In which we continue as we do not mean to go on

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? Right, there we go -- yes, you in the back? Oh, um, yeah -- the March scarves. Um, yes. Well, we are now talking about APRIL scarves. . .

Meanwhile, I continue to love the yarn I talked about on March 14. I have told  a couple of local friends that it's the exact color of the sand on the beach where my family has always gone (northern NJ) -- I was there today, and here's a picture (that is a color photo, not a black and white, just to clarify):

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The local knitting guild I belong to sends baby hats to the NICU at a local hospital -- they have plenty of preemie hats, but not everyone who ends up in the NICU is a preemie, so they need full-term baby size as well. Every once in a while I go on a binge and knit a heap of them. All machine washable, acrylic yarns -- not my favorite, but they need to hold up to industrial laundry, and the cause is worth it. And knitting these is a little like potato chips -- you can't do just one.

I'm not a huge fan of pink for girls and blue for boys, either -- but one of the main purposes of these hats is to make life feel a little more normal for the parents who (usually) went in expecting an uneventful birth and hospital stay and now find their world tilted off axis.  Even if the baby is just there for 1 day, it's a big stress -- and the normal pink or normal blue can be very reassuring.

My assortment is not entirely traditional, though (that would be a lot to ask). I'm particularly fond of the Easter egg striped ones. And look at that rogue purple (see how it's waving at you) and that dark blue one. Hmmm, just two blue hats this time - it looks like I may have to work harder at being even-handed in the next batch.

I got distracted

We won't talk about that scarf quite yet, OK? I still have half of March. . .

Meanwhile, I've been swept away by a sweater. I am in love with this yarn. I am also convinced that I will be knitting stockinette for the next 47 years. . .

The yarn is a natural sheep's wool from Maine. I got it from an on-line acquaintance in 2007; she had purchased it, at some point, from the Ledoux Family Farm in Wilton, Maine. I don't know whether they still have their fleeces spun into yarn, but I sure hope so, because I want more. This yarn is springy and warm and smells wonderful when our unseasonably warm March sun hits it. The color is most clearly shown in the upper left corner of this photo:

Because there are no landmarks in this desert, and one inch looks like the next, I've taken to inserting a little marker each day, to prove that progress is indeed occurring:

out of the box

First of all, for those who have wondered, there has not been a coup here at Two Left Feet. Pat is still out there, and we are still speaking to each other. The problem is that the work that she does for pay has been refusing to respect its boundaries, taking big chunks out of the time she would prefer to reserve for knitting and photography. She will be back.

It's March! Time for a new category. This month's category is Scarf.

Now, those who have seen any of my blog entries have a pretty good idea of what I like, I think. Lots of color, simple clean lines. . . But as I was searching for those four balls of red to make a really nice scarf that I've had my eye on for a while, I stumbled across this:

The color is almost true; the rumply skein is 100% silk, and the other one is 70% mohair and 30% nylong. I am not sure when I bought this. I think I know which friend it was intended for, but it may be reassigned. This time of year calls for a departure from predictability!

just one?

Not my most successful month. . . at least not in blog project terms. One pair of purple mittens is headed to Maine:

I had hoped to make more, but I was distracted by several other knitting projects (a sweater, baby hats for the local NICU, socks for a friend, socks for another friend, a couple of hats, a blanket to be mailed to Afghans for Afghans. . .). The kid who gets this pair isn't going to care that I made just one this time. There will be more before next winter.

And remember this? It came out pretty nicely, I think:

Summer Wind cowl, designed by Carrie Sullivan, Irish Girlie Knits; unknown sock yarn (probably Auracania Ranco)

I will definitely make this pattern again. . . in fact, there's a blue and white skein that's looking quite possible.

Happy Leap Day! And an extra happy birthday to those of you who only really get to celebrate every four years.

January scarf

Well, yeah, the "January" scarf is not quite done. Almost, though. . .

It is a lovely, rich shade of purple, and I have struggled to photograph it. If you average out these two in-progress photos, you'll be close:

The yarn escaped from its ball band long ago, but I suspect it may be Araucania Ranco. The pattern is Summer Wind (that's a Ravelry link, so if you're not on Ravelry, I don't think it will work). Beautifully written, and I will make it again. I expect to finish this cowl this weekend and will then struggle some more with photographing purple to show it to you in its final glory.

twinkletoes

One of this year's knitting resolutions (let it hereby be noted that I only make resolutions that are going to be fun) was to do more colorwork. It's certainly not hard to do more when you've done none at all for the last several years. First entry in the colorwork category:



I followed one of Drops' free patterns - I love that they made all of their wonderful patterns free - using Bartlett Yarns' Maine wool. I will be making a pair for myself, and have at least two pairs planned for gifts. You work the garter stitch portion first, back and forth, then join and work in the round for the patterned, stockinette portion. I made the smallest size and had to tinker with ljus placement to get them just right, but felt terribly clever when it all worked out. 

