Bipurler Disorder

High Knitting Season

2011-04-30T12:50:00.001-07:00

Untitled, a photo by littlekidd on Flickr.

It's April in Northwest Wyoming. This is a time when most folks around the US see daffodils and tulips poking up out of new green grass. We are greeted each morning by a dusting of snow on the back deck. Yesterday we attended a spring festival -- complete with a Maypole -- in a blizzard.

The next six weeks or so will be more dreary than not around here. We live in a place where we all play outside in the dead of winter and the dead of summer. But in between we have our "shoulder" seasons. Most people go crazy during the muddy, cold, gray fall and spring. I rejoice. It is my time to knit.

For the past six months I have been knitting for everybody else. Samples, holiday gifts, lessons, you name it. Today I am knitting for me.

I bought enough of this Silky Wool last year to make a sweater, and just rediscovered it in my stash. It makes me think of the color I would like the sky to be. While the sky is the color of dirty dishwater, I will have this beautiful sweater-in-progress to ogle.

All that said, the best therapy for the gray-sky blues around here is getting outta dodge. I'm taking this cheery blue yarn with me this weekend on a girls trip to sunny LA. The pattern is a little tricky for KUI (Knitting Under the Influence), but luckily there's no crime in trying. And if the challenge proves insurmountable, there appears to be a darling little knit shop just a mile from the hotel.

Back from the Abyss

2011-02-10T14:31:00.001-08:00

Iceland Star
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Hey there,
Though I know blogs are meant to be visited more frequently by their contributors, here I am making an annual appearance. And here's a photo that's at least six months old. This is Wyoming, after all. Just picture everything that's green in this picture covered with white. And oh, any bare skin you see here would now be covered with wool.

I'm writing now with ACTUAL news, though. I have finally managed to post a couple of my patterns for sale on Ravelry! Not sure what took me so long. It has only been a day since I posted them and I've already sold a couple of copies! Wowee. What fun.

For your viewing pleasure, may I present the Optical Illusion Hat and the Slip Stash Hat

These are old patterns. Those of you who knew me in Portland know that. But they've been given a face lift and if all goes well they're the leading edge of a stream of patterns to come. My friend and business partner, Dawn Bryfogle, have a new company called Knitting on the Divide. We'll publish more patterns under that name soon. Please check them out and let me know what you think!

DQ... and a Hair-Raising Tale of Live Moose and Crutches

2010-02-26T08:10:00.001-08:00

Skied off the course with this one...
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

I wasn't going to participate in the Knitting Olympics this year. I love the concept, but was mentally out of it... drugged up on the couch with a broken leg.

Then, on the night of the opening ceremonies Team USA paraded in with those cute Ralph Lauren hats with the moose (reindeer? I like to think of them as moose). I decided one of those would be manageable, particularly when I discovered this free chart by Helena Bristow on Ravelry. When I scrounged up enough red white and blue worsted leftovers in my stash, the deal was sealed.

I could tell by the time I hit the moose's neck that the hat would be too long. I started thinking "toque," and so made the top taller, too, decreasing only in the plain color bands so as not to disrupt the fair isle pattern in the crown.

I finished this a few days ago, and made the mistake of weaving in the ends before I tried it on. I dispatched the ends in short order, slapped it on my head, and gimped over to a mirror. Here's what I saw:

Not only do the moose look like crap, the thing is WAY too tall. What kind of drugs was I on when I knit this? Oh yeah... PAINkillers. The drug of denial. The drug of "It will get better... just keep knitting it." It didn't get better.

So, I have officially disqualified myself from the Knitting Olympics. No hard feelings. Training starts today for 2014.

If you've suffered through reading all that, you're entitled to a GOOD story, Here you go:

Last night I arrived home from teaching a knitting class. (Yes, despite the crappy knitting portrayed here, I do my best to help other people knit beautiful things.) It was dark. I began to crutch across the icy 30-yards from our detached garage to the front walk of the house. When I have to cross snow and ice on crutches, I focus entirely on the crutch tips... making sure each step has solid purchase. So I'm looking at the ground, hobbling across the snow-covered driveway. Just as I get to the front walk, I hear a loud rustling. I look up to see than I'm barely 10 feet from a mama and baby moose who had bedded down in the front yard for the night. Now they are standing, and mama is giving me the hairy eyeball.

Believe me, if you never seen a live moose, they are HUGE. Sort of like a Volkswagen Microbus with legs. You don't want to cross one. And yet hear I was, on crutches, spitting distance from a now-threatened mama, who stood between me and my front door.

In a grand leap of faith I turned my back on the moose and started hobbling slowly but deliberately back to the car. I figured if I made it to the garage before she charged I'd be ok. I got in the car and called Jim inside the house to tell him I was trapped for the time being. The curious baby followed me to the car, but was less of a threat as he was more the size of a Smart Car with legs. He came into the garage, then decided to follow his mama off into the darkness. Whew.

This was my third encounter with moose since I broke my leg a month ago, and this one was a little too close for comfort. I think I like them better on the hat... poorly knit at that.

Hands are for knitting

2010-01-31T15:13:00.001-08:00

Feeling a little kneedy...
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

I had big plans to be a ski bum this winter... at least between 9 and 3 on school days. Fate, apparently, had other ideas. On Tuesday my ski season came to an end. The extent of the injury is astonishing, compared with the relative unimpressiveness of the fall. Tomorrow one doctor will give me some lovely medicine to make me go to sleep, and another will poke holes in my knee and open up a little hardware store in there. This nice black brace on the outside is my new best friend.

And so... here's to knitting. There is a little baby sweater in progress here... tucked in behind the crutches. This is a knitting blog, after all. (Crutches are hole new kind of crazy in Wyoming winter.) Here's to buffing up my not-quite-ready- for-prime-time patterns and posting them for sale on Ravelry. Here's to writing some new ones with all this newfound time.

Thanks to knitting, I won't go completely crazy. Look for me back on the trails by the time the flowers are in bloom. Remember, that's in northern Wyoming time. It's going to be awhile.

Instant gratification

2009-11-11T10:26:00.001-08:00

Simple gifts
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

This month I've learned there's big fun to be had in knitting small things, especially when you make them for other people.

I can only take partial credit for this basketful. It's my work combined with the collected work of knitting friends. Our elementary school kids will "buy" these wee little ornaments at the school's annual holiday sale. Each kid brings in $5 to buy holiday presents for their family members. Everything in the store costs $1. We've got about 50 in the chute... need to make another 50 by mid-Dec.

The patterns come from all different places. The sweater pattern is from a collection of KnitPicks Christmas Ornaments. The Globes are from Handknit Holidays. The trees are my own pattern, one I'm using to teach friends to knit.

Oh and the gloves? They're my nod to the need to make something just a little bigger and more interesting to knit. Grove by Jared Flood. Beautiful pattern, but they came out a little too small for my man-hands. So, some lucky somebody in MY family will likely find these under the tree in a month or so.

Cat Bordhi's brain

2009-09-28T17:11:00.001-07:00

Mobius Cowl
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

I've had Cat Bordhi's "A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting" for years, but it has taken until now for me to explore the whole mobius thing. My super-brainy brother introduced me to the concept of the Mobius Strip when I was a kid, but the notion of knitting one from the midline out in two directions at once? With right side and wrong side facing you at the same time? Well, that notion made my brain explode a little every time I thought about it.

I ran into Cat Bordhi in an elevator at a knitting conference once. (Well, the knitting conference was actually in a hotel. We never could have fit all those knitters into the elevator.) I had read that Cat Bordhi was as brainy as she is nice. She was my captive for four or five floors down as I gushed aloud about how much I loved her "New Pathways for Sock Knitters: Book One". After she got off on her floor, I noticed the hair on my arms was standing up, like there was some sort of excessive electrical current in the air in that little elevator box. I'm fully convinced it was the power of Cat Bordhi's brain.

I hadn't thought about that conversation again until just this week. From time to time people come in to Knit on Pearl looking for help with mobius projects. I decided mobius and I needed some quality time together, exploding brain be damned. I pulled out "2nd Treasury" and knit one of those little felted bowls. Score one big point for Cat Bordh's brain.

Then I remembered this lovely free Mobius Cowl pattern she wrote a few years back. I whipped it up in front of the TV last night with a skein of Noro IroI had lying around. Modified a little to account for bigger-than-called-for yarn, and the fact I only had one skein.

Score another one for Cat. Circular mobius knitting is pretty darn cool. How she figured it out is beyond me. But I'm starting to get my brain around how it works. And so far today, nothing has blown up.

Retreat

2009-09-26T07:33:00.001-07:00

My Space.
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Yesterday I tossed a bunch of plants and furniture into our newly-beglassed sunroom. Well, the sunroom had glass, but it was all streaky and leaky. We still thought it was pretty nice. But now... with the new glass... it's SPECTACULAR!

So, I have claimed squatter's rights, and made a little knitting hole there. The natural light is glorious.

I'm glad I made this lovely retreat yesterday, because I just missed out on another retreat in my beloved Pac NW. Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka Yarn Harlot) and Tina Newton of Blue Moon Fiber Arts in Scappoose, Oregon, are putting on a little weekend shindig for a very small number of knitters in Nov. in Port Ludlow. They announced it on Thursday. I loved the idea but decided to sleep on the $1,000 cost for plane tix, hotel, conference fees, etc. By the time I was ready to commit yesterday afternoon -- a mere 24 hours later -- it was full. Waaaaaah!

I got a lovely "Dear Knitter..." e-mail gently breaking the news that I didn't make the cut, but that they'll do this again sometime. Next time I'll be ready to pounce, with credit card in-hand. Maybe I can convince them to come to Jackson Hole, and bring Nancy Bush up from SLC!

Warped

2009-07-01T11:07:00.001-07:00

String along
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

We trekked down to Boulder, Colorado last week for a lovely visit with Jim's family.

Since we lived in Denver for 10 years, we also made arrangements to see countless old, great friends. It was a VERY busy week. We hiked, we ate, we took Zack climbing and to the drum store and spent a lot of time driving around to meet people.

We also spent a ton of time doing "mandatory retail therapy." Because we live in the sticks, we take advantage of rare opportunities to stock up at places like Coscto and Target and Nodrstrom and REI when we go to The Big City.

