An Old German's Knit Blog

A year-long project: Part 2

2012-02-06T14:34:00.000-05:00

And the afghan project continues. Klick here for details and January photographs. Here are the five blocks for February. In fact, I liked both sides of one block, so I took photos of boh sides. I'll decide which side to use when I put the afghan together.

Can't wait till March.
Knit on Merrily!

A year-long project

2012-01-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

Vicki Mikulak of Simple Knits is offering members of The Yahoo group Holiday Mystery Gifts four afghan squares per month throughout the year. My version is being knit with a double strand of off-white sock yarn since I still have two 3-lb.cones bought from WBS several years ago. So here are photos of the January squares:

Honeycomb

Acorn

Waves (Now that I look at the finished square, it sure looks I missed something in the directions. Oh well,this will make it uniquely mine.)

Meandering Cables

I am anxiously waiting for February's squares.

Knit on Merrily!

This year's sock knitting has started

2012-01-14T19:21:00.000-05:00

The first two pairs of socks for the year 2012 are done. One pair for me and one pair for the orphanages in Kazakhstan. To keep me motivated, I have joined a Ravelry group called "12 socken projekt" (12 pairs of socks project). A free pattern will be offered each month, along with links to other free sock patterns if you don't like the one offered. Here is a link to the blog and the link to the Ravelry group . This month's sock pattern is called "chicken ladder." It's an easy pattern and even if you do not understand German, the chart should be easy to follow since the chart represents 15 stitches, i.e. one needle of 4 DPNs. I used Alpaca with a Twist Socrates (30% Merino, 30% Alpaca, 20% Nylon, 20% Bamboo). I used 1.75 mm DPNs since the yarn is just a tad thicker than regular sock yarn and the pattern is a lace pattern. I have narrow feet and want my socks to stay up. It's a wonderfully soft yarn with the Bamboo giving it shine and the Alpaca giving it warmth. I am not so sure how well it will wear since, as far as I am concerned, the yarn doesn't have enough twist. It won't matter in my case since I never were shoes with closed heels and rarely closed toes, even in Winter. Birkenstocks all the way.

Please excuse the wrinkled sheet, but this was the only spot with enough light. There is too much snow outside to find a suitable spot for a photograph.

The second pair was actually started in December, but didn't get finished until January. The socks are knit with a very old ball of Opal sock yarn. The color is rust. The socks were knit with 2.25 mm DPNs. The pattern is called Basketcase and can be found here on Ravelry. These socks are for the two orphanages in Kazakhstan that are supported by the Motherless Child Foundation. It's never too early to get started. If you are interested in knitting sweaters, hats, mittens, scarves or socks for an appreciative crowd of kids, you may want to check out our group of knitters.

...and the same wrinkled sheets.

Knit on Merrily!

It's January 7, 2012 and...

2012-01-07T17:33:00.000-05:00

...and I haven't even shown my Christmas presents I received. So before January gets away from me, here are the photos.

Blue faced Leicester and silk, Blue faced Leicester, and Suri Alpaca and Silk and Merino

Suri Alpaca, Merino and Silk

And then I bought sock and sweater yarn with money from my other daughter:

Now I just need to decide what to knit with that hand spun yarn?

Knit on merrily!

The last of the knitting for 2011

2012-01-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

At the request of my son, I wound up the year with a scarf and a pair of men's socks. He has just moved to Washington State and wanted to gift friends with some of mother's hand-knit goodies.

The socks are knit with worsted weight Cascade super wash in a k3, p1 pattern with every other row knit in stockinette.

The second project was a scarf, "just like you knit for me." Of course, I had no idea what pattern I had used and had forgotten to record it on Ravelry. The yarn for my son's scarf had come from a now closed yarn shop's basement via a dead friend. I remember her saying that it was a French yarn. So tooling around Ravelry I found this scarf.

I used just under 3 balls of JoJoland Melody, fingering weight yarn. I was a little disappointed with the yarn: too many knots and no discernible pattern repeat in the coloring of the yarn. But I think it turned out fine. Now I just have to make it out of the snowy driveway and mail the goodies.

And just for good measure, here is a photo of my son's scarf.

Knit on merrily throughout 2012.

Eagles and Turkeys

2011-11-21T20:57:00.000-05:00

What do eagles and turkeys have to do with knitting, you ask? Nothing. I am in between finished projects, so have nothing in a knitterly way to show. But... Whenever we start complaining about how far we live from no-where, this shows up in the front yard.

A pair of American Bald Eagles twittering on top of the highest pine tree on the property. I was unable to get close enough to get a good photo, but I think you'll get the picture. The female had already flown away.

This is not a black and white print; it was just one of those dreary Michigan days.

The turkeys were also strutting through the yard, making an otherwise dreary day one to remember.

On the knitting front, I still have to finish my sideways cardigan knit with 6 ply sock yarn. Click here for a photo on Ravelry. I also have to block the From Dawn to Dusk shawlette. Also on the needles are another shawlette, Water lilies and a cardigan knit with fingering weight Alpaca on 2.5 mm needles. It'll be a long time before that cardigan is done. At least I hope to live long enough.

Knit on Merrily!

First snow - November 11, 2011

2011-11-13T17:26:00.000-05:00

The Snow Fairy by Claude McKay

I
Throughout the afternoon I watched them there,
Snow-fairies falling, falling from the sky,
Whirling fantastic in the misty air,
Contending fierce for space supremacy.
And they flew down a mightier force at night,
As though in heaven there was revolt and riot,
And they, frail things had taken panic flight
Down to the calm earth seeking peace and quiet.
I went to bed and rose at early dawn
To see them huddled together in a heap,
Each merged into the other upon the lawn,
Worn out by the sharp struggle, fast asleep.
The sun shone brightly on them half the day,
By night they stealthily had stol'n away.

II
And suddenly my thoughts then turned to you
Who came to me upon a winter's night,
When snow-sprites round my attic window flew,
Your hair disheveled, eyes aglow with light.
My heart was like the weather when you came,
The wanton winds were blowing loud and long;
But you, with joy and passion all aflame,
You danced and sang a lilting summer song.
I made room for you in my little bed,
Took covers from the closet fresh and warm,
A downful pillow for your scented head,
And lay down with you resting in my arm.
You went with Dawn. You left me ere the day,
The lonely actor of a dreamy play.

Warm Toes

2011-10-23T15:54:00.000-04:00

This makes socks #34 for the year. The pattern is Dreamin' of Tulips from Thinking Outside the Sox. The original socks were designed to be knit with left over baby yarn. Since I still am on the "house cleaning" kick, i.e. make odds and ends of yarn disappear, I used small samples of hand-spun, hand-dyed yarns with which my daughter experimented over the past few years. This made for a pair of warm and rugged socks which will keep my feet warm and dry during this coming winter.

Knit on Merrily!

Apple of the Eyelet

2011-10-17T19:21:00.000-04:00

What do you get when you mix a skein of bright green hand-dyed and hand-spun yarn with a new book of sock patterns? (You really didn't need the book since you have hundreds of patterns already, but gee golly you just couldn't resist because the colors in the photos were so gorgeous.) You get a new pair of socks named "Apple of My Eyelet" from the book Think Outside the Socks.

I have lusted after this book for some time and finally gave in to those urges. And here are the results:

Aren't they pretty?

Knit on Merrily!

Socks #31 and #32

2011-10-15T15:21:00.001-04:00

I knit two more pairs of socks during the month of September, but failed to show them. As a first step to a thorough "house" cleaning, I decided to do "wool" cleaning. I've had dozens of partial balls of sock yarn laying about. In some cases they started out as full balls, but were partially eaten by some unidentified critters, be it moths, mice or cats. Others were spirited away by Sammy the cat to his own secret hiding place, only to see the light of day again when he was good and ready to share. The ultimate hope, of course, is that Fall cleaning can be delayed until Spring. So here they are: The first one for the orphanage in Akkhol and the second pair for moi.

Knit with some ancient Opal yarn.

Knit with Brownsheep Wildfoot yarn left over from a cone with which I knit an EZ Pi Shawl ca. 2003. Sammy dug it out of his favorite hiding place and regifted me with it. What a cat!

Knit on Merrily!

Wash Day

2011-10-05T17:53:00.000-04:00

I decided that I also needed to start knitting socks for us; our feet need to stay warm this winter as well. Particularly, since we are in a La Nina weather cycle which means that in the Great Lakes region we will experience more snow and cold than the average season, at least according to the weather forecasters. I hope they are wrong. So here is a photo of all the socks hanging on the line drying and then the pair I knit for my youngest daughter.

Just the way she likes them. Loud and mismatched. This is an old ball of Opal. Neither of us has any idea from where the ball came or when it invaded the household. But they sure will be useful on Halloween.

Knit on!

Same old, same old

2011-10-05T17:02:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted much, but have been busy knitting socks for the Kazakhstan orphanage. So here is September's output.

Knit with Opal, Harry Potter

Knit with the dreaded Hobby Lobby yarn with cuffs, heels and toes from Lang Jawoll.

Hobby Lobby sock yarn

Ancient Opal and Knit Picks sock yarn

Blauband sock yarn

Knit on, Merrily!

Baby Blankets

2011-08-18T21:42:00.000-04:00

I do not like knitting blankets, but everyone in the Yahoo group Mittens for Akkhol was knitting blankets for the babies. The size needed was only 20x30" and I had various amounts of odds and ends of hand-spun yarns; so, of course, I had to join in. Here are the products of this co-dependent behavior with the enabler being the members of the Group.

and this one

The oddments were some of the earliest hand-spun and hand-dyed yarns which my in-house spinner, aka daughter, produced.

Knit on, merrily!

Message to Lori Pall

2011-08-18T21:24:00.000-04:00

Since Blogger is not allowing me to post to my own blog, here is the answer to your question. The doggie is a Rat Terrier, variously called Pepe Le Pew, Pepe or Sir Rat. I found him In July 2000 on a prison yard where I worked; one of his legs was injured. It looked like he had been caught in a trap and worked himself loose. He usually pretends to be an attachment to my left hip when I sit in my recliner and always wants to be covered up. He is now between 12 and 13 years old and is getting gray hair. He's also spoiled rotten. And just because I love him, here is another photo of him, one of his previous "brothers" who is now dead, and the Siamese when he was a baby.

Renate

Summer around Michigan

2011-08-11T15:01:00.000-04:00

Rather than taking a vacation in another State this year, we have been exploring closer to home. There are many nooks and crannies in Northern Michigan that we have never visited although we have lived in this part of the State for 11 years. During the unbearable heat wave in July, we booked ourselves into a nearby hotel. Taking a drive around the area we ended up in Rogers City, Michigan and found homes built with field stones gathered from the fields many years ago. I have only seen these homes in Michigan although I understand they can also be found in New York State. I find these buildings fascinating. So here are a few photos of such buildings collected over the past few years.

Rogers City, Michigan

East Jordan Michigan - El-Jirah Farmhouse

East Jordan, Michigan - El-Jirah Barn

Private Home on the way to West Branch, Michigan

St. John's Church, East Jordan, Michigan

Built in the early 19th Century by Czechoslovakian Immigrants

Back to knitting.

Socks No. 24 for 2011

2011-08-08T17:07:00.000-04:00

Another pair of socks is labeled and waiting to be shipped later in the year to Mittens-for-Akkhol. The pattern's designer is Regina Satta from Germany. You can see her designs here. She has a number of free designs. Patterns can be downloaded in both English and German. This is an alternative to "Stinos", simple to knit but looks quite dressy. A pattern that is unisex and would look just as good in a solid colored sock yarn. The pattern's name is "Jeck." I don't know if the word means anything. Regina is originally from Berlin and I lived 49 years ago in the Northern Black Forest. Two different times and dialects. The yarn is ONLine Supersocke Butterfly Color, 4 ply. I bought it at Little Knits from Seattle, Wash. at a very, very good price.

Knit on Merrily!

Socks: Pairs 22 and 23

2011-08-07T12:54:00.000-04:00

I can't believe it but I haven't posted since the middle of July. The extreme heat in July caused us to spend a few days in a Motel. My daughter's asthma and heart problems said thank you as did my arthritis. The dog was pretty pleased as well and felt at home as you can see from the photo.

During that time I did get two pairs of socks finished, one with ONLine Wellness II and one from an in-house hand-dyed ball of commercial sock yarn. As always, these socks are for the orphanages in Kazakhstan. If you have some time and the inkling to knit something for these kids go and visit the Mitten's for Akkhol group on Yahoo. All kinds of knitted articles are needed.

