Blockin’ and Rockin’

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Instead of knitting the whole day as I had planned, it turned into errand day. Blah..

It was something about needing a few groceries, white cotton socks, and returning books to the library. I did manage to move the baby sweaters off the terrace table where they were spread out, being blocked to the inside ledge of the living room window.

choices Just as I was settling into my comfortable chair and picking out my next audiobook, the youngest decided she really wanted to go and get her hair cut. The next up daughter went along. After due consideration, we dropped them off near the Uni Platz and went to Mannheim with the oldest to look at wedding dresses.

Since the Rockin’ Sock pattern is not fit for public consumption, I took along some pink. Doing the heel flap on the second sock, I got a number of questions about “was ist das?”. On returning home, the baby sweaters are feeling almost dry which means that I am out of excuses. For what? Sewing the zippes in the backs of them. Finishing is not my love. I love zippers in baby sweaters, but putting them in is a pain. I even have zippers. Since we are seeing the twins they are for tomorrow, I really need to get this done.

-Holly

Inside-Out

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Did I mention Blue Moon’s “Socks that Rock” sock of the month club? I am sure that I did. There are about 2000 totally insane people participating this year, which I am sure is overwhelming their local small town post office. After all, can you imagine walking in and asking for that many priority mailing boxes?

There have been various discussions of this colorway – named Monsoon. Personnally, since the colors are green, brown, darkish grey and a touch of lighter color – I keep wanting to call it camouflage or BDU.

But anyway, the pattern is named Inside Out, because the sock could be worn either way. Since the sock is primarily ribbing, the pattern on the top still is interesting, regardless of which side is out. I mostly followed the pattern, except for the following:

1) rather than change needle sizes-I used my 2,5 mm needles through out.
2) this meant that I had to reduce the number of stitches on the toe from 36 to 30 (on each side), but went down to 6 stitches with the wraps (from 8)
3)increased 2 stitches, one on each end, this meant that I had reduced the bottom by one repeat and the top by two.
4) since the sock had a fair amount of stretch, so made the foot a bit shorter than I otherwise would to the start of the heel
5) used 32 for the heel, then increased to 65 when starting the upper portion.
6) since there were these extra five stitches, I inserted an 5 cross cable on the inside of each sox, and did this every 10 rows. On the second sock, I found it worked better to do 15 rounds of the 2/1 ribbing before starting the crosses, this gave more “give” around the ankle.

In pictures –
Is what my first sock looked like on my foot. I had well over half the yarn left.
on the foot

Looking at mostly the sock top (the cup is Heidelberg from the Rosenthal series of Cupola City Cups –
sock top

Literally taking the attitude of Inside Out – just the top appears like this-
inside out

And then there is the not so polite over all look of the sock when viewed ohne Fuß.
sock top

What can I say? Since this was a training holiday, I had a relaxing day to sit at home and knit. I have other socks that I can knit in public. The Time Traveler’s Wife is done, as is the New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. This leaves me down to only The Main Corpse by Diane Mott Davidson on CD for the car traveling. Looks like I need to add a library trip on my errands list.

It would have been nice to have this pattern back when I was part of an inspection team and the guys set “Ol’ Lead” on the tablein front of me one afternoon. I responded by knitting it a purple cover, but had the ribs going the other way……

-Holly

Second Socks

Holly Doyne Posted on by

On knitting

I was taking a knitting break at lunch. Just quietly sitting there knitting a second sock. You know second socks don’t you? This one, a lovely semi-solid light pink is being knit out of a bamboo/merino blend. Of course I had forgotten the pattern at home. Since this is cables, I just decided to use the first sock as a pattern. Easy I thought, but extremely impressive to one of my co-workers who wandered down the hall who does knit, but has not strayed far from the vanilla sock.

What I should have admitted is that I never could have pulled this off had it been lace. I look at lace patterns and my eyes blur and my hands start to sweat. I can’t read them off the sock. But there are a couple ones out there by Cookie A that are worth trying. Since I do Paypal and download this proved to be quite easy. Thelonious is going to be the first one I tackle, solid color yarn I think.

On tiredness

After a non-functioning alarm clock this morning, compounded by a golden retriever who felt it was a great morning to head for the local meadow, I got to work about 35 minutes later than planned. I was still in time to do my PT test, walking the aerobic portion at this point in my life. A couple of years ago that I acknowledged that old injuries could be turned into new, fresh, painful ones if I persisted in pretending that I was young and invulnerable.

The dog whined in my office, extremely disappointed that she could not tow me for 6 1/2 laps around the area. In stead, we did that at lunch, right before the knitting.

