Pictures From Battery Park

I'm back from our roadtrip to Charleston, SC! Though it was cold there, we were glad to be somewhere other than Ohio. When we left Friday morning, our pipes had frozen. We drove straight there and got there Friday night. Saturday morning we went to Battery Park, which is next to Charleston Harbor, and walked around until we couldn't take the cold, blustery wind any longer. After that, we got back into the car and drove around the historic district to see all the pretty homes. Every time I go to Charleston, I just love seeing the homes with their wrought iron and brick or stone walkways that lead to backyard gardens or courtyards. My last cross stitch, which I'm not finished with, is of a sunlit passageway between two houses in Charleston (or somewhere in the South).

Remind me not to wear white dress pants when I have my two young kids with me! I'm not sure if they got dirty before the reception, but I'm positive that they got dirty the first five minutes of the reception. They look terrible! Ian's shoes marked them up, and somehow I sat on a small bit of chocolate frosting. I should also mention that wearing 3-inch heels are also not a good idea when having to chase a 16-month-old. It's like walking with your ankles tied together so that you can only take 6- to 8-inch steps. Oh well, my outfit was very nice and I was happy to not wear a dress!

Sunday afternoon, after visiting the bride and groom's house, we drove to Statesville, NC to stay the night. Statesville is northwest of Charlotte and just east of the mountains. Jared has an uncle who lives there, so we visited before we left on Monday.

Luckily we had on loan a portable DVD player with two screens that hang on the back of the front seat headrests. Marie of course wanted to watch Wall-E. Actually, I think that's the only movie that she and Ian watched the whole trip. It was a lifesaver when the two of them got restless or overly talkative. While they watched Wall-E, I worked on my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I finished the collar, but need to rip out the three-needle BO because it doesn't look right. I think I might sew it down instead. After that, I just have the button bands and grafting the underarms. I better go find some buttons soon!

First Sock Yarn Order From Knit Picks

Thanks to my fellow knitters (or shall we say happy enablers) from knit night last Thursday, I've decided it's time to try Knit Picks' Imagination and Felici sock yarns. I really like the new Felici colorways and thought at first of purchasing from them. But then I thought about how the Gelato and Coney Island colorways were being clearanced. So, I went with Coney Island. For the Imagination sock yarn, I've been pleasantly surprised on Ravelry or in person by colorways that previously didn't impress me as much (i.e., Damsel, Wicked Witch, and Frog Prince). The colorways I've always liked are... well wait, I really like them ALL to varying degrees. Since Lost Boys is being discontinued, I just HAD to get that. That was one of my favorites!

So after choosing sock yarn and knowing that my Addi Turbos were permanently maimed, I felt convinced that it was only prudent to purchase new US1 circulars. Don't you agree? ;-) Next, I remembered that I needed to order US9 needle tips to make Amused. Then I remembered, "Hey, wouldn't it be nice to get an extra set of 40" cables as well as some new 32" ones?" Then I decided to also get some cable cases and wood cable needles (for Amused). Normally, I wouldn't order this much stuff, but I had some Christmas money. Hopefully I'll get my stuff by Monday since my order was received Friday. It sure is nice to live close enough to the distribution center to receive packages the very next day after they go out. :-)

Tangled Yoke Cardigan: I'm there. I'm at the tangled yoke part! When I get a chance today, I'll begin those 18 rounds. Can I say yet again how much I love this yarn and colorway?! I can see why Kelley Petkun raved about it (See her quote at the top of the Knit Picks yarn page.). Did I mention that my 40" cable ends I'm using for this have started to come loose? Last night, one end came loose enough that I purposely tugged at it to see if it would come out. It did, although it took some doing. It also took some doing to get it back into the metal join, but it did stay put. Earlier in the evening, before knitting and pulling the cable out, I bought some Gorilla Glue to prepare for such moments. So, when my cables get too loose and/or annoying, I'll try out the glue.