So, having spent an entire week enduring fun but tightly-scheduled schlepping, I was faced with the prospect of Not Enough Time Left.

I had had about an hour of personal discretionary time the entire week... and it did not fall during Regular Business Hours. Suddenly we were on our last day and, other than one emergency needle stop, I had not spent ANY quality time in any of the local yarn shops.

Grandma and Grandpa graciously agreed to shepherd Zack through an afternoon of fun, and I high-tailed it down to Shuttles, Spindles and Skeins..

I had been in this wonderful store once before looking for yarn. I admit, I didn't find it the friendliest place at the time. But I went back because all the way down from Jackson I'd been hatching a plot in my mind to explore spinning and weaving, and I knew they had the goods.

Well, I now understand that, for the folks at SS&S, knitting is wonderful fun. But spinning and weaving are their passions. The store is co- owned by one of the spinning world's Great Ones... Maggie Casey. My timid inquiry about which drop spindle might be right for a beginner led to a terrific 15 minute private primer from Maggie on how to draft and spin.

After that, Maggie hooked me in with one of her weaving folks, who hooked me up with this groovy loom. In a cool 45 minutes I had dropped a wad of cash at this place. No wonder they were so happy.

Now, since I have more yarn than I can possibly knit in a lifetime, I think this weaving thing is going to work out just fine. I confess I haven't had time to play with the drop spindle again yet, but I warped a skein of Noro Silk Garden Sock yarn and I'm going to use a skein of my own hand-dyed for the weft. (The red in the picture is just a dishtowel I put under the loom clamps so they wouldn't mar the table.) Pictures of progress forthcoming.

2009-06-03T15:42:00.001-07:00

Pom-tastic cammo
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

This past weekend several friends and I spent a day learning to dye yarn. Before I left for this odyssey in color, I asked my son what color he might like for a hat. His reply: "Cammo. With a pom-pom."

This is KnitPicks bare merino bulky, pre-soaked with vinegar and then dyed using fiber-reactive dyes.

The dyeing was a gas, and easier than I thought. We spread out on tables all over my friend Christie's front lawn. She lives on the main drag in the little (and I mean LITTLE) town of Kelly, Wyoming. By the end of the day, we were surely the talk of the town.

Not knowing better, we didn't use combinations of yarn/dye to create very vibrant color. But we all had a great time experimenting. I have several other fairly subdued skeins in shades of blue and orange.

I loved the way the cammo skein turned out. Zack loves the hat, tho I don't expect any calls from the Pentagon requesting mass production.

TWO DAYS LATER:
When I showed Zack how to use the pom-pom maker he discovered his latent love of fiber creation. Not wanting him to burn through all my hand-dyed silk and cashmere to satisfy his crafty itch, I bought him a skein of Red Heart cammo yarn that he can shred to his delight. After making his first pom-pom with it, he announced that THIS pom-pom belongs on the hat I made him because, "No offense, Mom, but THIS yarn is really a much better cammo color than the hat." Red Heart vs. hand-dyed merino. You be the judge.

Love Hat Relationship

2009-04-15T08:05:00.001-07:00

Braid & Bobble Hat
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Hats come in handy where I live. So, I made another one. This was my travel project for our Spring Break trip to Washington, DC. Braid and Bobble Hat by Fiber Trends, knit on size 5 needles with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran.

This pattern seemed an inordinate amount of work for a hat. Several cable patterns, all different numbers of rows, worked flat, then seamed. Seed stitch a-plenty in between. Stitches picked up along a selvedge for the crown. Along the opposite side, the cable is turned on the WS, and then that whole edge is flipped to the front and hemmed. Sheesh! Clever construction, but a little fussy!

The whole time I was working on this, during those afternoon rests from museum and monument hopping, I sort of loathed it. If I had been home I would have dropped it like a hot potato, but stuck in a hotel room with nary a yarn shop in sight, it was the only thing I had to knit. So I plodded along.

The thing is, now that it's done, I LOVE it. I love the way it fits. I love the softness of the yarn. I love the horizontal cable orientation. Two skeins barely made it. I used tails for the seam and hem, and had to skimp on the little top braid.

When I finished this hat last week it was 55 degrees and sunny. I didn't expect to get the chance to wear it until next winter. But lo and behold... winter is not done with us yet. I took this photo just a couple of minutes ago on the front porch. On Easter Sunday, I washed the car in a t-shirt in the driveway. Today, I had to scrape the windshield. I would be TOTALLY over the snow... that is, if I didn't have this great new hat to wear.

Race to beat the babies

2009-03-11T08:38:00.001-07:00

Two By Two
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

I have six babies coming into friends' lives in the next few weeks. Two sets of twins, and two other friends who are just having one baby at a time.

So, while I've been looking longingly at my half finished "Must Have Cardigan," I've been knitting a flurry of tiny little sweaters and hats and booties.

These are for the twins. Baby Boleros and matching hats for the ones I know are girls. Knit with Cascade 220 Paints Superwash.

The white and tan hats are from One Skein, and the booties are from a wonderful book called "Knits from the Heart," by Kristin Spurkland. It's out of print, I think, but if you can lay your hands on a copy you won't be disappointed. The yarn is an organic cotton from Plymouth.

These are going in the mail today! Hopefully they will beat the babies. They're all due in May, but you know how twins are. Those mammas better get some sleep while they can!

Why Leigh Radford is a GODDESS!

2009-02-27T10:16:00.001-08:00

Northern Lights Hat
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

OK, first, let me say that self-portraits are not my strong suit. Especially when I'm shooting into the snow. (Alison, any pointers from a pro photographer?) This isn't the greatest picture of my Northern Lights hat, but I thought the ice formations in the upper left corner of the frame looked cool, so there you have it. Plus I didn't have any shoes on when I was taking this picture, so time was of the essence, if you know what I mean.

Anyway, I wear this hat ALL the time. I love it. You may ask, what does this have to do with Leigh Radford? Well, nothing but a tangential experience that occurred in my brain.

Yesterday I was wearing my Northern Lights Hat when I took seven first-grade boys out on a little snowshoe jaunt behind the school. The boys spotted a ton of moose and bunny tracks and it was snowing and beautiful and I thought, "Man! What a lucky thing to have kids and have fun with them!" (I even thought this as I had to stop every 20 seconds and refasten a lost snowshoe to one boy or another).

Thinking of how lucky I am to be a mom made me think of the many good friends of mine who will be come first-time moms this spring. Then with a jolt I realized I have FIVE babies coming into my friends' lives in May, and only ONE little sweater made. That one little sweater is darling and cabled and knit at six stitches to the inch and I could never knock out four more by May.

Enter Leigh Radford. Last year I helped a knitting student with the Baby Bolero pattern found in her wonderful book One Skein. I remember thinking it seemed clever, and squirreling away plans to knit one myself when the opportunity presented itself.

Well. Now I have two friends each with a sets of twins on the way. So dug a little Cascade 220 Superwash Paints out of my stash and set to work. In the time it took to watch Survivor and The Daily Show, I had the thing mostly done! It is wee and wonderful. Thank you, Leigh Radford! I will love making more of these. After I get the next one done I'll post a picture of the two, and you can imagine those tiny little twin girls filling them up in a couple of months!

Actually, it's done

2009-02-17T10:14:00.001-08:00

Northern Lights Cap
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Finished. Worn. Just don't have a more updated picture. Besides, I like the way this one glows. This is the Northern Lights Cap from Homespun, Handknit. I made it at a finer gauge, more like 7.5 sts/inch, with KnitPicks Palette yarn. I think it's pretty groovy.

I'm trying to find more resources, patterns, etc. for Bohus knitting. I know there are a couple of nice sweater patterns, but I want to find a book with history, techniques, etc. Any ideas?

Sorry I'm not here on the blog much anymore. Since I moved to Jackson Hole six months ago I've spent more of my computing time in Ravelry and on Facebook. I like Ravelry because I can post nuts-and-bolts info about my work to which I can refer later. And Facebook has become my lifeline to friends and family, now that I'm so far-flung. In general I enjoy writing, but I don't have much to say that is interesting to blog-reading folks, I don't think.

I'll continue to throw up (bad choice of words) the occasional post here. However, I much prefer the two-way communication of Facebook. If you're not there, sign up! It's wonderful. If you are, come find me! Carolyn Kidd Little. I'm wearing a ski helmet in my profile pic. Says I live in Eastern Idaho, but that's just because Jackson Hole doesn't have a FB network yet, and Eastern Idaho was the closest one. Like saying Jupiter is close to Mars.

Now, a quick offering to catch up on my knitting life. I just returned from the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in Tacoma. It is SUCH a wonderful event, and for me it was as much a chance to learn and grow this year as it was a reunion with my northwest buddies. This year my classes were all exceptional. I took a Gansey construction class with Beth Brown-Reinsel, A knit-to-fit class with Sally Melville, and double knitting with Lucy Neatby. I gained a ton of great knowledge to enhance my own knitting, and to pass along to my students.

Today is my birthday, and Madrona is my annual birthday present to myself. If you've never been to a knitting conference, this is the one. The folks who organize it do such a wonderful job. It's not like the big "Stitches" conferences. It's intimate, but not small-time by any stretch. I already have the dates on my calendar for 2010

From Blanket to Doily

2008-11-18T08:58:00.001-08:00

Hemlock Ring
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Well, this was fun.
I followed the original Hemlock Ring Doily pattern, with Noro Silk Garden Sock Yarn. I skipped the last four-round repeat, because I was afraid I might run out of yarn. In hindsight, I probably had enough, but it would have been close. I like this size, though. It will be perfect for the back of a boring white chair in my living room. I have two of those chairs, and another skein of this Noro, so I might just whip out another one of these.

2008-11-12T08:14:00.001-08:00

Reluctant model
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Jim, Zack and I drove from Jackson Hole, in the northwest corner of Wyoming, to Boulder, Colorado this past weekend. It's between 8 and 9 hours each way, depending on weather and whether. That is, weather that leaves the roads dry and whether you can keep the speedometer at 80mph or above.

Jim likes to drive, and Zack is old enough to be content on a long road trip with books and gadgetronica. So, that left me with about 16 hours of captive knitting time.

I spent the entire time working on the Pecan Pie Beret.

