Learn Something New

I was having some issues with laddering on my socks.  For some reason it happens most often (or at least I feel as if I notice it more…) when I have ribbing and am moving from purl to knit across the needles.  I tried pulling the first two and last stitches as snug as I could but they always seemed to slip loose causing the laddering.  At my wit’s end I posted on my sock group on Ravelry and asked for any other tips/hints/advice.

One of the pieces of advice I received was to flip the stitch I’m about to knit the other way and then knit it.  The description was a little fuzzy so I kind of made up what I thought she was talking about and whatever it is it’s seemed to work!  I flipped both the first and last stitches of each needle and then when I go to knit or purl I wrap my yarn around opposite of what I normally do.  Yay for learning something new!

T-4 Days

There are 4 days ’til the Olympics and I am ready! I have my yarn (Cascade 220 Heathers in an oatmeal color), I have my pattern, I even have this awesome banner I made

So whenever I do a post about the Knitting Olympics, you’ll see that!  This Friday my SIL and I are going to make Olympic cookies with frosted rings and balls of yarn.    It’s going to be awesome!

I’ve been tinkering with my website all yesterday afternoon and this morning.  I’ve got a new banner and created a badge for my Etsy shop and you become my fan on Facebook (Dahlish Knits).  Thanks for bearing with the weirdness going on!

Excuse me while I…

get my sh*t together!  Ever have one of those weekends where you’re trying to re-organize and put your life in order and you explode change everywhere only to realize that what you started with was just peachy to begin with?  That’s kind of what’s been going on here.  I promise I will be sane again by tomorrow.  Here’s hoping!  (Overall this means I’m not changing my blog to a different place I’m just inhaling very deeply, closing my eyes, and revamping the heck out of this baby!)

Blogsite ADD

I think I’ve said it before but I am terrible about sticking with one blogging site for long. There’s always something shinier, prettier, more functional and newer for me to try. This flavor of the year is Live Journal. I think what I like best about it so far is that I can have photo galleries and don’t have to rely on Flickr to support my 200+ photos that I have to prune every other month just so I don’t invest in the ‘premium’ account. (Does that make me cheap?) Plus the only reason I really have the flickr acct is to blog my pictures…anyhow. Here’s where I’ll be making my new home. Please come along and follow!

http://dahlishknits.livejournal.com/

Olympics here I come!

Today my MIL signed up herself, my SIL and myself into the knitting Olympics via Prairie Yarn Store. They picked me up Cascade yarn in oatmeal so I’m ready to cast on my project on Opening Day! I’ve already told my SIL that we will have to stock up on goodies to munch (and drink) while we knit and watch the Olympics.

When I begin I’ll talk about why I chose what I did and of course have picture updates!

My sock is coming along. After I tried it on I smartly took out another sock I knit in the same yarn and measured. Compared to another knit sock it was ready for some decreases so that’s what I did. I have an inkling that it’s going to be a very tight squeeze to finish a second sock with that extra repeat in there…

Big feet

Why do I have such big feet?! I thought doing one more repeat of the cable pattern would be enough before moving onto the toe but there is another 3 inches between where my knitting has now stopped and my toe. Grr. I’m thinking that instead of doing more cables I will just move onto ribbing and call it a day.

Inching along

I have been knitting, really, I have! There just isn’t any picture evidence yet. My Skadi socks are on the back burner for the time being. Why?

1. I was procrastinating blaming my chipped tip needles (although my KnitPicks order came in the other day…)
2. I whipped up a pair of French felted slippers (which are awaiting some buttons from Etsy before they’re ready for a photo shoot)
3. and most importantly….Mass Effect 2 came out this week and I’ve been devoting my kids’ napping and sleeping times to playing it.

But I’ll have to get back on the ball eventually, especially since I am considering doing the Knitting Olympics! My MIL offered to sign me up and I’ve got something in mind to knit for it. We will see!

Oh socks

I picked up my stitches weird on one side of my sock so there’s a gaping hole in the corner. *sigh* Luckily it’s something that can easily be fixed but it’s annoying nonetheless. Whenever I do ribbing with DPN’s laddering tends to be a huge issue so I decided to knit the rest of my sock on my itty bitty circular needle. So far it’s better.

