DK the Nautical Knitter

Has anyone noticed that the Knitting Daily emails lately are beginning to look a lot like the Lion Brand emails? Basically not like blog posts anymore and more like ADVERTISEMENTS! What happened to the interaction with the subscribers that was going on in the beginning. Knitting Daily, in my opinion, started out as a really interesting list that was offering tips and a free pattern every so often, along with long commentary from the host, Sandi Wiseheart, on new techniques. Now it has become just another way for Interweave Knits to fill my inbox with advertisements for their magazines, most of which I already subscribe to anyway.

A site that does offer fantastic, practical and ad-free technical knitting instruction is TECHknitting . This blog is amazing to me. In the spirit of Elizabeth Zimmerman, Techknitter (I don’t know her/his real name) is a virtual encyclopedia of tips and tricks for your knitting process and offers all this knowledge to the reader for free. The explanations are in depth and the graphics are fantastic. If you haven’t checked this site out, I recommend that you do it when you have time to spend reading and taking notes (or at least printing).

Ever wonder how to do bust darts in your knitting? I found this blog post a while back and thought I would share it with you. Enjoy.

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Here is a great tip for making your new felted slippers non-skid. What a great idea! Next time you make felted slippers, house socks, or even a felted bag you might give this technique a try. Since felting is just not my thing, I think I may use this technique on some other items in the house. Ohhh, wouldn’t this be a great thing to do to things on the boat to keep them from sliding around?

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This past week turned out to be one of those weeks for us. Throughout all the details that follow I was able to somehow keep my sanity and keep my schedule in regards to the Secret of the Stole KAL. A huge THANK YOU and a big CYBER HUG go out to my friend Reba for helping me keep the group on an even keel during our travels. So, here is what happened.

It all began on Tuesday when we took our dog Aubie to the vet because he wasn’t feeling well. As I said in the last post we were leaving on Friday for a 10 day trip to Colorado and we needed to find out what was wrong with him so we would know whether to board him or not. I won’t go into all the particulars, but, on Wednesday we were informed that his one or more of his organs was failing and the dog that just the day before was following me around the house, would not make it through the day. We rushed to the vet and I was able to hold him while he breathed his last. The dog that gave me over 14 years of happiness and completely unconditional love was gone.

Since neither DH, myself, or our remaining dog, Blazer, wanted to be in the house with the memories of Aubie everywhere, we decided to leave a day early for our trip. The trip to the cabin was quiet and uneventful. I was planning on knitting up a storm and couldn’t manage to do but a few rows. Blazer was given the king’s throne in the car and seemed to enjoy it. After 1500 miles and way too much junk food, we arrived at the cabin in Creede, CO (altitude 11,000 ft) mid-day on Saturday.

On Sunday, we found Blazer lying very still and lethargic on his bed in the motor home. This is highly unusual for him since he has for the past 14 years been extremely vocal and interested in anything that was going on around him. He slowly emerged out of his grogginess and we thought it was just an “altitude” issue. Until later that evening, when we were checking on him and he had a seizure, stiffened up his body, flailed his head back and briefly stopped breathing. When the seizure was over he was once again lethargic and mostly unresponsive, leading us to believe that that was what had happened earlier in the day as well.

The following morning we called our vet and he basically told us that we should get him off the mountain and bring him in asap. We were stunned and saddened that Blazer was now ill and we would be cutting our trip so short. Tuesday, we left Creede and 1500 miles later we arrived back at home. Blazer went to the vet today and, wouldn’t you know it, all his blood work turned out “normal”. He is not diabetic, anemic, suffering from a heart murmur or even heart worms. That was the best news we could have had this week. We will hear about his thyroid test soon and if that comes back clean then the next thing the vet said we could do is a CAT scan to check for a brain tumor. I found this to be a point of amusement since it was an interesting name for a scan of a dog’s brain. A CAT scan is not happening on a 14 year old dog in my house, so we will just have to watch him closely and keep him company from now on since his brother is gone.

