ProseKnitic – of Words und Wolle

Every evening I see them walking along our street. His wizen face bordered with lank hair peers out from under a nondescript ball cap. A blue plastic brace is on his right arm, so they walk along the left sidewalk. Her thinning, fly-away white curly locks frame a face without glasses. His wire-rims give him an owlish appearance as he guides her along. Right hand and arm carefully clasps and intertwines with his left as he helps her balance her on the sidewalk. He travels on the street while she is steadier on the curb, making their heads more close to level.

How many years do you suppose they have been taking their evening walk along our street? How long, how many seasons have they seen pass? Neither of them will see 80 again and might well be close to 90.

Guten Aben, we say as we pass, me hiking rapidly toward home while they make their slow, stately progress along the curve, heading downhill at the end toward home.

Socks

The Florenz turned up when I cleaned our room this weekend. After fussing around with the pattern for the top and the start of the foot- I changed to simple stripes going down the foot. I like the pattern, but my choice of yarn colours was not good, the texture gets completely lost in the colour changes. Ah well, I could frog, but am not going to. I will do the pattern again on the top of the other sock and call it a learning pair.

Books & Audio Books

Listening to Faye Kellerman’s A Garden of Eden which is a collection of short stories.
On the book shelf is MaryJanice Davidson- Undead and Uneasy. I also have the HP#7 and a few more pages in Hell Hath no Fury to finish.

-Holly

I am putting together a box of goodies to go with the Hearts. Since I am shipping overseas, as well as leaving for China before the official mailing date, my pal’s sockapalooza box will go out a couple of days early.

What do you think about wrapping up everything inside with tags that say….do not open until 7 August? Just in case a miracle happens and the post office comes through early? What is anyone else putting in their Sockapalooza packages?

Renovations

They have started to install the tub! Along with the platen for the shower, I can finally see progress. I am thrilled to say the least. But I am back to my worries about the tile. Looks like I will need to pick up a few more trim tiles.

/>

Probably more appealing than what happens in a country where the door to the terrace seems to be left open and the teenage boy is loose with the camera.

The dragon fly is more appealing than the windows. Ick, time to clean.

Wait a minute! The teens are out of school and bored. My chances of pulling this one off is in the small percentages, but definitely worth a shot.

Heart-a-paloozas

Between volunteers from the Aran list and a few of you, I am set for test knitters. As I am putting the pattern together, I am looking over formats, directions – trying to clarify what I do and don’t like about other sock patterns.  How much explanation do you like? How do you prefer to have patterns presented? Do you like knowing about the background and development of the pattern? Or do you just skip that part?

Inquiring mind here would like to get it right!

Opinions and ideas more than welcome.

-Holly

The bathtub has arrived. Never mind that it is sitting on the terrace under a cover – we have a tub. It is white. The blue that you see is a shipping bumper. All the rest of the cables and pipes? Heating system and swirlies! After giving up my whirlpool tub in 1993 when we left DC, I decided it was worth investing in comfort.  Renovating a bathroom is never cheap-so why not do it right.

Two of the three lighting fixtures were purchased and brought home yesterday, leaving one on order due in ~2-3 weeks. The shower base has arrived as well. All that is fine and dandy, but what is really important to me is the tile. Getting it right, that is. Plain, non-shiny wall tiles with a simple border.

Or, as it turns out, not so simple. How was I to know that the guys could not see the difference between vertical and horizontal trim tiles, picking up only the horizontal?

That particular problem was solved by the DH, making an emergency run to the tile place. After that, the tile-layers asked me how I wanted to handle the trim. Gee, this could have been easier from the beginning.

Isn’t it neat? The room is starting to look like a bathroom again! Once the tile is complete, the lighting will go in followed by the tub across the far end under the window. Sinks and toilets come next, and the shower last. The order partly has something to do with the order in which things arrived. But really, it is matter of getting the tub to the far end with nothing else in the way.

Kauni

I have only managed another 20 rows today on the first sleeve. Not even worth taking a photo.

I will see what I can do about being clearer about facings, picking up stitches and binding off. This includes taking pictures during the day and lots of them on the second sleeve, the neck and the front. Who knows – writing it up the third time might just be the charm.

Books

I just finished listing a number of books on BookCrossing. Some of them will be bound for Iraq on Tues when I get to the post office. I am contemplating leaving the rest at the USO at Fraport.

Meanwhile – I finished the Sue Henry – ok but nothing spectacular, the Carolyn Hart being better. It is on to the most recent Monica Ferris tonight, since that one is due tomorrow.

-Holly

Ok, this is not exactly the day after I posted Part I. More like the next week. I really wanted to get the paloozas completed and I am unwilling to drag the Kauni on the train.

Kauni

You remember where we were? Picking up the stitches from the separately knit facing. Then knitting around in pattern.

Before you get carried away with the pattern, and the wonderful feeling of going around and around much faster than on the body, look at the width of your steek and compare it to the 8 rows of your facing. If it is narrower, you are fine. If it is wider, I would really recommend running another row of stitching and trim it back. You also want to be doing the bind off on a solid colour row. Not that you could not manage both the binding together plus the colour work, but why make your life harder?

Undo your provisional cast on, and place the live facing stitches onto a cable needle. Count how many you have on both the facing and the sleeve. The numbers are unlikely to be the same, since you have already decreased once or twice on the sleeve. This means you are going to have to decrease the facing stitches to make it come out even and lie flat. If there are only four more on the facing, I would recommend placing them in the underarm area, with the decreases in the same location as you did on the sleeve. For any number above four, the best is to spread the extras evenly around the sleeve.

The extra “stuff” you see is the backing paper I used to stabilize the end when I stitched it. The sleeve from the outside looks like this – facing on the inside, the steeked edge between and pattern to the outside.

Now comes the tedious but important part. You have counted the stitches. Starting in the center of the underarm, make the sandwich of steek edge between the facing and the sleeve

and knit the two layers together by taking the first stitch from the sleeve, and knitting it together with the first stitch on the facing. Repeat with the second stitch off of each needle, etc. I use an extra needle, but you could use the sleeve needle.

Progressing around the sleeve. I found it easier to move the stitch from the front needle to the back, then knit the two stitches together. For the decrease stitches, I just knit the three stitches together as one.

When this row is complete, the inside now looks like this – no sign of the steek edge at all, and stockinette facing showing on the inside.

