My friend Anita came to the rescue. Not only did she volunteer use of her washer/dryer do-all combination thing but she fed me a lovely veggie bake as well. Arriving home late in the evening, I hung damp clothes all over the house as I had run out of the ability to stay long enough to see two loads dried.

This morning, it was off to the airport early in order to bail out my replacement and then spend the rest of the day trying to brief him and sort out what we are doing which day.

And avoid those last two bits of paperwork that I absolutely must complete prior to departing here. Or is it three? Four?

Clueless here, driving on the 16th and can’t find where I tucked the ball of grey yarn that I need to finish a vest (waistcoat). Argh!

Heading into port

lighthouses

tiny islands

and houses clinging to the hill sides

The first landfall on this cruise, tours offered varied from walking tours around the town to bus trips out to steam railways. Now, I would be up for a steam railway, but not at the expense of a good hike around town.

I will walk you through the day. Please be patient, there are a lot of photos…:

there is a new shopping and restaurant area on the wharf

some lovely old architecture in the town

while those who do not walk can travel by "train"

in case you are not familiar with Norwegian History - Kristian IV

interesting building details

and lovely trims

A most fabulous yarn store, Karmin has all the Scandinavian yarns. From Drops to Dale, Gjestal through Sandnes and PT, you name it, they have it. And, in every color available. Three large rooms with floor to ceiling displays of yarn choices.

Karmin

looking toward the front

yarn room three

The Tall Ship Races are coming here at the end of July

a local competitor

On the way back to the ship I passed the customs house

located obviously on the waterfront

before walking over a small bridge

boats are integral to life here

and arriving back at the ship

the Artemis

Sunset was late – almost 2230.

1 June 2010

while sailing toward Oslo

Knitting

Amazing, you made it down to the bottom of the page! The pattern is Hanne Falkenberg’s Blues. Knit in an alternate yarn combination (the grey is KnitPicks Palette as is the Raspberry Heather. The Multicolor is alpaca sox from the same source and the green is Gjestal Spire picked up today at Karmin.)

Knit in two pieces prior to joining at center back, I have the first front completed -

left front

and the second started.

While I am at it – this is the front on Donna -

as of the 29th

with a navy blue Harrisville Shetland substituted for the cream.

Now we all have gotten whacked up side the head at various points in our knitting when the garment/sock/whatever looked like it would fit a hamster when the entended receipient was close to 2 meters tall. Even worse, there has been the occasional sock which looked like it was designed for someone whose feet match those of the clowns getting out of that mini vecicle under the big top.

Yes, that Fiat or MiniCooper that looked like a toy car to jaded American eyeballs but I digress.

I know better than to tackle something like this Swing Jacket without a gauge swatch. I knit one, it was spot on. I even rechecked the measurements several times while knitting the body and was really pleased with myself.

Yesterday I started the sleeve – I even showed you this picture.

status at the end of day

It looks great, if I do say so myself.

This evening when I picked it up and checked it against the picture I noticed it was just a bit narrower than it should be. My gauge was ok and matched those diamonds done with the same needles…

oh, H. Needles. This section was supposed to be knit on 4.0 mm needles, not 3.75mm. Yes, it is perfect for the nice, yellow enameled Inox circular you can see there very clearly.

The thought of all those bits and pieces of yarn which is what you get from frogging miters is enough to make me shudder and go not so quietly insane. The pattern calls for side sections knit on either side of the center panel.

Hummm, do I keep on going for the last few Miters, then add a bit to the side sections if the length is ok or do I frog now and start the sleeves over?

This one calls for a good night’s rest prior to decision making….

sunset

Swing-Swagger

The body looks like

the body

which means that I just had to start

the first sleeve

status at the end of day

it still seems a bit addicting, just one more row, ridge, diamond….

back almost complete

as I finally got back at my mitered jacket. I am thinking that I could get it done before the cruise if I made a bit of effort.
With beautiful weather today, I was even able to spend the late afternoon knitting time out side. Once the sun heads down though, the temperature still doprs

just after sunset

starting on the upper back

Of course, it might have been possible to do a bit more had I not spent most of the morning reading books, the middle portion of the day on a run to Upavon, followed by a bit of computer solitaire.

But still – I am now on square 52/~70, providing I am ignoring the sleeves….

the flowers are blooming

sunshine yellow

and it seemed more than reasonable to sit in the back garden drinking ice tea and knitting

left front complete.

miter + mitrer + more

Progressing apace, I am on the last full row of miters for the skirt area of the jacket. I am now going to have to figure out a right facing half miter.  Once that is done, the whole piece is rotated 180º in order to start the bodice portion. Sleeves are last.

