Box Contents

And here they are, the long-anticipated contents of the box! I was sick and taking antibiotics on my birthday, so it really brightened my day.

Now that the cold is gone and I can taste things again, the Werther's Original won't last long. I love Mary Engelbreit, and who knew there even was such a thing as Beanie Babies 2.0? Uh... cute stuffed animals and online stuff? I sens a new obsession coming on.
And of course there is yarn -- Opal sock yarn. I love Opal. Regia leaves me cold, but Opal does such interesting self-striping stuff.
But the best part of the gift is Volare, a lace shawl designed by Rosi herself! It's gorgeous. I'm torn between knitting it from stash yarn and ordering a skein of the Kauni the original was knit with. I've never tried Kauni and it's my birthday and I was going to order something from Little Knits anyway...


While I was contemplating the implications of my yarn buying decision, Merlin developed an interest in the box contents as well. He was licking and sucking the Werther's bag... I guess they're not kidding about making the stuff with real cream!


The box, however, has become a cat toy. The game goes as follows: Morgana gets in the box, her brother creeps up on her from the outside, then he bonks her in the head with his paw. Cat wrestling ensues. They love this game.


The cats and I would all like to than Rosi for the wonderful gifts. I hope you like the box that's coming your way (a bit late... oops) just as much!

Oh, one more thing... getting bonked on the head repeatedly must have ticked off Morgana more than we thought. We bought a cat teaser with a long tail of feathers, figuring she'd love to chase it around. And we were right. Less than 10 seconds after we pulled it out, Mr. Batty was holding a stick with a few pathetic feathers dangling off of it.


The rest of the feathers were in Morgana's mouth. Oh, well. That toy didn't last long.


Anyhow, next time, there will be knitting, I promise. I hope everybody is having a great weekend!

Vacation, Pt. 2

Well, this took longer than expected! It would appear that I brought a bad cold and some other stuff requiring antibiotics back from Florida (along with a whole bunch of manatee-shaped goodies). Anyhow...

One of my favorite places was Tarpon Springs. It's predominantly Greek, it's the center of the sponge fishing industry in Florida, and you can get the most incredible Greek food. Best spanakopita ever! Here is me in front of a boat... and if you're wondering why most of my pictures are of me in front of things, it's because Mr. Batty took the greater part of our pictures.


We also went to the Aquarium in Tampa. We have a big one in Boston, but the Tampa Aquarium is all about local fish, so it was totally different and well worth seeing. But even if it had been boring otherwise (which it wasn't), this little guy would have made my day. Look at him, can you tell what he is? That's right!

Nanananananananananananananana Batfish!


We then spent the night at a hotel with a lovely view and had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant that was aptly named the Restaurant D'Amore. Yes, I get sappy sometimes. The food was incredible and we spent a good 2 hours there while it was pouring outside. Then we went back to our room and watched 10,000 BC, which we expected to be bad, but it was really, really bad. I don't dare think about how bad it would have been without the entire bottle of wine we'd just had with dinner.


And when we got home, this was waiting for me. A birthday package, sent by the wonderful (and talented... look at that pattern!) Rosi.


Just wait till you see what was in it! Oh, I know I'm evil for leaving you with a cliffhanger, yes I am...

Vacation, Pt. 1

And now, without further ado: my vacation. Well, not entirely without further ado -- this is a knitting blog, after all, and I need to show you the awful case of Second Sock Syndrome that has befallen me. One toe up, one top down, two completely different socks. And I almost cast on a third, not in any way related to either one of the socks below!


Ahem. Anyhow, we went down to Florida to visit my mother-in-law. We did some family stuff on Saturday and Sunday, but on Monday, Mr. Batty, my sister-in-law and I went to visit Homosassa Springs. I love manatees as much as I love bats, they are so big and cuddly-looking! The state park has several manatees living in it, and we visit them every time we're in Florida.

They are so cute. They have the most adorable faces, and all they do is float around and eat...


...and cuddle.


I wish people would stop tooling down the rivers in their awesome motorboats. These poor critters just want to hang out and enjoy life, and then some idiot with an enormous sense of entitlement runs them over with his spiffy boat. It's a horrible, horrible thing. Some people want to take the manatee off the endangered species list, but there are only so few of them left, and they are so wonderful. I think the world would be a less beautiful place without them.

On a less depressing note: there were flamingoes. Pink and tacky-looking, and more than slightly embarrassing. Standing around all pink with one leg in the air... they crack me up.


