This has been the BEST SP round

I received my last parcel of the SP5 round from Lainch this morning. I must type this now as she sent me a bar of Green & Black's and I will shortly be very ill because I have no will power AT ALL and will eat the whole thing today.

She sent three skeins each of Rowan dk tweed and Jo Sharp's Silkroad dk tweed, the Green & Black's, an audio cd of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, some tiny little hanks of cotton, silk cocoons, which I have never seen before, silk ribbon and tiny wood ornaments for my Top Secret Projects, and a very, very nice card, which I forgot to put in the picture.

She also made this for me.

Four and one half feet of a silky-soft lace scarf. *sigh* She made lace for me. It's beautiful; a dusky lavender, and my photography skills do not do it justice. Here's a close-up.

Not only am I overwhelmingly happy she made it for me, I am also purple, red, yellow, and green with envy that she makes lace so beautifully and I can't even make lace uglify.

Peri, you have been the best pal anyone could have, and I too feel like I have made a friend.

The Off Yarn

I had some time off over the weekend. Some much needed time off, I may add. Of course I had all sorts of things planned and knowing that everyone has been waiting impatiently for an account of the festivities, here goes.

Account of the Festivities.

Things didn't go as planned. Quelle suprise. (But everything turned out all right.)

My neighbor inveigled me into accompanying her to the "Y" for a little exercise. Since one of my New Year's, Easter, May Day, Birthday, Fourth of July, and Halloween resolutions was to get in shape, I thought it would be a good time to begin. My neighbor, Lynn, went to the weight room and I went to the pool to do some laps. (There seems to be some discrepancy in the definition of "a lap". Personally, I believe from the shallow end to the deep end is one lap. There are people who believe from the shallow end to the deep end and back to the shallow end is one lap. These people are wrong--it's my blog, my definition.) Since I hadn't lifted anything heavier that a fork in months I decided it would be prudent to use a kickboard so I wouldn't drown if I ran out of gas or caught a cramp, or both. A tribe of little kiddies, the Diving Dolphins, were perched on the bleachers awaiting a lesson. (Diving Dolphins do not dive, they swim--probably named by the wierd lap-definition guy.)

I was glad to get in the water ahead of the DD's because children that age have a tendency to pee in the pool water and I don't care how much chlorine there is in the mix, pee is still pee. It's sort of a phobia of mine. I eased into the water--heated but you couldn't prove it by me--and kickboarded my way to the deep end--one lap. I made my way back to the shallow end--lap two. My goal was six. I was a bit puffy, a nice euphemism for "sucking wind", so my next trip to the deep end was much slower. I decided midway that my next lap to the shallow end would be my last. But, hey, I had made an effort and I felt pretty good about it. When I reached the deep end I was so tired I figured I better quit before I had a heart attack. I was very, very tired. I had reached muscle fatigue. How does one know when one has reached muscle fatigue? Ah, well, when one can't haul one's fat arse out of the pool, that's how one knows.

I was stuck in the deep. My whole body was on strike except my lungs, which graciously continued to take in air. I couldn't get out, couldn't kick to the shallow end where the steps hung out, and I would not call out to the Diving Dolphins to get an adult to help me out. (Half of you are thinking, "I understand completely; I would be too embarassed to ask for help." The other half who are not thinking that go away.)

I don't know if you have had occasion to appear nonchalant while gasping for air as you clutch a kickboard at the deep end of a swimming pool but it's not as easy as you may think. There was not much to look at, no one I could talk to, and no Musak to hum along with. When the DD's got in the water I pretended an interest in them while oh, so slowly scooching my hands along the side of the pool trying to make it to the Other Side before one of the DD's decided to "go" in the pool. The pool at our Y is the olympian-approved size, a mile and a half long I think, but it took forever to get to the 3 1/2 ft. marker. Meantime I was getting cold--heated pool my great aunt fanny--and I had a nearly debilitating cramp in my left pinkie toe.

Time passed. A long time passed and, yes, Virginia, help did come. Lynn came to see what was taking me so long and towed me to the shallow end and helped me up the steps. She refused to haul me out in the contraption they have for people who are unable to walk without assistance--claimed I didn't need it. She did agree to massage my foot because my pinkie toe was killing me. She did agree it was a shame I had been stuck in the water. She did laugh until she got cramps--hah! She did say she would pay for lunch since she had been so entertained, although she said it was because I had had such a hard workout (plus she knew I was too tired to eat).

My new New Year's resolution this time will probably be to get in shape, but I think I'll just buy a girdle.

