Monthly Archives: October 2004

Admit it… you do a little happy dance inside your head when you turn the heel of a sock and it does that perfect little angle. Ahhh… that’s the stuff life is made of. I *love* short-row heels. I love how easy they are to keep track of where you are, I love how they fit, I love how they look… The sock is on my nightstand and I’ve been knitting on it a few minutes each night instead of reading.

On other needles, I finished the top-down jacket but still have to put in the zipper. I think I’m stalling. It’s the same thing when I have to cut steeks on a fair isle. I let it sit there and “ripen” while I get up the courage. I want to wear it to Mass on Sunday so I’ll put in the zipper (my first on a knitted garment) tonight or tomorrow.

This has been sitting in my knitting basket since April. It’s the Hardangervidda from Dale of Norway. I knit the Thunder Bay sweater for Dan about five years ago and he wears it quite a bit, so I figured he’s worthy of another Dale. I picked it back up when I finished the jacket and have made quite a bit of progress on it each night while watching TV. I forgot how much I love color knitting. Once you get into the rythym and start seeing the pattern appear, it’s very satisfying. I’m just a few rows above where the front placket starts. I’m using Gjestal Ren Ny Ull Superwash Sport that I bought for steal on Elann

Some friends and I have knitted up a bunch of little stockings to fill and send to a helicopter unit in Iraq. It’s the unit my friends’ husbands are in. I had to come up with a simple and quick pattern. These would make great gifts for teachers, the mailman… whoever you need a little somethin’ somethin’ for. They are about the right size for a candy bar. Each one takes me about an hour and ten minutes to knit from start to finish. They really are cute in person. I used a deep cranberry red and cream colored yarns. My early Christmas gift to you:
I used a double strand of dk weight yarn on 4.0mm needles (I’m a loose knitter). Mine came out to 3×8”.
Gauge isn’t really important as long as you’re happy with your fabric.
Cast on 24 stitches with white. Divide on double points. I put six stitches each on four needles.
Join in a round and knit seed stitch for eight rows. Cut off white leaving tail to weave in later (about 3 inches)
Measure off a full arm length of red and start knitting from this point with the red yarn (you’ll use this tail later to crochet the hanging cord). Knit 14 rounds. On 15th round, knit first three needles.
Start Heel Flap: Slip 1st stitch on needle 4, Knit across. Knit across needle 1 with same needle (all 12 heel stitches will be on one needle now). Turn. Slip 1st stitch purl across.
Repeat these last two rows back and forth for a total of nine rows. You will have five “loops” going down each side of the heel flap.
Take another needle and pick up five stitches down the side of the heel flap. Slide these stitches you just knit back on to needle with heel stitches. Knit across instep stitches that have been holding on needles 2 and 3. With a new needle, pick up five stitches up other side of heel flap. Using this same needle, knit six stitches from heel needle. You now have 11 stitches on needles 4 and 1 and six stitches on needles 2 and 3.
Gussets: 1st Round: Knit to last three stitches on needle 1. K2tog, K1. Knit across instep needles. On needle 4, K1, SSK, Knit to end of needle.
2nd Round: K Repeat these two rounds until there are 8 stitches on the two heel needles.
Slip one stitch from needles 1 and 4 to needles 2 and 3 so there are seven sts on each needle.
Foot: Knit 8 rounds.
Toe: 1st Round: Needle 1: Knit to last three stitches K2tog, K1. Needle 2: Knit 1, SSK, Knit across Needle 3: Knit to last three stitches, K2tog, K1 Needle 4: Knit 1, SSK, Knit across 2nd Round: Knit
Repeat these two rounds until there are three stitches on each needle. Knit across needle one to bring the tail to the end. Put stitches on needles 1 and 4 on one needle and stitches on needles 2 and 3 on another needle. There are now 6 stitches on two needles. Cut yarn leaving a tail of about eight inches.
Hold the needles so that the tail is on the right and coming from the back needle. Thread the tail onto a tapestry needle.
Grafting set up: Go into the 1st stitch of the back needle as if to knit. Leave on needle. Go into the 1st stitch of the front needle as if to purl. Leave on needle.
Grafting: 1. Go into 1st stitch of back needle as if to purl while sliding it off needle. Go into 2nd stitch as if to knit. Leave on needle.
2. Come to front needle. Go into 1st stitch as if to knit while sliding it off needle. Go into 2nd stitch as if to purl. Leave it on the needle.
Repeat these last two steps until you’ve woven all stitches. Make sure to bring working yarn under knitting needles and not over them and snug the yarn up as you go so the toe closes up nicely.
Weave in tails. Starting from the end that’s attached to the sock, crochet the long cast on tail you left (I did about 18-20 chain sts). Hook the last chain stitch to the first to form a loop and finish off.

