Juggling

I've been playing around with 2-color knitting, as you can see from the two Oblique Hats I recently made. I think I got the hang of weaving in the unused color on the backside so that you don't get long stretches of loose horizontal yarn bits dangling in the back just waiting for you to snag it on something. I suppose it's not such a problem with hats as it might be with sweaters. However I do have to admit that I like the "tidy" appearance of the way everything gets weaved in and it becomes a smoother surface. I think most people call it the "crazy stitch", but I love how Bets calls it the "Vogue" stitch. [V: I'll have to show you how to do this after we do cables with a cable needle, and cables without a cable needle]

My current project involves 3 colors, and boy does that one extra ball make me feel like a juggler! It's hard enough with trying not to get 2 balls of yarn tangled up, despite keeping one on my left and the other on my right. It's a whole new ballgame when you add ball #3.

I shouldn't even complain though cuz I'm only working with 2 of the 3 colors on each round. But you can already see the boo-boo I made when I dropped the Green to work in the Burgundy for 4 rounds. I meant to weave in the green going upwards but forgot to do that each time I started my next round. So now I'm left with one little vertical strand of Green yarn that spans 4 rounds. :-( So sloppy... (Ignore the Burgundy that is dangling below the Green, that's a loose end that will get weaved in later)

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Has anybody knitted with Berroco Air?

So I've decided to play around with my ball of Air which meant digging out my US11 (8 mm) straight needles. I haven't used these needles since Nov 2004. It took me a while to figure out where they were, of course they were buried at the bottom of one of those big plastic 12(?) gallon storage bins. They're 14 inches (35.5 cm) long. Omigosh, I couldn't believe how cumbersome it was to work with such large and long needles!!! I think I spent more energy trying to hold the needles up than in actual knitting. Plus I think I have been "handicapped" by knitting with circular needles. Yes, I use circular needles for all my knitting, both straight/flat stuff like scarves and round stuff like hats. Do you know what happens when you're handicapped? You end up dropping the left needle each time you finish a row!!! It's actually quite funny when I think about it now, but not so funny when I actually do it.

Anyhowz... I don't know what it is about Air, but I had to frog what I was working on several times already, and the yarn is just "sticky". It sticks together and gets tangled up. I can't just leave the loose (frogged) yarn lying next to me; I have to wind it back up into a ball, otherwise it gets tangled up.

Still playing around with it. I'm surprised at how light this yarn is, which I suppose is why it is called "Air". I'm thinking my US11 needles might be too small, and I should really try US13 (9 mm) which I have none. I do have one pair of never-used US15 (10 mm) circular needles which I had intended to use with Reynolds Blizzard, but never got around to it. I think Air should be warm with 78% wool in it.

Well here's what I've got so far, it's not much to look at right now. Haven't decided whether I like it. I really do NOT like using straight needles. And I find it harder to use large US11 needles. I think I've just gotten used to medium size needles. And I'm slightly annoyed that my regular sized row counters don't fit on the needle. I never bothered to get the larger sized row counters because I didn't think I'd ever use such large needles ever again.

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Oopsie ... short on yarn

What do you get when you try to knit the Oblique Hat with 2 leftover balls of yarn and run out of one color just before the decrease? I started out with 2 balls of yarn which were about the same size and I thought I had enough to make this hat... but I guess one ball was more densely wound and the other was more loosely wound cuz I ran out of the blue. I was getting worried about whether I would have enough red left, so I skipped some of the knit rounds in the decrease. Good thing I did that because I definitely would not have had enough yarn left over. It was very very close.

This is chemo cap #16 for Cap Karma's 2006-2007 season. I think this hat shows off the diagonal pattern of the Oblique Hat so much better than the photo you see in the pattern post.

When M saw the hat in the morning, she decided she wanted to put it on. When I did that, the hat covered her entire head down to her chin, LOL. She lifted it back up and then I decided to take a photo of her with the hat on. It actually came out relatively in focus. It's always a challenge for me to take photos of moving objects, and toddlers do not sit still!

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Jewel Cross Rib cloth

Note:
1. More Free Patterns can be seen along the sidebar (on right side),
or you can use the Free Patterns label to view all posts.
2. Free Pseudo-Patterns or Pattern Outlines can be found using the Free Pseudo-Patterns label.

I stumbled upon a "lost" cloth I knitted a while back, sometime last year I think. I hadn't even weaved in the ends. So I just did that and then took these photos; the cloth hasn't been blocked yet. Sorry for the knife in the photo, I grabbed the nearest thing to hold down that side of the book open. I can see clearly that the Swish with a Twist pattern is based on this Jewel Cross Rib pattern with some alterations in the width/position of the square knit sections and in technique of execution, which makes it look neater for a square dishcloth. I must have knitted this back when I was getting into knitting dishcloths cuz it's made with that awful dark green yarn which I used for most of my early cloths because I bought a cone of the stuff. Newbie mistake. I should buy balls instead. A cone is way too much of any one color of yarn...

Here's the pseudo pattern for the Jewel Cross Rib pattern found in BW2 pg27, although I doubt anyone would want to work this pattern.

Stitches used in this pattern include:
Garter Stitch, BW1 pg 10
Jewel Cross Rib, BW2 pg 27

Using WW yarn and US7 needles, cast on 42 stitches.
Maintain 3 stitch border on edges.
Knit 5 row border.

