High-tech and not-so-much

Today’s post includes some contrasty stuff, as you might have already deduced from the title.

Here’s what I saw this morning on I-75:

WTF is that??

Can’t be a new Pope-mobile, not in Florida just before Thanksgiving. (Not that the Pope gives two sacred rats’ patooties about the American Thanksgiving. But it is just before Christmas, which is a pretty busy time for a pope, I understand.)

So I tried to get a better look, which required some lane changes and deviousness.

An amusement-park car thingy?

Well, no real help there, except I can see what appears to be a license plate on that yellow vehicle.

Must get closer.

Closer, but not the angle I had in mind.

From here, I could read “electric” in yellow text in the black stripe. Look closely on the right side, mostly behind the grate. (Might be easier to see if you click the pic to embiggen it.)

Still not satisfied, I decided to pass the electric-thingy-in-tow and try to kinnear a shot out of my passenger window. Without swerving or crashing or doing anything stupid like that.

Here’s the money shot, so to speak:

Gonna be a hit on the golf course, especially if it rains on the back nine!

BTW, the electric car indeed has an Indiana license plate on it, so I guess its owners wanted to bring it south for the winter/holidays.

Pretty cool, huh?

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On the not-so-high-tech front, here’s a shot of the two helmet liners I made, along with the two (grey) ones given to me by my LYS owner:

Soon to warm military heads and necks

I’ll give them to Deloris on Tuesday night (when we’re both back at work) and she’ll pass them on to her Marine son, who will select one to keep and share the other three with others in his unit.

Pretty cool, huh?

—

On the no-tech side of things, here are the boys caught in mid-snoop of the bag containing the four helmet liners just after I’d photographed them:

A-hem, boys... Boys?

I’m beginnning to think I was hasty in blaming Smut for the Silken Kidd caper earlier this summer. Chewie is definitely the ringleader. And he wasn’t at all interested in the liners until I’d put them in the plastic bag. Maybe he has an unpacking fetish?

The photo… at last!

Here’s the photo I was gonna post a few days ago. And I would have, really, except I hadn’t taken it yet.

So on my break at work today, I took a photo of it, along with the second (but half-finished) helmet liner.

Voilà!

Lovely, no? Ah, well. Functional then.

I hope to finish the second one tomorrow, but it’ll probably be Sunday, what with needing to sleep this afternoon and then having to work 12 hours tonight (still no knitting at work, except during my break), then having to sleep Saturday afternoon a little, then rehearsal Saturday evening, then maybe I’ll have time while “normal” people sleep.

Piece of cake, right?

FO 17: Olive helmet liner

I’ll take a photo later and post it for your viewing pleasure (or prurient curiosity). You’ll find project details in the FO 2009 sidebar.

I’ve never made one of these before and felt kinda guilty about that lack, in truth. Then I found a free Patons pattern hanging on a front-aisle display at Michael’s last weekend and found the yarn to be at half price there, so I decided to go for it. I’ll make two of them with the two skeins I bought.

The pattern wasn’t perfect and did require some tinkering, but it wasn’t hard.

One thing, though: Don’t believe the pattern’s estimated time to completion, which is two hours.

Uh, no.

I mean, I’m a pretty quick knitter, especially for a simple K2P2 rib (which most of the pattern is in), and it still took me at least twice that.

I won’t be sending the liners to a collection spot or charity. Instead, I’ll be handing them over to a coworker (Hi, Deloris!), whose son is in the Army and whose unit is expected to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan in February. I’ll also be giving her two more liners, knit by the owner of my LYS. She heard me telling one of her employees that I was making these and offered me two she had made but not mailed in yet. She likes the idea of the liners helping people we have a connection to, however tangential that connection may be. I like that, too.

The result: when D’s son comes home for Thanksgiving, he’ll receive four helmet liners, one to keep and three to share with other members of his unit.

Wait, that’s next week. Guess I’d better get the second one cast on pretty soon, huh?

FO 16: Fraternal Fetching mitts

I made a pair of Fetching mitts to coordinate with my MIL’s Noro striped scarf (FO 14), using about half a skein for each of them. Rather than trying to stripe the mitts, I simply made one out of each of the two colorways, so they will match the scarf, bot not each other, really. Of course, if my MIL wears them as a set (scarf and mitts), she’ll have an easier time explaining the mismatch to her friends and acquaintances.

Here’s a picture of the half-finished mitts, taken Sunday when I put them down for the day. (I had cast them on Friday night, on my lunch break, but otherwise not done anything on them.)

