Gauge question...

I'd like to make these mittens out of this yarn (that I got at this yarn store :) ).

Since the yarn is less chunky than the pattern calls for and I tend to be a loose knitter, I'm using size 6 needles instead of the 10.5s called for in the pattern. Which means that I need 18 stitches and 22 rows to get 4 inches square rather than 13 stitches and 19 rows.

I'm new to resizing stuff. Or even making stuff that has to actually fit a person. So if anybody (Queen of Socks?) wants to give some pointers, they'd be greatly appreciated.

I know I need to add extra stitches. I though about just going up to the men's pattern, but my stitch count(18) is 1.4 times greater than the specified gauge (13), and the men's pattern isn't proportionally that much larger than the women's. But maybe I'm not going about this right. Help?

Christmas Concert 2007.

I took some time away from studying for my final last Saturday (12/15/2007) to go to the 9th annual Over the Rhine Christmas concert at the Taft Theater. The original attendee list was me, Brecka, Drew, Sarah, and the Bordens. The actual attendee list ended up being me, Brecka, Drew, Joe, and Chris. Faith and Mike were there, too.

I didn't take any pictures this time. We were pretty far away, way up in the balcony. The seats were good, though. We could see everything really well, and the volume was more reasonable than sitting right up front.

Here's the set list:

• I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time
• I'm On A Roll
• All I Ever Get For Christmas Is Blue
• Trouble
• Let's Spend The Day In Bed
• Nothing Is Innocent
• The Trumpet Child
• Who'm I Kiddin' But Me (a trashy song, according to Karen)
• Darlin' (Christmas Is Coming)
• Snowed In With You
• North Pole Man
• Goodbye Charles
• Snow Angel
• Some really pretty song with 3 or 4 part harmony talking about angels taking me "to my immortal home". Really pretty.
• Ohio
• Entertaining Thoughts

The first encore:

• If A Song Could Be President (eh)
• Drunkard's Prayer
• Don't Wait For Tom

The second encore:

• Latter Days
  

My sock is too big...

Here is my sock:

Two sock clubs ago, I decided that my sock was too big. I ripped out the heel and three pattern repeats.

Last sock club, I started the heel again. I guess I must have added in a pattern repeat or two. Because, having finished the heel for the second time, the sock is still too big. It may be growing while I'm ignoring it in favor of the big woolen stripy thing.

I'm feeling stubborn with this sock. At some point in the near future I am going to rip out the heel for the second time (and a few extra pattern repeats for good measure). Here's hoping that if it's still not right after I redo the heel for the third time, it's at least too small instead of too big.

Moonlight Gardens

Over the Rhine had their album launch concert at Moonlight Gardens at Coney Island on August 31st . A bunch of Columbus-ites came down for the show: Faith, her sister Susanna, and Susanna's roommate Beth; Brecka and Drew; Dave and Krista; Kate. Canal Street fan Steve and his wife Sarah were there too, and helped me save seats (right up front) for everybody.

The show was really good. The weather was perfect - cool, dry, clear sky with stars visible, a slight breeze.

Here's the set list. Everything is from Trumpet Child unless otherwise noted.

• I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time
  
• I'm On A Roll
• Entertaining Thoughts
• Let's Spend The Day In Bed
• Nothing Is Innocent
• Trumpet Child
• Who'm I Kiddin' But Me (described by Karin as "A trashy little song I wrote")
  
• Trouble
• And Can It Be (Till We Have Faces)
• We're Gonna Pull Through (Snow Angels)
• Long Lost Brother (Ohio)
• Ohio (Ohio)
• B.P.D. (Ohio)
• Orphan Girl (cover)

And the encore set:

• Don't Wait For Tom
• If A Song Could Be President

And the second encore set (which featured a violinist from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra):

• Hush Now (Stella's Tarantella) (Drunkard's Prayer) (one of my favorites)
  
• I Want You To Be My Love (Drunkard's Prayer) (Brecka & Drew danced to their song)
  
• Drunkard's Prayer (Drunkard's Prayer)

And now the pictures...

Waiting for the doors to open...


Brecka and Drew helping save seats...



Faith...


New set decorations - very spiffy...


