Social sloth

Round two of the twined hat has gotten off to a great start but I fear there is still something wrong. For some reason, my orange stripes only show up as half of a V on the stockinette side while the gray looks just fine. Adjusting the tension and loosening up on the orange as I knit doesn't seem to help. Surely when I get a book on this technique I'll have an ah-ha moment.

So last night I posted a response to a question on the twined knitting group over on ravelry.com. I then figured I'd post a question asking for suggestions on books to buy that cover the technique. Much to my surprise I received great responses in less than 24 hours and even received a private email from another group member. Chatting with kindred folks this way is really so fun and the sharing of knowledge can't be beat. I've been apprehensive to take an active role in things like ravelry groups, facebook, etc. because I'm so self conscious; feeling like I have nothing to offer. (Sure I say that on this blog that anyone with an internet connection could possibly see but remember, nobody I know knows about this blog and probably nobody I don't know.) Facebook is another online community where I've started the attempt to express myself a little. With an modest quantity of friends on facebook, I've used it mainly to keep up on their status updates and such but never contributed until recently, again with positive results. My goal with this recent online social activity is to broaden my network of acquaintances, learn some new things and keep up on technology. The entertainment factor is nice too but the last thing I need is a second hobby that allows me to sit on my ass.

Juicy

I do believe that I have roasted the juiciest, subtly aromaticist chicken ever to pass my lips. Thank you, Nigella Lawson, for your Spiced Super-Juicy Turkey brine recipe, it works great with chicken. The brine of oranges, star anise, allspice, mustard, ginger, maple, and caraway to name a few, perfumes the meat with a flavor like I've never tasted. I can't pick out any one of the ingredients as they mingle so gently together. Nigella has a bounty of recipes and I've prepared many of them with great success. A few of her offerings are embarrassingly simple coming from a famous cook but they delight non-the-less. One favourite is her Bacon Tomato Hash. My chicken isn't pretty enough to snap a pic and I wouldn't want to offend any vegans. hehe

The twined hat has begun. Fumbling around trying to figure out the pattern by looking at pics of FOs and knowing virtually nothing about twined knitting, the first inch is unsuccessful. Tonight it will be ripped out because although it would be cute, it is not what I want. Late last night the pattern formed itself in my brain so round two begins tonight and I know what I'm doing.

One thing leads to another

We have all done it. Awakened in the morning with a foggy headache which leads to a nervous sinking feeling in our guts as we exclaim, "What the F*% did I do last night?". This time for me it was realizing that I spend another fifty bucks at 2am on knitting supplies at knitpicks.com. I only needed a couple things but my shopping basket kept taunting me with it's little message, "only $25.49 left till free shipping". This incident is the third of it's kind to happen in the past two months. Damn them, damn me, damn it.

I bought the set of little 4" dpns because I couldn't help myself and I'm guessing they would be quite nice to use when starting top-down hats. I don't care for having four giant needles flopping around when trying to work with 4-8-16 stitches and I don't want to start a project like that using magic loop. Since the needles cost $29, I needed to round it up to 50 so I also got circular needles in sizes 2 and 3; 47" cables. City Tweed DK has been on my mind lately and so I bought 4 colors to do a stripe hat. With thinning hair and super close buzz cut, thin hats are required in the winter time to help regulate overall body temperature. I seem to be the only balding kvetch that bitches about cold scalp.

The idea for the stripe hat came from a vest pattern that I fell in love with this week. I bought the Jane Ellison Queensland Collection book 9 for men because it contains the pattern of the perfect vest that has been in my imagination for over two years now. The vest is shown in a thick stripe pattern which is lovely. For a more immediate gratification, I'm going to make my next hat in a stripe that reminds me of this vest. I shall make this vest over the winter while I wear the hat.

Excuses

Four days without knitting. The issue lies in the starting of a project. I'm staring at a quarter of a scarf which is sitting in a bowl on my coffee table next to two skeins of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that need to be wound into balls in order to swatch. Sitting in another bowl are two balls of Borrocco Ultra Alpaca just waiting to be a twined hat. The twined hat needs to be knit top down and although I will be making it using magic loop, I need to start on dpn or it will look like shit and I can do without the frustration of a cable pulling and stretching the stitches. In order to start on dpns One would have to go to a store and buy the #4s and One would have to remember to do this before 6pm. I've noticed the yarns I bring home are getting smaller and smaller.

I've been scouring the internet in search of twined knitting patterns or instructions for the technique that may accidentally show me how to go about the type of color changes I hope to make. Seems like a lot of guesswork is the way to play this game if you don't know any Scandinavian great-grandmothers.

For dinner tonight I went super healthy. Half a baguette with some amazing triple cream brie and mochi puffs with peanut-chocolate ganache. I seem to have misplaced my protein and veggies.

On the edge of a nightmare

Okay, a 2x2 swatch of twined knitting doesn't count as knitting, does it?. I can do this technique! Twined knitting is not difficult at all and going back to English style knitting after being exclusively continental for over a year is sort of nice. More comfortable than it used to be. I can see how this technique can easily become a twisted, knotted yarn nightmare with all the twisting of the yarns that go on.

I'm thinking that when I start a project using the twined method, I'm going to set my two balls of yarn in a bowl and set the bowl on a little lazysusan. This way as the twist tightens up, I can just spin the lazysusan to untwist my yarn. Clever, yes, portable, no.

