Author Archives: Jean

Family, Travel

Kim Wasn’t Lying!

Posted on by Jean
_mg_0054

My new “little” cousin, Nelson,  in the sweater I knit for him last month.  I think this is the last time he’ll be wearing it. lol.

We went up to New Hampshire over the weekend.  Got to meet up with Kim (Woolen Rabbit) and hubby again for lunch and a trip to Patternworks.   What fun but I can’t believe that as many times as we’ve met up, we don’t have a picture of us together.  I’m sure it’s because neither of us really like to have our picture taken but we’re going to have to remedy that next time.  And she wasn’t lying about the snow!  It’s exactly the kind of snow I remember as a little girl up there.   There’s a picture somewhere in my grandparents basement of me standing on the sidewalk in front of the house we lived in with snow piled way over my head on either side of me.  I remember my grandfather and uncles having to climb out the 2nd story window to clear the snow from the front door and the 1st story windows.   As soon as we hit Highway 16 our jaws dropped as we saw the several feet of snow get deeper and deeper.

_mg_0080

The Texas boy got a little taste of New England life as he helped my cousin get the snow off of her roof.   This was after we’d just gone up and helped my grandfather clear off his workshop and garage.   My 82 year-old grandfather swore to us that he wasn’t going to worry about the roof of the house because he’d shoveled it a few times over the last month and it didn’t have the accumulation the workshop and garage did.  Yea.  When I went out to take the above picture of Dan and Muria on her roof they just pointed up the hill at my grandparents house:

_mg_0086

See the guy in the red jacket on the roof?  That’d be my very stubborn grandfather.  See the the yellow wood in the foreground?  That’d be the fence that Joe could just step over because of the snow.

Crazy.  Just crazy.  I’m glad we won’t be around when all that melts.  What a mess.

Animals and Nature

Robbing Peter to Pay Paul

Posted on by Jean

Aggie is the most vain dog I’ve ever met.  Pull the camera out and she’s in front of it.  She actually came running over and put her face in the shot.  Yeesh.

So yesterday I was so excited about Tracy’s (Wool Windings) little felted box that I cast one on of my own.  I found some Noro left over from these and some Lopi Lite left over from Hues in Horizontal and cast on with a strand of each.  I was cocky and cast on the largest size. I  wasn’t even through the first side and realized there’s no way I had enough of the green Lopi so I ripped it all out and started over. I  crossed my fingers and cast on the smallest size.  I knew it was gonna be close but this is ridiculous.  Six stitches left to cast off and see the little inch of green yarn left.  I will not be defeated.  I’ll just take a little from one of the cast on ends.  See?  There’s plenty here:

We’re driving up to NH this tomorrow so I’ll have to finish it when I get back.  I’ll post a picture then.  Thanks for the inspiration, Tracy! 

I’ve been working on the Clapotis (finally) and I needed a little change for a bit so the box was perfect.

I’m using Brooks Farm Duet that I bought at Rhinebeck.  I don’t know the color name because it’s not listed on the labels.  LOVE this stuff.  I do wish that I’d alternated each couple of rows with each ball of yarn because I’m not crazy about the way it’s pooling.  I’m half tempted to start over again.  I’d mentioned on the Elann chat site that this one’s been on my to-do list for a long time and wham-bam!

I’ve also been working on my photography. I’ve been following along with Two Peas in a Bucket’s course that’s ongoing online.  Yes, folks, you *can* take your camera off of Auto!!  This coming from a professional photographer’s daughter who’s had an awesome camera for a couple of years now.  The only thing I dared to do was take a picture without the flash.  Now I actually know how to METER it!  Can you imagine?  The freedom of it all is mind boggling.  Oh how I’d listened to my father when he tried to teach me about f-stops and composition.  He even made me take photography in HS but let’s face it…  that was a couple of years ago… ehem… so I remember zilch.  Since Aggie was so obliging and right there anyway I took these of her this morning.

And here’s what I’ve learned.  The first shot I love.  Look at those catch lights!  I’d just cleaned her eyes so I wish I would have waited until they dried and it would have been perfect.  The second shot… I should have had the focus on her nose, not her ears.  Still…. kinda cool. 

And a serious improvement from the pictures I took of her a couple of years ago.

Lucky’s not so easy.  He’s almost afraid of the camera.  I guess I would be too if I saw a huge cyclops in my face all the time.

A virtual dozen roses to you.  No chocolate because Dan and I started Weight Watchers on Monday – tell me how stupid is to try and start losing weight Valentine’s week?

