Monday, December 22, 2008

The Eve of the Eve of Christmas Eve

Since I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be the last time I have to just screw around on the computer for awhile before Christmas, I thought I should spend a little time updating. We are really getting winter this year. Unlike more recent Christmases, this one feels like an old-fashioned Christmas with the cold and snow. No question at all about a white Christmas. At -11 degrees, this snow isn't going anywhere for awhile. The cold is fine for now, but I hope it warms up after the hubbub of the holidays so that we can get out and enjoy some of this snow. It's tough to ski when it's below zero.

Despite the frigid temps, we did venture out last night for a nice dinner at the M&S Grill and the George Winston concert at Orchestra Hall. It was a last minute decision, but the restaurant was quiet and there we tickets available for the concert. Winston is an unbelievable musical talent. Not much for showmanship until he starts to play.

Suppose I should quit stalling and get to work. The house needs a good once-over before we get to any serious celebrations, and there are a few food dishes that I can get prepped in advance so that I can avoid spending too much time in the kitchen later in the week. Calorie counting be damned for a few days!

Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Norwegian Knitting

Last night I put the finishing touches on the matching sweaters that I have been making for my little niece and nephew for one of their Christmas presents. (I still had to get them a toy. What kid wants a sweater for Christmas?) I really needed to finish them up so that I could get all my family's gifts wrapped.

This was a fun project. I haven't had the time to do much machine knitting in the last few months, and so it was good to get in the workroom and get back into it.

Now I know a lot of handknitters think that this is cheating, but it's just another way of creating something out of fiber. While the actual knitting process is much faster with machine knitting, there is lots of planning that takes place long before you ever start making the sweater pieces. This is a Dale of Norway pattern called Sirdal. The Dale patterns are great for converting to machine knitting because they have very good graphs, and they also provide the schematics for their patterns. Just like in handknitting, the whole process starts with a swatch. Once I've entered the graphed patterns into the machine and selected my yarn, I knit a rather large swatch. I include every pattern--to test if they are correct--and I also make sure that I knit quite a bit of the main pattern. The main pattern in this case is the flecked design that is between the hem and the yoke patterns. Once I have the swatch knitted and blocked, I need to decide which gauge to enter into the machine, since the gauge in the main pattern is going to be slightly different than the gauge of the more dense patterns such as the one at the yoke of this sweater. The way I figure this out is to enter the dimensions for the shape of each piece into the machine and then adjust the gauge numbers to get the correct number of stitches and rows for that size. So unlike handknitting where it's important to adjust your knitting to the gauge of the pattern, with machine knitting it's important to adjust your pattern to the gauge of the knitting.

The next step is to measure out the length of each of the different patterns in the sweater. Then I add in the measurement for the hem--either a ribbed hem or in this case, just a folded hem. Once I have that measurement, I calculate how many rows of the main pattern that I will have to knit to get the length I need for each finished piece. Throughout this process, I keep detailed notes for every project so that when I get to the actual knitting, I am able to relax and just follow my own instructions--sometimes having to tweak a few things that sounded great in theory, but didn't work out so well in practice. The notes have also come in handy later on if I ever want to make the item again. Why reinvent the wheel every time?

Once the pieces are knit, most of the assembly can also be done on the machine. The only hand work on these two sweaters, after blocking, was to take care of several yarn ends, sew up the underarm and side seams, and apply the trim and buttons on the cardigan.

I'm really pleased with the way they both turned out, and am already thinking about something I'd like to make myself as a mid-winter project. Hope the kids like them.

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Those Bleepin' Lights

When I noticed that two weeks had passed since I last posted, I wondered what I had accomplished in those two weeks. Actually, plenty--just like any other mother and wife has accomplished in these harried weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I won't bore you with all the details. Except, I must share my shock and delight about a project I tackled yesterday afternoon--the dreaded outside decorations for Christmas.

Why so dreaded? First off, I'm in MN. It's cold, and there's no way to put up wreaths, garlands, and lights with mittens on, so usually by the time I'm finished, I can no longer feel my fingers, and my toes aren't in much better shape. Secondly, it's those #@)%#$%^#! lights. I test them inside and they work fine, but spend ten or fifteen minutes wrapping them around some garland on the door frame, plug them in, and nothing! Arrrgghhh! But this year, I must admit, it really was smooth sailing. Cold? Yes, but no deep snow to trudge through with a ladder. Light bulbs out? A few, but I found the spent ones right away and had replacements. And just as I was finishing up, snow started to fall. I swear I heard Charlie Brown music in the background--oh, maybe that was my iPod. The good news is that it still appears to be in working order this morning. Keeping my fingers crossed!

I've also been finishing up a few knitting projects. The Cable Guy boopies are felted, dried, and waiting for their suede soles to be delivered by the UPS guy. (Man, those things are expensive!) The matching Norwegian sweaters for my niece and nephew are just about finished--lots of ends to be finished off and some sewing that won't take long. I got the crocheted fringe on a Prayer Shawl finished just in time for the blessing Mass last Friday. Finally, I cast off and blocked the Braids and Bobbles hat, and I love it. Hats and curly hair just don't go together, but as I said before, it gets cold here, so I'm always in search of a hat that works. This might be the best candidate yet. It's warm, but doesn't fit too tightly on my head. I'll give it a test drive this week. Maybe if I have to go outside and fix some of my lights.