Hedgehog Knitting

Sock Show Thursday: One Done and Onwards...

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:28:00 +0000

I haven't been to bed yet, so it's still Thursday. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Pair Number 1 for 2012 is done!!! I got them done before February even. Tada!

Okay so really they aren't blue, they're gray. In this close up shot you can even see it:

Overall I think they turned out pretty well. I really like the yarn. These are going in the Gift Bin. They already have a recipient so no, you can't ask for them for yourself. Sorry.

Last week we left our intrepid purple sock halfway down the leg. Now, I've turned the heel, decreased through the gusset and I'm zooming down the foot. I adore size 2 needles with sportweight wool. One minute you have yarn and seemingly the next minute you have a sock. These are for me.

But as I mentioned earlier this week, I had a needle catastrophe. The Philosopher isn't entirely convinced. He thinks we can fix it without loosing the needle sizing. I've added that to the enormous list of things that need to be done "when we have time." All that free time just lying around waiting for me, a gouged and chewed on needle (kittens! sigh) and very very fine sand paper.

So while I was waiting, I thought I'd better load my brand new Piddleloop bag. It's dark brown with blue polka dots and it's so utterly cute that it's kind of painful. I love getting new bags from Jen and Wendy.

Of course, if you look at all of my Piddleloop bags (except the custom hedgehog one that's holding a sweater that I'm pretending doesn't exist), you might notice a trend.

Anyone? How I ended up with three polka dot bags I don't really understand but there you have it.

I didn't want to take DPNs to the meeting I had Thursday morning. There were enough people in that meeting who aren't used to watching me knit a lot and metal needles are noisier. So I opted for the 9" circulars in the 1.5 (2.25mm) size.

Here's what I got done in a 90 minute meeting.

So now I have two socks rolling along. These will hopefully go quickly. We shall see!

Needle Down....

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:30:00 +0000

I woke up the other morning to find that Pyewacket had grabbed my current sock off the table and started carrying it around the livingroom/kitchen area. Fortunately, the spiderweb wasn't too complex and I was able to untangle it. Monday night, when I sat down to work more on it, I found we'd had a casualty.

Trying to get a picture of this was pretty near impossible. I apparently need a better camera or to finally got that class with Mr. Habit. Anyway, as you can see there's a chunk taken out of the needle. I've tried fixing things like this before. I have sand paper for the occasionally little problem. This, however, is a serious gouge. In order to sand it down, it's going to change the size of the needle.

I'm not sure if I'm going to try a repair yet. A quick rummage through the needle stash tells me that I do not have another 9" Size 2 circular. So the Purple Sock (update on Thursday) would have to be completed on DPNs. *back of hand to forehead* The horror. You mean, those same DPNs I'm using right now to work out the gusset?

That rummage did turn up my size 1.5 and 0 9" circulars, so I may just have to suck it up and work down the KPPPM stash and knit some of the sport weight on 1.5 needles. I think this is just a #hedgehogworldproblem and am trying to resist storming over to The Loopy Ewe and replacing the needle immediately. I can save it for a day I need a wool pick me up and drop into Loopy downtown to inhale the wool fumes.

Hmmm...I also need another set of size 0 DPNs (two of my five are missing now) and my 1.5 DPNs, well, one of them has been bent to heck twice and punctured me in the process. *considers a needle run*

One Obligation Down

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:30:00 +0000

I finally finished the afghan strip a person I don't speak to....*sigh*

It's done. I'm not a big fan of it. The yarn is okay but not my favorite. The pattern is fine but I didn't really like it. There wasn't a chart with the pattern, which drove Sibling-the-Elder crazy. I had trouble with the border regularly and spent too much time having to fix two-three rows.

But mostly it was the obligation of knitting for someone I haven't spoken to in over 15 years, who may or may not like it, and who won't realize just how many hours it took (minimum of 1.5 hours per repeat, 14 repeats). If it's anything like the other afghan I got wrangled into for extended family, I won't even get a thank you note.

Knitting should not be like this.

But at least it's over, I can add the yardage to my KnitMeter, and I can finally get back to some of the obligation knitting that I am doing for people I like/care about/speak to.

Blanket Strip
Pattern: Limerick
Yarn: Naturally Aran Ten Ply
Needles: Size 8 (5.0 mm) --this was down 2 sizes from what it called for in the pattern. I'm not that loose a knitter but dang....

Sock Show Thursday: Polysockous

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:45:00 +0000

I had such great intentions for Dallas. I was going to knit two mittens and five socks and have TONS of things to show to you. And then I arrived in Dallas recuperating from a wonderfully horrendous virus only to be taken down by allergies. It's much harder to get a lot of knitting done when one cannot breathe regularly and is having to stop and take three minute sneezing breaks. I did get the first mitten cast off--so it just needs a thumb and a fliptop.

Mostly I spent the conference slogging away on Gray Sock #2. I'm trying to remember when I turned the heel but it escapes me. Actually, as I sit here writing this, I'm kind of curious whether or not I actually remembered to turn the heel properly. *Rummages* Phew, okay, it's fine. Nice to know I can turn a sock heel on auto pilot some days.

My phone has apparently decided that gray = blue today. It's really gray, I promise. Here's a slightly better shot.

And yes, I'm wearing hosiery. I wear it almost every day. I'm one of the strange people who doesn't mind wearing it.