I have never made a tam, and I have never worked a brioche stitch. The brioche was cool. The tam is cruel. I have a problem with hats in general. I always feel like they're too small on the needles, and then they end up too big once bound off. Now, this is strange because I'm pretty good at math and I am comfortable getting an accurate gauge and jiggering the stitch counts to make things come out right. My sweaters are fine. Hats never work, tho.

This beret was gauging small on the needles, so I threw in an extra round of increases. Now I have a knitted pizza. I even threw it in with a load of laundry to try to shrink it a little. Now I have a knitted pizza I can't unravel.

Oh well. At least it looks good on the dog.

Like Buttah

2008-10-20T19:11:00.001-07:00

River Forest Gansey
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

This yarn is positively dreamy. It's Artesenal by Aslan Trends and I bought it before I left Portland at The Naked Sheep.

Where I live in northwestern Wyoming, folks seem to love bulky weight wool and alpaca. I'm sure I'll be among the converted after I've lived through an entire winter here, but for now I still like my cotton and silk.

This Artesenal is a fair compromise: Mostly cotton with a fair dose of alpaca and a hint of mystery synthetics. What is "Polyamide" anyway? I feel like someone tried to teach me in 11th grade chemistry, and the knowledge never fully permiated my teen-age, teflon brain.

This is the back of a sweater I'm making for my son, Zack. He's only six so this little project zips along. It's from the beautiful book Handknit Holidays by Melanie Falick. I finally broke down and bought a copy and there are SO many things I want to make.

This project is sized for kids and adults, and I happen to have another 10 skeins of Artesenal in a gorgeous rusty color. Hmm.. Zack's dad may get one of these, too.

One down...

2008-10-15T08:16:00.001-07:00

The Fat Lady is Warming Up
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

I will finish this today. I have a few ends to weave, and buttons to sew on. And with no time to waste. Yes, that is snow on the trees outside. We had six inches over the weekend. This sweater feels pretty good.

I'm happy with the way it fits, considering it's my first try at really altering a pattern to fit MY body. The original pattern is called "Erica" by Elsbeth Lavold. It's one of those little crop sweaters that look darling on petite women. On me, they look a bit like a costume from the Robin Hood Enchanted Forest Theme Park.

I liked everything else about this pattern, though. So I knit a swatch to find the gauge I wanted, and just jiggered the stitch counts to make it fit. The arms are a little bunchy in front and the neck is a little pouffy in back. (Pouffy is a technical term.) But I can live with it. I find the back of the neck to be the hardest place to fit. Anybody have any sweater-fitting reference books they like?

Meet me in the middle

2008-09-25T10:35:00.001-07:00

Philosopher's Wool kit
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

This is one of about six sweaters I have "in process." They draw me in with their allure of learning a new technique, or puzzling through a complicated pattern or structure. Somewhere between 30 and 80 percent of the way through I get bored and the unfinished sweater ends up like Woody from Toy Story, shoved in a cubby and replaced by some bright shiny new thing.

This project is a perfect example. It's a kit I bought at the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival last February, made by the super cool folks from Philosopher's Wool. The wool has that wonderful scratchy, oily quality I love. Occasionally you have to pick bits of hay out of it. It practically cries "baa!"

The construction is crazy -- two pieces, each starting at the cuff. You knit the arm in the round, then cast on a mess of stitches at both sides the armpit, and then immediately join them together and knit the front and back simultaneously as one back and forth panel. It's weird and the directions are vague. But that makes it more fun, right?

Anyway I've realized that maybe the reason I don't finish sweaters is because there was no reason to wear them in Portland. It didn't get cold enough. Now that I'm in Jackson Hole I'm in a race with mother nature to get those babies finished. Already we're waking up to hard frosts and temps in the 20s. This one will be great for walking Zack to the bus stop. Hoping I have enough left over for a hat to match.

Ahoy there, mateys!

2008-09-19T07:53:00.001-07:00

Shiver me timbers!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Yup, you thought I forgot about you. But like the dust speck said to Horton, "We are here! We are here!"

"Here" is our new home in the Jackson Hole Valley of Wyoming. For those of you not familiar, this is one of our nation's most spectacularly beautiful places. We're about 80 miles from Yellowstone National Park, and pretty far away from just about everything else. We moved here about three weeks ago, just in time for the boy inside that hat to start first grade. We live in Wilson, where the elevation is about 6,000 feet and the population is about 1,200 people.

The hat, by the way, is the wonderful We Call them Pirates hat, available for free download. I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in brown and cream, which I bought at my new LYS, Knit on Pearl.

Here's a side view:

This will certainly be only the first of many hats I knit here. We have had a hard frost on the ground just about every morning since we've been here. This will be a marked contrast with Portland, where the mere threat of a hard frost ANY time of the year leads the local news.

In addition to our daily frost, here are some other notable differences between where we are now and "the big city."

1. We had to drive 40 miles, over a mountain pass the other day to buy a simple glass fish tank. But within an hour of returning Zack caught a fish for the tank in the irrigation ditch behind our yard. In lieu of driving back over the mountain pass to buy fish food, we have been feeding him Frosted Mini Wheats.

2. Some little critter -- a raccoon or a fox -- keeps pooping on my front porch. And the other day he stole one of Zack's shoes when I left them out to dry.

3. We see hot air balloons in the sky every morning on our way to the school bus stop.

4. We can hear coyotes howling and elk bugling in our yard at night.

5. There is no Starbuck's, Target or Wal-Mart here. The closest ones are at least an hour away by car. (over aforementioned mountain pass) Costco is even farther.

6. We live 10 minutes from the best skiing in the United States.

7. Zack catches frogs on the playground at recess.

8. People knit -- and WEAR -- gloves with fingers here.

9. People pick up their kids from school on horseback.

10. You only have to dial seven digits to make a local call.

Remains to be seen how we'll weather the cold here. I'm sure I'll get a LOT more knitting done!

2008-05-31T20:06:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Where we're headed

I have been absent in recent weeks, chiefly because the thing that has consumed me has been something I couldn't talk about in this universe. Today it is final though. We are moving from Portland, Oregon to Jackson Wyoming.

We have agonized over this decision since the job offer came at the beginning of April. In the end, Robert Frost helped me to get there.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

We have so much to look forward to: Grandparents a few doors away. Unprecedented natural beauty outside our back door. Fantastic schools. Wide open space.

We are giving up so much in return: A fantastic city. The perfect house in the perfect neighborhood. Proximity to the best friends anyone could imagine.

I think it is the right decision. We can only know for sure if we try it. We leave Portland in early August. On your mark, get set, pack!

2008-04-23T20:48:00.000-07:00

For the Record

The weather here sucks. It is the middle of April, and our weather is bad for February. Last weekend forecasters predicted snow. Two weeks before that it did snow, and THAT was the latest snow on record here. What's going on?! Chicago has the Lake Effect. In Portland, we have the Gore effect. So many people here are so concerned about the environment, that Mother Nature decided to open up a can of whoopass on us all winter and spring, hoping we'll tell the world she means business about this Global Warming thing. Somebody should tell her to go rain on China. Give me a little sun.

Yarn Harlot came to town last night. She's always a gas. Have to say tho, the crowd scared me just a little bit. The fringes of the knitting culture are approaching Star-Con fanaticism. If this guy was a knitter, he would have been at the Harlot's talk last night. Some lady got up and sang a song she wrote for Stephanie. Somewhere in the third verse (!) I think I heard a rhyme for the word "gusset."

I would post a picture, but I haven't taken any. Because there's no SUN! Can you tell I'm bitter?

2008-04-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

I am cleaning out closets. I just found a box of 45s I've been trucking around for 30 years. I haven't had a record player in at least 20 of those years. Want to know what was in there? Here are the highlights:

"Dark Lady" by Cher
"Walk Like and Egyptian" by The Bangles
"In the Year 2525" by Zager and Evans
"Muskrat Love" by Captain and Tenille
"Gonna Fly Now" (Theme from Rocky) by Bill Conti
"Rubberband Man" by The Spinners
"The NIght Chicago Died" by Paper Lace
"Rosanna" by Toto
"Too Shy" by Kajagoogoo

and the piece de resistance? A 45 with a generic looking white label that just says "Flip Wilson" in black letters. If I remember right, it's a comedy routine that came free in a box of laundry soap.

2008-03-10T22:24:00.000-07:00

Whoa. That's bright

Yeah, I know this is a crappy photo, taken with my phone in lousy light. But this sweater is SO bright, who needs light? This is a Baby Surprise Jacket I knit with some random leftovers of Cascade Sierra Quatro. The striping pattern seemed like a good idea at the time. Truth be told, it was doomed from the start.

Mistake No. 1:I didn't really read the pattern. I had knit one of these before and so I didn't really pay attention to what I was doing the second time around. There's a big section of increases, and because I wasn't paying attention I only knit half the number of increases called for by the pattern. As I was knitting I was thinking to myself, Hmmm... It's taking a LOT longer to get to 152 stitches than I remember... But I was at Madrona and I was having fun chatting with folks and it was mindless knitting and I didn't actually stop to consider the possibility that I had totally jacked up the sweater.

Mistake No. 2: I contrived this crazy color scheme that involved rotating among three colors so that each color had five ridges, intertwined with one other color, while the third color rested. This involved cutting the yarn every 10 ridges or so. Are you putting two and two together yet?

Consequences of Mistakes No. 1 and 2: After I discovered mistake No. 1, I painstakingly ripped the sweater back and wound -- in order -- all of my cut strands of color back onto their respective balls of yarn. I started the increase section again, making the correct number of increases this time. Within a few inches I realized that my cut strands were now not going to be long enough to finish the requisite number of rows in each color. I had plenty of yarn, but the unused, uncut yarn was now at the cores of the three balls, surrounded by countless strands that were too short to use.

Mistake No. 3: I used the too short strands anyway, and now have about eight thousand ends to weave in.

I can't bring myself to weave in all those ends because I hate the way the colors turned out. This one will likely end up on the mound o' regret. That is, unless Elmo wants to buy it to wear for a night on the town. I think it's his color.

Gorgeous!

2008-02-23T19:55:00.001-08:00

A room with a view
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

We left 50s and sunny this morning, and arrived here this afternoon. This is the view from Jim and Lisa's house in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Jim grew up with this view in his backyard. We've been coming here together for 20 years, but it still takes my breath away. We'll be here for a week of skiing and exploring, and dreaming of maybe living here someday.

