Norwegian Christmas Stocking

I decided to knit a Christmas stocking for my son. It was kind of spur of the moment. I got interested in Norwegian knitting about four years ago and have made a couple stranded projects. I joined a Norwegian Sweater Knit Along and was reading up. More about that later, I'm planning a Fana cardigan.

I had red, white and black Cascade 220 left over from a test project felting stranded patterns.

The charts and inspiration come from "Everyday Knitting: Treasures from a Rag Pile", "Knitting in the Nordic Tradition", and "Traditional Scandinavian Knitting". I planned on making it just like a sock, but when I got to the toe shaping I decided to move the decreases so that the foot would lie flat, like a Christmas stocking.

As it progressed, I was happy with the way each section looked. I was a bit concerned that the checkerboard was going to pucker, some of my floats were too short. I thought the heel was too big. And I didn't like the transition from heel to foot. I wish I hadn't decreased along the bottom.

When I got it off the needles, I was even less happy. The ribbing should have been taller; the checkerboard was out of scale and puckered; the name was too close to the edges; the hearts didn't show; and even my husband said the foot looked weird. He's the one who talked me out of ripping back to the heel when I got done with the stars! But then he said, as a complement, that it looked like a sock, a giant's sock. Great.

Here it is pre-blocking:


I decided to cross my fingers and full it a bit to see if the puckering would go away. I put it in the sink with hot water and dish soap; agitated and rubbed it together a bit. It shrank just a little, but a lot of the flaws disappeared diminished. I was happy that the hearts "popped". I blocked it, forcing the name to the front, and pulling out a bit of the funky foot decreases.


Here it is hanging up. It is pretty rustic, but that's okay, I have come to like it quite a bit.

Christmas 2007 Recap

Well, that was a very different Christmas!

• We didn't go to the candlelight service because I couldn't bear to wake my son up at 10:00 p.m. First time I have missed it in years.
  
  
• Said son woke up screaming at 3:15, and took half an hour to calm down. We don't know what gives with the kid.
  
  
• He wakes up for good at 6:15, and *warning graphic* out of the blue vomits on me in such a way that I have to take a shower. So much for a sleepy Christmas morning together snuggling in bed.
  
  
• Open presents and it turns out my husband has tricked me, in a good way. I ordered knitting books for myself on his behalf so I would get exactly what I wanted. Well, he has gone out and got me other gifts that are just right for me.
  
  
• Person close to me has not spoken to me in months. Doesn't even send card or email for Christmas. HO HO HO.
  
  
• We decide to go to the zoo. Here we are on the carousel. We also saw the big cats get fed.

Did I mention it was the San Francisco Zoo? Yeah, fortunately we left at 3:00. I totally freaked out when the news alert came on about the tiger attack. I go to the zoo at least once a week. Usually we see the giraffes fed at 4:00. Luckily Dad & Kid were too tired to stay, or we could have easily stretched the trip until 5:00. I couldn't stop thinking about the families of the victims and any witnesses, and the zoo employees who have to go back there.

All day I was joking that this would be remembered as "The Christmas I Got Puked On", instead it will be remembered in all seriousness as "The Christmas We Didn't Get Killed by a Tiger".

God Jul

God Jul from the Korknisse crew!


Pattern: Made by Manne
English Translation: Saartje Knits

Merry Christmas

Our stockings are hung by the chimney with care,
in hopes that Peace is with all you out there.

No Peeking Under My (Tree) Skirt

This is our tree. It is small, up high and started with no breakable ornaments.


The guy on the right the reason for our truncated tree.


This is the angel I embroidered many years ago. I just love her.


This is the ornament that my friend Linda painted, inspired by rosemaling. She loves purple as much as I like pink. She sold her ornaments at a craft fair this year and made one pink one. Luckily I got it.


This is the tree skirt I finally finished last week.


I have made the pattern a couple times before. It isn't hard but a little time consuming and of course I had to have the iron, and other dangerous implements out in the process. It was a challenge to get it done with a toddler helping. I knew it wouldn't be perfect. However, if I were to let you peek underneath, you would see the visible seam where I pieced the backing fabric. Yes, I cut, pinned and sewed the entire backing on upside down without noticing. Ugh!!