Anyway, by Monday midday, as I as packing up my suitcase, I was so bored with all of my current knitting projects that I pulled out the purple Ewetopia Fiber yarn and put it in my carry on. I cast on 48 stitches once I got into my seat on the plane and knit the majority of the flight. The woman sitting next to me spent much of the flight trying not to look at my knitting. Once we'd entered final descent, she did ask what I was making. I heard some wistfulness there I think, and she was of an age that I imagine she learned how to knit as a child. The purple sock went into rotation yesterday at work--drawing a lot of comments. My boss leaned over and grabbed the skein while we were in a meeting and someone else wondered if I'd be knitting on the reference desk (No).

I show it here next to a gray sock so you can see how far I am. I'm an inch or so from turning the heel on the first sock. I have class with the Dentistry students on Friday. I bet I can sneak a little knitting in there.

I love this yarn. It's squishy and pretty and soft. Working on size 2 needles is always near instant gratification. Of course, it does mean I'm going through my sport weight yarn at a rather alarming rate but I suppose once it's gone I can work through all of the fingering weight. Someday I'll place another giant order to BMFA, but not before I get some of this wool cleaned out.

Also, less than 24 hours after arriving home I could breathe and was no long constantly sneezing. Hooray for regional allergies?

Fell Down in Dallas

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:00:00 +0000

Depending upon which blogs you read, vacation yarn and sock yarn "don't count as stash." Somehow I doubt that the yarn I brought home from conference doubly doesn't count as stash--unless that would somehow mean I got to count one fewer skeins of yarn? Does that work? I didn't think so.

After getting through a swath of meetings at the conference I attended, a friend and I headed off towards the one wool shop that was within walking distance of our hotel. It was only about a 15 minute walk, but Dallas is not particularly walking friendly. Everywhere we went there were ripped up sidewalks and walking under highway overpasses, even during the day, when you just don't see other people about is rather creepy. Still, we turned into what is probably a very nice neighborhood and located the little house that hosts The Shabby Sheep.

The store comprises the first floor of the house. I couldn't find any particularly sorting method--mostly by weight, but not entirely. Their primary company is Cascade, though I don't recall seeing a wall of 220 like I'm used to--that could be because we were in Texas. There were many local knitters there, needing help, looking for needles, etc and it was a number of minutes before anyone said anything to my friend and I in way of greeting. We seemed to have just slipped in under the radar, when we were acknowledged they were very friendly.

When shopping out of my local area, I like to find indie dyers or smaller companies that I can't find regularly at Loopy or The Loopy Ewe. And in that I was disappointed. I could only find one dyer that I didn't immediately recognize as a pretty large/familiar brand. I went through the five or six skeins of said dyer and picked out the one that didn't look like everything already in my stash.

Sibling the Elder should be pleased: it's Red

It's Pagewood Farm Yukon in "Really Red" It's a muted/faded red, a little closer to brick than fire engine. It's a hefty skein, 450 yards, and 70% merino, 20% Bamboo, 10% nylon. It's got a nice hand on it. It will probably be socks, though perhaps I'll pair it with something or use it as trim. It looks like it'd make nice sweater trip. That, of course assuming I ever get back to my sweater knitting.

And yes, I did take points off my ChoreWars for it and I had plenty for it.

Sock Show Thursday: Plodding

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:43:00 +0000

The nice part about blogging is that I can't get you sick through a computer screen (though the Beerophile SysAdmin is claiming otherwise). I'm definitely under the weather, I was home ill yesterday and managed to get almost no knitting done. Sleeping, yes, but I wasn't up to knitting.

But it's Thursday and there have been a couple of opportunities wherein knitting was okay and I wasn't working on the blanket strip of doom. (Why am I knitting a blanket strip for a cousin I don't speak to? *sigh*)

I'm headed to Dallas tomorrow morning. Don't worry, Pyewacket and Gypsy will be supervised the Trombone Player, who is exceptionally gracious in his willingness to play endless rounds of chase the rope toy. I'll be at a conference that is almost entirely meetings that I'm not required to take notes for. Hooray!

That means travel knitting! It's the better part of a three hour flight, time at the airport, many friends who knit available for dinner at the conference and me not feeling up to much more than sport weight wool.

Airplane Knitting:
Klock's Mittens

Don't have a picture for you at the moment. They're bright purple and I need to get them done. I'm knitting a modified version of the Scottish Fleet Mittens from Sock Yarn: One Skein Wonders. No patterning, just ribbing and they'll be flip tops. Mostly I needed stitch count and thumb instructions. It works for me.

Conference Knitting:
Gray Socks above and in a fit of KNIT ALL THE THINGS (along with read, write, edit, listen to, etc...) I packed two skeins of Ewetopia Fiber Shop Merino Sportweight.

I have Royal Robes. which will be socks for me I think...we'll see.

and Fir Bough, which has been designated as the next pair of socks for the Philosopher.

That's all I'm taking. If I run out of knitting, I'll just have to go find a couple of wool shops in Dallas. Won't that be a hardship. (Also, if I manage to churn out 2.5 pair of socks and a 1.5 mittens in four days, look for flames to be coming off my needles--it's not impossible, but not really probable.)

Now then, while I am almost packed I still have about 30 things on my to do list before I leave for the airport at 8 a.m. tomorrow.

If you're anywhere near where I am (it's 6F right now, headed down to -2F), please stay warm.

Me and My Strange Candles

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:30:00 +0000

No, this isn't knitting related. Just amusing.

As you can probably guess by the name of the blog, I collect hedgehogs. I have a number of figurines around Chez Hedgehog and the Incredibly-Patient-Mother is always on the lookout for unusual hedgehoggy things that might appeal to me.

This year, she founds some candles. The package had an owl, a squirrel and a hedgehog. I've been on a mission to actually use up candles (too many that I have in the house have gone through at least two moves, possibly three, which is at least one too many). So I set them up in the bathroom and lit the owl and the squirrel.

