Things You Can Do When You're 4

I went into the basement and when I came upstairs, my entertainment center was giggling...


SURPRISE!!


Look how tall he actually is...



Here's your Tippa Tuesday...

I bought the KnitPicks Options (the metal ones). I can't recommend these needles enough! They rule, addi turbo's drool. Just kidding, I wouldn't give up my addi's but only because I have too many WIP's to get rid of good needles! The Options are sooooo deliciously pointy! Love. Them. If anyone hates theirs - I'll buy them immediately! There's this little tiny key to help you tighten you needles to your cables. Now if you're like me and the whole set-up outsmarts you (sigh), you can call the nice people at KnitPicks and they'll explain it without laughing. You're supposed to turn the needle not the key. Turning the key doesn't do anything - who'd've thought!

Anyway, my tip is this: I keep a small square of bubble wrap (the kind with small bubbles) in the zip pocket with the key. Those metal needles are slippery and trying to turn them without something to help your grip is another exercise in futility. I use the plastic bubble wrap to grip the needle - easy, peasy, rice and cheesy.

Wishing I was 4 today, Ruth!

Pick-Up Game

I'm doing this Huckleberry Ascot scarf (scroll down). It says to pick up and knit 115 stitches along each edge and make bobbles and such. Normally, I don't care for bobbles (this fun scarf is the first time I ever saw them and they will forever make me think of nipples) but on this scarf they don't look so... bobbly.

Anyway, a long time ago I was told this great trick for making "pick up X number of stitches" easier. You take the edge (or neckline or whatever) and find the center point. For the purpose of this tip, we'll say it's the straight edge of a scarf. In this case, you'll take the two end points and put them together so the edge is folded in half. Place marker.

Then take the right end point and fold in half so it touches the first marker. Mark the new halfway point.

Keep folding marked spots in half to place new markers.

At some point, you'll decide you have enough half-points evenly spaced along the edge in need of new stitches.

Then you get your trusty calculator and figure this way: # of stitches needed to be picked up [divided by] number of spaces btw markers. That last distinction is very important. You want the number of spaces between the markers, not the actual number of markers. (Ask me how I know.)

In the case of the scarf I'm working on, the equation comes out to 115 sts [divided by] 8 spaces. It comes out to 14.38 stitches per space. I don't know how to pick up .38 of a stitch, so every few spaces I'd throw in one of the 3 extra stitches needed to come out to 115 sts.

I love this tip. I think it's so much easier to figure out 14 (or 15) stitches at a time then trying to eyeball 115 sts!

The other tip for picking up is this:

If the yarn I'm working with is too... well, too anything (dark, tight, slippery, whatever) and I'm having trouble picking up any stitches, I look around carefully to see that there's no Knitting Police stalking me, then I use a crochet hook! (gasp) I use the hook to bring the yarn through, put the loop on the knitting needle and repeat as needed. Sooo much easier!

I'm all about the easy, Ruth!

Sweet Potatoes and Stress

We moved to Colorado a year ago (November 10) and we love it! Last year, we had our first Thanksgiving on our own. I made my first turkey and it came out spectacular!

This year, when we were discussing Thanksgiving plans with Dave's parents (who moved into their own apartment on September 15 and y'all were all correct - we could not have lived together!) Dave said, "Ruth will make the turkey, she made it last year and it came out perfect!"

OK. That's so sweet of him to say and all but here's the thing...
Dave's mom cooks. Really well. It's kind of her thing, ya know? I could see right away, as soon as he said it, that she was all butt-hurt. So she's going to make the duck (did I ever mention that she's Two Meat Woman? She can never make a family meal unless there's at least 2 meats to be had) and the mashed potatoes, gravy and stuffing. I'm making the turkey, and dessert (cooking the frozen pie that she's going to bring) and this sweet potato recipe which is a family favorite (for the 4 out of 6 of us who like sweet potatoes - Dave hates 'em and the kids go back and forth about 'em)...


