MaggieBKnits

Here she is. Her body is composed of Spider stitch, which is very useful for shawls that drape nicely. A triangle results from 4 increases every 2 rows. Spider stitch lets you increase 4 sts in two rows, and 8 in the next two rows. The extra increases spread the shawl out more rapidly, essentially, which produces more of a crescent shape at the front edge. Here the shawl is blocking on my rug, and you can easily see the more-than-triangle shape. A close up of the spider stitch, as well as the border. The border increases quite rapidly. In twenty rows it almost doubles, twice, going from 300 stitches to nearly 1000. This produces a bit of a ruffle-- which produces a blocking challenge! Normally, each loop of crochet chain gets stretched straight out at the bottom of the shawl. You can't do that on this one-- there is not enough room laterally, due to the sheer number of stitches, and the scallop. Here's a picture I took while I was pinning it out. Each of those little points ...

Current condition of the Icelandic Shawl (which I started just before Camp). It has finally emerged from the Real-Estate-Induced Knitting Interruptus and made progress to the almost-end. It is not an enormous shawl, it is more of a shoulder shawl, but it became dull as dirt and Way Low Priority a month ago. (Real Estate Woes were the major issue.) Notice those flared-looking edges? They are more of a ruffle than an classic edging. I am currently engaged in a crochet process where the stitches are bound off into loops of crochet chains. For the unfamiliar, this is not complex crochet, but it can be fiddly. Essentially, the bottom edge of the shawl is bound off in a series of work several stitches together into one stitch work a crochet chain out of that one stitch, which keeps the bottom of the shawl from binding attach that chain to the next group of stitches to be worked together. Here we go. Insert hook into stitches on needle (I do this knit-wise so as not to twist the resultant cha...

Finished. We declared a moratorium on moving/buying house woes/selling house woes discussion, moving work or worrying on Sunday. Guess what I did?! Here's the cuff And the back of the neck. I wanted more red at the neck than would come from just I-cord, but I also wanted a hint of a reminder of the corrugated rib at the cuffs. (I just noticed something on the back of this sweater, in the photo, that I had not noticed before. I think there is some Swiss darning in my future. Rats.) And, lest you think that the Crazy Sellers of Real Estate have ruined my knitting life utterly, here is my weird (but it's growing on me- no pun intended) Icelandic shawl. Doesn't look like much unblocked. This is stretched out a bit for you. I don't really enjoy crocheting off sts at the bottom of the stall, but it's OK, I have been smelling the barn ever since Sunday's knitting frenzy. Helps me keep at it. And there's the promise of starting new knitting when I finish. Ho...

I am not going to show you the feeble amount of knitting I did yesterday. I have a total of 10 minutes daily for knitting, if that, and, well, it's just too dull. Since Nancy and I see eye to eye on knitting books (thanks Nancy, and I remember you quite well!)-- I am packing up my Stay With Me" knitting books box. It is almost full, and there are some Meg books not in yet. (I need to have a conversation with Meg about sizing her books to properly fit into my book carton.) And what do I do about my already-down-to-the-absolute-necessities lace books? To say nothing of the precious and challenging-to-replace AS books? (Notice I do not have Aran Knitting. I cannot bring myself to pay the prices demanded, and when it came out I was a newly married support-wonderful-DH -thru-Law School kind of gal and $39 or whatever it was was a lot of money to me. Hm. So is 300, for that matter. Anyway, my library still has it, and no I won't tell you which one since all the other librari...

Thanks to a real cool spell over the weekend, I got some work done on my Cuff to Cuff sweater. However, no knitting has been done since I got back from that long weekend. Truly. (For those that know me, that should tell you something about the awfulness of this real estate situation.) Ah well, this, too, shall pass. Here's the sleeve I completed over the weekend. I got the steek tacked down, and started the other sleeve (I'm holding it down slightly; I'm only a couple of inches into it). Anyway, I like the first sleeve; the hand of the fabric is quite luxurious. And warm! If you are thinking of knitting this, just a heads up-- take the top edge of the chart with a grain of salt, especially if you change the neckline (I did this: shoulder shaping via short rows). Meg's shading gets a bit erratic just at the top edge. If you have been knitting along and paying attention, you'll probably notice. You have been warned. :) Here's a shot of the sleeve on my arm. ...

