All That Ends Well...

Thursday. Two rows of Hyrna Herborgar left to finish.

4:45 am: Fix cup of coffee and sit down at kitchen table. Sip coffee. Sigh with utter contentment. Pick up Hyrna and knit two stitches.

4:46 am: Hear frantic squeaking and thumping in the dining room.

4:47 am: Separate cat from adorable little bunny rabbit. Bunny hops frantically around the living room caroming off windows, furniture, and fragile pottery. Cat hops frantically in my arms.

4:48 am: Yell for spouse, who tears down stairs in the altogether. Cat and I watch spouse chase bunny around the house with a colander and cookie sheet. (Note to self: Next time, grab camera instead of cat).

5:02 am: Spouse flops colander on top of bunny, slides cookie sheet underneath bunny, and removes squeaking animal from house.

5:04: am: Release cat, bandage arm, wipe bloodstains off cat, replace shredded nightgown. Remove bunny fur from furniture and spouse. Sweep up shattered pottery.

5:30 am: Resume position at kitchen table. Pick up Hyrna. Knit three stitches.

5:32 am: Oven timer beeps. And beeps. And beeps. Oven panel flashes an F1 error code.

5:40 am: Flip off oven circuit breaker and leave message on repairman's answering machine.

5:45 am: Resume position at kitchen table. Make fresh cup of coffee. Pick up Hyrna.

6:15 am: Finish row. Turn knitting. Knit 1 stitch.

6:16 am: Aliens land in back yard.

7:00 am: Finish printing out MapQuest directions to White House and give to aliens.

7:01 am: Pick up empty bottles of Romulan Ale tossed into the pachysandra by aliens.

7:30 am: Resume position at kitchen table. Check in on Ravelry.

9:00 am: Finish replying to numerous hysterical and/or angry postings about several tempests in a molehill. Or mountains in a teapot. Either mixed metaphor is an excellent description.

9:01 am: Pick up Hyrna and knit two stitches. Spouse wanders into kitchen and makes noise. Drop stitches.

10:00 am: Pick up stitches, perform successful stitch count, and knit three stitches.

10:01 am: House cleaner arrives and flips on the Vacuum Cleaner of Doom.

10:02 am: Pack up Hyrna and do actual, for-pay work.

2:35 pm: Spouse takes cat to vet for annual shots, House cleaner gives one final vrooom and exits.

2:36 pm: Resume position at kitchen table and pick up Hyrna. Finish row.

3:30 pm: Pick up crochet hook and begin binding off.

3:45 pm: Spouse returns with highly annoyed cat. Drop stitches.

4:00 pm: Fix dropped stitches. Delete hate mail from Ravelry mailbox.

4:20 pm: Flock of frolicking dragons land in front yard, torching hydrangeas.

4:22 pm: Chase dragons out of yard with fire extinguisher.

5:02 pm: Clean up dragon rubble. Replace smoke-damaged t-shirt. Notice alien ship teetering precariously in prize Japanese maple.

5:35 pm: Finish printing out directions to Kremlin because White House refused aliens entry (more than 3 ounces of shampoo in gift box). Give aliens several plastic trash bags and instructions for use.

6:45 pm: Finish Hyrna and pin out.

7:30 pm: Sit down to write blog post.

7:31 pm: Harry turns on karaoke machine and begins a horrific rendition of "I Like The Nightlife" (Alicia Bridges).

7:32 pm: Rip karaoke machine plug out of wall. Chase annoying spider with can of Raid. Spider tweaks pins out of Hyrna and tosses said pins into waterbed.

7:34 pm: Carefully tweeze pins out of waterbed. Patch holes.

9:00 pm. Re-pin Hyrna.

10:10 pm: Take photos.











Pattern: Hyrna Herborgar

by Sigridur Halldorsdottir from Thrihyrnur og langsjol / Three-cornered and long shawls

Needles: Size #4
Yarn: Hamanaka Parfait (55% mohair, 45% silk), 1 ball each white, black, light gray, dark gray

More Bling!

Harry tossed his finished Bling shawl center at me this morning as he sashayed out of the house for his morning sauna/massage. He instructed me to photograph it (with feeling) and post the pictures and text (with alacrity). Since he is holding my ebony needles hostage, I must obey.

Here's a boring face-on shot of the center:

And a pseudo-arty shot so he can't accuse me of slighting his work...


Apparently, after crawling around the center for an hour or two, Harry is having second thoughts about the Really Wide Border. (Of course he is--he just can't leave well enough alone).

