Happy Labor Day

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking, even if not very high. The last time I posted was Valentine's Day. Note to self: This is not a holiday blog! It's supposed to be a knitting and other things blog--other things because so many things interest me. However, evidently blog writing has not been one of them recently.

Since February, things have not been the greatest. Nothing monumental, just enough to have my get up and go get up and leave. There was a little health scare of mine, ongoing health concerns for the spouse, a major pet event that left me grieving more than I could imagine and continuing health concerns for the remaining pet.

I will go into detail on only one of those. My Bichon Frise and best buddy, Snowball, could no longer fight the fight even with my help and the best veterinarian attention and I had to let him go to the Rainbow Bridge at the end of March, two weeks before his 17th birthday.

Snowball

April 14, 1996 - March 29, 2013

Knitting, my go to for de-stressing, stopped working. I haven't been doing much of that. Even sock knitting has fallen by the wayside. I started a pair toe up on one 40" circular and that was a joke. What ever made me think I would do that?!!! I don't even like doing two at once on one circular so what ever made me think I would like doing two toe up when I've never done a toe up sock before? I think I was not in my right mind and still might not be. Anyway, I frogged them and started Beach Socks 2013 (from the cuff down, one at a time on one 32" circular the way I like to do them). I might actually knit a little on the beach before the week is over.

So, what do I really have to write about today? I think you've figured that out already. Yep, you've guessed it--NOTHING! I just wanted to put in an appearance, so to speak, and let you know I'm still around. I plan to bring you enthralling content on knitting, cooking, traveling, and whatever I'm finding fun (or not fun) at the moment to keep you reading and get those of you back who gave up on me and left. Hang in there just a little longer please. I'm back.

For you amusement today, a Labor Day Throwback:

Atlantic City

Labor Day 19X9 

(You pick the year in my youth. I'll never tell.)

The best is yet to come,

Bona Fide Knitter

Needle in a Haystack

How do you find a needle lost in a haystack, or more accurately, big honkin' Addi Turbo size 19 circulars with plastic tubing as the cable? One would think a needle that big would be very easy to find. Not here. Not in this den of chaos and clutter. I can't start the shawl of the ribbon in fall foliage colors until I find that needle.

So far in the search I've found:

1. at least 15 circular needles


2. at least half a dozen cables missing from my various needle sets


3. two red Kotcha-Kotchas (row counters)


4. more UFOs than I care to mention


5. multitudes of patterns printed from the Internet


6. many purchased patterns in their plastic sleeves


7. innumerable hanks, skeins, balls and cones of yarn forgot I had


8. a bevy of little pattern books


9. more knitting bags/totes/carriers than I could count


10. a few dust bunnies bigger than my Bichons

What I didn't find was the Addi 19s. Oh, and I didn't find my Swiss Card.

Drats! I've finished a project and can't start the next one until I find those needles! I refuse to pay $30 to buy them over again.

The good news is I found the project that began my new love affair with knitting.



Picture this: it was 2001. I went to my first Stitches. It was Stitches East held in King of Prussia/Valley Forge, PA. I was enthralled. I was smitten. I bought yarn to create the latest rage--a scarf! Not just any old scarf, but one made with novelty yarn, pretty novelty yarn in a colorway that called to my love of purple. I had not been what I would call a knitter in over 40 years (if I don't count the little bit of doll-size knitting I was attempting to do).

That scarf, begun on size US11 aluminum needles from my 40+ years-old needle collection, became my first UFO in the present reincarnation of my knitting. I knitted on it today. I knitted it off the old aluminum straight needles onto some shiny, slick KnitPicks nickel-plated circulars, then after learning the hard way that they were too slick, onto some smooth, fast KnitPicks Harmony wooden circulars. Aaaaah, much better.

I don't have any socks on the needles at the moment. What to do . . . what to do . . . ?

Bona Fide Knitter

It's Not Over 'Til the Fat Lady Sings

I'm the Bona Fide Knitter and it's been exactly six months since my last confess . . . er, blog entry.