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

Knitting

Sew + Snip + Join = Sweater

Posted on by Jean

You can download the graphs and pattern here. Be warned… in the words of Elizabeth Zimmemann, it’s a very “pithy” version. I was winging it as I went along.

tiny zig-zag instead of straight stitch because of the slippery factor in the acrylic. Twice for security.

Moment of truth… the cut.  Ugh.

So far, so good.  Heavy sigh of relief.

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Part of the hem.  He’s named after my cousin’s dad (uh.. yea… I guess that would be my uncle) and they are going to call him by his middle name (Nels short for Nelson).  It’s on the hem along with a couple of hearts but I couldn’t figure out how to photo the whole hem at once.

Animals and Nature, Knitting

Now Comes the Hard Part

Posted on by Jean

Knitting is finis

Now it’s time to cut the steeks

Who has the valium?

A little Haiku for Sandy (Sandy’s Knitting).

There it is.  Knitting finished.  Now comes the part I dread.  I’ve done steeks a bunch of times but it always takes shots of vodka a strong will to cut something you’ve knit.  Especially when you knit it in acrylic – GASP! Because acrylic doesn’t stick together like wool does.  Dan’s Hardangervidda has been a royal pain.  It was knit in super-wash wool and the yarn is slicker than snot.  Every time he wears it I have to repair something.

I’m a wool snob but I love my cousin.  She has four girls age eight and under and now the baby.  I think she’d appreciate not having to worry about felting wool.  Still… now that I think about it I wish that I had gone with the wool because she’s going to have to hand wash it anyway and seriously, he’s probably going to get to wear it like twice.  I need to get it in the mail in the next couple of days because if he weighed this on January 1st….

… chances are that he may have already outgrown it.   We’re going up to New Hampshire for a visit in February but I’m afraid to wait that long.  Usually it takes me at least a week to work myself up to cut but I don’t have the time with this one.

Thanks for all the kind words about Lucky aka Sir Cha Ching.  He was pretty out of it all day yesterday.   Aggie was very gentle with him and sort of hovered over him all day like she knew.  She’s usually jumping on him and tugging him around by an ear or a lip or whatever she can grab with her teeth.  Not yesterday.  She sniffed all the parts that hurt and stayed by his side.  It was so sweet.

Animals and Nature

Cha Ching

Posted on by Jean

Lucky has yet another nickname.  Lucky, I now knight you Sir Cha Ching.  No.  That’s not Oriental.  It’s in reference to the money this sweet, sweet little guy has cost us thus far.  After the initial adoption fee and the gas to drive to Indiana to pick him up he’s had a few medical issues.  A few weeks ago he had a skin infection.  While at the vet it was discovered that his teeth are rotting right out of his head due to the lack of nutrition all those years at the mill.  We took care of the skin infection and he had his dental appointment today.  Holy Shnikies.  You know it’s bad when you walk in to pick up your dog and the vet says, “I’m warning you… it’s not pretty.  The boy is adorable but he’s a train wreck.  We had to pull seven teeth instead  of three, he has a ear infection and an anal gland infection.”  then she turned the bill so I could see it.  Let’s just say it was over $900 and less than a grand.  Did I say Holy Shnikies already?  My first thought was that Dan was going to have my head.  My husband is the sweetest guy there is but he grew up on a ranch.  He loves the dogs but he sees them as dogs.  I see them as kids.  I decided to take the bull by the horns and call him from the vet to let him know.  He said a couple of things and then said, “Well… it had to be done.  Hopefully he’ll be okay from now on.”   He loves our dogs more than he’ll admit.  You only have to see him with them when he thinks no one is looking.

  • rescue fee: $350
  • gas and hotel $500
  • vet bills $1400
  • This face:

Priceless.  He’s worth every cent and we’d do it all over again.  Just know that if you take in a rescue you better be ready for vet bills.  Lucky was worse off than a lot of rescues are but just take it into consideration….

Haiku for Sandy (Sandy’s Knitting)

Sweetest little dog

He’s learning to enjoy life

One day at a time

Cooking, Knitting

Wintery Knitting

Posted on by Jean

Here’s a work-in-progress post for Kim (Woolen Rabbit).  This is the little Norwegian sweater I cast on for my cousin’s mountain man baby.  Good thing it’s a quick knit or he’ll outgrow it before I even get it done.  Good incentive.   I totally screwed up my math so when I got to the patterning I had to completely change it and come up with my own.  I pulled out the graph paper and started fiddling.  I learned something.  Norwegian patterns are much easier to do on and odd number of stitches.  Of course I had an even number.  Grrr.   I’ll share the chart I did in a future post.  You can just make out the column of green on the upper left that will serve as my stitching line when it comes time to cut.