My double knitted Options needle case is coming along. I'd say well, but there are several small mistakes, ALL having to do with the pocket edges. Last night I figured out a way to make the blips of color not appear: Do the yarn twists between the two colors, just before the actual pocket edges. When I finish this pattern, maybe I'll make it again or make a modified version with some new yarn. It's fun learning about double knitting.

I haven't mentioned My So Called Scarf or my Simple Toe Up Amklets for a long time. I should really change their Ravelry status to hibernate. I plan on finishing them; they're just on the back burner at the moment. I'll be needling the US0 circular I'm using on the anklets for my TYC. So, I might be motivated to finish at least one anklet to free up that needle... I love the yarn and stitch pattern of the scarf. It just takes forever compared to regular stockinette!

My Free KP Yarn Arrived! (and a TYC Update...)

And here it is :-) As I mentioned in my last post, I won this from Knit Picks to make the Knitty pattern Amused. They had a yarn giveaway contest and awarded three people Swish Worsted for Amused, one person Merino Style for Surface, and one person WOTA Kettle Dyed for Everybody Knows. Basically, I had to add a comment to the giveaway announcement post explaining: 1) which pattern of the three I liked best and why; 2) my Ravelry ID; and 3) my blog URL. What luck, huh?! The next contest takes some actual work... see here. Anyway, I'm bumping Tubey down one on my queue so that I can knit Amused after I finish Tangled Yoke Cardigan.

After delving into all possible techniques to be found on the internet for 2x2 rib tubular CO (See Ysolda Teague's page for two different methods. I knit my CHP ribbing using her YouTube video.), I've taken a slight tangent and have been looking into double knitting techniques. Let's see... There's an open or closed cast on. One color or two (Somewhere I saw more than two colors used, but we won't go there!). The two sides of the knitting are usually separated, but you can interlock stitches by switching the front and back yarn. I'll speak more on that in a bit. If you're interested in learning how to double knit, the places I found that helped me: YouTube (You can several cast on methods for double knitting, although not how to interlock sts.); Ravelry (There's a Double Knitting group with a forum, which is where I learned quite a lot.); and Googling it (FYI: not that many people have tutorials on double knitting. But, there's a Yahoo group for it, although I haven't checked it out yet.). Stitch Diva Studios has a nice set of basic instructions with pictures. Start here for that. My favorite thing about their tutorial is they cover all four ways you would have to hold your two yarn strands -- knitting/purling a st in the front and knitting/purling a st on the back.

I CO for a needle case pattern I found on the Knit Picks Options group on Ravelry. This pattern is the reason for my interest in double knitting. The entire piece is knitted, needle slots and pockets, without any seaming. Pockets and slots are created by interlocking stitches and binding off on the front for openings. It sounds cool, but let me tell you, MY HEAD HURTS! I'm sure I've made a bunch of tiny mistakes so far on how to twist the yarn at the pocket edges so that it's hidden. But, I don't care at this point since I've given myself a headache. Here are some pics of my progress, both front (inside) and back (outside). The little blocks of color represent the separated slots for interchangeable needle tips. The green pocket in the middle is for cables.

And finally...a TYC update: I've attached the sleeves and have maybe two inches to go before making the tangled cable pattern on the yoke. I hear that I'll have hundreds of sts on my needles for those 18 rnds. Yikes, I already have well over 200 sts now! Sorry, no progress pic:-( I thought I had one! Oh, can I just say how awesome those KP Options cable caps are?! When I finished the body, I put end caps on and used my needle tips for another cable to make the sleeves. What a time saver. The only thing I don't like about the TYC pattern, and this is something I don't like on all seamless bottom-up patterns, is the sleeve attachment. When attaching and for several rounds after, the stitches near the end of the sleeves get severely stretched. I try to use DPNs (or extra circulars) to temporarily relieve the stress on the sleeve and adjacent body sts. When knitting top-down, this stretching problem does not occur. Yeah, I'm partial to top-down patterns ;-)

