Knitting with Julia

Julia Roberts, that is!
If you haven't seen this, I think you should, and enjoy 50 men getting "zero" instructions and holding knitting and needles.
Link to YouTube

Planning makes Perfect!

NOT!
Just ask ANY knitter.  The best laid plans... (I don't know the rest of that idiom, but I know it isn't good!)
I feel your pain, Kee.  In April, we watched knitter friend, Kee, discuss and modify a sweater and pattern, to finally settle on the dream yarn of Ultra Pima Cotton.  And then we cooed and ooo'd over it as she knitted it up.

Lovely cables... and two weeks later the sleeves:

And then there was the awful silence.  Over night it grew.  Yep, it was too large, and it kept growing, in the washer and dryer, and finally, undaunted Kee took it to the "sewing machine".  Take THAT you unruly, dare to stretch all over the place...***.  And it was tamed at last.  Unfortunately, it's 104ºF here, so I haven't seen it modeled, nor a picture, but I believe it.
Meanwhile, Miss Me goes merrily over to her stash and pulls out... ultra Pima Cotton, the same stuff (however, I have fingertips that feel that lovely stuff, and my recollection of Kee's dastardly project are but distant memories) and Miss Me starts to knit.  Whoa, she says one day!  Is this growing before my eyes?  I check the gauge... seems OK, and I remind myself that I want it rather loose and airy.  Not really a sweater to keep me warm, but an accessory for a dress.
Then I, Miss Me, go to knit nite and Jee leans over and says, "Isn't that the same yarn that Kee used in her enormous sweater?"  I feign confidence, but tonight, when I got to the joining of the sleeves to the body, and the yoke, I broke down and admitted I might have a problem.

It's short.  I'm planning that it will "drape" and lengthen a bit, though it's supposed to be waist length.
Plan B:  That yoke has to be tighter, so I went from US 9 needles to US 7.  Wish me luck!

Holes?  That's plan C... not really--it is the pattern (k2tog YO).  The pattern:

Sunshine Cardigan

by Mary Beth Temple

from Creative Knitting, September 2009

Another (Knit) Nite!

I can tell it's Summer!
We looked for the turtle in the backyard, and returned to find the seats occupied:

Loo has started a sheep, but it suspiciously looks like a re-creation of her doggie!
Jee has two-at-a-time socks on her needles... really they can't be that shape...

I think the lacy holes are gorgeous, and the color is a bit darker than in the photo.  Another beautiful pair.
Kee is happy with her lovely Elsebeth Lavold pattern (Hillary, I think).  Made to order for a granddaughter. (Sshhhh... don't tell the others!)

Bee is showing off her finished baby sweater.  Baby is two years old now, and it STILL will fit!
What about those froggies?  KEE-yout!

Moving right along, Bee is posing for 'one only' shot of the scarf she's knitting.  Don't put it down, or you'll spend the rest of the evening figuring out where you're AT!

And Simmy, waiting anxiously for grandchild #1 to be born (imminently), is trying to distract herself with little pieces of a second sweater.  Lovely, soft and very boyish!

Waiting to hear from her daughter...
We also heard from two "former, but in our hearts" knitters.  Mee is in Dallas, and sent photos of three! count'em THREE pairs of socks.  Congratulations!!  They are fantastic!  Jee and I discussed your amazing productivity--we must have been holding you back!
And when I arrived home there was a message from the Doc in Madison.  Urban living sounds wonderful!  And we might be able to do some long-distance trouble-shooting.  Will need a picture of the problem project.
See you all in 2 weeks, and maybe some others will be back then.

An evening of fun!

A few weeks ago, my daughter pulled out a huge bag of yarn.  She has shopped over the years, started and finished many things, and some just didn't work out.  I was offered the yarn: Help myself...

This is DROPS Symphony yarn-- a lot of it...  But thrifty me, I persevered!
This was my evening of "fun"!

It's lovely stuff, and I look forward to "someday" having a project that will use it.  There are two knitted pieces that I didn't unravel.  I worked only on the loose bits.  It's SO silky that it falls off the ball very easily.

Added to my stash - Handle with Care!