Well, at least you can tell it still looks like an owl. This is about an hour into the burn and the squirrel had started looking a little odd.

If you look from the top, it's a little more apparent what the issue is....

The squirrels eyes had started melting into the center. It was really strange. Also incredibly funny. I went into the bathroom every 15 minutes or so to giggle over the squirrel.

Those two woodland creatures have now burnt out. I'm burning through a few other scented candles before the hedgehog goes under the match.

With Squee

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:30:00 +0000

Once I really plunged into the online knitting world a few years ago (I'd say knitting itself but there's a gray afghan in Iowa that will attest I've never really stopped knitting), I quickly became a fan of the Yarn Harlot. Anyone that willing to share their successes and failures with equal candor was high on my list of people I wanted to know.

I own all of her books and I've read the entire Yarn Harlot blog archives. I've seen her speak in person at least three times and yes, I've even watched all of the clips of her I could find on YouTube.

Stephanie is an engaging and incredibly funny speaker. She points out, very pragmatically, how if she were talking about any subject other than knitting, we'd all be far more likely strongly disagree with her. And I have to give her credit for being willing to go on two week book tours and talk and read to the tops of a bunch of heads as so many of us are face down in our needles.

Last fall, during her most recent book tour, I got to see her outside of Chicago. I am in the top photo of that post, a tiny little dot near the very back towards the center right. The Philosopher had come along to watch my hero worship and be amused. I wanted him to show Stephanie his first ever project (a bunny nugget by Rebecca Danger); he declined.

Stephanie was headed on to other places but I wanted to make sure she was well armed. I brought her a beverage from a local brewery (Metropolitan, their stuff is really delicious), a flat bottle opener (in case she ran into more non-screw top beer, which was what I'd brought her), and some Starbucks instant coffee in a vain attempt to ward off her being without coffee for at least a couple of stops.

She was appreciative of the beer and was happy to stand with me for the picture. And I think we more than overwhelmed the poor little bookstore staff--who were long since out of chairs and just couldn't figure out what to do with MORE knitters. (They were also, from the sounds of it, low on copies of her new book to sell us and pretty low on patience.)

Thanks for coming Stephanie. When do we get another audiobook?

Sock Show Thursday: 1+

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:00:00 +0000

It's a sign of how many meetings I've been in at work that I managed to do the vast majority of this knitting only at work (I'm still slogging through the afghan strip at home) that I can present to you....the first finished sock of 2012:

Here it's posing on top of some papers and a laptop. Oh, and it's inside out.

Close up of the leg, color is a little better here. You can definitely see where I changed needles with this yarn, I'm hopeful that it will pull itself together after a bath.

And yesterday I did manage to at least cast on Sock 2. I'm all of five rows into the leg and this probably won't get picked up again before next week. I'll take it home over the weekend though, there is a baby shower that needs attending where I might have some knitting time.

Here are the specifications on these socks:

Yarn: Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock
Needle Size: 1.5 (2.5mm)
Stitch Count: 64
Pair Count for 2012: 1
Ravelry Project Link: Gray Lady

Testing....

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:54:00 +0000

Pay no attention to the felines behind the curtains....

Back to the Chore Wars

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:09:00 +0000

One of the myriad things the now defunct Lime and Violet podcast got me into was Chore Wars. At the time, there was a rabid flood of sign ups when we all decided we too needed to participate in KnitWars, using the website as a way to track how much time we spent knitting, reward ourselves by spending the earned gold pieces earned on shiny new wool, and perhaps keeping ourselves a little more accountable.

As I've been trying to think about more mindful crafting and using up some of the sock yarn around Chez Hedgehog rather than going on a shopping spree, I thought getting back to it might be a good way to help me toe the line on spending. So I reset my gold to zero for the new year (I hadn't used it in quite a long time and had lingering gold) and I'm working my way back up again.

The last time I did this, I equated each earned gold piece to being $1. I've heard of people who did similar, those who were more hard core about reducing their stash equating 1 gold piece = 1 cent. I'm not quite that focused on destashing and besides, I recognize that some days a new skein of sock wool is the only thing to take away the crankies. Also, I recognize that as a crafter I like having tools of my trade around me, perhaps just not as many as I currently have.

This time, I thought I'd do a 2gp:$1 ratio. Considering how much I knit and can accumulate points/gold pieces, that could easily give me a knitting allowance for the month and a buffer in case there is a festival that I can't miss out on. Currently I have 58 gold pieces or approximately 1 skein of sock yarn.

I've tried other stash reduction methods and certainly it makes sense to go through and clean out stash occasionally that you no longer love, aren't ever going to use, etc. I dislike having to ship things though, especially as it's a royal challenge to get to the post office. So for now I'm working on knitting things up, using yarn as I had originally intended or for new patterns I've discovered, and filling up the gift box.

Sock Show Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:37:00 +0000

After assaulting you all over the past year with picture after picture of me and my double pointed needles, dutifully clicking away, I thought this year it might be nice to limit myself to a weekly update on socks. That way, hopefully, I'll be able to show you some progress.

In a fit of too much coffee, I had the brilliant thought that I could finish a sock per week and then I'd have 26 pair this year and wouldn't that be great? And then I realized that I haven't touched the sock I'm presently working on in over a week due to other knitting deadlines and as soon as the current knitting deadline is done I have two other pressing ones.

Anyway, here's Sock 1 for 2012

Hmm, no it's not actually blue, it's gray. Here's a close up shot that shows it a little better.