Jim is hovering waiting to use the computer, so I'll wait till tomorrow to tell you how Elizabeth Zimmerman would be turning in her grave to know how I dorked up her Garter Baby Surprise Jacket.

2008-02-18T05:15:00.001-08:00

Spring!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Baack to Life, Baack to Reality.

My eyes were not happy to see my contact lenses this morning. “So soon?!” they cried. “Didn’t you release us from your suction-y grip a mere five hours ago?” It’s about 5am here in Portland. Zack just asked, in his most polite gentle voice, if he could please snuggle in with us. I was left with with about six inches of mattress real estate. So, I got up.

I’m still coming down from the Madrona high. I’m sure there are folks who have the time and resources to show up at fiber fests all over the country, kind of like Phish groupies with really nice sweaters. For them, maybe some of the magic of knitting en mass has worn off. Not for me, though. I loved every minute of lounging in the lobby of the hotel, watching people parade around in their knitted finery -- truly exquisite stuff.

I loved the late-nite knitting gatherings, and uncontrollable silliness that is the natural byproduct of camaraderie among folks who have escaped the daily routine of life, work and family to the luxury of just knitting. Or just spinning. Or just doing a little of both. Or neither. (But most of all not doing cooking or cleaning or laundry.)

I loved the giddiness of being in the midst of the famous fiber folks. Charming Ruth Sorenson and ALL those Kauni groupies. Graceful, elegant Nancy Bush gliding around leaving a trail of warm and fuzzy in her wake. And most of all Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, with her big-hearted philosophical vibe and stellar comic timing. I was fortunate enough to chat with her on a couple of occasions and even off-the-cuff she is so wise and open and true to herself she makes me want to work harder to shed my lemming-like ways and do a better job of following my heart as a mother and a person.

I loved my classes. Thanks to Pat Bruner I left Tacoma knowing in my heart how to make a sweater for anybody that will FIT, pattern be damned. I spent Saturday morning laughing with Stephanie and 14 other fun ladies from all over the country. We got talking about first concerts at one point. For one student, it was Elvis. For two others, The Beatles. Cool. Stephanie was full of her usual sage advice, including nifty tricks for “reading” one’s knitting, which is a personal soapbox of mine. I hope she will make good on her plan to teach a class next year on how to be a more efficient knitter.

I celebrated my birthday at Madrona this year, and my friends led the whole lobby in an impromptu midnight sing on behalf of my 43rd year. Within seconds, this really nice knitter just materialized with gorgeous cupcakes she just happened to have on-hand from her own birthday celebration a couple of days before. Man. Could it get any better? Thanks again for those!

And best of all, I didn’t get pink eye.

On Pins, Off Needles

2008-02-10T11:39:00.001-08:00

Falling Leaves
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Here's a favorite from Scarf Style. I've blocked it since, and the little leaves march in a much more orderly way now.

I'm going to use this pattern for teaching this spring, and encourage folks to buy this fantastic book and knit a different scarf from it each term through the year.

Four days and counting till Madrona and I'm desparately trying to finish my version of Oblique. I think it's actually going to fit!! Imagine that. I have all the knitting done, two sides and one arm to seam, and ends to weave. I'm still in the tunnel, but the light at the end is getting very bright.

2008-02-07T08:17:00.001-08:00

Hat To Be
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Looks Like Crochet...
But it's not!! It's a slip stitch pattern I'm working out for an upcoming class at The Naked Sheep.

Is it too dizzy? I sort of like it.

I'm back in the computer groove, baby, thanks to Ravelry! Wow. WHAT a resource. I will get a bug on my blog soon to pay homage. I have reconnected with long lost knitters both here in Portland and out in cyberland. There aren't enough hours in the day...

My son Zack is home from school with Pink Eye. This means he's well, but can't go to school because he could make everyone else sick. That, coupled with the fact that I've only just discovered Ravelry, means that I'm not a very creative mom for him while he's out of school. "Sure! You can play the Wii for another hour!!". Building those critical thinking skills, right? (?)

The mere mention of pink eye makes my skin crawl. I haven't been in proximity to a case since college. Really it's just a cold in your eyes, but it looks pretty gross and it's soooo contagious. Of course my doom-and-gloom scenario is that I'll be infected just in time to go to Madrona next week. I better go wash my hands. Again.

This is Where I Live

2008-02-03T21:07:00.001-08:00

Socks for Waiting
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

I'm giving the socks a front row seat to Portland's rain show, as seen from the dry side of my windshield. These are "Serendipity," the first package from the Blue Moon folks in this year's Rockin' Sock Club.

I live in Portland. During this bleak midwinter, I also live in my car. The gutsier among us don rain pants and ride bikes, but I can't do it. Not this year -- the worst I can remember in the 10 I've lived here.

So, I spend a lot of my day in this driver's seat. Driving to school, then to work, then back to school where I park in this spot and wait and knit and listen to NPR's "Fresh Air." Some days I only manage five minutes. But when I get 20 it makes me a much nicer chauffeur for the little people who come streaming out of the building when the bell rings. From here it's on to soccer or gymnastics or taekwondo or who knows where. More opportunities to sit and wait. And knit.

The sun is making a feeble but persistent effort on this day. Do you see it? Over on the right side of the frame. Rain won out in the end, but soon.... SO soon it will start to get better.

I've been poking around Ravelry these past few days and it is super cool. I still would much rather have my nose in my needles than a computer screen, which is why I am just now discovering its greatness. It's also why I don't blog nearly enough.

Taking pictures is the other problem with regular blogging. Natural light is at a premium these days in the dreary Northwest. How to find the light, take the pictures, get them into the computer, upload them, and write?

Yikes! I have the best intentions, but obviously I need to figure out how to streamline my process and quit whining.

When the sun comes back out I'll be much easier to take.

Getting fleeced

2007-09-23T20:38:00.001-07:00

One hump, or two?
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Hello, it's me. Sporadic, erratic posting isn't likely to get me any sort of regular readership, but I figure this whole thing is mostly for family anyway. I decided this summer I would rather knit than blog. I have been knitting plenty. At some point I will take pictures of all the stuff I have knit and put it up for you to see. It's on my mind, but has been far down on the list. In the past few weeks we have checked the following things off that list: recovering from our Wyoming trek, starting kindergarten (Zack), teaching several knitting classes (me) and getting a new roof on our house.

The following things are next on the list: garage sale (next weekend), sister Laura's wedding in Cleveland, Halloween, visits from out-of-town friends and grandparents.

Of course after that comes Thanksgiving and Christmas and we all know what happens to our own pet projects then.

I realized though, that I actually took a picture today of Zack wearing something I knit for him that you haven't seen before. Today he and I went on a little adventure to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. He and this camel really hit it off. The sweater is a mock rugby shirt made from Cascade's "Cotton Rich." GREAT yarn for kids stuff if you haven't tried it. Knits best about about 4 or 4.5 sts/inch.

The sweater would look better with a placket. I was just too lazy to make one. I think I'll write up the pattern, tho. TO DO Item number 467 on the (still growing) list.

Where have I been?

2007-08-28T07:03:00.001-07:00

Yellowstone
Originally uploaded by littlekidd

Here, there and everywhere. We've put 1,500 miles on the van in the past two weeks. Before that? I've been knitting, just not blogging. School's out, the sun is shining. I will get around to taking some knitting pictures and posting them as soon as I get home.

We've had a sea change in the Portland knitting scene. Yet another new shop, Twisted, opened in July. It brings smiling faces and yummy sock yarn to my very own neighborhood. It also brought the number of Portland knit shops to 20 plus. Too many to sustain.

The tipping point had been coming, it seems. Two of our favorite local shops have shut their doors this summer. The owner of "Lint" in NW Portland decided running a shop while being mom to a beautiful baby boy was too much. Because of the super-saturated market, she couldn't find a buyer.

And our beloved Mabel's shut it doors just last week. Owner Cait decided the coffee shop/yarn store combo wasn't going to keep the lights on. Lots of people came to drink coffee and knit. Not so many were buying yarn. So pretty soon, Mabel's will be "Tandem" coffeehouse, also run by Cait. I'm sure glad she's staying around. I will bring my knitting and drink their coffee and wish they still had some yarn to sell.

Mom, can I knit?

2007-05-04T19:14:00.001-07:00

Zack is Knitting!!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

You sure can, little man!
Zack has about a one-row attention span for knitting, but he is doing it, little by little (by Little).

Kudos to my friend Stephanie who had her first pattern published in Magknits. Top billing, even! Cool.

A Case of The Blahgs

2007-04-27T14:15:00.001-07:00

Arctic Lace Vest
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I am in awe of knit-bloggers who update their blogs both regularly and creatively. Lately I don't qualify. Got a little grief yesterday from one of my knitting students about my conspicuous absence here in the 'sphere. I'm just not feeling very witty with words.

Given the choice wouldn't you rather be knitting than blogging? It's all about perspective. If someone had a gun to my head right now I might be pursuaded to go downstairs and tackle the gi-normous pile of laundry... growing more organic by the minute. Definitlely NOT on my list of "things I'd rather do."

So, in that context, blogging seems thrilling. I've been doing plenty of knitting, after all. Here's my vest in progress from Arctic Lace. It's big -- I can't even fit half of it in the frame and show the detail, so I opted for detail. It's Silky Wool, bottom up, knit in one piece to the armpit. You get the idea.

I love the pattern so much I think I might use it to make some kitchen curtains. Or maybe if this vest doesn't turn out I'll just stick a rod in it and hang it in the window.

Needing something small to break the 300-stitch per row monotony, I whipped up Odessa this weekend. What a super little pattern. That Grumperina knows her stuff! I forsee many of these going out in Christmas packages later this year.

Gotta jet and pick up our little man at school. I guess the title of this blog entry was the most creative part. Don't say I didn't warn you. Thanks for making it all the way to the bottom.

A Photo and a Poem

2007-04-18T00:56:00.001-07:00

Peace.
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I love this picture for a million reasons. It captures the essence of "Grandma Cindy," in one of her favorite Portland places. She and Grandpa John came from Boulder for a visit a couple of weeks ago. We visited the Chinese Gardens on one of those perfect sharp-sunny spring days when everything is so pretty it makes your eyes hurt.

