I Am the Champion

The thrill of victory is sweet, my friends. Especially when you’ve worked long and hard, training and preparing and devoting yourself to that elusive goal.

Ok, I didn’t actually do any of that challenging stuff, but I’m still a winner because I (almost) guessed how many books are in Minty’s knitting library! Check out my prize…



2 skeins of Claudia Hand Painted in the Blue Sky colorway.

I’m thinking Minty's Anastasia socks will show this yarn to it’s best advantage! I don't know if I can resist casting on this afternoon. Nevertheless, the Festival of Finishing is by no means over. I’m working on a bunch of things at the same time, so nothing is really finished but everything is just a little bit closer.

Festival of Finishing – Day Three

Today at jury duty I overheard/spotted something too priceless not to share -- A woman sitting in the jury waiting room reading Oedipus aloud to her teenage son. Ahhhh! Did the cautionary elements of the story totally escape her? Was she a seventh grade teacher trying to reinforce the message of the story? Yikes!

Now off we go to the Festival of Finishing!

Today we have a very manly kimono, modeled by the ever cooperative Cocoa Bear.



Here’s a bear-free shot so you can see the crochet neckline and stripe detail.



True, it’s not technically a kimono, not by a long shot, but the design was inspired by this little sweater…



The Mason Dixon baby kimono I knit for Baby Gleek, who will be joining us verrrrry soon.

For the Baby Gleek Kimono and the modified Manly Kimono I used the same yarn, Lily Elite Cotton, knit on #7 needles. To create the modified Manly Kimono I just followed the Mason Dixon directions, stopping at the bottom of the V on each side (21 stitches), then joining the two sides together to create a one-piece front.

Festival of Finishing – Day One

As promised, this week I’m having a fantastic festival of finishing! Today’s FOs are not the most exciting, but I’m starting slowly and working my way up to what promises to be a very sweater-heavy end of the week.

Argentina Socks



I originally started these as a gift for my husband to wear to the World Cup this summer, but had to take a time out when I started my new job back in June. I just finished them up last week and now they’re mine, all mine! (Because horizontal stripes are so slimming on pregnant ankles!)

Yarn: Blue and white Regia (german words, more german words) Nation Color 4 ply
Needles: Addi #2s
Pattern: Plain old toe up stockinette with short row heel, using 52 stitches.

And a Mason Dixon Baby Genius Burp Cloth, for my very own soon-to-be-arriving baby genius. Coincidentally knit in my high school colors, black and gold. Go Bulldogs!!



Actually next week at the doctor I’ll find out whether he’s really a genius and has gotten himself in the correct upside-down position or if he perhaps needs a little more time/coercion in that department. (Will it help if I do somersaults in the swimming pool?)

Yarn: Lily Sugar ‘n Cream Cotton
Needles: Crystal Palace #7s
Pattern: Mason Dixon Baby Genius Burp Cloth, no modifications.

Stay tuned tomorrow for part 2 of the festival!

A Tale of Two Piles

I've been knitting and knitting and knitting, and I really don’t have any pretty little things to show for it. Instead, I have two piles. Here’s pile number one…



It’s the back and left sleeve/front of a Sunrise Circle Jacket inspired by Christy’s recently completed Sunrise Circle. Seeing her jacket jogged something in my memory, something about having 7 skeins of Rowanspun DK in the exact same color hanging around my stash.

I swatched.



Gauge was perfect. I’ve never gotten such perfect gauge in my life. Row gauge too! I just started on the right sleeve/front and I hope to make lots of progress on this one because I’ll be attending a class all weekend and should have lots of time to knit.

What about pile number two? Pile number two is an embarrassment. A pile of shame. A pile that was staring me in the face and making me feel guilty until I shoved it in a drawer. Here’s pile number two…



I finished knitting all of these projects, but I just cant bring myself to finish the finishing. I’ve got one pair of socks (really, how hard it is to weave in a few ends), a burp cloth, and six (yes SIX) baby sweaters in need of seaming and/or buttons. Disgraceful. I'm declaring next week to be my own personal Festival of Finishing - hopefully this public shaming will keep me honest.