Row 1 (WS) : P3, (K2, P5) 4 times, K2, P3
Row 2 (RS) : Knit across
Row 3 : P3, (K2, P5) 4 times, K2 P3
Row 4 : Knit across
Row 5 : P3, (K2, P5) 4 times, K2 P3
Row 6 : Knit across
Row 7 : K2, (Sl1 wyif, K2, Sl1 wyif, K3) 4 times, Sl1 wyif, K2, Sl1 wyif, K2
Row 8 : K2, (Sl1 wyib, K2, Sl2 wyib, K3) 4 times, Sl1 wyib, K2, Sl1 wyib, K2
Row 9 : K2, (Sl1 wyif, K2, Sl1 wyif, K3) 4 times, Sl1 wyif, K2, Sl1 wyif, K2
Row 10 :K2 -- (Drop 1st slip stitch to front. Slip next 2 stitches to right needle. Drop 2nd slip stitch to front. Pick up 1st dropped stitch onto left needle. Slip the 2 stitches back to left needle. Pick up 2nd dropped stitch with right needle & place on left needle, K7) 4 times -- Drop 1st slip stitch to front. Slip next 2 stitches to right needle. Drop 2nd slip stitch to front. Pick up 1st dropped stitch onto left needle. Slip the 2 stitches back to left needle. Pick up 2nd dropped stitch with right needle & place on left needle,K6

Repeat Rows 1 to 10, 3 times.
Repeat Rows 1 to 6.
Knit 5 row border.


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Cap Karma Ladies

M and I had quite an adventure last Friday when we went to the San Francisco International Airport to meet many of the other knitting ladies in Cap Karma. We met in a TSA conference room (which they call their "lunch room"!), which was large and spacious for us to spread out our knitting. It was great to meet these ladies I had known only by name or by photos of their knitted items. And what a bunch of talented ladies they are!

In the photo below, you can see many of the chemo caps that were made for Cap Karma; these hats are going to chemo patients in local hospitals. V brought 3 shopping bags full of caps so everyone could see. Since all the caps get sent to her, she was the only person who really saw all of them. This get together was a nice opportunity for us to see what everyone else had knitted, and also share ideas & tips. Yes, we can see all the caps on the Cap Karma blog, but it's so much better to see the caps in person, confabulate amongst ourselves about the cap designs and share knitting tips.

There were also some hats knitted for the Ships Project; these hats will go to our troops.

Here are three Striped Slip Stitch Hats, each knitted by a different person. Aren't they cute? It's neat to see how the hats turn out when knitted by different people. Somebody (sorry, I forgot who made the comment) said that she couldn't believe they were knitted from the same pattern.

It wasn't just all about caps. It was show & tell for other knitted items too. There was a great pair of socks too, but I don't think we got a photo of that.

This is a green shell that is being knitted with some novelty/luxury yarn which I forgot the name of.

V was really smart to bring a little bunny treat for M. M loved it, and it kept her occupied and quiet for most of the time we were there. I guess I should mention that M is not one of those toddlers who will play quietly in a corner with her favorite toys; she likes constant attention.

She's getting better at using utensils...

She pretty much chipped away at most of the icing during the time we were there. She hadn't figured out that she could cut into the bunny...

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I keep forgetting to mention this, cuz I'm not always thinking about diapers when I'm in front of the computer. I have another two codes for the Pampers Gifts to Grow program, combined they are worth 5 points. Email me if you are interested.


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Which Jane Austen heroine?

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Take the Quiz here!

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Oblique Hat

Note:
1. More Free Patterns can be seen along the sidebar (on right side),
or you can use the Free Patterns label to view all posts.
2. Free Pseudo-Patterns or Pattern Outlines can be found using the Free Pseudo-Patterns label.

I wanted to try a new technique of knitting with 2 colors. Some will say, "but you already did a 2-color hat with your Striped Slip Stitch Hat." Yes, that is true. However these two hats are different. The Striped Slip Stitch Hat uses the slip stitch technique which only requires you to knit with one color on each round. This Oblique Hat requires knitting with both colors on each round. I've designed this hat based on a combination of VS3.10xBW1.10.

I'm sorry, the hat pictured above doesn't really show off the diagonal pattern of this hat very well. I used a blue/white variegated with a white solid. It was a poor choice to pair together because you "lose" the pattern when the white in the variegated yarn is adjacent to the white solid yarn. This hat would look lovely in two solid contrasting colors. To "see" the pattern in the photo above, first look for the diagonal white line, then you'll see the stripe created with the variegated blue yarn.

You can see a better photo of the stripe created by this pattern in this other Oblique Hat here:
http://smariek.blogspot.com/2007/03/oopsie-short-on-yarn.html

It looks something like this:

Knitting this hat was a bit awkward at first when I had to switch yarns on my right hand every 2 stitches. I had to be careful not to get the balls tangled up! Then I eventually figured out that I could hold the Main Color with my right hand and the Contrasting Color with my left hand (kinda like how you would knit Continental style) ... slow going and differently awkward for me. I guess it just takes getting used to. I think I had a tendency to knit a little tighter because of the newness of knitting with both hands this way. As a result, this hat is a snug ladies small. I continued the pattern in the decrease. Other than the awkwardness of holding 2 yarns, this hat is pretty mindless knitting once you get the hang of the pattern. After you have made this hat once, you can make it again without referring to the pattern. It's great for knitting in the car or while watching TV.

Yay, after finishing this hat, my big blue ball of yarn is now garlic sized. It's the 5th hat made from the big ball you see in that post. This Oblique Hat is my 15th hat for Cap Karma this year. That's more than I made last year, so I must be doing a lot more knitting this year. :-) I'm hoping the knitting will get better as little M gets older...

Stitches used in this hat include;
Blue Bias, VS3 pg 10
Stockinette Stitch, BW1 pg 10

Please email me if you would like your photo and a link to your blog (if you have one) to appear in My Readers' Gallery.


Oblique Hat pattern can be downloaded from:
Oblique Hat Pattern from box.com.