I am even being such a good kid and weaving in ends as I go.

Books

Since you can see that I have made less progress than any one may expect I will confess to reading a few books this weekend:
Cockatiels at Seven and Swan for the Money – Donna Andrews, both books of which are fine if you like comedic mysteries, but some of the characters in this series are getting pretty dull. Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon was probably the best.
The Enchantment Emporium – Tanya Huff. Lovely book, similar to her Keeper series (1998-2003) in attitude, characters and fluid description. Good urban fiction completely without vampires or werewolves. Perhaps you have to be from the northern tier to manage? (Charles de Lint and Emma Bull come to mind. Great writers – Canada and Minnesota. Proof that it is completely possible to write interesting stories without pandering….

It is what leads to stash accumulation, both patterns and yarn.

But sometimes the older and well worn is better.

A hand knit sweater knit from handspun the year the first Lavold book was published. Old, comfortable jeans. And handknit socks knit 15 years ago that still are just the right slouchy fit and color combination for a Saturday spent relaxing.

winning combination

just one more

making up for an unproductive day at work with a quiet evening of miters and music.

blocking

Traveling Shawl

last on the line

which is a whole lot more fun than cleaning. Or stripping and changing beds or doing laundry.

And a bit more on the mitered jacket

seven squares

It was the arrival of that lovely book by Jane Slicer-Smith that pushed me over the edge. After having been a student in the 60s and 70s, I absolutely loathe granny-square type patterns. Kind of the following refrain – if you were old enough to wear it in the 70s you should know better than to wear it this time around.

End result is that I have just flipped by most of the mitered patterns as being either too like those times of 40 years ago or just too full of ends to weave it. Loose ends are even worse than granny squares.

Then over the last couple of years I have been seduced by garter garments designed by Hanne Falkenberg, Vivian Hoxbrø and Garn Studio. Mitered just seemed like the next thing to try. After all, if I can manage fairisle on 2.5 -3.0 mm needles I should be ale to manage garter with dk yarn.

(Shall I mention that I have all this lovely dk weight merino in my stash from Army-Navy closeout this past fall. Purchased at 50-70% off meaning I can manage a whole jacket completely out of stash?)

I am going for the Mitered Jacket in my favorite colors (red, grey, burgundy) which should not be a surprise to anyone.  Hold on, I knit a gauge swatch!

4.0 mm needle = 5"

before moving on to carefully read instructions.

(Yes I know, totally shocking and out of character, but who wants all those strange lengths of yarn that are going to happen if I have to do much frogging).

and it doesn't take much time to knit the first square

As it turns out, it really gets kind of addicting…

3 full, one half square

and it is back to more squares to go with Criminal Minds… or Kay Hoopers “Fear“  series in audio. Humm – too much FBI?

Managed to get the car through MOT yesterday and did the renewal on-line so I should be legal before the current tax disc expires.

I have a ton of paperwork still to finish on my desk at work, the same for some other projects.  I know that procrastination does not pay, but still – there are some forms (22 pages) which are just too painful to contemplate.

To finish off the day, I did another PT test. It seems that the new general in the Army Surgeon General’s Office wants to go exactly by the letter of the regulation. Ok, his right. Bigger elephant and all of that.  Walking rapidly in the mist (hey, this is England, of course there is mist, rain and grey skies…) I managed to do my 2.5 miles in under 30 minutes proving who knows what.

On a much more cheerful note – the obligate mirror pictures!

And if I would block this cardigan it might look even better!

Front

back

Knit on 3.00 mm needles from 10 -50 gm balls of Fortissima Colori – 6 fach in color 4006 and about 1 1/2 balls of Knit Picks palate as a supplement and I-cord

The front and back are not exactly the same, but then I can’t see both sides at the same time.

now, to choose another project with a thought about blocking shawls this weekend.

Step 1

When you forget your extra needle and want a three needle bind off, you sometimes have to make do. A crochet hook (yes, I actually own a few) can easily be inserted through both the front and back stitch

Step 2

and be used to pull a loop of the working yarn through both stitches

Step 3

which is then pulled through the working loop. End result is that lovely, simple and not terribly bulky seam you see starting to form on the right.

Or, if you wanted to be fancy, there are obviously more ways to bind off. For example, you could pull a loop through both the joining loop and the working loop to create a new loop. This uses a bit more yarn.

