Write right right?

When a two-year-old requests a hat and scarf, how can a knitter resist? Even knowing it was unlikely that she would ever be willing to keep them on in the cold, we forged ahead. She picked out the yarn: some cheap acrlic that I bought fo 99 cents at a thrift store and some hot pink Cascade superwash wool. She hugged them to her and said gleefully, "My favorite." On the first day, every hour or so she would ask, "are they done?" I'm not a fast knitter so even as small as the would be getting them done in a day was impossible. It didn't help that the first one didn't have enough room between the cuff and the start of the thumb. She was dutifully exuberant when the mittens were finally done. She actually wore them long enough to get a picture taken. As predicted, however, she took them off just a few minutes after getting out into the cold. Why do kids do that, anyway? I would think that would be a self-teaching sort of lesson.

I stumbled on an interesting pattern with a lot of potential for the scarf. It's probably a named pattern somewhere. Here's the formula:

It's knit lengthwise. Cast on 150 to 250 stitches depending on the desired length. For preceission, make a swatch and figure out how many stitches per inch you are knitting.

Row 1: knit

Row 2: knit 5, (knit 1, yarn over) repeat to last five stitches, knit 5

Row 3: knit

Row 4: knit 5, (yarn over, knit 1) repeat to last five stitchees, knit 5

Row 5: knit

Row 6: repeat Row 2

Knit across until scarf is desired width, keeping in mind that you will repeat the above rows in reverse.

For the final 6 rows:

Row 1: knit 5, (knit 1, yarn over) repeat to last five stitches, knit 5

Row 2: knit

Row 3: knit 5, (yarn over, knit 1) repeat to last five stitches, knit 5

Row 4: knit

Row 5: knit 5, (knit 1, yarn over) repeat to last five stitches, knit 5

Row 6: knit

Bind off

This creates an airy, lacey edge with solid knitting in the middle. As an alternative, the middle could be done in seed stitch, or some other appealing solid pattern.

To make the scarf self-fringing, cut the yarn after each row leaving a tail of 8 inches or so. The tails will have to be tied together to keep them from unraveling.

I like the way the pattern looks, but mine isn't as wide as I would have liked because I was concerned about running out of yarn. Cori Jane was happy to dance around with it for the pictures, but it has since been sitting in the scarf basket by the door. Oh well, it's a good prototype.

On a non-knitting note, I am a novelist! Albeit an unpublished one, but still I have officially completed a 50,000 word novel in less than a month. I took the challenge issued by the National Novel Writing Month and beat the clock by three days. It seemed an unsurmountable task when I signed up in October. With children and work and a house to keep up I had my doubts about the feasability. I had to give up much of the little television watching time I get and my knitting production slowed down. There were times when the words flowed like water down a waterfall and other times when I felt I was in a dark room with no idea where the lights were.

Throughout, I had a husband who took me seriously and believed I would do it. The story is about a woman raising 4 children while renovating a seriously broken down house. She's not me, but she could be one of my friends. I figured since I had to write fast, I'd write what I know.

Finishing the story was the hard part, now as my writing husband pointed out, comes the "nearly impossible part," editing and selling it! Is it good enough? Maybe. Having come this far, I'll push it a little more.

But for now, I'm going to clean up my neglected house and make up some lost time on my Secrets of the Stole while getting ready for Christmas.

Some color for your fall

It is set to snow here just outside of Boston and in fact there a few wanna be flakes actually fluttered down this morning. Still a few flowers are maintaing a tenacious grip on life adding vivid spots of color in an otherwise gray garden. I'm not surprised by the alyssum or the mums - they usually stick around until after the snow falls. The roses, however, are showing unusual gumption and the snap dragons should have given up long ago. It has been an unually warm fall, which may be confusing them a bit. Regardless, I'm glad they're still showing off despite the neglect they suffered over the summer. This was not a big gardening year for me. Twice the garden became nearly choked with weeds and I had to hire my children for a few solid afternoons of unwanted plant removal.

Usually around this time of year, we are complaining about the encroachment of Christmas on the rest of the year, but it feels so dark after 5 p.m. that I'm longing for the lights that will brighten the night. We ususally wait until a few weekedends after Thanksgiving to put up ours but I'm tempted to put them up now in hopes of sparking a trend. We may get the tree earlier as well. Now that we have kids, it seems to make more sense to stretch out the holiday so there is less pressure on the one day.

Kudos to all who have already started their holiday knitting - I know of at least one person who started in July. You all deserve to revel in your organization and forthought. I'm keeping it light this year since I have a lot of projects started already and my children are inbetween appreciating knitted gifts. But I will enjoy watching everyone else's gifting progress.

Calling all bakers with grandmas

My fondest memories of my grandmother are sitting with her in the kitchen eating the best fresh out of the oven cookies I have ever had. She was such a committed baker that she had two ovens! She passed some many years ago but whenever I bake, I feel a connection. In honor of her and as a way to bring together my far flung family, I have declared December 15th the National Celia Nash Memorial Cookie Bake Day.

It is for anyone who likes cookies and wants to make a connection with the legacy of love expressed in sharing baked goods. To participate, make a batch of cookies on December 15th to share with someone else, a neighbor, a friend, your spouse or your children. If you don't like to bake, or can't, buy some cookies to share. So please, join us and spread the word.