And a by the way...ya know, sometimes I don't think how odd things must appear to non-knitting non-blogging personnel. While I was off I made a pair of socks (from yarn sent by my wonderful no longer Secret Pal, Lainch). They were stunnin' but I forgot my camera so I asked an in-law if I could borrow his so I could get a cd made at Wally World allowing me to upload them when I returned to work. He said he didn't lend his camera out but he would be glad to come and take the pictures I wanted. **reword that sentence so it makes sense** When he arrived I had my socks artfully arranged atop a cloth-covered patio table awaiting their photo-op. In-law wouldn't take the picture. He thought it was a joke. I cooed and cajoled and told him about the world of knitters and blogging and almost had him convinced until my darling person cracked a joke about it. In-law thought we were setting him up for some horrific Halloween prank and wouldn't be pursuaded otherwise. (Can't say I blamed him, my darling person did put a biggish turtle in his toilet one year.)

Any way, like Yogi Bara sort of said, "It just goes to show ya that three-fourths of the world just doesn't understand what the other half enjoys and a third of them won't try."

Backwarding better

I thought I had nailed it but...

Since I am new to reverse knitting and I started the scarf from my previous post before I was proficient--sounds better than "didn't practice enough"--I ran into some technical difficulties. Well, perhaps aesthetic difficulties would be more apropos. My tension changed dramatically **tension walks on stage and shouts, "I have changed!"** so I frogged the scarf and started over. I considered this a sign of (pick one) my maturing character or sheer lunacy. Persnickety perfectionism is SO not me and at first I balked at the idea of frogging and tried purposely knitting loosely, which did not work. Then I changed to larger needles which worked but didn't improve the beginning crappethy part of the fabric. So *sigh* I started over and have become a saner woman in the process. (Snicker and I will find you.)

See the differences in stitch quality , not to mention size, of my scarves done with the same yarn on the same needles but with much better control of the working yarn.

It is not perfect but I think it's much better looking and *gasp* it is the correct gauge. There are occasional wonky stitches but usually these result from putting my work down mid-row or not paying attention because this pattern it not something to zone out on. Nope, it's definitely not a knit-while-steering-with-one-knee WIP but I do enjoy the entrelac technique and I'm having a good time with it and that's what matters, eh?

I'm backwards

After much aggravation and cussin' I have mastered (mistressed?) reverse/backward knitting. I am really more of a reverse purler as I haven't yet done a pattern requiring the reverse knitting. The actual making of a single stitch is not a big deal in itself. It's speeding up and developing a technique that insures even stitches and tension that nearly caused me to snatch myself bald-headed. I have nailed it and I am ridiculously proud of myself. I am now the Backward-Knitting Clap-Queen Bag-Hag and Short-Row Junkie. Feel free to kowtow .

Sue, yarn-junkie enabler extraodinaire, at Little Knits told me about this scarf pattern in Gedifra Highlights 042

She made me get the book and yarn Gedifra Fashion Trend Stripe in colorway 16 which just happens to be soft and beautiful and which I had never seen before but she assured me I would love and I do and I hate when she's right.

I have two on the needles right now.

The first is actually my second start on the pattern. I knit four rows in some scrap yarn to see if the pattern needed any tweaking, frogged it and started the two you see. The first is made with Wool Ease on size seven needles and the second is made with the Gedifra mentioned above on size tens. You can see more clearly in the second picture that I have three sets of twelve live stitches on one needle. The pattern calls for the live stitches to be placed on a stitch holder but I find they can be left on the needle even if I turn the work. When the fabric got longer and too cumbersome to turn I still left the live stitches on the needle and used a DPN to knit the stitches currently in use. I'm no good at describing things and I'm sure that last bit made no sense so just skip it. Of course, reverse knitting makes the whole pattern much simpler and faster.

Now, a month ago, if I had read that sentence written by someone else I would have scoffed. I am, after all, fifty-two years old and I have been knitting a long time and after a token attempt I thought the technique was beyond me--the whole new-dog-new-trick thing, ya know. But I was wrong--and there's three words I don't say/write/type often. I practiced, cussed, practiced, cussed, and finally something clicked in the brain to hands transmission and I was backwarding up a storm. I'm not bragging, it was really hard for me to learn, but I am so proud of me.

I may be growing a fennel bush

I received a package from the illustrious Ms. S. Pal. Behold.

There were wonderful new-to-me-yarns: A skein each of Rowan Big Wool, Rowanspun, Wool Cotton, and the magnificent, heard-about-it-but-WOW! Kidsilk Haze. (Pardon me while I put on my dribble bib.) I started swatches of each immediately, except the Kidsilk Haze. There should be a warning on its wrapper, "Froggeth ye not for, yea, verily, I ain't gonna do it." I am petting it so much it will soon be be unknittable if I don't stop.