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Thoughts for 03/22/07

Sorry, haven't posted in a while. Have been busy on this end, and unfortunately it has nothing to do with knitting. :-( I've given up knitting in the car. It just isn't happening anymore. M is getting more nap resistant. I end up spending my time driving, but little time parked knitting. Limited time for knitting in the evenings. And weekends are go go go with getting M to her Musical Lapsit, catching up with house chores or errands, driving an hour away to look at Open Houses (which tires us out by the time we get home, and requires slightly more planning with a toddler in tow), and driving an hour away to visit the inlaws. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

I'm currently in the (heinously slow) process of converting patterns to PDF. Despite being a relatively simple task, things move slowly in this house and I have a whole process for this which takes me several sittings to get one done. On the upside, this switch will allow many people to print just the pattern without all the extra "fluff" that appears on the blog. I understand that printer ink is very expensive, and that many printers are ink thirsty. Of course it could help to print in plain black & white too, in order to save color ink for when you absolutely need color printouts.

I just finished a 2-color hat so I could free up my needles when I go visit the knitting ladies at the San Francisco International Airport tomorrow. These are the ladies who knit chemo caps for Cap Karma. I think some of them are interested in learning how to knit hats in the round using 2 circular needles. This will be an interesting visit with little M in tow... she's not much interested in knitting at 2 yrs of age, other than pulling on my needles or yarn. Then she'll say, "mabm mabm," which is (what I think is) her way of saying, "this is OK to do," or, "I'm wanting this to be OK to do."

I have been disillusioned about posting free patterns on the internet. It's not such a long story, but I won't post the gory details here. However the result of this is that I am having antithetical thoughts about posting new patterns on my blog.

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Has this ever happened to you?

I was taking some photos of little M one day and noticed that I could only take a limited number of photos because the memory card was running out of space. So I went back through some photos, saw some knitting photos, thought I had already downloaded them, so I proceeded to delete them to free up space. Then I continued taking photos of little M.

Much later, when I finally got around to downloading pictures ... I noticed that there was a gap in the numerical sequence of my photos. Hmm. Hmmm! It made me wonder whether I deleted knitting photos which I hadn't yet downloaded. And due to Mommy Brain, I haven't the foggiest idea what it was I deleted that day. Grrr...

Oh well, I guess it wasn't all that important then...

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Mary wrote: did you ever get a knit-in-the-round version of this hat pattern? ... Are the "LT" and "RT" stitches what make the zig-zag border around the seed stitch?

(This is referring to The Claudia Hat) Yep, you got it! That's exactly what the LT & RT stitches do. Sorry, I haven't played around with converting this pattern for knitting in the round. I know what you mean about seams though. After working that hat, I know I will try to avoid flat knitting a hat.

Madeline wrote: Personally I am having other Reader issues-- specifically the document downloaded fine and suddenly the text warped into something unreadable. It's not the first time for me and I'm trying to figure out what's up.

Don't know what to tell you about trying to view PDF files. In the process of PDFing the files, I punted the blog text into a Word document, tweaked the format (funny how copying/pasting from one place to another will invariable screw up how something looks) & rearranged things, then saved it as a PDF file. Would it help if I offered the Word document version?

I've been playing around with offering the PDF files as downloads from Quicksharing.com (Thanks Hakucho! ... for pointing me to this site). It seems to do what it advertises. I suppose I could upload the Word documents there as well. Another thing I had in mind is to do what many other people do for sharing their files, viz. using Yahoo Groups. Although I have played around with creating a Yahoo Group, I haven't yet decided whether I really want to go that route.

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I finally caught up with American Idol which we recorded on Tivo. I'm usually a day or two behind. We watched the first half of Tuesday show on Tuesday night, and the second half on Wednesday night. And we got to the results tonight (Thurs). Stephanie Edwards and Chris Richardson were in the bottom 2. I was surprised to find Stephanie Edwards there, as I can think of some other people who could better fill that slot. And then I was really shocked to see Chris Richardson stay. I think Stephanie is way better than Chris, however I think Stephanie is just slightly weaker than Melinda, LaKisha, and Jordin. I like the other Chris (Sligh) more than this one...

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Passerby MK Hat 3

Note:
1. More Free Patterns can be seen along the sidebar (on right side),
or you can use the Free Patterns label to view all posts.
2. Free Pseudo-Patterns or Pattern Outlines can be found using the Free Pseudo-Patterns label.

I'm doing a series of "Mindless Knitting" hats which are very easy and/or boring to knit. I wanted to make some hats that I could easily put down and then later pick up without scratching my head trying to figure out where I was in the pattern. And I wanted something that I could easily knit in dim lighting, or even while talking to DH without having to worry about losing count. Besides, V is always telling me that I should choose simpler patterns, or that things don't always need to be hard (actually this was in reference to learning Latin, but I'm sure it also applies to knitting, lol). So these Mindless Knitting hats so are easy/boring that you can basically do them without having to refer to the pattern. There's nothing fancy about them, mostly basic knit/purl, no cables, no yarn overs, twist stitches, etc. They're so simple that you don't even need a row counter to help you keep track of which round you're in.

I actually saw a high school student wearing a hat with this pattern, hence the name Passerby Hat. The pseudo-pattern below is based on what I saw during the 3 seconds I saw her hat as we walked past each other while walking down the street. Her hat was a light cream colored hat so it wasn't too difficult to get a good look at the pattern in those few seconds.

What I loved about her hat is the big fold up brim ... I'm thinking, this is a GREAT way to use up all that blue variegated yarn. Sorry, it's not very easy to see what the hat pattern looks like with this yarn; It'd look better in a solid. And yes, it's another poorly lit nighttime shot too.

I'm also trying something new here with placing the "notes" section above the "pattern" section. This pseudo-pattern was intended to be a rough outline... but then I kept adding stuff and then adding more stuff ("oh wait, what if someone wants to know this", better add it), now it looks pretty much like a regular full blown pattern, lol. Anyhowz, here it is if you're interested...