He says he might adapt the border of the Black Window Spider King for his Bling shawl. It's a more interesting knit and is slightly smaller, too. He pointed out that he might run out of yarn if he stuck with the original design and thus, I would have to go around begging for another cone of Colourmart's Japanese Maple cash/silk.

After thinking about it, I have to admit that Harry has a point. We already have the trapezoidal shape worked out and adapting the spectacular border to a triangle shape would provide an opportunity to fool around with the pattern yet again (fun!).

And finally, Harry says he absolutely refuses to endure the boredom of a knitted-on border, so he is in the throes of adapting an Estonian/ Icelandic/German border to suit the contemplated changes.


Does this litany of changes sound familiar? The gods of Shetland Knitting are poking out their eyes with tridents, lightning bolts, and swizzle sticks.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

The Good
The Trenna transfusion arrived today and it's virtually a perfect match. With a bit of medical magic, we got Hanabi off the heart-lung machine and she is convalescing comfortably, thanks to the precision science of Dr. Schaefer. We expect a quick, complete recovery and she is being returned to the daily knitting agenda.

On the down side of the Good News, we submitted Hanabi's hospital bill to Blue Cross/Blue Shield and they rejected the claim for $376,298.14. Although Hanabi is on our policy as a dependent, BC/BS won't cover experimental patterns. Fortunately for our financial picture, the hospital took the heart-lung machine in trade for their impeccable services.

Having freed up a bit of space in the garage, we were moving some boxes of blue ketchup around and discovered a miniature nuclear reactor behind the stack of fifth grade arithmetic tests. Roy tinkered with the connections and eventually got the reactor hooked up to the new ball winder. He is now freed up for his secondary job--machining a set of perfect lace needles.


For those concerned about Lester, rest assured that he is taking a well-deserved break in Cancun and is expected to return in a few weeks to take over the ball-winding chores.


We were delighted to discover that Lester has a degree in nuclear engineering. He is only the second hamster to have passed the intensive course and we are quite proud of him.


The Bad
I will not present a visual of this disaster, because it's too horrific for publication. While carefully tinking back my International shawl, I uncarefully managed to drop 4 stitches. By the time I noticed the error, the stitches had plunged over 20 rows, thereby completely unknitting the middle of a complex flower. The shawl is hidden from view in an unused drawer. If I ever find the energy, I will frog it back, but don't hold your collective breaths.

The Ugly
I won't present a picture of this either, but if you haven't seen the cover of the Spring, 2008 Knitter's magazine, you are not in for a treat. My eyes watered at the fluorescent pink and green colors, and my fingers started itching at the hairy yarn. I won't even comment on the design, except to say that the yarn and the pattern were made for each other. Roy was more charitable--he remarked that at least someone made an effort to match the model's lipstick to the yarn. The on-line version doesn't begin to reproduce the glare, but I provided a link so you can prepare yourself for the real-life photograph.

A Knitting Miscellany

A camel ride wasn't my only anniversary gift. I also received this magnificent hand-turned yarn bowl out of which balls (or pink flamingos) cannot leap...


...and a magnificent hand-turning ball winder from Nancy's KnitKnacks. I cannot overstate how fabulously quick and neat this unit turns skeins into shapely yarn cakes.



One of the disadvantages of skeins is that you can't actually do much with them besides admiring and squishing. So I filled a large bag from my stash and turn it over to Roy, who has been graciously exercising his winding arm. It was a rare treat to sit down for an entire afternoon and make little test swatches.

One of the swatches was so entrancing that it has since morphed into a new project I have named the Water Lily shawl. I think the pattern works beautifully with the soft variegation of Cheryl Schaefer's Andrea in the Minnie Pearl colorway.


In the meantime, I finished the center of the International shawl and worked my way up through most of the first border, an Estonian design (a modified #113 from Pitsilised Koekirjad). I was feeling like an especially hot-needle babe, until LaceFreak pointed out that my corners were not where they were supposed to be. I won't show you a picture of the poor shawl, which is currently underwater in the Frog Pond.

And finally, Harry handed me these pictures of his Bling shawl as he pranced out the door for his Swing Dancing class. Bling, Swing, AnnoyING.

A Trenna Tragedy

There I was, motoring along peacefully, enjoying the pleasant pattern and lovely colors, when suddenly, the gas gauge light flickered on. I tapped the gauge (can't hurt), but after about ten minutes of silly, superstitious behavior, I finally conceded that I was going to run out of yarn before I finished my Hanabi normality shawl.

I zoomed onto the Information Highway and carefully inspected Little Knits' Trenna offerings, but there was no burgundy mixture to be had. I emailed Sue, who regretfully informed me that burgundy was completely sold out.

Looking down at Hanabi, I started to panic and headed straight for...


