A Good Week in Knitting History

This has been a good week in my knitting history.

I finished Hedgehog. He will be making the trip to Portland next weekend and I'll turn him over to Carissa for her new baby. I'm a little nervous because her mother told me yesterday, "Don't knit anything for Carissa unless you ask her first. She's very particular." I can't imagine that she would like Hedgey, but then again, I'm feeling very insecure now.

Whether Hedgey is loved or not, he was a wonderful opportunity for me to work on conquering my perfectionism. The fuzzy yarn for the back hides all sins, as does the felting. At one point, when working on the back, I realized that I was doing short rows on the front side, instead of the back side, and I didn't tear it out and start over. This has been a major breakthrough for me.

I finished the guage swatch and started knitting my Einstein Coat. Oh my, are there a lot of straight knitting rows!!! That can mean boring. On the plus side, I've already learned two new things: the crochet cast on; and slipping the first stitch as if to purl. The cast on is beautiful. I can't believe I've never come across this before. The slip as if to purl makes the garter stitch edges very crisp and even. Once again, I'm surprised not to have known how to do this. It just goes to show, we can learn new things no matter how long we knit.

After having success in blocking the Adamas, I blocked the Clapotis. What a difference that made. Before blocking it had an odd shape and bunched up. It never seemed long enough to wear as anything other than a bulky scarf....although I was happy wearing it that way. Now, it's longer and wider and hangs in a more fluid attitude.

I learned a lesson I should have learned years ago: Block, Block, Block. We've got to take charge of our knitting, rather than letting it take charge of us!

Momentary Crisis

I have now survived a few days of knitting crisis. When I mentioned this to Diana today at the Tangled Web she replied that I needed to bolster up my stash. Well, that was not the problem. The problem was that I had finished the hedgehog and was waiting for the yarn to start my Einstein Coat. I needed a little project to get me through the weekend and I had the perfect little project.

I planned to use the natural and blue yarn that I bought at Rhinebeck to start some Norwegian style mittens. I've been so excited to make these. Well, I sat down with my needles and my yarn to make a guage swatch, and remind my fingers how to work stranded knitting. All was going well until I looked at my fingers. They were blue!!!!! The dye was bleeding onto my hands. Well, I knew that meant that the blue yarn would bleed all over the natural when I washed the mittens and all my color work would either be lost or the pattern would be dark blue/light blue. Not a satisfactory result

Crisis averted on Saturday night. Ann, from Tangled Web, called to tell me my Einstein yarn had arrived. I've already picked it up and am ready to go make my guage swatch right now!!!

In the meantime, the Hedgehog has been felted and is sitting on the dryer - drying. He is cuter than I ever imagined. Photo to follow.

The Importance of Blocking ......and Hedgehogs

I cannot believe how the Adamas shawl shaped up (no pun intended) with blocking. It has transformed from blob to amazing, fluid lace that has a lovely geometric shape.



I finished a Clapotis last spring and have worn it to the movies a lot - it's so cozy while sitting in a cold theater. However, I've never been wild about it's shape. Now that Adamas is off the guest bed, I'm going to block Clapotis. Knitting Daily has emphasized the importance of blocking - I'm now a believer.



In the meantime I started a Hedgehog last weekend. I did the face, tummy and legs all in one sitting, then had to take several days off to rest up my fingers. Since then I've worked twice on the rest of him, and I'm only short a few rows before finishing (wow, another pun). He is already so adorable. I'm knitting him as a baby gift for a young mother who actually had a pet hedgehog when she was a girl!!!!! I can't wait to see her face when I hand the little fellow over to her.

Adamas continued

I'm liking my purple green blob much more. I just finished soaking it and pinning it out on the guest bed. I can see that lace is something that needs to be taken in hand. I used lots of pins and the yardstick to try to get the measurements right. We'll see how it looks in another day or two of drying. I'm going to try to leave it alone.

In the meantime, I hope I don't get any guests.

Adamas Shawl

Last night I finished my first project for 2009!!! I'd like to credit it to speedy knitting in the new year, but I started this shawl in November 2008. That's still pretty darn fast, and I'm not aiming for speed, but enjoyment along the way.

So...................the shawl doesn't look like much. Kind of like a wrinkly, lumpy purple and green amorphous blob. I haven't done much lace before, and I wasn't expecting this. Knitting from the top down to to point made it difficult to see the finished project as I knit....hence the surprise. Since my guage matched the pattern guage I assumed I was on target. I also forgot that I don't usually wear shawls, mainly because I don't know what to do with them.