Where have I been, you wonder? Well, it was not to see the queen, but I did go to Italy and almost saw the pope. Before I give a full accounting of my absence I want to tell you just one small part about my time in Italy because the last time I posted to my blog was Mother's Day and there is a picture of my mother and me with Minnie Mouse in Disney World. It is only fitting that I start posting again with another mention of my mother before I get back to my knitting wows and woes.

One of the many pleasurable times I spent in Italy, was sitting by the pool at Castello di Santa Maria, in the Umbria region, where I stayed most of a week back in September while on a knitting themed vacation. The setting was idyllic. The Castello is high on a hill and overlooks the valley. The view in any direction is astounding. My travel buddy, Kathryn, and I shared a cottage on the grounds and our cottage overlooked the pool which is surrounded by fig trees, pomegranate trees and rose bushes. One particular afternoon the plan was to spend the few hours between one meal and another, or was it one excursion and another, by the pool, knitting. It was cool up on the hill, not swimming or sunbathing weather, but the sun was warm and inviting if you were fully clothed. At one end of the pool I arranged a canvas sling chair facing the sun with a garden chair in front to put my feet upon.

After baking in that direction for a short while I turned my arrangement away from the sun, having the sun against my back. The other women of our group were in lounge chairs along one side of the pool, a little distance away, chatting amicably about knitting and . . . I don't know what. They were just far enough away that their voices carried out over the valley much of the time.

The sun warmed my back through the canvas chair. I had a shawl draped loosely over me. My knitting needles began to get heavy and I rested the knitting on my lap for a while. My eyelids grew heavy. I remember Diego, our innkeeper/chef, coming out and walking to the opposite end of the pool. I saw him open the door to the little shed at that end of the pool before he made his way to a chair to sit down to relax far away from his guests. And then the music started.

Okay, I'm in Italy, in Umbria, at a castle in fact. The language I'd heard most for the past several days was Italian, loads of lyrical Italian. I was even beginning to understand more of it. The music began, a woman singing, her clear, rich voice enveloping me from invisible speakers. It seemed to be coming from the valley. Quietly, richly, warm like the sun, I was bathed in the voice of Natalie Cole, in English, singing The Very Thought of You. I am so sure Diego played that particular CD just for me that you need not even try to convince me otherwise--an African American lady singer for the African American lady guest. Grazie, Diego.

What he didn't know, and I didn't either at first, was that particular singer and those particular songs would evoke some wonderful and pleasant memories and feelings for me. The CD is Unforgettable: With Love. After the initial song it goes on to It's Only a Paper Moon, Route 66, Mona Lisa, Straighten Up and Fly Right, Nature Boy and Unforgettable, to name just a few. Yes, Natalie sings her father's songs and ends in a duet with him singing Unforgettable. I am on my first transcontinental trip . . . all the way to Italy! I'm lounging by a pool at a castle in Umbria no less. Natalie Cole sings Nat King Cole, the music of my childhood, the music recorded on 78s that my mother, Margaret (I called her Mar) and my aunt, Ruby, played and sang along with on the big Zenith console radio/record player we had in our living room in the three-story, brick and brownstone, row house I grew up in. Most of you were not around for 78 rpm records, but you've heard of them I'm sure. They were before 45s and 33-1/3s--not to mentioln eight tracks, cassettes and CDs. This was in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

In the last three years I've lost both my mother and my aunt. Those songs brought Mar and Ruby there to Italy with me. I could feel their presence. Actually what I felt was that on some level I had my mother and my "other mother" with me on this marvelous trip to Italy. As I nodded off and on and the familiar songs washed over me, I remembered fun times back then when we were all young and they were like older sisters to me, my grandmother being the mother of all three of us. My mother was a young widow and my aunt hadn't married yet. Their planning parties, singing along with Nat King Cole and including me in the fun is a wonderful memory. What I thought there by the pool was, 'Look at me, Mar and Ruby! I'm in I T A L Y listening to Nat and Natalie Cole sing our old favorite songs. It's 2008! Who woulda thunk it in North Philly back in 1948?!!!'

