My second pair of Daisy Baby Booties.

This pair turned out a tad smaller, slightly longer than 3″ (good thing the intended recipient is a preemie).

Details:

KnitPicks Swish DK in Coal and Peapod

2.5 mm needles, 2.25mm hook (for flower)

I know it’s not too hard to complete 12 projects in a year if they’re all this small (start to finish in 3 evenings), and I promise they won’t be. I’m really determined to finish several of the baby sweaters I have in the “nearly finished” UFO pile. I know I’m distracted by these adorable booties, and I have a couple of others I’m still working on, but it will be over soon (the above-mentioned recipient has a baptism this weekend). I’m also making progress on a toy giraffe for the MKG charity project. Stay tuned!

I seem to respond well to challenges (reasonable challenges!) for my knitting, as well as specific project/goals (knitting olympics, charity projects, etc.). Otherwise, I tend to flit from project to project, finishing by luck or lack of other stimuli. Of course, the smaller the project, the more likely it will be finished in a timely manner - but that is also no guarantee. Stumbling blocks for gauge, loss of needles (Google), underestimating yarn yardage, needing to ‘rewrite’ the pattern for various reasons, pattern errata problems - all of these generally cause me to stick the project in a bag and leave it, usually indefinitely.

Thankfully, I now have Ravelry to show me what a slacker Iam  help me out. In the past, it was difficult and time consuming to pick up an abandoned project. Finding the pattern, remembering which needle I used, the adjustments I made to one side/sleeve to be able to match to the other all conspired to keep me from finishing a project started long ago. My Ravelry projects page tells me (usually) all of that information. I was recently browsing through my projects, strolling down memory lane, until I looked at some of the start dates of these “WIP’s”… three years… really???

So, while I do have a couple of WIP’s that are ‘current’ - and an intriguing charity project for the MKG, I’ve decided to add another challenge in the hopes that I can have some lovely FO’s to show for my efforts.

I am challenging myself to finish 12 projects by the end of 2012. No requirements for size, new or UFO, one-per-month, etc., just complete 12 by the end of the year. My focus will be primarily on finishing UFO’s that have been sitting long enough that I’m glad I wasn’t making them for my children   around for quite some time. I do have three projects done already (OK, they were new this year, but it still counts!):

Hagrid’s Mystery Motorcycle Socks, 72 stitch version

KnitPicks Essential, Kettle-Dyed, Colorway: Ivy (2 skeins) - the photo color is way off, this is more of a forest green

Brittany dpns, size 1 (2.25 mm)

and

Daisy Baby Booties, 6 month size

KnitPicks Gloss DK (Whirlpool, Cranberry)

Needles: 2.5 (3.0 mm)

and

Soft Wave Baby Mittens

KnitPicks Gloss DK - Whirlpool

needles: size 4 (3.5 mm)  for mitt and size 1.5 (2.5mm) for tie

I’ve pulled several projects from the pile and am currently searching for the patterns so I can finish them up. Perhaps I’ll even manage more than 12?

I spend time every day, deleting these posts and banning the URLs, and I’m just plain tired of wasting my time because of these spammers.

So, I have gone through my posting histories and disabled new comments on all previous posts. If you are new to the blog and browse through previous posts, you will need to come back to the current post to leave any comments. It is rare to get spam on the current entry (I’m not sure why), but if that changes now because they can’t leave comments anywhere else, I may turn off comments on the current post (after a period of time).

Of course, you can reach me through Ravelry (I’m knittinginpublic) or email directly (if you’re a friend) if you can’t leave a comment.

This time, it was my turn to help.

Molly’s friend, Jo-Anne (I met her when we went to San Francisco for Molly’s graduation) had a sweater she had knit for her grandson, but discovered that the neckline was too tight for him to get it over his head.

I told her she could send it to me, and I’d take a look and see what I could do.

The neckline was definitely too small. The bind off was a little tight, but I think the real culprit was that the neckline was garter stitch. The sweater was also knit of cotton, which has absolutely no “give” to it, so the problem was compounded. I ripped out the neckline, removed the back and front bind offs, and reknit the collar. I tried a multitude of “lace” and stretchy binds-offs, but none made this neckline any stretchier. I ended up with a traditional bind off, with a needle THREE sizes too big! It’s a little floppy/loose, but it’s now big enough to get over a 20″ head. I was considering making a button opening, but a button only at the neck edge would have looked funny, and creating a faux opening along the shoulder would have been difficult and probably not very good looking.

The neckline ended up being a little square-ish, but I think I was able to keep the style/integrity of the sweater.