I was supposed to meet an Elann friend for lunch yesterday but they closed the roads down on post and the boys got yet another snow day home from school.  I would really have liked to go meet T but I have to admit… our backyard is beautiful as a winter wonderland.  You can’t even see the houses behind us.

Yesterday was a perfect morning for fresh warm muffins.  These blueberry muffins are FABULOUS!  I just beat the butter and sugar by hand instead of pulling out the Kitchen Aid and they were light and airy and perfect.  I happen to have the book (Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook) and love it.  It’s chock full of excellent recipes.  You can also find the recipe here.

Family, Knitting

Two Little Red Mittens

Posted on by Jean

After Norma’s (nownormaknits2) post the other day I used our TV time this weekend (which was a lot due to the storms that blew through) to knit a couple pairs of mittens for The Soaring Eagle’s Project.  I had some Gjestal Naturgarn in a beautiful bright red left over from this sweater I knit for Joe.

  Funny… for Joseph’s sweater I toned down the color with some brown dye but it was a perfect bright red for mittens.  They’ll be winging their way to Rachel later today if the ice melts a bit.  I used the patterns from Ann Budd’s Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns. After knitting the larger pair I knew it was going to be close to get another pair out of the skein so I cast on a small pair.  Here’s what I had left:

Also started pulling out old UFO’s.  This is the back and one front part of Chick Knits Ribby Cardi in Elann’s Highland Wool. 

Due to the ice, the boys have another day off of school today.  Joseph, however, will be spending the day doing a book report that was supposed to be due today.   He never brought the book home so we made him pick out one he finished recently so that he had something to turn in when they go back to school tomorrow (hopefully!).  Trust me, he’s only smiling because he knows I was taking his picture.  Hoping to nip procrastination in the butt by Junior High.

Jeremy is supposed to fly here on Thursday.   I’m a little worried because it looks like another big storm is going to hit Indiana that day.  Ugh.  We’ll all be SO disappointed if he doesn’t make that flight.  We’re all dying to get our arms around him and have him home for a couple of weeks.

Family, Friends, Knitting

Ice, Ice, Baby

Posted on by Jean

We got hit by quite an ice storm last night here in New York.  The boys had a two-hour delay.  Too bad we didn’t know about it before everyone was up and ready.  Lucky slipped when Dan took him outside this morning so that’s how we knew to check the roads.  It was some nasty stuff but made for some pretty pictures!  Of course the rest of the week calls for rain.  blech.

I keep forgetting to post the picture of  the socks I finished with Kim’s (Woolen Rabbit) yarns.  I think this colorway was called Boysenberry?  I know it was some kind of berry.  Gorgeous stuff all the way around.

Also finished another gift for my grandfather.  A nice warm hat.  I used Elann’s Uros and that same sock yarn that I used in his socks (trying to be thrifty, couldn’t use the sock yarn for anything else). You can get the free pattern by clicking here.  It’s very basic but I figured I’d save someone else doing the math.  I did the decreases at the crown by alternating ssk and K2tog so that there wouldn’t be swirls.  My grandfather just doesn’t strike me as a swirly kinda guy.

Jeremy comes for Christmas in a couple of weeks.  I CAN’T WAIT!!  We haven’t seen him since he came home on R&R from Iraq almost three years ago.  He’s doing so great in college that we’re treating him to a night at a great B&B in the Catskills and two days of lift tickets.  I can’t wait to see his face when he opens his stocking on Christmas morning.  He loves to snowboard and I told him I didn’t know if we’d be able to make it up there or not but to bring his snowboard because there’s actually a small slope right on West Point.  Bwahahaha.  I love surprising people.   Just hate being surprised.

Family, Knitting

Mountain Man Socks

Posted on by Jean

Need a quick Christmas gift?  I have an idea for you.

This is a very basic, simple pattern that I came up with for my grandfather that I’m calling Quick & Thick Mountain Man Socks.  You can download the pattern by clicking here.

I used two strands of yarn together.  One strand of Elann’s Peruvian Pure Alpaca in Black and one strand of a very fine German sock yarn.  It came out to 5.5 sts per inch.

We put our tree up on the first and I forgot to share my favorite ornament with you:

It’s my little knitting lady from my favorite Christmas Store in Germany, Käthe Wohlfahrt’s in Rothenberg.