For me, this day is an opportunity to connect at least in spirit with my grandmother, my aunts, my cousins and friends who are scattered across the country.

In my house, we will be making strictly no-bake cookies. That's because our oven is too quirky to do large batches of cookies well. I let each kid pick their own recipe and they each get a turn in the kitchen. That helps reduce the level of arguing and ensures that we will have a strong variety of cookies. The only problem we habitually run into is an ever growing list of people to give cookies to and the kids inevitably get tired of cooking before we've made enough.

Poison Toys

My dd 5, is pretty well traumatized by the Aqua Dot recall. It was high on her Christmas list so we had to explain to her why she wouldn't be getting them. She took it in pretty well but the little wheels in her head started turning. A few days later she said, "Mom, if I see anything that I want on a commercial, don't get it for me because it might be poisonous." Then she asked if I would have to take away the markers that she just got. Then she said she didn't think she should go over to a friend's house because she might have toys that are poisonous! It's so sad that our children have to be worried about this. Can I sue for pain and suffering even if I didn't actually buy the toy?

I've finished clue 2 on my Secrets of the Stole and I'm 20 rows into clue 3. It's keeping my attention, but it's very slow going - I'm lucky if I can get six rows in during one episode of Heros. It doesn't help that the show sometimes has subtitles!

Boston Adventure

The great thing about living so close to the city is that there is so much to do nearby. With a little additional planning, even a simple trip can become a great adventure. Our trip the New England Aquarium began with a ride on the T. This to a 2 and 5 year old is the ultimate in transportation. They are very enthusiastic about everything from buying the ticket to waiting for the next train to come. They even do a little happy dance when they see it making its way down the tracks.

Boston is filled with more history than they can begin to comprehend but they still have fun running around. This spot was once under water. It was filled in to make way for growing city.

Inside the historic Fanieul Hall, we found very tastey chocolate chocolate chip cookies. They go very well with chocolate milk. This was long ago a thriving market place for shippers. It had fallen into disrepair until about two decades ago when a marketing genious got the idea to revamp it as a shopping mecca for tourists. It's become a vast collection of fast food vendors and kiosks filled with goods from around the world. It was once a hotspot for local goods and specialty shops, but they've moved out as rent went up. It's now surrounded by the likes of the Gap and other big chains. I will note for the knitters that it is sadly lacking a yarn shop. There is a great one in Boston - Windsor Buttons, just off the common. That would be a short hike for us addicts, but a major trek for the little ones who are not entertained by squeezing soft hanks of Malabrigio.

It's just a short jaunt from Fanieul Hall to the Aquarium. This area has changed dramatically since I moved here ten years ago. Then, an ugly highway tore through the city, cutting it off from the waterfront. The big dig changed all of that, putting the highway underground and reconnecting the city. It was a costly, inefficient project, but the results are fabulous. I'd like to personally thank you - since you paid for it with your federal tax dollars.

The Aquarium welcomes visitors with an outdoor Harbor Seal exhibit. The seals, native to this area, swim back and forth entertaining visitors and no doubt being entertained by them as well. Today we came just in time to see a training session. they mimic their handlers, nod yes or no and do some other very cute behaviors. As they run through the program, the handlers are looking them over to make sure they are healthy. The oldest one in the exhibit is 37.

The Aquarium features a round, giant ocean tank in the middle of the building containing two sharks, two large sea turtles and dozens of other types of fish from the bizarre to the beautiful.

Penguins live on the main floor at around the outisde of the tank. They amuse the crowd by "flying" through the water. There are Rock Hoppers, with their wild yellow feathers, Blue Penguins, that are quite tiny even when full grown and Donkey Penguins, so called for the bray-like noise they make.

The only reason I know what's there is because I used to go frequently before I had kids - I see virtually none of the exhibit now as I concentrate on just keeping track of my chidlren. My girls have been here many times, but every time is like the first. They dart off, usually in opposite directions. I spend most of my time screaming for one or the other who is suddenly out of eyesight. I've thought of putting them on leashes, like some people do - but I can envision the tangled mess that would create.

We opted to eat at the Aquarium's cafe. I hope to remember next time to bring our lunch. Food is not the Aquarium's forte. By a long shot. We bought more chocolate milk, most of which ended up on the table. No one cried over it, at least.

At the end of the day, we called for our Chariot, a giant white van driven by dad. Though the train can be fun - part of it was closed down and the only way to get home would have been by bus and the stop was more blocks away than a tired 2yo, or the mother who would have had to carry her, could handle. The happy dance for daddy was almost as enthusiastic as the one for the train.

Making it BakeTime

8,060 words on the novel! Woo hoo! It's hard to find the time to write, but boy is it fun once I get going. I find it very freeing to not have to worry about whether it is any good or not. It's fun to just wander through the story.

We found something almost healthy to do with the Halloween candy: baked apples. Preheat oven to 375. Take an apple, cut out the core about 3/4 of the way down (don't cut through the bottom). Peel a thin strip of skin off around the middle, which will keep the skin from getting all shrively. Fill with some assortment of Halloween Candy and/or brown sugar and cinnamon. We used brown sugar and cinnamon, chopped peanuts and Milk Duds. Top with a small pat of butter. Put in a baking pan. Pour a small amount of water around the bottom of the apples. Cover with tinfoil and bake for 20 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 10 minutes until the apples are soft. Some would serve this with ice cream, but we found it sweet enough on its own.