This was a learning experience for me, too - garter stitch is not a preferred edging, especially anywhere that needs significant stretch (like a neckline). It was also a reminder to watch neck openings on kids’ sweaters (they are notoriously small on many patterns).

 The sweater is on it’s way back to grandma now, and on to Christmas knitting!

the announcement

the ticket to attend

marquee on the auditorium

knitting while I was waiting for the ceremony to start — we were told to wear “business casual”

I brought my shawl (wearing it for the first time). Great decision, it was just enough to take the chill from the air conditioning, and the slight breeze once we were outside. Also, Molly commented that everyone was dressed in dark clothing (duh - how many of us have business casual that isn’t dark?) and thanks to the white shawl, she was able to pick me out of the crowd). :)  I also got a very nice compliment on the shawl from one of the ‘ushers’ and even Dave commented on how nice it felt (Shibui Silk Cloud, 60% mohair, 40% silk).

After the ceremony, they served cake, water, and strawberries to the graduates and families in the street in front of the auditorium (the street was blocked off for graduation).

Our graduate with her loving & supportive hubby in the park across the street from the auditorium. She had to return the gown and hood (not even available for purchase, if you wanted to buy it!), but was able to keep the cap. (Her law school is the tower in the background.) More photos of the graduate on her blog.

While that was the purpose and highlight of our visit, we actually spent a week in California - arriving a few days before graduation and staying a few days after graduation.

We arrived in California with only loosely planned days, which is great for the ability to change plans with the weather and other factors. I finally saw Molly’s apartment (good thing, since they are now moving)! A cute one-bedroom with BIG closets. Chris’s parents also came out for the graduation, and the day of their arrival, we headed to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner. John & Lucie had been up since the crack of dawn (after very few hours of sleep) and had flown all the way across the country! I chose CPK for my birthday dinner (Molly sent us certificates for birthday dinners while in California), mostly because Molly had often gone to CPK when she was in Boston, and I was curious what it was like.

The food was very good, and we used the opportunity to send our Chris (at home) a “where’s Waldo” picture. I was amazed that John & Lucie didn’t fall asleep in their food!

Molly cooked two delicious dinners for us, we had a fun evening playing a card game about trading beans, and on Saturday we had a “girls day” planned so we could knit and visit. I had the opportunity to meet Chris & Molly’s pastor’s wife, Joanne. She and Molly knit during church services, and she has asked Molly’s advice on knitting problems. She was a delightful lady, and unfortunately couldn’t stay very long (graduation parties to attend). Lucie also joined us, and while she’s not a knitter, she worked on award plaques for her robotics team.

While the girls stayed in and crafted, the boys went down to Fisherman’s Wharf

and stopped by the Ghirardelli shop (where Dave bought an enormous mixed bag of chocolate)

The graduation was on Sunday, and we worried about getting there on time as many of the streets were blocked off for the annual “Bay to Breakers” run. Molly worked out the route, and we left church early so we had additional time in case it was needed. (Everything worked out very well.) After graduation, we had dinner at Chris & Molly’s favorite italian restaurant, Cafe Altano. It was a very nice dinner and the staff was terrific. John & Lucie left directly from the restaurant to head to the airport.

On Monday, we again split up: Chris and Dave went to tour Alcatraz, and Molly & I went yarn shop hopping. We visited Atelier which was a nice little shop. I bought some buttons there, and had a nice conversation with the gal who was working that day. Next stop was Imagiknit. This was a much larger store. They were definitely NOT as friendly as Atelier, and were not as welcoming. I don’t know if I’d ever make this my LYS if I lived in the area - of course, I may have just hit them on a “bad day.” They did have a nice selection of yarn (I bought some Malabrigo Sock there), a fairly nice collection of buttons where Molly found buttons for a baby pea coat she was making, and quite a few patterns - although I didn’t find anything I wanted to buy. Molly and I took a break for lunch, and just after we got our sandwiches, the boys called to say they were done at Alcatraz and it was time to pick them up.

We then headed to Palo Alto, saw the Stanford campus, and had dinner in a strip mall nearby. California is definitely not a meat-and-potatoes kind of place, and is certainly more expensive than home. We had plans to see a retro-type theater that Molly had discovered last summer - the Stanford. They play only old movies (she saw “Rear Window” last summer), and she thought we might enjoy it. The drawback was that while we were there, the only film available was a musical (and those of you that know Dave, know that musicals are not his “thing”). While eating dinner, Dave & I both got hit with a wave of exhaustion - we had been going full tilt for 5 days already - and we thought we would skip the movie after all. Since Palo Alto is so far from Molly’s, we decided it was unlikely we’d be able to make it back if we didn’t go that evening, so we decided to stop over and at least see the theater.

