A remark made recently by Lisa reminded me I haven't told you all yet what a fabulous book Knitting With Beads is. I didn't realize when I bought it that it was a new release. What attracted me to it in the store was I could see immediately that all the patterns in it could really stand alone as knit designs even without the beads. When I read it at home, I thought the instructions seemed really clear and the illustrations were good. I haven't tried anything from it yet, but the only disappointment I have right now is that there are so many patterns for sewing beads onto a knitted item. I am primarily interested in knitting beads in.

Speaking of fabulous books, my copy of Folk Bags came today. I am SO glad I just finished the pair of socks I was working on, because this book has completely turned my head away from socks as my small project preoccupation. I want to make nearly everything in this book, but I am starting with the Chinese Fish of Prosperity (a red fish-shaped felted shoulder bag), and the Irish Cables (a square shoulder bag with traditional cabling) because I have yarn in my stash that will work for these. I think I also have yarn that will suit the Irish Creel and the Tajikistan Tea House Sling Bag but some swatching is required before I know for sure. Besides, I want that fish first.

New Interweave Knits came this week. Good issue, but nothing in there is really singing my song. Not loud enough for me to hear anyway.

Perhaps you are wondering: what ELSE did I do on my vacation? I saw people SPIN at the Pioneer Village in Spring Mill State Park. I talked for a while with a very nice lady who was baking corn bread and beans in a fireplace. The house she was in had several skeins of her handspun hanging around on the walls and several had been dyed with natural dyes. We talked about the cochineal sample, which was pink, and I asked her why the sample in the Nature Center weaving was so red. She said for the red sample, they mixed in STALE URINE and the acid turned the dye red. The pink was just the straight insect matter. As if that weren’t quite gross enough.

However, she told me she prefers wool that is sheep-colored and pulled out several balls that she had spun. She told me what kind of sheep each came from, and some of the sheep she knew on a first-name basis. She had knitted many of the shawls and things I had noticed in the displays all over the village. The shawl in the Gardener’s House was done at a HUGE gauge -- about 1.5 sts/ 1 inch. She had combined two yarns she’d spun bulky because the curator (I’m not sure that is the right term) had told her she wanted something really big and heavy for that room.

There is a Mercantile in the Village where they sell stuff made there by the re-enactors but there was NO handspun yarn. Frankly, I think that is an opportunity going to waste.

Oh, oh! Something else -- in the museum part there were displays of antique objects under glass, including a pair of lace baby stockings and child’s mittens. The stockings were a cotton blend, I think, and the lace pattern was very simple, just bands of stockinette alternated with rows of eyelets at a gauge of about 10 or 12 sts/ 1 inch. The heel looked like a Dutch heel and the toe was round with a swirl pattern.

The mittens were done in wool at about 14 sts/ 1 inch with a plain stockinette cuff and a “sore thumb.” I don’t know what kept the cuff from rolling unless it was the stranding of the color pattern. The color pattern was simple but very pretty -- an allover windowpane pattern with the “windows” pale pink and the “panes” white.

I'm back! Had a wonderful camping vacation. I hiked a thousand miles, ate a TON of food, and rode a HORSE.

I also knit socks. Finished the Rainbow Brite socks and one and half socks from some of my St. Louis Sock Yarn Spree. Schoeller Esslinger Fortissima Colori 1000 in Farbe 524 which is so beautiful it deserves to be a lace shawl: burnt orange, walnut, loden, raspberry, and grape. I took ombre yarn with me on this trip instead of self-patterning yarn because I am weary of stockinette. For these Fortissima socks I used a pattern of two rows stockinette alternated with two rows 2x2 rib for a nice waffled rib all the way to the toes. I also did the heel where you mark your place with waste yarn and then pull it out and put on a toe. The Rainbow Brite socks, you may recall, were Strong Heel Socks. Of all the heels I've tried, short rows are still my favorite. For my next pair, I'm going to use short row toes, also.

I can't forget to mention that the Fortissima socks are my first pair knit on two circulars. I have thought for a while I should learn this because it seemed it might be handier than dpns for Socks While Traveling. I reviewed Joyce Williams' article in the Summer 2000 Knitter's before I left. She points out that, once you can knit circularly on two needles, 2 24" needles of each size are all you need for almost anything you want to knit. The trickiest part for me is the first couple of rows. My end, feeding yarn, and needles get all tangled. Then I do fine.