The medical team sprang into action immediately, administering emergency life support.


They stabilized Hanabi and put her on oxygen.


But, they informed me, she wasn't going to make it unless she received a yarn transfusion fairly soon.

Fortunately, Sue had a solution: Send a sample to Dr. Schaefer, who would try synthesizing a compatible color in her research lab.

In the meantime, Hanabi remains in a coma, kept alive, thanks to the heart-lung machine we found in the garage.


And Dr. Roy rigged up an emergency generator in case of power failure. We are all hoping Dr Schaefer is successful and can create matching donor yarn before Lester here, gets tired.

The Bling Shawl

Hello to all of my faithful, adoring fans! Harry is back!

floogle has been ignoring me for the past few months, probably because I've been sulking and giving her a richly deserved silent treatment. There are abundant reasons for my aloof snit, believe me. For example, flargle absolutely refused to allow my extended family to take up residence in the guest bathroom. She further objected to the immense, artistic web my devoted friends and I carefully wove around the barbecue. And she demanded that I return half the Niebling patterns. freegle clearly lacks Family Values, a Sense of Humor, and she certainly doesn't have a clue about Sharing.

In return for the shabby treatment here at Chez freeble, I commandeered her boring, traditional version of The Spring Shawl and reinterpreted it to make it more tasteful, elegant, and appealing. I am calling it The Bling Shawl.


As you can see from the sample below, my version is quite an improvement over the original.


While the motifs are actually identical to Sharon Miller's, I abandoned the yawnworthy names like "bead and diamond" for more exciting designations, such as "Hello Kitty." I have finished the first chart, which mostly consisted of a ground of Boiled Sticky Rice, and am currently working my way up the Chortling Fish.

The center triangle still has some Sticky Rice clinging to the edges, but as I progress upwards, you'll get to view my magnificent Daruma Dolls, Maneki Neko (Beckoning Cats), Mice Seated On Upside-Down Samurai Hats, and finally, a row of Hello Kitties.

I do appreciate flarble's loan of her precious Holz & Stein ebony needles. They are truly worthy of my knitting. She doesn't deserve them.

And now, my devoted readers, It's time for my pedicure (a time-consuming process, alas), so I will have to bid you Sayonara. Until I can get florgle off the laptop and out of my leg fur again, I remain

Your Truly Giant Knitting Spider,

Harry

The Flighty Waffle

It's dangerous for me to rootle in my stash closet. I was cleaning out some Stash of Shame the other day, and a cone of Colourmart 3/45 Japanese Maple (courtesy of LaceFreak) fell on my head. I'll get to the waffle in a minute.

I picked it up, admired it, and before you could say Waffle, I had cast on another sample for the Spring shawl.


I love the lavender, but the red shows the pattern so much better.

I'm waffling.

A Bit of Lace

For the past few weeks, I've been working on a shawl for the Little Knits Trenna contest. The challenge was to create a shawl that would flaunt Trenna's exuberant colorways, but be both visually interesting and simple enough for beginners.

A little bit of it is shown here.



The pattern is a feather-and-fan variation, the original of which creates horizontal patterning. Because I am knitting this as a normality shawl, the stripes become vertical and the lower edge scallops naturally.

After I had knit a fair amount, I decided it looked nice, but rather blah--it needed something for visual impact.I don't really care for beading, so I plan to weave a ribbon rose garland into the yarnovers, either at the top, lower edge, or in the central spine. The beads and the fuzzy ball of mohair are destined for the knitted rose closure.

After a week of feathering and fanning, though, my psyche demanded something a bit more challenging. I flipped through my pattern books and decided to try my hand at Heirloom Knitting's Spring shawl. Ten samples later, I opted for Colourmart's cashmere-silk in Dark Lavender. Oooo, it;s such nice stuff! I originally bought it to do Princess, but LaceFreak is knitting hers in this color, so I put the yarn aside for something else.

I haven't gotten very far, but a little peek doesn't hurt.


The little Japanese bag is perfect as a cone holder, too.

And to give everyone a giggle after this bland, dry post, I include a link to one of the funniest newscasts I've ever watched. I sure hope it's a spoof!

A Normality Sweater

I love inventing ways to do things--the invention process is often so much more intriguing than actually knitting the object. Once I've worked out the principle, I find myself wishing for an apprentice who could just follow my notes so I don't actually have to knit the darn thing.

Alas, I have no apprentice (applications are being taken now!), so after figuring out how to work this sweet little sweater, I had to produce a finished object, otherwise nobody could figure out what I was babbling about.

What?
In this post, I will demonstrate the principles of sideways seamless construction, which can be applied to all sorts of useful and non-useful things--toys, hats, doorknob covers, whatever. Pithy directions follow all the picture stuff.