Stitches used in this hat include:
Knit-Two Purl-Two Ribbing, BW1 pg 39
Reverse Stockinette Stitch, MT pg 4
Stockinette Stitch, BW1 pg 10

Please email me if you would like your photo and a link to your blog (if you have one) to appear in My Readers' Gallery.

Passerby Hat
© Designed by S.M. Kahn, Mar 2007
Smariek Knits -=<>=- http://smariek.blogspot.com

Notes:

Basic Bind Off instructions can be found on this page here:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/bind-off.php

Basic Cast-on instructions can be found on this page here:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/index.php

CO = Cast on

K = Knit.
K# = Knit # number of stitches, where # indicates the number of stitches to be knit.
Video to show you how to knit can be found here:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/knit.php

K2TOG = Knit 2 stitches together.
Video showing how to do K2Tog can be found here:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/decrease.php

P = Purl.
P# = Purl # number of stitches, where # indicates the number of stitches to be purled.
Video to show you how to purl can be found here:
http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/basic_techniques/purl.php

* ... * = work everything between asterisks across the round.
(asterisks are described here: http://www.knittinghelp.com/knitting/abbreviations_explained/ )

Pattern:

Please read "Notes" section before starting; it contains almost everything I think you may need to know to work this pattern. I think the only thing I haven't defined is "K2 P2 ribbing", you can email me if you have questions about how to do this.

This hat is knitted in the round with circular needles.

WW yarn. US8 (5mm) needles. CO 96 sts, join in round.

Work K2 P2 ribbing for about 5 inches (~12.5 cm). Part of this is the fold up brim, adjust length as desired.

Rounds 1-4: Knit
Rounds 5-8: Purl

Repeat rounds 1-8 until desired length (learning towards longer as the decrease section is pretty short).

Decrease Round 1: Knit
Decrease Round 2: * K12, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 3: * K11, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 4: * K10, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 5: * K9, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 6: * K8, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 7: * K7, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 8: * K6, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 9: * K5, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 10: * K4, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 11: * K3, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 12: * K2, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 13: * K1, K2Tog *
Decrease Round 14: * K2Tog *

Cut yarn, thread through remaining stitches and fasten off. Weave ends.



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Knitting Book List

I got this from Grace. Check out her blog, she does beautiful work!

This is only a partial list of the thousands of knitting books, how-to's and fiction available. Copy the list to your blog HIGHLIGHT the ones you own or have borrowed from the library., * the ones on your Wish List, change color to red on the ones not worth the money Note alongside anyone that is very special to you, or that you use most often. Have FUN

1.Died in the Wool: A Knitting Mystery by Mary Kruger

2.Knit One, Kill Two (Knitting Mystery) by Maggie Sefton

3.Needled to Death (Knitting Mysteries) by Maggie Sefton

4. the Friday Night Knitting CLub by Kate Jacobs

5.The Knitting Circle: A Novel by Ann Hood

6.A Deadly Yarn: A Knitting Mystery by Maggie Sefton

7. Knitting: A Novel by Anne Bartlett

8. The Shop On Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

9. A Good yarn by Debbie Macomber

10. Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters' Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures by Kay Gardiner

11. Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

12. One Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit and Crochet by Leigh Radford

13. Wendy Knits: My Never-Ending Adventures in Yarn by Wendy D. Johnson

14. At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

15. Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot's Bag of Knitting Tricks by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

16.** Knitting Vintage Socks: New Twists on Classic Patterns by Nancy Bush

17. One-Skein Wonders by Judith Durant

18. Knit 2 Together: Patterns and Stories for Serious Knitting Fun by Tracey Ullman

19. ** Arctic Lace: Knitting Projects and Stories Inspired by Alaska's Native Knitters by Donna Druchunas

20. Knitting Around by Elizabeth Zimmermann

21. Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmermann

22. Knitting Without Tears: Basic Techniques and Easy-to-Follow Directions for Garments to Fit All Sizes (Knitting Without Tears SL 466) by Elizabeth Zimmermann

23. Knitting from the Top by Barbara G. Walker

24. The Opinionated Knitter by Elizabeth Zimmermann

25. Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee

26.** Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop by Elizabeth Zimmermann

27. A Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker

28. ** Knitting Beyond the Edge: Cuffs and Collars*Necklines*Hems*Closures - The Essential Collection of Decorative Finishes by Nicky Epstein

29. ** Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby

30.** Cables Untangled: An Exploration of Cable Knitting by Melissa Leapman

31.** Lace Style: Traditional to Innovative, 21 Inspired Designs to Knit by Pam Allen

32. ** A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swansen

33. Knitting Under the Influence (Paperback) by Claire LaZebnik

34. Not Tonight Darling, I'm Knitting by Betty Hosegood

35. Knitting Nature: 39 Designs Inspired by Patterns in Nature by Norah Gaughan and Thayer Allyson Gowdy

36. The Knitting Experience: Book 2: The Purl Stitch (Knitting Experience Series) by Sally Melville

37. The Knitting Experience: Book 3: Color (The Knitting Experience) by Sally Melville

38. The Knitters Book of Finishing Techniques by Nancie M. Wiseman

39. ** The Knitting Answer Book: Solutions to Every Problem You'll Ever Face; Answers to Every Question You'll Ever Ask by Margaret Radcliffe

40. The Knitting Experience: Book 1: The Knit Stitch (The Knitting Experience) (Paperback) by Sally Melville

41. ** 440 More Knitting Stitches - Volume 3 (Harmony Guides) by Harmony Guide Staff

42. ** 250 Creative Knitting Stitches - Volume 4 (Harmony Guides) by Harmony Guide Staff

43. ** Knitting Techniques - Volume 1 (Harmony Guides) by Harmony Guide Staff

44. ** 220 Aran Stitches and Patterns - Volume 5 (Harmony Guides) by Harmony Guide Staff

45. ** Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns by Inc. Sterling Publishing Co.

