Roll Tide

We're in Alabama this week. Love it!

Must BUY yarn

At the end of a very stressful week, I had an overwhelming urge to buy yarn. Forget drinks, forget going out dancing, forget chowing a tub of ice cream. I just wanted to buy yarn. Worsted weight, verigated for a hat or mittens. Nevermind that I have projects on the needles and more wool in the wings. I managed to resist, in part because by the time we finally got the kids to bed all the yarn shops were closed. I could have gone online, but I didn't want to wait for delivery. I also recognized at some level that what I really wanted was the burst of pleasure of buying yarn whether or not I "needed" it. Alas, that is a temporary thrill and then I'm left with yarn that I may or may not really want in the morning!

Instead, I picked up the long neglected never ending scarf that is being made in a "simple" feather and fan in a gently variegated fluffy mohair yarn my mom brought back from Scandinavia. Just four row to this pattern - 2 of them are knits and 1 in a purl so how the heck do I manage to mess up every tenth row or so!? The think about this scarf is that every four rows is about a half an inch and yet I've been knitting on it all winter and it seems that I am no closer to finishing it than when I started!

I also realized today as I am still feeling that "must by yarn" vibe that part of the problem is that the yarn and projects waiting in the wings are all in fingering weight. I do love, love, love fingering weight - good for shawls, good for socks, good for gloves. But it's the deep of winter here. It's cold. I'm cold. I want to wrap myself in thick luscious wools. Only, I've knit all the thick wools in my stash that I liked. I'm left with odd balls of yarn that don't really motivate me. deep sigh.

It will warm up again. These piles of snow grown dirty from the rain and road will melt. I will once again want to knit light. Meanwhile....maybe a stop at an lys isn't such a bad idea after all.

Another Nash baby

My grandmother Celia Nash, was a wonderful, loving, funny, kind woman who could bake like nobody's business. She had seven children and consequently, a slew of grandchildren. She lived in Michigan and we lived in Wisconsin, so we didn't get to see her much. But when we did, it was a full house of fun of laughter. The slew of grandchildren have scattered across the country from coast to coast, so we don't get to see each other too often. But luckily for me, my oldest cousin landed just a state away so I've been able to spend some time with him and his sweet wife and son. Now, I'm excited to say they've added one more to our family. A baby girl. I'm excited not just because there's one more Nash descendant but also because it's an opportunity to knit for a baby, which is always fun. I chose this vintage pattern because it reminded me of my aunts and my grandmother. It seems so classic baby. It's the "five hour" sweater. It might actually have been a five hour sweater except for the fact that there are two ways to do the increase and I chose the wrong one.

If you care to learn from my mistake: a common and nifty increase is to lift the yarn in between two stitches, put it on the needle and knit it. When knitting socks or gloves, you typically knit through the back loop, twisting the stitch so there is no hole. (There is also a bit about which way you put it on the needle, creating a left leaning or right leaning increase, but that's not relevant here). With this sweater, however, you want a hole! If you knit through the back loop, as I did on my first go around, you get a tighter weave and no pretty bobble. I figured this out deep into the top rows. I thought about just leaving it, it looked okay even though it wasn't what I wanted. But, it wasn't what I wanted. I'm hoping this sweater lasts a long time, so what's a few more hours - especially since it's a fun knit and it's great yarn - a washable cashmere blend!

Yes I am a little...

I'm not quite sure what has possessed me, but I have just signed up for Sock Madness Forever on Ravelry. What is this, you ask? It is an International Sock Knitting competition. From what I gather, we're all divided on to four teams. A sock pattern is released and everyone knits furiously. The first ones done advance to the next round. I am not expecting to win or even to come close to the top. I'm just not that fast and I don't have that much time. But, if I can make it for a few (or even one) round, well that's good. There are new patterns and there's the challenge of trying something I might not otherwise. So, I'm off to check my sock yarn pile. hmmm...looks a little low. hehehe

The hat

Ribbed, folded brim, squared at the top. Two stripes near the bottom. Finished the hat and the snow turned to rain!