Jon's Knit Blog

The Donnas

So Donna emerged from the shadow of the lurkers to become my 500th comment. You go, girl!

In other good news, the bank has started to come 'round to my side of the story! See for more info.

In other not so good news, egads, 40,000 people are dead from the tsunamis. How awful! I mean, I remember, of course, 9/11, and the toll that day. and this is 10 times worse, in terms of loss of life. Because of a wave. Makes it seem extraordinarily insignificant that you can't find that skein of yarn that you're looking for; or that of all the beautiful HarlotMittens, it's all you can do to covet, and know that you'll never have something that amazing on your hands; or even that you can't get a date or don't have enough time to knit.

Speaking of not having enough time to knit, I have my mom and sister in town til Thursday and am preoccupied with them, and don't expect to have a lot of knitting time, probably until New Year's Eve. I am working til 6:30pm on the 31st, and I have to be back at 7:00am on the 1st, so I'm not going out or doing anything special. (For you non NYC'ers, please know how HORRIBLE it is to get around the city on New Year's Eve! Just awful! So walking home from work and then staying here is probably the easiest thing to do, especially since I have to go to bed early anyhow). That adds up to getting to come home and knit, and I can't think of a much better way to almost ring in the New Year. Especially since I just found out that I have to start planning a new baby blanket for someone special. I think I'll probably wait until I know whether it's a boy or a girl, though. Not due until July, anyhow, so plenty of time (yeah, right, plenty of time, yeah, I believe that, says my inner knit-demon).

That said, please Donate if you can.

OK, so that's that for today. Talk to you soon!

The Next Person

The next commenter, ie, the first comment on this entry, will have the dubious distinction of being the 500th comment on my knit blog.

Kudos to you, whoever you may end up being!

Christmas Present to Self

So I came home early from work, had a bagel sandwich and some mushroom barley soup (from Pick-A-Bagel on 57th and 7th. Good place, NYC'ers). Then I picked up the blue cable-y sleeve. I knit 8 rows of it, and decided I really, really, really needed to knit something else. It's been quite some time since I knit something other than that *%&@ sleeve.

So I pulled a ball of Dia Materie out of the bag in which it had been reposing. Then I cast on 20 stitches, did a set up row, then I YO, Sl1, K2TOG'ed myself into a frenzy for hours and hours, after which I have about four feet of this:

It's a scarf in Brioche stitch. I've used up almost two balls of yarn (79 yards each) and restored my faith in the fact that I am not a slow knitter, much as the cable sleeve would have had me believe. Then again, there's something to be said for a fast growing stitch and number 11 needles. Still, I have four feet of scarf...

And I had fun knitting it, which counts most of all. And that, my friend, was my Chirstmas (eve) gift. From me, to me. And what gift can be better than that?

Merry Christmas to all my beloved knit blogging friends (and to anyone else who is reading this, too!)

A Sleeve For Christmas?

Well, we all know that the Blue Cable-y goodness Sweater won't be ready for Christmas, at least not this year.

But we're on track to possibly finish it before, or maybe on the holiday. Which shouldn't really matter since I'm Jewish, but I try to get into the holiday spirit anyhow. Even if nobody commented on the innate humor of my special entry (which was forwarded by my sister) about how tequila helps make holiday baking better...

Anyhow, although I will be heading out soon for a night at the opera, I had a productive-ish day. Took some trash out, cleaned out a few things in the house, and knit 14 rows of Blue Cable-y Sleeve # 2. I finished the last whole repeat, and have only half a rep plus one row before binding the sleeve off. (The whole sleeve is four and a half pattern reps; the back was just over four, and each rep is 36 rows...)

So that's what we've been up to here in the world of Jon's Knit Land. No special Christmas knitting, no knitted Christmas presents, and I haven't knit with red or green yarn in weeks! Kind of lame, no?

I Hope It Looks Like Something

How boring am I? It's time for another photo of the big blue sleeves. Are you bored of them yet? I'm torn between being born and just wanting them to be done.

Of course, when the sleeve is done, I still have that pesky front to tackle. Of course, that won't be until after my trip, so I'll have some sort of respite.

But today was 100% about the sleeve. Well, it was also about some black bean tacos, some fudge, and some Christmas Tree Marshmallow Peeps.

Mostly, though, it was about knitting 24 rows of sleeve.

It was also about watching some mediocre TV and two good movies. I'm such a weepy one, I have to admit. Both "Pretty Woman" and "Love Actually" had the waterworks a running. Good thing it's superwash wool, or I'd have had some felting going on!

Christmas Cookie Recipe

In case you have some time for something other than knitting (or, like me, you don't even have time for knitting, here's a festive holiday recipe my sister sent me...

Excellent Christmas Cookie Recipe to share (You should really try this!)

