Yarn Miracle has been experiencing some technical difficulties: for about 24 hours there, my mail went somewhere other than to me. M offers his appologies. He has explained to me that it is “just gone” and there’s nothing to be done. My response was “huh.” So, if you haven’t heard back from me regarding your very kind comments, that’s why. After this, I am going to find everyone through the comments page and respond personally (that’s the plan anyway).* In the meantime, thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on YM’s condition in other browsers, I really appreciate it!

The left front of the Inferior Cardigan is finished:

The Perfect Cardigan is the one on the right, which places the Inferior Cardigan on the left.

It’s almost creepy how well this is coming out. Perhaps the Inferior Cardigan is the Perfect Cardigan’s evil twin…or perhaps Great Gran really did just follow one pattern (instead of mix and matching) after all. The world may never know.

I’ve gone on ahead and blocked the sleeves. I have limited blocking space and it’s so much easier to seam things when the edges aren’t curly. Here is a fun extra: the Inferior Button Bands are knit along with the rest of the cardi. They are 11 stitches long, but you slip the middle stitch on the RS to make a “fold line.” You’re supposed to sew the outside edge of the band to the inside edge to make a thicker for the buttons. Pretty nifty.

Bloomin’ Update: Emily has made 24 rows of pattern!

It would have been 32 rows, except I managed to Misplace a stitch. The funny thing is, when I backed up to the offending stitch, my count STILL wasn’t right. I had to tink back to the ribbing before it was right again. I never did figure out where that stitch went.** When I started over, I elected to work in a Cat Free Zone with no distractions. Things have been going much better.

*We are looking at other blog software (MovableType didn’t have anything to do with my missing email, that was all M). My requirements are few: some sort of “are you human” check on the comments and let people with gmail and hotmail addys post a comment (for crying out loud already). Also I like “lightbox” a whole bunch so I want that instead of having to make pop-ups.

**Perhaps it went the way of my email.

As you can see, we dressed up the blog a bit. I’ve only seen the finished product in Safari and Firefox, so if anyone has any technical troubles (things don’t seem to be where they ought to be etc.) please comment or email me. Thanks a bunch.

PS Personalized yarn bands are a hoot to make!

The back of the Inferior Cardigan is finished. I don’t have a picture. It looks just like the Inferior Sleeves only wider. I do have a picture of the left front. Please do not mock my wonky ribbing.*

The Superior Cardigan is on the left. The Inferior Cardigan is on the right.

Exciting things happen on the front! I should be at the armholes in no time.

My other projects are not going so well.

The night before last, I was ready to cast on the first of the Bloomin’ Socks. First, I had to ball the yarn. I don’t have a ball winder** and M has a short attention span, so I put the hank around the back of the rocking chair and started to wind. As soon as I made it clear to the cats that I was Not Playing, everything went swimmingly. Then I noticed that an Upsetting Tangeling Thing was happening. It was like the guy winding the ball at the mill took the yarn off the winder, put it on backwards, and finished the job. M tried to help. The spaghetti mess rapidly became worse.*** I sat on the couch trying not to cry and undoing the tiny, tiny knots. By the time I had finished, I was in no mood to try an overly complicated cast on.

It is now a day later and I have cast on in the overly complicated manner THREE times. Each time I asked: “Why am I doing this when I could just knit one on/purl one on? Why does the designer want people to cry? The pictures would be a lot less complex if they just did it the easy way.” For my fourth and final attempt, I did it my way and you can’t tell the difference.

Emily Ivey, casting on as she sees fit since 2001. So there.

In my stash, I have enough actual sock yarn for eight pairs of socks. This does not count the sack of Wool-Ease and other yarns that can also be used to make socks. And yet, I have ordered yarn for three more pairs.

On the left, we have some Regia from Simply Socks. It was ON SALE. The Red is for the Red Hot Socks knit-a-long. On the right, we have M’s very favorite sock yarn of all time: Brown Sheep’s Wildefoot (Elderberry). I got this because I didn’t want to pay a ton of shipping for just a pattern. It does NOT cost $4.25 to mail two pieces of paper.

From the sock yarn I already have, I’ve started a new TakeItWithMe project: Fluted Banister Socks in some kind of Kroy. I really like this pattern and the color will be great for M. I’ve added 5 extra stitches to the leg to make it a little bigger, but I think I will loose them when I get to the foot.

Take a good look. You won’t see them again ’til they are finished. Months from now.

I have not forgotten about the bedspread! It is still a very active project. I won Rowan #33 on ebay which has a baby blanket that is really similar to the bedspread patterns, but the squares are bigger. Janet pointed this out to me in the comments and bless her for that! Maybe it won’t take six years after all.