In this picture Cindy is wearing a Clapotis shawl I gave her for Christmas. She has her beautiful silver hair clip. This is the view of Grandma Cindy that makes me think of a poem I read on the bus here. (Yes, instead of adds for Alka-Seltzer on the insides of our Portland buses, we have poems, courtesy of the city. It's pretty cool, and VERY Portland.)

I shared this poem once before on this blog, but it's worthy of a second look, now that there's a picture to match. Grocery store or Chinese Gardens, it's all the same universe.

I Confess
by Alison Luterman

I stalked her in the grocery store:
her crown of snowy braids held in place by a great silver clip,
her erect bearing, radiating tenderness,
the way she placed yogurt and avacados in her basket,
beaming peace like the North Star.
I wanted to ask, "What aisle did you find your serenity in,
do you know how to be married for 50 years, or how to live alone,
excuse me for interrupting, but you seem to possess
some knowledge that makes the earth burn and turn on its axis"
but we don't request such things from strangers nowadays.
So I said, "I love your hair."

Sizing Me Up

2007-04-13T08:13:00.001-07:00

Eye on the Prize
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

... or hopefully down.

I started this sweater in January. it's from Interweave Knits Winter, 2004. On the cover a beautiful Asian woman is wearing this Kristin Nicholas design made in brown and green diamonds with red and yellow trim. It was the first issue of Interweave I ever bought and I saved it, hoping for a day when I'd be daring enough to knit the sweater on the cover

I toned down the color scheme a bit and LOVE the result. The knitting is fine, but slow. I knew it would be slow, kind of like losing weight. So, I decided to knit it a size small and lose the weight to fit into it at the same time.

Well... progress on both sweater and body has been slow. I had hoped to finish in time to wear it to my 20th college reuion in June. Since I have become distracted from both the knitting and the body projects, I am not optimisitc. And I keep making excuses in my head like, "It will be HOT in June anyway! No time to wear a sweater!"

So I've been making other things. Socks and lacey things out of Donna Druchunas's Arctic Lace. It's a small book, but it packs a punch!

I'm motiviated this morning to shed a few pounds. Maybe I'll get to work on that sweater again too.

2007-04-07T17:43:00.001-07:00

Felty Easter!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Happy Easter! We don't celebrate the religious version in our house... just the dyed eggs and bunny chocolate version. Here's a felted basket I made for Zack. He picked out the colors. Sure says Easter to me. The number one Bunny will drop his goodies in the basket tonight after Zack's asleep.

This is my friend Cheri's pattern. If you like it and want to make one for next year, you can pick up a copy at The Naked Sheep Knit Shop in Portland.

Getting ridgey with it

2007-04-02T00:57:00.001-07:00

Lizard Ridge
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I'm here... I'm here.
I've been woefully neglectful. Sorry. Time to sweep up the e-dust bunnies and clear the cobwebs from my own head and start writing again.

Been knitting up a storm, but I had a period a couple of weeks ago when I just didn't want to knit. It was horrifying, really. Happened once before, right after Christmas. I think slamming through that Darth Vader sweater in Superwash wool did me in. It's a cool Darth, but not a great-fitting sweater. I have yet to make a great fitting sweater for Zack.

So, I decided to knit something that doesn't need to fit. This is the Lizard Ridge blanket in process. I'd like to give it to a friend as a housewarming present. The color scheme is completely random, as I'm mostly using up Kuryeon I had lying around.

This Noro helped me find my knitting mojo again. So, I cast on several other projects and this one has been languishing. The library called to say it was my turn to check out Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas. Wow. If you like lace, run -- don't walk -- to buy this book. It's thoroughly wonderful. I'm making the vest on page 147 using Silky Wool and a size 4 needle.

Lately I've been working on a felted easter basket for Zack, designed by my friend Cheri. Zack picked out the colors and boy are they bright -- like a box of sugary Peeps. Makes my teeth hurt to knit it, but I'm almost done. I'll spring the final version on you in a few days -- chocolate bunny and all.

Blogvergence

2007-03-31T09:47:00.001-07:00

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.)

2007-03-13T17:03:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-03-12T16:59:00.001-07:00

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.

2007-03-09T09:46:00.001-08:00

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!

2007-03-03T00:17:00.001-08:00

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.

2007-02-15T16:01:00.001-08:00

Spinemann Yarn
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Drumroll please... it's a
LOGO CONTEST!

Hey all you brainy, tech-inclined artistes out there in cyberland. I need your help! I mentioned last week that I write patterns and my homemade logo is ... well... homemade. It looks like this:

So, I'm giving away some of my friend Bob's beautiful hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn to the lucky person who can come up with a new logo idea I can use proudly.

In my ideal world, the winner of the contest would provide:

1. Art that is simple and linear, and one color.
2. Art that doesn't undermine the name "Bipurler Disorder," which I think is catchy enough on its own
3. A scalable, high-resolution eps file so I could use it on business cards and patterns and other papery stuff.

I was thinking about some sort of head, lobotomized, with a semi-unraveled ball of yarn coming out the top where a brain would be. The expression on the face might be deliriously happy. This is just an idea.

Now, more about the yarn:
The yarn is even more gorgeous in person. the rainbow one is a single-ply bulky and the greenish one is a six-ply sport weight. Both skeins are 100 percent wool.

This is very special stuff. Bob only sells it in three shops in Portland. If you like one or the other best, I could easily arrange to get you two of the same.

The fabulous Yarn Harlot gave me the idea for the contest when I met her at Madrona last month. Thank you, Stephanie! Hope this works!

We'll let this roll for a month and see what happens. I'll announce the winner on March 15. Thanks ahead of time for all your creative efforts!

Force... with Ewe

2007-02-12T09:45:00.001-08:00

"Zack, I am your sweater."
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I'm making this for Zack for his 5th birthday. Let me stress that we are not one of those super-obsessed Star Wars families. (We do own the entire Lord of the Rings triology on DVD, but it's my husband's thing. While I recognize its cinematographic excellence, I can't get past feeling that some of those guys should brush their teeth.. maybe just once?)

Sorry. I digress. Back to Darth. This sweater is a surprise for Zack. His birthday is March 14th. HE is fairly obsessed with the whole Star Wars thing. I'm going to use a cool weaving technique I learned from Helen Hamann at Madrona to overstich the details of Darth's face in all of its ominous metallic glory.

Has anyone else knit with superwash wool? This is Cascade 220 Superwash. Is it really suppsed to feel like it was knit with Vietnamese rice noodles when you get it wet? Blocking was more than a little disconcerting.

This dried OK, but still feels flimsy, especially around the joins where the color changes. I keep reminding myself it's for a five-year-old. He will be over the moon even if it isn't perfect.

Next time, though, I think I'll use regular wool and take my chances on the mustard stains.

Candy Everybody Wants

2007-02-09T21:00:00.001-08:00

Sock Candy Socks
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

This yarn is glorious.

I'm just coming around to the quiet majesty of socks. I'm new enough at knitting to want to try everything. I think I have tried most of the major techniques once (except steeking. Makes my blood run cold.). Now I'm coming back to techniques with the highest Zen-per-stitch quotient for me.

I picked up this yarn at the Blue Moon booth at Madrona. I was in love with the green/blue/brown one, but there was only one skein. It would barely cover the toes of my size 11 feet. (My mom used to say I should just wear the boxes.)

So, I picked up one more skiein that seemd radically different. Originally I was going to try a little Fair Isle improv, but when I wound the skeins they didn't seem different enough, somehow, to make it worth the effort. So it's stockinette... alternating two rounds of one with two rounds of the other.

The result is positively iridescent, and the emerging fabric is SOOO soft. My feet are crying out for these. I envision large sums of money flowing from my bank account to this company. I didn't sign up for the Socks that Rock sock club and now I regret it. I'm saving my pennies for next year!

Speaking of iridescent yarn, wait till you see my friend Bob's wonderful handspun, hand-dyed! I'm going to auction it off to the most creative bidder right here at this blog next week. The price: one winning logo suggestion for "Bipurler Disorder." I write patterns and sell them around Portland, but I'd like a snappier look than I have. Stay tuned. More on that next week.

Attention! Deficit

2007-02-06T23:21:00.001-08:00

Hoodie for Zack
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Zack is growing. This hoodie is not. I best get on that. Two more inches on the hood, a front pocket, coupla buttons on the placket and sew it up. That's all I have to do. But it has been sitting like this for two weeks. What is my dysfunction?

Is it ADD? Fear of failure? Fear of succes? Boredom? The masochistic need to have unfinished business constantly hanging over my head? Does this explain why I leave at least one dirty dish in the sink overnight?

I need... positively NEED to have at least a dozen projects on needles at once.

Last June I started casting on Christmas presents. I worked in a spiral, doing little bits of this and that, making progress on everything. Then in the weeks following Thanksgiving, I buckled down and finished them all. One after another these fiber-based extensions of my being were bound off, sewn up, packed in brown boxes and shipped out the door.

And I missed them. I got a little depressed. After that I didn't want to knit at all. I got a little queasy every time I picked up a the needles. THAT sure freaked me out. Thankfully it only lasted about 10 days (and 3 hours and 27 minutes.).

Then I started casting on again. And again. And again. Here's a list of the unfinished projects I've actually laid hands on in the past month:

1. This hoodie
2. The sweater I wrote about a couple of days ago,
3. A pair of Sock Candy socks.
4. A slip stitch hat (well, that fell OFF the needles today in my purse.)
5. A fingerless glove
6. Another pair of socks (Raindrop Lace by Fiber Trends)
7. A Darth Vader sweater for Zack (wait till you SEE it!)
8. A "Vintage Velvet" scarf
9. A Clapotis shawl for the school auction
10. A pair of felted slippers for Zack
11. A Debbie Bliss gansey for Zack

You'll notice many of these things are for Zack, who is four. That means he grows an inch about every 17 minutes. The clock is ticking. And I have oh so many ideas....

Anybody want to go yarn shopping?

Here's hoping

2007-02-03T19:32:00.001-08:00

Sweater for Me!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

This time of year in Portland we're hanging by a thread. It has been either cold or rainy or both more often than not since Halloween. The days are supposedly getting longer, but we can't really tell yet. It seems like the sun doesn't come up before 8 a.m. and it starts to get dark around 3:30 p.m.