Now – just continue on down the sleeve, per the pattern (in the English version there is an error – that second set of numbers is sleeve length with the third set of numbers being the final number of stitches).

And happily knit away.

Sockapalooza4

Done. Finished. Grafted the toes, wove in ends, and trimmed off any extra yarn dangles. Without further ado – Front and Back of Heart-a-Palooza. Purposely, there is a definite Right and Left.

My Pal’s feet are shorter than mine, and a bit wider, so they don’t fit me properly. (Which is good – grin). But I like the look and the feel. I did Balbriggan Heels and made up a toe. They are squishy, comfortable, and not too shabby.

Specifics – 72 stitches on 2,00 mm needles using Supersock in Cherry from Cherry Hill Tree Yarns. This is a 100% superwash merino with a lovely hand and great twist. The fronts are patterned, as is the heel. The backs and soles are done in ribbing to adapt to a wide variety of leg and foot shapes.

Before I publish this pattern, I need a few somewhat experienced sock knitters who would be wiling to test drive it. Required abilities – willingness to knit top down on 3/4 needles or two circs, with 4/5 needles for gusset or two circs, grafting in stockinette and ribbing, and chart reading for cable designs (these are all 1/1, 2/1 or 2/2 cables). This pattern is really only suitable for solid or semi-solid yarn with a high twist. Please leave me a comment if you might want to play.

Arches

Last week a Minaret of St Petersburg – this week, Talin – old town – in Estonia.

Books

Set Sail for Murder by Carolyn Hart. Finished today, nice quick read with enough twists to keep you guessing. And I highly recommend Spanish Dagger by Susan Witting Albert. The most recent in the China Bayles Murder Mysteries, there is depth to characters and a sense of care to plot details that are missing in all too many series that last a while. Perhaps it is her attention to research details that help?

The 18 year old, while baking Challah for shul tonight made an extra – a mini – for her younger sister. All of 15 cm long, it was pretty cute. I got lucky to get a picture since it was devoured about 10 seconds later.

!שבת שלום

-Holly

I was up early, the DH fast asleep. So much so that it was not feasible to wake him for a ride to the train station. Heading down the hill, I managed to catch the 23, then transfered to the 24. Getting off at my normal stop, I finally found the board with the S-Bahn times posted. The 6:05 S-1 from Osterbürken to Homburg does not stop “at all the stations.” You know what is coming, don’t you? I was standing there at a station where it doesn’t stop. Without enough time to catch the next 24 to the main station, I waited for the 6:18. That particular train turns out to be an S2, not an S1. It only goes as far as Kaiserslautern. Once there – it was 30 minutes before any of the departing trains were stopping at Landstuhl.

My plan of getting to work before 0800 was now long sunk, with a hike up the hill still facing me at the end of the connection. Barely making it to the office in time to change for 0900 mandatory training back down the smaller freaking hill at the hospital. And all of this without a cup of coffee.

The way home? Well, the train was delayed in Kaiserslautern, and again in Neustadt when the second train which joins this one was late. A man got on in Ludwigshafen, paint spattered clothing and nicked up hands heading home from a long days work. Dropping his pack with a clink and clunk, he sat next to me with a beer in his hand. Totally fascinated by my knitting, it was running questions till I exited at Heidelberg. What was I making? How did it work? Why was the one section on top with the other section sunk below?

He had learned crochet at school, all those many decades ago. A wash cloth as a matter of fact was his project. One that his mother, now in her 80s still has. Mothers are like that, we keep those gifts our children make. And bright colors? All of his were dark and plain. I left him in thought, contemplating Vampire Red socks in Chicken Wire Fencing while drinking his third beer.

Socks

Chicken Wire or Fencing Socks, yes. First sock done, heel turned and grafted (once I got home). I went ahead and started the second sock on the trip since grafting and S-Bahn riding are not a good combination. The first picture, taken outside is closer to the real reds of the yarn than are the other two, taken under artificial light.

Kauni

The four rows have been frogged and I am joining the facing to the sleeve. Tomorrow I will post the step-by-step.

Sockapalooza

With hands too sticky to maintain a proper tension, I will finish up the toe decreases tomorrow. Then it is only washing to go.

Books

On this morning’s train I finished up Fresh Disasters, the latest Stone Barrington by Stuart Woods. Plot and subplots were not all that exciting. Your typical hard-boiled PI, all the female characters existed only in flat roles as victims or sex partners for the main character (or both in one case). The dialog was not even up to snuff. Recommend that you give this one a pass.

Dropping it off at the library – Set Sail for Murder by Carolyn Hart and The Refuge by Sue Henry climbed in my back pack. I have started Hell hath no Fury, but it is rough going. I finally figured out that I need to go back and read Hell’s Gate first so that I can understand the multiverse before trying out a sequel, much less figure out the relationships between characters.

-Holly

The renovations are continuing with tiles going up on the wall. They are a light gray, 60cm in size. There is a border, not up yet.

Socks

Florenze is hiding somewhere. I looked every where last night and this morning for the bag which contained the pattern, two balls of yarn and my favorite sock needles. No joy. Scrambling, I found some old bamboos to take along on the train. Too tired this morning, I started the Drops Alpaca cable socks on the way home this evening – AKA Chicken Wire. Sorry, it looks like fencing to me!

The yarn is from The SweetSheep – colour Vampire from Michelle’s Spectrum Club. I adore the colour, the yarn splits rather easily. I did some pattern alterations. Since I am not knitting knee high socks, I took out some of the purls to reduce the sock to 64 stitches. That and altered the back cable. I like things balanced. The pattern as written has another of the six stitch cables. The choice was to make left and right socks (running the cable in different directions) or change to an 8 stitch cable so that it is symmetrical. Balance won out.

Drops has a lot of patterns available for free – somewhere around 1900 in English, 13oo in German and a whopping 3200 in Norwegian. Depending on your level of bravery, you can really go for it. Which patterns you see depends on which language you select from the front page. There are a number of wonderful cable and lace patterns as well as felted projects which I found only in the Scandinavian Language section, not to mention 8 pages worth of Norsk designs. Seems to me that Kauni yarn would be wonderful in a couple of these patterns.

Books

Picked up from the library today when I returned two books and a Diane Mott Davidson on cassette: Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods, Hell hath no Fury by David Weber and Linda Evans, and Tumbling Blocks by Earlene Fowler.