*I don’t know what’s up with that but it blocks out nicely so I have decided not to worry about it. I imagine it has something to do with my loose purls.

**For the record, I don’t have a ball winder because a Certain Someone called me “lazy” when I said I wanted to spend $40 to get one. The same Certain Someone looked at me as I wound and wound last night and said, “Don’t they make something that can do that for you?” My memory is hazy at this point, but I believe I called him a Bad Name.

***Only ONE person should be trying to untangle at a time. ONE PERSON.

I finished those green striped socks that I started a billion years ago.

I don’t count socks in the Only Two Active Projects Allowed at a Time rule because I almost always working on a pair. They are such nice, small projects to take in the car or to meetings or to Great Gran’s house. They don’t take a whole lot of concentration (unless they are paticularly elaborate or one is grafting) so I can talk/listen/observe and knit at the same time. I finished these yesterday at the Farm when I went over to hang out. Great Gran was saying that she just didn’t really have anything new to make (she is waiting on a pattern and yarn order) and wants to use up all her worsted yarn. I pulled up Knitty on the computer and showed her Coronet. She got started right away.

This morning she called to see if I wanted to run errands with her. When I hopped in the passenger seat, I found the finished band and some needles. She didn’t want my company - she just wanted me to pick up the stitches for the crown!

This last bit is for Becky who wants to see our favorite non-handknit socks. Here are mine:

The monkeys on the left are the runners up.

Last Christmas, both my Mom and Aunt Sandy gave me a pair of these! They are covered in Angus Dogs and I love them. They are also covered in cat hair, but hopefully you won’t notice that.

I’ve been doing a little knitting on the Inferior Cardigan.

The gaterstitch at the raglan sleeves is made by making a p2tog as the decrease on both sides. The Inferior sleeves came out the same size as the Perfect Sleeves! The only difference so far is that the cuffs are smaller/tighter. I think Great Gran used the cuffs from the other pattern: there is no change in needle size when you are finished with ribbing. I have decided to run with the smaller needle size; ribbing has been known to stretch out. Both sleeves are finished and I have made the band for the back of the sweater. The Inferior Cardigan should look like this in no time:

Naturally, the picture with the smirk came out beautifully. Look how many blooms that bush has had!

I mailed our red scarves yesterday.

Great Gran’s are the furry ones! They are so fun.

The Consensus has been to go with the Loden yarn for my Bloomin’ Socks, so I am ready to get started. The first step is to master is the method of casting on that the designer wants me to use. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t care and would cast on however I wanted, but the tops of the socks in the picture are so neat and clean that I am compelled make mine Exactly the Same. I am going to practice a bit, the diagram of the cast on shows yarn wrapped around lots of fingers. Too many fingers. This Concerns me.

I Forgot to Mention

I have been working my way through the blogs of the entire list of Olympic Knitters (I’m on the “Ks”). I don’t know why. Some perverse desire seizes me every time I see a list of links like that. As I go through, I am NOT NOT NOT looking at their “Blogs I Read” lists - that is just too much Kevin Bacon for me. But anyway.

I have a short list in my side bar of blogs that I read all the time. It grows and changes depending upon a number of variables. But I have an MUCH longer list of bookmarked blogs. More than any one person can read in a week. Unless, of course, they have insomnia. Which I do not. I’ve always felt bad about my neglected bookmarks, and every now and then I take a day to go through all of them - you can’t just read a few, the others get jealous - and skim what all has happened in the past couple days. I am not satisfied with this and the all day blog-a-thon makes me crazy. So M has written me A Script. A Script that selects a random batch of blogs from my bookmarks each week and lists them conveniently in my side bar. I feel so liberated.

Since there has been some concern about this: my Darling Sister’s legs are not actually six feet long. Which is good because it would take WAY to much yarn to make her Excessively Long Socks.

I have decided to halt production on the aforementioned socks until she actually tries the finished one on. I started thinking last night that if they don’t hit her knee, I can order more yarn, start over and increase the legnth at the knee where there isn’t any shaping to make things complicated. If I do this, I can make them as tall as they need to be. Genius. So I have packed up the sock to mail it.

I finished Excessively Long Sock the First! Joy!

Sure it’s pretty, but will it stay up?

The ends are still dangly. This is just in case I have to add a little more to the top to make it tall enough for my Darling Sister’s Darling Legs which are (and I mean this literally) six feet long. I am experiencing more than a little anxiety about this since I, myself, have tried the sock on. My legs are not six feet long (by a long shot) and the ribbing cleared my knee by a couple inches. I have decided that if I have to add more length underneath the ribbing, I will do a simple twisted stitch thing since the diamonds won’t look right if the are knit upside down. If the ribbing clears her knee, I think I can get away with just more stockinette at the top. The up-side of all of this is that diamonds up the back of one’s leg are Wicked Hot.