On a brighter note, when we arrived at the cabin William, our grandson, and his parents were already there, as were my mom and dad. It was William’s birthday (2 yrs) and we had a great time visiting with him. The festivities and family time took our minds off our loss, if just for a little while.

To the left is a three generation photo of William, Bryan (his father in the background), and Scott (my DH and Bryan’s dad). The photos we took of William and of Blazer while we were there are just priceless and I will post more of them soon on our personal blog Door Number Three for anyone who is interested.

All in all, it was just one of those weeks…

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Our grandson’s birthday is at the end of this month. He and his parents live in Colorado, not Alabama where we are, so in order to be there to celebrate the event we are leaving Alabama this Friday, September 21, 2007. We will be gone from the house for about 10 days, putting us back here around Monday, October 1, 2007. I hope to get a lot of knitting done on the way there and on the way back (we are driving).

One of the problems with having several projects started is figuring out which ones to take with you on a trip. I will be taking (and finishing up) my Secret of the Stole, but I can’t post photos of that yet. So I will likely pack a couple of other projects as well. The Frost Flowers and Leaves Shawl is large enough to keep me warm while I work on it so I will be taking it to work on while at the cabin. Boy we sure are looking forward to the cooler temperatures for the week. We are ready for a break from the Alabama drought and just plain hot days.

I will post photos of the trip and updates, when possible. Perhaps I can find a moose to pose with my knitting. At a minimum I will have lots of mountain photos with my knitting in the foreground. I really hope the aspens have started to change color by the time we get there. Stay tuned.

On the knitting front today, I found this yarn shop through Lime & Violet’s Daily. The yarn colors are delicious.   Although I did not find much in the way of lace weight, there were plenty of choices in the sock yarn category. In the US you can get this yarn through Wool Girl.

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During my morning perusal of the blogs that I read daily I came across a couple of entries that I found either full of good information or just down right funny. Fleegle’s blog is always a source for good technical knitting information, especially when lace is involved. In today’s entry, Fleegle gives a solution to those holes you get when connecting the heel to the instep. Her solution is amazing, actually works and is well worth investigating for all you sock knitters out there.

Public knitting is something I indulge in on a daily basis. The Knit and Tonic blog has an interesting take on alternative comments that can be made by the general public instead of the usual “my grandmother does that” or “what are you making, dear?”. Her point in the article is that we, as knitters, should let the general public be who they are, non-knitters. We should not complain so much when we get comments from them that show that they truly don’t understand the addiction hobby lifestyle that we embrace. Just accept them for who they are and try to have compassion on those who don’t get it.

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In case you haven’t heard yet, the fall issue of Knitty is out today. I was able to peruse the patterns and articles and there are some nifty new patterns out this quarter. None of the patterns really jumped out and grabbed my interest though. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I have enough in the works already. The Secret of the Stole, KAL, all my other stoles, shawls and socks in the works, and my muse tapping on the window with another stole pattern in her hand are all keeping me focused and slightly on edge these days.

However, I belong to a group called Sexy Knitters Club and throughout the year the group holds nominations on the next “item” we should all knit together. It is like a perpetual knit along. I like this group because they are a very active and very talented group of knitters and they keep me inspired and “on my game”. Sometimes the patterns that win the nomination have to be purchased if you want to participate and sometimes they are free. On the right is one of the newest nominations for the next KAL. It is straight from the fall issue of Knitty. My news travels fast these days.

I like the design above, but my vote will probably go to this really cute cardigan by Drops Design, Garnstudio.

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I picked up a couple of crochet hooks while shopping the other day and decided to give them away as an extra prize for the Secret of the Stole, KAL. A tiny crochet hook is used to place beads within your knitted piece as you are knitting it. There is a great tutorial here for how this is done. Since many of the participants in this KAL have never done this technique before I thought I would continue my habit of enabling and put a couple of these hooks up for grabs. If you are a participant in the KAL and need a hook for your beading of this piece just leave me a comment on this post and I will have the DH choose two lucky winners tomorrow, September 13, 2007. You have until 5pm US central time tomorrow. Pithy, loquacious, and implorable comments are all welcome.