But in these first few days of February we see signs of hope. For me it was the one spectacularly sunny and (almost) warm day this past week. Walking to school to pick up Zack I noticed flower buds lying in wait on the big Daphne bush down the street.

Within the next couple of weeks we'll start to notice the sun shining later in the day. We'll start dreaming about summer barbeques and crabbing at the coast. It will still be rainy and cold a lot of the time (like today), but the occasional sunny days will carry us through.

I'm hoping to approach the summer season with a more fit body. Slimming down will be a by-product of getting in shape. I'm working out 4 or 5 times/week, and have been for the past couple of months. Already I feel better.

So here's a sweater I'm knitting for me. I'm knitting it a size smaller than usual. My friend Cheri put it best when she said, "Knitting a sweater is a process. So is losing weight." So there. No magic bullets. No shortcuts for either one.

This is a hard sweater. If it doesn't fit when I'm done I'm going to be pissed at myself. So, now every time I want to skip the gym and eat a bowl of Ben and Jerry's I just pull out the sweater and knit a row. And then I go to the gym.

2007-02-02T19:10:00.000-08:00

A Poet's Work is Never Done

Here, in honor of the Second Annual Brigid in Cyberspace Silent poetry reading, is one of my favorite poems by former American Poet Laureate Billy Collins:

Another Reason Why I Don't Keep A Gun In The House

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
He is barking the same high, rhythmic bark
that he barks every time they leave the house.
They must switch him on on their way out.

The neighbors' dog will not stop barking.
I close all the windows in the house
and put on a Beethoven symphony full blast
but I can still hear him muffled under the music,
barking, barking, barking,

and now I can see him sitting in the orchestra,
his head raised confidently as if Beethoven
had included a part for barking dog.

When the record finally ends he is still barking,
sitting there in the oboe section barking,
his eyes fixed on the conductor who is
entreating him with his baton

while the other musicians listen in respectful
silence to the famous barking dog solo,
that endless coda that first established
Beethoven as an innovative genius.

2007-02-01T10:27:00.001-08:00

S is for Sweater

I grieve over this gansey
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

S is also for sucks. As in... This Sweater Sucks.

That is, unless you have a chest shaped like Montana, arms like a baboon, and a head like Herman Munster (am I dating myself here? Anybody remember the Munsters?)

Actually, I can wear this floppy sweater... and I probably will just because it took so bloody long to make. I made it for Jim for Christmas. It's "fulled" or lightly felted, so it's really soft. But the fulling process turned it from a huge, proportional sweater to a less huge (but still fairly giant) too-short-with-long-arms-and- a-big-neckhole sweater. Ok, I confess, the neckhole was big to begin with. But Jim has a big head, so I thought it would be okay.

The issue is not really this sweater. Emotionally, I can throw the sweater in the (ever-growing) pile of odd-shaped learning experiences. The issue is that Jim doesn't wear sweaters. You would think I would know that by now. We've been married almost 14 years. I've made him one other sweater which does fit, and which he wears once or twice a year, I think out of pity. It's a nice sweater. Jim just doesn't like sweaters. I need to concede that.

So, I'm asking for help. I want to make things for Jim. Socks are good, but what else? Here in Portland the temps rarely dip below 40F for more than a few hours. Some people wear Birkenstocks all year. Jim is a fairly conservative dresser. He's a tech-head, but I think a lime green laptop cover would probably not go over well.

His birthday is in June, so we have a reasonable head start. Ideas?

Epiphany

2007-01-29T14:42:00.000-08:00

Dream Weaver
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Or, when there are many, is it epiphani (epiphanae?)

The Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in Tacoma was a positively religious experience. It was my first time there, and I looked every bit the Madrona virgin. I came, I saw, I gawked. I met SO many interesting people. I knit till my hands hurt. I slept as little as possible.

Here's my swatch from Helen Hamann's. class. Helen's weaving and surface embellishment techniques are making me completely rethink how I work with color. It's kind of a marriage between knitting and weaving and needlepoint, and the results are wild and amazingly fun to create. If you haven't seen it, check out her Andean Inspired Knits.

I'm making a Darth Vader sweater for Zack for birthday no. 5. I had anticipated a galactic battle with intarsia, but now after Helen's class I am totally rethinking my design. Stay tuned!

I loved finally meeting The Harlot. I was a star-struck idiot. She was gracious and poised as usual. How must it feel to sit at a table for book signings with a bunch of big-name knitting designer-authors, and know that most of the people in line are there to see you? A little squirmy, I imagine. And yet, that very humility is what draws us to Stephanie in the first place. Thank you, Stephanie, for being a voice for all of us, and a voice for doing good in the world.

Cat in the Hat!

2007-01-20T16:11:00.000-08:00

Cat and Mike
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Here is my sister-in-law, Cat, with her boyfriend, Mike. He is wearing the hat she made him for Christmas. She's wearing the one I made for her.

Cat has a very special place in my heart. When she was 11 she played the harp at our wedding. When she was 23 she taught me to knit. She did a lot of spectacular stuff in between 11 and 23, but those are two events that stand out in my personal experience with her.

This winter Mike taught her to snowboard and now nobody can miss her in her hat of many colors! Glad you like the hat, Cat. Merry Christmas!

Neat!

2007-01-14T10:35:00.000-08:00

Hip to Be Square
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

This little slip stitch pattern came from one of the Barbara Walker books. I'm always amazed at how simple and yet dazzling slip stitch knitting can be. This is made with Cascade's "Cloud 9" angora/merino blend, so it's super soft! I'm almost finished writing up the hat pattern, and will have it for sale around town soon.

I also have grand plans to set up a mechanism for selling patterns online. Nothing fancy -- maybe just a link from this blog to start. Stay tuned!

Resolution No. 1

2007-01-01T08:54:00.000-08:00

Fair Isle Stocking Cap
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Happy New Year! I'm back. I plan to stay back. I spent the fall knitting fingers to the bone, but not posting because almost everything was for somebody else for Christmas. Watch for Auntie Cat shredding the Colorado slopes in this!

More to come! I have big plans for this blog...

Totally Portland

2006-09-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

Vaux Swifts
Originally uploaded by oregon.

Jim and I have been in Portland for eight years now. Before living here, I lived in New Jersey and Denver, and Jim had lived in Colorado and Wyoming. In all that time, neither one of us can remember something happening -- something organic and moving and almost other-worldly -- that we would describe as "Very Colorado" or "Very New Jersey." (Well, I can think of a lot of things that were very New Jersey but most of them were neither organic nor moving.)

At least once a week here in Portland we find ourselves in the midst of an experience here that can only be described as "A Portland moment." Last week it was the female gas station attendant (yep, we pump our own out here) who was extremely cheery and chatty and giddy over the arrival of Portland's first rainy day of the season. In the 3 minutes it took to fill my $53 tank, she told me her entire life story.

Tonight, it was the swifts and the crowd who came to watch them. Each year since we have lived here, a flock of migrating Vaux Swifts has stopped in Portland for awhile on its journey south. I don't know whether they stay for days or weeks, but each night while they're here they shack up in the chimney stack of a local elementary school.

And each night, about a thousand people gather on the lawn of the elementary school to say goodnight to the swifts. This is Portland's idea of spectator sport. In fact, I bet more people show up to watch the swifts than the Blazers.

Families bring picnic dinners. Kids play kickball and slide down the hill on cardboard boxes. The crowd murmers as the swarm of birds finally appears. People ooh and ahh as the birds swoop for an hour or so around the chimeny's mouth. They cheer when the flock gangs up to chase away a predator falcon who's hanging around looking for dinner. (In the end, the falcon got what he was after.)

And finally, just as the last rays of sunlight fade from the sky, the birds nosedive into the smokestack -- THOUSANDS of them. It's impossible to imagine how they all fit. It's magic to watch. And when the last bird is tucked away for the night, the crowd applauds and makes its way home.

Totally Portland.

My name is Carolyn...

2006-09-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

Stash Gone Wild
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

.... and I'm a yarnaholic.

This is only the stuff that gets 5 - 6 sts/inch. You should SEE the pile of sock yarn.

It's time to overhaul the stash. I know this because I realized a couple of days ago that I couldn't find two nearly-finished baby sweaters. One was knit on size 3 needles -- not something thrown together over a few evenings of TV.

So, I threw everything on the floor. Now I don't feel like putting it back, especially since I found the lost sweaters. (They were together! Maybe I'm more organized than I thought!) Better go work on at least one... the wee recipient is just days from making her big entrance.

The Deep End of the Spool

2006-09-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

Fairly Fun
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Cast-on fever and Christmas on the horizon are a dangerous combination. I have plenty to do around the house. I have a plethora of other knitting projects in midstream. But while working on one of those, THIS pattern caught my eye. (Interweave Knits, Winter 2004, p. 92ish)

Now I am obsessed. I am staying up way too late willing my clumsy fingers to pick and throw simultaneously. I am going blind, and loving it.

This is my first attempt at Fair Isle, and when you look up close it shows. But I'm getting better as I go. And I'm already thinking about what complicated colorful thing to cast-on next. (How's THAT for alliteration!)

BTW, I won the Bartlett on e-bay! Hah! Should be arriving any day so I can finish the aforementioned big red gansey.

e-Bartlett or Bust

2006-09-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

I Gansey Clearly Now
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I was all set to write about how my great friend Laura had spotted some Bartlett on e-Bay in the exact color I need to finish this Gansey. Dyelot be damned, I placed my bid. It went unchallenged for two days and I figured I was home free. Then... whammo. Two more bids. Grrr. May the knitting Gods poke those other bidders with sharp pointy sticks.

So, I suppose I'll just order some from the factory and hope it gets here in the next millenium. In the meantime I have WAYYYYY too many projects on needles. So many that I'm running out of needles, in fact. Here's a list of the ones with pressing deadlines:

1. Oregon Vest - needs a zipper pronto -- for shop
2. Baby sweater - for friend about to pop
3. Cardigan for Dad's 75th birthday - need by Thanksgiving
4. Big Red Gansey - need by Christmas
5. Little white Gansey Hoodie - need by Christmas
6. Fair Isle Insanity Stocking Cap - need by Christmas
7. Entrelac scarf - need by Christmas
8. Baby sweater #2 - for friend who is popping in a few weeks

And the ones in the queue that aren't on the needles yet:
9. Touch me scarf - needed by Christmas
10. Noro Kuryeon Tea Cozy from Knitty - needed by Christmas
11. Mosaic Mittens for Winter shop class

Plus I still have another sweater meant for the daughter of my Philly friends who told me about the Bartlett. It just needs buttons. I have the buttons, I just hate to sew. She's probably grown out of it by now. I'm such a delinquent.

