Flashbacks

I've been thinking back to eigth grade over the last few days, when I was young and nerdy, and my best friend was a basketball-obsessed Japanese girl. I can still remember the starting line up for the Celtics in those days*, and I remember watching them play the Lakers in the Finals. It was the first time I'd ever really watched basketball, given that my mom was not in to televised sports, and my dad leaned towards that Brahmin standard, tennis, rather then this new-fangled basketball thing.

But it was amazing, the whole rivalry. And tonight it starts up again. For the first time in 21 years. It won't be the same as those 80s matchups (no Magic, no Larry), but it's a nice example of history repeating.

For those of you playing along at home, here's another flashback, thankfully not 21 years old.

Pattern: Basalt Tank from Knitting Nature, Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Top, color 005, 5 skeins (960 yds)
Needles: US 6/4.0 mm
Mods/comments: I had some "issues" with the first version of this, and the size medium I knit bore a striking resemblance to a circus tent. So this is a size small (hahaha!), with modifications to the side hexagons and waist shaping as pioneered by Kelly.

Waist shaping detail

Those of you familiar with the pattern may notice something odd about the first picture - it does not look like the pictures of the finished garment in the book. This angle may help:

Ironman told me to "Do something interesting...like flex!"

When I put this thing on with the correct side facing front, it was obscene. As in, its a good thing I'm not better endowed up front because I would have been flashing the world like a German beer wench. Plus it gaped in the back, and there was no hiding that.

So I put it in the washing machine to try and shrink it a bit. No dice. Then I had a brain flash (I think the little grey cells are coming back already) and turned it around. Ta da! Problem solved. The only thing I don't like is that the seam for the bottom edging is now right in the front. Only time will tell if that bugs me enough to rip it out and redo it. For now, the Basalt tank is off the needles and wearable. Thank goodness!

* Larry Bird, DJ (Dennis Johnson), Kevin McHale, Robert Parish and Danny Ainge

So, while I was away

OK, I admit it, I haven't actually been any where. But I have been spending the majority of my waking hours working on a large pile of paper designed to convince the Feds to throw some cash my way so I can be gainfully employed for the next few years. A process not conducive to extensive blogging. But I have been doing some knitting and spinning that I can share with you.

On the knitting front is the Basalt Tank, Version 2.0 - now with waist shaping.

The waist shaping tip came from Kelly, and has made a world of difference. Version 1.0 was 4 inches too big in the chest (swatches lies, I swear) and looked like a potato sack. Now I'm actually thinking this might look pretty good.

I'm maybe a third into the last full hexagon on the back. After that there's one half hexagon and a veritable mile of garter stitch edging to do. But I'm still hoping that this one will sneak in under the wire for the Earth installment of Project Spectrum.

Next up: Flukes for Porpoise:

There is a lovely group on Ravelry called The Thrifty Sock Knitters Club, for folks who like the idea of a sock club, but aren't willing to fork over the big bucks to join one. The moderators pick several free patterns each month, and everyone chooses their own yarn. This month (June) will be the first one I've actually participated in, but they've introduced me to a bunch of cool patterns that are now queued up for knitting sometime in 2030. This is the first top down sock I've done in a long time, and I'm having some paranoia issues about yarn shortages...

Finally - spinning! The best thing so far for me about Ravelry has been the opportunity to meet some other local knitters. I now have a group I meet on Wednesday at lunchtime down at work, and a group I meet with on Thursday evenings. A while ago, someone got in touch with me through Rav and asked if I would help her learn how to use a drop spindle. Last Thursday we met up at the evening meeting and had a lovely time messing about with fiber, getting odd looks from the Whole Foods shoppers passing by.

My hand spindle has been sorely neglected since I got a wheel, but it was so fun to go back to it. I was so inspired that I came home and stayed up for another hour and half to get more done. The first half of the fiber is now wound off onto a "storage bobbin"* and I'm ready to go on the second half. No idea what weight it will end up or how many yards I'll have, but I would love to have enough to do Anne's new little nothing, Brambler.

So, even though I may be MIA in the blog world, the fiber stuff does continue. I've only got until next Monday to finish screwing around with this grant though, so I'll be back more regularly after that.

The frog pond

Way back in October I came to a sad realization. The Basalt tank that I'd been working on for quite a while was just not quite right. So I banished it to the back of my closet and waited for spring to re-inspire me.

Yesterday I pulled it out only to realize that it was much worse then I had imagined. I remembered thinking it was a bit big and shapeless. In fact, it was 44 inches of big and shapeless, for what was supposed to be the 39" size. Oooops!* I alredy knew I was going to be frogging, but I had hoped to be able to keep some of the work and just redo the side hexagons with some waist shaping and call it good. Nope. No way, no how.