Knitting In Public

The other day my husband and I traded jobs. He stayed at home with Mr. Tippy Toddler, and I went downtown for some fun and games with the Building Department. I took my Christmas stocking project with me.

A contractor and I were commiserating about how maddening and time-consuming it is to pull permits and deal with bureaucracy. He said he usually sends his "guys" to do it. I told him that my husband is a general contractor and usually sends me, and I have to drag my toddler along, but that day I was so happy to be alone, that I wouldn't let anything bother me. He said he noticed I brought my knitting. I told him that way, I don't feel like I've wasted a bunch time, even if denied the permit. Which I was.

I was knitting on the streetcar on the way home when a man got on through the door near me and shouted belligerently "it says press the button when lit and I pressed it." Oh dear! I intensely knitted, praying "please, please, don't start talking to me, drunk, dis-shelved man."

He immediately sat down near me and barked "knitting or crochet?" I had not made eye contact. Should I pretend I didn't hear? No, don't be judgemental. We had the following conversation"

Me - "Knitting."

Him - "It's an art, you know."

Me - "Thank you. Not everyone feels that way."

Him - "They don't know how hard it is. My mother knitted."

Me - "My grandmother taught me."

Him - "Is that knitting or crochet?"

Luckily we were at my stop.

Turkish Delight!

Remember my disappointment with Turkish Delight?

I didn't get a response from the email I sent to Turkey. I found out the company has an outlet in New Jersey and contacted them for help. I got an email a few days later from Turkey. A little back and forth and I was told that it sounded like the product I purchased was in an outdated package and damaged by heat.

Just three days later UPS delivered this:


Inside I found this carton:


Inside the carton was Double Pistachio Turkish Delight:


It was good:



So good that our dinner guest, who ironically had been in Turkey about the same time I wrote my first rant, said it tasted like what she on her trip. If the house wasn't full of Christmas cookies right now, the whole package would be gone.

Thank you, Gulluoglu.

Housekeeping

Loyal Reader(s?),

I've tried to make some improvements to my template. I've got categories over on the sidebar now.

I'm also working on updating my link lists, and organizing them a bit.

I'm using a classic Blogger template, so I have to edit the html, instead of dragging and dropping icons. It's kind of fun to learn. I started playing with in last month to add the NaBloPoMo badge. Then I added Stat Counter code. Obviously I have a lot to learn - I can't get the "previous post" list to match to others at the moment.

Mt. Lassen

Well, there's nothing like a contest to get me to post! And OMSH is throwing one perfect for me. You just have to post a picture of yourself making a funny face, like this:


This is a self portrait of me at the summit of Lassen Peak in Northern California. Why is it a self-portrait? Because my husband, a former beaver trapper from New England, was too cold to go to the top. He hunkered down with this guy:


Yeah, there was a little snow but it was September, and the mountain is only 10,462 feet high. On my way up I passed a person with a cane, and a toddler. Not a Sunday stroll, but not that strenuous. See, just a little snow:


Okay, it was pretty cold, but I was on a mission. The first time I went to Lassen there was too much snow, even in July, to hike up, this was about 1991. The second time, in about 1999, the trail was clear, but halfway through it got cloudy and my hiking partner insisted we turn back.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who takes or lets others take silly photos of themself. So head on over to the contest, you have until midnight Thursday.

Noooo!!!!

Can you freaking believe it??? I missed the last day of NaBloPoMo by 1 hr 40 min?

It was due to illness, I swear. I had to go to a play rehearsal for my Daughters of Norway Christmas Party last night. I am sick as a dog with some rattle in my chest. And my back is out. But, I dragged myself there. Finished my sock, and took photos while we waited to get started so I would have post fodder. We practiced and I got home at the very late hour for me of 9:30. I immediately took the baby to bed so my husband could shower and go to bed because he has to work tomorrow (really today it is 1:40 a.m.). I was sick and coughing for quite a while. Then the baby got sick and we all got up. I was trying to get back to sleep just now when I remembered.

