I don’t have much in the way of knitting news, it being only Wednesday morning, but I wanted to publish this little post on a website I happened upon last year.  Eunny Jang is the current editor of Interweave Knits, the magazine.  But before she took on that fantastically busy job she was a blogger.  The thing that I like about her blog (even though she doesn’t post there any more) is that she has lots of tips and techniques posted.  If you need a little primer about steeking, go to her blog.  Want to learn the art of creating a cable pattern from scratch, go to her blog.  She has diagrams and photos galore.  I am very thankful that she has left her blog up even though she hasn’t posted on it for a while.

You can see her blog here.  I’ll also post her link in the sidebar.

Toodles.

Spring is flirting with us up here in the northern Illinois part of the country. Last week it was a respectable 70′s something and this week? 40′s, possibly some 50′s – but cold none the less. I had to go and retrieve my nice winter coat out of the back of the closet yesterday. Hopefully spring will come back for good soon. And it is as I am lamenting this rather bizarre weather that I am reminded that there is a baby, named Abigail, to whom I had promised a blanket, that is still without. I’m betting it could have come in good use right about now, but sadly it is still in progress. Her parents, I’m sure, think I’ve forgotten about said blanket, but I haven’t. The guilt is tearing me up, though. So I made the executive decision today that socks will have to wait – blanket takes priority. I have 1 1/2 rows of hears to do and then a border. I CAN DO THIS! (the pictures are on Ravelry) (I also realize that while Abigail is only 3 months old and has no awareness/memory of promise, her parents do, and I don’t want the ramifications of that down the line – “Yes, this blanket was made by some person who finished it when you were 2, even though we could have used it the winter you were born because it was a really bad winter….”)

I suppose that to most people the idea of knitting while at church might just seem a bit, well.., heretical.  I actually find it to be quite a worshipping experience.  I’m singing, tithing, listening and being enriched by the sermon, all while actually doing something pleasing with my hands.  I have to admit, though, that I try to do it in such a way that it doesn’t actually bother anyone else.

I’ve been doing this for a while now and have not had any problems – until yesterday, that is.  I arrived a little early, went inside the sanctuary, found a seat and started knitting.  I had just finished one side of one sock when worship started.  So I set it down and picked it up again when I had a chance.  The bad thing about knitting in church is when you make a mistake you have to keep it quiet and to yourself.  Well, when I picked up the knitting again I didn’t double check which needle I was knitting with and, well, I picked up the wrong one and started knitting. 

When I realized it, I thought "hey, I can fix this – no problem."  I did fix it by taking one side off the needles completely and putting it back on.  But, and here is the really bad part…I still didn’t pick up the right set of needles.  So I ended up with one sock facing one way and the other sock facing the other way.  ARG. 

Ok, I thought again to myself "hey, taking it off the needles last time worked well, let’s do it again…but with taking the sock completely off…" – I’m sure you know where I’m going with this…I ended up dropping stitches like flies.  So I put it down and sat very still and listened to the preacher.  I guess that’s what I get for knitting in church.

BTW – All is well with the socks now.  I didn’t even put them in time out.

that my life seems to be one little interesting adventure after another?  Ask me sometime about the burns on my back from a coffee spill, or the 7 stitches on the inside of my lower lip from working out…and there are plenty more.  Well, Kate experienced my adventurous life for the first time last night.  As I mentioned yesterday, Kate and I were going to see Stephanie Pearl-McPhee at her book signing in Oak Lawn, about a 50 mile drive from Lake Forest.  We set out at 3:30 PM in high spirits, stopping at McDonalds for some good ole southern sweet tea (both of us being southerners by birth) and rolled the windows down and settled in for a long ride.  We talked about kids (hers) and about projects and life in general.  We even discussed some rather deep questions about life like "Do all women really seek security in life through their husbands?" and why we seek security.

We took the toll way down and got onto I-55 up towards the city.  I decided to take Central Ave instead of Cicero and there it happened.  We had been making good time, it was only 5:45 or so, when my car went kerplunk. 

Me looking at Kate:  "What was that?"
Kate looking at me quizzically: "I think you just ran over something"
Me:  "Oh. Okay"   (all dash board systems were fine)

We eventually had to make our way over to Cicero and once we did we were basically stopped in traffic.  The lights were out.  Arg.  No problem, we have time.  (Keep in mind that an entire grid was out of power – no lights/electricity anywhere)

5:50 – finally pulled onto Cicero and made it to the next light

5:53 – my turn to go, press gas, "VRRRROOOOMMMMMM!"  was my car’s response

5:53:10 – Me to Kate: "Um, that doesn’t sound good…."

5:53:45 – Me to my friend Michael via phone – "It’s making a really loud noise when I accelerate.  Here – Kate will hang the phone out of the car and you can listen…"

5:54 – Michael to me:  "I think it might be a belt."

ARG (I’m now on Cicero, a 6-lane road in the far left lane in stop and go traffic.  Move off to the side?  Not a good option at this point).

5:55 – Me to Michael "Okay, but do you think I can make it the 5 miles to the hotel?  I really want to hear this speaker?" (I know where my priorities lie – car?  I can deal with it – Yarn Harlot?  More important.)

Michael:  "No, (**duh**)  pull off and check your belts."

