It was hot. Damn hot.

It WAS hot. Very damn hot, where I learned to knit. That was in Israel in fact. I was there two years ago with a youth group (Habonim Dror), and we had met up with out sister group (Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed) in one of their 'machanot' (camps) for a few days. One day, one of the Israeli 'madrichim' (counsellors) was running a 'chug' (interest group) on knitting. So I said what the heck, it beats playing soccer in this heat (this heat being...38-39?). So there were a few girls (none from my group, all Israeli, and that is something intimidating) and the single, MALE, 'madrich' (singular, male form of counsellor), and I. We didn't have knitting needles, so we sharpened some paintbrushes. And our yarn was some big mass of red synthetic stuff (which I have kicking around still). Now, this was at the very start of our few days together, so we didn't know each other very well. And the madrich had not expected any of the Canadian kids to show up to his chug. He spoke very little English and 'ani medaber me'at me'at ivrit' (I speak very little Hebrew [I think that's what I typed]). And of course all of the girls were too cool to help me (at first, they warmed up to me once I proved I wasn't some "stupid American" - their words, not mine).

A long story short: I was taught to knit in the sweltering heat in a foreign land, with virtually no verbal communication besides 'ken' (yes) and 'lo' (no). I learnt how to cast on and knit. Just knit, nothing to grand as purling.

From these humble beginnings, I have blossomed to a somewhat capable knitter, and most things since then have been self/internet taught. Except for socks.



P.S. Hopefully progress photos tomorrow. See what happens after work today. And my family is leaving (sans me) for a few days starting tomorrow. Assuming I have enough yarn, I just might finish Beowulf.

Throw out to AP/Lit.

So some Beowulf progress.














I knit one pattern repeat and the first "carry-over" section this morning. I also did some math. One pattern repeat is about 3" in length (16 rows). I have 7 repeats planned altogether, thus 21". I have 4 "carry-over" sections, two of which are 8 rows, coming in at 1.5"(so yes, I have a grand 4.5" done). Add those two defined sections on to the pattern repeats, and I have 24" accounted for. I am 6', and I like to aim for the ratio between height and length of scarf to be 1:1. That means Those 2 remaining sections need to be a total of 48", or, 24" each. I may add some cabling into them as well, as 2' of ribbing doesn't appeal to me terribly, in conjunction with what I have going so far.














I intend to finish off the second pattern repeat this evening, and maybe start the first major "carry-over" section. But now I plan to enjoy the beautiful weather. Oh, and I have the same number of rows done in these photos as here. I think.

P.S. I apologise for the horrific photos, I'm going to try and sort that out this evening. But as I said, sunshine calls.

[EDIT] Photos fixed. And colours are the most true in my last post.

Rip Van Dyckle

Yum. Yummmm. Yummmmmmm.














It really is nice. And at $13.50 a ball, the most I have spent on Yarn.
And I have 3 balls of it, just waiting to be turned into a hefty cabled scarf, as witnessed earlier. I dub this little mental jaunt "Beowulf".

























Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go fondle the yarn, err, sorry, Cast On, before I go to work (it is these random days that I get called in that have paid for this lovely red splurge). Also, for the sake of interest, should I go with a highly structured, symmectrical patterning, or apply a bit of chaos theory to the pattern repeats?

Knitting and yet, not.

So, me being me, I was bored and thought "hey, cables and latticing are cool, I'll make a braided scarf!" Here you can see how far I got. Two rows later I ripped it out.


This is not bad! I strolled down to the yarn shoppe this mornign after a nice coffee, and bought some Van Dyck yarn to replace it. Photos and progress in a few days!




Umm, yes. More slow progress is being made on deciding on the sweater, and I bought a light pullover for evenings here... Yea. More knitting tomorrow!

He makes me dream of David Hasselhoff

Well, in regards to being a knit blogger, I lose. The closest thing was casting on for an attempt at fair isle/arglye and promptly got ticked off with sweaty palms + acrylic + metal needles + sleep madness, so I gave up. I have now added another potential sweater, 'Casual Cables' from the Patons 'Shetland Ragg' booklet. That now brings my choices to three: design my own, Basketcase, or Casual Cables. It makes me realize that yarn is expensive. I have never bought more than three balls of any given type of yarn for a project before, and now I'm faced with anywhere from $80 to $130 for a sweater. That is too big of a portion of my paycheque...

