I’ve been away again (to see an ill family member).  Sorry for not blogging in a while.  While spending all those hours on Amtrak, I’ve started a pair of toe-up Cascading Leaves socks in white Regia.  These will be footies, and hopefully suitable for spring and late summer weather.

 

While I was knitting on the train, a pair of 4-year-old twin girls across the aisle caught sight of me with my Addi Turbo needle and ran over for a better look.  One of them in particular was fascinated with the act of knitting and watched me making loop after loop (”loop-d-loop!” she said).  

 

Unfortunately, I was working on only one toe with one US#1 / 2.5mm circular.  Had I had larger needles and fatter yarn, I could have let her try knitting.  I pulled out a crochet hook to show her a single crochet chain, but that didn’t interest her as much.   Finger knitting would have worked, but I don’t really know how to do it, let alone teach someone.  Oops.

 

The girls (and their mom) showed enough interest that I think they will soon learn the craft (from their knitter aunt) and join our ranks as knitters.  Woo hoo!

 

As for knitting, not much has been done.  I brought along 4 balls of sock yarn (for 2 pairs of socks), but only am mid-foot on the first pair.  It’s just a pair of plain stockinette Regia socks, but with all the traveling, very little has been done.  Not only that, but I fudged the short row toes, so they came out a little boxy.  But I’ll keep on going, since this won’t be noticeable when on the feet.

 

 

 

 

Oh the frustration.  I’ve done this before, why won’t it work?  Is it my recent ADD from my crazy work days?  Over and over I tried it.  After maybe 8 times, the lightbulb came on!  We are simply creating a loop, once in front of the waste yarn, once behind, and repeated.  I’m not usually this dense, so I’ll blame it on the distractions and socializing.  :D

 

 

I’ve finished knitting the Faux Russian Stole!  I would have been done a week earlier if I had gone with my gut instinct to stop after 4.5 repeats instead of doing the full 5.5 repeats.  But I didn’t listen to the little voice in my head and continued on to row 82.  After really measure the thing and stretching it out, even at 4.75+ repeats, it was very long.  So I had to rip back to row 46. I knitted an extra 36 rows -- ouch!  Note the innocent ball of Baby Ull turned into an unwieldy yarn monster after all the frogging.  That’s a lot of yarn in the frog pond.

 

 

While I had lifelines after every right/left border repeat, I didn’t have one exactly where I needed it: after row 46.  So I ripped back to row 54, the nearest lifeline.  Since my dental floss lifelines were not very strong, I inserted a US#000 needle at that point.

 

 

Of course, I left in the dental floss just in case.  Good thing, since a review of my work showed a dropped stitch.  See where the dental floss dips down?

 

 

I fixed the dropped stitch, pulled out the lifeline and proceeded to knit the remaining 8 rows and then the top border.  It was easy going until the final step: garter stitch grafting.  Who the #@$?* invented such a thing?  

 

Things were a bit easier after I switched to DPN.  I resisted since I noticed that my Crystal Palace bamboo DPN in US#6 (4.25mm) was NOT the same size as my Addi Turbo US#6 (4.00mm).  But using circs to do grafting was not working, so I took the risk.  After 3 tries, I was finally able to finish grafting the lousy 8 stitches.  No wonder I make all my socks toe up!  Grafting is not very fun for me.

 

Here’s the finished piece, pre-blocking.  Given the cloudy skies, the best way to photograph it was to hang it on my shower rod.  Sorry I couldn’t get the whole thing but my bathroom is the size of a shoebox and I couldn’t fit it all in the picture.

 

 

 

 

P.S. Yes, I didn’t finish this in time for Mother’s Day. ::hangs head in shame::  But I blame work.  Someone’s gotta pay the bills.

 

I did do a tiny bit of knitting while away last week.  I worked on the Faux Russian Stole in the foolish hopes that I would be done by Mother’s Day.  Ha!  Not even close.  I still have one full repeat to go, if I follow the pattern.  I could stop now, and hope that blocking stretches the stole to the right length.  After all, the thing is taller than I am!  And I am somewhat worried that adding another repeat (about another 12”) would make it too long.  Decisions, decisions.

 

I have now worked on this stole near 3 major rivers: the East River, the Hudson River and the Mississippi River.  Above is a pic of Ole Miss from the bench where I was trying to knit.  The wind and unrelenting sun made it a chore, so I stopped after only 2 rows.

 

 

 

 

 

Mine looks a bit different, but it is due to the stuffing (I need tips! don’t think I did this so well) and the sewing up.  I did also substitute Caron Simply Soft for the yellow parts.

 

I’ve got nothing to show for my time in the midwest.  Took lots of photos of the Faux Russian Stole while lounging by the Mississippi River, but they didn’t come out too great.  I’ve knit about one fifth of the way into the 4th repeat now, and the FRS now reaches up to my nose.  I’m debating whether to stop after 4.5 repeats or go the full 5.5 repeats.   How much does lace stretch lengthwise after blocking?

 

Hopefully some pics to come soon.  I had a great time at a wedding over the weekend.  It was held in a beautiful botanic garden and had a celtic/greek goddess feel to it all.