I could go on and on along this vein, but I won't. It's a fascinating marvel to me and probably no big whoop to anybody else. The feelings come back to me just typing about it! It was a great day, a great time, a great memory. I dozed. I napped. I snored and woke myself up a couple of times! But the music played on, over and over. There are over 20 songs on the CD and it played more than once. Diego dozed at his end of the pool and I dozed at mine. When The Very Thought of You came on again for the second (third?) time I roused myself thinking, 'This is where I came in.' Diego was gone. When did he leave? The sun was waning and I moved over to join the other women who were nice enough not to mention my snoring . . . that is until I asked, "Did you hear me snore?" It seems they heard snoring in stereo, Diego and I having both ends of the pool covered.

Diego, again I thank you. Grazie.

Bona Fide Knitter

I'm Still Here

My muse seems to have left me. My linen lace flirty skirt has attacked me. I've been tagged TWICE! and I just can't seem to put pen to paper . . . er, fingers to keyboard. I've probably lost the small following I had. Come back, pleeeeeease!

First of all, after I made my list and checked it twice I remembered a lot of projects that should be incorporated into that list of priorities. I'm going back to my modified version of Guru Laura's Rule of Threes. More on that to come.

Secondly, the first plunge into the lace of the flirty skirt has derailed me. "Knit the knits, purl the purls" has me all a shook up. Are YOs knits or purls when you get back to them on the next round? When you're doing YOs is there such a thing as a purl YO? In my shaken up stage I took another plunge and enrolled in TKGA's Basics Basics Basics which wasn't to arrive for weeks. It arrived in days--so fast it made my head spin! So now I'm shook up and my head is spinning. Not good when at the threshold of the big holiday season, especially when you're trying to clear out and sell two houses and clear out and remodel the one you're living in. But I can do it because I'm a woman--W-O-M-A-N!

And last but not least, in this entry are seven random and/or weird things about me you probably don't want to know and couldn't care less about. 'The reason for these seven things?' you ask. My guru Laura, The Scarlet Knitter, tagged me. To make it even more interesting one of the other people she tagged, Necessary Chocolate, also tagged me. Thanks ladies! Now do I get to write 14 random/weird things about myself? I can do it, but I'll limit myself to seven right now:

1. I'm left handed until my right hand thinks it can do the job better and then I become right handed. I write right handed, eat left handed; draw right handed, color left handed; wield a knife left handed, cut with scissors right handed; juggle? I use both hands and still can't do that.

2. I love Cape Cod. It makes me happy. It is my Laughing Place.

3. I'm a hobby junky.

4. I'm a collector, a very bad thing when you are a hobby junky. I have doll, rabbit, dollhouse and coin collections. Also yarn, fabric and needlepoint stashes. I mean COLLECTIONS and STASHES! I won't even list the minor ones.

5. I hate heights. I'm talking about higher than the second floor. Flying requires much psyching up on my part. Forget walking across a bridge. Save me from those glass capsule elevators providing a panoramic view as I rise or fall. (Well, it feels like falling!) And don't even think about getting me over to the observation window in a tall building. Just writing about it makes me weak in the knees. Steps with no risers? There'd better not be very many!

6. I can keep a secret . . . forever.

7. I am a loyal, protective and trustworthy friend. After all, I will carry your secrets to the grave.

Second seven to follow. Right now I'm trying to come up with three others to tag. Problem is many of those I'd like to tag don't have blogs. Kind of defeats the whole purpose, doesn't it?

Bona Fide Knitter

Going Into Autumn

Now that for all intents and purposes summer is over, my thoughts are turning to fall knitting. I've already jump started my gym regimen and I'm working on my eating habits. (Kitchen renovation is not diet friendly.) So it's time to get my hobbies in order as well.

Walking the treadmill for an hour gives me lots of podcast listening time and I've found another to add to my list of favorites: Sticks & String Podcast "by an Australian bloke who knits" named David Reidy. I love this bloke! I've not yet listened to the requisite six podcasts before forming an opinion, but I've listened to the promo and three podcasts and I can tell. This guy is good! And he speaks the language without 'air fillers' (uhms, errrs, aaahs), has nice music choices and no fits of giggles. He provides information on what he's knitting, why and for whom. There are book reviews and even "patten" reviews. ("Patten" is Aussie for "pattern" as we say it in the States) And speaking of the Aussie accent, I love it. It's very easy on the ears and so is David Reidy's voice. Shades of Crocodile Dundee. There has been an enjoyable essay in each of the episodes I have listened to so far on such topics as why we give away what we knit and why we meet to knit. Give this bloke a try. I've already succumbed and subscribed.