I ordered new size 2 and 3 needles from KnitPicks. I made sure to order them in 6″ as the smaller 4″ ones are constantly stabbing my palms and making me miserable. They shipped yesterday so I hope they get here before I start on sock #2!

Super Cape!

Every little kid needs a cape to run around in. So I decided to knit one up for Jax using my leftover Cascade 220 yarn. It was a simple construction and took a few days of naptime knitting to finish. I c/o 30 stitches and then placed a marker in the middle at st 15 so I would make an increase at the 1st stitch, stitch before the marker, stitch after the marker, and last stitch. On the WS row I knit flat. I repeated this pattern ’til it was roughly half the size I wanted it to be. Then I just knit flat ’til I ran out of yarn and b/o! I used Cascade Eco Duo for the mantle. When all was said and done I tossed it in the washer/dryer with some jeans and voila!

Books & Socks

Last night I finished “Four Souls” by Louise Erdrich and enjoyed it immensely! I absolutely love how it’s a story on it’s own merit and yet it weaves in tidbits from the other books that you might not pick up on if you haven’t read the others. I’m not sure how I managed to miss this book in my love of Louise Erdrich but I did and now it’s put together a few of the missing pieces.

“Four Souls” tells the story of Fleur Pillager’s trip to Minneapolis to have her vengeance upon John James Mauser, the man who stole her land. Despite the story being about Fleur, we never hear from her P.O.V; we hear from Nanapush, Margaret and Polly Elizabeth. I always knew that Fleur didn’t abandon Lulu as Lulu herself thought, but rather tried to tuck her away safe so Fleur could take care of business in Minneapolis. But her plan for vengeance turned Lulu away from her and turned Fleur into something a little less of who she arrived as.

Fleur arrives in Minneapolis with a specific plan in mind on how she is going to destroy John James Mauser. She is disappointed to see that the man who stole her land is not in the peak physical condition she had hoped; to make her vengeance taste sweeter, Fleur helps restore him to his former self so she can (in her mind) honorably take him down. Through her healing process Fleur finds herself intrigued by Mauser and eventually marries him and bears his son. Along with the birth of her son Fleur discovers an addictive fondness for whiskey which follows her back to the reservation. When Fleur does come back to the reservation she arrives in a stark white car, white suit and son. Her mission is still the same, to get back her land. The Pillager blood in Fleur allows her the patience to further pursue her land. She visits the land office every day until she receives useful information. With her newfound knowledge, Fleur directs her energy towards Tatro, the new owner of her land, and lays in wait until she is ready to strike. Fleur uses Tatro’s preconceived notions of Native Americans against him and uses her son’s ‘illness’ to her advantage.

Now that Fleur has won her land back Margaret takes it upon herself to heal Fleur. She tells Fleur that she must make amends for all the wrongs she’s done before she can go back. Dressing Fleur in Margaret’s Medicine Dress she bathes her and sends her on a journey to the hilltop where she will stay for 8 days. If she makes it Fleur will be able to live on her land with a clear spirit and in the comfort her ancestors.

What I love most about Louise Erdrich’s writing is that it doesn’t focus solely on one character but involves stories of the other characters as well. We hear a bit about Nanapush and Margaret, how the Medicine Dress came to be. Polly Elizabeth is not simply John James Mauser’s first wife’s sister, but she becomes a confidant to both Mauser and Fleur. Fleur and Margaret’s ancestors become a part of the story, not just names in the story.

I absolutely recommend this book especially if you’ve read “Love Medicine”, “The Bingo Palace”, “Tracks” and “The Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse”. It will pick up where some stories left off, fill in the gaps of others all while telling a story all its own.

KNITTING

And now for my latest project! I’ve been slow going on my socks. It’s difficult to knit cable socks while cuddling a napping baby so I quit. But I’ve been able to get in 2-3 hours of knitting in the evening. I’m on the third repeat of the big cable pattern and so far it measures 5″ from top to where I’m at. My ball of yarn is still plentiful so I think I will go ahead and knit 4 repeats and see how tall that makes the socks. Despite having to follow the pattern on my laptop it has been pretty easy once I got into it. Plus I’ve written down the legend on a spare sheet of paper so I’m not jumping all over the pattern in Adobe. (I reeeally need more printer ink!) Here are 2 pictures of my sock in progress!