There were lots of other animals, and we had a great time walking around outside. Then, we picked up my mother-in-law, and we all headed out to this wonderful local ice cream place. Below, you see one of the reason for my impressive weight gain, given that we were there for only a week.

Chocolate face. Yum, chocolate.

I'm back!

Mr. Batty and I are back from vacation, and I have so much to show you! We just got in today, though, so I'll get some much-needed rest and tell you all about it tomorrow.

Cake for Breakfast

Carrot cake, to be precise. Yesterday, our gaming group got together for some quality Call of Cthulhu, and we decided to have a Cthulhu cookout. We had asparagus (green), grilled squid (tentacular... and smelly, I had to leave the room and didn't get back until they had made it go away), beer, corn on the cob, and carrot cake (cream cheese frosting was supposed to be green, but I forgot the food coloring). We have lots left over, it turned out way bigger than expected -- though why I didn't expect a huge cake when the recipe calls for a 9x13" pan, I don't know...

Not that this is a bad thing. I like cake. It's great for breakfast. I went for a walk/run afterwards, and the amount of energy you get from nuts, carrots, sugar and cream cheese is impressive. In a way, I feel cheated, because fitness for women is usually about looking good, fitting into size whatever jeans, not having jiggly arms or cellulite. Nobody ever mentioned to me that having cake or a some other high carb/high protein meal before a workout gives you an energy burst you won't believe unless you've tried it. Yet football players eat and eat and eat... and now, I know why. They may not fit into size 2 jeans, but they're kickass athletes!

Sock Progress!

There has been sock progress.
First off, I cast on Fawkes, which I think of as my Momma Monkey Memorial Socks. She was a very talented designer, and I think she would have loved the bright orange yarn I've picked for this project. Cast on only a few days ago, I'm already done with the cuff -- unless I add another pattern repeat. But I'm afraid I'll run out of yarn if I do that.


And now, a picture of the formerly frustrating toe-up heel! Thanks so much for all the help. Once the concept behind the toe-up heel clicked, I figured out that I was supposed to sl1, k 14 till the marker -- because the next line mentioned 15 stitches on each DPN. Which worked beautifully with the k2tog at the end of the previous row, because it reduced my stitches from 16 to 15. All is well, and the sock fits beautifully.


By the way, the pattern is available for free here!
Other than the tiny miscount, it's very well written and makes for a great first toe-up sock knitting experience.

Sock Knitting Help? Please?

My sock knitting has ground to a halt. Sometimes, pattern instructions can bring you up short and make you wonder if you've been doing something wrong your entire knitterly career. This just happened to me.

I'm knitting the heel of my first ever toe-up sock. The instructions tell me to sl1, k11, then pick up and knit 10 stitches along the edge of the flap, knitting the last 2 stitches together. Except... for me, pick up and knit has never meant "pick up the slipped stitch with the left needle, pull yarn through, then knit the pulled-through stitch" -- it's always been "pick up slipped stitch with your right needle, pull through a bit of yarn, done."
Except, according to my method, you can't really knit anything together. Am I wrong? Have I been doing this wrong my entire knitting life?

And, as if this weren't confusing enough, another question: If I have 6 stitches on one half of the heel, then pick up 10, but knit the last 2 together... That's 15 stitches, right? Because the pattern wants me to sl 1, then knit 15 stitches to center of heel marker. Uh, that's 16. Which I would have if I hadn't tried to k2tog those pick-up-and-knit stitches mentioned above. Unggggh. Am I being dense? Help!

In other news, I have also cast on for a pair of Fawkes socks. I'm using that gorgeous orange yarn I showed you a little while ago, and I'll show you a picture of my progress as soon as I've calmed down enough to type the word "sock" without my usually lower-than-normal blood pressure going through the roof.

FO Friday -- Knitting Content! (picture heavy)

Yes, knitting content! Remember knitting? Believe it or not, I still do it.
And today, I present to you the finished husband socks! For some reason, my crummy camera software doesn't give me an option to rotate images, so here is a sideways picture of the socks. I didn't use flash to bring out the pattern more... click to make bigger.


A closeup of the pattern. I find it very elegant and masculine, just enough to add interest, not enough to overwhelm.


The socks on Mr. Batty's feet. He put them on so I could take a picture of the finished object being worn... and he's still wearing them. I guess he likes them!


A cat head-free closeup of socks being worn. Do you know how hard it was to not have that cat head in this picture? First a black one, then a gray-and-white one? With eyes wide open, though every time I want to take a cat picture on purpose, they squint and scowl?
But I digress. Socks.


