Fishy, K-k-k-Kardigan, and Why You Should Own a Ballwinder

Last day of January! To me, February is like turning the corner on the worst of winter. Sure, we can still have plenty of snow and cold before spring is truly sprung, but days are getting longer, and we at least have a shot at a "warmer" day on occasion. At this point, that's all we've got.

In search of more birdseed for my ravenous flocks, I ended up close enough to a yarn store yesterday that I decided to drop in and see if I could find something to get started on a new project. Luckily, I had remembered to throw my iPod in my bag, so that I had all my notes about yarn types and yardages for the some of the patterns I had in mind.

Without new yarn in the house this past week, I had to resort to a silly, but very cute hat pattern that I discovered on Knitty over the Christmas break. The Fish Hat in the Winter 2008 issue looked like a good gift for my nephew for when the family goes on their annual early spring fishing trip in Northern MN. A knit hat in spring? If you live in MN, you know that's not just a possibility, but a probability. Apparently, I'm not the only one who thought this would be a fun knit. When I posted it on my Ravelry site, I noticed that it is the most active pattern on the site with over 500 knitters making this same pattern. Looking around at some of the finished fishies, I thought the cutest ones were here, here, here, and here.

Back at the yarn store...I ended up getting enough yarn for two sweaters. Having just finished my Rambling Rows cardigan, I wasn't sure if I wanted to do another all-garter-stitch design, but I did cast-on another Cottage Creations pattern, Kyler's Kardigan, and got yarn for Dolce Handknits Amherst cardigan--both of which are done in garter stitch. Maybe I needed a change from cables?

I had some very specific yarn choices in mind for both of these sweaters, and then I compromised and bought what was actually available. For the "kardigan" I went with an organic wool from Plymouth--Earth Homestead. The color is Homestead Grey, but I would call it taupe. Made in Peru, a 100gram skein was only $7. No one at the shop had used it yet, but it made a nice swatch. The hardest pattern to match up with yarn was the Amherst. I had been picturing a nice spring green, but did not want to go all cotton. A garter stitch cotton sweater would stretch and grow to ugly proportions. I ended up going with the old reliable Reynolds' Lite-Lopi in a light green heather.

It was fun to look at all the beautiful new spring yarns that have come in. I will have to browse through some of my patterns and go back soon. I did have one observation from my most recent LYS experience--It's a good idea to own your own ball winder. I generally wind my own yarn hanks, but for some reason, I felt a little lazy yesterday and had the shop do it for me. And then I remembered why I usually do it myself. I am not trying to get on this woman's case--she was winding yarn as fast as she could to keep up with what people were buying that afternoon, but check this out. This is the skein that they wound for me at the shop next to the skein that I re-wound it at home. Seriously, you could hit a homerun with the skein on the right, and what do you think is happening to that yarn if it ends up in a bin for a few months before it gets knit? Eventually, that stressed out yarn is going to return to its orginal state and you can imagine what that could do to the gauge of a finished sweater. Yarn hanks look beautiful and they must be a money saver for those who manufacture yarn, but I'm sure shop owners wish that skeins were the norm.

Finishing Up and Giving Up

On the rare occasion when I knit an item twice, I'm so glad that I have the terrible habit of writing in books. When I was considering which pattern to use for the workhorse cardigan I had in mind for my most recent project, I pulled out my Cottage Creations booklets and decided to try another Rambling Rows Cardigan. My scribblings reminded me which needles I used--I still knit a new swatch since even the exact same yarn in a different color can have a different gauge--how much yarn to buy, where I made modifications, and even which buttonholes I preferred.

The end result is exactly what I had in mind. Like the first one, I used Lite Lopi, which I love. This time I chose a good neutral charcoal grey. The pattern couldn't be simpler, but it's fun to see the sweater come together, almost as if by magic, as you knit square by square. The only seams are the ones that run under the arm. After you knit on the border, all that's left is to sew on two buttons and do some gentle blocking. I love it so much, I'm tempted to do it all over again in a brown or tan version, but that will have to be another time.

So, I had my cardigan spread out on the floor drying and a whole evening ahead of me without yarn in the house for a new project. The horror! (No, I do not have a stash. I buy yarn; I knit the yarn; I go buy more yarn. I know that's unusual, but that's me.) I decided to get out the dreaded Double Knit Mittens to see if I could develop a little enthusiasm for getting these bleeping things finished.

Believe it or not, I finished one! And now, I surrender. I can not and will not knit the second mitten. There is nothing wrong with the pattern--it's me. I'm not good at knitting with two yarns, and I'm finally willing to admit defeat. This mitten actually looks like I knit it with my feet. So, by photographing each side, I'm going to pretend, for just a moment, that they are a pair. Humor me.

Since I won't be able to get to a yarn store for a few days, I did dig out my box of odds and ends from old projects and cast on something to tide me over. Maybe I'll share when it's finished. It's just something silly to keep me busy.

Winter marches on, and the cold is getting to be oppressive. Usually, I try not to let the weather influence my mood What do they say? There isn't bad weather, just bad clothing. Bundle up, layer it on, and get going. This winter has been tough though. The temps have been below zero for so long that we actually feel excited to see the thermometer reach "normal" levels.