The Awwwww Heard Round the World

Somehow, while knitting an absolutely fabulous EZ Fishtrap Aran, Sarah found the time to make me this adorable baby sweater. Check it out...



And the cutest little knitting card



I've been mulling over a theory for a while now, and I think it's time to share it with everyone. Knitting is far more than just a hobby, it's fifth grade science in action. Remember learning that the animals that reproduce themselves are the ones that thrive? Well, all of these super cute baby goodies certainly give one an incentive to procreate. Thus, it is clear that baby knits and the knitters that knit them and are doing their part to ensure the continuation of our species. Ergo, survival of the craftiest!

Who said that philosophy degree wouldn't be useful later in life!

Thank you again Sarah!!

And the Winner Is...

Courtney from Yarn Tootin'! Courtney, just email me at holdtheraisins[at]yahoo[dot]com so that I can figure out how to get you your spinnerific prize. Thank you all SO MUCH for the name ideas - there are some really great choices in the comments and I bet we'll end up picking one. As I mentioned in the last entry, we're not going to finalize the name until we meet our baby in person in 7 weeks or so. I'll reveal our selection then!

Name My Baby!

It’s a blog contest!! In case you missed the news, I’m pregnant. I have two more months left, but we’ve already started preparing for the baby. Part of the preparation process, especially for apartment dwellers, is the purging of the belongings! Another part of the process is the choosing of the name. With this contest I’m trying to accomplish both.

The Prize…



One Ashford drop spindle and two bunches of purply blue roving (85% wool, 15% mohair). Don’t worry, my attempt at “yarn” currently on the spindle will not be included. This drop spindle is pretty heavy, so it’s well suited for spinning chunky yarn.

To Enter…

All you have to do is name my baby! No, seriously. Just leave a comment to this post (or email me at holdtheraisins[at]yahoo[dot]com) with a boy’s name that works in both Spanish and English. For example, Nicholas/Nicolas or Sebastian. The name doesn’t have to be exactly the same in both languages, Mattias/Matthew or Alejandro/Alexander would work just fine. I’ll throw the entries into a hat and pick out one. Although the name I pick wont necessarily be the name I give to the baby, that person WILL win the spindle and the roving.

The Rules…

If you DON’T want the spindle and roving, but you want to make a suggestion, feel free, just let me know in your comment that you don’t want to be entered into the contest.

I’m just trying to get IDEAS for names – I can’t promise that I’m going to use one of the names suggested in the comments! But, if I do use one of the suggested names, I’ll give that person a prize too (but not till after the baby is born, in approximately 7 or 8 weeks).

I don’t want to spend a fortune in shipping, so North American entrants only, please.

Get your entries in by Sunday, March 4 at 8pm!

Strike A Pose

Last weekend I was chatting with some folks and someone raised one of the great existential knitblogging questions of our time…

How do you photograph your own handknit socks?

I usually go for the bend and click, but this does not show off the socks to their greatest advantage. Other sock enthusiasts set up the self timer and don a pair of heels. Some use props. Here’s a little photo essay of my pinstripe jaywalkers.

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces, pinstripe colorway
Needles: Size 1 circulars
Gauge: 68 stitches around leg, about 4 fewer on bottom of foot where I used plain stockinette.

The classic bend and snap…



A puppet show with a friend …



Dancing on the ceiling…



Still learning how to use the self-timer…

Showered with Goodies!

This Sunday the Spiders threw a fabulous baby shower for me and Gleek at Red Bamboo! We were treated to gifts and snacks and delicious cake and the mimosas (and ginger ale) were flowing freely. Just take a look at all the amazing knitting…



Blankees and soakers and burp cloths and wash cloths and bibs (go Gryffindor!) and the cutest baby booties I’ve ever seen in my entire life! Not only that, but I got plenty of washcloths and onesies and a very sporty changing pad, so I’m much more prepared and also perhaps in contention for a best-dressed baby award! It was an amazing shower - thank you all SO MUCH!!

One more shot of those booties…



Receiving all these wonderful goodies really inspired me to keep up with my baby knitting for others - hopefully I'll be able to unveil more of those secret projects soon!