Which leaves me my new toy – all set to help hold things together. Given to me by the eldest this evening.

-Holly

There are days where progress is measured in millimeters. Other times where there are large patches to prove that things are changing.

Such as in the bathroom, with the return on the mason and tile man today. The back wall has been filled in, cement on the floor to level some areas. More dirt and dust tracked in, but I have given up worry about white dust for the present.

Sockapalooza4

Clear progress. The first sock is done except for a couple of threads, and the second is down to the toe.

A little bit of finishing and we will be all set. Because of going on leave at the beginning of August, plus the mailing lag to the states, I am mailing early. With the contents wrapped up and labeled – don’t open till……

Kauni

Five rows frogged and the inside facing is ready to be bound off with the sleeve. I will write it up tomorrow, along with a decent set of pictures. It is just too late tonight, and I am not getting decent lighting.

Now, If I can just identify the berries hanging out on this bush.

-Holly

You would think that the house would be quiet, being only the dog and myself. There are no radios, TVs or computers blaring. No thumping and bumbling around from teenagers. The faucets are all turned carefully off. CD 3 and last of Homeport has just finished.

The Siebenschläfer are running races in the one wall, across a section of the ceiling and down, somehow, inside the back of the living room built-ins. We had almost two years free of these monsters, but they are back. Partying hardy, the racket from their running feet is unbelievable. It is more than enough to set of the poor dog who is trying to track their location, and perhaps bark them to death.

Hasn’t worked so far, but we both are hopeful.

Her actual chance is success falls right around the same level as believing weather reports when they tell you “partly cloudy.” That trust can wind up you with a couple/three km hike in this liquid partly cloudy that chills you to the skin while soaking through your sandals and nice handknit socks.

Sockapalooza4

Five Rows of pattern on the one sock, three on the other – then it is on to toes.

Kauni

We are not looking at Kauni today. Nor thinking about Kauni. It has something to do with being exhausted and on autopilot when I first arrived home. I sat down and knit 10 rows. That just happens to be four (4) rows beyond where I needed to bind in the sleeve facing.

Tomorrow, I can face frogging those rows back in the morning before work.

Books

Dropping off three audio books and four hardbacks at the library today, somehow three books came home with me:
Turquoise Girl by Aimée & David Thurlo – the most recent Ella Clah
Spanish Dagger by Susan Wittig Albert – featuring China Bayles
& The Alton Gift which is a Marion Zimmer Bradley/Deborah J Ross collaboration set in Darkover.

I also picked up three Joan Aikens (the Felix series) and the Harry Potter from the Bookmart on Sunday, but none of the teens have had time to start any of them.

Koala arrived from Australia. Carefully packed against breakage. A gift from friends, all the nicer for being unexpected.

-Holly

It never, ever would have occurred to me. I had to go and look at the pictures again. Where I see soldiers in ACUs, several of you see bare feet. No, not even remotely a possibility. And the colour is just wrong for barefeet, especially given the racial diversity of the US Military.

This is what they are wearing -

Mine are old – dating from 2003 and showing a bit of wear. Since they are suede side out – no polish is required. After years of [not] polishing my black boots, you can not imagine how I feel about the improvement.

The mouse traps were empty this morning. The 18 year old managed to take out some trash, but had five hours of child care commitments. Says a lot when toddler diapers are more attractive than room cleaning to music of your choice.

Sockapalooza4

Progress! – gussets are done, and the pattern is progressing nicely down the foot. After doing a few rows on one sock, then the other, I am back to knitting in the same row on each sock. I just don’t want them to be too different. I am actually close to 10 cm down the foot, so it should only be a day or so till I am done!

Kauni

No knitting progress todate – but I started a Kauni group on Ravelry. Perhaps a chance to get some ideas about what comes after the cardigan.

Elena

Who got left behind, not able to come to the block party – much less bark at the puppet theater.

-Holly

Rodents, are vermin. Especially when they decide to come in the windows and make nests in my teenagers’ rooms. In spite of numerous discussions, there is a wealth of special treats in those rooms. Hands carry bowls, cups, plates and nourishment downstairs. However, we have neither Brownies or a magic cleaning fairy. Instead, if teens are lazy they could turn forgotten dishes into science projects featuring a wide variety of mold.

But where was I? Ah yes, feasts for mice. The small dark turds should have been a dead giveaway, but the site of said rodent had one of the crew screaming a couple of evenings ago and sleeping upstairs on the couch.

As of this evening, we have decontaminated two of the three teen bedrooms with the third on the slate for tomorrow. Having acquired some human trap, they are baited and waiting for prey in two of the three rooms. Our son feels confident his room is now ok and has promised to keep his door shut. The youngest stayed in Stuttgart so that she did not have to greet the dawn tomorrow in order to board an 0800 school trip bus.

This leaves the 18 year old with the futon upstairs in the office. Detritus has been removed, but we hadn’t a chance to check out the cupboards under her bed. She is not a happy camper, but I think will be all right with her loyal pup sleeping next to her.

Kauni

Didn’t spend all that long on this project this evening. The stitches are all picked up and I am part way through the first block row. After a mild bit of tinking under the arm when my mind woke up enough to remember that this is sleeve with pattern – not a steek area. And yes, it then does matter what it looks like! I made sure that it matched the placement of the blocks in the sweater rows. Knitting also went more smoothly today after I picked up a 40 cm 3,5 mm needle. This will completely avoid going to dps, since I will use two circular needles (somewhat like a number of you do for socks).

Sockapalooza4

Ruth and Marit were definitely correct – the heel pattern needed to be knit in hearts. Watching it develop over 38 stitches

To make sure that they matched exactly on length and were mirrored on the cable crosses, I knit both at the same time. Literally knitting the same row on each heel before moving on to the next row. This is not exactly a fast way to knit. I even kept check marks on the graph paper as I completed each row pair.

Especially in those rows that had 14 opportunities to make an error on the cables. I had enough of the pattern charted out to guess at the final appearance.

Which only left figuring out the numbers for the Balbriggan heel, popping on some stitch markers so I would know where to position the decreases and complete the turning.

In order to make sure that the feet match as well, I am going to knit down both at the same time. Given how insane I felt with the single row at a time, I might go for two at a time tomorrow.