46. ** 450 Knitting Stitches - Volume 2 (Harmony Guides)

47. Weekend Knitting: 50 Unique Projects and Ideas by Melanie Falick and Ericka McConnell

48. Knitting With Balls: A Hands-On Guide to Knitting for the Modern Man by Michael Del

49. A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker

50. Charted Knitting Designs: A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker

51. A Fourth Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara G. Walker

52. The Baby Knits Book: The Ultimate Collection of Knitwear Designs for Newborns to 3-Year-Olds by Debbie Bliss

53. Special Knits for Babies: 22 Gorgeous Handknits for Babies by Debbie Bliss

54. The Yarn Girls' Guide to Kid Knits: Patterns for Babies and Toddlers by Julie Carles

55. Quick Baby Knits: Over 25 Quick and Easy Designs for 0-3 year olds by Debbie Bliss

56. Baby Knits for Beginners by Debbie Bliss

57. Knitting Color: Design Inspiration from Around the World by Brandon Mably and Kaffe
Fasset

58. Knitting Heaven and Earth: Healing the Heart with Craft by Susan Gordon Lydon

59. Yarnplay by Lisa Shobhana Mason

60. Natural Knits for Babies and Moms: Beautiful Designs Using Organic Yarns (Paperback) by Louisa Harding

61. Simply Baby by Debbie Bliss

62. Itty-Bitty Hats: cute and cuddly caps to knit for babies and toddlers by Susan B. Anderson

63. Knitting for Baby: 30 Heirloom Projects with Complete How-to-Knit Instructions by Melanie Falick

64. Special Knits for Babies: 22 Gorgeous Handknits for Babies by Debbie Bliss

65. ** Folk Shawls cheryl oberle

66. ** Folk Socks Nancy Bush

67. Folk Vests Cheryl Oberle

68. ** Stahmans Shawls and Scarves Myrna Stahman

69. Fitted Knits Japel

70. Twinles Big City Knits Wenlan

71. Big Girl Knits Moreno

The knitting mysteries sound intriguing. I'll have to see of I can get to them. I'm still working on the same book I started last year (sigh)... I'm a slow reader, and it doesn't help that I don't get to spend much time reading...

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Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

... Mrs B tagged me for this Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? game. It's an original Mrs B invention. Here are the rules:

The game is called "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner"?

Three Bloggers are tagged and must post on their blog these directions and list the names of 6 of their favorite renowned Knitters whom they would invite to dinner and their reasons why.
Then the Bloggers play it forward by INVITING 3 new Bloggers play the game and name their Fantastic 6 for dinner. And so on.

What Mrs B probably doesn't realize is that I'm such a newbie knitter that I have an extremely modest collection of books by the famous published knitters and haven't yet acquainted myself with many of them. My shelf looks nothing like hers; I only have 4 knitting books :-( , maybe 5 if you count the 2006 Pattern-a-Day calendar. So this is going to be quite a challenge for me -- not knowing much about who's who in the knitting community -- to pull 6 names out of my knitting bag. Well, here goes...

1. Barbara Walker
2. Cheryl Oberle
3. Meg Swansen
4. Jane Sowerby
5. Marianne Kinzel
6. Martha Waterman

... but Nicky Epstein, Ann Budd, Elizabeth Zimmermann, and all my Elann friends/designers are also going to crash the dinner party too. :-)

Well, whadya think? Is it gonna be a lively party? Or a bore? Does it give you any clues on where my true interests lie?

I'm not going to tag specific people cuz they may not want to play (and I know some people who refuse to participate in these things), so I'll leave it open to anyone who wants to play. Just leave me a comment with your blog addy so I can come visit and see who you would want to invite to dinner...

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Downloading from Quicksharing

Thanks for the input. I gave it a try and saw what you meant. So I've added step-by-step instructions for downloading the file from Quicksharing.com. Let me know if this helps.

http://smariek.blogspot.com/2006/12/persephone.html

Oh, I looked at the PDF file again this morning and realized that any URL links are lost in the document. :-( I really like having the links to specific definitions on KnittingHelp.com or links to definitions of yarn weight & needle size on YarnStandards.com. (There aren't too many in my Persephone scarf pattern, but I have other patterns which have a long list of abbreviations.) I know most people don't need these links, but I would like to keep the links in there if it will help just one person out there who needs that extra info. You know? So, does anybody know how to get links to work? Or do I just have to type out the URL and people will just have to copy/paste the location into their browser?


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New Pattern Format

I'm in the process of trying something new with my patterns. I'm going to offer them in PDF format for several reasons, some of which include ensuring you get the complete pattern instructions with pattern notes and making it possible for you to print out just the pattern without all the extra "fluff" on the blog page.

I've converted one pattern to PDF to see how it goes, my Persephone Scarf:
http://smariek.blogspot.com/2006/12/persephone.html

Please let me know what you think...

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Mrs B: Got your invite for dinner, will respond soon...

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Ships Project

Last month, I learned about the Ships Project -- an effort to knit hats & other stuff for our troops abroad -- from Patricia and discovered that 4 of my hat patterns are listed on their Approved Patterns list. I guess many people have knitted these for the troops. What a pleasant surprise to learn of this wonderful way my patterns are being used. And I was really surprised/shocked to find my Claudia Hat on the list cuz that is my least liked hat pattern ... mostly due to the seaming, and it is the only one of my hat patterns that is not knitted in the round.

Of all my patterns so far, I have to say my favorites are: the 3AM Cable Hat, the Persephone Scarf, and Heart Lace Cloth.

--<>--

Well, don't I really know how to screw things up! I copied my pattern from Blogger into Microsoft Word. Spent some time rearranging & formatting how it looks. I still hadn't figured out where I could post a PDF file for people to download, plus I wasn't sure I liked the idea of trying to main two copies (the blog copy & the PDF copy) synched up, so I decided to hold off on the PDF file idea. Then I copied the updated pattern from Microsoft Word back into Blogger, and of course the formatting looks all wonky... so now I need to tweak how it looks in Blogger, again.