Secrets and Dishcloths and Ice Cream, Oh My!

I’ve been up to my ears in secret knitting lately. I suspect that the parents of the potential recipients are too busy taking care of newborn babies to be reading my blog, but I’m not taking any chances – just a few more days and I can post the pics.

In the meantime, I also knit a dishcloth.



Modeled above by the tub because the kitchen sink was full of dirty dishes. I used the 3 and 1 Checked pattern from this site. Dishcloth knitting is the ultimate commitment-phobe project. You use crap yarn, it takes about two hours, and there are four ends to weave in when you’re finished. Perfect for when you’re not quite ready to commit to a new sweater but just rented two movies and need a little something to keep your hands busy.

Also, if you’re bitter about not getting a snow day, here’s a fun way to waste time at work. Using the Ben and Jerry’s Flavor Generator you can submit suggestions for new flavors. In the past few months I’ve been running pretty extensive testing on the existing flavors so I consider myself an expert in this field.

The Fun Never Ends

Before...



After...



Fiber Trends Felted Clogs. Just like the Harlot said, you never get sick of these clogs.

My felting method is pretty unorthodox – I just throw the item in the washer with my regular dark colored laundry, wash on warm for a regular cycle, and throw in the dryer. I use the industrial machines at the laundromat, so I don’t worry about fuzzies clogging the machines, nor do I check the progress of the felted item during the wash process. In fact, the washers are front loading and you can’t even open them mid-cycle. It seems to work just fine. They never quite dry fully. Thus blocking, whereupon I stick my feet into the warm moist clogs and wear them around the apartment, is the least fun aspect of the whole process.

Finished Swallowtail

The Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark, Interweave Knits Fall 2006
Needles: Brittany Birch size 4 (Use the pointiest you’ve got. Mine were stubby but I didn’t want to buy a new pair.)
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace, color unknown (ballband MIA)
Gauge: Swatch? What’s a swatch?



I love this shawl, it’s soft and cozy without being too bulky. I’m not much of a triangular shawl wearer (too Victorian for me) so I’ve been wearing this one wrapped around my neck scarf-style. Sorry about the lack of outdoor photos of the scarf in action, it’s about negative 80,000 degrees outside and my coat no longer buttons across my middle, so I’m only venturing outdoors in the event of a dire emergency (i.e. if I run out of Ben & Jerry’s).

(Silent) Poetry Reading Day

It’s (Silent) Poetry Reading Day in the world o’ blogs, and I’m really enjoying everyone’s contributions.

Mine is inspired by a recent bathtub visitor in my apartment.

The Centipede
by Ogden Nash

I objurgate the centipede,
A bug we do not really need.
At sleepy-time he beats a path
Straight to the bedroom or the bath.
You always wallop where he’s not,
Or, if he is, he makes a spot.

P.S. – There are no funny poems about groundhogs out there, I checked.

P.S.S. – The swallowtail shawl is blocking at this very moment on navy blue towels. (Blue shawl + blue towels = really boring photo.)

Faster Than a Speeding Swallow

A certain chic knitblogger gave me just the encouragement I needed the other night – I’d been thinking about lace and had my eye on the Swallowtail Shawl . “It’s easy” she said, “you’ll be done in a week.”

Crazy, I know, a lace shawl in a week, but here it is...



Fine, it’s been more like 10 days, but that’s still pretty fast. I think I’ve discovered the secret to lace knitting – Don’t Look Back. If I don’t have enough stitches I just pick one up; too many and I k2tog. Tinking lace is just about as fun as the wax based method of personal epilation and in both cases I usually just end up making the situation worse. When knitting lace it’s best to just embrace your mistakes and soldier on, rather than obsessing about the finer details. (Some may argue that the whole point of lace is the finer details, but those people also have alphabetized spice racks.)

If I can find some pins I'll be blocking tonight and have FO photos tomorrow.

A Rotten Start

Thank you all so much for your kind baby wishes - I really appreciate it!! Hard to believe I only have about three months left.

