone in California charging stuff on it? Beats me. The Visa people were very nice and took off the fraudulent charges and sent me a new card.

Problem solved.

Until.  Second offense against me:  Someone in California charging hotel bills and restaurant meals on my Gap Visa card. I was not in California, I had never been to that area of California, AND I had my card with me. In Georgia. So how the $%^&* does this happen? Again, Visa was nice and took care of everything.

Problem solved. 

Until, third offense:  I received an invoice in the mail for furniture bought at a store about 80 miles away from where I live. The first name on the invoice was not mine; the second name and the address were mine. I called the store and told them I had never been to their store. Who bought this furniture? Were they delivering it to my address? Did they expect that I would pay the invoice? Because I WOULD NOT!

Imagine the store owner's surprise. He said that a father and daughter had ordered the furniture, that they were paying for it with cash, and picking it up themselves with a truck. 

That was the last I ever heard about any of that, but why on earth use my address when they were using cash?

Problem not solved. It's a mystery.

Fourth offense:  We filed taxes with the IRS for the year 2013. Rejected because someone else was filing using my social security number. Months and months went by before we got that straightened out. The IRS sent us a PIN to use for filing for the year 2014 so that they would know that I am really me and there would be no problem.  

So, problem solved?

Nope.

Fifth offense against little old me:  We filed our taxes for the year 2014, used the PIN. Rejected. Someone else had filed before we did, using, tah dah! my social security number.  Again.  We sent in all sorts of documents, statements, etc. to prove that I am me. Nothing.  I went in October to the local IRS office, which does NOT (of course) accept appointments. I waited three plus hours, talked with a very nice man who told me that the IRS had just rejected the other person's application the week before---in OCTOBER--- and everything was on its way to being resolved. A month later, everything was resolved and we are supposed to receive another PIN to use next year.  Like that will work.

Now, last night I went to see Brooklyn at a Regal Cinema. I have a Regal Card, a new one. A new one because I misplaced my old one, somewhere in my house. I also downloaded the Regal Club app. for my phone, transferred all of my points, and according to it, I was due a free popcorn.  

When I bought the tickets and showed my app, the ticket seller scanned the little blurry hashtag-looking thingy, and told me that I was using a lost or stolen account.

No, I am not!  I told her. More than once. 

She completely ignored me and charged me for the tickets but did NOT give me the coupon for the free popcorn.

Enough is enough, y'all. I want my $%^&* free popcorn.  

No free popcorn=last straw.

I Played Yarn Chicken

and I won.  

Phew.

I made this hat but with a heavier yarn than called for, so I cast on fewer stitches than the pattern directs. I had to keep weighing the yarn left in the skein to make sure I would be able to cast off once I finished the cable patterning. And even knowing the weight, I was still mostly just guessing.

Irish Hiking Hat

This is what I had remaining, just a couple of yards.  

Cascade Pastaza

On a weird note, this yarn (Cascade Pastaza) is 50% wool, 50% llama hair. The color is a bit different from what it looks like in this photo, but it is very similar to my sister's beautiful red hair when she was young. And the llama hair is sort of longish, so I was very aware that I was knitting with hair, much like my sister's hair. Kind of creepy. Maybe she would like this hat. 

She lives in Florida. So maybe not.

More yarn chicken.

I also just finished this Pure/Aran:

better photo than mine

I had bought an extra skein of Woolfolk Får (the softest yarn EVER!!!) in order to make the scarf larger. I knit extra repeats of the second texture section, and then I just kept going on the garter stitch section until I thought I had just enough yarn left for the cast off.  

Again, bring out the gram scale!  I just made it, with only a yard or so left over.

Woolfolk Får

Double PHEW!

It's Too Cold Out

(for me) to go for a walk so I'll wait until later. In the meantime, some of the rest of the photos from Ireland. Not the entire rest, since there are 500 plus photos, but just a few. 


This is, and I am not joking, a two-lane road. We drove clockwise around the Ring of Kerry in order not to follow the busses that go around in a counter-clockwise direction. What we hadn't figured on was having those busses come at us on a road like this:

Let me tell you, it was EXCITING! Fortunately, unlike other roads in Ireland, this road was edged by wall of greenery, not rocks, and we could squeeeeeeze over and make enough room. No damage to the rental car. Whew.


This photo is of a random ruin along the Ring of Kerry. There were no signs for it, so maybe no one even knows its history, but it's still there, a photo op for us tourists.  

More from the Ring of Kerry. 

The cattle in Ireland have prettier views than most people do from their homes!!!

These are photos of the library at Trinity College in Dublin. What a gorgeous room. We took a tour with a student guide, and she said that to obtain a book from this library, a student has to know the size of the book; they are arranged according to size, with the largest on the bottom shelves, and the smallest on the top.  

The Book of Kells was in another room in this library and we did get to see that as well.

Sheep, of course. In the Republic of Ireland we saw many more dairy cattle than we did sheep and that was surprising. There appeared to be a lot more sheep in Northern Ireland.  

And, just because I like this photo. A building AND a tractor in my "signature" color. I saw that in a design magazine; designers have signature colors. If they can, why can't we? I thought, and I picked turquoise. 

Who has ever seen a turquoise tractor? I have!

That's all for now folks!

It's Christmas Shopping Time!

so says all the advertising on television. And especially today, Black Friday, but yet, here I sit, at home. Because I'm not crazy; no shopping in person today. There's always the internet.

So here we go, suggestions from our friends at Hammacher Schlemmer ©:

Because who doesn't need a $95,000 sofa that looks like a hippo?

And why not literally scare the snot out of your child while helping him breathe?

My daughter needs this. A smaller one in her neighborhood scares her 80 lb black lab! Imagine what this one would do. And for only $400!

For the ultimate narcissist on your list:

I don't even know what to say about this.

For grandchildren everywhere. In case a regular kazoo isn't annoying your parents enough:

(Hello?  H?)

And last and most definitely least, the perennial puzzle from Mori Gifts:  I know this is necessary in some places on this planet, but again, why would anyone give this as a gift?  

NOT A GIFT

I'm here to help.

Happy Shopping!