Sweet Potatoes with Apples
3 to 3-1/2 pounds sweet potatoes
2 tart apples, peeled, cored and cut into 1/4-inch rings
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter

Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat;cover and cook for 30 minutes or until just tender. Drain and cool slightly. Peel and cut into 1/4-in. slices.
In a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking dish, alternately layer potatoes and apples. Pour orange juice over top. Combine the brown sugar, ginger and cinnamon; sprinkle over potatoes and apples. Dot with butter.
Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-45 minutes or until apples and tender and heated through. Yield: 8 servings.

So now there's this pressure that the turkey has to be all perfect. Damn! If I screw it up, I really don't care. I'll just throw it into turkey enchiladas after Thanksgiving anyway (I'll try to remember to give the recipe for that sometime).

It's just a stupid bird, Ruth!

Keeping Your Place With Lace

My friend, Tracy, the knit guru, used to use this handy tool to keep her place with charted patterns...

If the pattern is, say, a 12 row repeat, she'd get a stack of plain 3 X 5 cards. She'd put one line/row of chart on each card and number the cards. She'd laminate the cards (if it was a really big piece) and hole punch in the same corner of each card. Then she'd put them on a binder ring and Viola! When she'd stop, for whatever reason, she'd put a rubber band around the whole thing to keep her place.

Simple and brilliant! Unless you're knitting a chart that has 225 different rows! Then you just go and enlarge the bejeesus out of the thing on your local copy machine and work v.e.r.y. carefully!

Loving office supplies turned knitting tools, Ruth!

Good Scents

I received this package in the mail about a week ago.

I opened the mail box and was greeted with the most wonderful scent!

These soaps are from Chicken Knits Etsy store. Go get some. Now. I'll wait....

OK. Tippa Tuesday...

Whenever I get lovely soaps like these and there's extra, I put a bar in one of my yarn bins. It makes the yarn smell delicious! You have to be careful, though, about the soap you put in there. Chicken Knits soaps are wrapped in a way that the oils in the soap aren't going to touch the yarn at all. Glycerin soaps, for example, would be a bad choice (ask me how I know). To test the soap, wrap it in a paper towel and let it sit for an hour (or a day). If the paper towel looks different in any way, don't put the soap next to your stash.


I've been talking about it for months. I'm de-stashing. Here's the first little bit.

These yarns are from the first 3 months of Yarn Pirate's Booty Club. I already sold the first month's installation. I really like Yarn Pirate's work, it's just that none of these colors did anything for me. It was a great lesson. I learned that I don't want to do Yarn Clubs anymore. I LOVE surprises. But if I'm the one spending the money, I'd rather pick my own colors. (That being said, if you're the one spending the money and is mailing me a surprise of yarn, I'm so excited and thankful, that I love the color no matter what it is!)

Anyway, here they are. I'm selling them for what I paid for them and the price includes shipping and handling...

Yarn Pirate Calamity BFL - $26

Yarn Pirate Butternut Merino Tencel 400 yds. - $26

Also, here's some Boye crochet hooks. There's size D, E, F, G, H, another H, I, and K. The whole lot for $5.

If you're interested in these items, email me at Ruth AT 5elementknitr DOT com.

More soon, Ruth!

Supah Fast Part Two

Don't piss off your cashier. You'll get pinched peaches.

Just sayin', Ruth!

Supah Fast

Tippa Tuesday:

Hang out with knitters whenever you can. They are a good time. Every time. Details later.....

3's a Charm

Btw Friday, Monday and this morning, I spent a total of 7 hours at the DMV trying to get my CO license. I went this morning at 7:30a, thinking I'd be the first one in line because they open at 8a. Not so, my friends. Not so. I was about 20th in line. sigh.

BUT. If I'd gotten my license on Friday or Monday I wouldn't have met Claire! This morning, I headed to the back of the already-filling-up chairs and this woman and her son were headed to the same spot. She, kindly, motioned for me to take the one on the end and I did. She sat next to me and pulled out some knitting! I asked what she was working on and she said a bag and I asked if the yarn was Noro Kureyon. She asked how I knew that and I pulled out my own knitting! Her son laughed at us as we discussed our obsession. Claire said she's relatively knew at knitting and is making a booga bag to felt. I had my Mason-Dixon After Dark Nightie in progress to show. We were stuck there (pleasantly and not feeling stuck at all) for about an hour and a half. Her son was there to do his final paperwork to get his first driver's license and they were 2 numbers ahead of me. (The DMV started with #28 today, they were #50, I was #52.)