Spent my lunch break today poking around our local shop for trendy teens and young adults. They had interesting pullovers in stock. They were striped with broad bands of fair-isle like color work, only turned wrong side out so the floats formed the color pattern on the outside of the sweaters. The inside seams were finished very nicely, too, so I suppose if the wearer didn't mind the tag showing, she could wear it right or wrong side out.

I'm going to be off-line for a week or so. Next post should be around the 27th.

A local grocery store where I DO NOT shop for groceries has done an odd thing: suddenly they are stocking Vogue Knitting. I snuck in there this week and bought the "Holiday" issue. It's an okay issue -- a few things I liked, a couple well enough to make, especially the Adrienne Vittadini shell. I'm in danger of becoming a SERIOUS AV devotee. They seem to consistently pair interesting construction with designs that are pretty and classy and seem like they won‘t go out of style. I often talk myself out making certain designs I become infatuated with, because I realize they are trendy and in a couple years I won't want them anywhere near me.

An article of note in the new Vogue is a designer-bio piece on Hanne Falkenberg. I love her work and I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately. I’ve decided that, if I am very fiscally responsible all winter and don’t have a credit card balance that I’ll feel obligated to pay off with my bonus when it comes in the spring, I’m going to treat myself to the Jazz Jacket.

Ta-Dah! Sleeves!

(This is where a picture would be if I had pictures on my blog.)

Between nervous breakdowns and Scarlet O'Hara imitations Monday, I reflected on Sleeves I Have Sewn.

I think my first real sweater was a child's sweater for my niece Tabi. Those sleeves were all 2x2 rib and I really struggled with them till I hit upon on the slipstitch crochet seam. It worked so well, I'm pretty sure that is what I used on my Tweedy Aran Cardigan. The only others I remember clearly are the Vittadini pullover, which was a funnel-neck raglan that went together row-to-row in mattress stitch, and, somehow, the Corset Pullover mattress stitched pretty easily, too. The shaping of those sleeve caps was all decreased, though; the only binding off part (the source of my troubles) was the little bit at the very top.

Monday night, after I had tried every way I had ever tried before, I followed the advice in last winter’s Rowan magazine. The author suggested I sew the seams and set the sleeve in like sewing patterns always direct and backstitch it all around. I sewed about an inch or two of the seams so I could get right to business, and a while later, I had sleeve seams that looked less awful than all the seams that had gone before. I still thought they looked terrible, but it occurred to me that I might have reached a point were I was no longer objective and my opinion could not be trusted. I set the Cardy aside and worked on the second Rainbow Brite sock until I was sleepy, then read till I fell asleep.

Last night, I went ahead and finished all the side seaming, and this morning I tried it on. Sure enough, the sleeves look a lot less terrible. Tonight, I’m going to weave in all the side ends, knit the last bits of ruffle, and then wash and block it again. Maybe by Friday, I’ll think they look beautiful.

God! I hate putting in sleeves. I hate it, hate it, hate it. I have worked ALL DAY on this stupid Ruffley Cardy and I have to pull out my shoulder seams AGAIN because they look AWFUL. I swear, every sweater I make from now on is going to have set-in sleeves. I am going to do this and do it and DO IT until I am so good at it I WILL NEVER BE AFRAID AGAIN.

Whew. I feel better.

Working on the Ruffley Cardy today. Making progress. I’ll be back when I’m done.

I changed my mind! (Regular readers of this blog know this happens often: what they don't realize is that it happens ten times a day.)

Went to Hobby Lobby today and found on clearance four skeins of Lion Brand Homespun in a strange jungle color called Arkadian. It is shades of green and gold that remind me of nothing so much as shallow, mossy pond water. I love it! It is going to be my new poncho. For a pattern, I'm going to jump-start from the Classic Joan Voss Poncho and work one like it with gauge adjusted. It is designed from the neck down so I can just knit till I run out of yarn.

Also in the Hobby Lobby Lion Brand Clearance Bin were several skeins of Pineapple Cotton Ease. Pineapple would be a dreadful color for me, of course, but I think it will be lovely on my dark-eyed niece, Sharyn. I'm going to rip out the Cuddly Bears Cardy and make her Haiku instead.

Bought a new book, too: Knitting With Beads. Have not yet had a chance to really study it, but I loved what I saw when I went through it at the store.