Why?
Sideways construction has several things to recommend it.

First of all, most people look, um, not so wonderful in horizontal stripes. But knitting a regulation sweater with vertical stripes is about as fun-filled as, say,sleeping on golf balls. Each stripe requires a different ball of yarn just waiting to tangle up with all the other balls of yarn dangling from the needle. If you forget to twist, you get a hole. Face it, you don't see a lot of striped intarsia sweaters. But knitting a vertically striped sweater sideways requires only that you change yarn color after each stripe. And you can decide on-the-fly just how wide you want the stripes to be.

Second, some types of yarn are inherently droopy--cotton and silk for example. Sideways construction can alleviate the tendency of these fibers to stretch and sag.

Thirdly, you can easily try on the sweater as you go along, as demonstrated by Larry in the accompanying picture essay.

And lastly, it's just fun to do things at a 90-degree angle. All sorts of interesting problems present themselves to be solved with incredible cleverness or brute force, depending on your attitude and and/or Clever Quotient.

So, onwards to the lesson.

How?
Here we have a perfectly normal little sleeve knitted in the round on two circular needles. Anyone who has knitted a tube will know how to do this. (If you don't, the Internet is full of information about this technique.) From this tiny acorn, we shall make a sweater grow.



First, we cast on the stitches for the front and back using my beloved Turkish cast-on. This fancy and exotic name just means: Wrap the yarn around two needles--couldn't be simpler.


The yarn is at the bottom front of the sweater, so I turn the needles over so the knit (right side) of the garment is facing me and knit back. I am putting a moss stitch band at the bottom edge. Alternatively, you could knit the entire garment plain and pick up the stitches later for a ribbed bottom edge.

You have to be a bit careful here to pick up the correct needle to knit back. If you do it wrong, you'll find you will get up to the sleeve and suddenly, the purl size is facing you. Whoops--better start over.

The sleeve stitches are now shoulder stitches.

As I cruise over the shoulder, a lovely sight greets my eye, namely, all the back stitches just waiting for me to knit up.


And so I do. Now I am at the lower edge of the sweater back.


I turn, and purl back to the front again.


Basically, I am knitting a U-shaped object. The curve is the shoulder and the legs are the front and back sides. Here we are a bit further along.


Continuing on, I finish the shoulder area. Here's a side view.


And then, the back and front must part ways for a while, because we do need a hole for the head. If you forget the hole, I suppose you could steek it, but that's way beyond my area of expertise. You are on your own if you decide to cut and sew.

For the neck area, instead of knitting back and forth over the entire garment, we shall knit the front back-and-forth and the back forth-and-back. Um. How about: The front and back are knitted separately to accommodate the neck area. The shapings are the same.

Once we have finished with the neck, the back and front have a joyous reunion at the shoulder.


When the second shoulder area is complete, I carefully isolate the sleeve stitches with markers because I tend to daydream and do stupid stuff like bind off the entire side, thus producing an inventive one-armed sweater. Do not ask me how I know this.

The yarn is at the bottom edge of the front. I turn the garment inside out and do a 3-needle bind-off up to the sleeve stitches.

And whipping out my trusty second circular, I finish off the second sleeve.

And finally, I pick up the neck stitches and do an inch of ribbing.


Here is the garment shown flat.


I used four colors of a weird yarn (Stampato Color Baby) that I found in a teeny yarn store somewhere. It's a nice 100% merino fingering weight and the garment needed about 300 yards with size 3 needles (size 2 for the ribbing). I changed colors every 12 rows, but if I were to knit a second sweater, I would use self-striping sock yarn, because weaving in all those ends were way too much trouble for a lazy knitter like me.

Pithy Directions

Using smaller needles, cast on 36 stitches and join in a circle.

Rib for 9 rounds (K2P2).

Knit 1 row.

Increase 4 stitches evenly across the next row. (40 stitches)

Change to larger needles and knit 1 row.

Increase 1 stitch at the beginning and end of every other round 9x. That is, increase 18 stitches. (58 stitches).

Cast on 39 stitches by wrapping the yarn around the needles 39 times. The 9 stitches at the bottom edges in the sample are worked in moss stitch. Alternatively, cast on 30 stitches and when you are finished with the rest of the sweater, pick up 96 stitches across the bottom and knit 9 rows of K2P2 ribbing.

Work 36 rows for the shoulder area.

Split for neck (front and back are worked identically):

Decrease 1 stitch at the neck edge 6x.

Knit 24 rows.

Increase 1 stitch at the neck edge 6x.

Join front and back by knitting without turning at the neck.