With the Holidays coming up, I'm sure everyone will be doing a lot of baking. This is one of my favorite and easiest recipes to do.
Happy Holidays!!!

Christmas Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 cup nuts
2 cups of dried fruit
1 bottle Jose Cuervo Tequilla

Sample the Cuervo to check quality. Take a large bowl,
check the Cuervo again, to be sure it is of the highest quality,
pour one level c! up and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer...Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.
Add one teaspoon of sugar..Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure
the Cuervo is still OK, try another cup ... just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in
the cup of dried fruit, Pick the frigging fruit off floor... Mix on the
turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it lloose
with a drewscriver.
Sample the Cuervo to check for tonsisticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who giveshz a sheet.
Check the Jose Cuervo. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table.
Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find.

Greash the oven.

Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over Don't forget to beat
off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl out, finish the Cose Juervo and
make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher

CHERRY MISTMAS

A Three Hour Tour?

Man, this sleeve island trip is taking way longer than it should. How long have I been stuck here?

As you can see, the problem is that sleeves are bigger than we think they are. And with my luck, probably bigger than they should be. See?

Anyhow, I got 9 (I think) rows done this evening. I also realized that my previous calculation of 37 rows left was egregiously wrong. There are, in fact, still 57 rows, which mean there were 66 rows left when I miscounted in my previous knitting induced stupor.

But you know what I re-remembered, as I was reading my new copy of "Knitting the Old Way" last night, and as I finally found time to pick needles up after five full days of no knitting? It's not about the finished product. It's about the craft and the process and the fact that we get to actually turn balls of string into pretty things.

Now, can they just get that way faster?

Store Bought!

I was a bad knitter yesterday. I wore lots of knit wear, none of which was ever actually hand-made.

It was all pretty, though: a herringbone two color alpaca sweater (by Ralph Lauren), a pair of fair isle socks, also by RL, and the orange cashmere scarf from Banana Republic which I bought last year. It has some unfortunate holes in it, which doesn't make me super-happy. But oh well.

I had a really horrid headache when I got home from the opera last night, and went straight to bed. If I had been feeling alright, I would probably have watched "The West Wing" and knit a couple rows of blue cable-y goodness. But oh well...

I figure I'll probably finish the sleeve in the next couple days, but I still have the whole front left. Guess it won't be ready for Christmas!

A Lucky Moment

I swear, that's exactly how much yarn was left at the end of this row. It's like the bare minimum amount required for weaving in, at least in my opinion... How lucky was I that I didn't run out 14 stitches before the end of the row? I mean, I know how to change yarn in the middle of a row now, if I have to, but I don't like when I have to.

Anyhow, I now have 37 rows left on this sleeve. I'm off from work tomorrow but I have opera tickets in the evening, and probably another trip to the bank in the afternoon, so I'm not sure how much knitting I'll get done, but I'll try.

And yes, the bank thing is a reference to the fact that someone tried to scam me out of thousands of dollars, which is not fun. I'd rather be knitting, let me tell you...

Preempted

Knitting has been preempted today. Today's blog entry is on my other blog; please take a look.

SSDD

That's Same Sleeve, Different Day, alright?

I've been plugging away at the blue cable sleeve this evening after not knitting at all for a few days, what with having lots to do, seing shows ("Tannhauser" at the Met Opera, "Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeange" at the Music Box), and dinner with friends from out of town.

So tonight I watched "Lost in Translation" which I had TiVo'ed from Starz, and a few other shows, and knit 10 rows of the Blue Cable-y Goodness sleeve. I know, not very exciting. Still, over 1,300 stitches which, when you think about it, is no small feat.

I don't particularly think it merits much in the way of photography, though. That's the trouble with this slow moving sweater and having a blog. While the sleeve is about 1 1/2 inches longer than when I picked it up at the beginning of the evening, it really looks exactly the same. Although it's nice to know that it is, at least lengthwise, past half-way done. Hooray for progress, at any rate.

Otherwise, that's about it. I hope your projects are growing faster than mine...

It Even Photographs Badly

So if you guessed that I got 14 rows done on the Cable-y Goodness sweater today, you'd be right. And if you guessed that I've finally mis-crossed a cable on this sleeve too, you'd be right. Lesson #1: Don't try and pay attention to knitting when you're watching a movie that makes you cry. (Big Fish to be precise, but I've been known to cry at the dropping of a hat).

You'd also be right if you guessed that I started a new project today. I broke out the laceweight because I finally had picked a pattern (Rosebud Mesh from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury...) for the sister's wedding stole.

Lesson #2 for the day: Lace Knitting requires more attention than previously thought. I really thought I was paying the right amount of attention. as I worked through 5 pattern rows. But after ending wrong on all but two of them, I decided that I need to have a better plan. It should have been to start over without TV on after the first row that was improperly finished, but you know how I can be. So I've lost a few hours of my life over this:

See? It doesn't even photograph well. What a day. I think I need to go to bed now. Hopefully I'll dream about cake, like I did last night, rather than about knitting shitty lace.