It amazes me how my life works out sometimes. I'd been so furious at having to waste 5 hours of my life already and having to come back again. Yet, look what happened! I made a new friend!

And yet another new knitting friend was made today. A co-worker named Jackie. We talk a lot at work and since I'm obsessed with knitting, it came up a couple of times. She said she was thinking of learning and of course I jumped at the chance to teach her. May've been a bit too eager at first because she balked for awhile. Well last weekend, she asked if I would still teach her. I said, "Of course!" and she came over today. I taught her to knit in about an hour and we shared our crazy life stories and another friendship (and another knitter) was created.

It's a good day to be a knitter, Ruth!

P. S. Tippa Tuesday: If you're going on a road trip, the best places to stop for potty breaks are public libraries. They're always really clean and you can usually use the computers to check maps, local restaurants, bloglines, whatever....

The Mexican Situation

My inlaws came in last Sat (4 days ago). I was at work until 10:40p (even though I was supposed to be off at 10p), so didn't see them 'til Sunday morning. I worked Sunday 9:45a-5p. sigh. They decided to take us to dinner on Sunday night.

Dave and I have this thing where it takes us an hour or more to decide where to eat. Usually we can narrow it down to two places, then we flip a coin. We've even been known to go through this whole nonsense, get to the restaurant, sit in the parking lot and say, "Let's go to the other place." We're lame.

So Sunday night, we're talking about where to go. Dave says it's up to me and I say the only places I know that are really good, they won't like (Thai and Indian food). We talk about the restaurant we went to a coupla weeks ago but the inlaws aren't crazy about Mexican food either. I say, "Let's try the other Mexican place. The one we haven't tried yet." He says, "Maybe. But what if it sucks? I'm not crazy about the Mexican situation around here." For some reason, that phrase struck me as really funny. Granted, I was very tired and hungry.

There really is a bad situation here for us when it comes to Mexican food! We're used to really good, authentic, inexpensive Mexican food. Tucson was just two hours from the border so you had a huge range of options. Our favorite for traditional style was El Charro. The original, downtown, was opened in 1922! The one on Broadway and Wilmot is pretty good, the original is the best, the other "new locations" are shit. Weird, considering they all have the same menu.

The best by far in Tucson is Cafe Poca Cosa. You will not find fajita, burrito, or enchilada anywhere on the menu. It's traditional, sonoran mexican food. The menu changes twice a day (go at lunch, it's cheaper and they have the "juice of the day" which is always something fabulous like tangerine-cantaloupe or something equally imaginative) and it's all so fresh and tasty! The waiter comes to your table with a small chalkboard with the entrees written in Spanish. They tell you what the entrees are and what's in each dish. At the end of the menu is always the Chef's Choice. Get this. It changes from plate to plate and you can't choose what's on your plate. However, each plate gets a sampling of three things. One beef, one chicken and one of the tamale pie-ish things. (Only once did my third option have the fish.) I got Chef's Choice every time we went and was never disappointed!

The first time I went was with my friend Paul (Paul Yenter, where are you?) when we were still stationed in Ft. Huachuca. We walked in and another table was being served. I remember seeing the waiter put down a small bowl of rice and a small bowl of beans and thinking, 'That's not enough rice and beans!'. Seriously, you get so much delicious food on your plate, you don't have room for the delicious rice and beans! Your plate comes with a salad and some fresh fruit piled on your entree. I'm slavering just thinking about it!