Finished a Marsan Watchcap. It is Way Too Small. If you looked at this pattern, you may have seen that she says it "doesn't really have [a gauge.]" Unfortunately, if you are the Tightest Knitter in the World you pretty much need a clue. Since I know I'm the tightest knitter in the world, I worked it on a needle one size larger than the #7 Staceyjoy used. I gave the hat to my friend Braden. He's four. It fits him pretty well.

A reader wrote and asked how I fixed my Knitter's Magazine Strong Heel Sock problem. Here it is if anyone else is interested:

(under Turn Heel, work short rows back and forth, etc....)
Row 1. K across first dpn (center of heel), k1, ssk, k1, turn
Row 2. Sl 1, p4, p2tog, p1, turn
Row 3. Sl 1, k5, ssk, k1, turn
Row 4. Sl 1, p6, p2tog, p1, turn
Rep row 3 and 4, etc, etc. as written.

I went back to the Knitter's website to see if I could find their corrections to compare to mine. Still can't find 'em.

Mini-shopping spree in St. Louis yesterday! Bought 4 sock yarns (which I justified to myself with the words, “I know I already have a lot of sock yarn, but I don’t have any of THIS kind.”) I also got the Fall 2003 Adrienne Vittadini patternbook, which has many lovely things in it suitable for work, and the Paton’s Ponchos and Wraps book, which contains my future new poncho.

Did you think I forgot I wanted a poncho? How could I with Poncho Knitalongs going on? I’m going to use stash yarn -- Rowan Recycled Chunky in Bottle Green, which I bought last year at the Yarn Fair (Stitches Midwest.) I got 20 hanks of it, which should be plenty for the little poncho and another sweater besides. The yarn was on clearance. Perhaps they don’t make it anymore. Too bad -- I like the concept of recycled yarn.

As I reached the inverted-V portion of my crocheted raglan jacket sleeve, the pattern clearly stated I would have 41 stitches. And I did. So then it told me to work a row of bobble patterns. The bobble pattern also clearly states that it is worked across a multiple of 4 stitches plus 3. All my calculators tell me 41 is not a multiple of 4 plus 3.

So, I charted the second half of the sleeve pattern and just centered the bobble pattern. Worked good. Now the second sleeve is going smooth as silk.

Here's a kick in the pants: I wanted to start the Marsan Watchcap but I discovered my 16" #8 needle is stuck in the Cuddly Bears Cardy. So I thought I'd move ahead to one of the hats I planned to make with Wool Ease remnants, but I found I'm using the same remnants in the CUDDLY BEARS CARDY. Of course, I can't use the remnants of those remnants until the Cuddly Bears Cardy is done. And I could take the #8 needle out and put the Cardy stitches on a holder except I don't want to forget what needle I've been using on it.

I can't decide if the best solution to this problem is stay on top of my WsIP better, or if I just need more needles and more stash yarn.

Sleeves are a pain in the elbow. I am speaking literally. The up and down motion of sewing in the Ruffly Cardy sleeves, on top of all my recent crocheting, gave me a massive, screaming, CRICK, in my bad elbow earlier this week. I decided it would be wise to suspend craft activity for a while and spent Wednesday night just flipping through all my back Fall and Winter issues of the Knitting Magazines.

Guess what I found! Quite possibly the best article on sewing in sleeves I have ever read -- and it was right there in the Winter 2002 Interweave Knits this whole last year. As fortuitous as this is on the Ruffly Cardy situation, it doesn't help me with my other sleeve problem.

The sleeve troubles in the FCEK bobbled coat pattern didn't magically disappear while I worked the body. I HAVE resolved the stitch count problem (it was me) but the bobble pattern just can't be right as it is written. I took the pattern and some graph paper to work Tuesday and charted out (on break) how I think the sleeve is MEANT to be, guided by the picture, the schematic, the gauge, and the portions of the pattern that make sense. I'm working it again now and it is going better.

I'd like to have this sweater done soon. It is so cold here I'm afraid I'm going to miss jackets and go straight into a winter coat. My husband told me last night this cold is relative. "It was 50 degrees today," he said. "If it was a 50 degree day in March and we were coming off winter, everyone would be running around in shorts. Instead, everyone thinks they're freezing." I know he's right (not only does he enjoy being right, he's quite good at it) but I'M STILL COLD.