Category Archives: knitting

Knitting

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I’ve found a new knitting group in the area. A friend on facebook posted about attending a meeting, so I just tagged along. Really nice group of people. They have an ongoing project of making hats for preemies and newborns in the NICU at the local hospital, so I made a few for my second meeting.

Next meeting we’re swapping coasters, so I’m making this one (the pattern will be a bird once it’s finished).

My madrigal cardigan is coming along nicely. Just have to finish the second sleeve and add buttons.

Once I’ve finished it, I’ll be starting a cardigan for my mum. Like this, only with a zipper.

If at first…

Several years ago, I came across the book No Sheep For You, a book of knitting patterns and techniques for people who don’t like, or can’t wear woolen garments. I really liked the Morrigan pattern. I’m a sucker for cables (not to mention the pattern is named for the Celtic goddess of battle and strife – totally badass).

So I bought a bunch of KnitPicks’ CotLin yarn (it’s a cotton/linen blend), with the intent to knit the Morrigan. It then sat in my stash with the pattern for several years while I worked on other projects.

Last spring/summer, in preparation for my visit to the UK, I decided I needed a new sweater to take with me and finally pulled out the yarn and pattern. I got as far as reading through the pattern and looking over the chart, where I came across the term “no stitch”. No stitch?? What the heck does that mean? So I gave up on the Morrigan before I’d even started it, and found another pattern, the Azami.

I had finished the body, done one sleeve and the hood, when I decided to try it on. It was enormous, and I must have done something wrong on the hood, because that was too small. Very discouraging, so I frogged the entire thing and decided to try yet another pattern. Now I’m working on the Madrigal.

It’s a really interesting pattern. You start at the top of the back, work down to the armhole, and then go back up to your cast-on row (done in invisible cast-on, btw), and work down the two fronts, then join the three sections together at the bottom of the armholes and finish working the body. A nice thing about the technique is that I’ve been able to try it on as I’ve been working on it, and I’ve already made one or two sizing changes based on the fittings along the way.

And I may yet pick up the Morrigan again, because a couple of months after I gave up on it, there was a segment on reading charts on Knitting Daily, in which Eunny Jang specifically mentioned what the whole “no stitch” thing meant! Yay!

UK 2012

I went back to the UK for the first time in nine years this past October. My cousin Andy’s twin baby daughters turned a year old during my visit. I made each of them a stuffed animal for their birthday.

I think they went over well.

It was also my dad’s birthday during my visit. Dad has Alzheimer’s, and it’s been several years since I last saw him, so I wasn’t sure how the visit would go. But, he recognized me when I first arrived (though later he thought I was his older sister), and went as well as could be expected.

Lesson learned during this visit: visit more often, so you’re not moving the entire time, trying to fit in everyone in a short trip.

You know it’s spring in Texas when…

Everyone starts posting pictures of their kids in fields of bluebonnets (state flower). I don’t have any kids, but I do have Lucy. Eileen and I took the dogs to the dog park today, and the field next door was full of bluebonnets, so we figured we might as well.

She was more interested in what was going on behind her (in the dog park), but she behaved very well. And one more, with her snazzy new doggles on.

The last time I had her in the car, I noticed her eyelids flapping in the wind as she stuck her head out the window. Doggles seemed in order. She doesn’t seem to mind them when she’s actually sticking her head out the window, but the minute the car stops, she wants them off!

I’ve been very busy with recording lately. I have five ACX projects in process, due between April and August. My part of Uncommon Grounds by Sandra Balzo is done. It’s now in post-processing at ACX. I’m still working on Poison in the Blood and Gunnora’s Dragons. I’ve also just started work on the second book of the Summer Chronicles, Forsaken Harbor; and I’ve just been offered The Digital Sea trilogy by Thomas K. Carpenter. I’ll be starting work on that once I finish the other three.

I had to get some dental work done a couple of weeks ago, and during the recovery time, while I was loopy on vicodin, I started working on some simple hats to donate to capsforacure.

New Projects

I’ve picked up three new projects on ACX recently. The first is the Maggy Thorsen murder mystery series by Sandra Balzo. I’m starting with the first book in the series, Uncommon Grounds. The finished book is due in April.

Also due in April is Poison in the Blood by M. G. Scarsbrook. This is a fictionalized memoir of Lucrezia Borgia. I’ve done the first chapter so far. It promises suspense, murder, romance. Should be an interesting read.

The last project, which is due in June, is Gunnora’s Dragons by Carol Dennis. I haven’t finished pre-reading it yet (the other two have been getting preference, as they’re due earlier), but I’m enjoying it so far. As the title would imply, it’s a fantasy novel.

I’m still working on my two extant LibriVox solos: Ten From Infinity (for the SFFAudio Challenge); and Navidad en las Montañas.

In knitting, I’ve started a new lace shawl. This is my second, and my first in laceweight yarn (my previous shawl was done in fingering weight yarn, which is thicker and therefore easier for a first try). I’m doing the Skywalker Shawl by Laura Nelkin. I came across it when looking at online classes on Craftsy. Even though I’ve worked with lace a fair bit, I thought I’d try the Mastering Lace Shawls class, because I’ve never really learned how to do a provisional cast on, and I’ve always gotten tangled up when trying them. I still got tangled up this time, but I managed to get past that point. Perhaps I’ll practice again with a thicker working yarn, instead of laceweight.