Specs:
Yarn: Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock
Needle Size: 1.5 (2.5mm)
Stitch Count: 64
Pair Count for 2012: 1
Ravelry Project Link: Gray Lady

It's my first time working with TIG, and this was purchased on my first trip to Windy Knitty. I really do need to get back to that shop again, I liked what she had. The yarn is very nice. It has a tight twist that shows everything and actually, as you can really see in the second picture, I'm getting ladders between needles. They aren't bad and I'm sure a washing will smooth that right out but it's not something I've had trouble with for a while. You might consider two circulars or magic looping with this yarn. I would like to get some more of their yarn eventually though, the colors are lovely.

Gypsy Makes Headlines

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:18:00 +0000

Gypsy was spotlighted today at the Sunflower Musings blog, home of Three Cat Limit, who is our Kickstick provider of choice. I've bought two large kicksticks from her etsy store and shared some minisquares she thoughtfully threw in with other cats in my life. Everyone loves them!! It's really high quality catnip. I'll have to see if I can make a video soon of Pyewacket with a kickstick that's about the same size she is.

I did finish my first project for 2012 yesterday, the Squish Cowl is done! 130 yards of super bulky are now a very large cowl. I haven't decided yet if I'd like to keep it for myself or give it to someone else so for now it's in the gift bin. Pictures soon.

What With the Goals...

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:18:00 +0000

Happy 2012! I hope you got all of your ends woven in from the holiday knitting and the New Year's champagne hasn't stayed around in the form of a bad headache.

So 2011 wasn't very successful on the goal front for me. Having knit up 13km in 2010, I set myself a goal of 20km in 2011. It was extremely optimistic considering the radical life changes in the past year (moved, new job, death in the family, new relationship, new pet--I go way off the charts when it comes to those stress counters). So it probably doesn't come a surprise that I didn't make it. The end of the December saw me make 7km.

The goal was to knit down stash and to clear things out. To some degree I have been working more from stash, certainly I've spent less money this year on yarn than in previous years. However, hitting that one cotton sale meant a huge amount more of stash that came in and adding some from fiber festivals and the occasional Loopy Ewe update has not helped.

I did, however, do some amazing things. I knit 18 pair of socks. Considering each pair takes me about 20 hours, that means I dedicated 360 hours or 15 full days just to making socks. For those of you paying careful attention, why yes that count went up one from the last blog post.

Behold what I did over Christmas weekend: The Philosopher's Socks. They're done and he wore them for New Year's Eve! He's shown them to two other knitters and already started mentioning that I've only knit him one pair of socks so far. ;) This is a step up from the not very subtle hints that I've never knitted for him.

They are Blue Moon Fiber Arts Medium Weight in the CopperTree Colorway that I purchased at Stitches Midwest this year (with the Philosopher no less, though at the time the yarn wasn't necessarily destined for him). Knit on size 2 (2.75 mm) needles over 52 stitches. It's my standard vanilla sock pattern of 2x2 ribbing.

I'm debating various goals for 2012. I did okay with the "knit a certain project every month" for about four months a couple of years ago, but then got waylaid. I didn't do well with a certain amount of yardage. I tried for the Stash Dash that the KnitGirllls did last summer and made it through about 3K. But a full time and very busy job and a full time and very busy boyfriend does keep getting in the way--even when that boyfriend is very understanding that I will bring my knitting along all the time and work has gotten used to my knitting through meetings. So for now, here's the plan...

Work on the afghans that need to be completed here at Chez Hedgehog.
Work on the WIPs sitting around the house.
Knit more socks for other people.
Continue to mostly knit from stash.

2011 was the Year of Socks

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:22:00 +0000

Considering that two years ago, I was not a sock knitter, it's rather surprising to me that I've knit well over a dozen pair of socks this year. And actually, as I'm counting them up, I'm realizing that my counts were off and I've knit even more than I thought I had.

(1) I started off the year with a pair of Footsies, using up the rest of some very luscious Sanguine Gryphon Bugga.

(2)Then came the Purple Pond Socks. These, I discovered after wearing a couple of times, have a dropped stitch on the sole. They're sitting in time out until I can get that fixed.

(3) Next was Subtle Stripe Sunday. These socks are wearing like iron. I can't say enough good things about BMFA Medium Weight or my desire to own lots and lots more of it.

(4) The Seafoam socks are rustic socks, made from wool from a farm in Viroqua WI and I wish I had more of it. Once I get through the rest of the Ewetopia Fiber Handdyeds, I'll have to email Kathryn and see if she can send me some more. Or I might just finally make myself sign up for the CSA. The only challenge with that is I think it comes undyed and I would rather rely on Kathryn's color sense.

(5) The Ugly Work Socks are somewhere around AudioGirl's apartment. Hopefully she'll still dye them a different color for me. Otherwise I will have to round up some Koolaid and see what havoc I can wreak.

(6) I started getting called out by friends about how many socks I might be knitting at any given time, hence the What New Socks? These were a birthday gift for M. Maybe I should have noticed the trend by then?

(7) But when one is reflecting the Summer Sky above, how can you turn down pretty wool?

(8,9,10) Besides, I wasn't only knitting for myself....AudioGirl got three pair of socks for her birthday in Indulgent Green, Corn for Cristy, and New Green. Not sure if she's broken them out as yet, it's not been a super cold winter as yet.

(11) I finished Sock UFOs, wrapping up the Languishing Socks from the last Knitting in Public Day I did at La Crosse.

(12) When I realized that maybe I already had a lot of green socks, I decided that a friend finishing her graduate degree could use the Do You Feel Lucky Socks. Fortunately, our foot size is the same.

(13) And the Incredibly-Patient-Mother started getting something I know she'll wear---Pair Number 13 Basic Black Socks. For a long time, she's preferred simple black socks. She'll wear the other ones I make her around the house or to bed (always good, I inherited her cold extremities) but these might get some out of the house wear.