This is also a great activity for children. I'm on playdate duty today for my Z and a friend of hers from kindergarten. They are both sweet, joyful headstrong little girls. Both having an alpha personality, they are having a hard time deciding who should be the follower. The apples were a good distraction.

Yum Yum

Dinner time at my house is crazy with mulitple children coming and going and begging to watch TV/use the computer/talk on the phone. I probably should get a food routine - Meatball Monday, Taco Tuesday, Hamburger hump day, Pork chop Thursday etc. But as much as I don't like cooking every night, I don't like cooking the same thing over and over even more. So despite the chaos of my household, I'm always trying new things. Mostly I (loosely) follow other people's recipes, but the other night I came up with one of my own for chicken quesadillas that is tastey enough to pass along. What I am giving you is just a guideline of what I did - there's a lot of room for variation. The best part is that it is a very fast cook - crucial around here where there just isn't enough time in the day...

Chicken Quesadillas ala Jen
Makes 6-8 full sized quesadillas. Can be used as an appetizer or served with rice as a meal.

You will need:
1 pound of chicken cut into bite sized pieces
2 teaspoons of garlic
2 tablespons butter and 1 tablespoon oil

For the Sauce:
1 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons cumin (or to taste)
A dash of pepper
1 tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in two tablespoons of cold water (powdered corn starch has to be mixed with cool water - not hot - to work the way it should. I learned this once the hard way)
A teaspoon of lemon juice (optional)

12-16 tortillas
1 can of refried beans
2 cups of shredded cheese (I like cheddar and pepper jack, the kids prefer American)

Optional: salsa and sour cream

Saute chicken and garlic in butter and oil until chicken is cooked thoroughly. (I combine them because butter has a nice flavor, but the oil doesn’t burn as easily)

Meanwhile, combine sauce ingredients: chicken broth, cornstarch, cumin, pepper and lemon juice.

Once chicken is cooked, add sauce and simmer until thickened.

To make the quesadilla:
Heat a half a tablespoon of butter in a frying pan (I add butter before starting each quesadilla as needed) Place a tortilla in the pan. Spread a spoonful of refried beans on the tortilla. Add a spoonful or two of the chicken mixture. Sprinkle cheese over the the top and cover with another tortilla. Heat for a minute or two until the bottom tortilla is firm and a little crispy. Turn over and cook for a minute or two until the bottom tortilla is firm and a little crispy.
Serve as is or with salsa and sour cream.

Yarn Scribe

There are times when I feel like a Ouija Board - I am guided by unseen forces within me. I cast on a hat despite having yarn for five other projects, I pick up the stole even though I should be knitting the sweater for the party tomorrow. It's the same way with writing, which is why I'm writing a 50,000 word novel this month with Nanowrimo - the national novel writers month. It doesn't have to be good, it just has to get done. The idea is to push people past the inhibitions of their inner editors that hold them back. I will publish excerpts on my other blog: http://knitterwrites.blogspot.com/ You are welcome to read it although I say that with the caveat that it is unedited and written primarily for word count. I hope, however, that it is still readable and enjoyable. It's about a woman around my age, someone you might meet on the playground or at one of your children's soccer games. I figured that since the goal was speed, I should stick to what I know best. I am a non-fiction writer by trade but at heart I'm a story teller. I like to tell real people's stories but I figure it might be good to get the different perspective of making one up.

With novel writing, raising children and watching the Patriots eek out a victory from the Colts, the sum total of my knitting was this. I'm trying to make a baby hat with a pattern suggested by Lori Bird. Why didn't I check gauge before I started? I'll give the standard answer I get from my kids: "I dunno" About 7 rounds into the 125-stitch project I realized that the only baby this hat would be fitting belonged to the Jolly Green Giant. I did what I should have done in the first place and confirmed that my gauge was way, way, way off. It's supposed to be 28 stitches for 10 centimeters - I had several times that. I dropped from 5s to 2s and it's still too big. Apparently I'm a very, very loose knitter. I tried again, this time casting on for the smaller size. I was okay for the first several rows, which are garter stitch, but I fell apart when I hit the increases and decreases. It didn't help that I was trying to knit with two circulars since they weren't long enough for the magic loop nor short enough to knit as one circular. I'm not sure what to do next. I may get new yarn to try the pattern I like or I could find a new pattern or I could just save this yarn for another project. It is knitpicks washable wool - very soft and nice to work with at least.

Today - Monday - the 2 yo and I were hanging out when she asked me to knit her mittens and a hat. We went up to the stash and she picked out a Navy blue worsted weight that I'd gotten on sale for 99 cents and an almost worsted weight Classic Elite in hot pink that cost considerably more. This time, having learned my lesson, I swatched. They aren't quite the same weight, but given that one is for the cuff and rim of the hat and the other for the rest, I think I'll be okay. What to do with a swatch? How about making a "Tilly Toy?" This is a project that can be done in the time it takes a 2 yo to color three pictures and take a bath, albeit a long bath. I got the idea from Crochetme.com

Comfort Scarf

This is a sort of prayer shawl that I knitted for myself. Only along with the prayers, I knitted in the memories of my dear grandmother.