Two Reliable Solutions To Share

Solution #1
I failed to mention in my previous post that the TV remote got iced tea spilled on it at the same time as my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. For the second time, I used rice to save the remote. Since this has worked twice, I thought I'd mention it here. If your remote loses functionality on some buttons due to some liquid being spilled on it, you can fill a bowl with uncooked rice and bury the remote facedown in the rice. I usually leave it overnight. Magically, the rice absorbs the moisture from the remote. I'm talking about the moisture inside the remote! Before the latest attempt at saving our remote, the left side buttons didn't work. After sitting in rice facedown all night, those buttons now work. I'm not sure that this would work with pop or anything else sugary, though, since the high fructose corn syrup usually destroys everything it touches as it dries and gets sticky. Ask me how I know (pop on a computer keyboard...).

Solution #2
A useful diaper rash concoction that I recently had to make for Ian:

Balmex (or any other zinc oxide product)
generic Clotrimazole (anti-fungal found in the foot care section)
generic hydrocortisone

Mix together all three ingredients in a small sealable container, using more of the Balmex and less of the hydrocortisone than the Clotrimazole. Does that make sense? Listed in order of ingredient amounts: Balmex, Clotrimazole, hydrocortisone. This works for extremely bad diaper rashes when hydrocortisone is required because regular diaper rash creams won't adhere (ouch!) to the skin. The anti-fungal is optional. It's for "meaty" rashes. I got this recipe from a pediatric nurse practitioner. She said that some pharmacies sell a similar concoction that's supposedly really expensive. That was nice of her to save me some money. Anyway, hope I didn't gross anyone out too much!

Knitting News?
None today, other than I'm working on the sleeves of my TYC :-)

Whew, That Was Close!

I seriously wonder sometimes if my kids are killing off my brain cells little by little. I was already put-a-fork-in-me D-O-N-E when my youngest spilled my iced tea all over some finished pieces of my Tangled Yoke Cardigan and the couch. They were the completed body and one completed sleeve on holders. I ran them downstairs and soaked them in room temperature water, then spun them out in the washer. I can't believe I spun them out in the washer because the body was on a Knit Picks cable with end caps, and the sleeve was on scrap yarn holders secured with square knots! Both pieces dried overnight, and they turned out OK. Thank goodness!

I'm currently on the second sleeve. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to go back and frog half the first sleeve because I just realized that I did 8 rounds too many of the garter rib. In theory, 8 rounds in sport yarn doesn't seem like enough to frog at first. But with my short arms, it just doesn't look right. The garter rib would be longer than the stockinette portion as well as the length of the garter rib on the body. So, off to tinkland I go!

Speaking of the sleeves, good thing I kept track of the length while knitting. The increases are every 14th round, with the last increase on the 16th round followed by some extra rounds of even stockinette. In my case, I made the last increase on the 14th round and stopped there without knitting the extra stockinette rounds because I had 17.5 inches.

Now for some really good news to make up for my knitting near catastrophe: I'M ONE OF THE KNITPICKS YARN GIVEAWAY CONTEST WINNERS!!!!! Oh yeah!!!!! I submitted my Ravelry ID and blog URL in the comments section of the giveaway annoucement, along with my choice and reason behind my choice for one of three new Knitty patterns: Amused, Surface, and Knowbody Knows. Not thinking that I'd win, I didn't check back until 4 days after I'd received word that I was one of the three Amused yarn winners. They chose three winners for Amused and one winner each for the other two patterns. I got to choose between three colors of Swish worsted. Since I already had one of the color choices (Marine Heather) and am currently knitting a Telemark colorway similar to a second choice (Copper), I went with the third color: Lawn. Can't wait to get my yarn and make Amused! Although, I plan on finishing my TYC first.