Okay, I can't avoid mentioning my knitting any longer, or should I say 'my not knitting.' I'm about to make a list and check it twice. Then I'm going to eliminate the naughty and concentrate on the nice. Santa Claus is coming to town. By that I mean I'm making a list of the items I am going to work on next. The list will not include any of the exasperating UFOs. It will consist of only the items I plan to complete this year, maybe by Christmas. I will follow the advice of David Reidy and not let deadlines take the fun out of knitting. I will just enjoy the process. Sooooo, I am allowing myself plenty of time to complete a gift project by starting it now and the other items on my list will be knit when they're knit, and in some semblance of order. Part of the enjoyment of the process is the visualization of the completed item. I have visualization down pat. I need more actuality. Completing AFOs (Actually Finished Objects) is my plan going into autumn. The list? Coming soon.

Bona Fide Knitter

Knitting? Not!

How telling is that?!!! I found that appropriate bit of lace wall hanging in a little shop in the seashore town of Rehoboth Beach, DE, where I spent a couple of days with my friend and knitting guru, Kathryn. There were many little hangings and this was the only one with that on it. There it was, hanging apart at the front of a peg with some others with a different message. It was down at knee level and seemed to leap off the rack at me just as I walked by. I wonder why.

Kathryn and I had been planning a knitting getaway ever since Stitches East. She found this great little B & B on the Internet and we set a date, booked the Garden and Wedgwood Rooms and met there, she from VA and me from PA. Although she brought the book One Skein, yarn and needles to make cupcakes from the pattern inside, we got no knitting done. I brought my ubiquitous summer sock along, my latest started sweater and the yarn and pattern for something I haven't started yet. Still, no knitting was done. I didn't even knit a stitch on the sock. We shopped. I mean WE SHOPPED!

The Rehoboth Beach area is an outlet mall Mecca and the regular shops in the town and in Lewes were great as well. We did the obligatory yarn shop crawl, but were disappointed to some extent. We went to Knitty Gritty in Rehoboth Beach and found it to be a knitting and needlepoint shop. It has been my experience that stores that try to cater to more than one hobby usually fall short. Knitty Gritty proved my point. There were needlepoint and knitting yarn and supplies. I score it needlepoint 3, knitting 1. Needlepoint wins the game at Knitty Gritty, but not by much. Both were lacking. I do not have to visit there again unless I revive my needlepoint obsession. And maybe not even then if I check my stash. Yes, I have a stash of needlepoint canvases and Paternayan yarn from 1970 something. So what!

We also went to Ginger Moon in Lewes, DE. It turned out to be an antique store which carried knitting yarn, "Fine Yarn & Antiques" it says on the card. There we met the proprietor, Evie McPhee, who was knitting away on some fabu something in a myriad of fine yarns. All the yarns she carried were indeed fine. All kinds of silks and wools and combinations, all top end, grouped in colors and spilling from drawers and doors of antique chests and cabinets. The effect was quite enticing and had I a pattern in mind I might have bought a skein or two of something. The displays were that striking. However, I came away with only the new Vogue Knitting Special Collector's Issue for Fall 2007 in the knitting category.

Then, from the antiques category, I bought a non antique new cotton rag rug in bright yellow and pale sky blue for my new kitchen-in-the-making and, lest I forget, a rabbit picture hand painted in "o3" on a weathered board that was to be for my new kitchen also, but will better match the rabbit theme at the Cape Cod place. It is also 'non antique.' The "03" is 2003.


I will return to Ginger Moon. The yarn and antiques work very well together and there was enough of both. I just need to have a project in mind and many ducats in my pockets.