Joe is quite the crafter.  It was his favorite part of German Kindergarten.  He’s always coming and asking me for the stapler and tape.  Last night I found this on the tree:

For as ornery as that kid can be… I think he just may be the one of my four boys that ends up a priest.  He can be very sweet when he wants to be and he’s always the one that says grace at meals and worries about what time it is when it’s almost time to go to Mass.  I found these pictures on an old website I used to keep.  This was Joe at about six months old in late 1999.  I knit it from Debbie Bliss’ Nursery Knits.  I found the teddy bear buttons in a shop in Germany.

Family, Friends, Knitting, Travel

No Place Better than New England for Tday

Posted on by Jean

Lots to catch up on!  I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We made the six-hour trek to New Hampshire.  We did pretty good traffic-wise.  Hit it in a few spots in Connecticut on the way there but pretty much smooth sailing other than that.

As if getting to live this close to my family isn’t great enough already, it’s even better because I get to visit with Kim (Woolen Rabbit) and her hubby who live a very short drive from my family.   I was especially looking forward to her meeting Lucky since we both have a love for the Cavalier breed.  We met them for dinner on Friday night and she surprised me with this:

Gorgeous, no?  The pattern is Delicato Mitts from Anne Hanson at KnitSpot and the yarn is Kim’s.  I’m telling you, the girl’s got an eye for color and she seems to have my favorites down pat.

I’ve been working on socks with the yarn Kim gave me when we went up over Labor Day.  I guess it’s only fitting that I show them in progress… I wasn’t hiding them, Kim, I promise!

I tried the Sherman Heel on the heel and toe.  I love the way it looks but…  Dear. God!  If I don’t have my mind completely on it I lose track and have to rip back.  I am getting the hang of it though and getting better at figuring out where I am without counting.  I’ve never had to rip back so many times.  I think it was worth it though.  NO GAPS!!!  Can I hear an AMEN?! The Sherman Heel was originally posted on the Knitlist which is long gone. I’ve added it to the bottom of this post.

And then when we got home I found this little gem from Claudia (bavgirl) in my mailbox:

Thank you so much, Claudia.  It was a fun little challenge.  And thanks, La (Knottygirls), for telling me about it!

My grandparents gave me a great gift as well.  A photo album put together by my great-grandmother on Gram’s side.  I’ve promised to scan every page and photo and make CD’s for everyone.  I couldn’t wait to get it home to compare to my family history notes.  This is my great-grandmother x3, Christiana Lewis (Soule) Chick (left). 

Her sister, Judith Thomas Soule, is on the right.  Christiana is my favorite person in our history because through census reports I’ve been able to get the most information on her.  She is my link to all my Mayflower ancestors.

It’s getting very cold and grey here in the Hudson Valley.  This is the view my boys have on their way to/from school each day and every weekend when we attend Mass.  This is taken from the Catholic Chapel here at West Point.

The Sherman Heel from the old Knitlist:

The Sherman Sock, or ‘How did you do that?’

Mary Sherman Lycan, 9/3/99:

The Sherman Sock is named for my late father, Rallston Sherman, an inventor. He always said an inventor is someone who is too lazy to do things the right way. The Sherman sock is knit from one side of the base of the toe cap, around the toe tip, and up. It is worked flat on two needles for the double-mitered toe and heel, and in the round for instep and leg.

Its advantages:

  1. As with peasant heels, the identical toe and heel are structurally independent, with no need for gussets or other awkward foot shaping. Use a contrasting color for toe and heel, for a very nice effect. Leg and instep are straight tubes, allowing for maximum freedom in stitch and pattern design.
  2. The mitered toe and heel, based on Montse Stanley’s suggestions for mitering, are easier to work than wrapped short rows. The decreases and increases are smooth, without holes or long carries inside.
  3. Toe-up construction allows for best use of yarn: if you start to run out, make tennis anklets; if you have extra, make long socks.
  4. Toe-up construction of identical toe and heel eliminate guesswork on the length of the foot. The depth of the toe cap is the same as the depth of the heel, so you can try on and measure as you go. Just poke your toes into the toe.
  5. Toe-up construction allows Fair Isle, lace, and Aran patterns to be knit right side up, except on the first half of the toe cap. If you want your multi-row patterns to come out even, toe-up construction allows you to fit the foot exactly, and fudge the leg length, to accomplish that.
  6. Worn-out heels and toes can be reknit as peasant heels.
  7. No more toe grafting!
  8. Sherman socks are fun to fold flat into little torpedo shapes.
  9. The invisible cast-on at the base of the toe cap makes it impossible to tell where you started knitting.
    Mystify your friends. ‘How did you do that?’

For more information, see: http://web.archive.org/web/20071231151807/www.knitli…