-Holly

What a day, complete with early morning migraine, physical torture (ok, therapy), nothing worth while in the mail room and my work email overflowing.

Now that you have heard my whine, I will quit, leaving off the part about the electrical system going flooey in the van this evening. Nothing like discovering you have no headlights. This, of course was recognized after I was on my way to pick up the DH from the Bahnhof at 2230…

Kauni

Facing the sleeves. One at a time, in this case. – Part 1.

First, decide if you care about the direction of your colour changes. If you do, you need to switch and knit from the outside of the ball rather than the center. Or, you can rewind your yarn if you have a lot of energy. Otherwise, if you continue to knit in the same direction as before – your colours on the sleeve will be in upside down order from the body.

Second – facings. I really do not like raw edges. I like them covered up. The easiest way to do this is knit a facing that encloses the cut edge between it and the body. Other option would be to line the sweater, with the steek edges hidden by the lining.

a) Step one – provisionally cast on either the total number of stitches in the sleeve and then knit a number of rounds. If you don’t want to fuss with the underarm (and don’t mind tacking down an edge or two) provisionally cast on the number of sleeve stitches excluding the underarm stitches. In this case you will knit back and forth for the number of rows needed

b) determine the number of rows you need by the width of your steek, your row gauge and the pattern. You will want to close the facing at a time when both colours are the same. This means no rows with two colours.

c) the last row of your facing needs to be the same colour as the main one in your first set of blocks (trust me on this) And which colour in particular is determined by the colour of the stitches on hold.

Have I lost you yet?

Perhaps pictures will help – first a crocheted provisional cast on, followed by nine rows of grey (because my underarm stitches are grey)

Next I picked up the underarm stitches on a spare needle

The facing and underarm stitches knit together (see why I wanted the colours to match?) with the result that there are now 12 stitches total where there were 12 on the facing and 12 under the arm on hold. The most complicated portion of this is making sure that you are holding the facing so that when you are done, the stockinette side faces the inside of the sweater.

Now – to complete the fun – I am picking up the facing stitches with a crochet hook, one at a time, pulling through to the front and putting them on a spare needle. You can see the facing on the inside of the sweater, purl side facing me and the silver circular needle at the bottom of the facing.

Tomorrow, I will show you the entire facing picked up, rows of pattern knit and the facing closed. I would do it tonight, but I am too tired.

Sockapalooza4

Especially Marit – thanks for the suggestions. After playing a while with graph paper I have come up with an interesting way to pattern the heel that staggers the hearts. To differentiate between left and right, I am going to use the direction of the cable crosses. It means a little bit more concentration at this point. But I did have enough sense to put the set up row on the wrong side. All the cabling is now on the “knit” row.

Arches

More than enough fancy work it would seem. Recognize the building?

Shabbat Shalom

-Holly

Heidelberg, the last of the three Army Hospitals here in Germany changed command today. The outgoing commander is a long standing friend. Normally, one of the Army bands provides music. But they are on block leave. A CD over the loud speakers cuts it for somethings, but not the national anthems, not at this level. End result is that I volunteered the oldest teen to sing one or both anthems as needed. One of the other command members took the US anthem, leaving her with the German (no sweat, 12 years in the German system should be good for something). She was a bit startled to find that this was more than just a couple of hundred people, but performed beautifully.

The formation on the field coming to attention

The passing of the flag -

And the rain held off all morning.

Sockapalooza4

Now, the question is sock heels. I can knit them multiple ways, but the actual surface of the heel flap…. it can be stockinette, or hearts across, or a single heart on the side.

I have checked my sockpal’s site, she has done a number of garter short row heels, so I don’t think she would be totally against texture. Another thought would be to use the hearts to mark left and right feet, since I normally make left and right socks, rather than generic. In either case, this does make the heel bulkier than otherwise. Padding might or might not be welcome.

How do you feel about any patterning on your heel flap? What would you want if these were coming to you?

Books

Sharyn McCrumb with Once Around the Track has done for NASCAR what she did for SciFi with Bimbo’s of the Death Sun (1988) and Zombies of the Gene Pool (1992). She portrays the culture and the people. I am sure that many of her subtle and not so subtle pokes and charactures of the players are even funnier to those immersed in stock car racing. From the little I remember of sports car racing in the fifties, she is accurate. Recommend all of the above as good reads. (Note, the current book is clever and good, but not in the same league with the Edgar Poe winning Bimbos).

Not to forget the begging weredog, who knows she is cute.

With business in Stuttgart today, I took the train in a different direction. Even with a hike to the Straß stop, the train, the U5 and the U3. It still took me less time than the trip to Landstuhl. Since the DH was stopping by the kids’ school on his way home from the Bodensee (school ends next week and all three had more than a few items….) to pick up “stuff,” I was able to cage a ride home. The company in the car was lovely.

Construction on the A6 meant that it took almost two hours to drive home. A trip from downtown that takes 40 minutes on the train. Go figure, I can’t. But then they keep the slow trucks off the train tracks.

Socks

The Serpentines are done. I added detail on the heels. one with cables just down the sides of the heel flap, the other with multiple cables. On that second sock I was smart enough to change from cabling every three rows to every four. Just think about doing cables on the purl row and you will understand my reasoning.

Since I had plenty of the pink/purple/yellow Tofutsie left, I added a ball of gray to start Florenz – the July pattern from SKL.

Sockapalooza4

I have both legs completed and am ready to start on the heel flaps. I am trying to decide between a modified common heel, a regular strap heel (with plain or fancy stitch). Since I have several samples that I don’t like, I can play with them before tackling the real yarn.

Books

Exit Strategy by Kelley Armstrong. Not bad, a relatively quick read. But not up to the standard of her Otherworld Women books.

-Holly

In other news, the Chaos Quilters met tonight. There were home made Dampfnudels with vanilla sauce. There were brownies, and wonderful conversations. Plus quilts, can not forget the quilts. A first quilt, a log cabin-in-a-day, gussied up sewing basket and king-size+ complete with prairie point edging.

Kauni

It was time to do the steeks. This section is the back neck steek, but it does not really matter as all are done the same way.

First to put a yarn line along the steek center.

Then to stitch along both sides. Rather than two lines of straight stitching, I have a tendency to use one of the overcast stitches on my Pfaff. If I had been really energetic, I would have pulled out the serger.

Then cut.