Mock Cable - ONLine Wellness II

Herringbone - Hand-dyed commercial sock yarn

Knit on merrily!

More Socks for Akkhol

2011-07-15T17:19:00.000-04:00

These are socks #18, 19, 20 and 21 for the year 2011

More socks for the orphanage in Kazakhstan. The first pair is knit from some old yarn in the short row pattern. Not my most favorite pattern, but the hand-dyed yarn calls for it. Regular 4 ply sock yarn.

Just enough yarn left from a skein of ONLine Supersocke Wellness II to make a pair of 16 cm long socks.

A skein of 4-ply sock yarn dyed by that fabulous in-house dyer, aka youngest daughter. The pattern is called "Fluss des Lebens" (River of Life) and is by the German designer Sonja Koehler. It can be found free of charge on Sonja's Ravelry site called "Sonja's Sockenland."

And finally a pair of socks knit with another skein of ONLine Wellness II yarn. These socks have a foot length of 22 cm. The pattern is based on the "XOX Socks" by Wollhuhn (literally translated wool chicken). She offers several free patterns on Ravelry.

I'll close with Porky Pig's famous saying: "That's all folks" for today. Knit on Merrily!

The tale of the gooseberries

2011-07-07T18:06:00.000-04:00

We're getting our first gooseberries. Finally! After 4 consecutive summers of the fruit disappearing over night., we were able to fool the cedar wax wings by putting netting over the bushes as soon as the blooms turned into fruit. Now the eating starts although there is plenty for freezing and making jam as well.

I am still knitting socks. Just have to post photos.

In the meantime knit on merrily while we enjoy our gooseberries.

Bald Eagle Sighting

2011-07-02T22:13:00.000-04:00

We almost collided with a bald eagle today. We were driving west on US 10 close to the village of Baldwin, Michigan when 2 feet in front of us a bald eagle swooped down with claws extended. It was an awesome sight. The photo, of course, is not of the bald eagle we saw, but "borrowed" from Google images. I hope he found his meal. In researching it on the Internet, I found that a good no. of eagles in Michigan get killed in collisions with cars. Who would have thought of this!

2011-06-22T21:27:00.000-04:00

Since Holland, Michigan was settled by the Dutch, it has an annual Tulip Fest in May. It's an extremely big festival for such a small town, but when we first moved to Michigan we would venture out into the crowd of half a million and ooh and aah over the fields of tulips. Well, we discovered last year an Iris farm between Traverse City and Empire, Michigan. It's a centennial farm and has been in the same family. I've searched for a web site to which to send you, but alas while there are hundreds of hits in Google, the farm itself does not appear to have a web site. So I hope the photos will make up for it. While the colors are breath taking, I was most touched by the accidental meeting of the patriarch of the family.

As always I had to rest my back after traipsing among the blooms; so I sat myself down in a chair at a table with two elderly gentlemen. Well one was, the second one was just a wee bit obnoxious once he figured out I was born in Germany. He kept trying out his "Minnesota German" of which I could not make out even one word. So I did what I do best. I smiled. Thankfully he left and the patriarch of the Iris Family Farm and I got into a conversation. He was sent to Germany as a young man toward the end of WWII. I couldn't help but thank him for his service and told him how a bunch of American soldiers kept me from starving in 1946/1947. He started getting tears into his eyes and was mourning the carnage he lived through. We shed a few tears together, laughed a little, and shared some war stories. I think when we parted we both felt a little better.

And now some photos of my favorites:

I hope you liked the photos.

Socks #15, 16, and 17 for 2011

2011-06-09T14:46:00.000-04:00

Ugh. Blogger has changed the formatting and uploading of pics. I'm getting too old for change just for the sake of change. It was working just fine before they fiddled with it. But that's my humble opinion. I know the techies out there are probably happy.

I took a week out to visit my daughter on the East side of the State of Michigan, i.e. the vast metropolitan area of Detroit. I had a wonderful time, but just one complaint. Living in the middle of a National Forest, noises of lawn mowers and edgers are quite rare except for our neighbor who has a week-end cottage and likes to mow her small patch of grass. Luckily, these nice folks are more snowmobile enthusiasts and, thus, don't mow too often. I told my daughter us folks from the backwoods would really appreciate it if all the neighbors would get together and mow and edge at the same time instead of someone doing it every day of the week.

But the variety of food made up for all the noisy mowers. We even found a German bread bakery who had honest to goodness real Laugebroetle. "Lauge" stands for "lye" and "broetle" stands for "little bread" also known as a roll. These are a type of hard rolls dipped in a week lye solution before being baked. Be still my heart. Just thinking about it makes it pound again.

While I was visiting, I also got busy and knit three pair of socks for the Orphanage in Kazakhstan. A mere pittance toward the 500+ pairs we need to knit by November. I had fun knitting with the 6 ply ONLine Supersocke yarn. This particular set was knit with their "New Wave" line. They are just plain stockinette socks with a short row heel.

This pair was knit with the remainder of a skein of ONLine Supersocke Wellness yarn. The pattern is a simple knit 3, slip one with a knit row in between. It seems to compliment the many colors in the yarn.

I like the colors in this pair of socks, but the yarn was the yarn born in hell. While we were at Hobby Lobby, I picked up some of their sock yarn called Walk Away sock yarn." True to its name, it should have just kept walking instead of pretending to be sock yarn. The yarn was unevenly spun with the colored plies appearing to be spun around a core ply of white yarn which I assume is the polyamide. Every so often the colored plies were bunched together loosely around that center ply of yarn. It's hard to describe, but I had never seen anything like it in the many types of yarn with which I have knit. Even at half price, I would not buy the yarn again. I can buy top quality sock yarn when it is on sale from Little Knits at the same price.

Knit on Merrily!

Socks Galore!

2011-06-08T11:03:00.000-04:00

It's been sock knitting time. The first pair was designed by Regina Satta and offered as a KAL on Ravelry. The yarn is ONline Supersocke Cotton, Summer Color bought on sale at http://www.littleknits.com/. It's a nice summery, cool yarn. Needles used were 2.5 mm. My own feet will have to do for these photos since my faux leg did not travel with me on vacation.

In cleaning out some of my stash, I found several single 50 gram skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fine, a fingering weight, 80% cotton and 20% Merino yarn. Fifty grams are just enough to make a pair of anklets for me. So here are photos of two pairs I knit for myself.

Knit on Merrily!

Socks No. 10 and 11 for 2011

2011-05-18T09:41:00.003-04:00

More socks for Kazakhstan orphanages. Having finished the campaign for the "graduates", we are now gearing up to knit socks, socks, and more socks.

These two pairs were knit with one ball of 6 ply Supersocke Wellness II yarn bought at Little Knits at a considerable discount. I used 2.75 mm needles and the patterns were made up on the fly, sort of.

The stitch pattern for this pair of socks is: Row 1 k3, p1. Row 2 knit.

This pattern was adapted from a sweater I knit. It is basically a 5 stitch pattern set off by 2 purl stitches on each side. Row 1: Knit; Row 2: Slip 5 stitches purl wise with yarn in front; Row 3: Knit; Row 4: K2, pick up floating yarn with right needle and pull over middle stitch and knit, k2; Row 5: Knit; Row 6: Knit Repeat.

Another pair is on the needles; it's called my car socks since I only knit on the pair when I'm riding in the car.

Knit on Merrily!

Socks #9/2011

2011-05-13T17:46:00.002-04:00

Another pair of socks designed by Monika Eckert of Wollklabauter. The pattern can be bought through Ravelry .

These are knit with Plymouth Rockin" Sox yarn (now apparently called Sockin' Sox). The socks used just over 100 grams of yarn because they are US Men's Size 11 with an extra long shaft. Needles size 2.5 mm.

Knit on Merrily!

Socks #8

2011-05-02T16:42:00.008-04:00

Another pair of socks are done. These are for the 500+ pairs of socks challenge for the Kazakhstan orphanages. The pattern is Aragorn by Janeke Maat. The pattern can be found for free on Ravelry . The cast-on was new to me. It is very, very stretchy. This may be the perfect solution for those who have trouble getting their cast-on for socks stretchy enough. It does involve a provisional cast on, kind of. The cast on starts with half the stitches needed with a different colored yarn and knitting a few rows.

The first row of the actual cast-on is knit with the regular sock yarn by knitting k1, y/o, thus doubling your stitches to the no. of stitches required for the pattern. A total of 5 rows make up this cast on. The process is well described in the pattern. (Although the author is Dutch, the pattern on Ravelry is available in English.)

And then you grab a pair of scissors and snip off the provisional cast on.

After you have picked out the bits of yarn left over, you have this cast on,

provided you didn't cut off the tail of the actual sock yarn. So be careful; otherwise you'll have to start over again.

And finally, here are photos of the completed sock:

Two more pairs of sock projects on the needles. One pair, a simple knit sock with a small cable on each side for my "faux" nephew to be knit in the car and a more complicated design by Monika Eckert of Klabauter Wolle, recipient not decided on as yet.

Knit on Merrily!

In honor of my 71st Birthday..

2011-05-01T16:38:00.003-04:00

My favorite cartoons/pics liberally appropriated from various Internet sites. As my doctor says: "it stinks when you hurt more in the morning than when you went to bed at night." So true.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes.

Knit on Merrily! Renate

Be it known to all...

2011-04-17T18:35:00.005-04:00

...that on this 17th day of April, 2011, I was awakened to heavy snow falling. Apparently Frau Holle hasn't finished shaking out her pillows yet. "Frau Holle hear me! This is Renate calling to remind you quite sternly that it is time to put away your pillows and let Spring take over." In the meantime, I have finally been able to photograph the last two pairs of socks for the Urupinka, Kazakhstan orphanage. The off-white socks are knit with WEBS coned sock yarn and 2.5 mm needles. The pattern is and old pattern by Monika Eckert of Klabauter Wolle which I found some time ago on the Internet.

The legs of the second pair of socks are knit with Knit Picks Essential Tweed sock yarn in ash and a green variegated hand-spun, hand-dyed wool while the cuffs, heels, and toes are a kettle dyed yarn in a darker gray. As always all dyeing and spinning in this household is courtesy of my in-house dyer, aka Angela or "the youngest daughter."

Knit on Merrily!

Another Akkol Sweater

2011-04-09T17:00:00.003-04:00

As promised, I finally was able to take pictures of sweater no. 2 for the orphanages in Kazakhstan. This one was knit with Elann Peruvian Highland Chunky on US 8 (5.00 mm) needles. The pattern by Christiane Burkhard was well written and, therefore, easy to knit. A beginning knitter should be able to manage it.

Now, all I have to finish up is the foot of the second sock and I am all done with the items I committed to knit.

Knit on merrily!

I've been MIA for a while...

2011-04-07T15:47:00.004-04:00

...but for good reasons. I have been furiously knitting for Mittens_for_Akkol which supplies knitted goods to two orphanages in Kazakhstan. I have 1/2 of a sock left to knit and a sweater to wash and block. In total, I will have knit 2 sweaters, one pair of boot socks and one pair of regular socks. This sweater was knit from hand spun Blue Faced Leicester yarn on US #9 (5.00 mm) needles. Kudos go to my daughter who is the spinner-in-residence. The pattern is from Drops and can be found on Ravelry or directly from the Drops site http://www.garnstudio.com/ . I made some minor changes since I had to combine two shades of brown. The pattern could easily be knit from the top down if seaming is not your cup of tea. And here is a pic of the boot socks. They are US Size 11 and knit with Cascade 220 and Wildfoote sock yarn.

So now to finish the second pair of socks and wash the other sweater. You'll be hearing from me.

Knit on Merrily.

Countdown to Spring

2011-03-12T18:21:00.002-05:00

It's March 11. Someone turn off the snow machine!

"Yarnfiti" or the misadventures of a knitter

2011-03-12T13:51:00.002-05:00

(No photos, just a funny story.)

It was a sunny day in Michigan. Just the right day to spend taking a trip to the big city to do some shopping before the weather got miserable again. So, Angie and I set off. We made it to The New Ewe in Newaygo, a 45 minute drive from home, selected some yarn for a pair of socks and then realized that we left our collective billfold at home. Angie hopped back in the car to retrieve such billfold while I decided to stay at the yarn shop and do some serious knitting. By the time she returned, I had not done much knitting, but had engaged in more yarn buying.

