Becca's Blog

Yes, you can too knit a place setting.

Some knitters seem to think there is no occasion for which a knitted item is an inappropriate gift. I am definitely one of those knitters.

I can't help myself. Sure, I can be snarky about charity knitting--but then I find myself knitting baby things for new parents whom I know only slightly. Is it my fault that my siblings won't breed?

My latest seizure was deciding to make a little lacy something for a young girl I'll be seeing this weekend. I pulled out some yarn that's been waiting in the stash a couple of years for just such an occasion--I bought it with a little girl sweater in mind but without a fixed occasion or certain recipient in mind. As I said, I can't help myself.

So I'm crocheting Tracy Moncrieff's "Shrug It Off, Girl!" with the aim of being done by Saturday morning. I honestly think I can do it. Really. 

And while I was digging through the stash at 9:30 last night, I again ran across the tweedy oatmeal wool that would be *perfect* for a man's vest, if only I had 400 more yards of it. I have a twinge of regret every time I look at that yarn, because it is not quite enough to make anything, and it's from a small producer and was purchased several years ago.

But it got me thinking that I would really like to make Jane's dad a vest for his birthday at the end of next month. So I just came home with 10 skeins of O-wool Balance in a nice dark gray. So much for my "finish two, start one" rule--and so much for the desperately needed decluttering.

And I think right now I shouldn't be blogging, I should be crocheting. I have a gift to finish.

Hello again.

It is totally possible to have writer's block for, like, three months, and a lot has happened, so I have lots to catch you up on.

When I was last here Kate and I were getting ready for the benefit knitting party for the Women's Daytime Drop-in Center, which went off successfully.

We launched 11 new knitters, and the Drop-in Center gained some new advocates--notably the women behind Help a Mother Out, who chose to make the WDDC a beneficiary of their May drive for diapers and women's and kids' health and hygiene supplies. They have hit the ground running, and I really admire their advocacy for women and kids who are hit hardest by the recession and our state's upside-down budget priorities.  

At the end of May the WDDC held its annual benefit auction, and Jane and I attended again.

I donated at handknit lace scarf, which apparently sold after we left.

That's been about the only knitting I've done lately, since it had to be finished on deadline, except that I also helped out with A Verb for Keeping Warm's Keep the Fleece event.

 

That was the summery-est Saturday we've had all spring, and I had a lovely time meeting new people and hanging out. I had the honor of knitting up Michael's handspun into a scarf block.

There is a lot more to tell you, most of it revolving around pets, but I'll hold that for another post. (Baby steps...)

Cat Bordhi to the rescue. Again.

I have to give props to Cat Bordhi.  I'm rather abashed to admit that I do so grudgingly, because that seems snotty, but it's the truth. I really didn't care for "Socks Soar on Two Circs," and I think I wrote a cranky blog post about it at the time. Yet despite my complaints, I managed to learn how to use two circulars and got at least one pair of socks knitted.

Then I saw "New Pathways for Sock Knitters" at Maia's house, and I was intrigued by all the designs, which are much more appealing than the ones in "Socks Soar." Not only that, the "anatomy of a sock" diagram that I wanted in "Socks Soar" was there, along with concise instuctions on techniques critical to sock knitting. Between the intriguing (or unbearably cute) designs and the charts and guides that are key to customizing your own socks, this looked like a very valuable sock-knitting reference. 

I bought the book after Christmas a year ago, and it has been a valuable reference, even though I'm not much of a sock knitter. I did knit the first two learning socks, and eventually I will work through some more of the sockitechtures. But mainly I come back to this book for the technique instruction. For example, Bordhi's explanation of how to knit together a stitch and its wrap is in a sidebar titled "A wrap resembles a necklace." To me, the tone of that is insufferably twee, but the explanation is thorough and clear, and the twee mnemonic works (dammit).

I also go back again and again to remind myself of the correct way to make lifted left and right increases (which she gives awkward-sounding nicknames). I should probably just drop my resistance and memorize her silly names and mnemonics for which stitch to lift for which side. The diagrams for these increases are great, but if I got the differences firmly enough in mind, I wouldn't have to go back to the book to refresh my memory.

The description of Judy's Magic Cast-on is crystal-clear and takes up only a quarter-page. And she gives abundant credit every time she explains a best practice developed or popularized by someone else, as with this technique. In fact, I just found the tip, squeezed in on the last page of the index, for finishing bind-offs neatly and invisibly. I wish I had found it last night when I was binding off a mitt. That mitt is what caused me to grab "New Pathways" again.