Knit 36 rows for the other shoulder.

Place markers for the sleeve--the easiest way is to count 39 stitches from the bottom edges of the front and back.

Turn the garment inside out and do a 3-needle bindoff of the body stitches. Or graft the 39 stitches together, if you like.

Place the 58 sleeve stitches on 2 circulars and decrease 1 stitch each side every other row 9x. (40 stitches)

Knit 1 row.

Decrease 4 stitches evenly across the next row. (36 stitches)

Change to smaller needles and knit 1 row.

Rib for 9 rounds (K2P2).

Pick up 96 stitches around the neck area with the smaller needles and rib for 9 rows.

Bind off really loosely--babys' heads are larger than you think they are.

Tischdecke Afghan Complete!

My first instinct, after I had finished the final stitch of this lovely piece, was to frog it so I could have the pleasure of knitting it again. The engaging design and the exquisite yarn melded into an incomparable knitting experience.


The design, which is on page 12 of Andrea #801 (you can buy it here), is lyrical, lacking a single boring or tedious stitch. Lisa Souza's inspired Mother of Pearl colorway added a subtle twinkle to the already soft and lustrous yarn--Petal--a 50% wool, 50% silk blend. I believe that Petal is actually Carrera aka Silk and Ivory from Henry's Attic--I have some of that and they seem to be the same thing.



This is the only design that I ever seriously considering knitting a second time, perhaps with cashmere silk.



The final size--74" in diameter--makes for a cozy and luxurious afghan. Roy was using it before I even blocked it. This version required about 2800 yards and was knit on a #5 needle.


It's difficult to see the exquisite coloration, but if you click on the picture below, you will be able to discern the pastel loveliness that Lisa gave this yarn.

Introducing Normality

Those of you who know me well (or even casually, I guess) would probably never put "fleegle" and "normality" in the same sentence unless there's a negative conjunction lurking somewhere between the two words.

Rest assured--I haven't misplaced my eccentricity, I am just talking about a different normality than, um, normal, that is, the geometric one:

normal. normals are lines that run perpendicular to a plane.

Wait! Don't go away! Normality is really a inspiring concept when applied to knitted objects. After fooling around with geometric normality for a day or two, I invented a seamless sideways sweater and a completely new shawl construction that begins in the center and works outward to the two ends.

The shawl begins with a provisional Turkish cast on. Each side is knitted by beginning in the center--the widest point--and decreasing at one edge until there are no stitches remaining. I illustrate the construction of the first and second half below. The top picture shows the first half being worked to the left. The shawl is then turned around, and the waiting provisional stitches are just knitted in the same way.



This construction has many intriguing and convenient aspects.

• The border is knitted at the same time as the shawl body, so there is never a need to pick up any stitches and knit on an interminable border.
  
  
• The shape is easily altered by changing the decrease rate. A faster rate of decrease produced a narrower shawl; a slower rate a wider one.
  
  
• The size is easily changed by adjusting the number of pattern repeats.
  
  
• If you have a knitting book with 300 patterns, it now contains 600 patterns, because normality shawls show patterns sideways. And trust me, you will be amazed at how lovely and unusual many patterns appear when you view them from a 90-degree angle.
  
  
• You start at the widest point and your progression leads to fewer and fewer stitches on the needle. As you become sicker and tireder of the pattern, you will whiz through the rows faster and faster.
  
  
• The construction allows for interesting top borders, a part of shawl anatomy that is usually neglected.
  
  
• It's simple to make a little swatch with two or three repeats and see how the pattern looks. The micro-shawl is cute and can be used to wrap a chilly teddy bear.

Furthermore, normality can be applied to rectangular shawls as well by decreasing at both edges like this (only the first half is shown):


I have knitted a prototype mini-sweater and started two normality shawls--one simple, and one-complex. I promise to bore you to tears with the designs in a later post. For now, you can study how I constructed a normality Shetland.

Lazy January

I haven't felt much like posting lately, but I have been knitting. I am up to row 105 on the International shawl and a bit more than halfway finished with the doily afghan. Afghan doily? Doifghan? Afly?


Harry has been mostly sleeping off a bad hangover for the past week, so I have nothing to report on his eggs.

Our gunsmith has been too ill to do anything with the needles I gave him several months ago. We decided to give knitting needle surgery a whirl, so we ordered a variety of tiny drills and a miniature drill press outfit. So far, we have read the manual, admired the teensy drill bits, and set up the drill press. We haven't quite gotten up the courage to turn the sucker on yet, but I figure in a week or so we'll be drilling and filling like pros. Or I will have a truly remarkable set of mutilated needles. I'll keep you posted.