Onward we went to Grand Rapids where a stop at the local book store is always mandatory. Then to the southeast side of GR to check out a tea shop which Angie had found on line and, thereafter, a visit to her favorite restaurant, Olga's where Gyros are king.

Through all of this traveling, I was happily knitting away on a pair of socks for the orphanage in Akkol, Kazaghstan. On our way back north Angie got the bright idea to stop at Pier One to get a last minute gift. Since I stayed in the car, I opened up the passenger door to enjoy the mild, sunny weather, continuing to knit on the sock. I had finished the leg and was knitting the heel when she returned. I closed the passenger door and continued knitting while Angie drove out of the strip mall and back onto the highway.

When Angie veered into the turning lane, I heard a funny sound, but paid no attention to it, until... Something started tucking at my yarn. I figured it had gotten stuck on something in the car as it fell off my lap. Instead, to my amazement, the yarn kept disappearing through the door. And then it dawned on me: My yarn had fallen out of the car when I was sitting in the parking lot with the car door open. So now we had “Yarnfiti” as the newly purchased skein of Lamb’s Pride sock yarn wound its way around the Pier One parking area, to MacDonald’s, to Sam’s Club, and finally into the left turn lane by the light.

So what to do? Break off the yarn before the needles and the sock disappeared too.

Knit on merrily!

Akkhol

2011-02-19T13:39:00.003-05:00

These are my first socks for the orphanage in Akkhol, Kazaghstan. This charity was started by two women who adopted children from the orphanage and found the children in -40 deg F weather without mittens. Since it's inception it has broadened its mission to supply various knitted goods provided they are made from at least 75% animal fiber.

The socks were fun to knit. I used a ball of Opal Neon sock yarn (no longer manufactured) and 2.25 mm needles. I have switched from Bamboo to Boyce metal needles. They are as light as Bamboo needles, but much sturdier and less expensive since many of my needles disappear into what my daughter calls "the mom zone." I really like these needles, but have not tried them as yet with really slippery yarn.

Knit on Merrily!

The vagaries of sock knitting

2011-02-10T18:07:00.003-05:00

So you see a sock pattern that you really, really like and decide to knit it for yourself and then when you read the pattern the thought comes to mind "this might just be a little too big for your feet." Since the pattern cannot be re-sized you go ahead because you figure, against all experience you have, that by using smaller sized needles, the socks just might fit.

And then you start knitting and you realize that the socks will indeed be too big, way too big. Nevertheless you continue knitting because the pattern really calls to you.

Since you are not willing to give up, you decide to knit the socks exactly the way the designer has written the pattern. What will you end up with?

A Women's US size 10. That's what you get. The designer says medium; I say very large. The pattern is free via Ravelry. I used Opal Uni yarn and 2.25 mm needles. The color of the yarn in the photos is not true. The color is a deep lilac, almost like the blooms on the lilac trees I remember from childhood. And the recipient of these socks? I know of only one person with women's size 10 shoes. The sales lady at the yarn shop. I think she's getting another pair of socks from me.

The pattern looks much more complicated than it really is. I'd be interested in other knitters experience with this pattern, should anyone want to knit it.

Knit on Merrily!

And Tommy asks:

2011-02-05T15:33:00.003-05:00

"When are you going to block this shawl?"

Knit last September, this pi shawl designed by Wendy Johnson in honor of Elizabeth Zimmermann's 100th birthday, is still waiting patiently to be blocked. It'll have to wait until I find a large enough space. In the mean time it has been stored away from Tommy's reach. Amazing how he always appears from nowhere the moment I lay out a shawl.

Knit on Merrily!

Snow in February 2011

2011-02-02T16:39:00.003-05:00

All of this fell while we were sleeping. Still can't open the front door. A. dug out the back door and a path for the dog. The line you see in the middle of the photo is the top of an outdoor chair. Makes for good knitting weather, but only after we got the wood stove going. The furnace pilot light went out over night as well and we are unable to light it because too much draft is coming down the furnace exhaust. Someone told us that we have to climb on the roof and clear the snow because the snow around the exhaust pipe has created a funnel for the wind to come down the chimney. Fat chance that either A. or I will climb on the roof. Of course, if it snows more we may be able to walk to the chimney. By the way, the little white dots are snowflakes coming down.

Knit on Merrily!

A quick dish cloth

2011-01-25T15:51:00.002-05:00

A quick one hour knit. The pattern is from the Yahoo Holiday Mystery Group and was designed by Bev, aka knitslikecrazy. Yarn used is Knit Picks CotLin. I like the yarn much better than the old Plymouth Linen Isle. The yarn is smoother of better quality and has good stitch definition. I am going to wash it a couple of times to see how it holds up after knitting. I think it would make a nice summer Tee.

Knit on Merrily!

Rosenheim Socks

2011-01-24T16:31:00.002-05:00

Monika Eckert's designs are always a challenge for me. Not the kind of pattern you knit with your eyes glued to the TV. These were knit with an old skein of hand-dyed yarn. Of course the yarn was dyed by the resident dyer, aka my daughter A. I used 2.0 mm needles so the socks fit my feet better. Moni's sock patterns are made for socks normally knit with 64 stitches. Sixty stitches are plenty for me. Rosenheim is a city of approximately 60,000 inhabitants in the German state of Bavaria. Another pair of Moni's socks are on the needles.

Knit on Merrily!

Just a little something

2011-01-22T16:36:00.003-05:00

I've been amiss in taking photos of finished items. Don't know exactly why, probably the winter doldrums which start around the end of October in the spot I call home. My daughter, A., had won a skein of Mountain Colors 4/8 wool. Since there were only 250 yards in the skein, the project had to be small. I found this pattern in the Fall 2005 issue Knitty.com and it fit the bill. After knitting the scarf, I had enough yarn left to knit a pair of wrist warmers. It's a nice little scarf to keep the neck warm since two banes in most Germans' lives are a cold neck and a draft. Add to that cold wrists, as far as I'm concerned. The project was knit on US Size 7 or for most of the rest of the world 4.5 mm needles. The wrist warmers are plain with a pattern of k3, slip 1, knit one round.

The spinning wheel belongs to A. I do not spin.

Knit on Merrily!

What a country!

2011-01-21T19:28:00.002-05:00

The shooting in Tucson, Arizona is more than a week old and Representative Gabriella Giffords was moved to a Texas Rehabilitation Center today. The following quote found on Facebook via Susan B. describes this country's multiculturalism.

I remember many years ago when we lived in Southern California my mother came to visit from Germany. On her visit we took her to Disneyland and she expressed her wonderment at the many nationalities in one spot. She had, of course, lived her whole life in Germany much of it in a small out-of-the way spot in the Black Forest. The only foreigners she really had ever come in contact with were French and American soldiers, some of whom she had a valid reason to fear during the war.

So here is the quote:

This week we saw a white, Catholic, Republican judge murdered on his way to greet a Jewish, Democratic congresswoman, who was his friend. Her life was saved initially by a Mexican-American gay college student, and eventually by a Korean-American combat surgeon. Then it was all eulogized by our African-American president. In a tragic event, that's a remarkable statement about the country." ~Allen Ginsberg

After seeing today's news conference out of the Houston, Texas rehabilitation center, he spoke too early. It appears he may have wanted to add a couple of more American---- to his list. And to think it needed Allen Ginsberg to point it out to us. Indeed, what a country.

Socks and Cables

2011-01-07T15:02:00.003-05:00

I disliked knitting cables. Not that I didn't know how to cross stitches with a cable needle, or twist 2 stitches without having to use an extra needle, but I had to always refer back to the explanation of the chart symbols to figure out which way the cable was to travel. Was it right or left? Did the stitch in front of me go to the back or up front.

I am a chart person, but a cable chart left me quaking in my boots or I should say Birkenstocks. Until the other day. The "Aha" moment finally arrived as I was drawing the two symbols and their explanations on the back of an envelope. Sort of a crib sheet to make it through the sock pattern. Up to that moment I had always concentrated on the little tail that was either up or down, in the right box or the left one. Never did I consider looking at the right or left leaning line which extended from one edge to the other of the box. Now if you give me a left or right leaning line in a chart, I know exactly which way the decrease leans, but the moment that little tail appeared I was helpless. The "Aha" moment came when I drew the symbols and finally realized just to ignore that little troublesome tail and concentrate on the diagonal line. And Voila! no more crib sheet. The knitting of that second sock went lickity split.

Of course all of this came at a price. I had found a sock on the needles, three quarter finished, but had forgotten I had already knit the first sock. And since I couldn't figure out where I had left off, I decided to just unravel the sock which I did post haste. Then I weighed the yarn and to my horror realized that the ball of yarn only weighed 50 grams instead of the 100 grams it should have. And wouldn't you know it, soon thereafter I found the first sock: knit, finished, yarn ends tucked away. Ah well the vagaries of not finishing what I had started. Serves me right.

The pattern is from Monika Eckert, a German designer whose designs I always find challenging. The name is Bad Toelz, a spa in Bavaria. Bavarian architecture is quite ornate much more so than in my old neck of the woods, the Black Forest. Yarn used was Plymouth Rockin' Sox and needles were 2.25 mm.

And now the picture show:

The colors are off quite a bit. Actually the yarn is green with blueish-purplish interspersed.

Knit on Merrily!

2010-12-23T20:32:00.002-05:00

Merrry Christmas to all!

Ein froehliches Weihnachtsfest an Alle!

from http://solarchristmaslights.org
Rockefeller Center, NY

Enough is enough

2010-12-18T16:38:00.002-05:00

May some one, even the Christian God, have mercy on the souls of Senators DeMint and Kyl. I was sitting in my chair the other day, minding my own business, being a fairly peaceful Christian, when I heard some one babbling on about it being un-Christian to work during Christmas week. Surely my hearing hadn't deteriorated that much nor was my preoccupation that great that I could have possible misunderstood the speaker? No I hadn't.

The far right has a new twist on "my mother won't let me do this" or in my children's case "you don't understand; your mother isn't German." It blames not wanting to work during Christmas week--and attempting on gumming up the works--on Jesus being offended if they work during Christmas week. And here is the proof that I wasn't going bonkers. Found it on Politico. Manu Raju wrote in the Politco:

"Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) called Democrats' push to force through an arms control treaty and an omnibus spending bill right before Christmas "sacrilegious," and warned he'd draw the process out to wage his objections. “We shouldn’t be jamming a major arms control treaty up against Christmas; it’s sacrilegious and disrespectful," he told POLITICO. "What's going on here is just wrong. This is the most sacred holiday for Christians. They did the same thing last year - they kept everybody here until [Christmas Eve] to force something down everybody's throat. I think Americans are sick of this."

DeMint’s comments echo those of Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) who said Tuesday that Reid’s voting schedule is impossible to accomplish “without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians.”

Let us pray that neither DeMint nor Kyl need to be hospitalized during the Christmas Holidays for if I follow their argument to its conclusion then their mere usage of hospital services on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day would make them commit a sin by having Hospital staff to tend to their ailments. Oh I forgot, their argument only pertains to senators who want to delay making decisions. That Senators DeMint and Kyl is the ultimate definition of hypocrisy.

Oh and lest I forget, wasn't Christ to bring peace to earth? What better time to sign an arms control treaty than Christmas. Just shaking my head, muttering to myself and going back under my warm blanket.

Is there a sane corner left in the world?

This is how some days go....

2010-12-12T19:50:00.002-05:00

Some days I don't know why I take a particular photo or save it for that matter, but this one came in handy today. It expresses exactly how I feel.

Today was one of those days where things went to hell in a hand basket.

Twelve days before Christmas: the wood pellet heating system crashed and won't come on again, and it'll be around 10 degrees F (-10 degrees C) over night, the Propane Tank is almost empty and probably won't get filled till mid-week. (Of course since this is Sunday, I won't be able to call the company until tomorrow and since they are out of town, thinking that they will be able to come by mid-week may be too positive. The snow plower had to come to plow out the drive way to the road and the property taxes must, and I mean must, be paid by December 31st. And all this on a fixed income. I wish somebody would adopt me.

On top of all of that my former life partner is back in my life, sort of; she is under hospice care in a nursing home and since she has no one to take care of things, I am it. Why didn't some one tell me when I was born prematurely so many years ago, and babies like me usually didn't survive, that I should take the hint. But noooooooooooo, I had to be oppositional and stubborn. So now you understand why I am showing this photo. Some critter left it in my front yard two summers ago.

But then I found this photo of my Maine Coon mix and little Mikey, a "Shitanese" (Shitzu and Pekingese mixture). And he was a little sh... with a Napoleon complex, marking his territory too numerously. But he was a cutie and the picture is not staged except for the snow flake frame.

