Major Knitter

Knitting My Part

I'm doing my part to help knit enough 9x9 squares to make a blanket for the homeless at the Pine Street Inn in Boston.  I found all sorts of green yarns in Wool Ease Chunky and am using the homemade wooden knitting needles that James' father made for me.  I figure I'm adding the good will spirit to my knitting.  So far I've knit over a dozen squares.  I need a total of 35 squares for one blanket.  I think I can get that many done before Saturday morning.

Farley has reached 72% of her financial goal.  Won't you please learn more about this big knit-a-thon project and offer to help?

Please consider supporting Farley's knitting efforts by making a donation to The Pine Street Inn at:

• Pine Street Inn
• 444 Harrison Avenue
• Boston, MA 02118
• (617) 892-9100
• www.firstgiving.com/farleysullivan

Hettie's Beautiful Fair Isle Sweater

Today was my knitting group at my Church.  Hettie brought her drop-dead gorgeous fair isle sweater.  Isn't she a knock-out?  I love the blue colors.  The stitches are perfect!

Solid Red Cables Cables Everywhere

I loved Danni's Cables, Cables Everywhere sock pattern for the Knitting Central Sock Club so much that I cast on a second pair.  This time I chose a solid red Koigu KPM and I'm very happy with the results

I always need a small sock project to take with me on the go - so this sock pattern was just the ticket for my Go Knits pouch.

Do A Good Turn Daily

Our Community Service project to honor the 100th anniversary of the founding of Scouting was to cook steaks at the local homeless shelter in town.  The whole community is so generous.  The local grocery store gave us a great price on New York strips which allowed us to buy 24 steaks and not break the budget.  The Boy Scouts lit up the BBQ grills (what is it about boys and fires?) and were master grillers. 

In addition to that, they made my favorite salad with dried cranberries, pine nuts, blue cheese crumbles and sliced Bosc pears.  We steamed asparagus, sauteed mushrooms, baked potatoes and made a homemade apple crumble with vanilla ice cream for dessert.  It was a delicious dinner.  After serving the homeless, we went home for grilled cheese sandwiches.  Somehow I think that is truly poetic.

Knit-a-Thon in Boston!

Remember the donations I mentioned about six weeks ago?  Well there are only 10 more days to get your 9x9 swatches knit up and sent to Farley for the Pine Street Inn Knit-a-thon so they can be joined together to make a blanket to help those in need.  Farley sent out a final reminder to ask for more donations and support.  If you're in the Boston area next weekend, won't you consider joining her and knitting for a great cause?  If you're not in the area, you can still help by knitting some 9x9 swatches or even making a monetary donation.  Please read below to find out more about how you can help or click here.

This is NOT some sort of weird club sandwich.

This is A LOT of 9x9 inch hand knit squares.  This pile of squares is one of the many that will be assembled into blankets.  Those blankets will be presented to the tenants at the Pine Street Inn Residence in Boston.  You can help!

This event will happen on Sunday, November 4th which is only TEN days away!!!

 

Please consider supporting Farley's knitting efforts by making a donation to The Pine Street Inn at:

• Pine Street Inn
• 444 Harrison Avenue
• Boston, MA 02118
• (617) 892-9100
• www.firstgiving.com/farleysullivan

Your donation will assist Pine Street Inn's supportive housing program for formerly homeless individuals.  For more information, please visit www.pinestreetinn.org.

A Stop at Stitches East

Today was another day in the City.  It was also another visit to my old LYS - Stitches East.  Shelly was there and I asked her if she had any new baby sweater patterns.  She showed me the new Debbie Bliss book and a few others.  The one that really caught my eye was the Sublime book.  In fact, I found two of them.  I quickly bought both books and 7 skeins of Sublime and some US Size 5 bamboo straight needles.

I knit up the 4x4 swatch and got good gauge.  I quickly cast on for the 6-12 month size and managed to knit about a third of the back of the sweater.  This yarn is scrumptious to knit.  I can hardly wait to finish this little sweater.  It will be the perfect baby gift to give to another little baby girl who has recently arrived in this world.

 

Presenting a FO for my Sock Club

Despite the busy weekend, I did manage to squeeze in some knitting time and finish my Knitting Central Sock Club socks. 

These are wonderful socks and Koigu is so squishy and comfy that I can confess I'm thrilled autumn is upon us so I can start wearing all my warm woolen socks again. 

A Deluge of Delight

It was a Boy Scout camping weekend which was mixed with Friday night's deluge of water from 11:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.  That didn't dampen our spirits as Saturday morning broke with sunshine and unseasonally warm weather for late October in New England.

 

I wasn't the only one doing handiwork.  One of the other moms joined us on this campout and she brought her sewing kit to sew on patches to the Scout uniforms.  The Scouts also worked on basic skills during the course of the day.  Some of the dads showed off their Dutch oven cooking prowess with things like prime rib, apple cobbler and homemade cheese bread.

 

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It was the first time that Secundogeniture went camping with Mom and the Boy Scouts, which was a nice change of pace.  I think he had a good time.  The campfire was especially enjoyable. 