The yarn is handmade by my good friend Lori Bird, now living in Maine, who sent it to me as a surprise. It sat for a long time on my desk being adored even though I knew it was destined to for a remarkable pattern from my calendar.

It came with me on the flight to Wisconsin for my grandmother's funeral. It was a color she would have loved and I know she would have been impressed with the pattern. The yarn is so soft, it was soothing to work with. The pattern was just challenging enough to hold my attention and yet let my mind ponder the remarkable life of my grandmother and wander through my memories of her.

In fact, I enjoyed the pattern so much, I was a little sad to come to the end the project. It was like saying goodbye to a new good friend. Of course, I'm happy to have the scarf to wear, especially now that the weather is turning cold.

The pattern is a version of the dragon scale. I swapped a seed sitch border for garter stitch.

Having now actually knit with Lori's yarn, I can highly recommend it, and it's available at her etsy shop.

Happy Halloween!

The ghosts and the goblins are ready to rumble - or at least make a grab for a whole lot of candy. The excitement in our house is visible - not a child can contain it. Costumes and candy and candy and candy.

This is my 2yo "Vitch." She wouldn't stop twirling long enough for me to get a decent pic. Her shirt reads "Ghouls just want to have fun." The three characters on above the words are "a vitch, a ghost and a mumma," she says.

Thankfully, the weather is warm for October and there is nary a rain drop in site. The pumpkins are carved and set on the step with care in hopes that St. Nick soon will be there... oops, wrong holiday. That other one is coming all too soon.

Meanwhile, my mom is learning to knit - big grin! She's doing great but I think she's finding it to be a struggle. If you ever want to get a sense of how far you've come as a knitter - watch a beginner. It's like watching a kid learn to walk. You can lead, guide and direct but you can't make their hands do what they need to do. It didn't click with me right away. I found it to be hard but interesting enough to keep my attention. It was a double ribbed scarf that got me totally hooked. Maybe it was the sensual nubby yarn. Maybe it was the steady pattern. Maybe my heart just grew three sizes that day. I was out shopping with my family and I asked to be left in the car with the sleeping baby so I could knit while they browsed the after-Christmas specials. That's when my dh knew I was a goner - I chose knitting over shopping! Anyway, "Go mom!"

Red Sox Nation = Happy Nation

I am one happy fan tonight -my adopted Red Sox have won a second world championship in my lifetime! And what a finale - hanging on to a narrow 4 to 3 lead in game 4 against the Colorado Rockies. Historically, the team has let opportunities like that slip out of their gloves time and time again. But this is a new team with indefatigable spirit. It's a team that has been carefully crafted by a master knitter. (Knitting analogy needed because this is a knitting blog, not sports commentary). This team is an inspiration - a symbol of what can happen when there is determination. We are the underdogs transformed. If they can do it - anyone can do it. Just because you have lost doesn't mean you will always lose.

Flying high

I recently had the opportunity to fly from Boston to Wisconsin without my entourage. It's the first time in 5 years that I've traveled without 5 or so kids in tow. I felt like I'd taken off my 50 pound backpack after a long day of hiking - it was like floating. One bag, no one running ahead through the security check, no one begging for money to buy soda and no one to disturb my knitting. Of course I missed my little companions, intensely at times. But still, it was kind of nice to not have to play 20 rounds of 20 questions.

I also discovered the joy of flying as a knitter. It's so much more relaxing? Long lay over? Great- I can knock off a few more rows. Flight delay? No problem. I wanted to get past the heel turn. Everyone else jumped up as soon as the flight was called, milling about and standing around in a long line while I peacefully finished off the seed stitch start to a new scarf. Toward the end of the flight - that long interminable part when the plane has landed but the captain hasn't turned off the seatbelt sign yet - everyone else puts their stuff away and starts impatiently fidgeting. I calmly k, k, spsso, k2tog, k, k. Okay, it really wasn't calm. In fact, it was rather frantic as I raced to finish up a part of the pattern. My only complaint is that the flight wasn't long enough!

Here is what I learned:

If you've missed a yarn over, you can fix it on the next knit row. When you come to the place where the yo should be, gently pull apart the stitches. You will see bars in between them. You need to focus on the top two bars. Take the second bar from the top and loop it around the upper bar as if you are picking up a dropped stitch - et voila, you have a yarn over. Presumably you could do this several rows down if need be but I haven't tried it yet.

Q: When you are doing seed stitch and you realize several rows up that you are off the pattern (knitting when you should be purling) do you have to frog?

A: No! It can be fixed without major surgery. Tink back or knit to the trouble spot. Let the stitch above the mixed up area drop to a row below the problem. Look at the stitches around it and figure out if it should be a knit or a purl. Make sure you loop it over the bar just on top of it in the right direction. Then switch to the opposite for the next bar. Keep switching until you've brought the stitch back to the top.

The picture is a mystery project I worked on while on the trip. Details to follow.