Did I mention that I finished up the front and the back

all but the finishing

with only five meters of sock yarn left and am now facing endless I-cord. It is going to have to be in the solid color supplemental yarn that I used in the back.

working on upper back

seems to take forever. Back and forth across 262 stitches once I finished the endless fun of the sleeve increases. Making sure, of course, that everything matches up with the front in terms of stitches if not exactly in terms of color or pattern.

Otherwise, it was a day at work punctuated by phone calls and email messages concerning a rather short notice VIP visit that I just might not be able to avoid.

The Mole continues to grind through history and government texts, coming up for air and a run a couple of times a day.

Audio & Video

Sort of between on books for the moment. I have a lovely double stack which came in from Bookcloseouts just waiting to be read. Five novels came home from the library, all of which were finished over the weekend.

I am caught up with all the old seasons of CSI and NCIS. I checked out Criminal Minds from the library and now have evenings of knitting fun in front of me while I work my way through the back seasons.

the front

I managed to finish the lower back

the lower back

and have started on the upper portion that includes the sleeves. After all those shorter rows of under 100 stitches, it seems to take forever to get across more than 260…

done

150gm ball of Regia 6 ply. knit on 4.5 mm needles.

(ed. In answer to the questions – one unblocked shawl……)

I couldn’t face anything complicated.

Straight stockinette with some increases – possible.

30 rows down

and only a couple of dozen to go….

(150 gm ball of Regia in color Irland. 6 fach on 4.5 mm Nadels)

it might just be ok

Using the reddish – adding it as 40% of the total ridges – it does change the balance from light to dark, but if I do the whole back this way ……

The Mole likes black. He figures it is always great as an accent color.

adding black

up close, it was a possible. When I looked at it from across the room, it overwhelmed everything else. There just is not that much black in the basic yarn.

So there is this grey -

wrong grey family

but it just looks wrong, too dark, and a bit too blue for the fabric. I also have to admit that both the black and the grey are never present as solids which might contribute to their being a bit suspect.

Looking at the orange, I could not make myself try it. I really, really don’t wear orange. A bit in a pattern is one thing, but adding 40% orange to the mix is just beyond me.

With an hour knitting time each way on the party bus to Andover (don’t ask – it is another military reorganization and relocation for no one’s pleasure or convenience) for the day’s briefings – I went ahead and jumped in with the red.

the reddish color

It is lighter than the rust red and obviously a whole lot darker than the orange. I think it  gives the impression of the pattern being spread out a bit more. I am going to have to think about it.

The pattern on the back extension is 4 rows of garter followed by a short row. I elected to add the reddish on either side of the short row in order limit the addition to 40% of the yarn and make sure that the grey and black would not completely disappear.

Now if I can just keep plugging away and resist starting something new…..

1) frog the whole thing and move on to a different yarn

Perhaps purple?

2) try a new gauge

but the hand does not feel right

(and find that I don’t like either the way that the pattern comes out or the drape of the fabric. Doesn’t matter, even at the new gauge the yarn amount that I have is still a few grams short of supplying the needed square area).

3) work in a couple of balls of a solid color yarn on the back where I will not see it. Going through my stash – these are the options:

four options from stash that are in the ball park

bit better a look at the color choices

None of them are a perfect match to any of the colors. The reddish and grey are Knit Picks Palette, the orange is Patton’s baby wool and the black is Rowan 4 ply.  Not going to buy any more yarn. No, not going to do it.

I thought looking for more of the sock yarn but have hung that as not prompt or efficient. And, it would involved spending money. Yarn from stash…..

For a select few of us there is March Sweater Madness. Started by Michelle of the SweetSheep Shop, this is my third year. Barbara is also playing (you need to see the sweater she started during the Olympics).

I started out with a bang on Drops 120-45, a lovely garter stitch cardigan calling for Fabel. According to the instructions, I would need 400 gm of yarn. Since I had a bag (10 balls=500gm) of sock yarn bought on sale I figured I was all set.

Never mind that I had a bit of problems with reading the instructions so that my first attempt got me here -

single increase on the end.....

Somehow I can’t figure out why it took me a full ball of yarn to realize why my knitting did not look like the Garn Studio picture. Perhaps I was out to lunch or engaging in wishful thinking.

Starting again,

double increase gets you a corner...

I finished the left front – including the lower back extension.

Forging ahead, I knit the right front and started on the lower back extension. Grabbing for a new ball of yarn…

Hummmm, why do I only have two balls of yarn left?

I counted ball bands. Yes, I had eight in the bag, proving that I had lost neither my mind nor yarn.