(14) The friend who is getting the Rainbow Stripes still doesn't know they are for her, so I can't mention her name here. And unfortunately the gifting will have to wait until the New Year because I just haven't/won't make it to the post office. These can't go out of style too soon though.

(15) I took yarn and needles to Hawaii. Actually I took several projects to work on, not realizing how much driving I'd be doing on the trip. Next vacation, M drives. I did get the Hawaii socks done though and I love how the blues do remind me of all the beautiful water we saw.

(16) I like the impressionists, so as I struggled for a name for these socks, I thought about how they put me in mind of Waterlilies, hence they became the Monet Socks.

(17) Finally, it's another pair of black socks for the Incredibly Patient Mother. These have been a slog. The yarn, same as Pair 13, is still great. There's nothing particularly wrong with these socks, they've just not been getting time and love and that means slow going. I'm nearly to the toe though and I'll get them out the door yet!

(Almost 18) There was another pair of socks that I started and those were for the Philosopher. Unfortunately, when I get to the heel of the first sock, I had him try it on and we determined that the stitch count was too high. Since these are his first experience with handmade socks, I decided to rip back and reknit. I am back to the heel nearly again of sock 1 but I'm not sure this will make it by the end of the year. We'll see.

And please note, this doesn't include two shawlettes, dog sweater, a two lb bath mat, a 1 lb red kitchen rug, the giant purple shawl (still owe you pics, will ask my sister to take at Christmas), a super fast scarf to wear when I would see the designer, and a hat that was part of a barter trade I'll have to tell you more about next week.

Hmmm, suddenly I feel better about my productivity this year. I'm a huge slouch compared to Elizabethan cottage knitters but at least that "spare" time is being turned into warm feet for me and others. Of the completed (or very nearly so), nine pairs went into my sock drawer and are in current rotation at Chez Hedgehog and 8 pair are/were gifts spread out across five people. If I stay at this rate, using all yarn that's is intended to be socks as such (rather than shawls) and not buying anymore yarn I'll use all that up in just over two years.

Challenges of a New Feline

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 15:30:00 +0000

Raising a new feline meant that I would need to adapt another cat to my knitting ways. The majority of the stash is already tucked away in bins that the cats cannot go frolic in, but I've been particularly lucky that Gypsy hasn't shown much interest in wool beyond occasionally wanting to sleep on it and/or chasing yarn while I'm actually working on it. Even that's pretty rare though, she's happy usually to curl up next to me and sleep while I'm knitting.

Pyewacket, on the other hand, is a nearly four month old kitten who thinks all dangling things must be captured and destroyed. Having a kitten LAUNCH herself at you and cling to your leg because you made the mistake of retying your sweater belt is a pointy-tipped surprise every time.

In general though, Pye hasn't paid too much attention to the knitting. There's a lot of it around but most of it is just part of her world. There seem to be two exceptions:

1) Wool Socks. Pye really likes wool socks. She likes licking my feet when I'm wearing them (maybe she thinks that's my artificial fur?) and she carries them around when I've left a pair on the bedroom floor. I keep finding random socks in the middle of the bed, the livingroom floor, etc. She doesn't appear to be chewing on them, so no harm is being done but it's strange.

2) The Lorna's Laces Solemate. I don't know what Beth and team put into that yarn but my kitten thinks it's fantastic. I hadn't noticed that the skein was missing off the kitchen table until I was getting dressed the other morning and realized I could see yarn sticking out from under the bed. Not leftovers, such as I occasionally hand over for feline cobwebbing around table legs, no, this was new yarn that was not yet wound into a ball. I fished it out from under the bed, gave thanks that they tied the skein in several places, twisted it back up and shoved it in a drawer while continuing to get dressed. [What? You mean there isn't yarn in your dressers? It was morning, I hadn't had coffee.] You can imagine, then, my surprise to come home 24 hours later and find the yarn, untwisted again, in the middle of the kitchen. I hope she talked Gypsy into opening the drawer, I didn't think she's strong enough to do that by herself.

I know that what needs to happen is I get all the WIPs caught up and tidied away and there isn't yarn laying all over Chez Hedgehog. I also get highly amused reading that last sentence.

Me vs. Kitten, hopefully I win.

Found the Camera

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 19:00:00 +0000

One of the challenges of knit-blogging is that it's best done with photographs. While podcasters the world over have an amazing capacity for telling us about a specific yarn, I find that when I'm scrolling through the RSS feeds, I still want to see pictures of finished objects--and that I'm clicking links those podcasters provide to see the ooh-shiny.

I realized about a week ago that I wasn't sure where my trusty little Canon was. It wasn't in the current knitting pile, on the kitchen table, stashed in my work bag.... Finally, last night, I found it in a knitting bag that was stashed in my office.

I tend to avoid spending too much time in my office in the winter. The wall that keeps it from being out of doors is at best lightly insulated, so it's always at least 10 degrees colder in there than in the rest of the apartment. When the option is to keep that door shut and keep the heater from running quite so much, I do try to take it, but that means if I've put something in there it's a bit like putting it in a dark hole.

But having found it means I could take pictures!

I do not have a picture of the black socks. Imagine black socks that look a lot like these here, only one sock is done and the second sock is about an inch from turning the heel.

I do have pictures of my socks from Hawaii!

These are Blue Moon Fiber Arts in My Blue Heaven. My standard vanilla 2x2 rib, 48 stitches on size 2 needles. I made the legs a little longer than usual, mostly because I always end up with a fair chunk of leftovers. This colorway striped a little but They're still waiting to go into rotation but considering that most of my wool socks need to get a bath, that should be pretty soon.