An inspiration

It's interesting how much you find out about someone once they've left this world. People talk about events and accomplishments that go unmentioned when that person is around. And so it was with my grandma. I grew up in an era of raging debate over whether women should have jobs or stay home with their children. My mom worked and that was considered radical. It wasn't so radical, as it turns out.

My grandmother worked on the floor of a shoe factory as long as my dad can remember. She would get up at 6 a.m. and go to the basement to shovel coal in the furnace to heat the house. Then she'd make oatmeal before leaving for work. All grandpa had to do was wake up the kids and get them to school.

The kids got home from school around 3 p.m. Grandma was there by 4. There was no nanny and no after school programs.

After many years of the factory work, grandma helped start a credit union for the workers. She got it up and running and then became the president and chief executive, a position she held for about 20 years.

Throughout her career, she carried the responsibility for keeping the house clean and the household running all without a dishwasher or a microwave. She had a washing machine, but she had to boil water for it and then run the clothes through a ringer. The clothes were hung outside to dry.

In high school grandma was on a championship women's hockey team and the volley ball team. And in 1981, she won an award for getting a perfect Cribbage hand during a state tournament.

I am even more in awe of this lady. And I'm much more appreciative of my gas heat that comes on automatically before I wake up, my dishwasher, my quick-cooking microwave, and my washing machine and drier. I will no longer complain that it takes almost 70 minutes to get the clothes dry.

Good bye Grandma

A very special lady passed away on October 17, 2007 at 10:20 p.m. She was Dorothy Heldt, mother to my father.

My grandma had dozens of grandchildren and great grandchildren and even a few great-great grandchildren, and yet she made me feel as special as if I were her only one. She did that for all of us. She always remembered our birthdays. She picked out Christmas presents for each one of us as long as she could. She kept our pictures all over her walls even as the space grew smaller when she moved from her home into assisted living and finally to a nursing home. She was always interested in everything we did. She'd collect stories about cute things this one said or did and pass them on to anyone who would listen. She had a great sense of humor and she was incredibly generous. I don't think she ever met a Democrat she didn't like, or at least she wouldn't admit it if she did. For as along as I remember, she collected donkeys. It started when she needed one for a fund raiser and grew from there. Her grandchildren kept a sharp eye out for them whenever they shopped. If she ever got sick of getting them, she never let on to us.

Her home was always open to us. I spent two summers with her while working at the local cannery during college. Those were precious days when I got to hear about what things were like when she was young and how she started teaching before getting married. Mostly though, she listened to me over dinner at the Pizza Hut or ice cream at the Dairy Queen.

She was strong willed and opinionated. I didn't always like that when I was young because her ideas on child rearing were different from my mom's and I liked my mom's better. Now that I have more children (5) then grandma had (4) I agree with her more than my mom, who had just 2.

Although I am sad to have to say good bye, I thank God for giving her to me for so many years. I am blessed to be the granddaughter of Dorothy Heldt.

These are a few of the things I learned from her:

• If you want to have friends, be a friend.
• Your community is what you make of it, get involved.
• If you believe something is important, support it.
• Cribbage is a game of strategy but it can't be won without a little luck.

Ski Lessons

Back when I was an actively skiing avid skier, we would often say, "If you're not falling down, you're not pushing yourself hard enough."

I remember as a new skier looking at double black diamond slopes that dropped straight down and thinking I had no interest. I thought people who did that were slightly off their rocker. But it turns out that I'm an adrenaline junky. It seems that once I've figured out how to do something, I need to to move on to something harder to keep my interest. The green slopes that once felt so high and steep to me eventually felt flat. The Blues kept my interest for awhile but then I conquered them. The black diamonds weren't far behind, which is how I found myself one day standing at the top of a cliff scared out of my mind but nearly certain that once I leaped off I would be able to stay upright. I didn't, at least not right away.

I find these lessons to hold true to knitting. It's not quite the adrenaline rush of skiing, but it's as much of a mind challenge. This stole on which I'm working - it's probably a black diamond. I'm falling down a lot. But, I'm learning a lot and I'm having a blast with it. It certainly has my attention!

Novel Ideas

The Internet world is a great place where one thing leads to another and another and another. On the Secret of the Stole, there's a post about a group that encourages people to write a 50,000-word novel in a month! That's about 1,700 words a day, which I've done, as a reporter. No problem, I thought. Of course, all my writing is news, commentary and corporate requests. I don't do non-fiction. But out of curiosity, I decided to see how long it would take. Somewhere between 45 minutes and two hours - it's very hard to tell given all the interruptions from my various children and the intervening phone calls. The result is a story about Halloween in a world very much like my own. The whole bit about the Ariel costume - a little too true. If you have some extra time, and are curious, you can find it on my new blog: http://knitterwrites.blogspot.com/

If I lose my good sense and decide to take on the novel-writing challenge, I'll post the results there too.

Meanwhile, I'm ready to launch into number 2 clue for the stole. The pics are from clue 1, finished Thursday. This time, I'm going to try marking the chart and putting in corresponding stitch markers to see if it helps me keep my place.

A happy dance a la Dora

We did it! We did it!

We cast on 56 stitches and we knitted around and around. We did it! We did it!

We knit a mock cable cuff and turned it upside down. We did it! We did it!

