Blogvergence

Zack picks up sticks.
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I have a knitting blog and a Zack blog. Today Zack knit his first stitches on his own. He has the knit stitch mastered. What a star.

(Zack would like to qualify that last remark. He says he is not a master at knitting YET, but he is learning very fast.)

Vader sweater
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

It's coming down to the wire. I feel like Luke Skywalker taking one last one-in-a-million shot at blowing up the Death Star.

OK, not really. But I do have to get this finished tonight. Tomorrow is Zack's big day.

Just a couple of rounds at the collar, and then ends to weave in.
I have backup presents, in case it doesn't fit. I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out, though, considering I totally winged it. No plans to write it down, but I'm happy to share the Excel chart I used to create Vader's head. Just send me an e-mail if you want it.

Sprung.

Sproingggg!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

The week the daffodils come out is the week the people come out. In Portland in winter, we can go months without even seeing our neighbors. No one lingers outside.

But the worm has turned on the weather. Daphne blossoms, camelias, daffodils are out. Pale, stir crazy families emerge from their houses. It takes a while for our eyes to adjust to the sunlight.

One by one the die-hard cyclists are taking of their rain pants. We've made it through another winter.

Hip to Be Square
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Attention: This post is going to be neither witty nor pithy. However, if you have been looking for the pattern for this hat, read on.

This is an old hat, and and old picture. But there has been some interest in this hat among online knitters, so I thought I'd repost this pic as a visual cue for them.

I wrote this pattern and have it for sale at a few shops around Portland: The Naked Sheep, Mabel's, and CloseKnit. If you want to buy a copy and are having trouble finding one, let me know and I'll send it to you.

I have had some people tell me, both online and in person, that they're having trouble leaving comments on my blog. I have added my e-mail address to the top of the sidebar, right above my profile, so feel free to write to me directly!

This comments thing is SUCH a bummer. I made a cursory attempt at troubleshooting, but when I discovered the need to wade through 8 million pages of FAQs before I could submit my issue to Blogger, I gave up. You get what you pay for, I guess. Blogger is a fantastic free conduit, but maybe not the best for somebody like me who may need a little hand-holding.

I will delve further into this, as well as setting up an online store, once I have survived this weekend. Zack's 5th birthday party. Putting the final touches on the Darth Vader Sweater today. Hopefully pictures of it with him inside, next week!

Oh... crap.

Oh... crap.

Clapotis
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

This is our friend Clapotis. She is a cult hero... interesting, but not difficult. Utterly adaptable to a point, and then, entirely inflexible.

I have made a lot of these, in all shapes and sizes. My favorite yarn to use is not the recommended Lion and Lamb, but Lorna's Fisherman, which is cheaper and comes in 500yd. skeins. I figured out that if you cheat the pattern by one repeat on the increase rows, and then again by one repeat on the straight rows, you can knit a respectable shawl with one skein of Fisherman.

Or so I thought.

I was making one to give away at my son's school auction. I felt so on top of things... way ahead of the game. Then, I ran out of yarn about three inches from the end.

Clapotis is repetitive, and it is easy once you get the hang of it. However, once you have dropped your first stitch and let it zing all the way from one side of the shawl to the other, there is no ripping back. Well, maybe you could rip back and ladder up all of those dropped stitches, but no. That's something they only should make prisoners do.

Furthermore, let it be known that Lorna's Fisherman is not easy to find in the known universe. Portland was out. I e-mailed every yarn shop in Chicago, where Lorna's is based. No one wrote back.

Getting an order from Lorna's HQ takes about 12 weeks. The auction is in a month.

So, I started a new Clapotis with skein of Interlacements from my stash. Another big skein... the label said 600 yards. But I was insecure. Would it be enough? I didn't have any way to get more of this one either.

Then... today... I wandered into a sale at a local shop. There was one MAJORLY pawed-over skein of Lorna's Shepherd Worsted superwash in the colorway I needed. It was the yarn skein equivalent of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. Pilly, felted together, just plain ratty.

I bought it. I wound it, pulling the best of the yarn from the inside of the skein, and I finished the shawl. Yeah, it looks a little different on that corner, but the untrained eye will never see it. Only you and I will know.