Other Blogger woes .... CatBookMom's blog has completely disappeared! It's been that way for days and she's still waiting for a response from the Blogger techs. I discovered this link from her about backing up a Blogger blog: http://www.quickonlinetips.com/archives/2005/11/back-up-your-blogger-blog/ . The first option seems painless enough. I'm not sure I want to jump through the hoops required in options #2 and #3.

--<>--

I am 1/3 of the way through knitting my current hat. It helps to watch American Idol ... it's the perfect TV show for mindless knitting. Glad Lakisha & Melinda made it to the final 12. I really like these two gals. Of the guys, well, that's a tougher choice...

Ok, gotta go, the Boss needs me. I'm drinking Yamamotoyama Green Tea today. It's seems cooler today, wonder if the Boss will want some too. She's discovered juice lately, and has been requesting that by name.

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Left or Right?

I guess it is inevitable for me to be a bit more left brained than right brained given the major I started out with (but did not complete) in college. Not so right brained... which would probably explain why I can't knit directly from charts if my life depended upon it...

You Are 60% Left Brained, 40% Right Brained

The left side of your brain controls verbal ability, attention to detail, and reasoning. Left brained people are good at communication and persuading others. If you're left brained, you are likely good at math and logic. Your left brain prefers dogs, reading, and quiet. The right side of your brain is all about creativity and flexibility. Daring and intuitive, right brained people see the world in their unique way. If you're right brained, you likely have a talent for creative writing and art. Your right brain prefers day dreaming, philosophy, and sports.

Are You Right or Left Brained?

--<>--

Yay, I actually did a little knitting today. I cast on for a hat and knit about 1500 stitches... mostly while watching 3 hours of 24.

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Pattern posting format

Well whadya know, my computer did NOT auto adjust its time today. Of course there was a curve ball this year since Daylight Saving Time happened a bit earlier than previous years. So I guess the auto-adjusting (or lack of) had something to do with not installing all those patches which this little icon in the corner of my screen had been nagging me to do since the beginning of time. I suppose I could configure it to auto-install everything for me as they come up, but I have control issues... I want to know what gets installed on this computer and when. And you guys already know that things move slowly in my house, so this will never get done. Yes, my computer is wide open... pretty bad for someone who used to preach to others how they should use prophylactics and regularly back up their hard drives. I don't practice what I preach. At least my virus defs are up to date...

DH's solution to all this is to get a MacBook Pro. He's offered to get me one for quite a while now. They certainly are attractive, but I fear the learning curve and the time spent to move everything over to the new platform, install new software, and get used to the Mac way of doing things. I suppose I should try to learn how to use my digital camera first?

Have you read this article about what it's really like to switch to a Mac? It's an amusing read.
http://utilware.com/switching.html

I'm so lazy, I still haven't adjusted the time manually. If I hold out long enough, it will be the "correct" time again... yes? no? maybe?

--<>--

Thank you for all the feedback on pattern posting formatting.

I'll play around with...

1. Flip flopping the positions of the pattern proper and the abbreviations.
2. Looking into Libby's suggestion of creating PDF files. I already have Adobe Acrobat which comes with a PDF Writer, so I'm guessing I won't need to download/install CutePDF.
   
3. Coloring text.

The PDF file suggestion is looking very attractive right now. I think this will solve the problem Alice pointed out to me about printing the blog posts, where half the pages are for the pattern and the other half are comments to the blog post. I understand how this can eat up a lot of paper & ink. So PDF files look like a good solution for this.

My questions...

1. What do I do with the PDF files? I mean, where can I put them so that people can download them? I don't think Blogger can do it???
2. Well, that's my only question, but I just discovered the bulleting button in the Blogger editor and wanted to play around with it some more. :-)

--<>--

Allison wrote: Your heart cloth looks great! Are you going to post the pattern or have I missed it somewhere?

It is already on my blog. You can find links to all my patterns from the sidebar (on the right side) underneath the "free patterns" section. Just scroll down until you find the photo or name of the pattern you're looking for. Now you have to make a choice... you can click on either the photo or the text link as they'll both take you to the same pattern page. :-)

--<>--

Ok, time to get back to work. So far I've changed the sheets, dried/put away the dishes, washed more dishes, cleaned the bathroom, halfway through prepping food for M, and am working through 3 loads of laundry so far. Need to think about cooking something for DH's lunch. Still have more house things to do and a Costco run. And I need to wrap up M's birthday presents... this is the tricky part, since I want to do it on the coffee table but then she'll see what I'm doing. It'll probably have to wait until late at night when I'm too tired to wrestle with wrapping paper.

What to make for dinner tonight? I'm thinking a simple chicken & spinach (possibly with french beans if I can get some today) stir fry.

Teatime... today I am drinking some Lung Ching green tea from Harney & Sons. I don't think they're a well know tea company on this side of the country, they're based in CT. Need to go brew more...

I can't believe I spent so much time sitting here typing up this post. No wonder I get so little knitting done! lol...

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Livres

Original Instructions: In the list of books below, bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole, put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf, and asterisk (*) the ones you’ve never heard of.

Well, since I can't figure out how to cross out text in Blogger, I will indicate the books I won't touch with a ten-foot pole by coloring the text orange.

I've placed a question mark (?) in front of the ones I'm not sure whether I want to read or not.

Feel free to let me know if there is a book on this list I should reconsider reading.