Double Trouble... Kauni

Gotta luv that yarn!
But here's a tip.  A tip that should be kept in mind for all long self-striping yarns:  Don't use it doubled from the inside AND outside at the same time.  That causes the color pattern be in the opposite order:  red - orange - yellow vs. yellow - orange - red.  Putting those two together (doubled) can you imagine what's going to happen?  Solution is easy:  Divide your ball and make sure both strands are changing color in the same pattern or direction:   Red to Orange, and Yellow to Green.
I didn't think that far ahead, and it has been worrying me for months--the months that I haven't been knitting on this project.  Looks tremendous, IMHO, but in the back of my mind I've been running through the colors and imagining what's next.

 And my fear is that I'll have the same color doubled up. Look at this:
I start with (think rainbow) strand 1:  Blue Purple Red Orange Yellow Green;  Strand 2:  Green Yellow Orange Red Purple.  They line up like this:
Blue-Green, Purple-Yellow, Red-Orange, Orange-Red....Yellow-Purple etc.  Since the color change is so subtle, I know I'll have red-red or orange-orange in between my color changes, and I can't stand that much red and orange in the middle of my scarf.
OK, let's hear it... just shorten one of the colors, you say.  And I tell you, that would be fine if I discovered the enormity of the problem before I got to Red-Orange above. Once I was knitting with Red-Orange I couldn't shorten the red because it would still run into the orange of the 2nd strand, and the same goes with shortening the orange to red.  But...
My motto:  Divide and Conquer!  Divide (cut that yarn), roll up yards of red and orange, cut again, and reattach the yarns "switched".  Now I expect the order to go retrograde.  Blue-Green, Purple-Yellow, Red-Orange, Purple-Yellow, Blue-Green.  The only thing I'm losing is the two sides will never have the same pattern.  Each side will be unique, and THAT I call "A Plan".
I removed 27 g from the 160g ball and all is right in the Kauni world.  Hope the news gets out and prevents at least one other person from gnashing their teeth.

Somewhere out there, someone SHOULD do the calculations for where you can start as I did and using the right combination not have the same colors meet.  Here's a quick attempt:  Red - Orange - Yellow - Green - Blue - Purple - Red  AND  Green - Yellow - Orange - (no same thing happens)... Blue - Green - Yellow - (no)...  I don't think it can be done.
Contest time!  I have a ball of Kauni to give away... Send me your combination of colors where the six colors follow each other in the opposite order, and they don't cause the two colors to repeat themselves (as mine did) or the same color to occur at the same time.  Good luck!

Where I At?

Here I am!
After a #@$%^&*%$# trip back a week ago, I'm rested (mostly: it's strange how 100ºF temps exhaust the body), and I have no concerts or guests planned for the next month.  
Fact:  Within hours of my arrival home, we had guests for the 4th weekend, to play concerts and workshop.  My fingers still work, but barely.  Patriotic songs always include 'forte' and 'octaves', which can be exhausting for my well rested (one month off) fingers.  Particularly my knobby little finger got a little tired and sore by Sunday.
Knitting?  Of course...  temps don't bother me with my tiny projects. Give me a chair and a fan!
I have nine projects started, each begging for my time, and I'd love to give them my all...(see Ravelry link to the upper right) but instead I flit from one to the next thinking that each one should be the 1st priority.

• A little Sage cardigan that I would wear with a summer dress.
• My double knitted scarf with that cool pattern, promised for Fall
• Cotton pullover, toddler size, that would be perfect anytime in Norway
• Socks, just for the heck of it!  Portable is the key word.

Those are the projects that are out and about.  I'm fighting my urge to start something, or knit a row or two on the other 5 "in progress" projects.  Sorry, garden... too hot for you!

Guests, beware!  This is what is required for a stay at "Casa Hesse":

Bergen, Gotta Luv it!

Thirty days:  Rain for 25 of them.
The last insult to June:  It was POOOORing the morning I left.  Not the light mist or drizzle I had come to accept, and I considered throwing out my shoes in Frankfurt.  I might, yet.

Don't know why the right shoe got so wet, or maybe I should say "I don't know how the left shoe stayed so dry!  HA
The airport is super efficient.  In years past I've taken a few shots, and maybe even this one:

Nice touch... let the people read and look at the clock.