The opener. I didn't catch his name...


The band - a much bigger group than in previous years...


Mickey the drummer. It's hard to get a good shot of him since he's always moving...

Another band shot, this time with the woman who sang backup... She was very good.


The violinist that played during the encore was really good.


Dave and Krista and Brecka and Drew had a good time...

Joseph-Beth

Over the Rhine did a free show at Joseph-Beth Booksellers on Thursday. Kristin was in town visiting family, so we met up at the bookstore to watch the show. Erin and Dean and two of their cooking friends came along as well.

It was very crowded at the bookstore. They were having a book signing at the same time, so it was quite nicely packed.

The concert was good. Mostly songs from Trumpet Child. I like the new album, some of the songs quite a lot, but as a whole I think I may like Drunkard's Prayer better. At least so far.

I didn't write down the set list, but they played 5ish songs including Trumpet Child, Orphan Girl (encore), and maybe I Don't Wanna Waste Your Time. They're touring with a bigger band than last time, and had 4 of the 6 there. No Mickey, and the new guitar player wasn't there either. But, really, I don't think they could have fit any more people on the "stage", anyway.

San Francisco, Part 4

Wednesday I took the trolley to Fisherman's Wharf. I forgot to write down which pier the sea lions were on, but it wasn't to hard to find them. Just when I was starting to wonder where they were I started hearing barking. Lots of barking.

One of the sea lions was a little antisocial. He seemed determined to defend his territory from all approachers.


A couple more sea lions were doing their own thing together. Maybe the crowd got to be too much for them.


The rest of the sea lions were very social.


Why are all the sea lions at the pier, you ask? Well, here you go:


Neptune's Palace was right by the sea lions, and Marianne had recommended it, so I had dinner there.


Then I walked around a bit and took a streetcar back to the hotel.


Thursday was shopping and studying for my test on Friday. Not so many pictures, but I did get some cute jeans.

Friday the test was done by 3:30 or so, so I had plenty of time to take a cab back to Fisherman's Wharf for my Segway Tour! The tour was awesome, the guide was great, and the Segway was really fun to drive. I didn't take many pictures because you were supposed to stop your Segway and step off before taking picture. Here are a few, though.

I got a decent shot of the Golden Gate Bridge.


I took a picture of the city from our practice area on a long pier.


The guide took a picture of me. Not the most flattering, but eh. No snarky comments on the helmet or the stylish vest, please. :)


We segwayed up over a hill and down into the Fort Mason area. I don't have a picture, but we stopped outside Greens Restaurant. The tour guide said that it's run by Zen Buddhists who have an organic farm just over the bridge in the Marin Headlands where they produce a lot of the ingredients used at the restaurant. We didn't go inside, and I didn't have a chance to go back, but it smelled incredible. Definitely worth a visit!

After the tour and a little adventure where I left my camera at the tour place and had to rush back to get it before they closed, I had dinner at the Bistro Boudin. It was very good. And they made cute animals out of sourdough bread.

San Francisco, Part 3

Tuesday was another day of class. I walked back to the hotel a different way, and look what I found... I felt like a bit of a goof taking this picture in the middle of the Financial District, but I knew that Sarah would appreciate it.



The entrance to Chinatown is not far. I had heard (from a reliable source) that there were sweatshirts to be had for a good price, so I headed over for some (window)shopping.

There are some weird streets in San Francisco.

Why I like San Francisco, part 2

It's been a busy week, what with going to class all day (ok, most of the day) and then spending all evening working my way through my list of tourist activities.

On Sunday, Erin and her boyfriend took me to dinner at The Stinking Rose. Then we walked back through Chinatown and got fried sesame things with bean paste for dessert.

I took some pictures of the hotel lobby while I was waiting for them. Isn't it stylish?

Monday after class I took the cable cars (after a few misdirections, the streets here are confusing) to Grace Cathedral, which came highly recommended.

It was beautiful and awe inspiring and I only took pictures outside. But they have some amazing doors. See?

They also had some beautiful flowers.

From Grace Cathedral I walked down the hill to catch a cable car

and rode it to Ghirardelli Square,



which is on the bay. I took pictures.