On the knitting front, I have three shawls to block. One scarf which I just finished today needs to be washed and blocked and another one finished post haste. I also need to take photos of the scarves and of a third scarf and wrist warmers which I knit for myself. Of course if my middle daughter sees it and feels it's soft enough, it might not belong to me for very long. Oh well, what else are mothers for. Come to think of it, I did the same thing to my mother.

So hopefully, there'll be some eye candy before Christmas.

Knit on Merrily!

Don't Ask Don't Tell

2010-12-02T17:23:00.002-05:00

I like!

From: http://cagle.com

Socks, again!

2010-12-02T14:34:00.004-05:00

With the economic times as they are, I am becoming more and more the "old German." The German of my mother and relatives who saved and scrimped and reused as a matter of necessity and later it became second nature. The socks are a testament to that behavior. They are the third in the series of Kissing Cousins. (For those outside of the US who are not familiar with this expression, kissing cousins are relatives who are related very distantly.) Unfortunately, we have had an attack of the dreaded wool moth in our household. Thus, a lot of small skeins of hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn have been reduced to pieces of yarn of various lengths. The yarn was too nice, and too much work had gone into it, to just throw it out. An Internet group of sock knitters using left-overs to knit socks, by making Russian joins, gave me the idea to use up this yarn, after a trip to the freezer. The socks are for my youngest daughter who loves funky, mismatching socks and deserves the fruits of her labors since she is the dyer and spinner in the family. I used 3.25 mm needles and two threads of differently dyed yarns.

The second pair of socks are knit with the new Plymouth Zino yarn. While it is labeled as sock yarn, Plymouth support patterns show mitts, hats, scarves, etc. The yarn does not have good stitch definition, and I am not sure if I would make socks out of it again. It is machine washable and dryable. The finished surface is slightly fuzzy. I have some of the skein left, and one of these days I will try knitting a sample with various patterns to make sure the yarn behaves as I think it will.

The completed pair of socks. The yarn makes it fairly easy to make two matching socks.

And here is Zappelmann (Mr. Fidgety) who is slightly perturbed at my having usurped his blanket for these photographs. He's ready to cuddle under it again.

Knit on Merrily!

Winter Socks

2010-11-08T15:47:00.003-05:00

Can you believe it? It's 60 degrees F outside and the sun is shining in Michigan on Nov. 8, 2010.

A quick knit. Three pair of socks out of Raggi Sock Yarn, a 10 ply Aran weight yarn from Sweden. I found the yarn at my local yarn shop and thought it would make good house socks and a pair of snowmobile socks for the neighbor who did some work for us and didn't accept any money. At first I was enthusiastic about the yarn, but then became quickly disappointed. One of the "Fair Isle" type balls of yarn had three -- 3 -- knots in it. Yikes. Needles were 3.5 mm DPNs. I used the pattern from the Show-Off Stranded socks by Anne Campbell, a free Ravelry download. The pattern is worth downloading since it has several different treatments for heels. I used the standard flap heel, my favorite, which fits me best. Since this was a quick knit, I didn't want to experiment with a different heel. The small socks on the right were knit with a short row heel, A's favorite.

The pattern by Anne Campbell makes a nifty pattern for the patterned sock yarns so popular today. It is a simple 4 stitch repeat with first row knit, second row, yarn over - knit 2 and pass yarn over over the two knit stitches - knit 2. Row three knit and row four, knit 2, yarn over - knit 2 - pass yarn over. And repeat ad infinitum.

Update on Long johns: I had to undo the legs. The old pattern just doesn't fit our 21st century thunder thighs. I've also decided that I need to add some short rows in the back for 21st century derrieres, so that the body fits better. I also need to increase the stitches, so the legs fit. As a result of unraveling my knitting twice now, I've skeined the yarn, and it is presently soaking in the basin so it knits like new again. A. is ready to go to Walmart and buy a pair, but I will persevere since it now has become a challenge to come up with a well-fitting pair of long johns.

Another pair of socks and a shawl by MMario are on the needles.

Knit on Merrily!

The good and the ugly...

2010-10-23T11:18:00.004-04:00

I started the Black Tie Optional socks as an antidote for the stockinette knitting of the long underwear. The Black Tie Optional socks were knit with the same yarn as the long johns, i.e. from a partial cone of Webs sock yarn. The beads if you can see them in the photos are black. The top of the insole is my "adaptation" (I mean mistake) of the designer's pattern. I was unwilling to unravel the foot of the sock when I discovered that I somehow used a non-existing chart. Don't ask how this is possible; I have no idea how I managed to conjure up a chart that is not there. The pattern is by Adrienne Fomg from Belly Button Knits Designs and can be found in the Ravelry group Sock Knitters Anonymous.

The beads are best visible on the heel.

The ugly socks were knit for my "nephew" Nick. Nick adopted me. He chose the yarn. It is of unknown character a little thicker than usual and has been in my stash forever.

These make sixteenth pair of socks for the year.

Progress Report on the long johns: I have knit half of one leg.

Knit on Merrily!

Fall in Northern Michigan

2010-10-21T12:26:00.004-04:00

On the way to Hoxeyville, Michigan, an unincorporated area in Northern Michigan with no main street and 300 or so souls. The landscape, however, makes up for non-existing amenities.

Near Hoxeyville, Michigan

Sassafras leaves at Minnie Pond near White Cloud, Mich. in Manistee National Forest. The camping area is named after Minnie Pond, the wife of one of the founders of the area.

Maple leaves, Minnie Pond.

Oak trees, Minnie Pond.

Oak tree at the side of our driveway.

View from the mailbox and now we are home again.

I must be crazy...

2010-10-05T13:18:00.006-04:00

...no I am crazy. I am going to knit long underwear for my daughter A. It all started with A. buying three 3-pound cones of sock yarn from Webs. She was going to skein the yarn, dye it, and then sell the skeins. Then she decided that skeining was a hassle and she'd rather buy skeins in bulk. So this old German kept staring at these cones and asking herself "what to do, what to do?".

And then in her October 3rd post, Tichiro -knits and cats (in German) presented patterns from an old German knitting magazines which included long underwear. You may want to click on the link and scroll down to October 3 and take a look at the photos. They really are a hoot, particularly the men's knit jockey shorts.

As my eyes fell on those cones of off-white sock yarn, I knew what to do with at least part of one of the cones: Knit A. underwear. Of course! what else would one do. A good project for evening knitting for these older eyes. Now, realize that the instruction for the ski underwear is only a paragraph long. That includes both top and bottom. So much is left to the imagination or the assumption that grandmother or mother knows how to knit and can help you. The commercial yarn is no longer manufactured, I think; no thickness is given; no needle size; no amount of yarn indicated; only the instructions of casting on 80 stitches for the waist and eventually increasing to 220 stitches. Mine is not a family of hour glass waists, so to the drawing board I went. A swatch was knit, washed, blocked and measured and, cast on accordingly on US 2 (2.75 mm) needles.

Oops, the beginning was big enough for a 60"+ waist which, of course, was followed by visiting the frog pond and casting on again. I am on my way now and will keep you updated about this adventure.

As an aside, after the end of WWII, my mother and friends knit undershirts for us children. After all, human beings needed to wear undershirts since God unlike the animals hadn't equipped us with fur. (In fact when I visited my mother in Germany with two small children in 1966, my mother immediately commented on the children not having under shirts.) In order to save yarn, the shirts were always knit in a drop stitch pattern. This long underwear won't be knit in a drop stitch pattern. I have plenty of yarn.

Knit on Merrily!

I am resting today...

2010-09-27T14:37:00.004-04:00

...because I overdid it yesterday. I decided me and my little pain machine could tackle the outside area around the house, do Fall clean-up and lug it all to the end of the driveway for the garbage man who comes early Monday morning. Well I did six bags and the muscles in my body let me know. But, there is always knitting.

This sock has shown up a lot lately on German knitting groups. Since it was free, I downloaded it and started knitting with 100 grams Regia - Kaffe Fasset. The pattern was in German and rather cumbersome, unlike other knitting patterns found on German sites. As I tried to wade through it, I finally scrolled down to the end and found that it was by Lucy Neatby from her book Cool Socks - Warm Feet. Only I could happen on a pattern that was translated word by word from English to another language.

Off to the Internet I went, looking for the book. It's out of print, but Amazon had several copies, some for as much as $103.64 used. The good news is that there was a vendor in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that was selling it new at the original price. The book was originally published in 2003 and had three editions, the last in 2006. In my opinion, the book is quite wordy, but would have been a good primer for beginning sock knitters. Charlene Schurch's Sensational Knitted Socks and More Sensational Socks are a much better bargain with many more patterns. I am sure there have been other beginning sock knitting books published that are just as good. I certainly wouldn't pay $100 for it.

I have also finished a "shawlette" by Monika Eckert in bright fingering weight turquoise. It was originally designed for a lace weight yarn by Atelier Zitron called Filigrano. I cannot find the yarn in the US as yet and am unwilling to pay for the postage from Germany. On top of it, it's always more fun to experiment with other yarns. I had a partial cone of Jagger Spun Maine Line yarn left, and it did just fine. The shawlette is a little bigger than originally intended, but it's getting winter around here, and I am going to keep this one for myself. Pictures as soon as I can block it.

So that's it folks. Knit on Merrily!

Simple things

2010-09-21T20:43:00.003-04:00

I delight in simple things and thanks to my new TENS (transsubcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) unit, I can take walks again. They are short; I am up to 1/3 of a mile. But I hope that I can take longer walks as my strength starts to return. Fall came quickly to this part of Michigan. The days have been on the cool side and the nights are crisp. Just the right kind of weather.

This photo was taken just beyond the mail box. I love the bronze colors of the Fall grasses on the side of the road.

Even the oak trees are already starting to turn.

And this tree is full of red berries. I can't believe that the cedar waxwings have missed these berries. It looks like a flowering dogwood tree. I'll have to keep an eye on it next summer.

The milk weed is ready to burst, soon showing its silken fluff after the seeds have blown away. I wonder if you could spin with the down of this plant? The Monarch butterfly larvae feed exclusively on the leaves of the milk weed.

And here is a closer look at the grasses.

While most of the ferns seem to have dried up overnight, this one is still in the process.

And tomorrow it's back to knitting photos.

All in white

2010-09-13T19:24:00.005-04:00

The Bad Cat Designs Summer Swatch Me sampler is finished. It used just under 200 gr. of Regia Wool/Silk/Nylon sock yarn on US 7 (4.5 mm) needles. As you can see, the edging has beads in it; I used 6/0 matte iridescent seed beads.

Other projects in the works are a pair of socks and finishing the Shetland Pi shawl.

Knit on merrily!

Eye Candy, I hope

2010-09-06T16:30:00.004-04:00

Well, it's a bit late, but I've finally blocked the Kalendar Scarf I knit from December 1 through December 25, 2009. For those who have short memories like me, this was the annual Advent Calendar Knit-Along from the Swedish web site http://www.kalender2009.slojdohantverk.se. The scarf was originally knit with Musk Ox yarn. The pattern is no longer free, but if you wait until December 1, you can always download the daily patterns for the 2010 sampler. I knit this scarf with one skein of Wisdom's Poems Sock yarn. I would suggest never to knit anything with this yarn if you have either a short-haired cat or dog in the house. We, of course, have both. The yarn, a single ply yarn, attracts short stubby hair from a mile away, yet alone the critters running around in the house. Also I think the name "sock yarn" is a misnomer. I would not knit socks with it since the thickness is slightly inconsistent. So here are finally the photos. Thanks to my physical therapy and my TENS unit it is easier to do blocking and taking photos.

Knit on merrily!

New Scarf...

2010-09-06T15:09:00.004-04:00

...ala Bad Cat Designs' Summer-Swatch-Me group has finally been blocked and photos taken. Yarn used is hand-spun from a no-longer known roving source. It looks like it is a silk/wool blend. Of course, the yarn was spun by my daughter as one of her early spinning projects. It's a little heavier than what she now spins. The beads visible in the detail photo are Delicas.

The photo of the whole scarf is truer to the actual color.

Knit on merrily!

Look what I found today...

2010-09-04T21:30:00.004-04:00

...on my way to the mailbox. A whole bunch of new puffball mushrooms on an old oak tree stump. By the way, they are mighty good eating if you get them before they develop spores inside. They taste just like fresh unsalted butter.