We turned the heel and decreased back to 56! We did it! We did it!

We knitted to the end and then we kitchnered! We did it! We did it!

Any of you with children under the age of 10 will recognize that as the victory song that wraps up a Dora the Explorer show. The rest of you just think I'm really strange.

Having two children under the age of 5, we hear the show enough that we all go around singing it to celebrate. I caught my ds, 12, singing it after taking out the garbage. (and you thought I was strange)

I finished up with what is quite likely the world's worst kitchner stitch. It's supposed to look just like knitting, right? Not mine. There's a distinct ridge. I'm just happy to have finally figured out the pattern for it - knit off, purl leave on, knit off, purl leave on,...etc. Maybe the next one will be better.

Following the good advice of my friend and veteran sock knitter Lisa over at Saratoga Knits, I immediately cast on for the next one of the pair. I need to get these done - it's getting cold outside.

My dh who thinks I knit too much was even impressed - "It's a "real" sock! One you can actually wear," he said in amazement. The backstory on the comment is that one time for Christmas he was given a pair of red and white striped socks knitted in worsted weight. They would have made fine house slippers, but he's not the sort to wear house slippers.

For some silly reason, when I finished the sock I turned my attention to my satellite studio - aka the coffee table in the living room that has drawers for all my knitting stuff. What a tangled up nightmare - half done projects, needles scattered throughout, pages of patterns, notions that had snuck out of their carry bags. I was shocked, shocked to see what a mess I've made! If I were my one of my kids, I would have given me a good sound lecture. "If you care about your things, you should take care of them. You expect me to buy you new yarn when this is how you treat the yarn you've got? No wonder you're complaining about never having enough, it's all hiding here."

I thought I was being good and putting everything back when I was done with it. I thought I was keeping projects together neatly in their own bags. Maybe some gremlins came in at night and had a party, right?

I do have one organizing tip that is working - I keep the pattern and all relevant tips and instructions in a folder along with a swatch of the project. I even printed out the items on three-holded paper and got the folders for reports that have the posts for the holes. It doesn't fit well in a small project bag, but does keep everything together.

Sox on Fox, Fox on Sox

I am sooooooooo close to finishing my first grown-up size sock that I can feel it on my foot! BUT, and it is a big one...I need to learn to read directions more closely, apparently. I have a number of references resources that I am using to guide me through this process because I'm working on Magic Loop and my pattern has very specific instructions for dpns and because, frankly, I'm really nervous about this coming out right. After reading through everything many times, I thought the guides said start decreasing 2.5 inches before the length of the sock.

You experienced sock knitters should all be smugly smiling now, shaking your heads because you know that it's 2.5 inches before the length of your foot, not the length of the sock. Otherwise, the sock will be about an inch short, as mine almost was.

I thought I was at the end, but I put it on and my poor big toe was sticking out all by itself, sad not to be covered up like its buddies. I scoured the directions again and found my mistake. Ribbet, ribbet.

I'm not discouraged, not in the least. I know the next sock will go better. I do like socks, Sam I Am, I will knit them in the rain and on a train and I will knit them in a box, I do so like knitting sox. Okay, maybe not in the rain, but certainly when it's raining.

The frogging was nothing compared to the undoing of the Secret of the Stole. Having made it to the end of clue 1, I realized I just couldn't live with the problem I'd noticed earlier but tried to ignore. So I went backwards, which was no easy task since I had no idea where I ended up. I had to lift the stitches off the row one by one and check the chart to find out where I was. Then I had to figure out what had happened to the missing stitches. Though I'm not making progress in the visible sense of finishing the pattern, I did learn a lot about knitting - reading charts and understanding what the stitches should look like. I wonder if it's possible to follow a chart without counting - just by looking at where the yo and decreases should be relative to the previous row. Use the force Luke

pics to follow later - batteries on both cameras are shot!

A good yarn

If you're in the market for some beautiful yarn, check out LoriBird's newly opened shop on Etsy. The colors are fabulous and I can personally attest to the softness. Lori recently moved from Alaska to Maine is a fiber artist extraordinaire.

Happy Columbus Day

Fall has arrived. It's 58 degrees and rainy for our day off. But it's not too bad because we've been so spoiled. It was around 80 degrees on Saturday - almost too hot to be outside except that I knew it would soon be too cold so we went anyway. This is low tide at Nahant Beach, northeast of Boston. People come to here to fly kites so big they can actually pull along a scooter. They roll around pretty fast along the beach that stretches about a mile or so along the shore. I suppose that works well unless the wind dies down after you've been blown a good distance from where you parked.

We drove out in the Jeep with the top down figuring that it was our last chance for an open air drive. The little girls wore their pink Red Sox caps and kept their hands clampled on their heads so they wouldn't lose them. At the beach, they were thrilled to run just as fast as they could as far as they could. I brought knitting along, but given my last experience working in the Jeep (and having the pattern blow away) I opted to keep the project safely under the seat.

Bead much fun

I intended to order a tiny crochet hook when I ordered my yarn for the Secret of the Stole, but as so often happens around here, I was distracted while working on the computer and forgot what I was doing. With yarn in hand, I was too eager to get started to run to the store, so I improvised. (My philosophy in life is that success is 10 percent preparation and 90 percent improvisation.)