Mmm, cake.

What Matters is the Blame

So the person who was out sick from work last week is also the intended recipient of the blue cable-y goodness sweater. And of course he decided to start blaming me.

"If my sweater were finished, then I would have been warm and I wouldn't have gotten sick."

I said, "Hey, if you needed a sweater right away, you could have bought one!"

I hope it sounds funny in the blog, as it was mildly amusing in person. OK, maybe it wasn't funny at all.

Anyhow, I didn't knit last night. I came home (almost two hours late due to extra work), checked email, surfed the web a tad, then listened to some music on my new headphones. Classical music, which I followed along in the score so my hands were not free to knit. OK? That's my excuse today. I promise I'll knit something soon. Maybe I'll even finish something one of these days. Hey, BGWA is close to done...

Better

I felt really sick last night... which was particularly not good for three reasons:

1: One of my colleagues was out sick for two days last week, implying severe illness which I could have been coming down with

2: I didn't get a flu shot this year, and with my asthma, I'm one of the type of people who are suggested to get them every year

and

3: We're ridiculously busy at work.

So when I got home last night, shortly after 9:00pm, I got in bed. I read a book for a few hours and then went to bed and slept for about twelve hours (although I was awakened at some point by work calling to tell me that someone else called in sick for their shift today. So it's going to be really swell when I get there.

Good thing I feel better-ish. Knock wood...

But that does mean that there was really very little knitting accomplished over the weekend. I think I got 5 or 6 rows of blue sleeve done. Anyhow... Off to work!

The Countdown Continues

Eight more rows last night. That, in and of itself, seemed to be quite an accomplisment at the time. Why, you ask?

Well, the yarn I'm using is not the softest, cushiest yarn, and since I'm a pretty tight knittter, well... (Have you seen the part where I told you that my gauge on this project is 8.33 stitches per inch - on US8 needles?) So my left hand was kind of cramping up for a bit last night, but luckily it started to feel better after a few rows. I do not want or need a knitting related injury!

I've got a really bad case of startitis going on though, and I am almost contemplating just starting the front of the sweater so that I have two pieces to work on. It might allevieate my startitis but I know it won't cure it. I really need to be getting some projects done, though. Well, we'll all see what happens come Monday!

A Sleeve Grows in Midtown

Well, almost Midtown, at any rate. And at least the sleeve is growing. I think I got a full pattern repeat in today, which isn't shabby, because also I spent a decent amount of time working on my Kersti scarf. Have I showed you the Kersti scarf?

Anyhow, we're going to have yarn crises on both these projects. I think that I stupidly only bought two skeins on the Kersti in question. This probably means I should frog the scarf as it really needs three skeins, and who knows where I'll find more of it (unless someone out there reading this has some K305 V22 out there... it's purple and black, mostly). I'm also seriously not going to have enough of the Filatura di Crosa Primo I'm using for the blue cable sweater. It's color 291, dye lot 40, if anybody has some. I think I'll have better luck finding a very close dye lot match on the Primo, a solid royal blue yarn, than on the Kersti... but who knows. Maybe the knitting gods will smile upon me.

With my luck, though? I'll have to figure out some other solution...

Regardless of the yarn supply solution, I'm feeling very good about the blue cables. I actually am working the sleeve with absolutely no clue where the pattern book is (well, ok, it's on the nightstand in the bedroom, but that's about as far from knitting space as you can be in my apartment...). So I'm knitting without any sort of "pattern" in front of me, although I do have a graph on which I keep track of rows and increases, and I already marked off which rows will not get increases so that it matches the other sleeve. But I'm very proud of how I've learned the cable pattern. When I did the back and the first sleeve, I used stitch markers to separate each pattern repeat. And now, I am just paying attention to the actual cables, looking at what goes where. And I have figured out the difference between the C3B and the C3F's... so I hopefully will not have another misplaced cable... knock wood. It's actually rather exciting, to figure out the difference between front and back cables.

This reminds me of the epiphany you reach, rather earlier on in knitting, where you can look at a stitch, any stitch, that you've just made, and the first time you can realize that you can see the difference between a knit stitch and a purl stitch. Well, at least it took me a decent amount of time to be able to figure that out. And I'm continually getting faster. So while there's no chance that this sweater can be finished for the Christmas gift I had once hoped for, there's still a decent chance of it being finished sometime this millenium... Well, I have a back, a sleeve, and over 1/4 of another sleeve... so only 110 rows left on the sleeve and the front is about 176 rows, which means there's still a hell of a lot of sweater left to knit.