So my questions are, is this shawl just plain unattractive due to my choice of yarn and/or do I simply not know how to wear a shawl? Or, will it improve with blocking? Here's hoping the blocking improves things. Even if it looks better, will I be able to wear it properly?

Now I'm on to my next project: a stuffed hedgehog for Carissa's baby. I'm so excited to be making something that won't have to fit? Plus it's felted, which covers many sins.

New Years 2008

In my mind this New Years Eve was pretty spectacular.

We stayed home. I had my knitting (Adamus Shawl), a good book (A Suitable Boy), and 3/4 of my family (Taylor and David) all in the same room.


David was here from Davis, California. He didn't seem to mind hanging out on the couch with his favorite dog, Bob.

Taylor, who caught the cold I had at Mohonk, didn't seem to mind relaxing before the fire. Is this relaxing or snoring?

Bob was in Bob Heaven sleeping with his loved ones in the same room so he could take a break from looking out the living room window.

And I was happiest of all with David and Bob next to me. All that was missing was Syvart.

Our meal was amazing if I don't say so myself. We had the meal I had originally planned for earlier in David's stay, but due to the most miserable of colds I couldn't cook until tonight. I think everything was so good because I got carried away and put CREAM in everything!!! My evil twin must have gotten hold of me. Here's our feast:

• Buffalo Chicken Cheese Dip - this was our afternoon snack so we could pace ourselves on the eating - it didn't have CREAM in it, but it had blue cheese, cream cheese and blue cheese salad dressing
• Swedish Meatballs - CREAM added at the end really does make a difference
• Green Beans - including Meyers lemon juice and rind, parmessan cheese, breadcrumbs toasted in olive oil and CREAM
• Scalloped Potatoes with Gruyere and Carmelized Onions - this was from a new recipe that had me cook the potatoes in whole milk and CREAM before adding the cheese and onions and baking in the oven
• Lemon Cake from the Midnight Kitchen. If it didn't have CREAM it had other high fat ingredients that made it delicious

New Year's Resolution: No more CREAM for a long time

The Days Before Christmas at Mohonk Mountain House

Mohonk was faboo!!! I can’t think of a better place to spend the days before Christmas, nor a more comfortable place to be sick. Lying in bed in the cheerful, cozy room looking out through the icicles and snow covered trees at the lake – Sky Top in the distance was incredible. I loved my entire stay.

The drive up the mountain was challenging. The snow plows weren’t keeping up and after the first stop sign we moved at 2 mph!!! We weren’t sure if we’d get there. Finally, lots of cars behind us stopping, we got to the gate house and from there it was smooth sailing.

We skied the first day. The snow was perfect. I got a good glide, but didn’t slip. Poor Taylor – his skiies weren’t right and he was too excited to take the time to return them. So his skiing was like snow shoeing with extremely long snow shoes.. We made it all the way to Sky Top. My first time!!!! That tower is pretty massive once you’re up close. It was fogged in so no view. I was disgusted with myself that I didn't bring my camera. The trip down was perfect. I managed all the curves and hills because the snow was so fresh. A perfect day.

The next day, we went out again in 7 degree weather. Taylor got new skiies. The original ones were too short for him. He realized quickly, however,that he had overdone it the day before and had to go back to the House.

I took the trail around the lake, ending up where the ladies and I had all done our snowshoeing a couple years ago - behind the House. Even though it was cold I didn’t feel it once I got going. When the wind was sharp and prickly on my face, I would glide into the woods out of the wind and be more comfortable. All I heard was the swoosh and creak of my skiies and at times all I saw was black and white of the snow and the trees. Another perfect day.

The meals were excellent of course. At dinner we had the choice of eating downstairs or up. We quickly realized all the families were upstairs so we went for the lower level dining room, which I didn’t even realize it was being used. Although it doesn’t have the huge windows (not like we can see the view at night) it is also a wonderful room. Because the windows are smaller, I think it’s actually warmer.

Here's our annual Mohonk Christmas Picture in front of one of they're many trees.

We made it to one night of entertainment. I can’t even explain what the guy did, but we stayed for most of it. His talent included folded pieces of paper and lots of miming. He did amuse the audience. The second night I was too sick to even pretend I’d stay up for the ventriloquist act.

By the last day, I couldn’t ski at all. Way too sick. We hung out in front of the fire until 2 and then we headed back down the mountain. I never made it to the pool or any of the exercise classes which I always enjoy.

Even though my cold got the better of me, I've still got the memory of my two outstanding ski trips and the beauty of the Mohonk Preserve.