In another shop in Lewes, Twila Farrell, I bought my find of the day. In addition to "The Sock Lady," I could be called "The Shoe Lady." My shoe collecting had been stuck in a Birkenstock and Crocs rut lately, but I am redeemed. I got this brand new, fabulously funky pair of Dick & Jayne platform, peep-toe, slingbacks at half price. Shades of the 1940s! I feel I need some black trousers, a white rayon shirt and a snood. I could knit a snood!

Back at the Rehoboth Beach outlets there were some very good bargains which came home with me from the LL Bean store--three pairs of pants at $4.95 each for me and some shirts and knit tops for much more for the darling husband who would be unloading the minivan upon my return.

Although a great time was had, there was knitting--NOT! . . . Maybe next time.

Bona Fide Knitter

Everything Old is New Again

In the throes of de-cluttering I came across a very old knitting magazine. The cover is torn, teeth marks abound. One corner is chewed off, another chewed into pulp. (We had a mongrel puppy named Pepe back then.) Luckily, I throw nothing away. Thus the need for massive de-cluttering around here. The magazine has some wonderful sweater patterns in it and a few sock patterns as well. In an attempt to not cut my own throat in the quest to find a copy in better condition, I will give no more information than that about the magazine until I get my hands on a replacement. Then I'll tell you all about it and include pictures. In the meantime the copy I have is complete in its directions as long as they don't run into the bottom left corner. I'm thinking of making a pair of socks from it.

I also have a folder of tear sheets, clipped and saved newspaper and magazine patterns and old pamphlets. Most of these treasures are crochet patterns. They're from the days when I wished I could knit fast enough to make something before it went out of style. I longed to knit better so I did collect some knit patterns that struck my fancy. One booklet in particular, Tiffany Glass Knits from Columbia-Minerva was a favorite of mine although the patterns were beyond my ability.



The problem I see now is that although my knitting expertise has increased and expanded and I can knit well enough and fast enough to make them, my age and body have also increased and expanded . . . Need I say more?





But aren't they cute? The longer ones (mini dresses) would make nice tunics or tops to wear with the leggings being worn today. It seems the newest young thing to do is wear a short dress as a top over jeans.


But no retro bull's eye circles, PLEASE!


Bona Fide Knitter

Disappearing Needles

You're not going to believe this! I cannot find the needles for Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater. I made the swatch with the larger needles, put them aside and took the blog pictures of the two swatches, and I haven't seen the needles since! I checked the floor, the chair cushions, under the coffee table. I looked high and low for them again last night and one more time this morning. This is so frustrating!

It must be something in the air. Is this sweater not meant for me? Maybe I need to back off, take a deep breath and see what turns up. Or maybe I should order new needles from Knit Picks. I know as soon as I order more I will find mine. St. Anthony, can you help me?

Bona Fide Knitter

SFS Sweater Woe is Me Wednesday

My gauge is off. Last night I kept looking at what I was doing and thinking it looked small. I smoothed the stitches out as far as they would go on the 24" circular and wasn't comforted by the results. I remember seeing Sally Melville wearing the sweater at Stitches East. Hers was sort of a celery green, similar to the one pictured in the pattern. Maybe it was the one pictured in the pattern. Sally's was oversized. I want mine oversized.

Can you say 'swatch'? Before I started the sweater the first time I did swatch. I was using two straight aluminum needles. I was very careful when deciding on what size to make. I added the six inches to my measurements as required. I have no hips but lots of boobage so I went with six inches added to the top measurement. I did not measure this time. I should have. I should have swatched as well. OUCH!

Okay, so I'm a little above my fighting weight. I considered continuing with the size on the needles, but when the ruler showed my gauge to be off that was the last straw. I will be at my best weight again, maybe even in the next few months and certainly by the time the sweater is finished. However, I have doubts about "oversized" even if my gauge was right. Can you say 'frog pond'?

Yes, I am going to frog Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater The Bane Of My Existence yet again. How many times is this? Five? Ten? Who knows? Who's counting?

The good news is, with my Knit Picks needles, restarting and getting back to where I am right now will not take long. Also I discovered how really handy the Knit Picks ruler is. It's called a View Sizer. Do you have one? Well, you should! It has a needle sizer section and a magnifying bar with a red line to keep you on the right row and two red lines that mark off four inches. No, I am not affiliated with the company, just giving credit where it's due. This little ruler is fabu! And so are the needles.