Details:
Pattern: Classic Socks from The Knitting Manu(ual) -- If you have a guy in your life and would like to knit him something, I highly recommend this book! The models look like real-life guys, and the designs look like clothes real-life guys would wear. And they don't all have intricate cabling all over everything!
Size: US shoe size 10.5/European 45/46; 72 stitches cast on
Yarn: Louet Gems Pearl in a dark navy (no idea where that ball band went...), a bit less than 2 skeins
Needles Us 0 (Not as bad as it sounds. The yarn is pretty thick, and my gauge was bigger than usual.
Modifications: I knit the heel flap for the smaller size (length-wise, not width-wise). Other than that, Everything is done according to pattern. This has got to be a first... no serious mods!

And now, because you know I was having trouble with my first ever toe-up sock, I would like to proudly show that it finally "clicked." The yarn is Panda Cotton in Roses (to me, it looks more like watermelon or strawberry swirl), and the pattern is from the spring issue of Simply Knitting.


See? About 1.5" from my ankle. And then, I get to figure out the heel.


I hope I don't have to start the heel as many times as I had to start this sock. Fourth time's the charm.

Speaking of fourth... Happy 4th of July to all my US readers!

There, that segue wasn't at all heavy handed. Not at all. : )

Toe Up Trouble

I just frogged my first toe up sock for the third time. Each time because I read the pattern wrong! There's a huge difference between k1, m1, k1 to end of needle and k1, m1, k to end of needle. Urgh.

Stay tuned for actual progress pictures! I'm casting on tonight, and this time, I'm getting it right, dammit!

Summer Slump

It's been weeks since my last post. I wish I could say that is because I am living this incredibly exciting life and we are having more fun than we know what to do with, but alas, our activities have been a bit more... well, boring. Here's a list:

• House hunting
• House cleaning
• Sorting out clothes I haven't worn in years and donating them to goodwill or selling them on eBay
• Getting stains out of the carpet all over the house (well, Mr. Batty did most of the work on that one)
• Setting up an appointment with a painter so we can get difficult-to-paint parts of the house fixed up. A fresh coat of paint will help us sell this place -- or at least that's what we're hoping.

So, as you can see, lots of work. Relatively little knitting, which is why I'm posting about the other thing librarians like to talk about: What I'm reading.
I always have several books going, but the one I'm reading right now is Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann. It's a murder mystery in which a herd of sheep are trying to find out who murdered their shepherd. Yes, you heard me, a murder mystery with sheep detectives!
I'm not very far in yet, but I love the author's sense of humor. Very tongue in cheek yet utterly charming. And not to mention... sheep.
I guess one could say it's somewhat knitting related.
But, knitting or no, how can one not like a book that starts with a list of characters appropriately captioned Dramatis Oves?

Caturday

Happy early Caturday! Technically, it's Friday, but I wanted to share pictures of my cats in their favorite flop spots.

Morgana loves the printer. Mr. Batty and I have a suspicion that she was some kind of computer engineering type in a former life.


Merlin flops on the upper part of the computer desk. He is more of a taking things apart kitty, and we're guessing former mechanical engineer.


That's it in cat-related news. I got back from my trip to New Jersey and have taken today off for some rest and sanity-restoration. I know I've been really, really bad about reading people's blogs and intend to get caught up over the weekend. In the meantime...
Flopping, cuddling, cooking, and some sweater surgery. I hope the procedure goes well and the patient doesn't have to be frogged!

Block Party

Berroco Ultra Alpaca grows. I have heard knitters comment on it, I have read posts about the amazing expandability of this yarn, and still I ignored the advice. Did I wash my swatch? No, of course not! Why not spend hours knitting a sweater with a 50" bust, only to wash it and experience the growing miracle yarn myself?

Here it is.


There is a little extra fabric -- about 1" more in length, and possibly 1/2-1" in width. But the sleeves... instead of 23", they're a good... 24, maybe 25" long, and the top of each sleeve is 23" wide instead of 21"...
Not too bad, and when it gets dry, it'll probably pull back together a little bit. Still, I've learned my lesson: wash your swatch. It's worth it. I know swatches lie, but you'll learn valuable things about your yarn.

Also a long time coming was the blocking of Tangerine Twist. You may remember my first seaming attempt, which failed because the sleeves didn't quite fit into their holes and I had to rip them back out. Now, I'm blocking the holes and hoping the sleeves will fit somehow. We'll see how things go.


I'm headed on another business trip next week, this time to New Jersey. I'm taking the train because it gives me extra time to work. It also gives me extra knitting time. I like extra knitting time.