**sigh** OK.

6:10 – Pulled off and ended up at a Sears Auto (prolific?).  Popped the hood.  Belts – fine.  Oil – fine.  Car not over heating.  All systems go (except for the noise)

6:15 – determine that I can deal with this after the book signing, we proceed on to the hotel, stopping in drive through for dinner ("YOU WANT WHAT?  I CAN’T HEAR YOU… YOUR CAR IS TOO LOUD!")

6:30 – Make it to the hotel.  Three hours exactly from start to finish.  sigh.  Seats – bathroom – food.  Relax.  Knit.

6:50 – Announcer to the audience: "Stephanie will be late…"

Keep right on knitting.

7:10 – Announcer to the audience:  "Stephanie has had to cancel…"

7:11 Kate and I were out the door.  Maybe, just maybe, we could make it to a car place that was still open.

7:20 – Car-X and Enrique.  I pull up and Enrique says "It’s your exhaust.  There’s probably a hole in the muffler or pipe.  But you can make it home, no problem."

Me to Enrique:  "Are you sure?  I live 50 miles away…."

Enrique:  "I’m 99.9% positive.  But I’ll put your car up and take a look just to reassure you."

Enrique:  "Yup – you’re missing the whole middle pipe – see?"

Hm.  Loud noise = muffler.  Who would have thought?

Two hours later, having driven through a dramatic thunder/lightening storm, I dropped Kate off.  I think she was deaf by that point.  But she sure had an adventure!

(For those of you who are interested in the fate of Camille (my car), I took her into a Midas shop today.  Camille is 15 1/2 years old and has 261,000 miles.  They ended up replacing the whole muffler system.  She needs some more work done, but she is still going strong.  She’ll turn 16 this year, and I’m looking forward to the day when she can get her driver’s license and take herself places instead of me having to take her every where.)

Kate and I are going to see Stephanie speak tonight and get my book signed.  I’m taking my "blond" socks and am hoping to make it to her "First Time Sock Knitters" club.  Stay tuned…maybe I’ll show up on her blog tomorrow!

I am knitting happily way on my socks.  They now come up to about mid foot, which means that I’ll be close to doing the "heel turn" soon.  In a moment on inspiration I decided to add some "decoration" to the socks instead of having straight stockinette.  I didn’t want anything really complicated because I love not being tied to a pattern right now.  So, I created a little diamond inside a diamond thing.  You can start to see it on one of the pictures below.  Well nearly as soon as I started to knit the darn thing I started messing the pattern up.  So I continued to work the semblance of the pattern and when I had supposedly gotten through one an a half diamonds I gave up.  And I’m NOT frogging – no way.  So I’m stuck with a partial pattern going across the top of my foot.  At least I wear non-sandals most of the time.

I have been knitting quite a bit on the socks.  I decided to create a pattern on the top of the sock and will probably continue it around the cuffs.  I have to admit, though, that the pattern is not working out so well.  Hm.  Since I learned a new cast on technique yesterday, when I do this again, cast on for more socks, I’m going to use the Turkish cast on so that the toes won’t be so pointy.  I have basically flat toes, they go almost straight across and have no shaping, so the pointy toe thing at the top bugs me.  But being the trooper that I am I will finish these socks and wear them if its the last thing that I do.  On a lighter note, my friend Kate and I are going to see the Yarn Harlot (Stephanie Pearl-McPhee) on Friday night.  Way too exciting.  I’m taking my socks and my goal is to get my picture  on her blog.  Stay tuned.

I had a slightly luxurious and indulgent adventure yesterday. I decided to go to a Fiber Art Fair in a town about 100 miles west of where I live. Two and a half hours there….two and a half hours back. Long day. Here are some pics from the drive there.

They look almost the same don’t they? They were actually taken about 30 minutes apart. This was essentially the who drive, open farmland and small towns. I decided to take back roads there, to Cedarville, Illinois, because it is basically due west of where I lived. To take the interstate would have added about 40 miles to the trip and I would have driven way south and then west and then north to get to Cedarville. I used Google Maps and had the whole thing planned…well, or so I thought. I apparently stayed on one road for too long and ended up going in a slightly more circuitous route, but I figured out my mistake and was able to correct it with very little problems. I think in the end it was easier to retrace my route using the wrong turn rather than the originally planned route, so Someone was looking out for me.

This is the place where the fiber art fair was:

Small Town USA. I happened to get there really early so I had an opportunity to walk around before my class (the class was the indulgent part, the getting there was the adventurous part). I decided to take a "how to knit two mittens tip to cuff at the same time on one long circular needle" class. This is the yarn I purchased for my first pair of mittens:

The picture doesn’t really do the yarn justice, but it is quite pretty. Tahki 100% wool. The base yarn is a dark gray/black variegated with a wrap-around yarn that is variegated in bright primary colors. Really nice combination. This was my instructor, Beth:

She was very patient and helpful.  Her one claim at the beginning of the class was that she had been knitting since Truman was president.  When was that?  1980? 

There were 7 of us in the class and I think we all "got" it in the end but not without our trials and errors.  We learned a new cast on – the Turkish cast on and it took us the better part of an hour to get it straight.  Here are some pictures from the process – I apologize for some of the fuzziness – I’ve just found out that I don’t know how to take photos that are in focus.

This is just after the cast on and the first row knit, which is a securing row.