Finally Got My Mojo For TYC

Though I don't have any pics at the moment, I've been actually getting somewhere on my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I'm on the waist increases as we speak with two more to go. The long garter rib wore me out and was rough on my fingertips. I had to stop and knit some dishcloths to give my fingertips some time to recover, especially my left index fingertip. There was the beginning of a small hole in it! Yikes! I'm using rough yarn and sharp needle tips, which is why my fingertips have suffered so much abuse. Now that I'm done with the garter rib and doing stockinette, things are back to normal. Although, I've been using more hand lotion ;-)

Speaking of dishcloths, I have some pics to show of those. I made three total: Chinese Waves, Bamboo Cloth Variation 2, and Blissful Moss Rib. All were made from Lily Sugar'n'Cream. I thought I'd try various bind offs for fun. For the Chinese Waves pattern, I used the traditional BO. With Blissful Moss Rib, I used the suspended BO I learned from Stitch Diva on You Tube. For the Bamboo Cloth Variation 2, I used what I was told (on Ravelry) was the Lucy Neatby modified conventional BO (?). Of the latter two, I think I liked the suspended BO best because it wasn't too loose or too tight.

I wish I wasn't suffering from maternal mush brain so that I could also think and write about other topics. It's one of those days where I'm SO looking forward to knit night to regain some sanity! Oh wait, I though of one thing I could mention... Yesterday, I took Marie and Ian to a friend's to paint baked Christmas ornaments and have lunch. The night before, I stayed up late creating our ornaments from salt dough. Let me just say that I'm definitely no artist when it comes to molding and shaping. But, I did have fun attempting to make Tasha (from Backyardigans on Nick Jr.)! Too bad I made Tasha and a few other ornaments too big and too thick. They didn't harden completely and cracked when removing from the cookie sheet. I think they might be too heavy to hang on the tree LOL. Though my first salt dough ornament making wasn't too successful, I'm looking forward to making some more now. Marie really had fun painting!

Oh wait, now I know something else to mention. Sunday night when it was almost balmy here (mid-40s), the family went to Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo. We're members, so we got in free and didn't end up spending a dime, not even for parking. We went after dinner and spent about three hours there. Near the end of our visit, we took Marie and Ian to see Santa. When it was their turn, both of them stared up at Santa and then at the photographer. But Marie remembered to turn and tell Santa, "It's Wall-E!!!!" before being whisked off his lap. Santa said, "Oh, OK." I got video of it with our digital camera, although you can't hear Marie. I think what made me laugh was being reminded of the scene in A Christmas Story where Ralphie remembers at the last second what he wants for Christmas. Marie was so overwhelmed from being in Santa's presence that she didn't think until the last second to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas.

Intarsia ITR EZ Hybrid Shirt-Yoke

Yesterday I came across a new and crass acronym on Ravelry: JFGI. While the F part is a bit much, it is good advice because, truly, that's the only way to learn things is to do it yourself. In the spirit of do-it-yourself learning, let me entertain you by divulging what a glutton for punishment I must be...

I'm working on a toddler version of Elizabeth Zimmermann's Hybrid Shirt-Yoke Sweater. Now enters my dilemma. I've made the sleeves in a different color since I didn't have enough of one color. So... intarsia in the round. I'd never done intarsia ITR and naively decided to knit the first two rounds of the yoke without looking into it (not to mention the fact that I didn't separate each skein into separate balls for each of the four sections -- ha ha ha ha ha). Uh, yeah. Since you work right to left every round, I discovered that the working yarn strands all end up on the left. So when you get to the next round, there aren't any working strands to pick up. Um, duh. At this point, I decided to JFGI. Oh crappola, that took a while. There are many methods of intarsia ITR, and the one that suits my dilemma turns out to not be that bad for my situation, thank goodness. However, all methods have one similarity: you must work back and forth. Ack! That sorta defeats my purpose in making a seamless sweater. But, hey I'm the ignoramus who chose to make the sleeves in two colors. I'm not turning back now!