Check it out:

Not quite twins, but I like them!

You no doubt have noted that both mitts are on the same circular simultaneously. I do like to get a project involving pairs done with as little chance of SSS (or, in this case, SMS) as possible. It was a bit fiddly getting them joined to work in the round, requiring stitches being slipped to holders, but it was worth it. I even remembered to do the cables in opposite directions from one mitt to the other, as the pattern states, although I did debate just using the C4F (cable 4 forward) on both mitts, ’cause I strongly dislike doing the C4B. It’s awkward as hell.

Today, I popped in the first DVD in the season-one set of Sanctuary** (as I’ve never watched that season and want to get caught up on it before I watch any more of season two) and watched the first three episodes. I really enjoyed them and had wonderful entertainment while I finished the mitts.

Here’s the result, pre-washing and -blocking, of course:

No one will mistake these for their store-bought mitts, now will they?

When the scarf and mitts are blocked, I’ll take a pic of the set and post it.

And I still have almost half a skein of each of the Noro yarns… might just have to make a coordinating hat. Hmmm, what pattern to use?

—

The cats weren’t too impressed with my genius. (Shocking, right?)

Here was Chewie’s reaction:

"Yeah, mom, whatever."

Oh, well, what did I expect from a creature who likes to sleep with his head on the BC13’s smelly sneaker?

—

** A big THANK YOU to my coworker Mark for letting me borrow his DVD set.

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[Updated to add: So I've been thinking about the timeline for the mitts as I relayed it above and I think I missed a knitting session on Saturday night, which would mean that, aside from the initial casting on, I knit them over 3 sessions, not 2. Don't hold me to that, though, as I am clearly unreliable on the matter.]

FO 15: Arianna’s Baby Einstein (Baby Albert?)

A few days (OK, OK, a week) later than I’d hoped, but done, nonetheless.

Wanna see?

Sure you do!

This FO says, "Buttons are for followers."

That’s right, no buttons.

The fabric is a super-soft terry that would, I think, look overdone with buttons. (Full disclosure: I checked out my button stash before arriving at this conclusion. Nothing looked “soft” enough or was the right shade of lilac.)

Instead, I crocheted (that’s right, folks, the C word!) a chain about 7 inches long, using a section of the Lu Lu that was folded double to eliminate a hanging tail. When I ran out of yarn in the doubled section, I did the next stitch into the right front of the sweater at the point where the white yarn borders the lilac. Then I did a row of single crochet around the neck and down to the lilac section on the left front. I stopped there, broke the yarn and wove in the end. Then I did a repeat of the folded-yarn crochet-chain thingy for the other side, attaching it with a couple of single crochets to the appropriate join spot.

I tied a little bow and stood back to see how I liked it… and I did!

Here’s a closer shot of the neck/tie treatment:

Such a sweet little bow!

It sure didn’t escape or upset me that this has to be the easiest way to make a fastening for this particular sweater. And so perfect here!

Arianna’s sweater looks like a house robe, albeit a really small one, doncha think? Not just because of the fabric’s texture or the tie-closure, but also ’cause I made the lilac section about 3 inches “longer” than the pattern calls for at this size. That made the proportions more long-robe-like than sweater-like, but I love the idea of wrapping a little Arianna in its softness from neck to ankle… at least till she gets a few weeks or months of growth on her.

I finished this in the wee hours of Saturday morning, while on my lunch break, and showed it to a few of the women I work with. The result every time: “Aaaaaw! That’s so sweet!” and “So cute!” and “So soft!” and “Adorable!”

Wonder what I’ll make for Arianna next… probably a hat and some booties to match, as I have more than a full skein left of the Heaven Lite, with enough of the Lu Lu for trim work. Sounds like a plan!

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Still waiting for some suggestions on washing solutions for the Noro Silk Garden. Anyone?

FO 14: the one with fringe

While I did not, in fact, finish both the projects mentioned in my last post (and certainly not that night), I did finish one of them. True, it was only 8 hours ago that I did so, but an FO (and a Christmas 2009 gift, to boot!) is an FO.

Voilà!

(As always, click to embiggen.)

I love it! As to the colors in this photo, they’re a bit bluer than they appear above. The towel behind the scarf is a lovely light blue, not grey, so it would seem the whole thing has been “grey-shifted” in the transition from real to digital.

Sure hope the intended recipient (my MIL) finds it wearable and to her taste.

Still to do: wash and block it, along with the first potato-chip scarf (still waiting to be given to my FIL from last Christmas), so the Noro can bloom. Any suggestions as to what to wash it in? (Yes, water. And yes, a sink or basin. Ha-ha-ha. But what washing solution should I use? I’ve never washed Noro before and dunno what to use.