Current Knitting

Harry demanded the front row seat of this post, so here is a stupid photograph of his current knitting.


I have no idea what he his doing, and persistent questioning from me only verified the fact that he does have a wicked right-right-right-right hook.

Thanks to the bitterly cold weather, I was finally impelled to begin a project that has been in the back of my mind since last summer. The original pattern is presented as a tablecloth, but by knitting it in Lisa Souza's luscious Petal yarn (50% silk, 50% merino,Mother of Pearl colorway), I have successfully turned the tablecloth into an afghan.


The pattern, brilliantly named Tablecloth (Tischdecke), has appeared in many German knitting magazines, almost always partnered with a smaller version. I am working with the one on page 12 of Andrea #801.

Those of you who have been here before have heard me mumble about the International Shawl, but I never gave much of an explanation. The project developed during the pre-Christmas lull, when several of us were casting about (little pun there) for something new and different to fling on our needles.

Someone, I think it was Laritza, but it might have been me, suggested a mutant shawl composed of patterns from several countries. After much consultation, LaceFreak, MissAliceFaye, Laritza, and myself agreed that the center of this shawl would be the delectable item shown on page 64 of Naoko Ichida's Knitted Lace Designs Book 2--a compilation of Niebling treasures. The center is either Japanese or German--we haven't exactly worked out the provenance yet.

Following the center will be an inner border of Laurel Leaf pattern from Victorian Lace Today. LaceFreak and I are tossing about ideas for what should follow. You can see her progress here. We are actually neck and neck, progress-wise, but she is clearly more talented at taking pictures.

As with all circular shawls, this one is difficult to photograph. By snitching the largest of Harry's eggs, I was able to capture a decent photo of the center, even though it sort of resembles a blue cabbage. The blue is actually darker than shown, but you get the idea. As of this morning, I am on row 91--well into the twisty little flower area.



And of course, there's a bit of sock knitting going on too. The munchkin-sized fleegle sock is being knitted with Mystical Creations merino in the Mother Earth colorway.


Just as a little aside, I was thumbing through some knitted mag the other day and saw an ad for Little Knits. She has 700 different yarns in her shop. I want to go live there. See the link in my sidebar for her Web page, but don't blame me if your credit card leaps out of your wallet and gloms onto your monitor.

Paton's Shawl Eye Candy

Not only was the pattern weird, it blocked weirdly too--sort of a pie-shape. It doesn't matter--it's pretty and feels lovely.



The shawl was knitted with Shakun silk/cashmere on #5 needles. Details of this shawl, and the pattern links, are available here . Some of the pattern was made up, because the original had so many errors. Adaptations are described here. I should add that the shawl took about 1000 yards--half of what was required for the original. As my border was actually larger, I shall just add this discrepancy to the long list of goofs in this pattern.

On to the International Shawl--LaceFreak and I are neck and neck on row 78-ish. I also started a tablecloth afghan...details next time!

Important Notice About Questions
Just to remind everyone...if you want a response from me, you really need to give me a clue about reaching you. I have had several queries in the past few weeks, but no email address or blog link was provided. Although I am a competent mind reader, I do need something to focus on. My email address is listed in my blog profile (Google for "fleegle user profile" if you don't have a Blogger profile yourself), so anyone can get in touch with me via that address. I am also on Ravelry and Knitter's Review under the name of fleegle. Thanks!

Knitting With Political Principles

The Paton's shawl is finished! I need to block it, so the pictures will have to wait for next time. It was a pleasant knit for the most part, although I didn't enjoy the frequent pattern bloopers sprinkled throughout the design. Shakun's silk/cashmere yarn, though, was so exquisite that I would have been equally happy knitting a feed sack. Just touching it made up for the, erm, pattern mis-speaks.

I didn't care for the original edging, so I mostly used the one from Marianne Kinzel's Rose of England teacloth, which you can find in her Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting.

The fit wasn't exact; to make it work, I used the George W. Bush Principle of Government--If the World View doesn't fit the actual facts, Just Make Stuff Up. This method was more successful for me than for George, probably because the fudging I applied did not involve information from the CIA, vice-presidents, or assorted bad guys wanting a get-out-of-jail-free card.

Should anyone ask me exactly how I managed melding the new border to the old shawl, I am afraid I will have to fall back on the Bill Clinton/Ronald Reagan Principle of Government: I Don't Recall. This particular principle didn't originate with those two, of course. I suspect that it was originally coined by Eve when questioned about her fruit-eating habits. But it's a fabulous principle to knit by, especially as we get older.

As I was inching my way across the interminable crocheted bind-off, I starting musing about other immortal political sayings that could be worked into knitting. And of course, I thought I would share them with you, in lieu of eye candy.