Help me pick a pattern

I have a ton of work to finish before I take off to Halifax. I'm hoping to get some done before I leave and some more on the train to the airport. And with any luck, I won't come back with tons of yarn. Wish me strength!

In the meantime, I would like some help picking a pattern for this wonderfully bright orange sock yarn. Toe up, cuff down, it doesn't matter. I have 310 yards of this stuff, my ankles are pretty skinny, and my feet are rather small (about a US size 6.5). So there should be plenty of yarn for regular-length socks.


What would you make out of bright orange sock yarn like this?

More Halifax!

No, not more about my last trip to Halifax... it turns out I'm going back there on Sunday! I don't expect there to be time for yarn this time around, but given the amounts I brought back last week, that may not be a bad thing.

We had a great Memorial Day weekend, playing lots of D&D, eating pizza and junk food, and visiting with friends who have a 3-month-old baby and a 3-year-old. They are both amazingly cute! Whether one of the people there gave me this cold, or if it was someone in Canada, I'm not sure, but I came back with a sore throat. After trying to do work for 4 hours or so and getting nothing done, I called the office and let them know I'm going to sleep now. So... more knitting content later. I have to go sleep off this cold.

Return from Halifax (picture heavy)

I'm back from Halifax. Lots of work got done, but we also managed to drive out of the city and to one of those rugged, rocky beaches Nova Scotia is famous for. It was beautiful. I could have spent hours just standing there, smelling the ocean air, watching the waves crash against the rocks... and I would have taken pictures of it. If I had thought to take my camera, which I didn't, silly person that I am. Oh, well. It turns out I'm going down there again in less than two weeks. Must remember to bring the camera.

While I was there, I discovered the danger of walking through a shopping mall to get from my hotel to the office. I saw these shoes in a window, and... well. You know. Girl. Shoe store. Shoes happen.


Aren't these the cutest?


I needed new summer sandals anyway, my old pair is falling apart. But being a knitter, I didn't just buy shoes, oh no. How could I refuse the suggestion to go yarn shopping during my lunch break?
Well, let's see how I did.

Exhibit A: Lucy Neatby Merino Dream in a bright, bright orange color. It was sitting in a basket with its less brightly-colored friends, positively begging me to take it home.


Exhibit B: Soft, squooshy Misty Alpaca laceweight, in a gorgeous light burgundy. Oh, it's wonderful. And I already have plans for it. I want it to turn into a Christmas shawl for me to wear during the holidays.


Exhibit C: Two skeins of Manos, in blacks, reds, and other lava-like colors. The color number is 105, but I think it should be called Eerily Beautiful!


Oh, and fiber happened too. Exhibit D: Pretty fiber in purples and burgundies. Let me tell you, it took a lot of self-restraint to pick up only one of these.


The verdict: Yarn diet? Not so much. I'll have to not repeat this in 2 weeks or so, when I'm going back. But this yarn makes me happy. I just wish I could have finished some knitting while I was there. Except I forgot my needles. Yes, you heard me: I finished the first husband sock, kitchenered the toe, forgot my Addis at home. And didn't find out until after yarn shopping. Oops.

A Generous Gift

It turns out I was the 1000th person to comment on Soo's blog. I love Soo's blog because she cranks out beautiful knits at incredible speed, does amazing colorwork, and knits several pairs of socks in the time it takes me to make a single sock. She's amazing.

She's also an incredibly generous person. I mean, she sent me chocolate. Chocolate with little vintage pictures on it that tastes wonderful. And Kaffe Fasset sock yarn. And Colinette Jitterbug. The yarn is gorgeous, and in colors I would have bought for myself.
All for commenting on her blog, which I visit with great pleasure anyway. Thank you, Soo! I'm a very happy chocolate-eating sock knitter because of you!


Not even Merlin's attempt at Dad Sweater destruction can spoil my mood today. He ran off with the finished sleeve. While I was trying to save that, the sneaky little furbeast snagged the ball of yarn attached to my sleeve in progress. When I'm done with this sweater, I'll have to turn some of this wool/alpaca blend into cat toys, they love it so much.


The first sock for Mr. Batty was almost done. When he tried it on, it was a good inch too short in the toes, so I unraveled the decreases, got started on making it longer, and got distracted by a business wear and knitting-/cook book shopping spree.
I'm really excited about the cook books. I've heard really good things about The Planet of Vegan and Vegan Cupcakes take over the world. I'll make some and let you know how they turn out... but first, I'm headed to Halifax. Tomorrow, I pack, Monday, I catch a plane, and Tuesday, my boss takes me yarn shopping. Yay!