We played a game called "Are You Smarter Than a Scoutmaster?" which had us all in smiles.

Happy Trails to you! 

Baby Blanket

Remember this summer when we visited our friends in Carlsbad?  Well, Nancy finished the baby blanket and baby Olivia used it at her christening. 

Isn't Olivia just precious in her christening outfit against her Easy Knit Baby Blanket from Fiber Trends?

Nancy said she couldn't have finished the project without all your help answering her questions about binding off.  She also got plenty of great assistance from the wonderful staff at Common Threads in Encinitas, California.  Thanks to all!

Rooftop Knitting

I was on one of the beautiful rooftop gardens of Rockefeller Center today and who could resist posing for a knitting picture with this scenery.  It was amazing.

That's my nearly completed second sock for the Knitting Central Sock Club with Saint Patrick's cathedral in the background.  Gotta love New York!

Playing Hooky, but not AWOL

Today is my third class for the Dale Baby Sweater at my LYS.  Unfortunately, this week is also my Marine Corps Reserve training week and I'm on active duty (thus the reason I'm commuting every day into Manhattan).  So I'm playing hooky from my knitting class (boo hoo!) but I'm not AWOL from my military orders.  Well, it's 0500 (Oh-Five-Hundred) and it's time to jump in the shower and start my day the military way. 

You know why military time always starts with an O don't you?  That's so you can say "Oh My God it's early!"

I hope you have a great day. 

Commuting is Great for Knitting Proliferation

I have to go into the city every day this week.  That's an extra 8-10 hours of quality knitting time.  Imagine how much knitting I can get done this week.  Yesterday I finished the leg of the second sock for the Knitting Central Sock Club. 

I'm about to go back to the city in an hour or so, which will allow me to turn the heel and complete most of the foot.  I'm quite thrilled about this upside down week.  It almost makes me want to go back to work so I can commute every day.

Twenty Pounds of Apples

Twenty pounds of apples + ten hours of cooking + four 5-6 quart sized pots and pans + one 5 gallon pot = 11 pints and nearly 2 quarts of apple butter. 

First I washed and sliced nearly 2/3 of the apples we purchased yesterday.  I put them in the giant 5-6 gallon pot and cooked them until they were soft and mushy.

Using a 3-foot long spoon, so as not to repeat the dreaded hand burning of 2004, I gently smashed and stirred the apples as they cooked.  After they were fully cooked, I passed all 20 pounds through the Foley food mill by hand and then separated the applesauce into four pots. 

I added the spices and cooked the 4 pots of apple butter for 6 hours until the spicy applesauce had reduced to a thick bubbly brown spicy delicious apple buttery paste.

I finished the day's work by filling the hot steamy apple butter into the sterilized Ball Mason jars, put on the lids and sealed them in boiling water.  Voila!  Twenty pounds of apples reduced to 13 jars of delicious homemade apple butter waiting to be consumed or gifted!  You probably won't see this happen again until 2009!

The Apple in the Saturday Sky

I took Primogeniture and his friend apple picking today.  Secundogeniture didn't want to go.  The big boys and I had a great time.  We went to Beardsley's Cider Mill and Orchards in Shelton, Connecticut.  It was fabulous!

The boys posed by a sign that indicated this row of trees was ripe for the picking.

Primogeniture reaches for the perfect apple at the top of the tree.

Many apples ended up on ground

Primogeniture decided that TODAY was the day he was going to learn how to juggle using the rotten apples from the ground.

In the end we filled our tote bag with 31 pounds of Jonagolds.  Yum.  I can almost taste the snacking apples, baking apples, and of course, the apple butter.  Yum.

We finished the day with a trip to the gift shop where we purchased the most incredible apple cider doughnuts that were sweet - but not sugary.  Of course, we washed it down with the quintessential gallon of apple cider that tasted so fresh that it felt like we were drinking straight from the apple tree.

I'm on Ravelry - Sort of.

Apparently, I signed up for Ravelry on June 18, 2007.  I remember that week fondly.  I had Montezuma's Revenge.  That might explain why I thought I wasn't part of this big Knitting Cult (I mean that in a good way).  My knitting buddy Marcia told me that I was indeed registered, so today I decided to go check it out.  Lo and behold I am a Ravelry member.  Who knew?  Marcia did and apparently about 8 of you, did, too.  I'm going to take some baby steps getting things updated, but I can immediately see it's appeal.  What a cool community.  Have you joined Ravelry yet?

BTW, I owe a huge thank you to someone wonderful who sent me my Ravelry invitation, but in that June traveling-induced-weight-loss-plan I can't remember for the life of me who I should thank.  Please know how grateful I am. 

First Finished Sock

I finished my first sock for the Knitting Central Sock Club.  I really liked the way it turned out. 

Here's a close-up  of the cables. 

I am quite please with the way it turned out and have already cast on my second sock.  It's so fun and easy to knit - yet offers some interesting texture in the finished product.  Yeah.  Go Danni!  You're a fantastic designer.