In case you are wondering about those flaky bits, I like to use tear-away paper on the back so that the feed-dogs don’t snag the yarn.

Which leads me to the body, with the front, neck and back all cut.

I am now at the decision point about knitting the sleeves, then knitting them in so that I don’t have to haul the whole thing around. Or maybe I should go ahead and finish up the neck and front facings, saving the sleeves for last?

The sun went down with a rose coloured sky.

At 0500 in the morning, it is light. Sitting on the terrace I can enjoy a cup of coffee with minimal traffic in the distance and the annoyance of birds in the hedges.

It is much better than the dark. Our dining room and living room face south. There is glorious sunshine in the afternoon. I see no reason in the summer to have an awning out or rolladen pulled down. Sit inside in a darkened room? Heck, I can do that all winter, why would I want to do that in the summer?

Much better to sit out on the terrace, sweating in the sun.

We have a new window in the bathroom undergoing renovation.

Socks

Progress on the serpentine – this morning was fine, this afternoon, it was just too hot on the train to finish the sock.

Books

Having picked up four books up at the library, I read Back on Blosson Street by Macomber on the train and started Spare Change by Parker prior to getting home. Now that just leaves me Once Around the Track by Sharyn McCrumb and The Edge of Winter by Luanne Rice.

Now, both legs just have a couple of rows left on the Sockapalooza.

-Holly

This morning turned into a massive clean the house drill. After all, the company was not coming until 1400, so why should I have worried about this yesterday? And besides, to light a fire under the teens takes a bit more immediacy than was reality last evening. The eldest came in early to do all the prep. And we had 25 people plus the family from 1400 until 1830. The weather was beautiful, sailing past 35° with sunshine, the coolers were full and the son ran the grill with an expert hand.

Every where I looked, there were groups of people eating and talking.

The twins, six months old now also came for a visit.

The DH had a great time, which is good since this was in celebration of his 59th birthday. A few days late, but holding something in the middle of the week really does not work all that well. By the time everyone left,the house was cleaned up, I think I had washed every fork twice, and the trash was out.

Kauni

My knitting had been calling all day. The body of the sweater is now finished and the shoulders are bound off together. I have never figured out why I would want to bind off each shoulder, then sew them together. I like the firmer finish and knowing that the stitches are exactly lined up.

The front, and the back with the steeks still intact.

Now I just need a quiet evening this week when I will not be disturbed for a couple of hours. I am contemplating just doing the sides so that I can knit the arms, then going back and doing the front and back at the same time as I complete the facings.

Sockapalooza4

My sample pair, which I am keeping for me (grin) came out great. I am on to the pair for my pal. I really love this color – Cherry – from Cherry Tree Hill. It is a great merino with a high twist. I am knitting both socks at the same time so that the legs will match. Almost, that is, since I have varied the back pattern a small amount between left and right sock.

They won’t be train knitting tomorrow since it is back to work. I am going to finish up the Serpentines. After that, well I need to look at my Juli list to see what comes next.

-Holly

There is absolutely no logic to how AAFES puts paperbacks on the shelves. The craft books are normally in the correct section as are the cookbooks. But fiction? Your guess is as good as mine. What that means is that you have to check the romance, fantasy/sci fi and general fiction areas on every trip. There is no telling which author is going to be filed where. Oh, yes – and mysteries. I find the strangest things in the mystery/adventure area. Certainly not the thrillers -they are in general fiction. The only thing that seems to be consistent is that all horror is in the general fiction area.

Urban Fantasy? It varies, depending on the author. Audio books, rarely. Literary works? Not in this lifetime. Marginal on magazines and comics. Even so, it is obviously the best priced local bet for English language books. The library is good for buying hardcover. Unfortunately, much of what I want to read is out only in paperback.

So I really have no clue as to why we wound up cruising the discount places on line. It is not like we don’t have a few thousand books in the house. I have numerous books which I have not yet read, and many to spin on the CD player. But the kids seem to be out of books. The library has a limited section in teens and otherwise it is going to be hours in the attic looking for books.

Knitting

Little has taken place today. I drove my van for a few short errands. My original opinion was correct, I should not be driving yet. I have only six rows to go on the Kauni before doing the steeks, but I am wiped from pain pills (driving was really not fun). Tinking a part row three times, it finally sunk in that knitting anything which I cared about was stupid.

I didn’t even try the sockapalooza.

I have closed out my shopping carts before I can do myself too much damage and will wander off.

Tomorrow I will have my camera back. Eldest and her partner took it to a VW Meet.

-Holly

Kauni

More progress. I am past the front neck decreases and have done the steek for the back + four more rows. Should be doing steeks and shoulder bind offs tomorrow, then on to sleeves on Sunday, unless I get too distracted by socks and all the things that need to be done around the house. I have pretty much decided that I am going to do the sleeves from the top down with a provisional cast on so that I can make a facing to sew down over the top of the steek. If anyone has not done this, or wants a play-by-play please let me know. I can take pictures as I go and post them in a summary.

Arches

Leaving the street behind, a garden waits along the path to a neighbor’s home.

The day is now dark, the house quiet. Only waiting for the DH to call from the Bahnhof. His London flight was late enough getting in that he was 4 minutes too late to catch the planned train. This time, of course, the Bahn was on time rather than experiencing delays. Now, they are deliberately changing the times because of the strike and he will not be in until after midnight. Figures.

! שבת שלום
-Holly

You really don’t need to see many more of these pictures.

Where yet another Army Health Clinic (Budigen) has its colours retired with a reception afterwards. This feels like 1993/4 all over again. Only this time it is not because there is a peace dividend.

Instead of mentioning that I have finally finished the first Serpentine and cast on the second – it is my walk home from the Heidelberg Hospital that brought me a bit of cheer.

The architecture is very German, although modern.

And there are these weird flowers every where. All sorts of colours, but I have no clue on the name.

And other flowers on walls and providing cover to old stones and new.

Claiming the few berries not already scavenged by the birds,

and noting that the one of the Engineering firms will have a good harvest this fall from the arbour that covers their parking area

Which left me, right before the final rise of the hill appreciating once again the stained glass panels of our neighbors house, and wonder if I can identify yet another growing thing.

Back to the Kauni and other pictures of yarn and knitting tomorrow.

-Holly

No, don’t panic. I am not starting my sockapalooza again. I am still pleased as I work my way down the second leg.

