Last Friday I took my newly-completed Frogner to work to me to show to a couple of co-workers who saw it in progress.

While I was playing show-and-tell, another woman came in and saw it. She gasped in admiration. “You made that?! You could sell that!”

So just for fun I said “How much do think I could sell this for?”

She thought a minute and said “Sixty-five dollars!” Big smile on her face.

Non-knitters just don’t get it.

Bobble-Haters of the World Unite!

It was gratifiying to see so many bobble-haters check in yesterday in my comments. And thanks for your comments on my Fern yarn. I know, I know . . . I need to swatch to see how the Devon will look. And I do really need to swatch it because it’s a fairly soft yarn because of the silk content. But I’m thinking what a totally yummy sweater that would make.

I once knitted an aran out of 100% silk yarn. I bought this drop-dead gorgeous handpainted turquoise silk worsted weight yarn at the market at a TKGA convention ages ago. At the convention I had taken the class on knitting arans from the neck down that was given by Dixie Falls. (Any of you guys remember her? Is she still around?) On the plain going home, I started knitting my silk and designing my aran on the fly. I made a cute little short-sleeved top with cables and seed stitch and I wore it a heckuva lot. It looked dynamite under a plain black suit.

Hmmmmmm . . . where is that sweater?

DadSock

Turned the heel. Ooh!

Mouse-a-thon Update

Received a whole bunch of adorable mousies from Mary in Brecksville, OH, Claudia in Woburn, MA, and Kay in Levittown, PA. Thank you so much!

Kay thoughtfully tucked a piece of tissue paper in with her mice for Lucy.

Here is a photo of Lucy lying on what remains of that tissue paper.

Lucy wants you to know that catnip-scented tissue paper is the best!

Wanna see something cool? My sock pattern translated into Japanese! Thanks, Orochi!

To all of you still affected by the black-out — I hope your power is back on soon!

Sitting on the crowded train yesterday afternoon, merrily KIPping away on my sock. A man gets on, sits next to me, says “knit one purl two?”, and bursts into laughter.

Why do people think saying “knit one purl two” is so funny?

Actually, the guy turned out to be fairly pleasant. Fresh from Florida, here for an extended period of time on business, he was doing a test run of his commute from his hotel to his office. I was able to answer a bunch of questions he asked about fare cards, train schedules, and subway-accessible shopping areas.

My good deed du jour.

And here’s the progress on the sock.

I think the yarn is very pretty. Very autumnal colors, which are good for my Dad, who has the same coloring as me and likes the same colors that I like.

Mouse-a-thon

I figured it was high time I showed you my mouse bag stuffing progress. True, putting together mouse packages does cut into my knitting time, but it’s a lot of fun.

Lucy feigned indifference.

Andrea very kindly offered to help with the packaging process. If there’s a sudden deluge of mice (and I hope there is!) I’ll take her up on it! As we work close to each other, I was envisioning a lunchtime mouse-stuffing party. We could call it “Mousies on the Mall,” invite any and all our DC blog buddies, and hold it in front of the U.S. Capitol.

Or something like that. The Capitol Police might take a dim view of my choice of venue.

Tales from the Stash

I went into the stash today because something’s been fermenting in my brain for a while. (Scary, huh?)

Lookie here:

The one on the left, Classic Elite Evergreen, is wool/recycled fiber blend. The one on the right, Classic Elite Devon, is wool/silk blend.

I’ve been thinking that one of those two would be lovely knitted up as AS Fern (from her book Stillwater).

The color of the Evergreen would really suit the design — it would show the texture pattern beautifully. But I adore the Devon yarn. But I wonder if the Devon is too dark a color to really show off the pattern. The Evergreen is crisper than the Devon, which might also be an advantage, but the Devon feels so sinfully yummy!

Just in case you wondered, I would be making Fern sans bobbles, like Auntie Lolly did. I saw her Fern in person last May and it is totally gorgeous!

Lolly, if you’re reading this — what yarn did you use for your Fern and how do you like it?

Any other Fern knitters, feel free to jump in!

That’s what Lucy keeps telling me. The poor little thing! All these beguiling mousies coming into her home and None of Them Are For Her.

I keep reminding her that she hardly touches her own mice — her favorite toy is a wadded up piece of paper. It doesn’t matter. Because she’s a fickle little princess, she wants what she cannot have.

Oh, by the way, I have to hide the raffle tickets, too. Because they were enclosed in the packages you sent, Lucy finds the catnip scented paper most beguiling.

I spent a fair amount of time last night labelling and stuffing Mouse Bags. It’s so much fun to see all the different mice you guys are sending. The filled bags are looking cute!

Speaking of mice, I received packages full of rodent goodness from Melissa in Topsham, ME, and from Shirley in Folsom, PA. Thank you thank you thank you!