We finished Gaslight last weekend. It went really well. The reviewer from the paper practically raved (for him), so I was quite pleased. The audiences also seemed to enjoy it. I was really lucky in the people who came to audition. I lost my leading man three weeks before opening night and had to re-cast, but even then, I was able to get someone really good, who worked his tail off to get all those lines learned. I really doubt the audiences had any idea (unless they were related to the theatre and heard about it through the grapevine) that he’d joined the production over a month after the rest of the cast. Chicago’s coming up in a couple of months. I’m thinking of auditioning for it.

Twins!

Just about six weeks ago one of my cousins had twin baby girls, Maisie and Annabelle. I only found out he and his wife were pregnant about a month earlier. He’s not the best letter/email writer. :) Anyway, I’ve been knitting steadily since I first found out. I decided to make them each a pair of the Hello Kitty pants. I had enough yarn left from the first pair to make two more, if I did the smallest size, though I ended up having to swap the order of the two pinks in the second pair, so I’d have enough of the dark pink to finish. I also made them each one of the Baby Arans.

Gifts for Maisie and Annabelle

I took a break from Maisie and Annie’s gifts to make something for a co-worker in time for her baby shower. The pattern is called the Eloise Cardigan. It’s quite sweet and girly.

Eloise Cardigan

I’ve joined a stitchers group at work. Not just knitters; crocheters, quilters, cross-stitchers, any kind of fiber art. Anyway, we’re making a basket for a silent auction and my contribution to it is a couple of pot-holders. They’re done in double-knitting, so each side is a mirror image of the other.

Pot-holders

I’m making another attempt at socks. My first attempt was a bit of a failure. I used a yarn with a bit of elastic in it. Since I knit at a pretty high tension, it made for very tight stitches and I gave up after the first few rounds. This time I picked a regular yarn, and things are going much better.

Socks

I just finished cataloging Anne’s House of Dreams at LibriVox. It’s a little sad to think that there’s only one more book in the series that I can record (Rainbow Valley). My next LV project is called Ten From Infinity by Paul W. Fairman. It’s my 6th SFFAudio Challenge book.

I’ve also just finished Song at the Scaffold by Gertrud Von le Fort for Ignatius Press. It’ll be my last Ignatius recording. They’ve decided not to continue producing audiobooks.

I’m directing my first mainstage show at the WCT (the other shows I’ve directed have been fundraisers, not part of the main lineup), Angel Street, which is the American title of the play Gaslight (made into a film of the same name with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer). It’s been pretty chaotic so far. In the past the show in this slot would have had auditions and maybe a first read-through before the holidays, but wouldn’t have started rehearsals till after. This year, the board changed the schedule. The show goes up at the end of January instead of February, so not only am I having to schedule around the holidays, I’m also having to schedule around the two Christmas productions. Ack! At least I was able to get a good cast together.

HOT Fair again

Time for the fair again. My friend Eileen and I went together to see how our items had fared (no pun intended). She’d entered a shrug in the crochet garment category, and I’d entered the little blouse from the last post. We both won first place in our category, but there weren’t very many knitted and crocheted items entered. I only saw one other knitted entry, and it was in a different category. It’s a bit disappointing to see such a low turnout in the fiber arts.

I got a couple of photos of it with the ribbon, but the ribbon was twisted sideways, so it was hard to get an angle that showed the blouse and the ribbon both.

Nichelle, if you’re reading this, in a few weeks time you and Aurelia will be receiving an award winning knitted garment from yours truly. :)

Success!

After more than three years of working on it, I finally finished recording Angelina by Rafael Delgado! Woot! The last few chapters still need to be proof-listened, but I hope to be able to catalog the sucker some time next week. My next Spanish solo (started this morning), is the much shorter La Navidad en las Montañas (Christmas in the Mountains) by Ignacio Manuel Altamirano (only 11 chapters in this, as opposed to 65 in Angelina).

I found out recently that one of my cousins is having twin girls this October, so I’ve started work on two more pairs of the Hello Kitty pants and two different, as yet un-chosen sweaters.

Knitting updates

My needles have been very busy this year. The Easy Baby Aran referenced here turned out really cute. I guess the reason they call it an easy aran is because there’s only one place where you do any actual cabling. The rest of the textured effects are just done with knits and purls.

I made another of the little hoodies, this time with the alterations I’d considered as I followed the instructions the first time. The little guy is still much too small in it, but his mom got a pic of him wearing it all the same. :)

I came across a pattern for Hello Kitty pants (on Boing Boing? Epbot? can’t remember) and I thought they were adorable. So I made those for another friend’s baby.

I made a cardi with a leaf pattern down the button band for another friend.

That was a top-down, raglan pattern. I really liked how the sleeve caps looked when I separated those stitches and continued down the body, so I decided to make another top-down raglan, but in short sleeve (and a pullover, not a cardi).

I’m holding on to this one for a little while, because the HOT Fair is coming up and this is the only completed garment I still have.

I’ve put a bit more work into the Elizabeth of York jacket in between baby garments, but I’m still only on the first piece. Fingering weight yarn and size 1 needles don’t make for a speedy project!

Conference week

At Open Repositories 2011 this week. Looking forward to meeting other repository managers and learning what is upcoming in the newest version of Dspace.

The conference is taking place in Austin, on UT campus. Didn’t think about it till I got here, but the yarn of the knitting project I brought with me (Easy Baby Aran) is pretty much UT orange, which should be anathema to a green & gold Baylor Bear like me.