Admittedly, I have only six or so rows of garter left on the lower back so that should not take all that much. But that still leaves the complete upper back to knit. There is no way that two balls of yarn are going to be enough. The pattern said 400gm, which I have already used. I need another 100gm?

It is at this point I figure that something is not exactly straight up. I am using 3.00 needles and getting gauge just like I am supposed to. The fabric feels a bit dense, but I like the drape.

Just in case wastage is more than I thought, digging through the bottom of the yarn bag I can account for about another 10 grams of yarn. You know – that yarn cut from the beginning of the ball so that the pattern matches up? Doesn’t come anywhere near solving my problem.

What else? Reviewing the bidding
1) needles – 3.00 – check
2) yarn – 400 gm, I have 500 gm – check.
3) gauge – check

Drops patterns call for Fabel, I have substituted Fortisima Colori, also a sock yarn. Looking at the ball bands – it mentions gauge of 22/10 cm on 3-4mm needles.

Huh? That does not sound right. That would make it 6 ply, not 4 ply. I would not have done something that stupid, would I? Substituted yarn of 125m/50 gm for yarn of 210m/50gm in a pattern then expected 1250 meters to cover the same amount of area as 1640?

Yes. That is exactly what has happened. Close out yarn – no way am I going to be able to get more of the same dyelot, especially since I would need 4-5 more balls.

Now what?

About five of them so far today. Same project, third yarn, second set of needles. Not counting a change on the way I am doing the edges.

Then, I took a good look at my yarn and changed pattern which was perfectly fine since the stitch count a few rows in matched a couple of other lovely choices in, Wrapped in Comfort.  You know Alison, right?  SpinDyeKnit Alison?

Any way – now headed to BigFoot

a few rows, more than a few stitches

Video

Borrowed Season 1 of Monk from the library.

Meanwhile

The Mole is back at school in Rochester for the duration of the week and all of next while I am out of country. He is not thrilled, but looks to have it under control for the moment. Meanwhile, he has started to study US History and US Government on his own since the GED exam is one option out of the current stalemate. If anyone knows what their local High School is specifically using for 11-12th Grade textbooks, I would really appreciate recommendations.

I counted it up: grades 1-2 in Wuerzburg, 3-4 in Muenchen, 5 (three schools in Heidelberg with the last also being the location for grades 6-8). 9-10 in Stuttgart. 11 in DSL with a switch to Rochester mid year, last.

Makes it 8 schools for 13 years of education (yes, it adds up. grade 5 x 2). Not exactly continuity of education.

Week at a time, I guess.

Ms Soprano went to 7 different schools and Ms Maus only 5.

Lotus Blossom in Scarlet

Blocking

looking better

Scarlet Lotus Blossom detail

and while I was at it – I took another shawl – Twinings that had been languishing since the end of August

almost 2 meters Blocked

close up detail

and it really looks lovely drapped

What better way to deal with the mid-winter doldrums than to knit a nice vest?

Rather than something complicated, fine yarn and fiddly, I decided to choose an easy, fast pattern. In fact, Drops #115-24, a cabled top looked to be right about my speed.

Purchased a few years ago, I have this bag of Shakespeare by Artful Yarns, 100% wool in a lovely combination of blues and purples

Color #5

Casting on 95 stitches (yes, that is around. Total number that 95!) on size 8.00 needles to set up the pattern before moving up to 9.00 needles with two strands held together

cables plus ribbing

it has not taken long to get three balls (135 yards each worked from inside and outside) into the project.

not quite to the underarm, but close.

I am rather pleased to think that I will shortly have a nice warm vest.

I did look through other’s projects: Nicole knit a lovely version without sleeves, as did Katharaina. Then there is Donna’s (which is located here on her old blog) which I hope she ports everything over from Blogspot as she has such a nice collection of pictures and finished things.

There were another three or so finished vests, but none of the rest have projects that seem to be posted outside of Ravelry.

Audio Books

The Mercedes Coffin – Faye Kellerman. A Peter Decker & Rina Lazarus mystery, this was one of several downloaded from iTunes a few months back when they had books on sale ($6.95 seemed like a really good deal).

I read it (library book( when first released in hardback) and enjoyed it then. It is holding up well on listening, the reader is a pretty gruff sounding guy which seems to suit the story well.

on other fronts

By the simple expedient of heading into London, the Mole managed to avoid returning to school this afternoon.

On return, we had a serious conversation about what comes next. He is a good kid, knows that the budget is not unlimited (school year prepaid) and that transferring schools – except to mean mom’s – is not likely.