New Sock

I started a sock in a yarn I’ve not used before. It’s Silja, 80% wool, 20% nylon, made by Gjestal in Norway. Sportweight. These socks are for my Dad (who wears a size 13 shoe) so I’m not knitting in anything finer than sport, lest I go mad.

Got the toe done, did about an inch of the foot on the train yesterday morning, and realized it was too big — my Dad has narrow feet. So I ripped it out and started over. Sigh.

Did I ever tell you how much I really really hate to rip out? It just seems so counter-productive. But I knew that damned sock would be too loose, so I bit the bullet and ripped.

(People on the train were probably wondering what kind of a moron spends 90% of the trip kntting feverishly, and the last 10% ripping out all progress.)

I did a gauge swatch — 6.75 stitches/inch on size 2.75mm needles and thought 60 stitches would be just right. But my knitting gauge was wa-a-a-ay off from the swatch gauge, something that doesn’t usually happen. So down to 52 stitches I went!

And I am not using my beloved Pony Pearl dpns. I find that on any size larger than 2mm, the points are too blunt. I’m using a set of Brittany birch needles, which are okay, but they are an inch or so longer than the Pony Pearls so they don’t fit as nicely in my purse.

I know. Bitch, bitch, bitch.

Here’s the sock

Maximilian

Did a bit on ol’ Max, too. See?

Photographic Memory?

Cat asked an interesting question:

I was just sitting here, knitting, wishing I had your photographic memory. This occurred to me: do you remember the pattern during the project and then forget it? Or could you pick up some yarn and start knitting, say, “Foolish Virgins” from memory? Inquiring minds, etc.

The answer is . . . the easier the pattern, the longer I remember it. Also, stuff I’ve knitted more than once I remember. I’ve knitted three Na Cragas and three St. Endas. I could probably pick up one of those designs and knit them from memory.

But an extremely complex chart like Foolish Virgins? Nope. Outta sight, outta mind.

Thora mentioned the Kliban cat poem “Love to Eat Them Mousies” in yesterday’s comments and I had to laugh. Because that’s been running through my head since the beginning of the Mouse-a-thon.

You can visit the Official Kliban Cat Website and hear a lovely rendition of the poem there.

Speaking of the Mouse-a-thon, yesterday I received mice from Shelly in Wyoming, OH, Debbie in Forest Hill, WV, and Beth in Terre Haute, IN. It was very exciting opening mouse packages and seeing the adorable little critters you created. Thanks!

I will be keeping a running total of number of mousies received over in the sidebar, under the Mouse-a-thon button. Check out the updated total of mousies received! Woo hoo!

Maximilian

Didn’t take you guys long to figure out that I’m knitting Maximilian, a design by Jade Starmore from her book A Collector’s Item. It’s knitted in pieces, btw.

I was asked about the side pattern. It consists of little stockinette squares outlined in reverse stockinette stitch, with a knot in the center of each square. Knot achieved by working k1, p1, k1, p1 all in one stitch, then decreasing back down to one stitch by passing the first three stitches created over the last one. It makes for an interesting bit of texture, but not quite as offensive as a bobble.

The photo of Maximilian from the book can be seen here, on the Virtualyarns website.

Hope asked how I’m enjoying knitting it.

Well . . . I’m enjoying it more than I expected. It’s nice to be knitting texture again. It’s a pretty easy pattern, not much of a challenge for me, but it’s a fun knit nevertheless.

Of course if you ask me again in a week I’ll probably tell you bored silly with it.

But I’m liking the way it looks — no matter how bored I’ll get with it.

August Contest

I’ve gotten some great entries so far — thanks. One request. Please send all your links in one email. Uncle! Uncle! Unlike the Mouse-a-thon, this is one entry per person. (I probably should have made that clear.) I’m being inundated with multiple emails from a number of you and it’s getting hard to keep track of what is what, not to mention flooding my inbox. Submitting multiple links is great — just please do ‘em all at once. Thanks!

Okay boys and girls — time for the August contest. And it’s all about lace.

To be entered in the drawing for the prize, send me the url and a brief description of a free lace pattern on the internet. I’ll compile all responses and post a list of free lace patterns on my site.

Don’t you love how I manage to get you guys to do my research for me?

Email me (contact link is on the sidebar) your entry by 5:00 pm Eastern Time this Friday, August 15, 2003, to be entered in the drawing for this:

Two skeins of the extraordinarily yummy Douceur et Soie yarn, which is perfect for knitting lace. One is red, one is green.

This prize was generously donated by my friend Catherine in California, known to many of you as “3C.” Thanks Catherine!

Mouse-a-thon News

Several of you alerted me to this extraordinarily appropriate cartoon yesterday.

Mystery Aran

Can you guess what it is yet?

Frogner

More photos of Frogner, now on the Official Frogner page.

Lucy

Lucy doesn’t really care about any of this — she’s busy tucking into her dinner!

Happy Monday to all.