Here in Parker, we've tried 3 of the four Mexican restaurants with mediocre (at best) results. What is it in Colorado about thick tortillas?? We ate at Hacienda Colorado out near Lincoln/I-25. That was really good! They are a "homemade, fresh" restaurant, as described by our waiter. They get food and make things and if there's any left at the end of the day, out it goes. Fresh food every 24 hours. Something like that. When we walked in, the decor (with it's warm walls, iron lighting and stone floors) had me whispering to Dave, "This place looks expensive." It's not! It's very reasonable and the food is excellent! There's not too much in the way of really spicy. The waiter says that they rely on flavor rather then heat to make the dishes good. They have something there! Dave had some dish with the green chile on top. The meat was tender and flavorful. I had the fish tacos. They were simply the best fish tacos I've ever eaten. Even the kids chicken tenders were good!

Here's my Tippa Tuesday:
Whenever I go to a new restaurant, the first thing I do is check the bathroom. If it's dirty, I won't eat there. I don't mean a mess some previous guest made (I know they can't police that every second), I mean dingy sinks, dingy walls, toilets that obviously haven't had much attention. I figure, if they can't keep the bathrooms clean, what must the kitchen look like?

Don't get me wrong, I've eaten in some serious dives and the food their is usually the best! But if it's not a dive, it should be clean. I know, it's a weird distinction that divides only in my tiny brain!

Looking for more (close to us) good restaurants, Ruth!

P. S. Sunday, we ended up eating at Johnny Carino's. I'm usually not a fan of chain eateries but this was pretty good! With the main entrees, you get all-you-can-eat soup or salad. All the dishes were so enormous that we were fine with the prices (btw $12-$18 per plate). There was more then enough of lunch for everyone the next day.

Sock Knitting Links

I had to restart my Tour de France Baudelaire socks. This is how my Figure Eight Cast On came out....

WAY too loose! So I got some advice from a sock knitter in the know and was directed to this tighter and much easier Toe-Up Cast On.

Here's more sock-knitting help...

Short Row Heel tutorial

Kitchener Stitch video (this site also has videos for using DPN's, turning a heel, picking up gusset stitches, 6 different cast-ons, and many other things)

Sock Knitting

Then there's yer 24 hour, free knitting teacher here.

In other news, I had an excellent knitting sighting yesterday. A 1972 episode of Night Gallery with guest star (and my hero/secret love crush) William Shatner. It was called Can a Dead Man Strike From the Grave? What an overly specific, long title! There was a woman knitting while teaching her daughter to play piano. The woman held the needles like pencils and was making a chunky, yellow garter stitch scarf. She was a thrower. Her knitting was slow but steady which makes me wonder: Was her slowness due to her pencil hold/throwing technique? Did she know how to knit prior to the role? Was she slow because she was concentrating on remembering her lines? Who taught her how to knit?

Over-analysing, as usual, Ruth!

P. S. Thanks to Throws Like A Girl for holding my knitting while I snapped a shot!

My Kingdom for a DPN

Tippa Tuesday is brought to you today by the ever lovely and brilliant Elizabeth Zimmerman and by my boys.


My boys are squirrels. They take things that catch their interest for a few seconds, then they move them around and then the things are lost. Yesterday, they lost a US 2 (2.75mm) DPN
I was using in a sock. I have the yarn on 4 needles and I stick the 5th needle through the ball of yarn I'm working from. The 5th is missing.


Elizabeth Zimmerman (EZ) says you can use a different sized needle (one size up or down, doesn't matter) when knitting in the round. She says the gauge difference is evenly distributed throughout the knitting because the needles rotate. She's right! And she's amazing. As usual!

Wonder of wonders - I have an FO!!!! OK, it's only a washcloth but I'm still counting it. And it's crocheted and it's all wonky but here it is....

Sugar and Cream Summer Splash color

It's this really obnoxious color. I was making bath mats for people last Xmas and Trev wanted one. I let him pick the color and since he was 5 (at the time) he picks the loudest color available! I double stranded the mat with some white and that toned it down nicely but I have a couple skeins left over and am making washcloths for our kitchen with it. The first cloth I made was too small and so I made this one much bigger.

You can see here where I accidentally started widening it...



It's single crocheted through the back loop, about 23 (then 25?) stitches wide. I added a coupla rows of double crochet around the edges to make it bigger. The crochet through the back loop makes it nice and tight and scrubby. I used a size G hook, about a size smaller then the ball band recommends. I like my washcloths to be a tight stitch. Too many holes and it's not scrubby enough!