My header says I do crafty things beside knitting. This is as good a time as any to show one off.

























He is my second sewn plushie, the first was an extrememly basic webcomic character for a friends birthday (krakkagar from Scary Go Round). But this little dude was solely of my own contriving. He came to me in a vision... "Fat man in a bellbottomed suit with a big red 'fro". And I knew he must be made. He is far from perfect, and nameless, and may yet be given to my good friend Ms. W. as a birthday gift (she is out of town, so I may mail him away).
I kind of like him, and oy, that chest hair? Tres Smexy!

And a yo ho ho to you too!

So I haven't knit in a spell now, still debating about that sweater thing ("Basketcase" from Tara Jon Manning's 'Men In Knits' is quite likely to get done though. Yarn Shoppe is closed until Tuesdya though. Nuts). But I found something that is really tempting me to do another pair of socks. Argyle Socks. Deliciously subversive Argyle Socks.
Coupled with an old Monarch Knits sock magazine (pre-1945, I forget the precise date right now) which has a load of applicable sock designs, including Argyle Socks (and they are all men's sizes!!!), I may have a back-burner sock pattern in the works. If only I could have figured this out yesterday, BEFORE the Shoppe closed for two days...

Long overdue

So really, these socks have been done for a week, I've also had the photos sitting around that long, but have not had a reliable internet connection until now.
So here they are!
First, there was one...

Then came another...

And, just to prove that there ARE two, and it's not the same sock on different feet...

Tah-dah!
Made using Katherine Foster's 'Easy Toe-Up Socks' method. (available at www.kateknits.com) and "Buttons DK weight" yarn. They were a blast! I learned the method alongside a few older ladies at a class taught by Katherine Foster, and it made a world of difference. They are perfect "footlets", though one could make them as long as one liked (the glory of toe-up). I finished mine with a 'Farrow Rib' pattern, but the booklet includes directions for a few alternate methods.

One the needles now... Nothing. Got a few ideas bouncing around, am toying with the idea of starting a sweater though. If anyone knows of any nice, somewhat straightforward patterns to which I can use an Aran weight cotton (someone is willing to unload a bit of their stash on me, enough to make me get a sweater), I would be much obliged.

Be a mensch

Due to matters beyond my control I've not had access to update this all week, boo. But the socks are done and I've had some encouragement and help which might result in me tackling the creation of a sweater of some sort. There is also a monster actually on the needles. I just spent 12 hours travelling back and forth from the mainland for my great uncle Jacks' funeral, so I'm too worn for photos. And I might not be able to use the internet for a few more days, but I will try and get some up soon.

One down, one to go

That's right, last night heralded the completion of a number of socks in the toe-up sock class. And mine was the first one off! There is one more class, for those who haven't finished, troubleshooting and whatever folks want. I'm hoping I can finish my second one for next week (yes it's possible).


I'm now in need of another project! The ladies expressed interest in seeing some of my "monsters" so I might try and cook up some new ones for next week. But what I really want to do is start a sweater, in the hopes of having it done for the fall. So far Saranac is appealing to me, but I'm more than open to suggestions!


Aww, it looks so lonely! Well, maybe I'll get started on the foot tonight after work (first training shift), as I got the toes worked up last night (and without trouble this time, hurrah!). I'm really pleased with the length, they make perfect "footlets", and I'm still in love with the farrow rib!

Oh. My. God. Look at his foot, it is SO big.

For some reason this photo makes me feel like I have a really big foot... that sock looks HUGE to me. But the sock is progressing, I should have the required amount done by the class on Tuesday. I'm still not sure if the foot is too short, because despite the glory of switching to 4 needles to check the size... My heel doesn't fit through those four needles. This does not bode well.
I decided to go for the 'farrow rib', a two row pattern which doesn't require me to increase stitches for the leg. You just alternate rows of K2P1 and K1P2, gives a neat 'seeded' ribbing. And looking at this photo, I seem to have botched my last row, I guess I repeated the K2P1 row, tsk tsk.