So here's the plan: I will go up a needle size for both needles AND make the next size larger sweater. First I will measure myself again, then swatch again, then check that I have enough yarn. I have extra, but maybe not enough for "oversized" across this boobage.

Stay tuned. The fun is just beginning.

Bona Fide Knitter

SFS Sweater Tuesday

I'm really liking this, this time. I will not try rushing it by switching to Continental. I do learn from my mistakes. I will chug along knitting English/American as usual. The great thing is the Knit Picks needles are F A S T! I tried to make that word look the part. Did I succeed? As I was saying before that senseless little aside, the Knit Picks Options needles are wonderful. I'm zipping right along with them. Their pointier points are perfect for the easily split yarn (Linet) and their silver coating makes the stitches glide.

After I knitted the stitches off that old aluminum needle and knit a few more rows, I switched the points so that I now have a circular needle with one tip a size US 5 and the other a US 10-1/2. Custom circulars. How good is that? Very good I say since my knitting guru suggested the same idea in her comments on yesterday's blog entry. Great minds . . .

One small step for a

Bona Fide Knitter

What to Do Next?

I'm not quite sure what I want to do next. The yarn for Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono is a disappointment and I've been forcing myself to complete it. Needless to say I put it down after every few rows and pick up the sanity-saving Abundance Afghan. I thought the solution to my problem with the HCB Kimono would be to buy a different yarn, Peaches & Creme. I'm no longer sure of that. I don't want to finish it in Cottontot and I don't want it to become another UFO. To the frog pond?

However, the Abundance Afghan is thriving as a result. I just love the big loopy garter stitch of it! The garter stitch is my friend.

I could order the Peaches & Creme if I want to. The barrier of not bringing anything else in until something leaves is gone. I delivered the four pairs of socks to Richard yesterday. As you can see he loves them . . .















. . . and me as well.


I also mailed a gift of socks today. Sooooo, I'm free to buy more yarn, at least five skeins or 500 grams or whatever I can rationalize.

Speaking of socks, I'm really on a sock machine kick right now. I've gotten the Legare humming and sock production should soar in the next few weeks. I might even try the Auto Knitter again next week, after we've both had a rest from each other. The Legare uses the same needles and in my tweaking to get it to run smoothly I discovered I was working with some less than perfect ones. That could be why I was getting some odd results on the Auto Knitter. I should not stay away from the machines for weeks, months at a time. By the time I go back to them I have forgotten their idiosyncrasies.

As for the hand knitting, more thought is required. The good news is I will soon have a soft and light afghan in the beautiful sea, sand and sky colors of Cape Cod.

Bona Fide Knitter

More Socks and Sock Machines

I've been lost down a rabbit hole of blogs. Do you ever visit a blog and then click on the blogs listed as favorites and then click on the blogs listed on the favorite blogs and then click on their favorite blogs and then . . . well, you get the idea. That's what I've been doing and neglecting my own blog.

I gave the sample socks to Ruby and she was pleased. I've put the Auto Knitter on time out and set up the Legare 400 for 72/36 work. I am now making refinements to the way I make ribbed machine knit socks. I've worked on it for two days and still no completed sample pair of socks to show. I have the concept and I've almost completed a sock. But just when I think this is it, it isn't.

Foolishly I started with some black yarn. Never try something new with black yarn or on a machine that has been packed in its travel cart since being driven 400 miles six months ago. Ask me how I know these things.

My first swatch had some dropped stitches and then the whole thing knitted itself off the machine after the heel turn. The Yarn is Gems Pearl, machine washable and dryable 100% merino.

Although the label describes it as superfine, it is thicker than I thought and I should have loosened the tension.

I made another attempt with the black yarn that knitted itself off the machine during the cuff. Moving right along, I switched to regular sock yarn in a color these old eyes could see. The yarn is Marathon Sockenwolle, 70% wool/30% nylon.


Although the tension was right and the pattern refinements worked well, this one also knitted itself off after the heel turn. A house doesn't have to fall on my head before I realize a machine might need some adjustment after a long ride and a six-month hibernation.