On my bookshelf from the library

Probable Cause , Theresa Schwegel – Hardback
The Friday Night Knitting Club, Jacobs – Harback
A Day of Small Beginnings, Lisa Pearl Rosenbaum – Hardback
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes: Murder in the Casbah & Other Mysteries. Vols 13-18, Voices of Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce – CD
A Deeper Sleep, Diana Stabenow – Harback
Hangman’s Holiday, Dorothy Sayers – cassette
The Nine Tailors, Dorothy Sayers – cassette
Off Armageddon Reef, David Weber – Hardback

Ranting on military fools

Feel free to ignore the following.

There has been a lot of controversy about the military lately. I am a supporter of free press. What I find at fault is how the military reacts to what is in the press. If you have been following the controversy at Walter Reed – there was a lovely piece in the Wall Street Journal today (15 March 07) by Daniel Henniger entitled The Walter Reed Fiasco. He discusses the fallout, the fact that this was not really “new” news. He also validates that MG Weightman was sacrificed in an attempt to stop the criticism. Since this an officer whom I have worked for several times in the past and hold in the highest respect, I am hoping that some of his points are taken by those who should be reading his piece.

And then there are the idiots who believe that “don’t ask, don’t tell’ is reasonable or fair. I will concede anyone their personal opinions, but I think all of us serving need to keep our personal prejudices buttoned up inside. We have learned to do that with other issues, I don’t see an issue: you either believe in EO, and that harrasement of anyone is wrong- or you don’t. In the LA Times this morning Nathaniel Frank makes the point quite clearly.

And part of the reason, I still maintain that so many of the older and more conservative men object is that they really, when all is said and done, do not subscribe to the idea of a blameless victim. We all have had experiences with people who had done dumb things, then claimed harassment. When the victim is female, most ask “what has she done?” When the victim is male, and the perpetrator is female – the usual comments are whistles or “what made him such a stud?”

If you let gay men in the military – there are a lot of men out there who see the risk of being “playing the female victim role” and it makes them quite uncomfortable. Largely because they do not see the victim as blameless (and what would others think of them if they were harassed).

If they really supported EO, then they would be committed to a harassment free workplace where everyone worked and was rewarded based on performance, and not anything else. Sexual preference would not matter in the least. A predator is a predator regardless of their sex, or the sex of their victim. I really hate to say it, but the fact that men find being the victim in this case so personally threatening ought to give them a clue—that women do not appreciate it either.

I have the next four days off. It is time to knit!
-Holly

Viveka complete – now on to socks!

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Ok, my March Madness Sweater is complete! Viveka from Knitty

Miriam

The sweater is for Miriam. It is knit out of Shelridges Farms Misty Blue on my lovely gold-plated 4,5 addi turbos. I knew there was going to be a reason that I needed them. The gauge was 20/10 cm. Of course, not liking to sew things together, I knit the body in one piece to the start of the “V” and the armholes; binding the shoulders off together. I knit the sleeves also in the round on 4,5 ebony double points, then bound them in as well. I posted some of the construction details on our March Madness Knit-a-long blog.

This meant I could wind up the yarn that finally arrived fromBlue Moon Fiber Arts. Ok, I know that I do not need any more sock yarn, but I have enjoyed a couple of their other patterns and yarn and got suckered in. Me and about 2000 others, so I am not alone in my insanity.

Leaving out the controversy about fiber names (I am one of these weird people who like the color name of a yarn to accurately reflect the colors of the yarn. Otherwise, to me, why bother at all when you can just give it a number while there are others who really like puns in names) this particular color is named “Monsoon.” You could also call it Tornado Sky or really BDU (for those with an Army background).

See?
Monsoon Colorway

and the started sock in a pattern called Inside Out. Since I have no interest in trashing my fingers with size 2,0 mm needles or smaller, I am adjusting the pattern as I go. The only trick is really going to be adjusting the sock top from 73 stitches down to something reasonable on my favorite 2,5 mm rosewood needles.

str-monsoon-toe1.jpg

I have almost 10cm done of the first sock and I am up through Disk 9 on The Time Traveler’s Wife. But it is late, and the SGM is gifting us with a PT test at 0630 in the morning. It would not be so bad, except for the 125 km drive which precedes it. Ah well, the downside of my comfy home.

-Holly

Progress

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Heidelberg, 13 March 2007, Tuesday

I managed to get a number of things done for work, on my way to the mail room if you want the truth. And my STR box from Blue Moon fiber finally came in. The color may be named Monsoon, but trust me-it is those colors that I love to hate, found in my good, old BDUs.

The afternoon meeting was decent, considering that I was not able to knit. Not that anyone there would have minded, it is rather than I had only four needles with me, and this sock calls for a lot of cables. Totally dumb move on my part punished with over two hours of twitchy fingers.