And here is a picture of the 576 stitch portion of the Pi shawl.

Knit on merrily.

Mushrooms, butterflies and Pi shawls

2010-09-01T18:28:00.005-04:00

Most German blogs I read are complaining about the cold weather and some actually turned on the heat. Wish it were so here. Since Saturday we have gone through the hottest days of the summer and wouldn't you know it our air conditioning quit working on Saturday. While it's only 75 degrees F today, the humidity is 78% and nary a breeze. You know what that means: the weather outside is oppressive and "the fungus is among us." Puffballs are everywhere and the tomatoes, beans and zucchini are growing mold. Boo hoo.

But on my way to the mail box I was rewarded with a monarch butterfly and quickly took a few photos. If you look closely, you can see that her wing on the left side of the photo seems to be injured. Maybe that's why I could catch a photo.

Lastly, the third portion of the Pi shawl, designed by Wendy Johnson, is finished and I am on to part four. Part four with 576 stitches and a potential of 128 rows will take a while.

I have a couple of lace scarves blocked, but haven't taken yet photos; so they will come later.

Knit on merrily!

Froggy went a courting

2010-08-28T12:46:00.005-04:00

We went for a drive yesterday, exploring some of the many lakes in the Manistee National Forest. Lake County, our county, alone has 115 official inland lakes. The county south of us has 170 some official lakes. But in looking at the official lists, I can only say "there are a few missing." We visited Nichols Lake; it's representative of the many inland lakes: surrounded by woods, small cottages, no wake. For the landlubbers this means no big boats, water skiing, etc., but lots of fishing in boats with electric motors and the occasional Pontoon boat.

And what did we see as we went down to the boat ramp? A froggie! It's bigger partner was grass green, but kept leaping into the underbrush so that I was unable to get its photo. But here is the little one in all his(?) glory.

And then I found these wildflowers as we drove down one of the many dirt roads. I am not sure which particular species of the pea family this is, but it looked pretty, particularly when paired with Goldenrod and the Jack Pine.

And finally a picture of Nichols Lake whose look is representative of many of our lakes around this area of Michigan.

I promise more knitting pics in a couple of days.

Another Pi Shawl started

2010-08-21T20:28:00.004-04:00

Well, I've joined another knit-along. This one is by Wendy Johnson, the sock book author, who decided to design her own, after knitting the Ravelry Elizabeth Zimmermann 100th birthday Pi shawl. I like knitting Pi shawls, the advantage being that you always have a place in which to carry your ball of yarn. I am using a 3 lb. cone of off-white sock yarn which we bought from Webs ages ago. The label on the inside of the cone states "Regina" and "Italy." The yarn seems to be "oiled" since after washing the yarn blooms and is a lighter off-white. I am using US size 7 (4.5 mm) needles.

Knit on merrily.

Another pair of socks finished

2010-08-21T20:15:00.003-04:00

I am such a sucker for someone drooling over the socks I wear. I immediately offer to make them a pair. And that's how this pair of socks came about. My daughter's sister-in-law saw my 70th birthday socks I had knit for myself and said "I wish someone would knit me a pair of socks." She lamented that her mother had taught her how to darn and mend, but not how to knit. And thus Sandy's socks came about. They were knit with an old hank of hand-dyed yarn (thanks to my daughter) and US 1-1/2 (2.50 mm) needles.

Knit on merrily.

I'm in a sock knitting rut

2010-08-07T12:47:00.003-04:00

I am on a sock knitting jag. These are patterned after the "Reverse Pod Socks" of Bad Cat Designs Summer Swatch Me Knit-Along. Knit with dear daughter's hand-dyed commercial yarn. The colors remind me of violets one can find growing in the woods. The yarn is a wee bit thicker than the average commercial sock yarn. Since the pattern used 64 stitches and I needed only 60 stitches for a snug fitting sock, I decreased each pattern repeat by 1 stitch. This change made the pattern look more asymmetrical. Now I need to knit the second sock.

The other pair of socks were also knit with daughter's hand-dyed yarn. The pattern came from a 99 page downloaded book called "The Sole Solution 2003/2004 Collection." The patterns will pop up in PDF form if you google the title. It's an easy pattern to remember. The pattern is knit with a multiple of seven stitches. I cast on 64, knit the cuff, and then decreased one stitch. First row: Knit, Second row: k1, y/o, p1, p3tog., p1, y/0, k1. Third and Fourth row: Knit. Repeat ad finitum. You can decide on your own cuff, heel and toe.

Knit on merrily!

Memories while knitting socks

2010-08-02T19:25:00.005-04:00

One of the patterns in the "Summer Swatch Me Knit-Along" by Bad Cat Designs is Trails. As I knit the socks designed by Andrea, I was reminded of my beloved Black Forest and the many trails I used to haunt as a child, some times alone and some times with my cousin. We spent hours in the woods with no one ever having to worry whether or not we were save. When we weren't goofing around, we would pick blueberries or bring the wagon and collect pine cones which were used as fire starter in the winter.

Thanks to Google mixed in with the photos of the socks just finished are photos of the old haunts around the spa Bad Teinach.

Bad Teinach

And here are the socks. Knit from Opal Uni, Forest Green on US 1-1/2 (2.25 mm) needles. This is closest to the actual color of the yarn, with the yarn having a slightly less blue tinge.

The Teinach brook

A better look at the pattern and the heel.

Forest path

Oh how I wish these were my legs. The truth is it's a plastic one. It does, however, show the pattern well.

And another spot I knew well. Here gnomes and trolls dwell.

Continue to knit on, merrily.

When you are seventy...

2010-07-20T20:38:00.002-04:00

...you are allowed to wear wildly colored socks without having to explain why.

50 grams of Regia Cotton Surf Color
2.5 mm needles

OK, so don't look at the mess on the floor. Our two cats were playing their favorite game, racing through the house and knocking things off the shelves.

Knit on merrily!

Another Knit-Along

2010-07-11T08:58:00.002-04:00

A lazy summer knit-along, just like the days of summer. This sampler shawl/scarf is from Andrea at Bad Cat Designs. With each weekly sampler pattern Andrea provides another one, such as fingerless mitts, hats, scarves, etc. featuring the sampler pattern. I am using Regia Silk sock yarn which is a joy to knit with. I have made a pair of fingerless gloves and a hat with the third design. Photos will have to wait until I wash and block them.

Knit Along, Merrily!

My first Christmas stocking....

2010-07-07T15:08:00.003-04:00

...ever! I did not grow up with the tradition of a Christmas stocking hanging by an open fire. First, we didn't have fireplaces. Second the Christchild brought Christmas gifts and Santa was relegated to December 6, St. Niklaus Day. Instead of stockings, we put our shoes by the front door and St. Niklaus and his helper would place a piece of fruit into one shoe and a stick in the other. In retrospect, an excellent lesson of the fact that children, and as an extension, all humans are both good and bad. In some areas of Germany the stick was replaced by a piece of coal. At the time we were too poor for such a luxury.

Thanks to Terry Morris and the Yahoo Group "holidaymysterygifts" this deficit in my education has been corrected. Terry designed three Christmas stockings, a stranded, an Intarsia, and a Gansey-style version. Since I found two very old skeins of Simply Soft by Caron in a beautiful Christmas green in our stash of yarns, I used it. Needle size used was 3.25 mm. The pattern suggested US 7, but the 3.25 mm needles gave me just the right texture. Now I suppose I'll have to make a second one. The question is which to make: the stranded version or the Intarsia version?

Knit on merrily!

No other explanation needed!

2010-06-15T11:23:00.003-04:00

Found at: http://www.knitprincess.com/

Sock Mojo

2010-06-13T14:15:00.005-04:00

I finally have my sock knitting mojo back. It kind of left me after battling some Panda Bamboo/Elastic yarn. So far I have knit 3-1/2 pairs of socks in June and with all of the matches of the World Cup being televised, I should get considerable knitting done between now and July 11. Right now some serious "real football" (Ok soccer) watching is going to be done. Germany vs. Australia. May the German team win. It is expected by the German Nation. At least I am going to be a nervous wreck for the next 90 or so minutes.

The loading of pictures of the socks knitted will have to wait until the game is finished.

Germany 4, Australia 0. Unfortunately, the Australian team seemed to be outmatched.

So here are the pics.

I have knit this particular pattern before. It comes from a German sock knitting group. The photo doesn't show the main color very well, but imagine a very dark green with lighter greens. The yarn used is Regia Line Steps color; needle size was US 1-1/2 or 2.5 mm.

The pattern is called "Nine-to-Five" and can be found on Ravelry. I am almost certain I have knit this pattern before, albeit with a different name. The pattern is quite simple. Knit 2 tog., leave on left needle and knit stitch again x 2, then purl 2 stitches. Yarn used is ON Line Supersocke 100 Cotton Stretch. Needles used were size US 1, or 2.25 mm.

The heel is knit with a version of the linen stitch: knit 1, slip 1 with yarn in front. Return row purl.

And finally my least favorite yarn, Regia Cotton. In my opinion, the yarn looks and feels cheap. Basically, the yarn is so busy that I just did the sock in stockinette stitch.

Knit on, merrily.

Chicken Drama

2010-05-19T09:17:00.003-04:00

Who would have thought that chickens could be so entertaining. We had a tragedy the other night; one of our Buff Orpington's became the murder victim of a bigger and meaner member of the animal kingdom. We know it wasn't a Weasel because only one of the wings was torn off and half the head was missing. (Sorry for the gore.) Weasels go for the heart and the breast. And now come the chicken dramatics:

Since this incident several of our two-winged, two-legged egg producers refuse to go into the coop at night. It took some sleuthing were they were hiding, and we haven't found all of their hiding places yet. But our only white chicken currently gets her beauty sleep on a branch of the honeysuckle bushes. Since they are full of creamy white blossoms at the moment, she is well hidden. One of the light brown/tan Aricaunas has found a spot on top of the roof of a very old, very small shed. The roof is covered with dry pine needles, and she blends right in. We have yet to find Roadrunner's hiding place She got her name because of her speed and habit of zipping through the landscape.

Sorry no pics since these critters don't retire until it is almost dark.

And thus the tale of the chickens continues.

Finally some knitting content

2010-05-10T17:37:00.004-04:00

I finally took photos of the Tee I knit last month. The yarn is a discontinued Plymouth Yarn, Linen Isle, with a content of 50% Cotton, 30% Rayon and 20% Linen. Each 50 gram skein has 86 yards and five stitches to the inch with size 6 needles. The yarn is machine washable on gentle and should be laid flat to dry. I put the finished Tee in the dryer on the gentle cycle. It did not lose its shape or shrink. It would be more energy efficient to air dry since it took a couple of drying cycles. Unfortunately the pictures with me in the Tee are not the most flattering, but then, to be honest, there hasn't been anything flattering about my figure for at least 10 years. It's a wee bit snug, but I've been losing weight, so I figure it will fit just perfect by the end of the summer. While I am grateful in having lost 28 lbs. over the past 1-1/2 years, it's also worrisome since I haven't tried to lose weight. We'll see if it continues and then I'll worry enough to mention it to the doctor.

So without further ado here is my plump figure in my new Tee. It's frightening how much I look like one of my mother's sisters, in size that is.

Well, the hair is still au naturel, with distinguished gray at the temples.

I found the pattern at http://anleitungen.bestrickendes.de/ . The pattern is called "Sommerflieder" or "Summer Lilacs." The instructions are in German, but can easily be translated into English with the Google translate button. Be prepared for a few non-sensical words, but any knitter who has knit a sweater before can easily ignore the occasional gibberish.

The second finished project is a pair of socks. Knit from an overly ripe skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn. Not my most favorite sock yarn since it has to be hand washed. I prefer to be able to toss my socks in with the regular wash. However, the yarn was perfect for the pattern and had been stewing long enough in my stash of sock yarn. The pattern is fairly easy and for a medium experienced knitter can almost go on automatic. The cuff and foot have a pattern of knit 2, purl 1, with every other knit 2 crossed every fourth row. Pleasant enough to the eye that I might just knit a whole sock that way one of these days. The leg pattern has a pattern consisting of dropped stitches, 1x1 cables and purl stitches. Yes you have read correctly, dropped stitches. If I hadn't knit the pattern, I would not have believed it. The pattern is by Terry Morris and can be found on Ravelry under the name "Yaneris Socks." It is now a "for buy" product, but was originally offered for free through the Yahoo Holiday Mystery Gift group.

Well that's all folks until I have knit something else.

Knit on merrily!