That's where I am now, oiling and making adjustments. The ribber needed a little tweaking and maybe the yarn carrier needs a little skootch down. Let's see what this evening brings.

Bona Fide Knitter

Saturday and Sunday Sockknitting Saga

For two days one pair of socks had me by the throat. I am using the 60/30 set up on the Auto Knitter and making ribbed socks. Having my machine set up the way it likes makes some suggestions in the manual and on the Norma Bogan tape/DVD null and void. I have to figure my own measurements and needle placements. Primary School math (arithmetic?) seemed to have failed me on Saturday. Multiplication Table? 8 x 8 = 64 or is it 56? I know 9 x 8 = 72--subtract eight and there's the answer. Jeeze! By Saturday night I was using a calculator. Thirty divided by four equals seven and a half? There are no half needles in sock machine knitting!!!

Set-up basket in, waste yarn started

Ribber being placed with careful attention to ribber stop

Adjustments made for "half needles," notes written in readable form, by Sunday I was on a roll. I had one sock completed and needed a mate. The mate, if made by my own directions, would be better than the first sock. Then why is it now Monday and after working on it all day that mate is not made?

Ribber in place

Ribber needles added and starting turns made

Sock yarn attached, the sock begins

Yarn goes in up top, sock comes out at bottom

I made a sock before this one with stockinette leg that was too big. That's why I decided to tackle ribbed socks on this finicky machine. I've made two mates to this one, each one having some operator flaw. One had misplaced ribs. Then there was the one on which I forgot to release the heel spring before cranking the foot. Tight, tight, too small foot! Both those socks were rewound back to the cone. Today will be my third attempt. They say the third time's a charm. My Aunt Ruby, will get these socks, blocked and labeled, on Wednesday . . . or else!

Bona Fide Knitter

March First Mania

I've been knitting while not blogging, in case you've been wondering. I knitted four pairs of socks on my temperamental Auto Knitter. They are labeled and ready to go to Richard, my hair stylist. It being March and all, I used green labels. I think he'll like these: subtle, wild, very subtle, slightly wild. What do you think?


They were done using 60/30 slot cylinder/ribber. There is a two-inch 1x1 cuff, and eight-inch stockinette leg, short row heel and custom-length foot. The yarns are Regia, Inka, Regia and Marathon respectively and each pair has the ball band with three yards of extra yarn tucked into a cuff.

Who knows? Maybe he'll need to darn one day.

Getting the Auto Knitter to cause me less grief gave me the confidence to uncover the old Gearhart and change to the 100/50 cylinder/ribber. Now that gave me Grief with a capital G!


After much trial and error I was able to get the cylinder in just right so that the machine worked smoothly. Now if only I can get the tension and the weight coordinated. The few tubes I've made with lace weight yarn are full off holes and lengths of unlatched yarn from dropped stitches. I have to crank very slowly, watching to make sure every latch catches. I might need to tweak the timing a bit or adjust the yarn carrier. I'm working on it. However, in the meantime I'm in a machine sock knitting mood and lord knows I have the sock yarn stash to support the mood. So today, between blogging and decluttering (yes, that is still going on), I hope to hop on the Auto Knitter and ride out a pair of socks or two. That's one of the benefits of having multiple machines. You can have more than one project going at a time and we all know how much we love to do that! Which segues very nicely into . . .

UFOs being worked on? Yes, that is still going on as well. Unfortunately the baby kimono is no longer a favored object and was well on its way to being added to my UFO list. Oh no, that's not supposed to be happening! Last night I decided to add a few rows to see if favor would return. Hmmm, maybe it did a little. I will make an effort to finish before the shower date. Finished, it might be worthy. The Abundance Afghan is growing by leaps and bound in the interim. What interim you ask? The one in which I'm deciding on what to work on next. Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater had been the choice except I keep getting put off by the cable cast on of a zillion stitches. Perhaps with Knit Picks needles the task will be less daunting. Those pointier tips might be just what is needed. I'm glad I thought of that! Blogging is good for the mind.

Bona Fide Knitter