And finally, some lacy Kitchen curtains for ME. I think the sun's going be in my eyes in there for awhile.

Doggone Funny

2006-09-07T00:50:00.000-07:00

What is she thinking?
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

So, the Yarn Harlot gave a fantastic talk in Portland tonight. I don't know how many people were there, but it was WAY more than the bookstore planned on having, and they (the bookstore people) seemed a little put out by the end. They should learn to knit. It might help them relax.

Anyway, we all busted a gut about 700 times listening to Stephanie talk about nothing and everything. She's like the Seinfeld of knitting. One hilarious bit talked about bloggers posing knitting in silly places for photos.

Here's one such ridiculous attempt. "Still Life With Labrador and Cascade Fixation." This is my beautiful dog, Emma, lying on a couch that used to be beautiful too, until she decided to make it her daybed. You can tell from this picture that Emma thinks I'm an idiot.

I'm sure I chose Emma for this picture because at the time my yard was the blight of the block. We've since had it relandscaped, so maybe I'll try a couple of nature shots... inspired by the Harlot... and see if I can prompt an of my neighbors to question my sanity. Just for kicks.

Gansey Sick

2006-09-01T14:37:00.000-07:00

Poorly Armed
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Jim -- Avert your eyes! (I know Jim gets this blog as an RSS feed without pictures, so I'm SURE he won't peek. Right, Jim?)

Here's the "Old Way" Gansey I've been working on for Jim's Christmas present. I started early this year, since the last sweater took three Christmases to complete. This one was ticking along beautifully, until...

Look closely. The yarn you see is the yarn I have left to complete the sweater. If you could see my husband one of the things you might notice about him is that he has two arms. This sweater has only one so far. I bought the amount the pattern suggested, and maybe a skein more... and I came up short.

It's Bartlett 2-ply, Rangely "Mountain Berry," dyelot #824. Based on an exhaustive search, I have concluded that here is no more of this yarn in this dyelot in the known universe. I'm sure the stress of knowing this is making me knit that second sleeve more tightly, which will use up the little yarn I have left even sooner than I'd like. Grrrr.

I know this is a crappy picture. Though you can't see it here, the stitches are pretty and the yarn is great for ganseys. Yes, this sweater is huge on purpose. It will be "fulled" (aka lightly felted) when it's done... a reasonably terrifying thing to do on purpose to a handknit sweater. I hope I'm doing it right -- I matched the "before fulling" measurements in the pattern (from Interweave Knits Winter 2004) but then I also bought the amount of yarn the pattern told me to, and we all know how well that worked out. Stay tuned.

A Pleasant Diversion

2006-08-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

View from Neakhanie
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Here is a little eye candy, compliments of Mother Nature and the Oregon Coast. This is the view from about halfway up Neakhanie Mountain, a little south of Cannon Beach. Just looking at it helps me to slow my breathing, which is a good thing today. (Jim, don't read any further! Christmas intelligence will be compromised.)

I'm hyperventillating because I've just discovered that I'm not going to have enough yarn for mu ultra top secret (well I haven't been knitting it right under his nose, anyway -- except that one time) big red gansey for Jim. I have one skein left -- about 210 yards -- and one sleeve to go. There's no way.

I wrote to Bartlett. They don't have any more in the dyelot. Mabel's is the only LYS out of the 20 we have in Portland that carries it, and they're out! Please pray to the Dyelot Gods that I can get away with cuffs and a neckband in this year's run of the color. It's Bartlety 2-ply, "Mountain Berry," lot 824, in case you happen to be the only person on earth who has some, and by some even more microscopically small chance happen to be reading this.

I'm just kicking myself. I swear I bought at least a skein MORE than the pattern called for -- and then went and got an extra skein just in case! Do moths eat entire skeins at at time in the dead of night, leaving other nearby skeins untouched?

Maybe I hid it. Maybe I'll go have a look in the piano.

Shameless exhibitionism

2006-08-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Front and Back
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

This morning I was stunned and delighted to find a comment in MY humble little blog from the fabulous and talented Yarn Harlot! Wow. What an honor. I bow daily at the feet of her thought-provoking wit and grace, not to mention her stories that are just freakin' hilarious. To think she took the time to check out my site!

Her encouraging words helped me climb aboard the blogging bandwagon again. I even considered posting pics of secret Christmas presents already in the works. Unfortunately the camera didn't cooperate.

So, in a moment of weakness, I'm posting my old "Knitting Olympics" project in case Her Harlotness decides to stop back again. This is the "Ruby the Dragon" vest I made for Zack, using the pattern for the dragon from Scarf Style. Even though it's an old project it is a new picture for the blog, and it shows the Barbara Walker lace castle on the front of the vest. The tail that wraps around the front is a little wonkey, (note to self: freestyle intarsia is a risky proposition) but I didn't feel like undoing the castle just to fix it.

Here's the finished product on the boy...

Thanks for the inspiration, Stephanie. See you in Portland in a few weeks!

See?!?

2006-07-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

Debbie Bliss Hoodie
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I have been knitting. Lots and lots. This is a hoodie in progress for Zack. Yes, I know it is off white. Yes I know it's for a four-year-old boy who considers yellow mustard one of the five basic food groups. It's okay though. The chest measurements in Debbie Bliss patterns are so huge that this won't fit him until he's at least 16. (37" for a 5 year old's chest?! Are you kidding me?) By then he'll probably realize that mustard as a fashion accessory won't impress the girls. And beer washes out.

I would post other pics, but I'm already on to Christmas presents. Maybe I'll put a pic of my dad's sweater up sometime soon. He never surfs the Web anyway.

Ok, this is creepy

2006-07-16T06:14:00.000-07:00

Got any hangups?
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I know, I know. You come here looking for new and wonderful knitting. I've been doing it -- I just haven't taken any pictures. I did however, snap a shot of this -- among the weirdest things I've ever seen. This is hanging on the wall at the Mangy Moose Restaurant in Jackson Hole's Teton Village. We were there last night for Jim's 20th High School reunion. We've all seen dead animal heads on walls before, but really.. those hooves!

Knitting coming soon... I promise!

Unfinished business

2006-05-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Finish already!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I have been knitting up a storm. Really! I haven't been blogging, though. The rain has stopped and the flowers are in bloom here in Portland and everything is glorious. No one in her right mind would spend any time more than necessary sitting in front of a computer!

So, there's my feeble excuse. Not a legitimate excuse really, since at this very moment I am blogging from the back porch, laptop in lap.

These two unfinished sweaters are fairly successful experiments in adapting the same pattern for different gauges/sizes. The original pattern is a neck-down baby sweater, and it's one of my new favorites.

I have already spoken to the mothers of the intended recipients of these, and they have agreed that their children will not grow until I can get them finished.

Floppy But Finished

2006-04-01T00:28:00.000-08:00

Via Diagonale
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

'Nuff said. If any of you experts out there (Nat... help!) Have suggestions for shoring up the top of this bag, please let me know. I don't sew with a machine, and I'm too lazy to line it (though I did cover a doubled-over Fedex box with bag liner fabric and tack it to the bottom. Somebody suggested "boning," but I can't find it anywhere. Does it go by a different name (something similar to the underwire in a bra?)

Hmmm...

A Boy and His Dragon

2006-03-26T22:22:00.000-08:00

Ruby
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Two sweaters in one day! Whew! My fingers are on fire! I wove in the final ends on Zack's dragon vest on the same day that I finished the "Sweater from Hell." (See below)

Ruby is the name of the dragon. We have stories in our house about "Brave Sir Zack" and his dragon Ruby. On the front of this sweater is a lace castle. I'll post a photo of that at some point, if I can get my model to stand still enough.

Operator Error

2006-03-26T08:17:00.000-08:00

It's Finished!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Ok... I found the camera's memory card (right where it should have been.. thanks, Jim!). Then I couldn't get my computer to work. Then I couldn't find the cord to hook the camera to the computer. Then I found the cord and couldn't find the camera. All of this took place over about a week's time. All that time I was knitting... and...

I FINISHED the sweater from hell!
and...
it fits! Woo hoo!

2006-03-20T19:50:00.000-08:00

Experiencing Technical Difficulties...

No new pics lately, because the camera is on the fritz. (OK, I can't really blame the camera. We have misplaced the memory card.) For the record, the dragon vest front and back are finished and looking great. I just have to block, weave in a few ends, stitch 'em together and add some trim around the arm and neckholes.

Clapotis and Via Diagonale are done too -- they're on display at The Naked Sheep (the shop, that is, not the Web site).

I still have about 1.5 inches to seam up at the armpit of the "Sweater from Hell."

I don't know why I can't finish it. I think I'm afraid it won't fit and all that work will have been for nothing.

Lately I'm working a modified version of "Lady Eleanor" from Scarf Style. Pics of progressto come as soon as I can find that $*%& memory card.

Slog... I Mean "Bag"

2006-03-04T07:18:00.000-08:00

Via Diagonale
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I am so ready to be done with this. Via Diagonale from Knitty. It's a beautiful pattern... don't get me wrong. I love the way it looks, but I want to get back to my DRAGON!! I'm making myself finish this first, though. More dragon pix,and plans to start on the castle (scroll down a few entries to see it!) next week.

Cup O' Tea

2006-02-28T16:26:00.000-08:00

Clapotis
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Clapotis. It's a FAB free pattern from Knitty.com It has inspired blogs of its own for like-minded knitters. ("Clapotiers?")

This is my third, in process, with Lorna's Laces Fisherman Worsted.

I only JUST learned how to pronounce clapotis. Do you know? Clap-oh-TEE. Zut alors! And I even took French in high school.

Grandma Cindy's Scarf

2006-02-23T13:26:00.000-08:00

Midwest Moonlight Scarf
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Grandma Cindy came for a visit last week from Colorado! You can't imagine how it made my heart sing to see her wearing her Christmas scarf as she came off the plane. This periwinkle is HER color! This one is from Scarf Style too, made with Lavold's "Silky Wool." I'd use this yarn again and again.