Just Say No.
--Nancy Reagan

A principle I apply to dishcloths, argyle socks, seaming, and hideous, droopy knitted bags.

My fellow Americans, I am pleased to tell you I just signed legislation which outlaws Russia forever. The bombing begins in five minutes.
--Ronald Reagan

Yes, he actually said this on August 11, 1984, during a sound check. He didn't realize the mike was live. Whoops. I would love to have been a fly on the Kremlin wall when that sound bite came wafting over the airwaves. I doubt Gorbachev noticed the grammatical error contained within this, um, bombshell. In any case, I use this principle frequently by substituting the project name in question for "Russia" and "frogging" for bombing.

What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. How true that is.
-- Dan Quayle, thankfully former U.S. Vice President

This quote comes to mind often when working through complex lace patterns replete with convoluted directions and numerous errors.

About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.
--Herbert Hoover

Useful principle to remember when knitting circularly. Also handy when trying to assemble a sweater.

I have opinions of my own --strong opinions-- but I don't always agree with them.
- George H. Bush

I invoke this principle when lusting after a sweater that absolutely must be knitted in pieces and then seamed together.

There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is having lots to do and not doing it.
--Andrew Jackson

Applies to UFOs, languishing WIPs, bulging pattern files, and an over-abundant stash.

Join the fun! Melding politics and knitting makes politics more useful and knitting more relevant, so feel free to contribute additional principles! We could all use a good laugh.

Two Mysteries

Well, the New Year started off with a real bang. Harry got his legs on some fireworks and set them off promptly at midnight, to the great merriment of his fellow party animals--two chipmunks, Laptop the cat, ten millipedes (really productive knitters), and a confused possum who wandered in looking for directions to another party.

Unfortunately, Roy and I were fast asleep...at least until the fireworks went off in the living room. Then there was fifteen minutes of chasing the menagerie into the basement, a bit of screaming and yelling, threatening with a can of Raid, and so on. Just a typical evening here at chez fleegle.

On New Year's Day, Harry presented me with his newest creations (actually, he didn't present them--he threw them at me):


Eggs? He wouldn't tell me what they were, being in a real snit over the fireworks fiasco. Guess we'll find out what he has in mind later on.

As I was enjoying a Harry-free cup of coffee, I happened upon these lovely items in a Travelsmith catalog:


They look to be the perfect wardrobe accoutrement--a sweater/shawl/scarf/microskirt/spider swatter. If I could figure out the shape, it might be kinda fun to design a lacy version. Has anyone seen this design in a knitting publication? I have this picture of a wool/silk sweater with matching mohair shawl wings. Sounds like a project tailor-made for Lisa Souza yarn...

Holiday Booty!

Well, actually, Booties! Rubber puddlersplashers! They go perfectly with the slippers I received from Kyoko-san for my birthday.



Sue, at Little Knits, supplied the yarn for stash enhancement presents.

A bit of gorgeous Trenna...


Some soft angora from Fly Designs...

And a skein of Little Knit's own Indie II cashmere/silk.


My major gift, though, may seem a bit weird for a knitter. Ever since I can remember, my crochet hook collection, inherited from a variety of ancestors, resided in the tatty case shown on the left in the photo below. The hooks are old (some of them bone and ivory), but most of them have the thin steel handles that make my hands hurt. I don't do a lot of crochet work, but when I do, I have to stop every few minutes to rest. Finishing Lyra, what with zillions of crochet chains, was a miserable experience.

As of now, the old set (with a few exceptions) is on the way to Goodwill, having been replaced by the spiffy roll (courtesy of Etsy stores) shown on the right.


here's the entire set:


And the fat, hand-crafted handles are covered with colorful flowers, bugs, and butterflies...




And finally, a perfect necklace for a knitting fiend:


For some reason, the makers didn't see fit to etch the needle sizes next to the appropriate holes....we'll take it to a jeweler and have it engraved. Guess I'll have the jeweler inlay some extravagant gemstones into the sterling silver surface, too. (Just kidding, Dear!).

As a timely bonus, I received a Thank You gift from a friend in England. A skein of Suzanne's Sockenwolle, a little tin of hand cream, some adorable sheep stitch markers, elegant buttons, a lovely handmade shawl pin/hair stick/oil level tester (Just kidding, Hazel!), and a handmade Russian doll pin.

Stay tuned for the amazing knitted eggs, later this week.

Holiday Knitting 2008

For those of you who want to get a jump-start on next year's holiday knitting, here's a cool gift! No yardage or gauge is given, but let's just assume that you'll need more than a garage-full. Cashmere would be a nice touch, don't you think?