OK, so I had to frog back to the beginning of the yoke, luckily only 3 rounds. After that, I went to sleep and woke up planning how to gel together the intarsia ITR method I chose with the principles of the EZ Seamless Hybrid pattern, not to mention customizing the saddles and neck opening for a toddler-sized head. After some consideration, I came to the conclusion that I can only do my double raglan decreases on the RS rather than every 3rd round. Crap. OK, so I did the math and figured that I can do a combination of every 4th round at first, followed by every other round which will bring the raglan seam in faster at the top. I'll still be able to do the decreases in the same number of rounds as the original pattern. Yay, score one for me. Next, instead of eating up 1/3 of the front and back stitches when doing the saddles, I'll be changing that fraction to 1/4 so as to leave 50% open for the neck. Due to this change, I'll have to work 3/4 of the back sts rather than 2/3 for the first saddle.

Since I can't be doing double decreases and dealing with yarnovers at the same time, I decided to move the location of the beginning of the round to the back: now it's going to be where I'll end my first saddle, which is close to the back left shoulder. When I've finished the raglan decreases and reached the end of the round, I'll turn, YO, and purl back toward the right shoulder to begin the saddle short rows on the WS. When the short rows and back portion of the right saddle are complete, I'll work the YO together with the first of the remaining back stitches reserved for left saddle consumption. The rest shouldn't be as difficult from there.

Oh wait. Back up. Did I mention that I haven't decided exactly how to follow the directions for the double decreases without screwing up the division of the two colors or the marked stitch? There are three sts involved, two white body sts and one sleeve st. I'm considering using a s1k2togpsso (left-slanting) and ssk-return-pass-return (right-slanting). The trick will be to keep the marked sts the same color, preferably red since that's what will happen on the saddles. This is one of those things where you just have to "do" to find out what works. Knit and learn.

Despite the increasing lack of simplicity in following my first EZ pattern due to my use of intarsia ITR and making it have a larger head opening, I did discover some nice things along this latest learning curve. I'll still be able to mimic the original pattern. I've been introduced to more techniques concerning intarsia (I didn't even know that you could do intarsia ITR!). The best thing I discovered is that EZ knows her math. When I was determining how many sts to pick up in the front and back for the neckline, I used EZ's 2-for-every-3 rule and discovered that these sts together with the front saddle sts add up exactly to 50%. For example: I'll have 27 sts each for the front/back and 9 sts each for the saddles. 2/3 of 27 = 18, so 18+18+9+9=54 which is 50% of the chest circumference for this sweater. Sheer genius that woman :-)

OK, done now. My head hurts!

FOs, Moss Stitch, and Seed Stitch (US vs. UK)

New FOs to show :-) More pics are on Ravelry and on my picture gallery at the right. The mittens are Playground Mittens which have an opening at the palm. I decided to make them warmer by adding some fingerless mitts on the inside. They're made with Swish Superwash. The Tressel Vest you've already seen, but not modeled. The toe-up Monkeys (Los Monos Locos on Ravelry) are finally done!!!! They've been on the needles forEVER.

Now that I've completed all the kids mittens and hat projects, as well as my toe-up Monkeys, I can get on with Tangled Yoke Cardigan. I'm down to three WIPs: Tangled Yoke, My So-Called Scarf, and some toe-up anklets. Don't be surprised if I start a toddler sample size of the EZ Hybrid sweater though because Jared wants that sweater in his size. I thought it's probably best to tackle an Ian-sized version to get some practice making my first EZ pattern. Plus, I'm already thinking that the kids need some pullovers. I don't think I get tired of making them clothes!

Seed stitch, moss stitch. What's the difference?
Finally, I got my confusion about moss stitch and seed stitch cleared up by reading someone's post on Ravelry (Rox). She spent some time in the UK and found out the difference between the UK and the US when it comes to the previously mentioned stitch patterns:

US seed st = UK moss st
US moss st = UK double moss st
US double moss st = UK box st
The UK seed stitch has a stockinette background with more sparsely placed purl seeds. The UK seed stitch does not have any particular US equivalent stitch pattern.