As for the Baby Einstein (Baby Albert?) sweater, I made some progress there, too.

Check it out:

Note to self: don't cast shadow on picture while taking it!

Obviously still needs work. Specifically, the shoulder seams are unsewn, the contrasting neck/bodice trim is missing, the buttons are unchosen. Oh, and there are loose ends to weave in.

As I have several choices of button in the stash closet that should work nicely, I should be able to finish it in an evening/morning, whenever I get down to it.

Not today, alas. Gotta sleep. Sorry.

Probably not tomorrow either. Gotta pull some OT at the end of my shift.

Maybe Thursday?

But one day soon, for sure.

Feeling productive

Hello, kittens! Happy November to you all. Hope your All Hallow’s Eve was no trick and all treat. As for me, I slept through the whole thing. The BCs and Julie took part in a haunted house. I got the BC13 to pose for this shot when they got home (after midnight), so I could document his brain-eating-zombie-about-to-pounce look. At the haunted house, he was concealed behind a bush, then would lurch up and out on his knees, scaring the bejeesus out of folks.

(Side note: who knew zombies could pounce? Not I.)

I spent my night off watching TV (the last half of MI: III, the last third of some Lifetime movie, some comedian/magician on Comedy Central) while finishing the knitting portion on my second potato chip scarf.

Once the sun came up, I took a couple of pics of it, folded and draped to show all of the color changes in only 2 pictures, plus one shot of the base yarns (second skeins of each, same color/dye lots), so you could see from whence the striping sequences came.

Wanna see?

Sure you do!

First, the base yarns.

L-R: Noro Silk Garden #292 and 84

I think the colors are richer, darker, more saturated, than this in person, but you get the idea.

Next, the scarf folded to show the pink end:

Love that hot-pink end!

Now, the other shot, showing the purple end:

Still to do: weave in ends, block... add fringe??

I debated doing this scarf extra long, by adding a second skein of each, but decided against it. As I have the extra yarn, however, I think I’m going to add fringe, then make a pair of fingerless mittens to match. Or a hat. Ah, decisions, decisions!

Oh, I pulled the Baby Einstein (Baby Albert?) out of timeout. It was rescued by a successful foray at my LYS, where I found a coordinating yarn to use with the lilac Bernat Lu Lu.** The new yarn (which is NOT discontinued) is a tiny bit fuzzier than the Lu Lu, but it’s every bit as silky soft. It’s Plymouth Yarn’s Heaven Lite, in color 80, which is mostly white with a few specks of color, including a surprising match for the lilac of the Lu Lu.

This morning, while getting caught up online on Lie to Me, Warehouse 13 and Stargate Universe, I added the Heaven Lite to the Lu Lu and was pleased with how they work together. I knit the front and back bodices. Now all that’s left are the sleeves, the edging stitches (to be done in the Lu Lu I have left), and the buttons.

Wanna see how the yarns look in situ?

Sure you do!

Blurry, but pretty, yes? And so soft!

A few more hours should put the FO stamp on it. Maybe I’ll get the knitting done tonight (a very rare third night off in a row!)… who knows?

And if I get in a finishing mood, I could complete the scarf tonight, too.

Wait, two FOs in a night? From me?? Is that even possible?

Check back Monday for a progress report!

—

** Robin H, thanks for the suggestion. In fact, I was going to hit Ravelry up for help if I didn’t find anything at the LYS, but didn’t go there first. Mostly ’cause I didn’t want to have to wait for something to get mailed to me. Can you say “impatient”?

How to ignore UFOs in timeout

1. Grab two skeins of gorgeous yarn from the stash closet.

2. Check your specs from the first time you knit the pattern you’re interested in.

3. Get the right-sized needle.

4. Knit for 5 hours of so, giving no thought to the naughty Baby Einstein (Baby Albert?).

5. Admire your progress.

6. Photograph it and post it for your cyberfriends to see.

Potato chip scarf #2 for me!

It’s about halfway done and I’d still be knitting on it if I didn’t have to go to bed soon and, perhaps more important, if my left hand hadn’t begged for mercy. Once again, I got caught up in the ever-shifting colors as the two skeins played off one another. I love this admittedly dead-simple pattern and I thank Jared Flood for putting it together for us, as none of us had (evidently) ever taken the initiative to do so. (Or at least had never posted about it.)