Off to do dishes, Ruth!

What Month Is It?

THE CONTEST

THE PRIZES

Runs June 1 - September 15

____________________________________________________

Holy Shnickey's! Can y'all believe it's already June? That June is already half over?? Where did the time go?

I haven't even started the June Sockamania socks. Partly just paralysis through analysis. I can't decide which yarn I want to use. And I want to learn toe-up but figure I should finish a top-down sock first (for some reason). Not being able to decide which yarn to use... I keep thinking, "What if I use this yarn and then next month's pattern comes out and this yarn would've been better suited for that pattern?" It's so lame. I'm so lame.

I was able to score a spot in the Yarn Pirate's Sock Club. Which means that I am going to do some serious de-stashing to make up the money I spent. I got this great idea from Chicken Knits. Go to her site and see what's left! She's a lot faster then I am. My stuff will probably be up sometime next... who knows. I'll keep y'all posted.

Tippa Tuesday:

Again, Tracy-the-knit-guru's tips are all I got.
She says when washing handknits, all she does is fill the washing machine with water, put in the appropriate amount of Kookaburra (or similar stuff), put in the knits, give a light swish with her hands, let soak. Then you just set the machine to spin (no agitation) to get most of the water out. Remove items, reshape, air dry.

Here's about the funniest celeb-made video I've seen on the 'net. A chick at work told me about it. OK, I suck at this stuff. I can't seem to "embed" the video like I want so just go here.

Also, is it just me or is there a problem with the paragraph breaks on this site? I usually just go and hit enter twice to give a little space between the paragraphs. When I hit "Publish Post", it either gives me huge spaces or (more often and more frustrating) gives no spaces btw paragraphs. I wish I knew computers. I don't.

Off to look through my stash, Ruth!

De Nada

I got nuthin'. So, as Rabbitch says, I'll try to keep it under 10,000 words.

For Tippa Tuesday, I'm going to refer you to my first tip. For those of you who weren't with me from the beginning. It's a brilliant tip and I should've waited til I had a bit of a readership... anyway, it's here.

A fresher tip is to go to The Sneeze. The blogger's name is Steve and he works at Nickolodean in some capacity. He's about the funniest F'er on the 'net.

More tomorrow. More prize pic's and more nonsense!

Slinking of in blog shame, Ruth!

The Thing About Boys Is...

sometimes you walk into their room and this is the first thing you see...

Silly boys.

Sorry for the late post but I woke up this morning feeling like a Mac truck ran me over. Twice. I've been mysteriously achy all day. And a little nauseous. Bleh.

Here's your Tippa Tuesday, shamelessly stolen from BeckyKnitsToo. She suggested a way to keep track of your rows as well as your stitch markers. The kind of stitch markers that slip into the stitch. She said to hook the markers into your knitting and leave one on the needle. When you get to row 2, hook another marker into the one on the needle (2 markers hanging), row 3 add another marker to the ones on the needle (3 markers hanging), etc. If it's, say, a four row repeat, when you get to row one again, put the other 3 markers back into the knitting! What a great idea!

Tomorrow, I'll be posting pictures of more prizes for my contest.

Going to go look for some chicken soup and pillows, Ruth!

ETA: Forgot to tell everyone. I know of a kitten up for free adoption. It's a male, between a long and short hair cat. It's mostly white with some grey spots. It's also mostly blind. I'm told it can see shapes and tell light from dark. I wonder how they know that? If you are in the Denver area and are interested at all, email me: Ruth AT 5elementknitr DOT com. Thanks!

More Snakes a Tip and a Timer

THE CONTEST

Running from June 1 - September 15

_________________________________

I hope everyone had a lovely and restful weekend! Ours was blissfully lazy and uneventful.


Got this in the mail...



It's the sock yarn I won over at Nishanna's. My photographic skills (or lack thereof) don't do justice to it's fiery goodness and I can't wait to make them into socks!