I'm finally finishing the mitts I started as a Christmas/birthday gift for my boss back in November (she reads the blog, but I'm sure all the boring knitting tech-talk has driven her away by now), and I wanted to make sure the bind-off at the top isn't constricting. I figured I'd try Elizabeth Zimmermann's sewn bind-off, since it is reputed to be so elastic. First I dragged out my trusty old Vogue Knitting, which had, as I remembered, an extremely complex series of instructions (it maintains a k2,p2 ribbing pattern as you sew, so it's a mind-numbing, impossible-to-memorize routine of "Insert purlwise once, then insert knitwise to the back, now switch, now stand up and turn around three times..."). I bailed on that and decided to keep looking. I have just one EZ book, and I skipped that because I find EZ's written instructions to be cryptic very often. "Knitting in Plain English" addressed sewn bind-offs only in passing. "No Sheep for You" and "Knitting Circles Around Socks" and "The Sweater Workshop" and "Custom Knits" had nothin'. "DomiKnitrix" shows a tubular bind-off that looks pretty much like the thing, but I wasn't sure it was exactly right. Finally I checked "New Pathways for Sock Knitters," and I should have started there. A sidebar, titled "Elizabeth Zimmermann's sewn bind-off," with blazingly simple instructions. Eureka.

My first mitt is bound off, and the edge is indeed stretchy and unconstricting (unlike the cast-on, which now looks rather tight). So, honestly, I will never diss the twee little metaphors or titles like "Treasury of Magical Knitting" again. (I almost wrote "Enchanted Broccoli Forest" there.)

I'll photograph the mitts as soon as I've bound off the second one and knitted the thumbs. I swiped the eyelet stitch pattern from the Riverbed sock pattern in "New Pathways," and I did these two at a time on magic loop, following the instructions in Melissa Morgan-Oakes's "2-at-a-Time Socks." That has been another really good reference guide for techniques that are good for more than just socks. 

As I was working on the mitt last night I thought about the "Sock Summit" convention that's scheduled for this coming August. I was imagining sessions titled "Grafting Intensive" and "Cast-on Colloquium." That would be kind of a hoot, but as I've said, I'm not a sock knitter.

Planning a party is great fun...

but actually throwing a party is nerve-racking. Jane and I don't do it very often because we're both pretty neurotically insecure (about different things, but I think the anxiety level comes out about the same).

I certainly had fun planning our wedding reception five years ago—I was happily distracted from the tedium of my job for months. Lately I've been party-planning again, which is much more entertaining than, say, taxes.

On March 15, Boxer Press Kate and I are hosting a Learn-to-Knit party here in Berkeley. It is a benefit for the Women's Daytime Drop-in Center, where I teach knitting once a week. Kate designed the easy cat-toy pattern we will be teaching, and she wrote the how-to-knit booklet and the pattern instructions. And she pulled it all together in an amazingly cute package.

I came up with a menu of Asian-inspired snacks, like fresh spring rolls, satay, and fruit. I think menu planning might be my favorite part. I also scouted locations and settled on Cafe Zeste, on the edge of Strawberry Creek Park in Berkeley. Although we originally thought we would do the catering ourselves, sanity prevailed, and Cafe Zeste will be providing the delicious snacks as well as the scenic locale.

Crystal Palace Yarn donated yarn and needles for us, and K2Tog donated a $25 gift certificate as a door prize. I'm still working on getting a few more door prizes, and we could use a few more guests to make the event a fundraising success for the Drop-in Center. We think a $35 donation is a good amount, considering all that we're providing. I'm asking guests to make their donations directly to the Women's Drop-in Center, so their donations are completely tax-deductible and they are not defraying the costs of the event at all. All the event supplies have been donated, and Jane and I are underwriting the catering costs. We're happy to foot this significant expense, though, to raise money and awareness for a service that is close to home and close to my heart. As a bonus, it's supporting a local small business.

Bay Area buddies, if you know someone who would like to learn to knit in a really fun setting with a lovely group of people, give me a holler. 

The backstory on this little project is that the Drop-in Center hosted its own fundraiser last summer, an auction at the Berkeley Yacht Club. Jane and I attended, and it was a lovely evening. I rocked a black minidress, white fishnets, and a very mod hairdo. I looked great, if I do say so myself. If it weren't a bit much for midafternoon, I'd consider reprising the look for our knitting party. (No, I am not in the party shot below. I successfully avoided being photographed, as I try always to do.)

(I bet you didn't know that Berkeley has a yacht club, did you? Well it does, and it's a pretty cool little clubhouse with amazing views.)

Kate and I dreamed up this Learn-to-Knit party as an auction offering, and created a lovely display of instructions, menus, and invitations. (All of which Kate designed and printed. She has mad paper-arts skills.)

We actually swiped the the learn-to-knit party idea from Celia and Pamela, with their blessings and advice. 

During the auction I cruised by our display all evening, but no one bid. At all. The only items to receive no bids at all were ours and the $4000 guided trip to Costa Rica. Needless to say, I was rather crestfallen. But I vowed that our work would not go to waste, and I would organize the party as a fundraiser at some later date. Now I have, and I'm determined that it will be a success.

During our March 15 party, I figure I'll be too busy teaching to bite my nails and worry.