Anyhow, here is the one pair of socks I fixed over Thanksgiving:




If you recall, I had two very different socks, and not enough yarn. I frogged the original sock, used a little bit to finish the second sock, and then made a new sock. It turned out fine and the socks fit and are cute. They don't match and I like it that way.

Peanut Buttery

One guess. Who let Bubba eat peanut butter out of the jar? Mom or Dad?

Burners are Everywhere

You never know...



where you'll find...



the man...



This one was on Sauvie Island, Oregon

There's No Place Like Home

This photo mirrors how I felt when we got home from our week's vacation. Warm and cozy.

Just Little People

When I was pregnant my husband kept saying "I hope you know about babies, because I don't." He thought they were aliens. I kept telling him that babies are just little people. I kept hammering the idea in. One night there was an almost toddler at a dinner party we attended. He was drinking out of cup, and my husband said in amazement, "look, he's drinking out of a cup. And he's wearing shoes." I just stared at him and he said, "like a little person. I get it!"

I take my son to "child observation" classes run by the community college. The kids get to play, the mothers talk, and it is run by an instructor. When I watch all the toddlers at play, I think of all the potential there. Who knows what they will do, and see, and become? They are little people. I think that we are, to a great extent, born with our personalities. Some are outgoing, others more introspective. Sometimes, if I look just right, I can imagine the room full of adults, not kids. How lucky we are to watch these little people develop.

NaBloPoMo Day 25

Today is my son's sixteen-month birthday. I wonder when we will stop counting months and start couting in years?

We went to our first cyclocross bike race today. Pictures to follow.

Almost have one sock problem fixed.

I haven't found participating in NaBloPoMo as hard as I thought. I have plenty to say and show, I'm just a bit short on time to write and get photos uploaded, etc. Hope to do better before we're done.

Deja Vu

The other day I was lying next to my son as he fell asleep for a nap, and I got the strangest feeling of deja vu. I was thinking about what snack I could eat while I got on the computer to finish writing the previous day's blog post. I remembered I bought a bag of Smart Popcorn the day before, when the feeling hit me. I remembered sitting in what was then our office/sewing room working at the computer wondering what it would be like when the baby was here and experiencing a strong sense of deja vu at that time.

I don’t know a lot about deja vu, it’s something I would like to read more about, but I have felt it quite a few times. But there have only been a couple times when I have had a feeling of deja vu about a time I had deja vu.

I wonder what triggered it? We just got through moving the baby’s crib and adding a climbing structure in his room, maybe that reminded me of getting ready for his birth? But, no, at the time I had the original feeling we hadn’t made any changes to the room. Maybe I was working on this same blog that day and eating popcorn? Is it that simple? Did I just imagine that I had a feeling of dejavu last year?

Memory or imaging? I wonder?

Watch It, S.F.

Dear San Francisco,
There are so many reasons I love you. Your sights and sounds. The fog that wafts in and over you, keeping us cool and you subdued and vaguely mysterious. The fog horns that announce it. The view of the bay, downtown, and the Golden Gate Bridge towers as you drive in from Marin. Nooks and crannies, and alleys and stairways with names. Oh, and you have such good food. Thai, Italian, Indian, Japanese, fancy, cheap, sit-down, take out. And the ultimate food: a burrito from Gordo’s. How multi-faceted you are: you have quiet neighborhoods, museums, the beach, a National Park, bookstores, Chinatown, North Beach, the Mission. How could anyone ever get bored?

You certainly have your conveniences. MUNI goes within four blocks of almost anywhere in the City. And one can read a book or knit or daydream instead of driving and then searching for a parking place. There are plenty of late night groceries, drug stores, bookstores and bars for all our needs. Fifteen minutes to the airport and you are on your way to anywhere. You have nice neighbors, too: Berkeley, the Marin Headlands, the Russian River. Miles of hiking trails on the Peninsula, in the East Bay, up North.

But sometimes, my dear S.F., I fantasize about leaving you. Leaving you for a place less crowded. Especially on days like today when I happily went out to take my son to see a friend only to discover that someone had keyed not only the passenger side, but also driver side of my truck. My beautiful red truck, the first new vehicle that I have ever owned. You house some rotten people, I must say, City by the Bay. Sometimes I just want to get away to a friendlier place, a place where people stop at stop signs, don’t spit on the floor of the bus, say “thank you” when you spend money in their store. Yes, I take things too personally, but other things have been bugging me lately: graffiti on people’s homes makes me sad, trash on the sidewalks, too.