Friday evening, my husband was in the bathroom while I was folding clothes by our bed. Our bathroom has no windows and w/o the lights on, is relatively dark. Out of the blue, D says, "I think we need to call a vet!" I asked what he was talking about (as we are currently petless). I turned around and see him walking out of the dark, shirtless, with his arms flexed in the classic bicep-flexing pose, " 'Cause these pythons are sick!" What a goofball! Laughed for days! He'd heard it on the radio along with some other ways to say how big your arms are ("I'm not allowed on the playground because these guns aren't registered", etc.). We made stupid, buff-arm, python jokes all weekend. We're lame. (Very different then last week's snake story, no?)

Since we moved here and he's had this new job/business. He's lost around 30 pounds. He's around the same weight as when we met. (Hot!) I wish I could say the same (she says, sitting on her butt at the computer or knitting all day).

Alright, on to Tippa Tuesday...


Last week, I posted a tip on how to make frogging a little easier. Yarnhog left another method in the comments (thanks, Yarnhog!). She said to put a smaller knitting needle on the row you are ripping to and rip away. I thought that was a great tip. I had tried that a long time ago when I was still a relatively new knitter and didn't keep the needle on the same row somehow.

After I read her comment, I tried again on a swatch and got it right this time. I also tried it a different way - instead of using a smaller knitting needle, I used a darning needle and some waste yarn. It worked great! It was flexible and, for me, easier to manage. I thought it would also work especially well with large pieces.

The second tip is for Massage Monday, which I missed yesterday by announcing my contest (see link at top of post). (By the way, I initially forgot to tell everyone where they can send the helmet-liners. I've remedied that and it's towards the bottom of the contest post.)

How often do you get up from your desk/knitting/other seated activities during the day? I know how it is, you get going and 3 or four hours have passed and you haven't moved. I do it too. At least I used to. It's So. Very. Bad. for you. You've got the stress of work combined with being stagnant and you go home with your shoulders up in your ears.

The easiest way to remedy this is to set a timer. You want to set it to go off every 50 or 55 minutes. (I use a kitchen timer but I hear there's a way to set a timer on one's computer.) When it goes off, don't just reset it. Get up! Walk to the bathroom, stretch, breath. This will, believe it or not, make your day go much faster. It's a physical break, it's a mental break and it will make you more productive. I'm not talking about taking 15-20 minute breaks every hour, I'm talking about 1-3 minutes.

I gave that tip to a client I had at the spa and he told me he couldn't possibly, he was too far behind on his work. I told him if he was that far behind, then a couple of minutes every hour wasn't going to make a difference and (as I already said) it would actually make him more productive. He didn't believe me. A few weeks later, I got an email from him telling me that he'd tried it, was all caught up on his work and did I have any more tips for him!

Going to go stretch now, Ruth!

Frogging Made Easy

At least physically....

Alright. You've made a mistake about ten rows back. sigh.
Typically, you rip back and you've got this whole row of stitches you have to maneuver onto the needle.


You get about 1/2way across and the pulling makes the loops you're aiming for start to disappear. Dropped stitches ensues along with some unpleasant verbiage. I have been known to tink back 12 rows or more just to avoid this. Until I was taught this technique.

Lorie from my the first knit group I used to hang out with in Tucson showed me this little trick.


Rip all but the last rows necessary, then when you get to the row you're shooting for... pull 3 stitches loose, put those 3 stitches on the needle. Rinse, repeat.

I, also, will put the needle in the next stitch, under the yarn, then pull the yarn out of the stitch. This is helpful with really slippery yarns (like the Ornaghi Filati Gong pictured). Sometimes, just to be sure, Ill do these methods a row above where I need to stop, then tink the last row. That way I can make sure I have all the stitches I'm supposed to have.

Of course, you always want to recount your stitches after you rip. You don't want to rip and then continue for several rows only to discover you don't have all the necessary stitches and you've got to rip again. Ask me how I know. sigh.


So now you have a technique (or two) to make your frogging physically easier. As for making it emotionally easier.... I'm open to suggestions.

Avoiding the frog pond, Ruth!

