more knitting

I have a glove. That's right, one glove. Here it is :)




I'll have to start on its twin tomorrow. This one took me 3 days (maybe 13 / 14 hours). I'm not sure if the next one will take longer because my motivation will drop a little (I already know how it's going to turn out) or will it take less time because I know what I'm doing.

And for future reference (more for myself than anything else), the pattern*.

starting at the back (at the top of the arm)

cast on 18 stitches (for chunky wool)

seed stitch for 4 rows
k1, p1
p1, k1

switch colour (this counts as a row)
knit for 8 rows

switch colour
knit for 8 rows

do this 2 more times for 4 knitted rows of stripes (you have 5 stripes all together by now)

knit for 7 rows

on 8th row cast up 5
on 9th row cast up 5 on the other side (so it makes a kind of T)

knit for 8 rows (not sure if you count the cast on, or not)

cast off the T over 2 rows
switch colour (this may not count as a row)
knit 4 rows (casting off 2 stitches somewhere around here - i got really confused at this part. i cast off 2, but then my count looked weird and i cast off another. then i realised my mistake and was down a stitch. oh well.)

do 2x2 ribbing for 8 rows
k2, p2
k2, p2

cast off
mattress stitch the seam (this sewing technique is kinda cool - is this how people get sewn up? it totally is!)
done


Having never done any of this before, I had to look loads up online (cast on, cast off, and mattress stitch). I have a book, but trying to learn from diagrams is hard. Thank goodness for youtube.

*I did have a pattern, two actually, but I followed them quite loosely, making my own way as I went along.

A Hat

So this is the hat I made yesterday. It took 3 hours (with a break to walk River). I have no idea if that is good going or slow progress - any input from knitters (mammy?)? How long would it take you to knit a hat like this?



Anyway, I'm pretty proud of it. Now I'm going to make lordkilljoy a hat like Jayne's from Firefly :)

Loom Knitting

The thought going through my head right now is: I love having hands. I bought a loom knitting set today, and have just knit my first row (actually - I just cast up) and it was really fun and really easy. I've wanted to be able to knit my whole live. Ever since I was a girl I'd watch mammy knit with an ease that seemed rather miraculous to me, becuase whenever I tried it the wool got knotted, the needles kept slipping from my hands, the wool was too tight, or too loose, and my hands just couldn't handle it.

I've vaguely considered crochet, but that also involves holding a small implement and my hands get hot holding things and it's just really, really hard. Enter the loom. It's a circle with wide pins standing up. You wrap the wool around the pins, then use a hook to pull the loops over. Look up "loom knitting" if you want to know how it works.

So watch out, everyone. Hats, scarfs and other small knitted things will abound and will start to fill wardrobes and drawers :)

In other news (I wrote knews... sigh) River went into her bed-crate thing all by herself last night. It was about half eleven and I was off to bed. She walked into the bedroom with me, and I expected her to flop down on the carpet. But she didn't. In she walked to her little bed (the one she howled and whined to get out of when we first got her) and settled down, all by herself. We were so proud of her :)

We went to cienega forest again yesterday. After a slight wrong turn (or more precicely - not being able to follow the trail (it just seemed to vanish into about 5 different trail-looking things)) and a massive climb up the side of the mountain, we eventually found the trail and had a wonderful 2 hour walk. Ceader and pine smell amazing. I'd totally go there and just plonk myself in a glade and smell the air for a few hours.

That's all my news, I think. Now back to knitting :)

Autumn

Autumn in New Mexico is an interesting time. Me and river have been rained on twice in the last two days. Today, we came to the channel. It was raining and the splashes were making little ripples in the brown water of the channel. I stopped there and just watched it for a while. It was awful, but pretty at the same time. The water was brown and murky, with bits of mud and twigs sticking out of it, but still - there was something compelling about the water and the rain.

The other really odd thing is that mushrooms grow in the grass around here. I think it's a sign that people need to turn off their sprinklers.

I'm a little worried about future walks. The goatsheads are growing wild and free and every grassy verge has thousands of them just waiting to fall off and lay in wait for some innocent doggie to come walk on them and hurt her paws. I'm sort of considering getting River little booties, because (she's stupid like this) she picks them out of her paw and eats them. Then she gets sick a few minutes later.

I haven't updated in ages. I should catch up on news... PAX was amazing. I'd totally go back next year. penelope_stone and Liam's visit was brilliant. We did so much and it was good to see them and hang out. Highlights include walking on top of a mountain in lightening, photographing same lightning that night, cienega canyon forest trail, UNM - actually UNM is cool. There's a geology and meteorite museum, and the atmosphere around campus is cool - just like college, really.

I don't know what else I can say... I suppose I'll just go then.