It is the rain. For the fourth time today the clouds have rolled in and the rain has come down. I should be happy that I am not standing out there or out walking to my PT appointment like yesterday.

Kauni

I am up to the cast off for the neck. I need to look at it some more, because it does not look right. I think I may just knit another row of squares. I am more than willing to have the sweater a bit too long, but not the front part too short. Or, I need to go and measure some sweaters as there is 12 cm difference in length between starting the under arm and casting off for the neck. I am actually two rows beyond that. It should be ok (hopefully).

Socks

Worked on the Serpentine for a short time today, only managing to get the gussets completed. I like the pattern, quick and fun. Cables every third row are a real pain, let me tell you when you decide to carry them down the heel flap.

And then there is my cute new sock pamphlet. I am calling it what to do with all of my left over yarn!

If you already do sort of entrelac, it is fun for the ideas. If you don’t, it is not something you want if you don’t read German. It was my small present to me from www.amazon.de. The rest of the package were books and CDs for my husband’s birthday. Without the kids home, he is having an extremely quiet birthday, most of it consumed with business. You can’t ignore 59 years however. He gets his party on Sunday.

Sockapalooza4

Red, I really like red. And Cherry Tree Hill yarn. It has such a lovely twist. I went ahead and started the cuff on the second sock before proceeding down the heel. This way, since the pattern was sort of – do as you go – the legs are more likely to match.

Audio Books

Rochelle Krich – Blues in the Night. which I got on sale from one of the Audio Book Peddlers.

-Holly

Any way I take it, this was a challenging day.

Military

First, the Vets (docs for four legged people, winged critters and others) had a colours retirement ceremony, an uncasing of a new unit ceremony and a change of command. All buried in the same event.

100th Vets was decominsioned, and the unit colours retired. Similar to what we do on deployments with casing and uncasing colours at TOAS (Transfer of Authority), the guidon of the 100th Vets was wrapped, cased and carried off the field. The flag for the new Vet Command was then uncased. Following that, the current commander then left command after the passing of the flag. Since I am not too much of a cynic, I am not going too far down the line of thinking that it would have been much better for the outgoing commander to have cased his colours and the incoming commander to have uncased the new colours.

Admittedly, there would have been no passing of the guidon. But hey, it should be enough that you are the final commander for the unit. And let someone else have the honor of being the first for the new. Taking over for five minutes, well…..

Sockapoolza4

Around 1800, I looked at the sock I was completing. Next to it was the other variations. It is not fine. I just don’t like it. And if I don’t like it, it makes no sense to send it off to my pal. I looked at the other variations. The one that I like the best from technique and pattern is just too dense. Another has the right hand, but the areas of purl are just too large to really look nice.

I am just putting them away for now, not frogging in case I have a bright idea on what to do with them. But none are exactly what I wanted.

It case you hadn’t guess, this is a bit frustrating. Normally a pair of socks takes me maximum of a week even with other things getting in the way.

This has been going on for months.

Digging around in my notebook, I located a chart from last year. It was an idea I had for a sweater inset. 30 Stitches wide, more or less. Hummm. I have this nice skein of Red Cherry Tree Hill yarn and my 2,00 mm needles. With a bit of free modifications as I went, the first leg was complete about four hours later.

And I really like it. Fun knit, looks interesting and will fit a significant variety of legs. This is also important for those of us who get the occasional swollen ankle. I even know what I am going to do on the heel tomorrow and the instep the day after.

Superstition says that I am not even taking pictures till the second sock is done.

Which is why, probably that Firefox crashed with my first version of this post completed and the auto save of Word Press just didn’t work.

-Holly

It was early, really early, this morning. I can blame that, can I not? For heading off to work the day of our Change of Command with my backpack, camera and sock. The Serpentine Sock from Sockmania as a matter of fact. This is the S-Bahn trip that takes 1 hour 40. Or provides 95 minutes of knitting time, which ever you prefer.

Me, I wanted to knit. At 0605 there are not all that many people on board and finding a comfortable forward facing seat by myself was not an issue. Settling in, I pulled out the sock (first of the pair, mind you) and unwrapped the needles. There were only four needles. The rest of them are with Sockapalooza. Ok, go around the circle on three with the fourth in work. Right?

Wrong, this is a cable pattern. Simple 2 x 2 cables but still. This is freaking early morning, I had not crashed until shortly before 0200 and this is Tofutsie. It is skinny, it is slippery and it does not want to hold still to do cables. There is not a cable needle. There is no extra needle. Nada, gar nichts, nothing.

Going through my bag for alternatives, I am completely out of luck. Not only is this bag freshly cleaned out of paperclips (straighten them out and they work just fine), yarn needles (duh), and even stapled papers, there is not even a pen! Now a pen can be take apart and carefully used. Not so carefully if you don’t mind having ink stained fingers or yarn, but it works.

The bow on my glasses was too big and my fingernails are too short to hold lose stitches. Canceling the pattern was not an option, after all that was the point of joining the group. Hummph.

I ate my raisin roll and read. All the way to Landstuhl.

Change of Command

It is a military tradition, the formal passing of the colours represented by the unit guidon, when the commander of the unit changes. In the Army, commands are normally two years.

The weather this morning was not particularly friendly, cold and blustery without enough rain to drive the ceremony indoors. As a winged warrior, I was not in formation. It is really hard to look uniform, much less salute when you have your right arm in a sling.

On the field – the 76th Band, the Color Guard from LRMC, and our formation. More strangers on the field than there are military in our unit. We are a rather civilian heavy organization.

The Guidon is passed from the outgoing commander to the reviewing officer who hands it off to the new commander before it is returned to teh SGM.

Even having the narrator provide on going translation, the whole ceremony was not terribly long, ending with the usual (and this time actual) brief speeches. As it turned out, most of the words seemed to be saved for the CGs Town Hall and the Commander’s Call

Kauni Cardigan

Another square, a few more rows, I am working my way up the body with the side steeks started.

Socks

Ah yes, the trip home. On the train, armed with my trusty bent paper clip, I completed a few more rounds on the legs before heading down the heel flap. And then I was back to where I started out this morning. I had only four needles. I don’t like doing gussets on four needles, I want five – one for the heel flap, one for the instep and one on each side for the gusset with the last one in work. Complete with a stitch marker to tell me when I have decreased enough as I don’t like spending my life counting stitches. I picked up stitches for the one gusset, then was stuck. Back to my book. I can figure out a substitute for a cable needle, but a replacement for a 2,5 mm needles is not going to happen between Neustadt and Ludwigshafen.