All trussed up and ready to go.

In January, most of the knitting I did was making hexagons to be part of a collaborative afghan.

And when it came time to block them, I knew it was going to be hard to pin down the points and avoid having the edges curl up or pull out of shape.  So I thought of doing something like using blocking wires. 

I don't have any blocking wires, but I do have a set of those little, teeny sock dpns. And I have the little skewers known as "turkey lacers" which are for trussing up turkey cavities. Necessity is the mother of invention, n'est-ce pas?

A holiday gift for you

... if you like this sort of thing. I've finally finished writing up my hoodie baby blanket pattern, and it's here. I hope you like it. (Oh, whoops--I didn't realize the page would show up in the normal flow of the blog. It's immediately below this post as well...)

I've been pretty silent lately, but that's mainly because I had so many things partially done, and I was a bit reluctant to discuss all the half-done-ness. I've been knitting, reading, cooking, thinking, and opining a lot on Twitter and Facebook. Half-baked thoughts seem appropriate for 140-character bursts on the spur of the moment.

Here's what I've finished since Thanksgiving: two stories for Knotions.com (which should appear in the next couple of months), my lopi-esque pullover (I'm hoping to get all the colorwork ends weaved in and a little blocking done in the next few days, so I can wear it to Reno over Christmas--photos forthcoming), a gift scarf, and this pattern. I've also tried no-knead bread two ways, done the East Bay Christmas Bird Count and gotten two colds, continued to teach knitting at the drop-in center and contributed to their Christmas lunch for clients. Also wrote a book proposal for my job, which unfortunately didn't get greenlighted. I'll just have to come up with some more book ideas.

Here's what I've started since Thanksgiving: two pairs of mitts, one reasonably well along. I swiped pretty stitches from a couple of sock patterns to adapt to them, so they're fun.

I hope you are all well and enjoying the holiday season.

The only picture extant

of my Halloween costume. Can you guess who I was?

 

I'll give you a hint: I was multimedia when multimedia wasn't cool.  And if you were at EBLGBT Knit-One-One Knite last Tuesday, no fair guessing because I told you what my costume was.

Momentum. I has it.

The Lopi-esque pullover is coming together: Last night I finished the second sleeve, and this morning I re-read the instructions, this time carefully, and realized that I've made the body more than long enough. So I joined the sleeves to the body, refiggered the rate of decreases for my stubby torso, and pulled out my grocery bag 'o Lambs Pride to take another run at the color combination for the yoke.

Four colors--how hard could it be? Hard enough that it took five swatches and sixteen possible colors to come up with the right set. I really thought I was on the right track with a warm olive green, two warm browns, and charcoal, so I knit up complete repeats of both color charts, loving it all the while. When I stepped back and looked at it as a whole, it gave me a great sense of the pattern, but sadly reminded me of the carpet in the house I grew up in. Too many earthtones. Too dark, too soothing. I went back to a purply-blue that I really like in the skein, but it didn't work any better next to the browns than it did the first time I tried it. 

After a little more thinking, I believe I have hit upon the solution. But I'm going to wait to show it until I have a good-size swatch knit up.

I'll try to finish the arm decreases, and maybe get a start on the yoke, tonight during The L-Word. I'm curious to see what happens with Alice & Tasha after last week's Officer and a Gentleman-type ending. (Trouble adjusting to civilian life for Tasha, which she takes out on Alice, is what I predict.)

My stash seeks stasis.

This took a lot of yarn, and it will take more by the time I'm finished:
(Temescal bag, pre-handles and pre-felting.)

This is a lot of new yarn.
I have plans for it, but until it's knit up, by me it's stash. (I'm a recent convert to Stash and Burn; I've been listening to all the back podcasts, and I'm newly stash-conscious. And the weird disconnect between "stash yarn" and "project yarn" in Ravelry prompts me to clarify my position.)

It's going to become a pair of log cabin baby blankets, for the spring twins. I actually got this pattern after hearing about it on an old Stash and Burn episode. I'd like to swatch (especially so I can wash and dry some swatches and see if they'll hold up to the dryer), but I feel that currently I have too many things on the needles.

I had a morbid thought yesterday morning: If I had a catastrophic injury tomorrow and for some reason could never play with yarn again, my stash might be given away, but my WIPs would probably get thrown away. So a) I'd better finish what I've got on my plate; and b) I had better get cracking on that living will. Beware: If you've ever left a comment on this blog, you may inherit one of my WIPs in the event of my untimely retirement from knitting.  You could rip and reknit it, just don't let the yarn go to waste....

Finally, a picture.

  carwash 
  Originally uploaded by beccaf

I've been uploading photos to Ravelry diligently, but not putting them on the blog, so it's gotten a little text-heavy around here. So this is an experiment in blogging from Flickr, which I've never done before. I'm all about the efficiency, you know.

This is the finished carwash flaps scarf, btw, in an overexposed, not so flattering photo.