Love is...

...knitting reverse stockinette stitch sleeves in a size XL (meant to fit a 44" chest). One done, one left to go. As usual, I took a picture of the wrong side of it -- force of habit and all that. As long as I don't make the same mistake while seaming, everything will work out fine. New mantra: The purl side is the right side, the purl side is the right side, the purl side is the right side.


...knitting socks for a men's 10.5 (German men's size 45/46) on US #0/2.0 mm needles. In all fairness, my gauge is a bit larger than usual on 0's, so things are moving along fairly well. I'm loving the way this pattern is working up, it's a very elegant and masculine sock.


...posting loads of pictures of one's cats. Here is Merlin, rudely awakened from his kitty nap by a camera-wielding madwoman. Morgana is currently enjoying the Upstairs Forbidden Zone, otherwise known as my blocking attic, and she won't lie still long enough for fear of being evicted.


And, last but not least:
Love is celebrating gifts passed down from woman to woman. My grandmother taught me to knit, my 'adopted' grandmother, who watched me for 16 years, taught me how to knit socks, and my mother taught me how to work through difficult tasks with ingenuity, determination, and the willingness to keep trying until it works.

Thank you, and a Happy Mother's Day to all!

Still Here

I just got back from the dentist. After spending the last 4 days in 9+ hour meetings, the last of those with increasing amounts of tooth pain, I have to say that this is an improvement. My mouth already hurts less. I didn't even feel like knitting, it hurt so much. Now I understand what my mother meant when she said all sorts of professions and services were optional, but doctors and dentists were essential.

Guy Knits

Right now, I'm knitting for the men in my life. My sister has 2 pairs of socks, my mother has a Clapotis, but Mr. Batty and my Dad don't have anything. I'm a little bit ashamed because the Dad Sweater has been on the needles since last April. Yes, folks, it's taken me a year to get this far on a sweater that's mostly stockinette (or rather, reverse stockinette, but let's not split hairs...). So how am I doing with it?
Well, I have about 6" left on the first sleeve. Almost there! A second sleeve, a wash, a block, a seaming session and some ribbing around the neck... and it'll be done.


Mr. Batty is getting a hat and a pair of socks. I have started the socks, a simple twisted stitch pattern from The Knitting Man(ual). It's hard to see in this picture, but it's turning out very well, if I say so myself. After a friendly knittyhead explained to me that k2tog without taking the stitches off the needle, then knitting into the first stitch again refers to the stitch closer to the end of the left needle, that is. I was initially quite unable to figure out if they meant the one on the left (first stitch you slip the needle through on the k2tog) or the first stitch towards the end of the needle. Sometimes, things aren't as straightforward as they seem...


Oh, and about that skein of yarn from my previous post. The color is called Providence. Methinks 'tis Providence brought us together... I want to go back to the store and buy another skein in that colorway so I can knit one up while having another one around the house to look at and pet, because it is perfection. Just a book collector has a first edition of a book, but then keeps a reading copy around for when he actually wants to read the story.
If anyone had asked me what the perfect yarn looks like, I probably would have described something different. Funny how the things that turn out to be "perfect" for us so rarely are what we thought they would be before we found them...

The Mojo Returns

The mojo has returned! I am still cooking and baking, but this time around, I have also been knitting. Yesterday, I made corn chowder from scratch. Don't do this on a weeknight. I cut the corn from 4, grated the corn off of the other 6, and milked them all with a butter knife. Wow, that's a lot of work! The chowder came out great, and I'll definitely make it again, but not in the middle of the week.

I also went yarn shopping. Yes, this is sock yarn. I've been looking at this particular skein for months. Every time I went to Windsor Button, I'd pick it up, fondle it, and put it back. Tonight, it came home with me. Isn't it beautiful? A little darker than our bedding, but look how it matches the sheets and the comforter!


There has also been progress on the Dad Sweater sleeve. Notice how I took a picture of the knit (wrong) side? That's because I do reverse stockinette so rarely, it didn't even register I was looking at the wrong thing. Oh, well. Next progress pic will be of the purl side.


While I was at the yarn store, I also found this adorable book. I'm 30-something years old and consider myself a professional, but there is something about happily smiling crochet critters I find irresistible. I think it has to do with hormones. Really, I can't explain it any other way.


It's going to be great crochet practice! I already have all this acrylic sitting around upstairs. Now I have a use for it. I think I'll try my hand at this over the weekend.