I saw my first palm tree of the week. Or, at least, the first one that I noticed.


I shopped and ate samples and bought a tasty cupcake.


I decided to take the cable car back up to Lombard Street. But the line was very long. Remembering that the guidebook had said that it was quicker to get on at a stop further up the hill, I started walking. I thought a cable car would catch up with me. I stopped after a few blocks and took a picture of Alcatraz.



Then I kept walking. The cable car never caught up with me. The map made it look like a short walk. It was not. See? That stuff way at the bottom of the hill by the water is where I started walking. :)



There were lots of cars lined up for their turn to drive down "The Crookedest Street". I decided to walk down the hill to get the full experience.


Then I kept walking to the next cable car line to go back to the hotel.

Why I like San Francisco, part 1

Guess what I found this afternoon while I was walking around downtown. Without even looking for it, although I'd been meaning to make sure to visit sometime this week.

That scruffy looking building, once you ride the scary elevator up to the second floor, is the home of Artfibers, which is a very cool yarn store. They make all their own yarn. They let you try it out in the store. They have so many different options that it takes forever to decide.

And I found it by accident, which made my afternoon very cool.

Next up, dinner at The Stinking Rose with Erin, who used to live in Cincinnati.

San Francisco

Know what 4+ hours on a plane (plus maybe 1/2 hour waiting to get on the plane) gets you? This:

That's right. A good start on a toe up sock. Admittedly, this is my second start on this sock. But still. I think that's pretty good progress.

There were a few distractions. Turbulence. Snacks (twice, since it was a long flight). A small child kicking the back of my seat. His mother/female (ir)responsible person clipping her (hopefully) fingernails behind me. (Is this allowed? It seems pretty disgusting to me, particularly in such a small space with so many people next to you.) Stuff like that.

But, now I'm finally in San Francisco, hooray! I hear there are some good yarn stores here. :)

Sock details: KnitPicks Felici yarn (Arugula colorway). KnitPicks 2.5mm circular needle. Yarn over Cable pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks (p 39-43). I'm doing this as magic loop, which so far means working the sole on 1 "needle" and the rest on the other. I'm pretty much following the directions for using 4 dpns, just replacing the 2nd & 3rd needles with the other half of my circular and putting a stitch marker in between. Just like the Queen of Sock taught me. :)

Big woolly stripey thing, revealed

My baby sister got married this weekend. I intended to make the happy couple a Log Cabin blanket as their gift. Unfortunately, it's taking much longer than expected and will probably continue to take a long time since I start grad school in a couple of weeks. Fortunately, reliable sources tell me that I have up to a year to give a wedding gift.

I had been keeping this project a secret, or at least making an attempt in places where Brecka would see it. However, the happy bride decided that she wanted to see her gift in progress. Which means that I can now share pictures.

Here's a somewhat recent shot. Since this was taken I've added the next dark green stripe and started picking up for a small stripe of burgundy, which will be used as the border color as well after one or two more repeats of the three-color pattern.

Balcony Gardening

I said I'd post some pictures of my favorite flowers. The ones that bloom all summer long even when I only water them once. Well, here you go...

Don't they look nice?

Ugly hat

There are some things that just beg to be frogged.



It all started out so innocently. There was a sale on blue yarn for Father's Day. I bought yarn with blue in it, hoping to make a hat for my dad. I bought a top-down hat pattern to use with the yarn, thinking it would be fun. I started knitting and eventually got this. It looks ok in the photo, but imagine it on my dad's head - it just didn't work. At all. So this yarn, which I really do like, has been re-balled and is waiting for fresh inspiration. Poor yarn.

Why I love KnitPicks

I ordered some more yarn for a project on Sunday. This morning I had an email saying that it would be here in three business days. And I just got home from work to find my yarn sitting in front of my door. Yay!

Admittedly, I did pay for 3-day shipping because I wanted to make sure that I'd have what I needed by when I thought I would be ready for it. But getting it today pretty much makes it 1-day shipping - at least by my calculations.