No one really lost their temper and we will talk on the way to Croughton in the morning.

Being in the UK, it is easy to join the tradition of celebration when his birthday rolls around every year.  This marked my third (and last) Burns Night celebration at the Mess.

Altho there were about the same number of people as last year, someone got a bit more creative with the seating, making up five tables of 9-10 diners rather than a head table with long lines down the sides. It made for much more congenial conversation at dinner.

I had managed to complete another Lotus Blossom Shawl, never mind that I blocked it last night.  Note, blocking board propped up against a register leads to rapidly drying shawl.

Lotus Blossom

tossing it over a fancy white blouse, floor length plaid skirt and country dance away the evening.

Shawl – Lotus Blossom from Fiddlesticks Knitting. Three skeins of Louet Gems in Pewter knit on 3.75 mm needles. Started in SF and finished up a few days ago.

I was looking for Beth-El and the 0830 Minyan. Having the address was good, the building is not signed. Held in their smaller Beit Am, the group and folding chairs felt more welcoming than many of the formal, decades established Shabbas services, complemented by a locally produced prayer book designed for all levels of Hebrew ability and vision.

Sliding out before the Torah study, the walk back to the hotel is downhill. Hill direction can be terribly important when you are on the edge of the foothills. Having a house seven blocks from Shul is good. Would be much better if those seven blocks were not straight up hill…

Friends

Feeling truly fortunate, I spent a lovely afternoon with Ruth (aka the Scrabblequeen). I also met her husband, one of those great guys willing to take a Saturday afternoon and wander a section of Solano so that we could visit.

Part of the plan had been to visit Stash. Well, it seems that they had moved. No sign in the window of the old location. We wandered through other shops and books stores, totally missing looking up the street from where we had lunch. Stash, as it turns out, was just around the corner.

Tea, Chai and knitting were also in order for the afternoon. Ruth’s current sweater project has a lovely look and feel and she is such a warm and welcoming person. There are those times when you can feel awkward meeting someone who you know only through email. Both yesterday with Alison and today with Ruth it was sitting down with old friends, picking up threads of conversation like no time had passed at all.

Flashback Challenge

Wanting to read old science fiction/fantasy classics, I was facing a dilemma. Few of the books I will be re-reading are currently in publication and rarely in hardback, eliminating the library as a source for the books. I probably have most of them, somewhere in a book box.

But then there are used books stores and I found:

I still have to track down:

• Strange in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein
• Way Station – Clifford Simak
• Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M Miller

What is on your reading list?

The number of ducks and geese seems to be reduced from what I remember last year. It might be the foxes, or just the burst of cold weather that has put ice on the pond.

More of the hats and scarves

and Ms Maus and I are watching NCIS.

And then there was the cold in Germany. So cold (well, not by Canadian or Minnesota standards) that a track cracked. Of course, Ms Maus and DH were on their way to the Frankfurt airport via ICE when this occurred. What is normally a 45 minute train trip turned into more than two hours. First they sat, then the train had to go back to Mannheim to change tracks before proceding to the airport.

Only the fact that their flight was delayed meant that they came in last night.

You can not trust the on-line listings about plane departures, please trust me. If a plane has closed its doors, it has departed even though it has not taken off. Explains why a slightly more than one hour journey with a departure time from Frankfurt of 1750 arrives in London at 2107; lets not forget the hour time change.

Two hours later, they are still waiting for luggage. 30 minutes after that, DH forces the station manager to come clean and make an announcement. It seems like there is a slight problem. Baggage handlers are on strike and luggage is not going to be unloaded tonight. Meanwhile, a number of the hire cars have departed assuming that they have just missed their passengers.

Obviously, the Mole and I gave up hanging in the waiting zone by 2000 (for a 1915 pickup) and had parked in the short term parking.

We arrived home after midnight, putting the early morning departure for Edinburgh on hold. Probably indefinitely.

Meanwhile,

Cloche

I was able to finish up la cloche sans peur (Brunswick Impressions – one strand of wool and one of mohair held together on size 13 US needles) which now needs ends woven in and a trip through the washing machine. The designer is Alicia Weisberg-Roberts (both links are Ravelry).

Next, I started a variation of Breckenridge from French-Press Knits

Breckenridge

out of the same yarn combination. The cable crossing is going to be more subtle given the mohair, but I am happy.

Both patterns are well written and fast to knit. Something to be said for instant gratification after knitting kilometers of 3.00 needle garter stitch.