1. + The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. + Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. + To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. ? Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. + The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. + The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. + The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. ? Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. * A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. + Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. + Angels and Demons (Dan Brown) ~~~ started, but never finished
13. + Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. * A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. + Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. + Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling) ~~~ this is obviously a UK list of books, it's called Sorcerer's Stone in the US
17. * Fall on Your Knees(Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. + The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. + Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. ? Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. + The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. ? Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. + The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. + East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. ? The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. + 1984 (Orwell)
35. + The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. ? The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. * The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True(Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. ? Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. ? The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. + Bible ~~~ have several on my shelf, have read parts but can't say I've read it completely
46. + Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. + The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. + Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. + The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. ? The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. + A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. + Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. + Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. + The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. * The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. + Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. + The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. ? The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. + Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. ? War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. + Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. * Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. * The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. + Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. + Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. + The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) ~~~ I have this in English & in French
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. * Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. + The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. * The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. * The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. + Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. * Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. + Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. + Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind) ~~~ have the first 7 books of the series on the shelf
85. + Emma (Jane Austen)
86. ? Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. * The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. * Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. * Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. + Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. * The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. + The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch) ~~~ saw the movie though...
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. ? Ulysses (James Joyce)

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Air & Cap Karma

Not sure what I will do with Air. I really love the blue color. I'm thinking the other two colors may look better after I knit it up. Perhaps I just need to warm up to them. I'm really not a big fan of green, but you'd never guess it from the amount of green in my stash...

What would you do with this yarn?

I guess it is not quite as bulky as Reynolds Blizzard, however I might be able to substitute it in a pattern I meant to knit up with my 3 balls of Blizzard. Maybe?

Here's the 4th hat made from that big ball of blue yarn, it's chemo cap #13 for this year's Cap Karma Chemo Cap project. I still have a big ball left. It just never ends! The hat above is the Cap Karma hat (pattern here) with an extra repeat of rounds 1-8 before doing the decrease to make it longer -- can you tell I'm trying to use up all this yarn? lol. The hat is considerably larger than the two you saw before, you can see this in the photo below ... sorry it's not such a great photo since I took these at night with bad lighting, but you can get an idea of the size...

Left hat is the 3AM Cable Hat knitted with a fold-up brim. Middle hat is the 3 Cables Hat.

Don't you just hate how this blue variegated yarn stripes?

--<>--

Well, I finally typed up the pattern to my Ariel Scarf (which I started typing up a couple months ago... yeah, things move slowly in this house, lol), but I can't post it until I figure out a better way to make my patterns more readable. I've been putting the pattern above the notes section which enumerates the abbreviations I use in the pattern. Apparently this list of abbreviations gets missed despite adding something to the effect of "Please read 'Notes' section at the bottom before starting" directly above the cast on instructions, and adding the blurb at the top of my blog underneath the blog title, "Patterns on this site may use 'Unorthodox' abbreviations, please read NOTES section of each pattern before beginning."

So I'm going to play around with rearranging the text in my Ariel Scarf pattern post, perhaps putting the NOTES section above the PATTERN section.

Someone suggested putting the word "NOTES" in red so it stands out more. I'm wondering if I should make it blinking red, like the blinking red text in the sidebar of the Cap Karma blog, which I put in there aeons ago and can't remember how it was done, but don't think I have enough brain power left to figure that one out again...

I'm not sure what I'll do. Will need to play around with it some more. I wonder if there is a way to make all the abbreviations in the row-by-row instructions "link" to the corresponding explanation in the NOTES section. I'm not sure whether that can be done, but I imagine it would be awfully tedious to try and link each abbreviation on every row of instruction. But it sure would make it easier for people if they could just click on the link to go to the explanation of that abbreviation. Yes? No? Maybe? ... of course the link probably wouldn't work at all after you print it out. :-(

I don't have a printer to print out my pattern to see whether any of it gets truncated. Does that ever happen to people?

I'm also wondering if posts don't show up completely in some browsers. I use Mozilla Firefox and things look fine to me. But you never know. I know someone who upgraded her Blogger template and then all the text in each of her posts appeared centered to her, yet they all looked normal (viz. left justified) to me in my browser. So I know weird things happen in Bloggerland.

Maybe I should just give up on this whole pattern posting business since it takes too much time away from actual knitting. Perhaps I should present the pattern in several different formats and see which one you guys like best. Anyhowz, this will all have to wait until I have more time to fiddle around with the post...

Time for bed. I can't believe I'm losing an hour of my life this weekend... :-( I used to set my clocks before going to bed. Now I'm just too tired, it'll have to wait until tomorrow morning. Zero knitting done today :-( , but we did manage to look at a few Open Houses today.


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Cursed?

... or coincidence? Do you remember when I wrote about my last Elann order where DH had a "meltdown" at work and forgot to give me my little white box ASAIA? I had to wait 4 days (after it arrived) to get my box.

Well I placed my second Elann order for the year this week, and whadya know, DH has another "meltdown" at work this week which started on Tues. Then he had a hellish Wed which started at 7am and didn't end until 1:30 am. So the box has arrived at his office, but hasn't quite made it home to me. And no, this time it hasn't even made it into the boot. Am I cursed? I mentioned this coincidence to DH so he jokingly said I shouldn't order from Elann again...

Any guesses on when DH will actually bring my little white box home?

--<>--

I was in Noe Valley (a little neighborhood in San Francisco) on Tues and stopped by Pasta Gina on Diamond St (@ NE corner of 24th St) so M could have a veggie quiche for lunch -- it was delish, btw. You can easily miss this place if you blink. It is a very small Italian take-out deli type place, but they sure do have a lot of stuff inside their little shop. Fresh pasta & sauces. Lasagna. Ravioli. Olives. Meatloaf. Meatballs. Bread. Cannoli. Dry goods. It's take-out only, but there are two benches outside where you can sit to enjoy your meal. You must seek out this little gem the next time you're in the neighborhood.

Afterwards we walked up the street to the small park at the NW corner of Douglass St & 24th St, where M played a little in the sand, the swings, & the slide. I think in a few years she will be able to play more independently at the park, so I can be like other moms with older kids.... sitting in the sidelines while the kids play. I'm thinking ... KNITTING TIME!!! However with my luck, there will probably be something which will preclude this from ever happening.