Cabled 50/50 cotton-wool goodness

Two episodes of Battlestar Galactica Season Three later I have a nice big pile of Cotton Top ready to become a new Basalt tank (the 36 inch size this time I think!).


* Further evidence that swatches lie.

It's not spring, but I think I hear the peepers calling

Yesterday on the bus I finished the body of the Basalt tank, with a great sigh of relief. Knitting all those hexagons and the construction kept it interesting, but I was getting awfully tired of hauling the thing in and out of my bag every time I wanted to work on it (big, sprawling thing that it was) (this should have been a clue methinks). And my fellow commuters are probably glad that I will no longer be taking up more then my fair share of the available seats on the bus with yarn and needles.

I decided to actually try the thing on last night before I sat down to pick up the umpteen million stitches I needed to do the straps and edging on the bottom. A very good decision, since it is way too big.

Damn. I had actually thought that I'd picked right this time - I checked my gauge ahead of time, and chose the size 39 which should fit with slight negative ease, given my lactation enhanced boobage. However, it is easy 3-4 inches too big around. ARGH! I don't believe that I've actually lost that much baby weight in the two months or so it took to get to this point, so something else is off. I'll have to go back and check my gauge in the actual sweater and see how that compares to my swatch. But hell. This hardly ever happens to me, not because I'm such a careful swatcher (hah!), but because I usually can work around any issues and muddle through. But the construction of this tank is such that the only way to fix it is to rip out the whole thing. All 5+ hexagons. And I will definitely add in Kelp's waist shaping trick in the Basalt Reincarnation (TM). And maybe leave off the half hexagon on the back. The only good thing is that I wasn't going to be able to wear it until the spring anyway, so I can put it away to be frogged in a few months with out guilt.

And...now I can start on something else for myself, conveniently ignoring all the C!#$%)^ knitting lurking in the background. This is calling my name, and seems to be a really quick knit. And since we're going up north for the holidays, I'll need something warm, right?

Edited to add: my disappointment about the new froggy nature of the Basalt tank was, however, mitigated by the Red Sox. Or rather, by the absolute implosion of the Rockies' pitching staff. I was folding laundry and kept looking up at the TV, thinking "Did he really just walk in another run? No, he couldn't have...ohmigod he did!" Thank you Josh, thank you entire BoSox batting order, and thank you Mr. Hurdle for keeping Franklin Morales and Ryan Speier in there pitching as long as you did. I guess maybe the 8 days off wasn't very helpful. On to Game 2!

FO: BBC's Sweet Baby Cap

Long time, no knitting content...we had three of my friends from grad school/rowing days down here for the weekend for a triathlon/catchup weekend, so opportunities for blogging were slim and none (and Slim left town a while back*). But I have been knitting.

Devil has a friend at daycare whose parents are expecting their second baby any day now. Actually, her parents were friends first - the fact that C and Devil run around screeching like crazed banshees when we get together for dinner is just a bonus. I whipped up this super easy super cute baby hat in just a couple of days. Of course, being me, it took another week and a half to weave in the ends and wash the damn thing, but so be it.

Pattern: Sweet Baby Cap from Grosblog
Yarn: Hot Socks Sockenwolle, color #214 - this is how it's listed in my stash spreadsheet, but I'm not sure it's correct.
Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm) and 2 (2.75)
Comments/mods: no mods, I did the pattern as written (6 month size). It was a very quick knit, and the basic pattern stitch is the same as the Jaywalker socks, so if you've made a pair of those, this should be a snap. I used 19 g (about 40 yds) for this hat - a great way to use up left overs from socks.

Here's a picture of Panda doing an action shot:

This is going off to BBC (Baby Boy C) along with the pair of socks I made for Boo while we in the UK that were woefully inadequate for her footses. Hopefully they'll fit him for at least a couple of days before he grows out of them.

These were just a standard, no-pattern stockinette sock with short row heel and what I think would be described as a wedge toe (decrease on 1 stitch on either side of the toe every other row for a bit, then every row before grafting remaining live stitches together). Perfect car knitting.

In other project news, the Basalt Tank now has a front, sides,

and part of a back.

Hopefully it will be done before the snow flies (not that there's going to be any snow flying around here in any but the most metaphorical sense) (unfortunately).

* an Ironman phrase that gets a lot of use.

I may have a problem

Usually I'm able to keep working away at a project until the bitter end (aka the weaving in of ends and blocking) with no problem. But in the last few weeks I've found myself having an absolute fit of startitis, with very little to show in the way of finished projects.