Exhausted by her day at home, greeting me at the door and other wise racing around – Elena has crashed.

-Holly

Is not just a song by the Rolling Stones. It is the fervored wish of my teenage son. The object in question is the door to his room. We have compromised – he can do whatever he wants to the inside of the door, as long as he takes said door outside to accomplish this task. And carefully tapes and preps the door frame and covers the floor before a drop of paint comes into his room for the trim. The renovations are finished.

Not an hour after arriving home, he had moved in a desk, borrowed the second bed from the youngest’s room. He has bookshelves and his Mac is wireless. Happy camper that boy to be out of the family room and into his own room where he can shut the door and keep his disorganization out of parental view.

Now if I can get him to clean up the family room, bit of a mess wouldn’t you expect after the last few weeks?

Tour de Fleece

The first stage of the Tour de France is complete. In Canterbury, McEwan the Australian beat out Norway’s Hushovd, with Belgian Boonen coming in third. In honor of one of the main Australian industries, I decided that merino was in order. That singles from yesterday fit the bill. For further information – the home page of Le Tour is here.

Socks

After contemplating both Kauni and the Sockapalooza for, oh, about 10 seconds, I came to my senses and went to find a train knitting project. Socks work. Anni has designed a lovely and quick knit in her Serpentine socks (July Sockmania). Deciding to try Tofutsie again, No clue on the colourway name, but it is a cheerful pink, yellow, bright pink with purple combination. The youngest likes these colours, and she doesn’t like much more than anklets. With three trips to make this week, I should be able to finish them just with the train rides.

Kauni

With nine rows of squares, the underarm is long enough to make me happy and I am ready to embark on the next set of squares as well as the armhole steeks. I thought about decreasing the number of stitches on the steeks. More than 1 or 2 on each side and it might disrupt the flow of the colours. Because of the pattern, the height is a constant. Proportionally, taking out 12 on each side and putting in 9 or 11 rather than 13 should not affect it that much. The odd number of stitches makes sense – the line on which to cut.

Audio Books

After listening to Northern Lights – Nora Roberts and Bet Me – Jennifer Cruise, I am headed to Monkeywrench – PJ Tracey. The retriever doesn’t care. She just likes to be around people, preferring the sunshine (several hours) to the showers (only when the laundry was hung out to dry).

The Live Earth Concert is rolling around the world. N24 seems to be the only station here carrying the concerts. Similar to the Olympics, you only get the feed they chose. Which meant London and now New York. Probably why we have Hamburg and South Africa running on two laptops. The only two in the house that happen to still have IE installed. Firefox is our browser of choice. The cause is important, the mix of groups quite interesting. Rio, and Johannesburg having the greatest variety. Shanghai – a couple of the most impressive solo vocalists I have heard in years.

Spinning

Personally – Tour de France is better than most of the musical performances. Since today had a timed heat, it counts for spinning. Meanwhile, I pulled out the wool for my Shawl Collared Aran and did some spinning.

Kauni

Progress, wonderful progress. Determined to knit at least 10 rows a day, I would rather 20. I am finishing up the 8th row of squares. 10 seems to be about right for the underarms. I am not planning on binding off under the arms, but keeping the stitches live and incorporating them into the sleeves. I am really pleased with the colours, not that I really need more red and gray…

Socks

A few more rounds on the Sockapalooza and the start of the Serpentine (Sockmania for July).

Pictures tomorrow, I am tired and need to rest my shoulder.

-Holly

It is such a pretty pattern, twisted stitches floating on the purl background knit of a lovely apple blossom pink for cheer. The combination of side stitches and Tulpen (tulips) formed an intricate and challenging pattern for my Sockapalooza. Even the gauge swatch of each element was clean and it all calculated out to be just what she would want.

But in reality, twisted stitch patterns, at least the historical Austrian ones do not have a whole lot of give. That was the point. Surface texturing with an ability to keep you warm. Even the children’s socks had what I might view as an obscene number of stitches.

72 stitches in the round only came out to 17cm. That, my friends is not going to fit an adult; most of us have legs that are more than 7″ around for those who like inches. And certainly not my sockpal. The cuff was fine, cuffs stretch. All of this left me two choices – go up a needle size and have a less dense sock, or keep the needle size and go down a size on the yarn, and have a less dense sock.

Taking door number three – I redrafted the pattern, choosing slightly wider versions of the side elements, swapped out one of the tulips for something less dense and inserted an additional 10 purl stitches scattered between the pattern elements for more give. This makes for a lot of stitches, trust me. This works out to about 11/” for those who are counting.

But I think it will work. Certainly, I can now get it over my heel. And I like the pattern panels at least as well as the original. I might yet do that one, but at a lower gauge.

The comparison view – indoors -

with close up views of the front panel

and of the back and side elements

I am pleased now, and the preparatory work of xerox, cut and paste to have all the components lined up has paid off. The number of rows in a repeat varies from 4 -> 25. With one repeat of the longest element completed it looks like about two will be needed for the leg.
Then on to decisions about the heel and whether or not I stay in the traditional mode.

Arches

Going back century upon century, hand built with stone, steps worn over time down the center by the tread of feet. Mid day, the back passageways are empty but for feral cats.

שבת שלום
-Holly

My lovely needle snapped in the middle of a round. Clean through, it gleamed ruby red with the light gleaming through. It was a size five and the needle sliding through the stitches on my Kauni.

It had been such a lovely morning, with Kristin and Ebony coming over for a Knit together. I got to see their great knitting and relax with coffee and muffins.

And then it happened, not 20 minutes after they left. Snap! Did I mention that it was a size 5 US? I normally do not use US sizes, but this one seemed just perfect, the stitches sliding along the glass and the colour so lovely. Tins I have of needles, metric and US, but circulars? Those it seems I have only in metric. Looking for the 3,5mm – I could only find 60 cm or less.

It was time for a break outside.

In the middle of my pink flowers, I have one branch of purple. And the bush full of white on the other side of the terrace.