Fortunately, my stash of BMFA Mediumweight is not fully depleted yet, and the Coppertree socks are coming along nicely.

I've got another inch or so on these before the heel flap, they need to be tall enough so that they reach the top of the Philosopher's boots, I'm told. Once I get through the heel flap, I'm going to stop and make him try them on so that if I'm dealing with too small or not right I can fix it before I get through another 1.5 socks. I know you can clearly see the gray stripe here but I promise it's much less obvious in person. I really like how this yarn is turning out.

I wish Tina at BMFA had a wish list feature on her site so I could park colorways that I know that I want. I have a lot of sock yarn to get through though before I need to be thinking about buying more. I'm so glad that yarn doesn't have an expiration date (as long as there are no moths).

And when I'm not knitting socks I'm working on the hat/mitts for a Northwestern Fan

It's a Sockhead hat made out of The Loopy Ewe Solid series in the Purple colorway. The base is nice, though I was surprised that there isn't nylon in it. It feels like a blend. I haven't washed the hat yet so maybe it will soften up a little more. It's long enough he should be able to flip up over his ears twice to keep warm in our chilly Decembers.

Reduced to Bullet Points

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 23:02:00 +0000

Happy After-Thanksgiving!! And for the curious, I have managed to resist the very excellent sales that all of the various yarn companies and stores have been offering. It's very very difficult, let me tell you. 30% of here, free shipping there, and so on and so forth.

Today is all about bullet points because a) I have no pictures and b) I need to write out lists to get my head on straight.

Deadline Knitting:

I agreed to knit a blanket strip for a cousin who is getting married. This is done in bulky wool so it really just requires an evening or two with a few movies or TV shows. The Philosopher and I have started watching Warehouse 13. That deadline is coming up super fast so that should go on the needles very soon.

What I really Should be Knitting:

Philosopher's Belt. He's been waiting so patiently.
One of the two afghans that are lurking half finished around the living room. I will gain a lot of yarn storage space by finishing them, though I'll have to find somewhere to put finished blankets. Might give one of them away just from defensive blanket storage.
Rust and Stone Cardigan. All it needs is ribbing and sleeves. I've been actively avoiding it, mostly because knitting it requires thinking.
Squish Cowl. If I'd just giving it one good evening of knitting it'd be done already. There was snow this morning, I'm going to need cowls very soon.

Currently and actively on the needles

Hat and Mitts for Klock. We're swapping, he's getting woolly things, I'm getting mead.
Socks for the Philosopher. I cast on some really beautiful BMFA in Coppertree and it's blending beautifully. Surprisingly it isn't striping. I'm starting to run low on how much BMFA Medium Weight is in my stash. I'm trying to be strong and work through other sock yarn before going nuts on the Blue Moon site again but it's so hard. The yarn is so lovely.
Pair #16--Black Socks knit in approximately the Incredibly Patient Mother size. First sock finally got finished (we'll discuss the disaster that was the first toe some other time) and I'll cast on sock 2 on my way to dinner tonight.

I still owe you pictures of

The Glowing Mystery Shawl. It's done, blocked, and has been worn a couple of times. I still think triangular shawlettes are a little odd as scarves but since I can't figure out what else to do with them, I'll wear them.
The Socks I knit in Hawaii. Nothing too exciting about them, my usual 2x2 rib pattern. But they're pretty....
Hawaii. Right, there was a vacation wasn't there.
The Big Purple Shawl. I've been wearing it a fair amount and people love the color. I love how warm it is and the fact that it loops all the way around and I can tie it in the front of me. If I can figure out how to persuade myself through another one, it will be a good thing.

New Stash

I did get a skein of the new Lorna's Laces Solemate, which is supposed to keep your feet both warm and cool, depending on the weather. It's very soft and I almost have the sense it will be drapey, which isn't the best for socks but we'll see how it knits up.

Feline Update: Cuteness and Cones

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:07:00 +0000

My brain power over the past month has been limited pretty much to 2x2 rib, garter, and stockinette. Fortunately, those three things can pretty regularly turn into a pair of socks. Here's the only knitting picture I have for you at the moment.

Monet Socks

Size: 8.5

Knitted on: Size 0 needles

From: Intentions Yarn, Clarity

Thoughts: The yarn was splitty and I was done with these socks long before I actually finished them.

Since that's all the knitting, you'll have to bear with me while I talk about my cats for the next couple hundred words.

First the good news: I adopted a new kitten! A friend of mine has been on the lookout for me for about six months now, his mother often ends up with stray cats who need a good home and I indicated interest in a female, preferably no more than two years old. When she rounded up a batch of kittens (and the mama), and when those kittens came to Chicago while his mom was out of town, it was an opportunity not to be missed.

There were four kittens: two mostly orange, white, and light brown tabbies and two orange and black handpaints. All were female and despite a polydactyl heritage, everyone had the normal number of toes. Apparently there's some new genes in the bloodline. In visiting with the kittens the Philosopher and I identified "The Shy One," "The Starter Kitten," "The Worried One," and "Pumpkin." I tried to imagine which one would be the most appropriate with the gray princess who already has shed all over everything I own.

Ultimately, I decided on "The Worried One." She was the second biggest of the group. Before we left her sisters behind, she was dubbed Pyewacket.

We got a lift home and introduced her to Gypsy, who was nonplussed and some hissing ensued.

Pyewacket spent the first night in the bathroom, the first time she'd ever been alone. She also had to spend the next day in the bathroom while I was at work--mostly because I wasn't sure she was making the transition to pine litter and I really didn't want to come home to Crouching Gypsy, Hidden Pye AND kitten potty accidents on carpeting. The sound of pitiful meowing and a small black foot reaching under the bathroom door was one of the saddest things I've had to deal with in a long time. Gypsy sat outside the bathroom, keeping watch.