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-07T20:10:00.003-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all women who have born children. Some of you were even fortunate enough to see them grow up.

Two women stand out in my life, my mother and my Aunt Emma.

My mother had one child live beyond birth, me. Before me was Helene who died either in child birth or shortly thereafter. We were both premature, a condition made more difficult because the years were 1938 and 1940. Some of us were more stubborn or willful than others and decided against all odds to stay put on this earth. In my mother's case that would have been me. In my Aunt Emma's case (my mother's sister), one of her children was murdered by the Nazis; she had what we now know as Downs Syndrome. Both women were tough. The kind of outer toughness that let them make it through War, hunger, and pestilence and, then, pick up the pieces and build new lives.

In the early post war years, my mother was a wheeler-dealer, getting us successively better apartments in which to live, not an easy undertaking in a country where there seemed to be more bombed out buildings than inhabitable ones. Mother also had no ethical problems with obtaining a ball for me on the black market for Christmas 1946.

She had it down to a fine art when to walk the 5 miles between the village we lived in and her farmer friends in the neighboring village to garner a fresh egg or some freshly canned meat. When fire wood was needed, she and her neighbor became wood fellers, going into the very cold winter of 1946, 1947, or 1948, the axe apparently slipped off an icy tree trunk into her shin, but the two women and the wood made it home without an ambulance or having to pay a bribe to the local constable. You see it was legal to collect wood off the forest floor, but not to cut down trees.

In 1948, I was allowed to visit my aunt in the far away big city of Hamburg. I don't remember how I got there, for travel in 1948 was not the easiest undertaking, but I do know that my mother did not take me. What I do remember are all the new dresses I had when I got to my aunt. The material came from some of my mother's dresses, remade into the latest 8-year old girls' dresses by a local seamstress. I wonder what she used for money, since we certainly didn't have any. Of course, I also need to report that I tore one of those dresses when we did less than girly things on that visit. But nary a "tsk" from my mother when I came home.

As I became eighteen and up to twenty-two, I always knew where I could find a fashionable wardrobe--in my mother's closet. She abhorred my lack of taste in clothing and was ready to clothe me. Of course, I would never have taken advantage of my mother in that way. *cough, cough, smirk, smirk."

Thank you, Mutti, for also attempting to clean up my pal Seppl, before sending him home to his mother. Seppl had "accidentally" fallen into a mud puddle. Poor Seppl still got a thrashing.

She also rescued me from our local Pastor who was in the habit of administering "Ohrfeigen" (slaps on the side of the face) rather randomly to his confirmation students. When my turn came, I walked out of the class room, went home and my mother took up the matter with the District's supervising Pastor. The following week I was able to take confirmation classes in the "big" city.

At age 18, she gave me my freedom and told me if I wanted to go to England for a year as an au pair, it was alright with her. After all, she had never married again after her divorce in 1948. Unfortunately, I have this inkling that it was my fault she never remarried. I was jealous of every man that ever came to visit her and spoke my mind about it. Sorry for having been so selfish.

Above all thank you for always accepting me for being me, regardless of how difficult that might have been at times.

And thank you to my Aunt Emma for letting me visit every summer vacation, for fattening me up when my camp stay didn't, for having all those Romance novels stashed in the cupboard, so I could read into the night under my bed covers and cry and cry and cry. And above all for having the Bakery deliver, wonderful hard rolls (Broetle) and soft pretzels (Laugepretzle) every morning while I was visiting.

A Blessed Mother's Day to all.

No knitting content yet, but still knitting...

2010-05-02T20:08:00.003-04:00

No knitting photos yet. I have a couple of things on the needles, but nothing finished yet.

In the meantime I've been poking around E-Bay for old German lace knitting magazines and yarn for knitting a doily of some kind. It probably will take me as long to decide which one to knit as it will take time to knit it. In my search for patterns, I found a 1991 magazine "Neue Moden" (New Fashions) with a special issue of "Kunststricken" (Knitting of Lace Doilies, etc.)--32 patterns all together. I have bought from this seller (gizmo73733) out of Germany before and she hasn't disappointed me yet.

On the other hand, I have an exchange of e-mails with another E-Bay Seller that is both funny and bad business. Here is the e-mail exchange, starting with my asking who the designers of the knitted tablecloths in an old Anna (Burda) magazine are.

April 28;
Dear...,
Is there any chance that you can tell me who the designers are for the knit tablecloths? Thank you much.

May 1:
Dear...,
I have e-mailed you previously with no reply. I understand if you are unwilling to look in the magazine to answer my question, but a brief "I don't know answer" would have sufficed. Again, would you be so kind and tell me if the magazine lists the designers for the knit tablecloths advertised on the cover. Thank you Renate Speaks

May 1:
Dear renate...,
IT DOES LIST THE DESIGNERS. THANKS

May 1:
Dear...,
Obviously you answered my question exactly the way it was asked. However,the names of the designers would have been a sign of good will after you didn't answer my first e-mail. But never mind. Just a suggestion particularly if lace knitting is involved. You might get better bidding results if you were to list the designers of the knitted lace items. Sincerely, Renate Speaks

So far no answer. The seller who I suspect is a guy due to his moniker most likely thought he was being particularly witty. I don't think so, however. You can bet regardless of how badly I may want these magazines, I will not buy them from this seller. I particularly dislike being yelled at over the Internet. It's enough that people yell at me in real life. If I do not receive a reply in a couple of days, I just may give the name of the seller.

In the meantime, keep on knitting.

I want! I want! I want!

2010-04-30T19:55:00.003-04:00

I want to be a kid again. With parents who have money. And I want it now. I was blog surfing; that's what you do when you are too weak to do much else even knitting and you find a blog out of the blue, and as you scroll down the page you find a reference to having acquired the last of the Anker (anchor in English) building sets. Castles, churches, bridges, each built from custom built stones made from chalk, quartz sand, pigment, and linseed oil leading back to the early 1800s. Loved by grown ups and kids alike. I suspect, the hobby is a little bit like model trains. Dads buy them for their children because they never had one. Like many German manufactured items, they are overbuilt and each set of building stones comes in its own wooden box. The bad thing is they are available in the US, even endorsed by former President Bill Clinton.

Starter Set

With added purchases you can build the next buildings or use your imagination and design your own buildings. Even Einstein played with them.

I looked at the prices and, darn it, they are still too expensive for me, unless I close my eyes and not pay my taxes, get my septic tank looked after, my roof fixed and my car brought back to good running conditions. But there is no way I can bring myself to do that. The responsibility genes are too well developed in me. Could the superego just once disappear? I want to play. No chance.

For those who want to have a look at this play paradise and may be get any grand children you have hooked on them, here is the original German site. The site can be read in any language you desire. The second site is one of the US sites I found where you can buy the sets. I put "Anker Building block" in Google to come up with all kinds of links.

http://www.ankerstein.de/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=17&lang=english

http://www.johnwsheetz.com/anker-stone-blocks.html

Go and play some.

What a drag!

2010-04-29T15:30:00.003-04:00

I have been sick for almost two weeks. Bronchitis! I'm almost too sick to knit. Two or three rows and I need to rest. That really is the pits. And since I have trouble knitting, I am also bored and have developed "startitis." With each new project I start, I think that's it, that's going to make me feel better, and then I am back to knitting three rows and having to rest. Dang it anyway! And day after tomorrow is the big 70 for me. I command my body to feel better.

For the rest of you, knit on merrily.

Earth Day 2010...

2010-04-22T15:52:00.003-04:00

...and another reason why we need to plant more trees. Unfortunately, my doggie would not wait in line so patiently. Thank you Pat for this visual image.

While waiting for more beads...

2010-04-14T17:30:00.004-04:00

...to finish the Snow Queen Pi shawl, I whipped up this little bit of nothing. I hope by now you are rolling your eyes and shaking your head. But I am in an expansive mood today: I finished and filed my taxes a whole day early. My normal routine the past few years has been to file for an extension at the last minute. My ritual before computers was to pile in my car and drive around 8 p.m. to the Main Post Office in Grand Rapids, Mich., where a nice and courteous Postal employee would take my envelope as the cars snaked by in long lines. I always had a smile for the employee and said thank you. A twenty dollar bill and a bottle of good Scotch would probably have been more appropriate in retrospect, but I assume these were honest Government workers and would not be amenable to bribes.

This shawl was a Knit-along last year and is part of Monika Eckert's Windsbraeute (Brides of the Wind) series. Spitzbergen (German spelling; otherwise spelled Spitsbergen) is a Norwegian island, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. Since I don't have the money to visit, I thought a shawl by the same name would be fine.

I used Tofutsie sock yarn, a mixture of wool, soy silk, cotton and Chiltin (fiber made from crab shells and shrimp, I believe). The yarn makes a very drapable fabric. In my opinion it is not necessarily suited for socks. The shawl used just under 2 balls, 186 grams to be exact which comes out to 864.5 yards, according to Ravelry.

Actually, this photo represents the color of the shawl best.

That's all folks for today, another shawl is soaking ready to be pinned out and shown off in a couple of days.

Knit on merrily!

The Snow Queen is almost finished.

2010-04-12T15:57:00.004-04:00

The snow is finally gone, and I hope that Michigan weather does not surprise us with another snow storm this Spring. My "Snow Queen who had a bit too much of the Grape" is also finished, except for blocking. But that has to wait a wee bit. I want to make sure that the muscles in my back have had enough time to heal completely. You see being only 18 days away from being 70 and crawling under my abode to see if I could fix something left me literally flat on my back for three weeks. Blocking a shawl this size leaves my back hurting even under normal conditions, so I am not going to aggravate the situation right now.

The shawl took just under 4 skeins, at 440 yds. each, of Knit Picks Shadow Lace Yarn. Color was Grapevine. The color is no longer available. The beads used are Delicatas, size 8/0, metallic raspberry. I cannot give the no. of beads or grams used, since I had to order from several sources. The source from which I ordered a sample package has this particular bead on back order now. In ordering beads, I found that each seller packaged them in different weights, e.g. 5 grams, 8 grams.

This shows the edging of the shawl before it is blocked into points. This photo also shows the color as near as possible of the yarn. At least it does so on my computer.

A view of the increase round with nupps.

The shawl came off the needles at exactly 11:48 a.m. this morning. Even without blocking it covers my outdoor table with an overhang of about 2" on all sides, suggesting that it should block out to a good 60" or perhaps more. Andre of Bad Cat Designs has done a super job of designing the shawl. The design is now available for purchase either through Ravelry or her Blog. This is the best design of a pie shawl that I have encountered. The individual sections are well thought out and integrated to make a cohesive whole,

This is also the first time that I have used beads in my knitting. I believe my hesitation of knitting with beads was more psychological than technical up to now. It's a little bit like those egg tosses at company picnics that I used to have to endure: Wasteful! Not necessary! showing off in some way! Funny, how our upbringing rears its head in the most unforeseen places. But the deed is done. It turned out beautiful and now on to other things.

I have two Monika Eckert triangular shawls finished. All is left is the putting yarn ends away, washing and blocking them. All of which was delayed by my above reported foolishness.

So knit on merrily!

2010-03-28T17:39:00.004-04:00

Two events have reminded me again of the losses I experienced as a result of WWII and the effect these past losses have on me even as I near another milestone in my life.

The first event was reading a novel: "The Cellist of Sarajevo" by Steven Galloway who teaches creative writing at the University of British Columbia. The book follows four individuals "whose lives have been upended" by the Bosnian/Serbian civil war in the nineties, but who are "ultimately reminded of what it is to be human". I was laid up (1995) from my car accident when the first television reports came from that area of Europe. The daily news reports were affecting me on a level that was hard for me to grasp. But the pictures of emaciated humans behind barbed wire started to remind me again of things I had wanted to forget, but couldn't since they are part of my very being. And that was the beginning of the emergence of a delayed but full-blown case of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Oh sure I always had some symptoms. We all snickered at my jumping after a loud sound went off behind me and my kids knew not to ask Mother to take them to the fireworks. The standard operating procedure was Mom stays home, Dad takes the kids. I was lucky that he was just as much of a kid as our three children were. And, then, there were the occasional flash backs, but the Bosnian war brought all of this with a vengeance to the foreground.