I also got a poem, Widecombe Fair, a kit to make a star cushion (?)--I'm not sure what it is exactly because I don't want to open it yet. I'm sure to lose the bits and pieces. There was also an elegant card with elephants on it. Miz Pal included a stick of rock candy, which I am not going to eat but keep on my desk shelf as a remembrance so I can get the warm fuzzies when I see it, and some beautiful ruby colored English Rose soap--smells heavenly but tastes terrible (and how would one know if one did not try it?). And I got a sweet little tin of comfit. Do you know what comfit are? They are confections made of a small piece of fruit, a seed, or a nut coated in sugar. (One had to look it up. One was not schooled in comfitture.) When I saw it I stripped it of its plastic wrap, opened it, saw some pink Tic Tac looking things and popped one in my mouth. Hmmmm. It was naive little tidbit but amusingly presumptious with a nicely focused hint of cinnamon. Quite nice. However, it did have a very small piece of wood at it's core and I spat this out. (Translation: I went, "Blaaaah!" over the trash can.) I had another. Same small bit of wood. I picked up my tin and read "Cinnamon Comfit", ingredients: sugar, starch, fennel seed, cinnamon oil, color #120. I didn't know what a comfit was so I thought perhaps it was not meant to taken orally and grabbed the Webster's to look it up. Turned out that the bit of wood was the fennel seed, duh, which was what made the candy a comfit and not a Tic Tac. I have had several since and I have decided I like them. I chewed a few of the fennel seeds and some I swallowed whole--not really up on my Comfit Etiquette. Someone must let me know the proper procedure. (I did discover, however, that I can not spit them with any degree of accuracy.)

I like trying new things but I was a I-never-had-it-and-I-know-I-won't-like-it person for a long time; afraid to try anything new. No more. I enjoy new taste experiences and look forward to more--Ms. Pal has been asking about chocolate and tea preferences. Can't wait to taste them.

But I still don't like the soap.

Short Rows

I have become a short row junkie and it's all Fiberbliss's (Linda) fault. She sent me a link to Iris Schreier's site, Art Yarns Short Row Tutorials. I made a half dozen or so Multi-directional triangular Scarves and the more I made the more short-row techniques I wanted to learn--which lead to buying more yarn...but that's another addiction.

These are two ot the short-row scarves. For the first I used Schaefer's Elaine in Jane Addams and for the second Noro Silk Garden #104 (I think).

The pattern is simple and the results quick and gratifying and non-knittin' people think I'm an awesome knitter when they see it. (My mum is going to be so impressed). Never made one of these? Why? This scarf is as much fun as making a clapotis but without the stitch markers, dropped stitches, yo's, and, ummm, purl stitches. (I still love my Clapoteye, don'tcha know.) It works up well in almost any yarn with the yarn's recommended needle size for a dense fabric or several sizes larger for a more lace-ish-like fabric.

Yesterday...was is just yesterday?...yeah, it was...okay, yesterday I received from the aforementioned fiberbliss Iris Schreier's new book, Modular Knits. Go ahead and check out the the images under the book's cover--I'll wait......Amazing isn't it? The beautiful woman sitting in the chair is wearing the Square Holes Sweater. I love it and it is in my To-Make-in-the-Near-Future-List--as opposed to the Make-It-Sometime-Before-I-Die-List. The book has many different techniques complete with diagrams, beautiful patterns, and directions for learning backwards knitting. With the techniques mastered one could design one's own patterns if one so desired. Want to put a hexagon in a triangle in a rectangular scarf? Well...actually I don't know if that can be done but, by George, this is the book that will let you know if it's possible. Besides the Square Holes Sweater, I particularly like the drop stitch garter lace table runner. Not just that pattern but the whole drop-stitch-garter-lace idea because I love lace and can't, yet, make it. This stitch makes an elegant, airy fabric, a guaranteed non-knitting-person-mind-boggler sure to provide many comments on the amazing artistry and skill of yours truly. I can't wait to flaunt it. (You may remember from a previous episode that I harbor a sick, evil inner being that thrives on the oohs and ahs of nonknitters. I am going to try and learn backward knitting to keep my sick, evil inner being from getting a swollen head. Check back with me to see if I survive).

Totally off topic but...

Lookee over there --> -->

I made a button. **imagine big cheesey grin here** It's ugly and if you were to put it on your blog and someone clicked on it it wouldn't do anything but I am ridiculously proud of it. I'm only slightly abashed to admit that it took me two hours to make. I used an online tutorial (whichwas wonderful and which I can't find right now or I would put the link here) to learn how to make the button and I have the know how, I think, to turn it into a link but it will have to wait.

I'm off to be modular. (Most people just think I'm off.)

Thank you, Linda.

Ms. S. Pal sent me goodies

Ah, but my Secret Pal is wonderful. Look at the goodies I received on the first official day of this round.

From...

If you recognized this handwriting let's talk.

Ms. S. Pal sent a very sweet card, Great Expectations audio book, a music mix (mixed music) cd, giraffe and elephant 'fridge magnets and a giraffe keychain for my inner child, two skeins of luscious Debbie Bliss merrino dk going-to-be-socks-yarn, three packets of beads, a pair of bag handles for my inner bag hag, a Get Knitted pen and Wool Fat Soap, and some hand cream for the outer crust. Ain't she a treasure?

Thank you SP of mine. Have a good vacation.