First came our vacation, and the need for a small portable project to take, so I'd have something to work on in the few brief moments in the car when I wasn't in fear of my life, what with all those crazy Brits driving on the wrong side of the road and all. So I knit a pair of socks for Boo, which ended up actually being more appropriate for a newborn. And I started a pair of socks for Devil, whose current status is one sock done (ends not woven in) and the second sock to the heel. Good bus knitting, but not terribly inspiring.

Then came the Basalt Tank from Knitting Nature. This is a fun project, but I've now made it through the two side half hexagons, and I'm having trouble getting excited about casting on for another whole hexagon. OK, it's a 5/6 hexagon, but still - it's an awful lot of stitches to cast on/pick up at once.

So I pawed through the stash and started this.

This is 1) really fun, since I'm basically knitting a doily with worsted weight yarn and 2) a Christmas present for some lucky family member. In fact, this is the only picture I'll post of it, since I've only got the edging left to do, and any blocking shots would just ruin the surprise. I'm not sure who's going to get it yet, but a number of the candidates do actually stop by here once in a while.

Then there's the homespun Zeebee I started a while back, also perfect bus knitting, which has been languishing completely untouched in the bottom of my bag for more then a month. The problem is that I don't think I have enough yarn. Somehow it's easier to not move forward then it is to get half way through the last quarter of the hat, realize I don't have enough yarn, and rip it back yet again. Or find someone with a smaller head to give it to. Both of these last projects are immediate reactions to my sudden awareness that the holidays are just around the corner, and I may have built up some unreasonable expectations in my family as to the availability of handknit goodies at Christmas. For example, last year the three grandmothers in the family received this, and this, and this (a month late). What to do for an encore? Chunky acrylic hats for everyone, whee!

With all that complaining, I do actually have an FO to show you (note: the actual knitting on this has been done for two or three months waiting for the buttons to get sewn on).

Pattern: Peapod Baby set by Kate Gilbert (helpfully modeled by Panda), free on the Interweave Knits website somewhere
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool in in color #45
Needles: US4 I think - whatever the pattern called for.
Started/Finished: Doesn't bear thinking about (sometime in June I think)/Last week, let's say 9/14.
Comments: A really cute and easy knit. It went very fast, and the lace panel on the front kept it from being too boring. The only modification I made was to work short rows on the neck edge instead of binding off stitches. This necessitated reworking the numbers for the top ribbing, since the pattern has you pick up fewer stitches then were left after the short rows. No big deal. It's now off to be presented to the wee one it was made for, and hopefully it will fit him for a bit.

Sigh. So now I just have to keep plugging away on the projects on the needles, and try not to hyperventilate when I contemplate the ever-growing list of holiday knitting. Like sweaters for the girls. And socks for Dad. And something for Ironman? Uh oh. I'm in trouble.

It's September, and the young knitter's thoughts turn to

Tank tops apparently. While everyone else is thinking about fall knitting, and cozy sweaters to wear to Rhinebeck (grrrr!), I was inspired to cast on for another sleeveless sweater. Granted, winter in southeast Texas starts on or about December 15th, and ends on January 31st, but still - do I need another tank top?

Regardless of whether or not I need it, I've recently become obsessed with Norah Gaughan's Basalt tank, and am screaming through it. OK, maybe not screaming through it, but it's moving fairly quickly for this time-deprived knitter. This sweater is just so clever. The entire thing is made modularly by knitting hexagons and attaching them in appropriate ways. The front is one big hexagon, and you pick up stitches along the edges to knit the rest of the pieces. The armholes are made by omitting one sixth of the hexagon, and the back is raised by adding a half hexagon. This is also a good stashbuster - I'm using some of the Brown Sheep Cotton Top my aunt sent me a while back.

I'm having a hard time deciding on the true color of this yarn. In this picture, it looks pretty brown, but under daylight it's more of an olive green. This picture is a bit better:

In my travels around Ravelry (love that place!), I found a very appealing modification of this sweater. The original design has hexagons on either side that hang down lower then the front edge of the sweater, conveniently highlight the hips. Or at least, it looks like they might highlight the hips. In any event, Kelp! did a great mod on her Basalt tank that I am swiping whole-hog for mine. Instead of knitting whole hexagons for the lower sides, she did half hexagons, so her sweater is straight across at the bottom. Fabulous! She also did some waist shaping on her's which looks great, but since I no longer have a waist, I'm not going to worry about it right now. If need be, once I get more of this thing done, I can go back and do waist shaping. I'm well into the first half hexagon on the sides, thanks to a very long bus trip in from the dentist's this morning. Hopefully I can finish this thing before it "cools down" around here.