Thoughts for 02/20/07

Not much to report on this end. I have done very little knitting lately, partly because I am still sick. I only managed 18 rows on a scarf during my overnight trip to Healdsburg. The last thing I completed was a wash cloth based on the Eyelet Hearts pattern in the Vogue Stitchionary (pg 97). I haven't yet taken a picture of the cloth. Besides dropping the leading & ending knit stitch, I only did one thing differently from the pattern instructions on Row 3:

B3, K1, * K1, YO, K4Tog, YO, K3, YO, SSSSK, YO, K2 *, B3

I like how the right slanting K4Tog complements the left slanting SSSSK at the top of the heart. However I find doing SSSSK quite a biscuit to work -- for me, it has the same curse value as trying to do Purl 3 stitches through the back loop on cotton yarn, lol -- so I did my SSSSK a different way: Slip 1 stitch. Do SSSK. Then pass the slipped stitch over the SSSK stitch. I think you get the same symmetrical results without the curse factor. ;-)

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I wanted to ask your opinion about how my blog looks. I was looking at my sidebar and thinking there are way too many pictures for my free patterns. I was scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. Do find it useful to have the photos there? Or would it be better to remove the photos and just have text links to the pattern pages?

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Joan wrote: I find that I need natural daylight to accomplish a decent digital pic.

Gosh, I wish I could always manage that. My best time to take photos is usually after M has gone to bed. It's dark outside, and none of the lighting in the house seem to work well for photography.

Lindsey wrote: I was a bit confused as you mentioned a step PYOP and had an explaination for it, but I never came across it in the rows.

Oops, that was just sloppy copy & pasting on my part. I was copying the abbreviations from the Notes section in one of my other patterns and copied too much. I've fixed it so there shouldn't be any further confusion. On the other hand, I suppose having too much info is better than not having enough...

Silvia in Germany wrote: My best mail friend is going on Chemo next week and I want to make her a lovely hat. ... Could you please tell me how to make this nice rose Chemo Hat 1 Version 6 ?

The pattern is Marnie MacLean's Nautilus Hat, which you will find here:
http://www.marniemaclean.com/patterns/Nautilus/index.html

My completed hat can be seen here:
http://smariek.blogspot.com/2005/12/chemo-hat-1-completed-nautilus-hat.html

Wishing your friend good luck with her chemo.

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Ok, I'm off to take my cough medicine. The Boss is calling, so I need to go entertain her too.

Teatime ... today I am drinking Yamamotoyama green tea. I stopped drinking the Traditional Medicinals Throat Coat when my sore throat went away. Now I'm just dealing with a whole lot of congestion so sticking my nose into a hot cup of tea helps. :-)

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