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While perusing the various blogs that I subscribe to I came across a photo of some beautiful yarn the author had just received in the mail. It took a little enlarging of the photo on my part, but I finally figured out what label the yarn was and visited their website. The yarn is called Tess and the colors are beautiful!

Since I already have two Secret of the Stoles in the works I am thinking of ordering some of this beautiful stuff for the Civil War Shawl that is in my queue. I hope to start this shawl at the beginning of the year 2008. I have just recently taken ownership of the Yahoo Group - Civil War Shawl KAL where I will be starting the KAL up again at that time. If you would like to join me in making this beautiful shawl next year feel free to join the group and knit along with me.

The pattern is available here or alternately it was printed in Cast On Magazine, Winter/Spring 2001. I purchased the magazine for my pattern and I think I got it on eBay. There are no charts for this pattern. However, since I like to knit from charts, I am considering charting it for my own sanity.

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Have you made your swatch for the Secret of the Stole KAL yet? If so, enter your information in the database on the group site to be eligible for the latest prize.

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I recently joined the Christmas Around the World 2007 Swap and the questionnaire has been distributed for completion. Per swap rules I am to post the questions and answers to my blog by September 15, 2007. While I was answering these questions I realized that this information might be of interest to my readers as well. So here goes:

1. Are you religious? No
2. How long have you been knitting? Several Years
   
3. Would you consider yourself a Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced? Intermediate, with advanced aspirations
4. Do you have any other hobbies besides knitting? Sailing,Writing, Sewing Historical Costumes, Reading, Learning
5. Favorite color(s)? To wear - Black, White, Navy, Earth tones (not partial to rust, teal, pink…)
6. Do you collect anything? Gargoyles, dragons, snoopy, yarn and lately extra pounds around the middle
7. Are you allergic to any fibers or animals? No
8. Do you have any pets? Yes, two dogs, Aubie (cocker spaniel) and Blazer (basset hound)
9. Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate? Out of the three, Hot Chocolate (I’m a coca-cola junkie)
10. Cookies or Sweets? Is there a difference? I’m a very picky eater, and prefer milk chocolate, and very plain sweets. Everyone calls my eating habits “vanilla”.
11. Do you knit socks? On occasion
12. If not socks then what? (tell us about your favorite knits) I am a self taught knitter and I like to knit what many people would consider tedious patterns. This includes lace and other intricate or difficult items. The first thing I ever knit was a beaded amulet purse on #000US needles.
13. Do you put up a Christmas tree? If not then what do you do? I used to. We have lived in a motor home for the past 5+ years so I really didn’t have the space. Now that we are in a house again we have decided to use a live, potted tree, decorate it indoors and plant it in the yard after the holidays.
14. Favorite holiday treats? Cheesecake, Milk Chocolate, Cookies
15. Favorite holiday smells? Cinnamon, Pumpkin, Spice
16. Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional or unconventional way? Please elaborate. It varies. I am a non-traditional gypsy at heart.
17. What are your favorite holiday traditions? I would have to say, if I could have a tradition, it would be no traditions.
18. Finish the sentence: “For me Christmas is all about….” - the birth of Christ, visiting with family, eating, watching others open the presents you put thought into and photographs
19. If you were a Christmas ornament you would be…….? - a star or a chili pepper
20. What was your favorite gift you’ve ever received? Or given? Received - someone’s time, Given - surprises
21. When do you start your Christmas? Meals, gifts, etc. begin on Christmas Eve through Christmas Day
22. Do you send Christmas cards? Do you make them or buy them? I used to send them, now it is e-cards all the way.
23. What is your favorite Christmas dish? Ham and mashed potatoes
24. Carolers are at your door. What do you do? Hide
25. When do you open presents? Christmas eve or Christmas morning? Christmas morning
26. Do you celebrate with family or friends or both? Family, most of our friends are long distance

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