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….

which are part of a set, that goes with this hat:

I had hoped to finish this set to donate to the Guild’s project for 2010, but didn’t manage to get the mittens done in time (which made it perfect for my ‘club’ project).

I had also made this hat (in December):

I used vintage stash for both - Paton’s Classic Wool, but I had only one skein of each. This just reminds me how much I dislike using variegated yarn for patterned pieces - you put all that work into the pattern, and can’t see it because of the variegation!

The pattern is Boreal (you can get it through Ravelry). I bought it because I thought it was a cute hat, and it had mittens to match - a perfect pattern for the Guild charity project! The hat comes in 4 sizes, and the mittens come in something like 8 or 9 sizes. There’s really not much to go on to decide which hat goes with which mittens. The hats are quite stretchy (I can get the red one on my head - and it’s a M), but the mittens have a closer fit and therefore there are many more sizes of those. Since I don’t have a kid to try them on, I was at a loss. In addition, the pattern says you can make it from two skeins of Wool of the Andes (123 yds/skein), so I thought my skein of Classic Wool (230 yards or so) would be enough. It wasn’t until I was halfway through the red one that I discovered there was a separate yardage (listed later in the pattern) for the mittens. :(  I thought I’d have enough left over, but I didn’t. So, I only made the hat in the red, but then made a smaller size hat in the blue and had enough for a pair of mittens. Arg.

I was pleased that I finished my project for January, and then cast on for my February project: Paradoxical Mittens by Lucy Neatby. The pattern photo shows them in black and white, which I thought was rather stark, but that the pattern looked interesting. I decided to use the Mini Mochi I had on hand. I had bought 2 skeins of the same color but different dye lots as I was going to make these mittens. The color changes are very long on the Mini Mochi, and I discovered that the first mitten was nearly all yellow/orange. I decided to try the 2nd skein, and got more variation in color, but then the two mittens are so dissimilar, I am now stuck with the decision to re-make one (or both) mittens, or have a very fraternal pair.

In the meantime, I discovered two unfortunate things about these mittens: I was making the internal cuff version - and I discovered that you have to tack the cuff inside the mitten and while I was right on gauge, the mitten is very snug on my hand (if I’d read the pattern thoroughly, both of these issues would have been discovered earlier in the process)!

While I was deciding what to do about all this (most likely rip and re-knit), Google got hold of my mittens and proceeded to EAT my bamboo dpn’s! I haven’t managed to get back to the store for the size 0’s I need to finish/re-start.

In an attempt to make a pair of mittens for February, I started these. I can’t seem to get gauge on the interior of the cuff - and then I discovered that the two shades of green Cascade 220 I bought for these (while they looked compatible in the hank in the store) are entirely too close in color and blend together too well, obscuring the pattern. Since everything I’ve touched lately has turned to crap I won’t have a ‘club’ item for February. It’s terribly depressing to have failed this early in the year!

BTW - for those worried about Google, she either digested or passed the needles, and appears to be just fine!

On our sister retreat, Jenny had brought some mittens I had knit for her several years ago. Unfortunately, they were in bad shape, mostly due to the small fire she had a few years ago - and the recovery company had ended up semi-felting the mittens. When she wore them at Larsmont, there were holes in the tips as well! At that time, she requested a new pair of mittens for Christmas. Easy-peasy.

(Unfortunately, not blocked and looking kinda pointy.)

When we returned home, I showed Anne the pattern so she could see what they were supposed to look like, and mentioned there is a matching hat pattern. Anne requested one of the hats for Christmas. I hadn’t made that one, but shouldn’t be too difficult, since I’ve made the mittens on multiple occasions.