Columbus Day and Everything Gets Thrown Off Schedule

Since the boys didn't have school yesterday, it felt like a long lazy summer Sunday.  But since it was in fact a Monday, I'm completely off schedule today.  I didn't put the dry-cleaning out.  Forgot to empty the garbage.  Now I have to keep an eagle eye on my calendar to make sure I don't miss any appointments for the day.  Does this happen to you?

We had a great day.  Primogeniture had a friend over all day.  We invited the parents over and had a little impromptu dinner.  It was very nice.  Now I'm trying to dig out from under.

How about you?

And I didn't even touch my knitting - except to show it off.

Sunday Sock Progress

BF is home and we're sitting around catching up while watching the New York Yankees play the Cleveland Indians and wondering if this will be it for Joe Torre.  It's been a great day for sock knitting.  I met up with Betsy from SNL earlier this morning and we chatted while we knit.  Yesterday, I decided to finish knitting the blue Koigu KPPPM socks for the Knitting Central Sock Club.  I really love the pattern.  It's fun to knit.  I'm actually halfway done with the gusset.  I'm a bit worried about how much yarn I've already used.  I might have to use a contrast color for the toe if I run out of yarn.  Keep your fingers crossed.  Better yet, keep your toes crossed.

My KCSC Socks

I got the pale yellow with apricot and dusty greens in my Koigu KPPPM colourway for my Knitting Central Sock Club socks.  Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of any of these colors.  Of course, Danni's Cables, Cables Everywhere pattern is so adorable that I wanted to knit these socks for myself and not to give away.  So I went to my yarn stash and found a lovely shade of pale blues in the Koigu KPPPM and started to knit away.

I made an excel graph to help me knit the cables as I'm a visual person and am a much more efficient knitter if I can see the overall picture.  The original pattern started right with the cabling - but I decided I wanted to have a K1, P1 ribbing. 

Upon closer reflection, I don't really like the ribbing as I think it detracts from the cabling pattern.  The cable is in fact a sort of ribbing, so I think I'll start over and follow the pattern this time.  My other thought is that I'll switch to yet another yarn as I think this cable pattern is so lovely that I'd like it to really stand out.  I find that the textured patterns often get lost in the variegated yarn.  So I went back to my stash and found some lovely cranberry red Koigu KPM.

I'm all over the primary color wheel, aren't I?  Wish me luck!

Even First Aid has Knitting

I took my Boy Scout Troop to the local EMS today for CPR training for part of their First Aid merit badge.  They did a fantastic job.  The EMS instructor is also our Troop's very first Scoutmaster from a few years gone by.  It was wonderful to learn all the terminology - especially my favorite.  Did you know that when a broken bone mends it's often said to "knit a bone together"?  I did not know that. 

Here's our group photo after we were beginner experts in the art of CPR.

And while I didn't knit any bones together, I did manage to make a good start on my Knitting Central Sock Club socks.  More pictures later on the knitting front.  If you haven't had a good first aid class or CPR in awhile, I highly recommend it.  I am so glad I got my CPR certification this summer.  Primogeniture got his Lifesaving merit badge.  These are just some great skills to know.  I hope we'll never need to use them, but at least we'll have the skills in the event we ever do need them.

To Steek or Not To Steek

That is the question.  But Sally at Knitting Central took us through the steps and made us realize it wasn't so difficult to cut through delicate hand knit stitches afterall.  In fact, she let us cut her swatch.  First she stitched each side twice, then Peggy took the scissors and carefully cut.  No one dared draw a breath for fear our universe would unravel.

I made the final cut that turned Sally's swatch into two separate pieces.

Then Sally took her Baby Dale Fair Isle sweater and sewed each side of the steek with her Singer Feather Weight sewing machine from days of old

After cutting the loose edges, she had a beautiful steek.

Here's a close-up of her handiwork

It's lovely.  Now we all have a great deal of homework to accomplish before our class in two weeks so we can get to this part and beyond.  Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to knit I go.

Birthday Recap

Secundogeniture made me a Happy Birthday Card puzzle.  It took me nearly a half hour to put this one together.

I also got phone calls, cards, emails, gifts, chocolates, flowers and, of course, the knitting gifts.  It was a great birthday.  Thanks for all your great birthday wishes - you made my day extra special

The Perfect Birthday Gift!

BF signed me up for the Knitting Central Sock Club and my package arrived in the mail yesterday - just in time for my 41st birthday today (Note shameless plug for birthday wishes).

Look at my wonderful Koigu KPPPM, my Cables, Cables Everywhere sock pattern by the amazing Danni, and two fun surprise gifts from Knitting Central - a blue/gold storage tube for dpns and some darning needles - you know the ones with the bent tips that are perfect for the kitchener stitch?  Cynthia - thanks for such a fun and brilliant Sock Knitting Club.  I can hardly wait to get working on these socks... but I have my homework to catch up on for my Dale Baby Sweater class tomorrow and I'm so far behind. 

Happy Knitting to me!  Happy Knitting to me!  Happy Knitting!  Happy Knitting. Happy Knitting to me!

BTW, the boys are taking me out to their favorite restaurant to celebrate tonight.  Isn't that just too sweet?