Objectivity Swatch

OK, some will call this a cheat tip. I will probably have a lot of that going on here!

Whenever I swatch a new yarn, I ALWAYS had my friend (and knitting guru) Tracy measure it for me. See, I know me. If it doesn't match the count I need, I will either futz it into the proper count or I'll just shrug and say, "Close enough". Even if it's something important, like an item of clothing I actually want to fit on my body and look good!

With the objectivity of a friend, or LYS staffer, you can't cheat yourself out of doing a proper swatch.

So I guess this tip is an uncheat tip!

Sugar Rush

My inlaws came into town yesterday. I didn't tell the boys because I wanted it to be a surprise. They were pretty mellow about it. The inlaws were pretty mellow about the mohawk. (Apparently, I was the only one surprised! By the reactions, that is.)

I'm super-lucky. In many ways, but today I'm talking about inlaw ways. When we lived in Tucson, Dave's parents (DP) were the primary care-givers for the boys. (When we needed care-givers. With my job as a massage therapist, I only worked 1-5 hours a day, 3-4 days a week!) Also, Dave's mom cooked for us at least 4 nights a week, we had dinner at their house every Sunday, and when they sat with the kids at our house, she'd clean the kitchen and even do some laundry! We never bought laundry soap and didn't buy diapers for about 6 months before we moved to CO. We miss them.

And they miss us. Or at least the boys! They are planning on moving out here this summer. They decided to visit for the boys' birthdays. Dave's mom expresses her love through food. She's really good at it. I lost almost ten pounds when we moved out here in Nov. They visited us for Christmas and I gained it all back. When they showed up yesterday, she had 3 sacks of groceries in the trunk of the car. I say groceries but it was all junk food. Here's some hi-lites:
A 3 pound sack of peanut m&ms's; 2 bags of cheetos and one of fritos; two plastic tins of chocolate covered pretzels and another 3 pound bag of Hershey chocolate covered pretzels; 2 bags of marshmallows; 2 bags of suckers; a bag of Oreos (my biggest weakness); 3 dozen of her awesome homemade chocolate chip cookies.... I'd go on but I'm getting fatter just thinking about it!

And her cooking! It's the best! I already had dinner planned for last night (meatloaf) but tonite she's making her fried chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. Again, she makes the best fried chicken gravy I've ever had! (I thought my mom and grandma were good cooks! She's better!) They are going to be here for about a month. sigh. At least our house will be really, really clean!

I love them and can't wait for them to move here. I'm just going to have to exercise more. sigh.

Here's a tip for Tippa Tuesday:

The first time I had to knit handles for a felted bag, the instructions said to cast on 11 stitches, and knit for 26". I know me. I don't see me knitting something for 26". And then doing it again. (That's probably why I've put off learning to knit socks for so long!)

This is when I discovered knitting two things at once. You cast on for the first with one ball and then for the second with a second ball. That way you are doing the 26" (or whatever) twice, but only once. Get it?

I find this most helpful with sleeves. This will also ensure your sleeves are the same length/gauge. I also do this with the front/backs of sweaters when the pattern says, "Knit front same as back". When it says, "Knit front same as back until..." then I knit them at the same time until it calls for the change. I slip one on some waste yarn, finish the other, then finish the one on the waste yarn.

To keep from getting the balls tangled, I either sit with a ball on each side or I sometimes put them in ziploc bags (if I'm going to travel with them) and put a bag on each side. It can get a little fiddly, (whenever I have to stop and then when I go back to it, it takes a minute or two to sort out which ball for which piece) but for me, it's totally worth it to not have to do big (or long) pieces twice.

I also mark each piece with a separate colored marker and either write it down or just remember (blue for back, red for front - that sort of thing). And I slip the markers onto the "right" side of the piece. That way, I know just by looking at it, what I'm doing (in theory).

Going for a walk, Ruth!

Swatch Marking

I'm swatching some Garnstudio Drops Alpaca to make the Ogee Tunic from Knitting Nature.




It calls for 23 sts = 4" on size US 4 ndls. It's a slippery yarn on the addi turbos so I'm death-gripping it and am up to size 6... still not getting gauge. As I go up a needle size, I separate and mark as follows...