To survive, the birds that come to our feeders just keep eating. (Sound familiar?) Despite the temps, I try to stay faithful to keeping our feeders full. Since fall, I've gone through nearly 100 lbs. of bird seed, and several packages of suet. Putting up with the squirrels and rabbits is worth it when I look out my window and see the beautiful cardinals. If they can take it, so can I.

Knitting Resolution or Insanity?

Looking for a quick and mostly brainless project to work on over the hubbub of the holidays, I flipped through one of my Elizabeth Zimmermann books and decided to try the Mitered Mittens pattern from The Knitter's Almanac. The pattern seemed simple enough, and I'm always attracted to practical knitting, so I did some research on Ravelry.

I discovered two things. First, that Noro Silk Garden appeared to be the perfect choice for this pattern. The long and gradual color changes show off the mitered design. And second, that someone had managed to make an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern even better. The original pattern gives directions for an after-thought mitten, but Ravelrer Grace Ivy has written out some basic instructions for a thumb gusset.

So, away I went, and Mrs. Zimmermann, once again, did not disappoint. The knitting is easy enough to memorize (you can put the book away after your first mitten), but has just enough going on to keep you interested. And the mittens are beautiful. My only complaint was that they worked up too quickly. My first pair were finished in no time, and I still needed some vacation knitting. I grabbed some leftover yarn and whipped up two more pairs.

What's the point of this exciting story? (Yawn.) Well, in the middle of Mitered Mitten mania, I had an idea. I'm not usually one to make New Year's Resolutions. (That's what people say when they don't have the fortitude to keep New Year's Resolutions.) My idea isn't so much a resolution as a goal. What if I spent the next year--or two/three?--making a scarf for everyone in my family for their Christmas gifts? That's about fourteen scarfs. Is that just craziness or really a do-able goal? Would it be a rewarding experience? Or would I be grabbing one to hang myself with by August?

I'll have to give this some more thought. There are some other things I want to work on in the queue, and I'm in the middle of my second Rambling Rows cardigan at the moment. Maybe I'll try one scarf and see how it goes from there.

Doesn't a scarf sound like a good idea on what is going to be the coldest night of the winter--so far?

Home At Last

In my last post, I had a picture of our living room Christmas tree, but seriously, this is a great Christmas tree--basking in a 70 degree Arizona day and surrounded by orange trees. And we live in MN because...???

No, no, no. I love my home and am glad to be back after spending our New Year's vacation in Arizona. The beautiful tree in the picture is on the grounds of the Arizona Biltmore Resort where we stayed for part of our trip. Besides pines, poinsettias, and orange trees, the gardens around the Garden Sprites were a welcome break from MN snow banks. The Wright-inspired Spa and Resort is like taking a step back in time. I loved reading about their history and checking out all the photos of the old celebrities and past presidents who had visited the place.

Since many of our vacations tend to revolve around sporting events, you just know we spent New Year's Eve at the Insight Bowl where the Gophers were defeated by Kansas, but a loss is much easier to take in such a lovely location. (Besides, I'm not a UMN grad, so I was just there for the sunshine! Sorry guys.) From the game, we headed over for the Tempe block party where we shared the ringing in of 2009 with 100,000 other people while we watched fireworks and listened to Styx. (Oh boy!) It's hard to say how many miles we had walked by the time we got to bed by 2:00 the next morning. I'm too old for that kind of day.

After exploring Phoenix, we set out for Flagstaff. Having never been to Arizona--outside of the airport that is--I couldn't get over the variety of landscape and climate. As we drove in to higher elevations, we came into winter again and laughed at the excited tourists who just had to drive to the shoulder of the freeway to get out and play in the snow.

The next morning we were off to the Grand Canyon. The views along the way are gorgeous and the canyon itself is quite a sight. We did have to wonder what the park must be like during the peak season when the crowds were considerable in the middle of winter.

On our trip back to Phoenix, we wound through the road leading to Sedona. I think this was my favorite spot in the whole trip. The town itself is pretty touristy, but the drive to get there is fantastic. There were a few campgrounds and resorts along that road that would be fun to visit if we ever get back.

By this time, we were ready to start heading home, but the good people at US Air wanted us to stay a little longer. Our late Saturday flight was canceled due to a mechanical problem, and we were unable to book another flight until Monday morning. We made the best of it and spent some more time looking around Phoenix and even got to a movie. (A movie we all loved, by the way--"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.")

It's good to be home--even with the snow and cold temperatures. Life isn't quite back to "normal" since we have our college kid with us for another couple of weeks, but we'll enjoy that while we can.

Thanks to flight times, car trips, and my tendency to wake up long before the guys are ready to get going on our vacations, I finished three more Mitred Mittens while we were gone. As I was packing for this trip, I wasn't sure what to take along for a project until I found the leftover skeins of yarn from St. Brigid. I threw those in my bag with some dpns and my copy of the pattern and they turned out to be just the thing to take. The pattern is so easy to remember that I could easily pick them up on the fly and be able to knit and enjoy the scenery at the same time. After I get caught up around here, I'll finish up that fourth mitten before I get back to my Rambling Rows cardigan. While I'm knitting, I can reminisce about oranges and Christmas trees.