Here is what I came up with - a very cheap and easy alternative. I used a thin wire folded in half. I hook the wire into the loop I want to bead and lift it off the needle. I then slip the bead over the wire and down over the loop. Next, I put the loop back on the needle and continue knitting. I don't know if it's as fast or simple as a crochet hook, but it works in a pinch. I used a headpin for making beaded earrings and clipped off the tip. I found that the best length is about an inch long. Any longer is unwieldy. I also found it's best to fold the wire in half so that both sides are the same length.

The yarn is Shadow from Knitpicks - It's called Sunset, but it's more the color of a tasty glass of Merlot.

muggles

My dh saw me knitting a sock and in a moment of sheer perplexity said, "Honey, I think you need to join knitters anonymous." Well that's sort of what this blog world is isn't it? We are a great support group. Only the goal isn't - nor should it be - to quit something. Instead, we urge each other on and encourage each other to reach new heights with sticks and strings. Maybe what the man needs is his own pair of hand knit socks! Which is good, because I really don't have enough projects cast on already.

I contend that it's not that I have too many projects on my to do list, it's that I don't have enough hours in the day. Unfortunately, that's not something I can order on line. At least I know I'm not alone in this "gift" of having many ongoing projects. I've been noticing several other knitters mentioning the same issue.

I mentioned the yarn buy on the way to the football game. Here a few pics of the quarterback who was the whole reason I was driving up in Northern Mass. in the first place. My ds (#12) is on the little side, but he's quick and determined. That earned him the quarter back slot. I'm not a huge football fan, but this kid is fun to watch. He just doesn't stay down. He's like the energizer bunny of pop warner football. He has so much fun on the field it's exciting to see him play. His determination is inspiring. He gets knocked down and he pops right back up. Other players try to tackle him and he just keeps running, sometimes dragging them along behind him. Just one more yard... (just one more row). My recalcitrant student who does not like to study even made flash cards so he could learn all the complex plays. Maybe someday he'll even be designing a few of his own.

But he's 12. After the game, after I drove an hour to watch him play, he wanted to ride home with his friends. Of course, I know I'm not supposed to take that personally.

stash building dilemma

I am somewhat dismayed to have found a lack of lace weight yarn in my local stores. I do, however, understand that there is only so much room in the shop and there are so many options to offer. Thankfully, there is the internet where space is virtually unlimited.

Ordering on the Internet brings up an interesting issue. All I needed was three balls of lace weight yarn at $2.98 a ball for the Secret of the Stole project. But since I can't really tell what the colors are, I wanted to order two colorways. Still, the price tag isn't too high. But then I saw the magnetic lace chart and that looks useful. And, I've been wanting to try the knitpicks options so I added in a set of 4s and a cable. Now bill is just $10 shy of free shipping. It turns out, however, that free shipping takes 5 to 14 days. It would cost about $10 for 3-day shipping.

So here are my options:

A. Stay with what I have and pay $5 for regular shipping.

B. Pay the extra $10 ensure that the yarn arrives before the KAL starts.

C. Add in a few balls of yarn for a baby hat I've been wanting to knit and get the free shipping.

D. Add in a few balls of yarn and pay $10 for faster shipping so I can get it all right away.

It's like a personality test!

I was really tempted to pony up the extra dough for the quick shipping since I am an instant gratification sort of gal. But I took a deep breath and made an honest assessment of the projects I already have going and opted for the slower stash building option C.

I was feeling very frugal and practical and proud of myself. A little too smug as it turns out.

Later that afternoon, I went North to my son's football game. We got there early. There was a yarn shop nearby. I hadn't brought any knitting with me. (You know where this is going, don't you?)

In less than ten minutes (all I could convince my daughter to give me) I had found yarn, needles and a pattern for socks. Of course, the only needles in the shop long enough for my preferred Magic Loop method were Addi Turbos and the self-striping yarn is from Italy. These will be by far the most expensive socks I own. In fact, they cost more than my entire existing sock wardrobe.

If I am successful, this will be my first full-size pair of socks. So far, I've only done wee ones.

Rock On!

I blog into the vastness of the Internet, hoping that somehow, somewhere my words and pictures are resonating with someone. I know we're all busy - sometimes too busy - but somehow we find time to connect across the miles if only briefly. With this blog, I hope to amuse, inspire and encourage my friends and fellow knitters sharing the ups and downs of my own knitting and sometimes life experiences. Is it working? I don't know. But I do know my fab buddy Allison from the left coast has nominated me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger! That flash of white you see is from teeth as I grin with glee. I don't know how this phenomenon got started - but I do think it's a very nice thing. People aren't recognized often enough for the good things they do. I love reading people's blogs. I don't have the time to go out of the house to a weekly knitting group but my blogging friends are an excellent alternative. I love seeing everybody's projects and hearing about their lives. I love that everyone is so quick to jump in with advice and encouragement as called for. I am by far a better knitter because of it.

Now I'm supposed to tag 5 Rockin' Girl Bloggers. As usual, I'm behind the curve so lots of my favs have already been tagged.

Allison would be on the list, but she's already tagged me and I'm not sure there are tag backs.