While they have a free-standing box office in front, they apparently no longer use that, so we had to go into the lobby

The guy at the counter couldn’t let us go in to look around until we had bought tickets.

However, the theater offers a movie ticket pack that gives you a discounted admission, and he agreed that if we bought the pack (4 tickets) that he could let us go in (without using them) to look around (this was, of course, after Molly explained that we were visiting from out of town). We wandered around a little, and “woke up” a bit — and decided to stay and see the movie (so we used the movie pack)! This theater reminded Dave & I of the days (long, long ago!) when we worked at the theater. The carpeting was similar, the layout of the building - everything reminded us of the theaters we knew years ago. Once the previous film let out, we had a chance to go in and see the seating area - with the velvet curtains for the screen, the balcony, etc. One of the neat things about this theater, is that is has a real organ-player inbetween shows! Molly said he plays all the way through on silent films, and plays during intermissions during the ‘regular’ shows. :)  The organ rises through the flooring (and retracts when he’s done) - all while he is playing the organ.

We are so thrilled we opted to stay and see the movie - it was a great experience!

On our last “tourist” day in California, we were going to drive along US1 and see the beautiful coast, however the weather was not cooperating. It was foggy and Molly said you wouldn’t be able to see anything. So we took a drive down to a card room so Dave could play for awhile, and Molly and I spent some time knitting. We then headed down to meet Chris, who had started his summer job at Google!

(I was sure we had some photos, but they have disappeared for the moment.)

We were able to join him for dinner at the Google cafeteria as his guests. Totally amazing place, and what a great opportunity for him. Lots of places for the brainiacs that work there to relax and “play” and Dave was able to visit the Google gift shop - and bought LOTS of stuff. Unfortunately, photos are not allowed inside the building.

Apparently, new-hires at Google are called “Nooglers” and are given a beanie to wear (they only have to wear it for a short time). I thought it was very cute, and we’re looking forward to seeing the beanie in person in a few weeks when Chris & Molly come to visit.

One of the items that Dave bought at the gift shop were Android collectibles - so I give you a shot of the Noogler:

Molly and Chris were fantastic hosts - and love having company. We’re very proud of her accomplishments and were thrilled to be there to see her graduate. They both have such bright futures!

I’ve only breezed through San Franscisco once before, in the early 80’s, but this time I had a chance to do some touristy things, and visit my ‘kids.’ Thanks, Chris & Molly!

Of course, I did some knitting in public in honor of the day — I knit a few rounds on a baby hat I’m working on while I was celebrating my sister’s 60th birthday at Chianti Grill in Roseville. (No pictures, but I was there - and I was knitting!)

How about you?

This is the view out off my deck on April 16, 2011:

Snow.

It took a day or so to melt, and then we got more snow April 20th - again, another day to melt. Then we had flurries one evening.

Today is May 1st. Temp on my way to church this morning was 34 degrees and there were flurries.

I know we’re “hardy” here - but I am getting quite tired of cold weather and snow.

(California, here I come — and you’d better be warm!)

Despite good intentions to take a long weekend every month or two, we didn’t manage another get-away until February of this year! We took a Friday off and headed to Milwaukee. We stopped in Tomah and had lunch in this place on the main drag:

You could tell it was “small town” - but lots of character:

The food was good and reasonably priced. We had fun trying to go to “mom and pop” type of places instead of the big chains.

When we arrived in Milwaukee, we stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott. We actually had a living room or sitting room:

Dave went off to play and I worked on my zoo afghan. We ordered italian food from a local restaurant and they delivered to the hotel!

The next morning, we headed to the yarn store (my part of the deal), but we hadn’t had any breakfast before leaving the hotel. We spied a new-looking building that from the outside looked like a Machine Shed restaurant, and it had a big banner that said they had Saturday (and Sunday) morning brunch. We decided to give it a try (especially since we were concentrating on non-chain places). It was the Water Street Brewery in Grafton, WI. The place still had the “new wood” smell!

The food was good, and I discovered that they have their own micro-brewery onsite! While I’m not a beer drinker, it was still fascinating to see all the piping and tubs for beer brewing. We chatted with the waitress a bit (it was slow), and when we got our bill in the little folder-thingy, it had an insert about buying “growlers” of various beers. We asked what the growlers were, and apparently it’s a 1/2 gallon jug that you fill and take home. They also brew their own root beer, and offer a growler of root beer (for $7)! So we had to try one:

It was delicious!