I used to do much of my knitting in the car while M napped. Well that hasn't happened lately. I can't remember the last time I was able to knit in the car. :-(

--<>--

I've just discovered that Sue, for whom I made this chemo hat in 12/2005, is going to participate in this year's Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Her webpage is here, if you're feeling generous about making a donation to someone you don't know.

On the topic of chemo hats... I'm currently working on a Cap Karma Hat with that same blue variegated yarn. The whole striping looks just like that in the 2 hats in this post and the Quinquevulnera Hat. I suppose I could get the striping to pool differently if I used different size needles. I guess this pooling is part of the reason I hate this yarn. But I am determined to finish off this ball; I actually have more of this yarn besides this big ball. Sorry, I haven't taken a pic of this WIP ... just look at the other hats using this yarn and chop off the top half. That's what the hat looks like, LOL. I'm making this hat a bit taller (with an extra repeat of rounds 1-8) in an effort to use up all this yarn; if it's too long, they can just fold up the brim a little. Yes, that's the same reason why I intentionally added more K2P2 ribbing on that 3AM Cable Hat so that there would be a fold-up brim. Hmmm.... maybe I should make a long stocking cap....

--<>--

I mentioned the Eyelet Hearts Cloth I knitted, in my 2/20 post, where I cheated by tweaking the SSSSK triple decrease in Row 3 by doing: Slip 1, SSSK, PSSO.

Row 3: 3, K1, * K1, YO, K4Tog, YO, K3, YO, SSSSK, YO, K2 *, B3

This is what I was talking about. I love the symmetry of how the top of the right side slants to the right and the top of the left side slants to the left. For some odd reason I had no trouble doing K4Tog, but the SSSSK was killing me, so I cheated and think I achieved the similar slanting symmetry without cursing as much. ;-)

Don't know why this photo looks so grey to me. The yarn is actually blue! And the cloth hasn't been blocked ... haven't had the will power to do that simple task.

--<>--

Sorry, not much to say lately mostly due to not having much "me" time lately. No knitting today... :-(

Thank you for all the email inquiring about the Pampers codes, they've already been spoken for. I just need to get back to Madeline with the codes... I wrote them down on a slip of paper, now it's a matter of getting the paper & computer together. That was from a big box of 92 size 4 diapers, which will last me about a month I think, so those 2 codes should give 2.5 points each. I'll be offering more codes in the future as I am pretty certain I will be buying more diapers, pull up pants, or something. Yeah, I know I can collect the points myself, but I am really not interested in anything in their rewards catalog.

I've received some great photos for the Readers' Gallery which I will try to post as soon as I can.

Time for me to finish up my Bigelow Mint Medley tea and go to bed...

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Thoughts for 03/05/07

Just a quickie post before Miss M wakes up from her nap. Ooooh, she was quite a tired little girl and fussed about getting into the car, but I discovered today that it is so much easier to "wrestle" her into her car seat with it forward facing.

Anyone participating in the Pampers Grow with Me points thing? I have 2 codes up for grabs, email me...

--<>--

I was looking through this month's issue of The Irish Herald which lists lots of events for St Patty's Day, not that I would be able to make it to any of these events. However I noticed in one of the inserts, the St Patrick's Day Supplement, on page 3 (I guess, the pages aren't numbered, but it is the right side page after flipping the front cover), there is a photo of 3 cute litttle girls crouched around a dog. The girls are wearing these beautiful tams & cable sweaters; I couldn't help but think of Bets and her tams. Not sure exactly what I will do on St Patty's day, however I do know we'll be celebrating M's birthday. We haven't figured out the important details ... regular cake or ice cream cake? what flavor???


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Ugly Knitting

What happens when you knit with ugly yarn? You get ugly knitted items!!!

Yes, I'm still working on knitting charity hats with this big ball of yarn. I am so uninspired to knit with this because I hate the yarn. Everything I make with it looks the same! I've made 3 hats with this blue variegated yarn and they look pretty much the same from a distance. You can only distinguish their differences/pattern when looking at them up close. The photo above shows two of them side by side, as you can see they look quite unremarkable and you can barely tell they are two different hats.

This is the hat on the left, my 3AM Cable Hat pattern. I worked about 2.5 inches of ribbing, then did 4 repeats of rounds 1 through 8, then worked the decrease.

The hat on the right is my 3 Cables Hat from Dec 2006, which I never typed up the pattern to because I just couldn't imagine anyone wanted to knit this after looking at this photo. I will have to knit it up in a solid colored yarn, then see if anyone might be interested in the hat pattern...

The other hat I knitted with this ugly blue yarn is my Quinquevulnera Hat, you can see a photo of that by clicking on this link. I think that's all the things I've knitted with this yarn. Gosh, I don't remember, but these are the only 3 hats I can think of.

These hats will live their lives out as chemo hats for local cancer patients. I knitted them for the Cap Karma Chemo Cap project. We've collected a bunch of suggested hat patterns on that site, you can check them out here.

--<>--

I finally opened up the box of chocolates from V, which she picked up while in Brussels last December. I didn't want to open them until I was recovered from my cold, so I could fully enjoy them. :-)

Aren't these little chocolates cute? Thanks V! We love the chocolates...

--<>--

How much (or little) knitting have I done recently? I mentioned some stats here, and thought I'd give you a little update.

Mon ... 468 stitches.
Tues ... 520 stitches.
Wed ... 0 stitches.
Thurs ... 0 stitches.
Fri ... 192 stitches
Sat ... ~ 1,400 stitches. YAY!
Sun ... 0 stitches so far, but it's still early, so we'll see. Any guesses?

Ok, I've gotta go. Miss M has woken from an unexpected morning nap. Time to go entertain her...


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