Marie Casting On

Oh my, this really had to be shared! Last night while trying to begin Thorpe, Marie kept asking me how to knit so that she could "make clothes" for Tasha from Backyardigans (a character from an animated kids show on Nick Jr. and Noggin, if you don't have kids ;-)). I had brought my tray of knitting needles into the living room when beginning Thorpe, and she had picked out my purple plastic Crystal Palace DAISY US 13 straights. So, I got her some old Wool-Ease Thick & Quick and showed her the backward loop CO. I thought, OK, maybe she'll just pretend to knit from there... Today, she asks me to "make a pretzel" (aka slipknot) so that she can cast on again! Anyway, here she is casting on. She'll be four in 2 months. So cute! Well, I'm biased :-)

Thorpe and Tressel Vest

Yay, FOs to show! The vest I've nicknamed Tressel Vest because, minus the Nike swoosh, it reminds me of the gray sweater vest that the Ohio State football coach wears. Ian hasn't worn it yet, so I haven't snapped any pics of him in it. In the meantime, here's a shot with a white shirt underneath. There wasn't a pattern. I just winged it. I CO 110 sts and went from there. The edgings are all tubular 1x1 rib, and the point of the V is a double decrease (sl2 k-wise, k1, p2sso).

I cast on for Thorpe last night and finished it today. I really like how it turned out! It's really cute on Ian and fits him well. Here are project details:

Pattern: Thorpe
Yarn: Knit Picks Shamrock (Hennessey), 1 skein; Knit Picks WOTA (Coal), for crochet edging and ties
Needles: US 8 DPNs; US 8 16" and 29" circulars
Size: 17" toddler (his head is 19")
Mods: worsted weight yarn instead of bulky; Magic CO; increased up to 72 sts and followed size med instructions from there; made a 3-ply braids from the 6 strands, and made the ties shorter

Starting Ian's Hat With Magic Cast-On

Using Judy Becker's Magic Cast-On** and her specific directions for starting a small circle, I cast on for Thorpe. This was cool to do because it creates no hole or loose stitches as can some other CO methods. Yay! Be sure NOT to ignore her directions for an even-number CO versus an odd-number (ask me why) -- it makes a difference. Basically, I did the regular Magic CO followed by a round of knitting double stranded with the tail. For the next round (the 1st increase round), knit each individual strand of the double loops rather than the typical increase method. For example, I CO 4 sts and knit all 4 sts double-stranded. When I did the next round, I got my stitch total up to 8 by knitting each individual strand. Next, I followed the pattern and did kfb into each stitch and ended up with 16 sts. **Note: I followed Cat Bordhi's video on YouTube which differs in that none of the CO stitches are twisted, so you have one less thing to worry about.

I'm on the twisted ribbing of my toe-up Monkeys. So... almost done! I plan on using a bind off that repeatedly uses a decrease -- there are a few variations, but the same basic idea.

Don't I Look Comfortable?

Clapotis Revisited

I can't say enough about the new fabric shaver I got from Knit Picks. Not so much for the shaver itself, but for what it does. Two years ago, I made Clapotis by Kate Gilbert. But, I never wore it outside my home. Why? You'd especially be asking why when I tell you how much I paid for the yarn. Well... I used a three-ply kettle-dyed thick-thin merino: Rio de la Plata in a melange of three colorways. Beautiful, except that my Clapotis unblocked turned out bulky, heavy, fuzzy, and wouldn't lie flat. Well, like I said, it's been two years. Since my new fabric shaver worked so well on my CPH and Alison's Scarf, I thought why not try it out on Clapotis? Night and day is the difference!