Personal Best

2006-02-23T11:27:00.000-08:00

Almost finished!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Is 8th Place OK? My goal was to complete the dragon-y back of this vest by the end of the Olympics. With just a couple of inches to go, I know I'll make it. And I'm very pleased with the results. But I'm a little sad I didn't get the WHOLE vest done. I feel a little like an Olympic skier who finishes in 8th place. It's definitely a thrill and a personal best. But fantasies of a gold medal still linger.

Technically I didn't "complete" this project. I set out to get this much done and I did it. I learned a lot of new knitting skills for which I am thrilled. As far as I'm concerned, my Olympics continues untill I get the front of this made. Stay tuned!!

Grrr....

2006-02-15T16:52:00.000-08:00

Grrr....
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

This pattern belongs in the Olympics. Completing it will be a Herculean feat for me. Scroll down a few blog entries to see the completed picture as published in the book where I found the pattern. The pattern calls for a GREEN dragon, but I made mine red and purple, in keeping with a running storyline we have in our house.

No time to write more. Must knit!!

Got Intarsia?

2006-02-11T23:15:00.000-08:00

The Progress
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

OK, this is my first crack at intarsia, and I'm pretty stoked. This is the first 10 rows or so of the dragon, completed during opening ceremonies last night. I forged my way through another eight rows or so tonight, but will spare you the incremental pictures.

This is REALLY fun. I'm already looking forward to a romp through my Kaffe Fassett Pattern Library book after I finish this (and the six other projects I have lying around the house, and the three I need to finish for the shop...)

The Pile

2006-02-11T16:03:00.000-08:00

The Pile
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Here's the pile of yarn that will become my Olympic vest!

Gingerbread Castle

2006-02-11T15:59:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread Castle
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

At the risk of getting in big trouble with the copyright police, here's a photo of the "Gingerbread Castle" that will go on the front of Zack's Olympic vest. Nicky Epstein's "Nasty Dog Dragon" from the "Scarf Style" book is going on the back.

Pirate as a Verb

2006-02-06T23:04:00.000-08:00

DragonScarf
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

No, I did not knit this scarf... yet. I signed up to make a pirate vest for the Knitting Olympics (logo now front and center in the sidebar, thanks to help from Aimee.)

I am reconsidering my choice. Imagine a 4-year-old with a skull and crossbones plastered across his sweater. Now fast foward and see that same kid, now 16 and motivated subconsciously by the fashion choices his mother made for him as a tyke, dressed in severe, painful looking clothing no parent in her right mind would approve. I figured my original plan for a pirate vest was really just a recipe for disaster, so I've altered my plans slightly.

For the Olympics, I'm going to make a vest for my son. I'm going to PIRATE motifs from two different knitting books. The first is Nicky Epstein's Nasty Dog Dragon from Scarf Style, which will be plastered across the vest's back. I'm going to make up a tail which curls around the front a bit, and shares belly real estate with the "Gingerbread Castle" from Barbara Walker's "Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns."

This is all theory so far, but I think it will work. I've never done intarsia before (Go Jamaican Bobsled Team!) so I'm going be proud of myself if I finish the dragon before the flame goes out, let alone the whole vest. I'm going to gather the colors in Elsbeth Lavold's Silky Wool tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Knitting Olympics

2006-02-03T23:48:00.000-08:00

Knitting Olympics
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I used to be pretty adept at uploading to a server and manipulating HTML code. But I have no idea how to get this graphic into the right-hand margin of my page. It's stored on Flickr and I can't seem to get a filename to reference as an image in my page.

The point being... I'm in on the Olympics. The plan is to make a vest for Zack with some sort of pirate theme. I'm struggling a bit with the obvious skull and crossbones. I don't want him to look like Sid from Toy Story.

Just pinched off the sleeve holes on a cardigan for me! Yay! Of course, the Sweater From Hell is still not seamed. Tomorrow. Maybe.

2006-02-02T23:24:00.000-08:00

A Poem for Gracie and the Groundhog

I just found out about this great suggestion by Gracie's Poppies to post a favorite poem anytime on Feb 2. Well, I've got 35 minutes left, so I'm posting the first one that came to mind. I saw it while riding on a city bus about six months ago. Here in Portland the buses have poems on the walls above the seats in the place where most city transit authorities would sell advertising. It's reason #847 to love Portland.

Anyway, this poem reminded me of my mother-in-law and I remember racing home to find it online and send it to her. She's coming to visit in a few weeks, and we can't wait. So, Cindy, this is for you. And as for the Groundhog... I don't know what that Pennsylvania critter saw. I can assure you that groundhogs here in Portland saw no shadows. You see, sunlight is a key ingredient in shadow-making, and it's in short supply around here these days.

OK - here's my favorite poem of late:

I Confess
by Alison Luterman

I stalked her in the grocery store:
her crown of snowy braids held in place by a great silver clip,
her erect bearing, radiating tenderness,
the way she placed yogurt and avacados in her basket,
beaming peace like the North Star.
I wanted to ask, "What aisle did you find your serenity in,
do you know how to be married for 50 years, or how to live alone,
excuse me for interrupting, but you seem to possess
some knowledge that makes the earth burn and turn on its axis"
but we don't request such things from strangers nowadays.
So I said, "I love your hair."

Go Fingerless

2006-02-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

Favorite Fingerless
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

I love cotton. I just noticed that everything I've posted here so far is some sort of cotton blend. (Hat in Cascade "Arcadia," lacy square in Vittadini "Marissa," baby sweater in Paton's "Fantasy Naturale," big sweater in Brown Sheep "Cotton Fleece.)

These gloves are made with Cascade "Fixation," which is mostly cotton with a little elastic thrown just to make getting tension fun.

There are several groups of people here in Portland who especially love these gloves. Among them are outdoor baristas, supermarket checkers who work close to constantly opening automatic doors, skateboarders, and parking lot attendants.

Cotton gets a bum rap from knitters. Everybody says wool is so "forgiving," and that cotton isn't stretchy enough or warm enough, etc. etc. Here are my top ten (well, maybe five) reasons why I like cotton.

1. Cotton is smooth, doesn't split, and doesn't pill.

2. I throw cotton in the washing machine -- even if it says hand wash (blasphemy!) -- and lay it flat to dry. I've never had a problem.

3. Cotton blocks and reshapes beautifully with nothing but a little soak in water and some pinning. No iron torture needed.

4. My fingers and hands are in terrible shape. My skin is dry and cracked, and I bite my nails so I always have little snaggy nails and hangnails. Every time I knit with wool it pulls on those little uneven places in my hands, which is majorly frustrating.

5. I live in Portland. It rarely dips below 40 degrees here. We don't need wool sweaters OR fingertips on our gloves, dammit!

Knitters may be one of the few people who lament, in some small way, the coming of spring. Warmer weather means a drop in the knitting ranks. Wool in August just seems so... well... HOT. But cotton... hmm....

Primary Colors

2006-01-29T13:55:00.000-08:00

Primary Colors
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Here's a baby hat for a soon-to-be-born boy. I noticed while I was making it that the colors match Superman's costume -- maybe I can use leftovers to make something groovy and Superhero-ish for Zack.

I love to experiment with stitch patterns on baby hats. This one is from Barbara Walker's "Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns," I think. It's a slip stitch pattern, which means that, unlike Fair Isle, you only carry one color at a time. Woo hoo! It's SO easy. This particular slip stitch creates a magical check pattern.

The good news! My hubby bought the domain www.bipurlerdisorder.com... so in time I'll be able to spiff up this blog with a better template, images, layout, etc.

Hip To Be Square

2006-01-27T21:10:00.000-08:00

Barbara Walker rules!
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

My three-year-old son insists he wants me to make him a pink viper scarf. (NOT pictured here. Read on and you'll see why). I started from the tail one night while he was in the bath. By the time he was ready to get out I had completed about about eight inches of a tail which started an i-cord point and had steadily increased to a tube about an inch in diameter. Later that evening my husband found the thing lying around in the bathroom on my needles. "Knitted condom?" he said. We both agreed the concept was fatally flawed.

Now to today's picture. I just love the Barbara Walker "Treasury of Knitting" books, particularly the "Fourth Treasury..." with its groovy lace squares knit on the bias.

This one was suppoed to be part of a table runner. Instead it is the victim of a classic new knitter mistake. I made three... got 3/4 of the way through the fourth one, and ran out of yarn. I searched high and low, but it's a discontinued Adriane Vittadini for which -- even if I could find a spare skein -- I'd never match the dyelot. So, I'm looking for something comparable with which to make three more. Maybe next Christmas, Ma.

Bottom's Up to Neck Down!

2006-01-25T13:35:00.000-08:00

Cheapie Baby Cardie
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Made this baby cardie with Paton's cotton. It's a little stiff, but hey, at $5 a skein for almost 200 yards, it beats a swift kick in the head. This 6 mo. sweater took only a ball and a half.

Decided to take a break from cleaning for my housecleaner (is that screwed up, or what?) to make a quick post.

If you follow breaking weather news, you might have heard that the sun shone here yesterday. We Oregon moles came out of our burrows squinting in the oh-so-foreign bright light, comparing skin translucency (much the way people in San Diego compare tans, I suppose.)

It has been the rainiest winter in my eight years here. One day of sun, and now it's wet and cold again today. I feel like I'm in a Ray Bradbury novel. Can someone do a cermonial dance or something, and get us past this? I'm growing webs between my toes.

The Sweater from Hell

2006-01-23T20:40:00.000-08:00

The Sweater from Hell
Originally uploaded by littlekidd.

Welcome to my blog. I'll dispense with all of the usual introductory formalities, except to offer my apologies to those who work or benefit from counseling and/or antipsychotic medication. For those who have it, bipolar disorder is no laughing matter.

I tried and tried and tried to come up with a witty play-on-words name for my blog that wasn't already taken. This was the best I could think of. And, you have to admit, we rabid knitters are just a little manic.

So, here's my first post. The sweater that started it all. The sweater I started more than a year ago -- just a couple of months after I learned to knit. It was supposed to be a Christmas present for my husband in December '04. It had a preordained spot under the tree this year...

... and, it's still not done. But then again, neither are my Christmas cards.