Current Knitting

Most of my favorite bloggers have been generating an alarming quantity of knitted goods this week. I am almost embarrassed to show you what I've been doing, but figured the overproducers can snicker as they soak their aching hands in warm grits. Or whatever passes for warm grits wherever you live.

I started another pair of formal socks for Roy, but as I was finished the toe increases, he decided what he really needed was a pair of mittens. No problem--a few more increases, no heel, and a thumb--and the foot covers morphed in hand covers. Or, in the case of Larry here, arm covers.


I have been quite diligent about the Patons shawl. The yarn is fabulous, the colors fabulous, and the pattern is pretty fabulous too.


I am also working on a strange little project that has been loosely named the International Shawl by the four participating collaborators. The concept is that each section of the shawl (center, inner border, outer border, and edging) is supposed to derive from a different country.

The chosen center is the one on page 64 of Naoko Ichida's Knitted Lace Designs Book 2--a compilation of Niebling treasures. I am at row 60 or so, but because everything is squished onto a circular needle, it photographed poorly. When I have more to show you, I'll try to work it off onto a larger needle and take an eye-candy photo. I can't figure out if the center design counts as Japanese or German...

All of us here at chez fleegle intend to have a lovely holiday and hope that all of you do too! I am sure I will have some goodies to flaunt in the next post (there are some suspiciously squashy packages in the pile...Cool!

Saartje's Fleeglized Bootie

These adorable booties are the invention of a clever Dutch knitter named Saartje. They were irresistible, until I read the directions. Urk! Seams! And zillions of ends, too, whine.

Then I got to thinking that the pattern would be easy enough to adapt to the Fleegle Seamless Method. Here's an alternate method of knitting these little cuties. (The original pattern can be found here.)

Note: I emailed her twice asking for permission to post this altered the pattern, but she never answered me. I tried.

Note Again: Instructions are given for working on two circulars. DPN folks can easily convert to 5 sticks.

Cast on 31 stitches using the Turkish cast-on--15 stitches on needle 1 and 16 stitches on needle 2. I actually just cast on 30 stitches (15 loops), then made an extra loop on the second needle to get the stitch count correct.

Knit across the first needle only. You are now at the beginning of the rounds. You can place a marker, or just use the yarn dangle to indicate the beginning of the rounds.

Row 1: P15, place marker (pm), P1, pm, P15 (Because the marker business falls at the beginning of the needle, I moved a few stitches from the first needle to the second so the marker wouldn't fall off and the increases didn't occur at the very beginning of the second needle).

Row 2: Knit in the back and front of first stitch (kbf), knit to marker, make 1 using a backwards loop (m1), K1, m1, knit to last stitch, kbf (3 stitches between markers)

Row 3: Purl

Row 4: kbf, knit to marker, m1, K3, m1, knit to last stitch, kbf (5 stitches between markers)

Row 5: Purl

Row 6: kbf, knit to marker, m1, K1, m1, K3, m1, K1, m1, knit to last stitch, kbf (9 stitches between markers)

Row 7: Purl

Row 8: kbf, knit to marker, m1, K1, m1, K7, m1, K1, m1, knit to last stitch, kbf (13 stitches between markers)

Rows 9-18: garter stitch, that is purl 1 row, knit 1 row

Row 19: Purl. Change color here if desired.

Row 20: K15, SSK 5x, K1, K2Tog 5x, K15

Row 21: Purl
Row 22: Knit
Row 23: Purl

Row 24: Knit 10, turn, cast on 10 by knitting on*, Knit 20, Purl 31, turn.
Here you can see the finished cast-on stitches for the first strap. Instructions for the cast-on are at the end of this post.


Row 25: Bind off 21 purlwise, cast on 10.

Row 26: P20, K20.
With a crochet hook, slip-stitch in the first stitch of the row below, chain 6 (to make a button loop), and put the end of the chain loop back on the left needle.

Bind off 20 stitches knitwise, 20 stitches purlwise.

With a crochet hook, slip-stitch in the first stitch of the row below, chain 6 (to make a button loop), and put the end of the chain loop back on the left needle and slip-stitch the two stitches together. Cut yarn, pull through loop and finally...

Weave in ends.

*To cast-on via knitting on, insert the right needle into the first stitch on the left needle, knit through it normally, but don't drop the stitch.

Instead, return the loop to the left needle (1 stitch made). Insert the right needle between the first and second stitch on the left needle, knit and put the loop back on the left needle (another stitch made).



Repeat 8 more times. You should have 10 new stitches on the needle and be in position to resume knitting the next row.

Have fun!