Started with 4's, switch to US 5, knit one row, next row, knit 5, (yo, k2tog, knit 2) 5 times, knit across, knit one more row. Next row, start gauge pattern for more swatching.


Next section, switch to US 6, knit one row, knit 5, (YO, k2tog, knit 2) 6 times, knit rest of row. Knit another row. Next row, re-establish swatch pattern.


Rinse, repeat. This way you can tell which needle you used in which section without having to use any markers. If you get up to double digits (say US 10), then do two rows with the YO's till you get the number of holes you need.

The problem with this tip is if you're using the metric system. I've got no solution. Except for reverting back to some sort of marker (pinning a piece of paper to it?) or writing your results in a notebook.

Bonus tip: The Garnstudio site has hundreds of free patterns. Knitting and crochet!

In other news, I got the first pattern for the Sockamania Knitalong! Very exciting! Of course, my printer isn't working. I've spent the past hour "trouble-shooting". After I take T to school and put D down for his nap, I'm going to call the HP people. (sigh)

Before I sign off, I want to mention a couple more knitting sightings. These were on TV. Last nite's Deal or No Deal had a 19 year old tennis player and her family was there for support. Did anyone else notice the mom's sweater? I told Dave, "I bet she made that." He bets she didn't. It was really pretty!

The other sighting is from Season 3 of The Shield. The show is actually in season 6 but I've been renting the previous seasons from the library. If you haven't seen this show, I recommend it, but only if you have a strong stomach. It's pretty brutal and graphic with the violence. It's about a "corrupt-cop-with-a-heart-of-gold" kind of thing. In season 3, there's a dog handler that the main character (Vic) hooks up with. When they first show her, she's wearing a pretty sweater. The other times they show her, she's wearing this beautifully knit, longish, shawl-collared, wrap cardigan. It's grey and you see it in several of season 3's episodes. Gorgeous!

Still swatching, Ruth!

More Sockfoolery

"OK, more urban-legends-turned-tippa's:

I hear tale of a technique where one can knit two socks at the same time and like magic, when you're done, you pull one sock out of the other! Now, Tracy (knitter/teacher extraordinaire) claims this is a real pain in the ass and has something to do with knit one, slip one, something, something, something. She says that if you knit when you should slip, you've knit the two socks together and ruined the whole show. I say:Why not knit two different color socks? You don't skip second sock angst but you end up with two pairs!

Again, I give this tip with the utmost optimism since I, as of yet, haven't learned to knit socks!

Good news, though! I just bought one pair of size one addi's and some sock yarn. Next week, I'll buy the other size 1 addi's and get my first sock lesson! (It's a matter of coupons, people.)"

The above entry is brought to you by my old blog 6/6/06. I had the lesson, it didn't go too well. Not Tracy's fault, mine. Since I wrote this, knitty.com (one of my favorite knitmags!) did
an article about the sock-in-sock technique. Wonder if this technique could work for sleeves knit in the round? Why not? You try it first and let me know how it goes.

I still haven't tried to knit any socks yet but am looking forward to my first pattern from the Sockamania knitalong I joined. I should be getting it May 1st.

I got this deliciousness in the mail last week:


It's Fearless Fibers sock yarn from Etsy (Shades of Teal colorway). It's soft and beautiful and it even smells good! (Yes, I smelled it. Don't judge.)

I'm going to try a mini sock pattern this week with waste yarn. Just to get the feel of it.

Here's your knitting sighting for the week.

I read a lot of kids books. Every nite, for 10-20 min. at story time! A lot of them have knitting hidden here and there in them. Here's a couple...

The Awful Aardvarks Go To School - this is an alphabet book, these types of books almost always have knitting in there somewhere. Usually around the letter K.
Sophie's Masterpiece - this is a lovely book. Beautiful illustrations, lovely story.
Harold's Fairy Tale - this is the second in the Harold and the Purple Crayon series. Harold has his adventures and ends up back at home next to his mother who is knitting in the comfy chair.

Knittin' and Readin', Ruth!