Janice at Willow Way probably got a bunch of tags - but she deserves them all for sharing with us her great recipes.

Lori Bird formerly of Alaska and now hailing from Maine has also been nominated, but she can do with an extra one because she spins and knits.

Lisa over at Saratoga Knits definitely deserves a nod. She's having fun learning to spin and she can knit a mean sock or two.

Danielle at the Knitting niche is amazingly productive. Her projects run the range from socks to sweaters to squids. She's already gotten started on her Christmas projects, putting us procrastinators to shame.

And if you want to see a sock explosion, a really inspiring volcano of them, check out Monica's site. She has other great projects posted and she gets the award for the most fun url - worksforyarn

Put a little mystery in your knitting

My name is Jennifer, and I am a knitting addict. True, I have many, many projects on the sticks, but then I read my friend Danielle's post about the Secret of the Stole. It was just too tempting, never mind that I'm in the midst of a lace now shawl. So I signed up. the pattern will be revealed over time starting in October and ending in November. It's a lace and bead shawl that is 19 inches wide and ?? inches long. Here's a clue: It takes 1,200 yards.



This is kind of what happens in life, I find. Things just creep into your schedule. You say no, no, no and then all of a sudden, you're in the PTO, teaching Sunday School, babysitting the neighbor's dog and writing a blog. My theory is the more you try to do the more you can do (does that explain why I have 5 kids?). I just hope it holds true to knitting.

Smart Knitting

I am the smartest person in the entire world! Okay, maybe not the smartest person, but I am feeling incredibly clever having finally figured out how to read and follow the complex charts for the North Roe Shawl from my French-language Knit-a-Long. Okay, maybe it's not that complex, but I'm a newbie.

I understood the first chart well enough. Following it was another issue altogether. Eventually, having tinked, frogged and reknit enough times I got through it. The real problem came with the repeat. The chart had 31 lines and said repeat lines 11 - 31. Well to the uniniated, that seems pretty impossible given that the shawl by now has expanded well past the number of squares in line 11! I figured out that there was a need to repeat some portion of the line but no matter how I charted it out, it didn't seem to fit. I became like a woman obsessed carrying the chart with me and pulling it out to stare at it and calculate and recalculate.

Finally, I saw it - and it was so obvious I should be more embarrassed that I didn't see it sooner - on most lines, there is an increase of just one box, but in line 11, there are two extra boxes to accommodate an extra increase. Et voila! the pattern suddenly fits.

Here are my newly-learned tips about knitting lace :

• if you are struggling, count stitches frequently - that way you can figure out quickly if you've made a mistake.
• follow the pattern backwards on purl rows - this also helps pick up mistakes quickly.
• Try to learn the pattern as quickly as possible so you understand where yarn overs and decreases should fall. If they seem to be coming at the wrong places, stop and check your work.
• Make many, many copes of the chart and leave them around the house so you can always find them.

Knitting babes for teenage cancer patients

Knitters are among the most generous people I've ever met. We hear about someone in need and our first instinct is to whip out the sticks. There are a lot of good causes to get involved in it's hard to choose which to do first. This call, however, really caught my attention - maybe because I have teenagers.

The administrator of http://www.chemocaps.com/ is organizing a drive to make Knitted Babes for teenage cancer patients. Here's how it got started:

"Recently I had a few special requests from oncology nurses on behalf of two teenage cancer patients who were rooming together while struggling through chemotherapy as inpatients. Apparently one of the gals received from someone the "Knitted Babes" book and not wanting to appear childish but wanting a soft "grown up looking" doll of her own to cling to, she requested a knitted babe doll....................but from who.....nobody she knew, knew how to knit and this gal was definitely too sick to learn.The nurse manager emailed me to see if I could fulfill this wish and my good friend Brenda (The Analyzing Knitter Blog) http://analyzingknitter.typepad.com/ came to the rescue. "

The full story can be found on the Knitted Babes website. There are many other young patients who would love to have one of these darling dolls. These dolls are quick and fun to make. They each develop their own quirky personality. I've made them using worsted weight as well as with the lighter weight called for in the book. I can't imagine a better pick-me-up for a young adult going through the trauma of cancer treatments.

For more info, you can also email the organizer directly at: Knittingdiva1@aol.comwww.chemocaps.com

The Cake Dance and other lessons from a 2yo

My fourth youngest has started kindergarten, which has given me some enjoyable one-on-one time with my fifth youngest, now 2. I have learned some new things from her. Water is also known as lello, a suitcase is a kookcase and Dora is a bigger hero than Superman. But the most important thing I've learned lately is about making cakes.

When you make a cake, it is very important to first do the cake making dance. It's a little hopping, hip shaking, arm raising number that you are supposed to perform in the kitchen before you begin baking. It is a prelude to getting out the ingredients but can be expanded to include that step. The dance is performed with a song that goes something like this: (you get to make up the melody)

"We're going to make a cake, we're going to make a cake, we're going to m-a-k-e-a-c-a-k-e, MAKE A CAKE."

When properly performed, this dance and song help the cake rise higher, prevents burning and makes the cake tastier.

I've also learned that the world does not actually crumble if you got to toddler school in your pajamas, especially if it means getting your older sister to school on time.