Auntie A, AKA Masie Plum, got her new hat tonight, an early birthday gift. I couldn't wait, plus she is off to freezing regions for the turkey weekend, so she needed a nice cabled hat to keep her head toasty.

This is the Shedir from Knitty. It's not really a difficult pattern, but it's slow and fussy. It's worth the trouble though, it's lovely. If you are working on this there are a couple of a notes I'll pass on. After the repeats there's a point where you need to move stitches around - and the pattern is not clear on what to do with the stitch you are moving. So, do knit that stitch, and then just move the stitch indicated from the right to the left needle while moving the stitch marker. Triple cables are a pain in the butt, but at least the way I did it, you knit the stitch in order backwards. (ie normally on a 2 stitch cable you'd knit the second stitch and then the first, for a triple you knit the third, then the second, then the first). This means you have to jiggle stitch around. Note on the pattern that you are supposed to slip stitches on several rows, but there's a row that is over one on the chart but isn't listed by number in the instructions. YES you do have to move that one too. I believe it's row 64. If not, and you keep marching along, you'll have to rip back. And that's just no fun for anyone. I had to back up several rows, unknitting cables and such is a bother.

Other than that, pay attention to the last handful of rows - there is a knit stitch at the beginning. It's easy to visually tune that out, the vertical lines on the chart sort of blend.

I had about 2-3 yards of Rowan Calmer left when I was done...

Happy knitting!

Posted by talkingcrow at 12:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

At some level nothing ever happens in my life.

But then again, other things happen all the time. Drooler Monkey is getting his first tooth! holy crap, time marches on. He's crawling around, pulling himself up, talking his own crazy moon language. And I love every single minute with him. Who knew? My soul is settled in a way I never expected. I feel grounded. I also feel old and creaky, but that's something else, and no one really needs or wants to hear me go on about that. I will say however, that carrying around an 8 month old will give you a good mommy workout. One day I hope to get rid of my bingo wings.

In knitting news, one Pomatamus is done (see it in the Flickr stream). It's gorgeous (thanks to Sweet Georgia Yarn). That took over a year. Hopefully the next one will be quicker. I'm most of the way through a complicated pattern and I'm having to rip back, there was just no way to fudge it. Praise EZ, the Mason-Dixon ladies, or whomever is your knit diety, it's only a handfull of rows. I don't have to go back into the main repeats. I can't fully disclose the project yet, just in case. It's a gift. But I will give it away the minute that it's done, I'm not waiting for the occasion, or Christmas, or whatever. I want it OUT of the house. It's beautiful, lovely, and I might knit it again one day, but in the short term, I am not fond of the pattern. For all the pain, it produces stunning results.

My new glasses are done, woot. I went looking for Ici Berlin's - but found something similar and a little better for me. I'm so thankful for a tiny bit of freelance, I was able to get new, good, frames. So thankful. I like the current ones, but since I landed on my face awhile back, the current ones have been broken and they fall apart periodically, which requires superglue, and they are all just wonky. I am very very thankful for new specs with the proper prescription. And I didn't have to compromise on what I wanted. Yay. I'll be able to read those Ramen packages...

AND... we're actually staying in town this year for all holidays. I have never done that. I've only missed one family Christmas ever. It will be very weird to not be there. And sad for me. But it's important for Drooler Monkey to have holidays with us at home, and to do that with our own traditions, etc. I hope that we will also start the tradition of heading down to the family in January so that we can still have that time together, and still enjoy the sunshine mid-winter. I've never really had a tree of my own. I'm a little excited about that! I've been looking at ornaments, picked up some super cheap ones as well as the most amazing first ornament for Drooler Monkey. I'll have to take a pic. I'm also going to try to make one for him ever year. We'll see how that goes. I'm knitting a tiny sweater ornament but not loving it. Might have to revisit that one. Through the years we ought to be able to get rid of the cheap Ikea ones and slowly replace them with nice stuff and handmade stuff. I read somewhere, I think on Moxie, about having ornaments for everyone in the family, and the couples hang together. I think it came from Days of our Lives (ack) originally. You're supposed to have everyone hang their own ornament. But my family will never be here for Christmas (we're expected to travel, but they aren't). Anyway, it would be sweet to make little ornaments with everyone's pics.

Buck turned 5. Wow.

Ok, Drooler Monkey is waking up. Time to stop the blather.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Posted by talkingcrow at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)