Fortunately, within about 72 hours the hissing had considerably decreased, Gypsy seemed rather more accepting of the bouncing black furball, and Pyewacket had figured out where the litter box was!

Due to a death in the family, the Philosopher spent the weekend with the two of them and he texted pictures of cats snuggling, so I'm encouraged that everyone will do just fine. She's growing like a weed, I noticed already that she is bigger than when I took these photos.

But that brings us to last night and the bad news, when I flipped Gypsy over to rub her belly and found a rather large cut on her back inner thigh. It wasn't bleeding but it was raw, so at 9:30 p.m. it was off to the Emergency Vet, where she got three stitches and enough sedation to make her really loopy and snuggly. She also went nose first into my food when we got home; she's not usually quite that brazen.

Gypsy is doing just fine, she's not in pain from what I can tell, she's eating, moving around, not favoring the leg at all. Antibiotics this morning were no fun and we get to repeat that every day for the rest of the week but I'll take that over the fear that there's something wrong with my cat. I'm not sure where the cut came from, we can't find any blood in the apartment and it doesn't appear to be from tussling with Pye--they're still just fine. Gypsy had been cleaning it assiduously so hopefully we just need to wait for time to heal.

That, however, also means she's wearing a cone (or was when I left the house this morning, I assume she didn't figure out how to take it off yet).

She's very put upon and really really wants her ears scratched.

**Cat Info cross posted to Hedgehog Librarian

Dear Self: Don't Feel Guilty

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:08:00 +0000

Of late, everything has been dog piled on and it's showing. I'm stretched thinner and thinner, which sends me off in fits of fury or tears a lot more easily. Every time that I sit down when I'm not actively having to get something done, I'm falling asleep.

As you can imagine, this means there's not been a whole lot of knitting progress at Chez Hedgehog. I keep telling myself that I shouldn't feel guilty about this, that I have a lot going on and it's okay to not kill myself working on a craft project that is supposed to be my relaxing hobby when I'm already tired. It's hard though.

One must occasionally admit unrealistic expectations, or at least temper your expectations when change comes, which it always does and will.

I did sit down the other day and break out the large purple shawl. I've gotten a couple of podcasts back into it and I have made some progress, I'm finally on the third skein of Lorna's Laces. The Philosopher claims it's a large triangular blanket, not a shawl. I disagree. I'll be warm in it though. It's going with me to a football game today, Northwestern is playing and it's bright purple. If I can just find a seat (away game, we'll be at a pub), I might be able to whack out a good chunk of skein 3.

The Philosopher also built me a Roku box for my birthday!! It's an Apple Mini loaded with Plex Online software. I can stream Hulu, YouTube, Netflix and lots of other things on it. My favorite find thus far though was PBS. I can now stream Antique Roadshow! I may never get up from the couch ever again. I'm absolutely thrilled.

I did finish the first of the Monet Socks...did it make it home from work? Let me go rummage in my work bag.

*Rummaging*

Ah-ha! Success. This got finished during a phone meeting and I had left it at work. Sock 2 has about six rows done, though now that I've brought home the 9" circular needle, it's a smidge more portable. Might take that to the pub as well. I might finish the shawl, you know. I only have another 100 or so rows....

Then there's the sweater. I made a huge amount of progress on it when I was in New York last month and if memory serves I'm ready to start the ribbing on the back before continuing the points on the front. It continues to be a great pattern and fits well, but it requires paying attention, which is why it hasn't seen much love since I got back. I'm thinking about taking it on my trip to Hawaii next week, if I can get down to sleeves before then.

I really like the slipped stitch detail running up each side that is in place of a side seam. It still looks seamed but it's all one piece. It also is surprisingly more apparent in photos than I feel like it is in real life. I'll be asking the Philosopher to take some photos of me in it when I'm done.

Several other things on the needles, nothing getting much love. But I'm getting back to my knitting without feeling guilty about it. At least I'm not hurting the wool's feelings. :)

Rust and Stone (or Cake) Sweater: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:30:00 +0000

I got permission to blog about the sweater, so I can show you how things are going!

It's a top down cardigan design, with first sweater tabs cast on and then the back and shoulders and fronts knit from there. It took me a couple of readings through the pattern to really understand what was going on but once I'd done that--things have been going quite smoothly.

That's where I'd gotten to at the end of the first skein of yarn, which is about 150 yards of Plum Cake Elizabeth Bennet Yarn Love merino/silk/bamboo. I'd just gotten past splitting the sleeves onto spare needles (I'd ended up buying way too many size 2 circulars but I suppose eventually I'll be using them all.) and was starting down back shaping and increases in the front.

It was rather gratifying to get the sleeves onto their own needles and get to actually try the sweater on as though it was clothing:

I will of course be making the sleeves but it's a cute cap sleeve right here...

Now I'm most of the way through another skein and 20 rows from being done with the back shaping.

As you can see a little clearer in this picture, there's a mock seam running down the side created by slipped stitches.

The yarn isn't pooling too much, it created a rather strange X shape, sort of like houndstooth in the swatch and I was hoping that would appear here. Instead I'm getting some miscellaneous little stripes. The yarn is also a little more splitty than I'd like and what I'd recommend for this project. I did end up with a couple of extra stitches when I was doing the back increases but those seemed to be user error rather than an issue with the pattern numbers. I'm going to have a lot of ends to weave in once this is done and blocked.

Gypsy thinks I should be paying more attention to her.

In the Planning Stages....