Highly recommended.

If you're going to San Francisco. . .

The deadline for Afghans for Afghans' current campaign is February 29. I've done better than usual for this one, and today I am mailing one sweater and three pairs of mittens:

(The aqua pair has been washed again since this photo and the stitches are now nicely evened out.)

The red and green mittens were knit with worsted weight yarn held double. The aqua mittens are Lopi. All were made following the smallest stitch and row counts from this mitten pattern, producing a small/medium adult size. I love the fabric that's created using a double strand of worsted.

For the sweater, I used Knitting Pure and Simple's Bulky Topdown Pullover for Children (#112). I had five skeins of this blue Lopi, and the pattern said that was enough for the largest size. I was skeptical, but even after adding an inch and a half to body and sleeves, I did not run out of yarn. I'll make this again! (The pattern is available for purchase in hard copy from most yarn shops, and as a downloadable pdf file from Patternfish.)

for February

February's category is easy: small projects for cold places. As I showed in my last post, two hats are already on their way to Nest Maine. Other possible beneficiaries of this one include areas in Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont that were hit hard by floods last summer and fall, Lakota reservations, or any number of collection points in the northern U.S.

Stay tuned to see what happens!

wrong foot

So much for fresh starts. . .second post of the year, and I'm behind schedule already!

I am almost finished my main scarf for January's "assignment" -- but I have not yet managed to take a picture that shows that the thing is a glorious, rich purple. My camera and my phone prefer to tell you it's bright blue. One more try, tomorrow if it doesn't rain. And I almost finished my Special Olympics scarf, but I have a sad suspicion that I have had a willfully ignored case of crochet beginneritis, in which one end of the scarf fails to achieve right angles. I was close to finishing by the Pennsylvania deadline of February 1, but Pennsylvania met the quota before that. There may still be time to rip and redo for Louisiana's deadline; we shall see. No pictures of that right now either. . .


I did, however, finish these two hats for Nest Maine:

 

and this sweater and a pair of mittens for Afghans for Afghans:

All of the yarn was in my stash, so I am happy.

welcome to 2012

Another year, another blog project.

We've noticed that we have trouble, toward the last third of the year, sticking to the same category every month. So this year we're making it easier -- our blog knitting will fall into two categories: scarf knitting and charity knitting. We've laid out a schedule that has us knitting 6 scarf projects and 6 charity projects, while also giving us 2 wild card months. Yes, you've done the math, and I can see that you're confused. . . there are two projects that are scarves for worthy causes!

Last year we diverged from our original plans because the weather in the U.S. brought so many disasters that we felt compelled to respond. The tornado that leveled a large portion of Joplin, Missouri last spring inspired us to knit (with Debbie, Ruth, and Ann, and RTDD's gift of yarn) a rainbow blanket. And the terrible flooding caused by Hurricanes Irene and Lee in Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont also called for a response; my sister and I sent a box to Vermont, and Pat made several hats to be distributed in Pennsylvania.

Because we have learned that things often change as the year goes on, we're building in some flexibility by not announcing the whole year's schedule in advance. We'll do it month by month, or sometimes one month in advance. (And if there's one of those hurry-up quick A4A campaigns, that will be inserted into the schedule whenever it comes up.) Sometimes we'll use the same pattern, sometimes not.  For January -- a scarf. Any pattern, any design, any target. More news in the next couple of days when we've both decided on specifics!

I'm also going to try to continue what I did last year, and knit a hat each month from stash, to go somewhere in December. . .

winter solstice

It is winter now, even though last night at 10 p.m. it was an unseasonable 63 degrees (Celsius friends, that is 17.2). It is too late to knit for Christmas (which is almost a relief) but time to plan for the knitting that will commence on December 26. As usual, I would have to be 3 octopuses (octopi?) to accomplish all I think I can. . .

Meanwhile, here's something to celebrate the beginning of longer days:

http://www.npr.org/2011/12/16/143834363/a-paul-winter-solstice-concert-2011

Baker's Dozen

Our long-time readers will remember that last December, Pat and I sent a bunch of hats to Hats for the Homeless, a group that distributes hats to homeless people in New York. At the beginning of 2011, I decided I'd knit a hat a month (hats don't take long) from yarn already on hand, so that I'd have a pile of them by the end of the year. And it worked! Today I mailed off 13 hats:

Obviously, I will do this again next year. I will make just one change -- I will mail them a week earlier!

could it be the year of the sweater?