:)

Update: Ok, now I like KnitPicks even better. I ordered a bunch of different things, including a skein of Felici sock yarn, since I was dumb and only ordered enough for one sock before. I asked them to send me another skein in the same dye lot, if they had it available, and they did! But that's not all - I was also ordering extra yarn in a bunch of different colors, and for every single color they sent me more yarn in the same dye lot as what I already had! I didn't think that would even be possible - I'm so impressed!

WooHoo!

My Ravelry invitation came today. I guess that means I no longer have the joy of checking to see how many people are ahead of me in the list... But now I can photograph yarn and projects and organize needles to my heart's content. :)

I see much procrastination in my future...

Lots of stripes...

That's what I'm working on right now. Lots and lots of never ending, woolen stripes. I can't say much more, and there will be no photo posting until the last stripe is complete. You'll just have to imagine the woolly stripes for now.

As of midnight tonight (or whenever UPS delivers my copy to me) I have a new dilemma: how do I read Harry Potter and knit woolen stripes at the same time? If only I was obsessing over a new movie or tv show - then I could multi-task. I think the plan is going to have to be as follows for the foreseeable future (or, at least, the free-time portion of it): Knit as long as I can stand it, then read until I feel guilty for not knitting.

Let's just say that by the time comes for me to start school in August, I think I might be tired of knitting. Maybe. :)

Ideas

Ok. I'm going to have to add this pattern to my list of ideas for making blankets. It looks great. And like it would be lots of fun. And I've never done a blanket in the round. :)

Credit goes to Grumperina for introducing me to it.

Wicked

Last weekend, among the many activities that demanded my time, I had the chance to go see Wicked in Columbus at the Ohio Theater with some friends and both siblings. The theater is gorgeous. The show was amazing. And this was my view:

I would make a snarky comment about tall people with good posture and big hair, but Marianne might feel she had to retaliate (and I wouldn't want that). I'll just say that things got much better once my seat-neighbor started slouching a bit. And I feel sorry for whoever was sitting behind me - I'm sure they got tired of me moving from left to right and back again to watch the show...

Update: I feel I should mention that Marianne is not featured in the above photo. She was sitting next to me, getting frustrated at the person in front of her who was moving from left to right and back again to watch the show... :)

Elmore-Pisgah Update

I'm a little late with this, but I didn't want to leave the impression that I was having difficulties with Elmore-Pisgah or their yarn. It turns out that my purchase was returned to them as having been damaged, when the box had only been crushed a bit. So they repackaged it and sent it out again (without charging me more for shipping, wahoo!), and I had fun tracking it on the internet. Now I have my yarn, in colors that I had forgotten I'd ordered, and I am proceeding to feel guilty about not using it very much. :)

Yikes!

I can see that I'm quickly slipping back into the never-posting-anything mode that this blog suffered from for quite a while. So, in the interests of preventing any further slippage, here is a small update.

Somehow, I have gone from being a "one-large-project-at-a-time" knitter to a "too-many-small-projects-to-keep-track-of" knitter. I spent almost a year doing nothing but blankets. Want to know what's on the needles (or stitch holders) right now?

• Irish Hiking Scarf Reversible Cable Scarf - started on the way to Colorado in February. About 1/3 done. No progress since February.

• Fingerless gloves - Started sometime this spring. No progress since I realized I wasn't sure how to do the thumb.

• Cherry Tree Hill socks - Started not too long ago (0k, maybe 2 months, or 3?) Approximately 1 1/2 socks done. This would go faster if I stuck it in my purse, I suspect.

• Lorna's Laces Jaywalkers - Started more recently than the CTH socks. Making slow progress, because I keep ignoring them for too long and then forgetting the stitch pattern.

• Mason Dixon Knitting washcloth - Started somewhat recently. 1/4 done.

• Funny looking hat. Started on a business trip. Tried it on Dad, the intended recipient. It's going to need to be frogged. It just didn't look right. At all.

• Fuzzy soft lovely gift something - Bought yarn Wednesday. Not started yet.

• Big huge gift something - Bought yarn Wednesday. Waiting for it to arrive from KnitPicks.
• Mason Dixon Knitting Baby Kimono - Bought two different types of yarn to try this with. Not started yet.
  

I'm sure I've forgotten something in there. Probably. The comparison to my old "one-blanket-at-a-time" method is making me feel rather guilty.