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:00:00 +0000

News! I finally broke the 5K mark on how much I've knit this year! Considering last year I knit 13K and we're in September and I don't have a lot of Christmas knitting on the needles, I really don't think the 20K this year is going to happen. That makes me a little sad, I really did want to get a lot of stash used up and instead, as is more usual, I added a ton of stash and didn't use much up. But it's my hobby and I'm using yarn that I bought and it's cheaper than many hobbies I could have....

I spent over an hour winding yarn the other evening for projects that should be in the queue in the near future. I also went through some of the stash and pulled out an entire bin of sock yarn that should be wound or pulled from when next I'm needing some socks to knit. That bin is full, so you'll get to see lots more socks. Also, now that I know approximately how long a couple of other people's feet are, I can just make socks longer if I choose so they'll get some new socks as well.

So, what's in here?

The large grey ball and the darker blue at the bottom are both skeins of Eco Wool. I want to make city shawls out of them, one for myself and one as a very belated gift for a friend. Those, I recall from last year's marathon, take about six hours each to make. Very manageable over a weekend with a television or during a football game at a friend's house. (Game is easily 3 hours, plus tailgating time!)

The smaller gray ball is alpaca that needs to turn into a scarf/shawl.

The three skeins of green/aqua yarn are for me. I decided that when I saw the sale (50%) that I wanted a matching hat and scarf set. If there is enough, I'll be doing mittens as well, might be striping that with some of the leftover black yarn from the #13 socks--it's all Cascade Heritage 150 if I don't have quite enough yarn. I wear a black wool coat or a white down coat in the winter, so it's time for some bright and cheerful accessories.

The unwound skein is from Stitches. That will hopefully turn into a scarf for the Philosopher if I can get things rolling. Underneath that and nearly hidden is a skein of dark blue Bugga that I'd like to turn into socks. There are also two skeins of STR in there--the fall colors are for the Philosopher and the blue will be for me or for someone near and dear, haven't decided yet. Finally is the light gray sock yarn which is Three Irish Girls Adorn. Again, probably socks for me.

Oh right--that purple skein. That's the final skein for the purple blob of a shawl that I keep working on. I'll get back to that just as soon as I get through the sweater that I'm on deadline for....

Magic Number 13

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 00:44:00 +0000

I finished two pair of socks over the weekend!! Huzzah! Now I've officially completed 13 pair this year, and of course there's already another pair on the needles--soon to be 2.

First up, I redid the toe on Sock #2 of the Rainbow Stripe socks, so now they'll fit the recipient's feet. I just need to pop them in the mail to her.

I like how the legs turned out fairly similar--with big pink circles coiling down the leg. The KPPPM is really nice and sturdy and I think will be very long lasting socks. I really must knit some of it up for myself as socks--one of these days.

I also got the toe of Sock #2 on the Basic Black Socks done. Those were handed over immediately (complete with cat fur) to the Incredibly Patient Mother, who was up visiting. Everyone will have warm feet this winter, darn it! (Well, maybe not so much on the darning, but I'm sure I"ll end up having to learn how.)

No doubt you're wondering if I'll ever get tired of 2x2 rib vanilla socks. Honestly, I'm not bored with it yet. Every now and then I think about working on a lace pattern on socks and perhaps at some point when I have a little more time and brain power, I will. For now, though, I'm getting to use delicious yarn and no one who has received socks has heaved a deep sigh of "If only they were lace socks...." Of course, people who complain about such things might not be recipients in the future.

The blue yarn that I showed you on the 8th has indeed been cast on but was left at work so that I have work knitting for some upcoming long meetings that I'll be more than able to knit through. In the interim I have a lot of things to finish before the weather truly starts getting cold rather than just flirting with cool nights.

Pay No Attention to the Project Behind the Curtain

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 17:18:00 +0000

There's lots and lots of knitting happening over here at Chez Hedgehog, but unfortunately I can't share with with you. I'm test knitting the Rust and Stone Cardigan and at the moment I don't have permission to show it to you all. I think once it's done I can blog in detail.

I'm using

It's Yarn Love in the Plum Cake colorway of Elizabeth Bennet that I purchased from Sonny and Shear. My mom had given me a gift certificate and I fell down hard at the idea of yarn named after the heroine of one of my absolute favorite books.

It's an unusual choice for me--it's pale yellow and I don't think I actually own any other yellow clothing. If I do, I've forgotten about it. It's also partially bamboo and silk, which means it's slippery! I've dropped stitches a couple of times to a lot of swearing.

The sweater is going well though, I think. I will be pushing really hard to make the deadline (two weeks away) but I have a trip to NY between now and then that should give me some airport/plane knitting time. It's a point where I can try it on though, which is great because I feel like I'm actually making clothing, not just randomly knitting and praying. I did have to go down a needle size to get gauge.

We'll see how it all turns out, I'm optimistic. AudioGirl had been threatening to make me knit a sweater to when this came up, I figured it was worth jumping in.

More pictures once I have permission!!

Because You Had a Bad Day...

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:30:00 +0000

Earworm for Blog post title.

I had a rough day recently at work. It was extra long at the end of a long week and I kind of limped out of work only to find out that the plans I was expecting for the evening were on a different day (not my fault, the email had the right date listed but then referred later to the following week). I stumbled into Loopy looking for a little pick me up.

Fortunately, Veronik Avery has my back. Licking my wounds I emerged from the depths of the Loopy Sock/Lace Weight Room bearing enough fingering weight for a sweater. It's the Boreale in Ruby Wine and it's lovely. I hope I can get to it this fall because it's just perfect for a pretty and very warm sweater. With the temperatures in the 50s at nights and in the 60s during the days, I'm going to need those very soon.