I can't remember the last time I made a sweater. Sad words from a knitter! Why am I wearing all of these Polarfleece sweatshirts? This one is on the way to afghans for Afghans. It should fit a kid about 11 or 12 years old. I added length to the body and the sleeves, and added 4 stitches when I cast on for sleeves because Ravelry reports indicated that they were kind of skinny. It's all stash yarn, and has been in progress, or in time out, for at least two years. I think. The brown yarn was from two different dyelots, but I can't tell the difference.

brown Alafoss Lopi; red and gold Lamb's Pride Bulky. Pattern is Child's Fairisle by Design by Louise

 

It's so much fun to zip along at 3.5 stitches per inch (14/10 cm)! I love Lopi yarn. I'm already nearly finished another sweater, soon to appear on this page. That one is knit in the round, top down, so I won't have to beat myself up trying to achieve perfection in seaming.

(Someone was worried that this picture was taken on a grubby bathroom floor -- no, no, it's a charmingly rusticated painted porch.)

The Joplin Blanket: A Saga

Remember this?

Pat and I both like to try to use our knitting to help people out. We can't respond to every disaster -- we'd be curled up quivering in the corner if we even tried. But every once in a while one comes along that makes us feel the urge to do something. The tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri, last spring was one of those. It's just one of many in a year of terrible events, but this one hit a nerve, and we decided we had to respond. We recruited some friends, and here's what happened:
 

My sister was downstashing, and had plenty of Encore (machine washable and dryable was on our list of requirements for this one) from an early fling; she gave us 2 balls each of 6 colors. I added the darker of the two blues from my extensive holdings. I drew up instructions and a diagram, so that each of the five of us (thank you, Ann, Debbie, and Ruth) could see at a glance the color order for our individual strips and where each one fell in the greater scheme. I knit a test square and weighed it. According to that, we should have been able to get 3 blocks from 2 skeins. I set to work weighing out 65 grams of each color for each knitter. Of course, I'm the only one of the group who doesn't live within about a 5-mile radius, so I plunked these lovely packages into the mail. But -- apparently my scale decided it had had enough of being meticulous and fussy.  It wanted to be artistic! It lied. Many of us ran out of colors, or weighed them at home and found out the grams were off by a huge factor. . . extra yarn was purchased (some colors were conveniently in my stash, so extra investment was not too bad) and mailed or swapped around.

It was important to get similar row gauge, so the strips would match, so I went with what the ball band recommends, knowing that my own row gauge tends to be eccentric and assuming the recommended number would be easily obtainable. All of us (all experienced knitters who think we know what we're doing) struggled with that. We started knitting in July; I received the last strip back on October 28 and then sewed many, many miles of seams. (OK, OK, it was only 252 inches. It took awhile. But I felt quite experienced by the end.)

This blanket just looks happy to me. As soon as I get the address, it will be on the way to help someone through a very strange and difficult year.

knitting for Vermont

On, August 28, Hurricane Irene -- no longer a hurricane, but still terribly destructive -- caused massive flooding in Vermont and upstate New York. Thirteen towns in Vermont were totally cut off when all access roads were washed out, and many, many families lost everything they owned. It is cold in Vermont in the winter, and cold starts early. This week, I sent them these:

On the left, 4 pairs of socks (Peace Fleece, Baghdad blue) and a pair of mittens (Araucania Panguipulli) from my sister. On the right (bigger picture below, because I cut off the righthand side, but it's the same things), 1 pair of socks, 3 hats, and 4 pairs of mittens from me, all from yarn I already owned. The brown hat is Morehouse Merino (exquisitely soft); the purple hat and the green hat are Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride bulky. The socks and all of the mittens were made using Bartlett's Maine wool:

I am glad to know a few people will be a little bit warmer.

Red Scarf Season

I was surprised -- and relieved -- to realize that I hadn't done as badly as I thought in keeping to the schedule we set out at the beginning of the year. Detailed report to come. But I have been busy knitting the first of this season's red scarves:

Pat and I have knit for the Red Scarf program for years, even before it became wildly popular. This year, while looking for something else, I stumbled across red yarn I'd bought last year, so here it is. Webs' own Valley Yarns Superwash. Very nice yarn -- but must stay strong and knit what is here already!! I am using a simple stitch, which must have a name, but I don't know it. Cast on a multiple of 3 stitches (for this scarf, I cast on 30). Then work every row the same: *k2, p1* all the way across. It's totally reversible, and you never have to stop to figure out what row you're on. And it's suitable for men or women, and it will make someone happy and warm this winter.

I know you'll be seeing Pat's very soon.

we are still here!!

Pictures and posts soon, promise. You will see what happened with that rainbow of yarn, and what happened with our schedule for the year -- yes, the absence of monthly updates tells the truth, and it did indeed take a tumble, but we continue knitting for others . . .



Today in Pennsylvania it is cold and dreary, and I must get back to knitting the thumbs on a pair of mittens destined for Vermont, where so many people lost everything in floods a week ago. If it's this cold here, it's colder there.

a taste of things to come

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Watch this space!

April Hat Knitting

In April, Elizabeth and I knit Chemo Caps for A.I. duPont Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware.  I've finally photographed mine.  They've been done for ages but I couldn't find anyone to model for me, finally I bought a head and now I  have a full-time model.