Next, I decided to wet block it by soaking it in a sample of Soak. It gets even BETTER. I discovered recently that my washer has a drain/spin mode. Woohoo! I put that sucker in the washer after soaking, straight from the bucket without even squeezing out any water. Voila, Clapotis revisited and reborn. Check out the pics. The first two pics are of the unblocked Clapotis and the yarn I used. there is also a picture of the blocked Clapotis with a matching unblocked Clapotis hat so that you can compare blocked vs. unblocked.

The post following this one will be pics only of Ian wearing his new pants (Itchy Fingers Longies).

CPH and Some More Toddler Pants

Included here are pictures of my Central Park Hoodie and Itchy Fingers Longies. I thought I'd also add some additional pics of the zipper installation on my CPH. What do you think? The pointy hood is interesting, but everything else turned out alright. I can't believe this is the first cardigan I've made for myself after four years of knitting! All the cardigans I have made were for my kids. I've only made pullovers for myself.

For CPH, I used Knit Picks WOTA in forest heather. I added bust short rows, I-cord edging, a zipper closure, short row shoulders with 3-needle BO, and tubular CO for the ribbing. Oh, and I added length and grafted the top of the hood. Since finishing this hoodie I've soaked it and, after some wear, shaved it. It's my go-to sweater at the moment. Love it!

The pants/longies are my 2nd from the Itchy Finger Longies pattern. These are easy to knit up. I'm targeting my stash acrylic yarn since Ian can always use an extra pair of pants. Next up in the near future are some Wool-Ease pants in various colors... I used TLC Essentials in Meadow with Lionbrand Vanna's Choice in Taupe.

The zipper instructions on Chic Knits site were very handy. I'd recommend them for sure! This was my second zipper installation, but my first nice-looking one. The I-cord gets a bit flattened by the backstitching, but I don't think that really matters much.

Wow, two blog posts in one night! I haven't done that in a while. I feel so caught up :-)

Odds and Ends

The day after I last blogged, Ian decided to walk! He was 13 months and 1 day old. He has a pretty wide stance, so it's really fun to watch him. He still does what I would call the Russian crawl half the time. He crawls by sitting up with his right leg jutted out which he uses to power himself forward. Hilarious!

For Halloween, Marie went as Ariel and Ian went as a lion (in the stroller, of course). We actually made it around the entire block this year (Last year, Marie got scared after the first two houses...). We still have a nice big pumpkin that never got carved. We're still going to do it since Marie isn't old enough to be disappointed by the fact that we didn't carve it before Halloween!

I almost got back with the program last week: I went running. Sometimes, not often, I get cabin fever along with a feeling of desperately needing to decompress away from those around me. Some days I'll go to the bookstore. Some days I'll go to a coffee shop. Some days I feel like running, even when I'm not even doing it regularly. It felt good, that's for sure. Now I just need to go again and often. I have a friend that has three kids, her latest born in May. She just ran a half marathon. Like me, she had trouble losing baby weight the second time around. She said that running for 60 minutes rather than 30 really helped shrink her waist.

Knitting news? Oh yeah, that's right. This is a knitting blog, isn't it? Well, I finished Central Park Hoodie and another pair of longies. I'll do a separate post with pics for those. Right now I'm finishing up a one skein gray toddler vest for Ian. I haven't gotten much further on my other WIPS (Tangled Yoke Cardigan, My So-Called Scarf, Los Manos Locos socks, and my strawberry latte socks). I keep finding pants and other things to knit for the kids!

Speaking of projects for the kids, I just got some Knit Picks Shamrock in Hennessy and some black WOTA to make Ian a hat and mittens. I also bought EZ's Knitting Workshop, primarily to make either the hybrid or shirt-yoke sweater for Jared. I've been reading through it and am really enjoying it!