In doing my daily blog reads this morning I read nothing but bragging… I got this at Rhinebeck, I got to meet so-and-so at Rhinebeck…. Rhinebeck this… Rhinebeck that… blah. blah. blah. Oh… and all the talk about the foliage! Like I don’t miss New England enough already! Thanks… thanks loads everyone. Very thoughtful of you. Geesh! Okay already! I got it! It was THE place to be this weekend and I was an ocean and a few countries away from it. Yea… well just wait… If the Army Gods that make our assignments are good to us, I’ll be at Rhinebeck in 2006 because it’ll only be a four-hour drive from our new duty station, Fort Drum, by Watertown NY. So THERE!! Let me add that gives me two… count ’em… two years to have a little BIG Rhinebeck savings account going. Yea… paybacks, Baby!!
I hope you all know I’m kidding. I couldn’t wait to start reading this morning knowing that’s what everyone would be writing about. You bet your sweet bippy that if plane tickets weren’t over $1000 to get to the States I’d have been there with bells on. So I’ll have to live through everyone else’s journey and dream about 2006. Look on the bright side! There’s only 726 days to go!
I finished the dog sweater last night but I forgot the camera this morning when Bailey and I headed out on our walk in the woods. She wore her sweater proudly even though it’s a smidge too big. Can’t even felt it down because it’s superwash. I’ll take a picture tomorrow when we’re on our little jaunt. Oh well…

Let’s give this blogging puppy a shot. Why not? I love to knit and spin and have a ridiculous stash. Maybe the pressure of having to have something to blog about will get that stash down. Ha. Who are we kidding? We all know stashes just get bigger.

I started knitting about 19 years ago (holy crap! I’m 41 already. How’d that happen?). The first big project I did was for my Gram. She’d knit for all of us as babies and she was my inspiration to start knitting so I thought it was only fitting. I knit the cover sweater of the Winter 88 issue of Simpliciy Knitting.

I miss that magazine.

When the internet came about I joined the new Knitlist. Imagine! Getting to chat with hundreds of people about knitting! lol. Little did we know then how big it would get. I unsubbed years ago when two boys and thousands of members made it too big for me. Through the list though I acquired a love for all things wool. Hello, my name is Jean and I’m a wool addict. I bought a second-hand Ashford Traditional and took a class with Fay Drozd in the Hill Country of Texas about ten years ago. I upgraded to a Majacraft Rose when they first came out but I’d still classify myself as a novice spinner.

We are an Army family stationed in Germany for the third time. We love it here but are really starting to miss the States. Being in Europe has allowed me to do “knitting” travel that I never thought I’d be able to do. We went to the Shetland Isles in 97. That was the best trip of my life. This past July I returned to Scotland for the Spinning and Knitting retreat on the Isle of Mull (part of the Inner Hebrides) where I got to meet a bunch of great knitters, spinners and weavers. Debbie New gave a terrific class. One of these days I’ll write a full report. I don’t know if it’s my Scottish roots or just the pure beauty of Scotland but I always feel like I belong and cry every time I have to leave.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet knitters from all over the world and it’s always a blast. Non-knitters just can’t understand the joy of that wool going through your fingers and turning into something to keep a loved one warm.

So, enough for now. In my next post I’ll share current projects….