I didn’t start on sock #2 right away because I took a couple days to make a scarf for the Red Scarf Project.

There are pictures of me wearing it, but due to the rain they are blurry. This will have to do.

Great Gran is making two fluffy scarves (Fun Fur and this other stuff with sparkly eyelash) so I was going for something a little more manly (here “manly” can also mean “boring”). The Red Heart Plush is soft and squishy, not at all unpleasant to work with or to wear. You also end up with an interesting fabric that you might see at the Gap.*

The Cherry Tree Hill from Fuzzy Mabel came today. The Final Bloomin’ Choices are made!

I swear it’s not quite that yellow in Real Life.

I ordered both Leaf and Loden (and some variagated stuff for Mom) so I could make an informed decision. The Leaf is a very pretty color but I am afraid that if I use it, the only thing people will notice is BRILLIANT GREEN SOCKS. The Embossed Leaf Socks (IK Winter ‘05) deserve so much more than that. I’m going with the loden, which is also pretty but in a much more sedate, understated way. Unless, of course, my unwitting Secret Socky Pal (in spite of no mention of such an aversion in her blog or in her Sock Pal Profile) should comment that olive green is hideous and she would be ashamed to wear socks in that particular shade of “Ew.” Maybe I’ll be so filled with indecision, I will just go with Natural. Sigh

The weather is its own Paticular Shade of “Ew” this evening. We’re not going to the Farm for supper which leaves me with plenty of time to work on the first sleeve of the Inferior Cardigan. I’m about four sets of increases along and should have a decent amount of progress to show you when next we meet. I might also cast on for Excessively Long Sock the Second. It occurs to me that if they are way too short for my Darling Sister’s Darling Legs, I’ll get to keep them!

*I’d link to Gap.com but I am mad at them. Since their “upgrade” folks who use Safari can’t shop. Gap.com, you are on my List!

My Darling Sister’s Excessively Long Socks are growing.

That’s Cyril, my iMac (I love him) and Jeremy my iPod (also loved). Jeremy is shown getting a new book for me to listen to. Freakishly Long Socks go faster with a story.

Since this was taken, I watched CSI Miami, Gilmore Girls, two Scrubs and made it halfway through the ankle pattern. I should get to the foot today. Hear that, Darling Sister? TODAY. Measure your foot and call me. Surprisingly, this is not as tedious as I thought it would be: I like the Haneke yarn a lot, plus the diamond pattern and constant shaping keep it on this side of mindless. Just so you know, there is a mistake in the ankle pattern (it’s a misprint, really) on row 8. It’s easy to see - One of These Rows is Not Like the Others - no one should have any angst about it.

I did swatch for the Inferior Cardigan and have decided to use size 5s and make the version of the sweater that I have mathematically determined will come out at 39.2″. The Perfect Cardigan measures in at 41 inches (but I don’t think it started out that way). The next thing I need to determine is which version of the sleeves was used. There is a sort of garter stitch trim at the raglan edges that adds a lot of style to the Perfect Cardigan.

Also, I started thinking about bedspreads. I’ve got one that Gran-mother made (crochet). But it’s a little delicate (it was stored here in the house without the benefit of climate control for many years) and a hair too short for the bed. I asked Great Gran if she had ever seen a knit bedspread. She said, “There’s one that Gran* made in the bathroom.”

Here is a more detailed picture of the squares.

How cool is THAT? Great Gran also said that she had a pattern for a spread that was similar and she would look for it. I came right home and googled (just in case the pattern was lost forever) and found this one and this one which would be great substitutes. But she did find the pattern, it’s a pale copy so it won’t photograph well, you’ll just have to trust me.

After toying briefly with using the Haneke wool/linen to make the spread (this would cost as much as one of the new intel macs), I’ve ordered a little bit of two yarns from Halcyon: 3/2 Pearl Cotton and 8/4 Cotton Carpet Warp; both are coming in “natural”. I am going to make a square or two with each and see which works better. Just so you know, I have no intention of making this massive thing all at one time. That would make for some very boring knitting. I am thinking a square here, a square there … with a goal of one square a week I could be finished in as little as six years. Six years?! Yeah, I just did the math again. I may need to think this over. And weep.

*Gran is Gran-mother’s mother which makes her Great Gran’s grandmother and my great great grandmother. If you are confused by this, please feel free to email me.