Kauni

Taking a deep breath, I checked every single last flipping needle of the 3,5 and 4,0 variety. I even took out the set of Denises and checked them. Nope, the 5s barely cleared the 4,0 on my needles gauge. In the last place I looked (well, duh!) there was one last hard wood needle. It seemed to be too big for a 3,5 and a bit too little for the 4,0. I am calling it a US size five even though it clearly says something else. It is my needle and I need it to be the right size to not mess up my gauge. It is 3,75 I insist.

After that, I knit another 10 rows, quite pleased with the feel of the ebony needle. The point is not as nice, but the join is better. And it looks even better when I don’t have it bunched up. Elegant even!

-Holly

It has rained off and on all day. On many of the US bases, there are BBQ’s and celebrations in spite of the weather. Tonight there will be fireworks. It is good to celebrate Independence Day of one’s country.

This is a difficult time for many of us ex-pats. How do I explain or apologize for the mess my government has made in other countries? A disaster that is costing, in lives and injuries, more and more each week of both service members and the civilian population. My country broke away, and fought a war, in order to become free of what another country thought was the right way to govern/rule. We have strayed rather far these last five years from what I think the countries founders really intended.

The answers that were so clear in 1998 became less easy in 2003 & 2004, but probably possible. And now? Mired in a conflict that is obviously a civil war, [we] seem not willing to acknowledge our role in igniting starting it, nor our role seeding the elements that have caused disagreement to flame out of control.

Sometimes, an effort to make the world a better place can back-fire. It takes courage to admit it and call a halt. We did that in the early 70s. Do we have the political resolve to do so now, before it costs 58,000 souls?

[off soap box]

Kauni Cardigen

Casting on, the ribbing is done and I am into the first pattern repeat. A note that I need to post over on the Kauni KAL is that the non-rainbow colourways have fewer and longer repeats of the colours. I really like the contrast of the dark reds with the greys. It will not be bright, but it will be elegant.

Sockapalooza4

I was just about to start down the heel, when a brilliant thought hit me. Why don’t I just slide all those stitches onto a circular needle and try it on. My foot and ankle are probably smaller, but it might give me an idea of how it was going to look and feel.

Well, guess what? It is too small. Too small to get over my heel means that it is going to be too small for my pal. Twisted stitch patterns have little give.

Lovely little measuring stick in my hand – the gauge is 9/”. I obviously need to do some redrafting. The pattern is too dense to have very much give. It needs either few more stitches placed carefully between the pattern elements or knit at a larger gauge. . To make sure that it is all clear and avoid errors, I want to have a printed copy. On to cut, paste and curse the printer that no longer wants to feed oftener than every third sheet.

Finally complete, I just took another look at the pattern. I taped down all of the elements, aligning the wrong ends of the patterns. A good night’s sleep is in order. Tomorrow is soon enough to cut, tape and replace everything.

-Holly

I never used to make a list, just started on whatever felt right. Then bumped things on the needles for something more fun or interesting. As a result, I had a lot of orphan socks and UFOs.

Since spending more time being organized has resulted in completed and useful things, and belonging to a number of KALs – I now have a list every month

1. Kauni Cardigan. This is my number one project. I have the yarn as of 2 July.
2. Sockapalooza4 – finish up so that I can mail them off prior to leaving for China
3. Firebird – June BMFA SOM. I love the colorway and the pattern is the most interesting yet for me.
4. Sockmania – Serpentine July Sock
5. Drops sock – March Madness for July
6. SKL – Florenz – Juli Muster
7. Chameleon SOM – July Pattern
8. (doesn’t really count since doing any of the socks means I have met the goal in the Sock-a-Month KAL)

Socks

The Chain Links are done. 60 stitches on 2,5 mm needles. Yarn is Monarch from Angora Valley.

Kauni Cardigan

The yarn is wound. Now on to gauge swatches. Since it is light grey on the one, and burgundy on the other, that is where I am starting.

Tomorrow is the 4th of July.
-Holly

While chasing the dog, I found other creatures on our steps and in the garden. Too much time with the Entomologists perhaps? I think they are all cute.

Socks

My regular webpage of socks for 2007 has been updated. Through the end of June it turned out to be a few more than I thought (34 thus far for the year).

Past the gusset and now on the foot of the second Chain Link. This one is going slower than the last. I have been concentrating on updating websites, reading a few books and giving my shoulder a rest.

Kauni Cardigan

I had been eyeing this yarn and pattern for a while. When the KAL was formed, I decided that it was time to knit this particular sweater. However, the rainbow look just did not appeal to me. I wanted something that did not have yellow, orange or green. After looking in the closet, I decided to go with colours that would go with the vast majority of my clothes. That mean grays/reds or something that looked like denim. The yarn has extremely long colour repeats making it seem like much more complicated stranded knitting than it really is. Tomorrow I wind up the wool, and away I go.

Socks

The package came the other day, and I finally have a photo. The colors are bright and cheerful and the pattern is appealing. . It might be the next sock up, or not. The Serpentine by Anni (Sockmania) is really cool. The Florenz for the SKL I don’t find anywhere near as interesting. But it is an ankle sock and one of the girls will like it. I haven’t picked yarns for any of those yet.

Heidelberger Stricktreff – Heidelberg Knit Get Together

Wenn: Donnerstag 5 Juli, herum 0930, When: Thursday, July 5 ~0930
wo: Mein Haus Where: my house
warum: Warum nicht? Stricker benötigen nicht Entschuldigungen oder Gründe!
Why? Why not? Knitters don’t need reasons or excuses!
Wer: Jedermann, dem zu wünscht. Who: Anyone that wants.
Anmerkung oder email für weiteres Info. Comment or email for direction or more info.

-Holly

I have been playing with different Word Press gallery plug-ins. I finally got WPPA to work. To put up one album, which I did with all of the Friday Arches photos was not that hard through the thumbnails – I still have some tweeking to do. I might just be running a bit slow today, for I can upload for more albums, but to get them to appear with the right thumbnails – Ah, that is something else.

My alternative was to attempt the template that came with this theme. Only problem is that the theme itself has been withdrawn (as of last August) because of a copyright discussion. Leaving me without support and the question of whether I really should continue to use it or not. Problem is that I have not found another one that I like as well, much less that works with the family home pages.

This was a day of little knitting, (1/2 a sock only), some napping, doing exercises, and spending time with the family.

We all need days like that. Especially since it is time to sail back to the salt mines in the morning.

-Holly