It was difficult to tell in a “white” or “natural” color, how yellowish the white was, so I ordered 2 different “white” versions of Galway (one of my favorites, especially for that mitten pattern). I ordered a blue for Jenny and was guessing that I needed 2 skeins since I was too lazy to go find the pattern when I was ordering the yarn. The blue turned out to be waaaay off to match Jenny’s coat, so I bought some Cascade 220 which turned out to be just the right color. In the meantime, I discovered that I supposedly only needed one skein of yarn for the mittens, and one skein of yarn for the hat. So, I merrily started knitting Anne’s hat. You knit in ribbing for 5″ before starting the design/beaded portion, and I managed to knit a couple of rows beyond the 5″ (one of those black hole things in knitting). I decided to just leave it. :(  I ran out of yarn about 8 rows from the end (already into the decreasing). I figured I probably ran out because of the extra one or two rows of ribbing! :(  I called Anne to see if she wanted a pair of mittens to go with the hat - and she said “sure!” so I made the mittens, and had enough left over to finish the hat. I was doing the happy dance!

(This is me, trying to get a good photo. Kind of fun that it was during a snowstorm! I’m actually wearing her hat, too, but didn’t manage to get a very good photo.)

(A photo of Anne wearing the hat, showing it’s lovely beadedness!)

Then I decided that it was unfair to offer Anne a pair of mittens to go with her hat - and not offer Jenny the opportunity for a hat to go with her mittens (except that I only had the one skein). She said, “sure!” so I desperately called the local shop where I purchased the Cascade 220 (luckily only 2 weeks before), and they had another skein in the same dye lot! Yippee!

I must admit that I finished this at 2 a.m. the night before our Christmas celebration/gift exchange, so I didn’t get a photo and didn’t get a chance to block this, either! Apologies to Jenny for the crappy photo (she was not well when this photo was taken). More cabley, beaded goodness!  Woohoo!

 What did you knit for Christmas giving?

I have high hopes and big plans for 2011. I’ve joined the “I Make Mittens” group on Ravelry, and want to participate in the “11mittensfor2011″ challenge, as well as the NaKniMitMo ‘11 challenge. In the 11 for ‘11, the challenge is to knit 11 pairs of mittens (or gloves, or convertibles) in 2011. For NaKniMitMo, the challenge is to knit as many mittens as you can during the month of January, 2011. No prizes or anything (or at least, none that I would expect to win - I am the slowest knitter ever!) but a challenge to get me going for 2011. I really liked the idea of the Yarn Harlot’s Self-Imposed Sock Club although I don’t knit many socks right now - and don’t have much motivation to knit them - I thought I might take the idea and create a “something of the month club” like PinkLemonTwist. She is alternating socks and shawls (no, not the time-consuming, lacy ones). I agree with the Harlot that a sock-of-the-month-club is challenging and can be fun, however I’ve decided that I just don’t care much for mystery stuff. Too often I don’t like the finished product, and while I can give it away to charity, I am just too slow of a knitter to spend my time knitting on something that is not enjoyable. The clubs often include the yarn, and while you get the chance to try different yarns and colorways that you don’t normally choose, it is hard to want to knit with something you find unattractive. Clearly it seems a better idea, especially for someone who has a substantial stash and an amazingly long queue on Ravelry to create my own knit-something-of-the-month club.

I am knocking around a few ideas for my ‘club’ - and wondering if I am (again!) attempting to be too ambitious in my goals. There is always a huge need for mittens for so many charities that you can’t possibly knit fast enough, so I can indulge my desire to try several different patterns, etc. and donate them. This will also fit nicely into my 11 in ‘11 and NaKniMitMo goals. Mittens can usually be completed fairly quickly, so this would leave time for me to knit other things that interest me, or gifts for next Christmas, or any upcoming baby gifts. However, I’ve been thinking for quite awhile that I have had the yarn for the Great American Aran Afghan for several years and have only knit 3 squares. They are only about 12 x 12, and even though they are heavily cabled, knitting one per month seems a reasonable goal. There are also several afghans on my queue, and lots of old acrylic yarn in my stash that would love to become one of these afghans… so is it unreasonable to think I could run concurrent ‘clubs’ and knit one pair of mittens *and* one afghan square per month? How about an FO club? I’m sure I have at least 12 unfinished projects. Could I finish one per month?

Let me know what you think! More on this after the 5th, and Happy New Year!