My 2007 got off to a pretty foul start. Here are just a few tidbits of the awesomeness that was last week: The bloody nose I got while wandering tissue-less somewhere on 16th street between 8th and 9th Avenue - hello meatpacking district revelers, I’m not a derelict coke addict, just a pregnant lady bleeding out the nose into her scarf. (Don’t worry, not a handknit, just a fake pashmina.)

Then, on the same theme, some bloodletting at the doctors office, and then the waiting, and then the taking of more blood, and then, well, perhaps a bit more waiting. Just drink this, it will only give you a headache for two days straight.

And also death. What week wouldn’t be complete without the death of a beloved grandparent, and the accompanying funerary type ceremonies.

But yesterday was my birthday, and it was lovely, and I believe the heinousness has ended. At least I hope it has ended, because I can tolerate no more. Fortunately, I’ve had plenty of time for knitting. I’ve been working on a mitten, here’s a peek



And a blurry EZ February sweater lounging on the couch, accidentally sized for some very husky little girl



Knitting as therapy, right here chez moi. I expect to have an entire afghan completed by next weekend if this bad streak continues.

What’s Up With All The Baby Knitting?

So there’s been quite a bit of baby knitting ‘round these parts, and some of you may be getting tired of it. Just bear with me – you’ll be able to see all these clothes modeled by a real person in about three and a half more months…



Yep, those little red things are my shoes, and they’re getting harder and harder to see. I’m due in late April and we already know it’s a boy. And he likes Chinese takeout.

Despite all the little half finished sweaters sitting in the knitting basket, I found some time to finish my Shedir and I looooove it.



Yarn: Lana Gatto Prestige 100% Cashmere, 1.5 balls
Needles: Size 3 dpns
Pattern: Shedir by Jenna Wilson for the 2004 Knitty special issue, modified for only three pattern repeats rather than five.

Darling, Where Do the Mets Play?

Yet another unpronounceable knit. I started Shedir with two balls of cashmere I won in the Yarn Harlot’s MSF thank you gift drawing, and I have no idea how to say the name of this hat. To avoid another Clapotis incident (wherein I go around mispronouncing the name of my garment for a year or so) – does anyone have a suggestion about the pronunciation of Shedir? I’m thinking it’s pronounced the same way you’d answer the question in the title of this post.

It's In The Bag, Baby

My knitting looks pretty much the same, just a little bit longer. But those very same projects pictured in my last post are so much happier now, so much more cooperative on the needles, so much more fun to knit. Why? They’re now traveling in style…



This great box bag made by misocrafty and gifted to me by Carrie in our Spiders gift exchange. Ever since my pinsripe jaywalker (suffering from serious SSS) started traveling in the pouch rather than a ratty old Ziploc bag, I’ve made inches of progress. Thanks Carrie!

Open Issues List

Back when I was a lawyer I used to have to make “open issues” lists – multipage documents listing and classifying every contentious issue that had to be settled before a transaction could close. The parties would then argue about whether certain issues should or shouldn’t be included on the list, thereby adding even more open issues and prolonging the agony. I love thinking back to those great lawyer projects, just remembering that drudgery motivates me when I’m feeling a little too tired to work the night shift at the restaurant.

Here’s a little list of the open knitting issues in my life right now.

Looks like it’s time for a new pair of felted clogs…



The fair isle sleeve of the yolk pullover is going well so far…



What’s this?



Part of a super secret surprise in progress to be revealed soon – so cute you may need to wear sunglasses when viewing the FO.

You’ll notice that none of these projects look like holiday presents. That’s because it’s only December 11th. Plenty of time, right?

Riotous Vacation Day

Today was the first day of my three day weekend. When you work in a restaurant, holidays mean tourists and long hours, not time off, so I’m enjoying my Thanksgiving vacation a little late this year.

How did I celebrate?

Smiley’s Yarn RRRRRiot!!!

Here's some riotously colorful cheap yarn



And some of the other rioters



The line stretched around the store; the crowds were dense and moving fast. Most of the yarn was flammable. I’ll confess here and now that I cracked under the pressure and, after a brief scan of the pickings, fled to Philly Slims for a therapeutic cheesesteak. Maybe next year.

You may notice that I also did a little redecorating around here using a new template, hope it's an improvement!