The second event happened when I read a German blog. I came upon Ulli's blog through one of the sock knitting groups to which I belong. Ulli is a sock knitting fiend. But Ulli also comes from my neck of the woods in Germany, the wonderful, enchanted land of Schwaben. She also has two children, a boy, Bennie, and a daughter, Marina, who has Downs Syndrome. She freely shares photos of her family and the activities of her children as well as knitting. On Friday, March 26 Ulli showed a newspaper clipping in the Stuttgart newspaper, highlighting a local school in which special needs children are integrated into various classes with class mates who are not special needs children.

And that's when my tears of loss started to flow. After 60 years, I finally started grieving for the cousin I never met in person. She was my favorite aunt's, my Tante Emma's, child. She too had Down's Syndrome. One of my favorite past times was going through the boxes of photographs my aunt had. And that's where I found her picture. And when I asked, all I got was "Hitler took her." And then she stormed out of the room. This, a woman, who never got angry, who was all-loving and understanding. I knew better than to ask again and at the end of the day I had forgotten about my cousin. After all, I had better things to do, such as frittering the day away in the woods surrounding us with my cousin Walter. I was too young to understand the meaning behind the terse "Hitler took her." In the photo she was old enough to understand what was happening to her. The sheer terror this child must have felt. The terror is beyond my understanding. Thankfully.

But my tears are still flowing, selfishly, for all the days missed playing with her. I don't even know her name and no one left to ask.

Renate

The Kissing Cousins came for a second visit.

2010-03-28T16:53:00.003-04:00

The Kissing Cousins came to visit again and with them another pair of socks. I found the pattern on the Web, probably on Ravelry. The pattern is named Broken Ribs Diagonal Socks and the designer is Vicki Reed. The pattern is quite simple; even I could memorize it after the second repeat. And some days that is saying a lot considering all the Flexeril I have been taking these past few days.

You just shouldn't crawl on your belly underneath your mobile home to "see for yourself" when you are out of shape and have weak stomach muscles and four weeks away from being 70. Yep that's what I did and my lower back is telling me that this was a nono. But the German genes in me cannot stand it when someone says "it can't be done." I know from experience that there always is a way, if the person just becomes inventive enough. I didn't find a way to unplug the heater that defrosted our water well line, but miraculously a way was found to turn it off. A little imagination can go a long way. Thanks Angie for thinking "out-of-the-box."

These socks are the second pair knit from Angie's left-over yarn. In it's previous incarnation it was going to be a shawl and if you read my last post, you can see it's first incarnation as a shawl. These are also pair no. 33 for the 52 pairs of socks challenge. I'm pretty sure I won't make it this time around. But at least I have had the joy of knitting 33 pairs and some folks besides my daughter and me had warm feet this winter.

As far as my Snow Queen shawl is concerned, I only have about 8 rows to go. The beads are making it really look classy. I have also started another smaller shawl with one of Monika Eckert's designs. Yes, folks, I have currently too many projects going at the same time. So I better get off line and continue to knit.

Knit on Merrily!

Things that didn't float my boat

2010-03-23T10:31:00.003-04:00

I consider this blog to be a diary of all my knitting history, not just my successes. The last few weeks I have been on a mission to undo projects I have started at one time and never finished for one reason or another. I am finding that the reason for not finishing something is mainly divided into two categories: The started piece just doesn't give me that tiny lift that says "gee, I like that" or "it's too small, too big, too..."

So I thought it be a nice idea to do Spring cleaning on my blog. This is definitely easier than doing Spring cleaning in my house since it only takes a sit down in my chair, my fingers, my mouse and a click through the graveyard or junkyard of my knitting projects.

This project fell into the "too..." category. It gave me a lift, particularly since the colors of the hand spun yarn seemed "just right" for the project, but it was just a tiny bit too small. It would also have been better if I had used a larger size needle. But then the largest size needle I own is US size 7 (4.5 mm). This yarn has since made it into a sweater for afghansforAfghans and two pairs of socks. The socks have that bit of an "umpf"; the sweater for afghansforAfghans ist just so. But then a kid in Afghanistan needs a warm sweater and not my "umpf."

This project definitely had the "umpf" factor. But it was going to be way too big. It is a Monika Eckert design called "Masked Ball." The yarn looks nice, but I really didn't like to knit with it. My hunch is that had I used bamboo needles rather than Addis, the knitting would have been easier. The yarn was too slick for the Addis. When I reknit it, not if I will make the smaller size.
This was a Yarn Harlot design named "Earl Grey." The yarn was at fault in this case. It was too old--a ball of Opal Uni in dark brown on which either one of our four-legged house guests, aka "eek a mouse." had feasted or Sammy, our Siamese, had carried it once too often to his food dish. When will this frugal German learn that some things should be thrown out. The pattern has since been reknitted in a very nice dark green Regia. I still have the one sock knit from the brown Opal. It has since become a sample for size 9-1/2 (US) men's socks.

This was a www.goddessknits.com mystery knit-along. It was a Pi shawl design and, believe it or not, I was on the knitted on edge. It has lingered since 2008 in the unfinished projects basket. This just didn't give me that lift I want from a project. This may have nothing to do with the design itself, but I have discovered that I do not like to knit items where the instructions are "pick one from four" for this particular section. Only once did it actually work for me. I suppose the secret would be to make swatches of all patterns offered and then see what goes with what. But there are so many good designs out there that I really don't want to waste my time on it.

I actually found a whole sock knit with this pattern, complete with ends woven in. This falls into the very small category of "gee I don't remember knitting this" and having used the rest of the yarn in some other project, there is no way of knitting the second sock. Pity, the finished sock looks really nice, but no more yarn of this one of a kind hand-dyed sock yarn. This pattern named Christine by Kleine Hexorei was reknit with another yarn, and its new owner loves the socks.

As I do more Spring cleaning, I am sure I will come across other projects. Quoting CNN, "I'll keep myself honest."

Knit on merrily!

Two fiber related videos

2010-03-16T20:14:00.003-04:00

A cyber friend from one of my knitting list posted these two videos. They are such fun that I thought I would share them with you. One is from Belgium and the other from Scotland. Enjoy!

Knit on merrily!

An in-between knit

2010-03-15T16:32:00.003-04:00

This small scarf was an in-between project. While waiting for additional beads for my Snow Queen to arrive, my eyes fell on an old issue of Piecework Magazine, the July/August 2009 issue. I found this little gem, designed by Nancy Bush just so I wouldn't get out of practice knitting nupps. It used just 40 grams (less than 1-1/2 oz) of fingering weight yarn. The yarn came of a cone of Jaeger Spun Maine Line 2/8 weight yarn purchased from www.sarahsyarns.com . The color is turquoise.

And look, the snow has melted and we actually had about 3 minutes of sunshine. But not to get too optimistic. The weather forecast calls for more snow, later in the week. Let's all bow to the wheather god/goddess and say "enough." Let Spring begin.

The beads have arrived. Now I can go back to my Snow Queen.

Knit on merrily!

Pairs No. 31 and 32

2010-03-03T14:38:00.003-05:00

Only 20 more pairs to go by June. I wonder if I am going to have the fortitude to make the deadline?

I named these "Kissing Cousins." They were knit on 3.25 mm needles in size 7-1/2 to fit moi. Although they are knit from the same hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn, I did not plan ahead and used most of the yarn in a boy's sweater and, thus, was unable to knit "fraternal twins." These will be my antidote to the winter blahs. Besides, I like the poem by Jenny Jones "When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me" and socks that do not match.

Pair #32 is also knit from hand-dyed, hand spun yarn on 3.25 mm needles with my favorite "Stino" pattern. The socks are named "Shades of Blue" for obvious reason. The size is a woman's small.

Update on the Snow Queen Shawl: I have started the 96 row section. There was a delay due to deciding that I wanted to add beads after all.

Knit on merrily!

Progress Report

2010-02-21T22:20:00.003-05:00

The 48 row section of the Pi Shawl is finished. I decided to add beads after all. Beads used are 8/0 Metallic Dark Raspberry Delicas. Adding the beads does slow the process down quite a bit, but I think they will look elegant. This is my first time of knitting with beads. It does enhance the look, but the beads are more expensive than the yarn. I think the beads are visible in the detail photo.

And this is an overall photo of the shawl. Now on to the 96 row section.

Andrea from Germany wanted to know where she could find the pattern for the shawl. So here it goes. This is a KAL by Bad Cat Designs. The group is presently closed but the pattern should become available some time in late March, according to Andrea the designer. If anyone wants to follow Andrea's designs, you can follow her blog at

http://badcatdesigns.blogspot.com/

For general information about her designs, Andrea has a Yahoo Group:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BadCatDesigns/

You will receive all notices of new projects if you sign up.

(Andrea von Deutschland wollte wissen wo sie die Anleitung dafuer bekommen kann. Im Augenblick ist dies ein KAL die (der?) geschlossen ist, aber die Designerin, auch Andrea genannt, verspricht dass die Anleitung Ende Maerz gekauft werden kann. Ihr Blog ist:

http://badcatdesigns.blogspot.com

Fuer generelle Information ueber ihre Anleitungen und KALs kann man in Andrea's Yahoo Gruppe finden:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BadCatDesigns

Andrea, ich hoffe dass Du mein deutsch verstehen kannst. Habe halt Schwierigkeiten damit da ich ja schon seit 1962 in den USA lebe.

Knit on Merrily!

A Rant and a fun cartoon

2010-02-19T15:39:00.004-05:00

I do not wear my Christian faith on my sleeves. I did many years ago and was thoroughly obnoxious. But that was the 70s and it was more accepted to be high on Jesus than on Marijuana. I had too many kids to do the latter. Maybe I am not a "good" Christian now, but watching the news last night got me riled up. On arriving back on US soil, eight of the ten missionaries that were being held in Haiti on possible child trafficking charges, were thanking God for keeping them safe and freeing them. As I was listening to their diatribe about how good God is, I said out loud, "instead of thanking God, maybe you should ask God's forgiveness for getting yourself into this mess." Why do we expect God to save us if I we are stupid enough to stand in the middle of the highway with cars whizzing by, trusting God to pluck us out of traffic? Did not God give me common sense and expects me to use it? I think so. In fact there is a verse in Scriptures, Deuteronomy 6:16, which says "You shall not put the Lord Your God to the test...". Now I am probably misapplying the verse, but it still is a good guideline. So there. I have spoken my mind.

Now to get my sense of humor back. I found this on a German blog and couldn't help myself. The blogger's headline was "No words needed."

Knit on merrily!

I am alive!

2010-02-08T13:15:00.003-05:00

I have not visited the Hereafter or have been seriously ill. Just busy knitting and not blocking the shawls I have finished. The old back still has problems, but I am not willing to give up lace knitting yet. On top of it all, it's February, the month I'd rather forget.

For those who know my saga, February 5 is the anniversary of my car accident and Valentine's Day is the august occasion when I was held hostage by a crazed (professional term: psychotic as in mentally ill) sex offender. On top of it all my mother died in early March. So, the nights have been eventful, to say the least.

I have narrowly (at least in my dreams) missed being run over by a train engine. I hurled myself out of it's way in my dream, but physically I woke up hurling myself right out of bed. It's an interesting sensation waking up while "flying" through the air. A good excuse to find all the sweets in the house and gorging myself. The next night, I witnessed a semi truck with a trailer plowing through a crowd of youngsters on a bridge. Another night of eating goodies.

Through all of this my mother, in a younger version is part of the general background. I presume this makes me younger too. Particularly since she seems to have the same hairdo as she had in the mid 1940s, suggesting that WWII is rearing its ugly head as well. Which would make sense in that the war ended in May and the final push of the allies would have been going strong by then. Oh, and lest I forget, there are two sisters roaming through my active nightlife. Both of them having been diagnosed with cancer within days of each other. Is your head spinning yet? Mine is, for sure. I have no idea who these two women are; they are just cluttering up the scenery.

So I am calling all Jungians to make sense of such nonsensical goings on.

In the meantime I have treated myself to two cones of lace weight yarn from Sarah's Yarn out of NYC. Sarah had a 35% off sale. A girl can't resist such things, particularly with as active a nightlife as I have had lately. It's beautiful and oh so thin.

On the knitting front, I have a youth sweater on the needles for afghansforAfghans and am participating in Bad Cats KAL of her Snow Queen shawl. Albeit, I have renamed it to "Snow Queen who had a bit too much of the grape" since I am using Knit Picks Shadow lace yarn in grape color. It's a Pi Shawl with an Estonian nupp pattern. This is the first design of hers I am knitting, and I must say I am impressed. The attention to details is phenomenal.

The only thing left to say is "I have not lost my sense of humor" and "knit on merrily."