I know there are bad people everywhere, but there are just so many in your seven by seven square miles one can’t help but run into them often. And it is easy to be anonymous in a big city. Even though we are surrounded by people it is easy to think no one cares or notices what we do, the good and the bad. It really makes me sad sometimes to drive on the freeway, each of us in our little box. I’ve had lonely nights when I looked out the window, unable to count all the numerous lights in other homes, thinking I can’t be the only one needing a friend.

I know you think you have a pretty good hold on me. I was born here, have fallen in love here, had my heart broken here, grew up here, even went to college here, and now am raising my son here. You know how I enjoy taking him to the places I loved growing up. But don’t be so sure of yourself. Remember, I am married to a man who has lived in and loved many places. He would not hesitate to leave you for a new town. And I wouldn’t mind having some room. And some peace. And more than one Country music station. But there would have to be a taqueria. Even Hood River, Oregon has a taco truck, thoug. Better watch out, S.F., you are really ticking me off.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone is having a nice day with their friends and families.
I am having one of the lowest stress Thanksgivings ever. We are going to friends of my in-laws. I didn't have to bring a single thing!

I Think I See Dead People

You know how you think you see someone who has been dead a long time? You are walking down the street and a person with the same build or hairstyle or whatever passes you and your mind tricks you into thinking it’s them. My father has been gone for six years, but sometimes I swear I see him. When he first passed away I would see him all the time. Once I was convinced that I hadn’t really watched him waste away from cancer, that he just decided to put on a big show so that he could start another life somewhere new.

A couple weeks ago when I found out an old friend died I started seeing all kinds of dead people. On one trip out on errands I saw my father, both of my grandmothers, and a friend who died of breast cancer. I "saw" her at the grocery store right after buying a pink breast cancer awareness bracelet.

I think our brains try to help us cope with loss. If we can still see our loved ones we are reassured that we have not forgotten about them. Othertimes I think that they are actually visiting us from the beyond.

Sock Problems

I've got two pairs of problem socks. I hope to fix them over the next week.

Problem socks numero uno:
1. Not enough yarn to finish sock number two:


2. Fist sock too big:


3. Toe of first sock is stiff. Suspiciously like the way you would expect it to feel if a small child gnawed on a teething biscuit and then stuck sock in his mouth.

Theory:
I took the warning on the sock label (it is Cascade Fascination, part elastic) to not stretch the yarn while knitting a little too seriously, especially since I knit loosely to start with. This resulted in a too big sock, and caused me to run out of yarn. I knit the second one with more tension.

The plan:
Frog entire first sock. Use resulting yarn to finish second sock. Hope against hope that there is then enough yarn to do a new sock at the correct gauge. Ignore foreign substance, it ought to wash out.

Here's how they compared in size:



Problem Socks Numero Dos:

1. Again, sock number one (top) is too big:

2. Is a victim of pooling on the foot.

Theory:
I tried to get tricky after reading: Getting Started Knitting Socks by Ann Budd. This is a great book! I highly recommend it.

My problem is that I have a long wide feet, narrow heels, normal ankles, and sturdy legs. Store bought women's socks are too small for me, men's a bit large. That's why I want to knit my own socks. I took all my measurements and decided that the basic formula of the leg being 100% of your stitches, ankle 50%, foot 100%, 50% at the toe, down to 20% would not work for me.

So I fiddled with the numbers, made the leg bigger with bunch of decreases down to the the ankle. Well, the top was too big, and the decreases too close together. And the ankle still to big. The foot was okay.

I used fewer stitches for the second sock and was much happier with it. The cuff fits better, the ankle still just a bit loose. I also decided to make it shorter, to hit my calf at a more flattering spot.

Here is a photo of both of them. The first sock (right) really fits worse than it looks:


The Plan:
Frog the first sock from the top down, and then knit back up based on what I did for the second sock. I don't know if this is even a viable solution. We'll see. Ignore the pooling. I actually like it. Looks like lightning to me.