One- I do not even want to talk or think about the incredibly difficult woman involved from the sale end of the house we are (supposedly) buying. I don't think the wildest roller coaster in the world can compare with the ride we've had in the course of this purchase (which, let me point out, is not yet complete. So there could be more. Just hold on, folks...!) Two- my sock is clearly not in the hands of Wendy or the Yarn Harlot, as it is another Molasses in January item (for explanation, see item one above). But this is yesterday: It is not exciting, but I like the heel so much better than my last toe-up. I am definitely not a fan of the short row heel, at least on any of the high-instep feet I have around me. I did a flap (note for next time: increases in the flap are good for those high insteps) in the traditional heel stitch, and loved the result. There's more padding under the heel, which is nice (especially since it's a key wear-out spot in my sock wearers). Also...

Lace designing is something I really love and enjoy. I like to mess with shaping of shawls and other garments, and to imagine floral images and geometric shapes, and convert them to a lace stitch. And of course to envision garments and make them a reality. So I thought I'd amuse someone with my very first attempt to design my own shawl. This was, let's see. Well, the yarn was an anniversary gift so it was August, and the year--? Uh. Maybe 2001? Looks kinda nice, huh? Yup, I have it laid out on my bed; it looks like it will look lovely over a bare-shouldered dress, drape nicely, etc, right? Here's another shot. Maybe you can see something happening, maybe not. How about now? This is over a shirt, which has some frictional element -- and that keeps the stole's true colors from showing as clearly. But let me tell you, this stole obeys one thing, and one thing only, when you wear it. Gravity. This is what it does when I pick it up and hold it vertically, then gently lay it...

Not having any knitting progress to share (sorry. I did knit my sock flap but that's about all)... I wanted to get on my needle soapbox for a bit. As you can see, I own a fair number of needle gauges. I love them. They let me keep my needles logical, despite all of the manufacturers' apparent efforts to befuddle me. I trained as a scientist, which generally pursues accuracy. Thus, two needles that claim to be the same size but are in reality .25 or even .5 mm off-- well. How can a manufacturer claim to have an accurate tool, that can vary so widely? (Example: US size 6 can be 4mm or 4.25mm) Can you see a scientist accepting a .25mm variation in his calipers? I know that for manufacturers to be super accurate they'd need to really hike their prices into the ozone. But couldn't they at least agree on which mm size to aim for? Better yet, can the whacko size systems, and just use millimeter sizes exclusively. They are utterly logical. Don't get me wrong, I never...

I have been knitting, really I have! See? It's a bit like watching grass grow (in a drought) but any progress at all feels like a major victory with all else going on around here. That sleeve is one diamond from its ribbed cuff. Here's my Mommes Lysedug, which is a real lifesaver for a lace knitter in a heat wave. (Especially one who is buggy-eyed with house buying woes and desperately needs to knit) The Tencel thread is cool and light in my fingers; the loveliness of the doily makes me imagine it gracing my dining room table in a new home; progress is visible and the knitting speedy. On the other hand, it does take some attention. So I have to be honest, it hasn't gotten as much work as I'd like to give it. This little thing (my Icelandic shawl, begun before Camp)is *not* cool and comfortable to knit in a heat wave: The Icelandic/mohair mix lace yarn-- well, let's just say it will be lovely in December. I am finally down to the last 4 rows where the sts have...

One son's suitcase: My daughter's suitcase: My suitcase: On the floor in our house. No, I am not on vacation. No, I am not exactly happy about it. There is a silver lining to that cloud, however: Vacation spot has no A/C, and is very humid almost always. We're in the middle of a nasty heatwave. My house has A/C. This makes me a bit happier. First off, put me down for a no on the entire house sale/purchase process, to say nothing of having to move 6 people (and their stuff) in 25 days. Especially when you have no idea where you are moving those 6 people. Suffice it to say that the 3 houses, any of which would be great, one of which I loved -- they are gone. Two sold not an hour before we tried to buy them. The other we were within an inch of a contract when the wife decided she just couldn't handle selling her house (gotta say I'm starting to be in more sympathy with that position). The fact her husband has to commute 4 hours (one way) to work is, I guess, not so i...