Coming in the door to a happy dog, I managed to finish up the second sleeve and bind it in on
sweater1.jpgMiriam’s March Madness Sweater. Now all that is left is blocking and ends followed by figuring out what I need to do for the neck finishing. I got a definite no from the daughter when I made a couple of suggestions. Further ideas would be welcome.

Putting The Time Traveler’s Wife back on the stereo, I then wound the wool from the STR kit and cast on for the first “Inside Out” sock. Since this is toe up, and a rather different method at that, I had not been paying much attention to what I was doing till I was past the toe and starting up the foot. Then I completely cracked up. I checked a couple of other knitting blogs to make sure it really was supposed to look like this. Ok, slightly bulbous toe and narrower shank.

Let me just leave it alone and post a picture tomorrow when I am to the heel. That way I will not get censored for using “hot button” words in this blog.

It is rather late, and I have the commute again tomorrow, making it time to put the needles down.

-Holly

Green flying free

Holly Doyne Posted on by

It came through again this morning, a flash of bright green swooshing past the living room picture window.

Sunday I had been sitting on the windowsill, knitting the second sleeve of Miriam’s sweater when I first spotted the green parrot that has been cruising around on our terrace roof. I had strewn some futter and sat with my camera at the ready. The dog, of course went nuts. Not because of the birds, but because she could see a potential snack from the dining room door that she could not reach. The parrot is a ring-neck and one of the best amateur pictures ,along with comments, can be found at here on a blog from Tokyo.

The issue of feral parrots is not new. There is a website even devoted to the Free parrot. What is unusual in this climate is how well they are doing considering that none of the birds are native to Europe. Most seem to have either engineered an escape from domesticity, or were let loose by their owners when they proved too much trouble. Colorful, bright and aggressive, this wily bird managed to drive off pigeons and sparrows to hit the feed.

 But it was gone before I could get outside with the camera.

-Holly

 

 

The Last Exit

Holly Doyne Posted on by

11 March 2007 The Last Exit

Sunday, Merz Internat, Stuttgart

There is that final moment when you can make a decision, and then it rolls past. Along with your exit off of the Autobahn, the last opportunity to chose another route, to not sit in a Stau.

The radio message system had reported about a 10 km Stau between Pforzheim-something and the following exit due to an accident in the construction zone. I guess that we kept expecting to see a slow down or stop in the stream of red tail lights snaking away over the hills in the distance. I had even gone ahead and programed the GPS to look for alternate routes, not that there is much of an alternative other than B10.

It was dark by now, well after 2030 and a varying two of the three teens were sleeping in the back seat. Normally they take the train back to school on Sunday night, but this time they were getting a ride for several reasons. The main being that Noah had his backpack, suitcase, guitar and amp; a bit more than is reasonable to schlep from train to Straßenbahn to school. There was also the fact that Nina had not had a chance to do her math tutoring untill late this afternoon.

So there we are, just passing Pforzheim-Öst. The insane babbler on the GPS tells us that the next exit is 13 km. We head down another hill and around a curve. On the A8 of course.

And there it is in all its glory–brake lights as far as the eye can see. Or at least 3 km, which ever is worse. Luckily the accident must have been long since cleared away, for suddenly the slowdown just opened up and everyone resumed a normal speed. Of 60-80 km/hr that is because we were not finished with the construction zone which only cleared right before the outskirts of Stuttgart.

After dropping them off and hitting the road, we took my normal route back: A81 -> A6. There is construction this way as well and, since it was past 2100, the trucks were on the road again in full force and fleets.

All of that as a passenger and I accomplished absolutely no knitting. I had not brought the second sleeve off Miriam’s sweater to complete the last 10 cm because measuring is hard in the dark. Instead I had brought some sock yarn and needles. Right-pale pink yarn and bamboo needles. I could not see a thing! Complicated by a pattern that called for cabling in the second row.

I was reduced to discussing politics as I had also forgotten The Time Travelor’s Wife. George, I am sure, was much happier this way.

-Holly

A Saturday at home

Holly Doyne Posted on by

Perched on the side of the hill, our terrace overlooks the city of Heidelberg. I could be tacky and say that it mostly overlooks trees (and Campbell Barracks) on a bad day. The weather is typical, four seasons in 24 hours: if you are not happy, wait a few hours and it will change. Most certainly the cold tonight is likely going to kill off the brave early flowers.

After this past week of constant running between teaching sessions, meetings, box hauling and checking the mail room for packages, I am more than happy to spend a quiet weekend. Especially if I can avoid cleaning and laundry. I would much rather knit on Miriam’s March Madness Sweater or work further on updating projects on the family website.

But there are teenagers to hassle, the son trying out his new guitar and perhaps a need for some fresh food stuffs in the house. Either that, or at least grab some supper before I crash.

-Holly