BTW, Jared doesn’t call it the Potato Chip Scarf. He calls it the Noro Striped Scarf, ’cause that’s what it’s made of and how it makes up.

This one is destined to be a Christmas gift, as was the last one I made. Maybe one of these days I’ll make one for me?

Hey, it could happen.

Baby Einstein in timeout

I started a Baby Einstein (Baby Albert?) for my future granddaughter, still to be named Arianna, a couple of days ago. I had bought this rather dirty skein (only the outermost layer is dirty, BTW) of Bernat LuLu in the Loopy Lilac color and was certain I had another, albeit cleaner, skein of it in the newly organized stash closet, as I am not prone to buying single skeins, even ones that are as soft and squishy as the Lu Lu definitely is. I can’t remember when I bought it, but the evil empire had it on clearance for $3.00 (according to the price sticker still on the label), so I snatched up its squishy goodness, having no idea what I would use it for. (Did I mention that it’s really soft?)

Fast forward to a couple of days ago, when I ran across the skein in an unsorted yarn bin (yes, I still have one of those), and thought how nice it would be to make a super-soft terrycloth-like sweater/jacket thingy for the baby-to-be. I cast on a Baby Einstein (Baby Albert?), hoping the knitted fabric would retain most of the softness that drew me to the yarn in the first place. I’ve been disappointed in the past, but the Lu Lu? Still squishy and delicious, even in garter stitch. (The BE/BA pattern’s by Sally Melville, in this book.)

I knit the bottom section, using basic math (and guessing) to size it down from the smallest size in the pattern, as that smallest size is a size 2. I want the sweater to be worn shortly after the baby is born, so probably a 6-9 month size is best. The only thing I didn’t do was dig out the pattern to verify the “height” of the bottom part before casting on, so that part (pictured below) turned out to be the same height as the size 2. “Oh, well, guess this one will just be longer on the bottom half,” I said to myself. “Knit on.”

Wanna see the finished bottom part?

Check it out:

So soft!

It’s ready for the bodice parts to be knit, and I’ve placed black yarn markers at the side seam location. (This pattern doesn’t have side seams, but you do knit the left front, right front and back parts to fit the spaces marked above.) In this photo, the fabric is rolled up/folded over to show how it will lay once the thing is finished.

If it is ever finished.

Why, Toni, I hear you say, just finish it. It’s such an easy and gratifying knit and you can finish it in no time. What’s your problem?

My problem, gentle readers, is that there apparently is no second skein of Lu Lu in my stash. None, niente, nada. I have searched high and low (several times) for the “remembered” second skein, in vain. I seems that my “remembered” skein is, more accurately, an “imagined” skein.

I re-searched the stash, this time for a super-soft yarn to complement the Lu Lu, hoping to find perhaps a white skein of squishiness that could save the sweater now.

Alas, no.

I hopped in my car and went to Michael’s and searched the limited selection there.

Alas, no.

What to do??

I dunno, y’all, so I’ve put the thing into timeout.

Now, should any of you have any Bernat Lu Lu languishing in your stash, perhaps in white or (dare I hope?) loopy lilac (color #36320), and should you be willing to part with it, I would be willing to pay you for it.

Until then, or until I think of a workaround that doesn’t make me twitch, the Baby Einstein (Baby Albert) will be bagged and stowed.

What’s a girl to do?

FO 13: Mistake-rib scarf

I added the fringe today while getting caught up on this season’s new episodes of Lie to Me. (Love that show!) And so, my friends, I say to you all, “Voilà l’écharpe finie”:

Ah, love that glare!

Sorry ’bout the sunny spot there, but I wanted to get a “true” color read and the ones without that spot (thanks to using a fill-in flash) distorted the purple unacceptably.

As you perhaps can see, especially if you can make the photo bigger on your end, I put alternating colors of fringe on either end, with 7 black and 6 purple on the end of the purple part and (you guessed it) 7 purple and 6 black on the end of the black part. The fringes are about 4.25 inches long each.

That makes the finished length, including fringe, about 87 inches.

I sure hope Susie (and Marilyn, the intended recipient) love it like I do. It’s so squishy and soft and not scratchy and, hey, it’s purple! (OK, and black, but purple!!)

I’ll definitely look forward to my next O-wool experience. The Cascade is nice, too, but it’s not as spectacular as the O-wool. Luckily for me, I’ve some yellow DK or fingering weight O-wool just waiting to be knit.

BTW, for all of you who think it’s always warm down here in the Sunshine State, please note that the mercury dipped to 41 degrees (F) last night. In mid-October. Imagine how January might be!