We then headed over to the yarn shop

Very nice little shop. I bought a pattern for a kid’s pullover with chunky yarn (but have yet to find a yarn I want to use), and some Snuggly DK to make a kid’s sweater (using one of my Sirdar patterns). The inside was cozy and had a lovely wood “dining room” table, where I presume they have classes, but they also had a very nice sitting area where you could just come in and knit for awhile.

I asked the owner how long they had been there (she looked at me like I was from the moon!) and said since the 60’s! I quickly told her I was from out of town - Minnesota - and she said I should be taking a vacation to some place warm! I had to say that they had less snow than we did, though.

Back to the hotel and relaxing/knitting  crocheting.

That night, we headed out to a restaurant that was just outside of downtown, but really looked more like 7 Corners here. Old storefronts with living areas above - I’m pretty sure the place we went to was probably once a corner drug store or grocery store. We went to La Perla, a mexican restaurant. Very busy, fairly noisy, but fantastic food.

They had a whole rack of hot sauces that Dave wanted to try - but they were just for decoration.

We had been playing “Where’s Waldo” with Molly, and she had complained that I wasn’t giving her a chance to guess (even though neither one of us had ever been to Milwaukee before). This place was decorated like so many Mexican restaurants - I don’t think anyone else uses that color of peachy/orangey on their walls - and they had some (paper mache?) “peppers” in the front window:

After I snapped this photo and sent it to Molly, I realized that you can ride the red chili pepper (like the old mechanical ponies outside the grocery store) - it even has a saddle! Anyway, I figured she could at least tell it was a Mexican restaurant, but nay, nay! This techno-saavy kid of mine takes this game more seriously than I had thought! She forwarded the photo to her computer so she could see a bigger image. Then she noticed that there was writing on the top of the window…. so she had her hubby put it in Photoshop and flip the image so the writing was “right side out”- but the banana pepper (?) covered some of the letters, so she Googled Mexican restaurants in Milwaukee until she found one where the letters matched! So she guessed La Perla! Absolutely amazing.

While I waiting for Dave to get the car, I snapped this photo from the corner out front:

Very picturesque.

The next day, we headed back home. The winter drive isn’t very pretty - all snow, not much variation in the scenery. We did notice these “waterfalls” of ice, usually where the limestone (?) was - about the most interesting thing of the drive.

We have adjusted our plans, and now hope to make a quarterly trip - hopefully we’ll manage to actually do it!

When I posted this my sister Anne said it looked like fun and she would love to have tea next time she was in town. Unfortunately, Molly’s visit did not coincide with Anne’s, but we went to Lady Elegant’s Tea Room again - the sisters and some of the hubbies.

Anne & Carl:

Jenny & Duke:

We (again) had wonderful food:

and don’t forget dessert:

and the place was beautifully decorated for the holidays.

We had the opportunity to try on hats again. I was not aware that they apparently change the hats available with the seasons, as the hats we had were more for winter than spring/summer when we went last time (and those we had last time were nowhere to be seen).

These hats were more fun to try on, and this time Jenny managed to look good in all the ones she tried on.

This one reminds me a bit of Mary Poppins!

Even the guys were willing to try on some of the hats - even though they were silly!

but the best one - it makes me laugh to see it - is Anne with this feather hat (from the 40’s?) that also resembles her hair color, and the expression reminds me of the Saturday Night Live spoof of Julia Child! (I guess it’s the voice that I associate with it.)

A good time was had by all!

My knitting has recently been crappy. Everything I try to work on has difficulties. My dog ate my needles. My gauge is off. My yarns don’t contrast enough. My ideas for joining aren’t working. I stink at intarsia. I’ve certainly lost my knitting mojo.

Then there’s this pattern.  No, it’s not knitting - it’s crochet.

Yep - I’ve gone over to the dark side. Sleeping with the enemy.

Not that I haven’t had my issues with this pattern as well. I’ve ripped and re-worked a number of times, but I think I’m finally getting it. And there’s really only 3 different stitches to learn. It definitely has drawbacks - mistakes have to be ripped all the way back (no dropping down a stitch and re-working). Counting how many stitches you have and/or where you are in the pattern are tough. The pattern doesn’t have charts - only tedious, long lines of instruction that make it easy to lose your place.

But this is SO gorgeous, I couldn’t resist.

See that giraffe head just poking through? Fantastic.

Maybe I will finish a “something” for February, after all….

[Edited to change link to pattern - Mary Maxim no longer has it on their site.]