One more piece of knitting news. I bought a battery-powered fabric shaver from Knit Picks. The first item I used it on was my bulky alpaca Alison's Scarf by Annie Modesitt. What a difference that made in eliminating the fuzz! It looks brand new. Just tonight, I used the shaver on my CPH for the first time. It took FOREVER, but the end result is nice. Hopefully, I won't have to shave it as much after this. The only gripe I have about the shaver is the battery life (I'm already on my second set.) and the numerous times it stops working and requires you to remove the blade and dump the shavings.

Finishing CPH; Beginning TYC

I see the finishing line! Last night after knit night, I came home and got as far as sewing in half the zipper for my Central Park Hoodie. I just need to backstitch the other zipper half and decide whether or not I want to knit some facings to cover the zipper tape. After that, I have the sleeves to sew in followed by a nice softening soak.

Since I'm getting so close to finishing my hoodie, I decided to change things up, like I always do, and CO for Tangled Yoke Cardigan (TYC). I love the excitement of beginning one project while finishing another! Both the CPH and TYC are made from stiffer and scratchier wool (Peruvian Highland wool) than I'm used to. But, I think I'm beginning to not mind it so much. WOTA and Telemark might not be the softest wool, but it's nice to knit with something that feels substantial for a change. Telemark is especially dense.

The Ravelry button is from Knitters Connection 2008 back in June. I thought I'd add it here since I just added it to my profile pics on Ravelry. It was so nice to see Casey, Jess, and Mary-Heather in person! It was their first Ravelry presentation, and they were admittedly nervous, but felt at home when they saw how excited and welcoming the crowd was in Columbus for them. So cool!!!!!!

CPH Update

OK, before I dive into the knitting news, let me show some kid pics. My youngest had his first birthday about a month ago! Check out how he's holding his cupcake. In the other pic, my daughter is playing with her new V-tech laptop. It's the best $14 I've spent lately. She loves it. I can't believe all the stuff on it!

I'm almost done with Central Park Hoodie. 'Bought the zipper last night and read up on how to sew it in by hand using these instructions. I might do an I-cord edge to help hide the zipper. That would take forever, but it would look nice. After installing the zipper, I'll do some type of facing or possibly whipstitch or blanket stitch on the zipper tape. I've been looking at store-bought clothes to see how the facings and zipper tape are treated to get ideas...

Grafting the CPH hood wasn't too hard because 1) I didn't have a difficult stitch pattern (the graft came between cable crossings, so I only had to deal with the purl stitches on either side of the cable panel); and 2) I used the waste yarn method that makes grafting a no-brainer (learned this in a finishing techniques book). Even though I didn't have to think about it when grafting by using the waste yarn method, here's an awesome link that shows closeup how to graft stockinette, reverse stockinette, and garter stitch. Though she doesn't mention grafting seed stitch, you'll be confident enough to try it after reading her educational blog post.

Here are some pics I took while grafting the hood of CPH:

I used a contrasting blue cotton waste yarn to continue the stitch pattern for 4 rows. In one picture I tried to show how I was following the path of the contrast yarn, but it's not that clear of a shot. The bottom two pics are the finished graft. The closeup is supposed to show how the two ends meeting are a half stitch off. In looking at the final pic, I think the graft looks just as good as a 3-needle BO, but without the seamline and added bulk.

Speaking of educational blogs, I found a link to one on Ravelry that shows exactly how to do short row sleeve caps (top down sleeves). Instead of the usual, "oh, I just picked up stitches around the armhole and did short rows from there" explanation that goes no further, this blogger goes into full detail on how she did her Gatsby Girl Pullover sleeves. Love it!

Another helpful blog post I found was this one on traveling jogless garter stitch ITR. I came across this person's post when checking out Thorpe (here's the non-Ravelry link). I've been wanting to make Thorpe (an earflap hat) for my son since it's gotten cold here. I might make one for my daughter, too!

Well, the kiddos are pulling me off the computer -- gotta go!

ETA: I need to figure out why my pics aren't aligned the way they look before publishing my posts. They always turn out wonky! :-/