Tea break

No knitting took place in my house last night. A short break is necessary after the Benetton hat while I evaluate the christmas gift situation. As far as Christmas goes though, the people will probably get store bought items for the most part. The idea of having a craft which supplies knit goods for all is just that, an idea. Truth be told it is difficult to give hand knit items to others when you just know they don't really understand the time that went in to making them or the care they require when finished. The baby hat was going to be the next job but since it is only a week long project and the baby isn't due till May....

I wasn't going to knit tonight either but my hands and brain are itching to try twined knitting. Even typing about it is making me antsy. I won't do it! I may just cast on a swatch but I will only knit a few rows.

Getting cavities

These darned lambs are sickeningly sweet; I want one or ten! There has always been a soft spot in my heart for little lambs and kids (the goat kind). My family had a little goat named Surple when I was a toddler and I would run down to his house near the pasture to give him kisses. He would be standing at the ready and promptly knock me to the ground. Lovable, no; cute as hell, yes.

Today I tried to decide my preferred technique for knitting in the round. I've done double points, correctly sized circulars, and magic loop on both 40 and 60 inch cables. Although magic loop is cheaper than amassing an enormous collection of 12 and 16 inch circulars for making hats, I think I have come to the conclusion that I like the comfort of double points the best. Although the initial supply investment can be a touch more expensive than magic loop supplies, it still is cheaper than the regular circular route. I noticed on a blog today that someone has used two sets of circular needles to create a hat by holding the stitches on 8 needles rather than the standard 4 which I have seen up till now. I'm going to give this a try.

Out with the old

With a handle on the fair isle knitting and this silly hat out of the way, I'm ready to embark on a little hat for a baby. The plan is to knit a fair isle design using 100% organic cotton and I've purchased 4 balls of yarn in 4 natural, undyed shades of brown/beige/cream. I'm thinking it should be a fun little project with lots of room for childlike creativity in the design. I'm aiming for super-cute.

Hellish helmet

Yet another hat has turned out unwearable yet pleasing to look at. I hate it. I am basically tying up the top now that all the dupe-stitch is done and because of the lining, it just looks like a gigantic, way-too-thick helmet. I can't believe my head is so damn big. Closing up the last couple decrease rounds just seems daunting and anger-making; I just don't want to do it.

I had a wonderful walk on the trail around the pond behind my house. The weather was cloudy but pleasantly cool for doing four rounds of the pond. Exercise needs to be daily but I just don't know what to do.

This is a lame post

One Down

Enlightening and exciting. I've completed the crowning jewel on what I'm calling my "'80's Label Whore Hat", a nod to the Benetton Group and their original stylized knit stitch logo. Next come the cute little alpacas on either side and some dupe-stitch colorwork. I was so obsessed with Benetton in junior high school, I even wrote to the marketing department and did a full report on the company for my final assignment in 8th grade. I still love their knit stitch logo and I'm sure it was at least a small part of why I've wanted to knit for most of my adult life.

Tonight I learned two things working with this hat. Designs on my color chart had to be altered on the knitting for them to look correct in real life. Duplicate stitch is the other learning experience and although the back side doesn't look fabulous, it is nice and flat. I'm behind schedule for finishing this hat but tomorrow is Sunday knit group and I will at least get the rest of the dupe-stitch designs finished there and probably finish closing the top tomorrow night at home.

Over Mashed Potatoes

Not being a soup fan, I don't have much experience making it. I've cooked my whole life and can be pretty amazing in the kitchen but soup is just not my thing, usually. Last night however, I took the first step to making the best chicken noodle soup I've ever eaten - boiling the chicken and straining the broth. Tonight I sauteed the veggies in butter, shredded the chicken and rolled out some nice fat egg noodles. This amazing pot simmered for about half an hour before I dove in. Couldn't help taking a picture of those luscious noodles.

Today found me knitting at the yarn store after I got tired of sitting around the house nursing what I'm hoping is the ending stages of minor bronchitis. Quite a few rounds of the fair isle/intarsia/duplicate stitch hat were finished. I had no idea that so many techniques would be used in this hat when I "borrowed" the idea from another knitter's flicker set. The hat is going to be so beautifully fun when I'm done and the duplicate stitch portion will begin tonight.

Damn Flu!

The media is making me flu-crazy. I can't stop thinking about keeping my hands clean from everything I touch and making sure my hands don't go near my face. I've been feeling lousy for at least a week now but not lousy enough to do anything about it. Thinking all the while that it's just paranoia, it got worst today. Turns out bronchitis has been lurking in my lungs but I've bolstered my immune system just enough to keep it from knocking me down. Glad I went to the doctor because hopefully the worry can subside knowing bronchitis the cause of the lousys.

I'm almost finished with my first fair isle hat. This hat is going to be so warm that I may give it to my friend in Alaska. I knit a lining in this hat in order to hide all the floats from the fair isle not realizing that the floats would serve as plenty of lining by themselves.

Look at me, I actually started a profile. It needs work though but I'm done with it for tonight.

The setup

Is this what my friends meant when they said, "You just need to put yourself out there!"? Indeed it's not but I'm going to do it anyway.
Finding an outlet for the monsters inside me is a challenge and although it wasn't my own creativity that devised this thing called a blog, maybe using it will spark some creative release. Consider this the first post and we'll see what happens.