Stash Enhancement

2010-01-31T14:00:00.003-05:00

After sorting through my sock yarn stash, it is obvious that I don't need any more stash. Nevertheless, sales called my name and I enlarged it by just a "few" balls of yarn. Of course, "few" is one of those stretchable words that has different meanings to different folks. I've also added some lace yarn when Knit Picks had its sale since I was low on lace yarn. Sometimes they discontinue the nicest colors. Go figure.

Since I am only too aware of my meager postings lately, I decided that photos of my new purchases might give me the little push needed (maybe it should be "shove") to once again post more frequently .

Regia Yarn purchased from Little Knits in the State of Washington.

Knit Picks new Stroll (old name Essential) sock yarn.

Knit on Merrily.

2009-12-21T17:17:00.002-05:00

Photo from: http://architecture.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/15326

A merry Christmas

and

a peaceful New Year to all my readers.

Ein frohes Weihnachtsfest

und

einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr.

Socks No. 29 and 30

2009-12-20T09:41:00.003-05:00

Well, the last two pair of Christmas assignment socks are done and with their owner. They are not much to look at, just plain old socks, but the Noro sock yarn brought up all kinds of feelings. The reminder of my grandmother's scratchy hand knit stockings was only the beginning. Deep down it brought up memories of utter desperation. Of being habitually cold. Of being so hungry that my tummy hurt. Of my mother crying because she couldn't provide enough food for me. Of being scared that she was going to die and leave me alone because then we mistook panic attacks for heart problems. So much misery for so many, and it is still going on throughout the world.

Despite all, knit on merrily.

I hate those meeces to pieces

2009-12-18T21:07:00.003-05:00

This is for those of us who are old enough to remember Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks the cat. The cartoon was part of the Huckleberry Hound series. (Thanks Wikipedia.) Mr. Jinks was headstrong but too dense to pose any real harm to Pixie and Dixie, two enterprising mice. Well, I am just as ineffectual with our house guests, aka mice, and I'm often heard to mutter Mr. Jinx's nonsensical saying, "I hate those meeces to pieces." Of course, our two mouse hunters in residence are no better than I am in catching the little rascals. And here is the result of their latest handiwork. Did they attack items knitted from Acrylic yarn? Of course not; the miscreants feathered their beds with the most expensive items knitted with hand-spun, hand-dyed yarns.

This also reminds me of another tale from about thirty years ago when I worked in a camp in Northern New Jersey. While camp management did not believe in chemical warfare against four legged critters, we did put up poison in small bags in the infirmary to control the mice population. But again humanity was totally ineffectual. The resident mice decided to take the little bags and literally shove them off the beams and bombard sick children with them. So we protected the kids with mosquito nets and left the mice alone.

Yes, "I hate these meeces to pieces" but they are part of living in the woods. And I found a use for those socks where the mice left the leg portion ungnawed. Felt lightly, cut off foot and use as wrist warmers.

Knit on merrily!

Finally lace again

2009-12-09T18:28:00.007-05:00

A foot of snow, heavy snow, not the fluffy lake effect snow, is what we've ended up with today. It's still snowing outside, some of the trees are bent over from the heavy snow, but the snow plow guy finally showed up. Around here, finding a reliable snow removal service is as rare as finding sunshine between October and April. The joy of backwoods living. But enough griping and onto knitting.

I have finally picked up lace again. (Okay, so I still have to finish one pair of consignment men's socks with the dreaded Noro yarn.) Each year there is a Swedish knit-along for a scarf/shawl with a new pattern given from December 1 through December 24. This is the first year I have actually knitted the scarf instead of just storing the pattern. The pattern is both in Swedish and English. I won't attempt to copy the knit shops name, but if you are interested click on the link here. The original scarf is knit with Musk ox. I am using Poems Sock Yarn and 3.75 mm needles. I picked up the yarn at a going out of business sale. The original price was US $18.75 per 100 grams. I got it for either 50% or 60% off. I would not pay the full price for the yarn. The yarn is similar to Noro sock yarn, but is a little bit softer and the thin spots aren't quite as thin as in Noro. It does have a "few" thick spots, but hasn't detracted from the scarf. So far, I have not detected any pattern in the striping. It seems to change randomly from beginning to the end of the ball. I would not knit socks with this yarn, ever. First of all, one could never get two matching socks and second, like the Noro, I don't think the yarn would wear well if knit up into socks. So here are a sampling of the photos I was able to take. Again, the weather is not cooperating for good photos. But since this is Michigan after all, what I have will have to do.

Clues 1 - 9

Clue 4 Detail

Clue 9 detail

Clue 5 Detail

Knit on merrily!

And more socks...

2009-11-30T16:54:00.006-05:00

It was a dismal day for taking photos; the sky was gray and there was not enough light in the house for good pics, but, nevertheless, here they are:

Let me introduce socks no. 26, 27, and 28 for the 52 pairs of sock challenge.

Knit with Regia Cotton. Leg is a simple k1, p1 for 6 rows, then 1 purl row, followed by 6 rows of p1, k1.

Knit with Lana Grossa Meilenweit, Fantasy yarn. In my opinion higher quality yarns with similar patterns are available.

Regia Kaffee Fasset. Love the colors; love the yarn.

Knit on merrily!

Socks #23, 24 and 25 in the 52 socks in 52 weeks series

2009-11-20T17:11:00.005-05:00

Three more pairs of the consignment socks are finished. These are all men's sizes, 10-1/2, 11 (I think) and 12W. That's a lot of stitches in comparison to the average woman's sock.

Regia Line Steps Yarn, Beaded Rib Stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks

Plymouth Sockotta, Garter Rib Stitch from Sensational Knitted Socks

Colinette Cadenza yarn; pattern is a no longer published one by Monika Eckert. This has become my favorite men's sock pattern.

Knit on merrily!

The secret has been revealed!

2009-11-20T16:35:00.003-05:00

After all these many years, I think I finally figured out where my Oma got the wool for the scratchy stockings she knit for me between 1946 and 1948. From Japan! I'm only kidding. I am sure she was recycling at that time. But Noro's sock yarn could be a good twin for the yearn. I had never knit with Noro before since I always felt that it was too expensive for the quality. I had heard horror stories about knots, color sequences being off after the knot occurred, the evenness of the yarn, etc. Yet people bought it for the color. The colors are lovely, but... Knitter's Review has an excellent review of the yarn. She says it much better than I can, but I'll continue my crumbling.

The yarn's twist is not set properly; it is highly energized. As I knit with the yarn it curled back on itself as if I was making a cord the old fashioned way. (Memories of childhood: Two people with 2 pencils and several wraps of yarn around the pencils, twirling in the opposite way and then bringing the two ends together.) The knitted fabric skews due to the energized twist, and it is a single ply. But, most of all, the yarn has thin-thin spots, thin spots, and thick spots. Not at all favorable for sock knitting.

I decided to make a resolable sock by using Regia sock yarn for the sole, heels and toes, although the top of the socks will most likely wear out first. I have never been able to make the join between the bottom and the top of the sock to my satisfaction, but then I am a wee bit picky.

So here is my very first attempt at knitting with Noro sock yarn. The second sock will follow soon.

A sunny day in October

2009-10-28T17:22:00.002-04:00

It was a beautiful sunny October day today. Unusual for this time of year since we live close to the Lake and overcast is the norm starting some time in October until March or April. So I took a walk around the property with camera in hand. Here is what I found.

The oak leaves turned late this year, but are more colorful than in previous years. This view is toward the street showing the end of the drive way.

This oak sapling looks like it will definitely grow into a mighty oak some day. This view is from the back of the house.

And, of course, where there is sun, there are the Japanese beetles.

And if you look closely you can see the horns on this young buck which came to visit the other day.

Of course mushrooms are part of the scenery around here. This is the common puff ball. Have you ever eaten one? As long as they are very young, they are quite good eating. Their taste is somewhat nutty and buttery.

Off hand this looks like an American Ceasar's mushroom since they are usually found where oak trees grow. The American Ceasar's mushroom is edible, but I didn't try them since I was unable to positively identify them.

Square No. 4

2009-10-28T17:10:00.002-04:00

Another square has been finished. The color combination is a bit on the ugly side, but, hopefully, they will blend into the whole afghan.

Knit on Merrily!

Kollage Double Pointed Needles

2009-10-26T17:28:00.004-04:00

The jury is still outstanding on the Kollage square double pointed needles I bought at a nearby going-out-of business yarn store. They were 60% off the regular price. The needles are 2.25 mm thick and 7" long. I like how they fit into my hands, but would prefer them to be 8" long. The extra length may prevent them from stabbing my hands as I knit with them. The one major drawback are the sharp points. They are more wicked than evil is! I found that since I knit "Continental", I use my left thumb to give the needle a bit extra oomph when moving a purl stitch from the left to the right needle. After knitting this size 10-1/2 foot sock with plenty of purl stitches in the pattern, my left thumb feels like having pricked myself repeatedly with a lancet when testing my blood sugar. Another feature on the plus side is that they are quite sturdy and so far have not bent like bamboo needles do. The needles do not split the yarn despite the pointed needles and the stitches remain on the needles nicely, yet slide along for knitting. But the points need major work.

The next yarn to be tested with the needles is Bamboo and Tofutsie.

Knit on Merrily!

Square No. 3

2009-10-22T17:21:00.002-04:00

Yippee! Square no. 3 of the Christmas afghan is done. It's going to be a long winding road for this project. Only 21 to go.

Knit on Merrily!

Socks No. 21 and 22 completed!

2009-10-22T17:02:00.003-04:00

Two more pairs of socks of the consignment are done. The men's socks are US size 12. I have never seen such a large foot. Since the customer wanted it knit in Colinette Cadenza yarn, a 100% Merino, DK weight, I used an afterthought heel (peasant heel). The yarn is quite soft and most likely will not wear well.
The second pair was knit with ON Line Supersock yarn, Holiday Color. While it knit much better than the previous ON Line sock yarn, it still had knots in it and the yarn's color striping was not even throughout the ball of yarn. It took quite a bit of finagling to come even close on both socks.
The pattern is Braided Gem Socks from Knitting with Handpainted Yarn, an extremely easy pattern with big results.

Knit on Merrily!

The ubiquitous Fall photo

2009-10-22T16:57:00.002-04:00

Fall colors are late this year. This photo was taken last Sunday in Seaton Creek Campground of the Manistee National Forest.

An afghan for Christmas

2009-10-16T19:48:00.007-04:00

My middle child ordered an "afghan or coverlet" for Christmas. I don't know whether or not I'll be able to finish it in time, but will certainly try. I dislike knitting afghans, or crocheting them for that matter. I have a number of squares laying around the house, all different sizes, some from the Great American Afghan booklet, and I doubt whether or not they'll ever end up in a finished afghan.

On some of the German sock lists and blogs I follow, folks have been knitting afghans out of left over sock yarn. Some one posted the instructions on her blog and, of course, I promptly forgot to copy the blog address. That's the reason for not being able to credit her. It is simply the granny dishcloth knit with two strands of sock yarn. Start with 3 stitches, increase 1 stitch by making a yarn over at the beginning of each row until 90 stitches are on the needle and then decrease back to 3 stitches and finish off by slipping one stitch, knitting 2 together and passing slipped stitch over. Voila! one square done.

I have never had good luck with the granny dishcloths; the edges never looked good enough as far as I was concerned. So this time around, I experimented a bit and finally came up with the right combination. The instructions state to knit the yarn over through the back loop on the way back. This is what the patch looks like when doing this:

Check the difference between the bottom edge and the side edge. The bottom edge shows the yarn over knit simply through the back loop on the return row, while the side edge shows how the edge looks on the yarn-over side.

Another view of the problem. It's OK for a dish cloth, but not for an afghan for daughter and her dear husband.

The next step was to twist the yarn-over before knitting into it. This took care of the problem, but involved an extra step to manipulate the stitch. So here is what I came up with. Instead of making the yarn-over from front to back, I make it from back to front. Then on the return row, I put the tip of the needle into the front leg of the yarn-over, from left to right, twisting the yarn over. This allows me to knit the stitch in one operation, rather than lifting the yarn-over from the needle and manually twisting it before knitting. Leave it up to a lazy person to spend time on such a minor thing. But, I think, it will save me time knitting 24 patches. (These instructions are for Continental knitting. English knitters are on their own.)

And here is the result:

Now doesn't that look much better? Both sides now are the same.

And here is a pic of the second patch finished so far.

The third patch has been started, but I need to finish up a pair of socks first.

Knit on, merrily!