There is so much that I could say... but I think I said most of it 4 years ago.  Reading back over my pre-election sentiments for the 2004 US presidential elections, I find myself confronted with a blog post that comes deep from my heart, that I still love and that still is as heartfelt and topical today as it was in 2004.  Perhaps you would like to re-read it -- or read it for the first time if you started visiting my blog after 2004.  Don't worry, I'll still be here when you come back.

I am the Lorax

I think it is more true for this year and my candidate choice for this year than it was for John Kerry.  The real difference in that election is that while I thought John Kerry was ok, I was really voting against George Bush.  This year I find myself truly excited to be voting for Barack Obama. So excited that I am going to take Ms. Z with me when I go to vote tomorrow morning.  It has become incredibly important to me that I be able to tell her that she was there when the great people of the US elected a truly great man to lead them for the next 4 years.  That she was there to be part of history, even if only in a small way. 

Not only that, but I believe that as the citizen of a country with a rich democratic heritage, it is my responsibility to help my children to understand and be a part of the democratic process.  It is not convenient, really, to take a baby to a voting booth.  I know she will not remember.  But maybe as she gets older and she goes with me again and again, this first primordial voting experience will help deepen in her the understanding of how important it is to participate in selecting our country's leadership at both the local and national level. 

There have been many eloquent voices speaking about why and how and who they vote for.  This year, I'd like to point out Carolyn's rationale for why and how she votes.  I think it's well written and beautifully stated and contains some very useful information, to boot.

I don't vote my tax bracket

Vote, my friends.  Vote carefully and with thought for what you want the next four years to look like.

*Updated: I corrected the link to my old post. Thank you Holly! 

Or maybe I should say, yes we did!

Wow.

I can't wait to see what happens next.

Blocking, while not a panacea for every knitting problem, can solve a lot of them.
 
Once soaked (actually washed on gentle cycle in my washing machine), the fabric relaxed a good deal and I was able to pin it out and tame some of the unruly curvaceousness of this blanket.  As you can see towards the top of the picture, some parts of the feather and fan still have a ruched look, but I am imaging that the baby will not notice these things.

The center of the blanket is lovely after blocking.  The flower motif really shines and almost looks delicate even in this aran weight yarn.  I definitely learned something when I had to make those openings under each of the petals.

Believe it or not, this is the first time that I have worked a feather and fan pattern into anything.  Easy easy and certainly nice results.  This would also probably be lovely with striping yarns.

I had helped for a more festive photo shoot for the blanket, but it was cold, almost snowy and damp on Saturday so my upstairs balcony was my best option and it was cold enough to keep me from getting too creative with the pictures.  It looks nice draped over the back of a chair, does it not?

This edge was incredibly time consuming, incredibly yarn consuming and absolutely worth it.  So pretty!  And definitely something that will provide textural interest for an infant. 

The specifics:

Hemlock Ring Blanket
worked in Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, "Periwinkle", ~4.5 skeins
needle sizes as specified in Jared Flood's modification of the original doily design

You know your husband loves his socks when he wears them a lot and he doesn't notice that they have suffered an incredible trauma.  Of course, you also know you are a crazy sock knitter, when you find yourself looking at your husband's socks at the dinner table, thinking that one of his socks looks different from the other and then asking him to show you the bottom of his feet and finally demanding that he remove his sock immediately while you consider repair options.

This is the toe of one of John's "Mudslide" socks.  These socks are made of STR Heavyweight, and when it gets cold, John reaches for these socks first (at least that is what he tells me... but he is a wise man and he has learned to flatter his sock knitter every now and again if he wants new socks),  I spent a while evaluating that hole and decided it was just too far gone for simple darning.  More drastic measures would have to be taken to repair this pair of over loved foot warmers.

The first thing I did was determine the region over which the weak yarn was located.  Around the edges of the hole, there was significant wear, so I decided I would make sure that my replacement job repaired as much damage as possible.  After I identified what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to go, I put a set of needles in the first row of stitches that I wanted to keep below the hole.

Then I repeated the process above the hole and worn area.  If you pick up the right hand side of the "V" in the knit stitch, you'll get the stitches seated correctly on the needles.

Since there was already a hole, I didn't worry about snipping yarn, I just unravelled from the hole down to the bottom needles and up to the top needles.

This left the toe on the top needles and the rest of the sock topped by the needles that had been below the hole.   I joined some yarn I had remaining from the project (this is the reason that it is always good to keep a little yarn in reserve if you can) and knit back the rows that I had taken out.  When I got to the point where I needed to join the toe, I grafted the toe onto the rest of the sock using Kitchener Stitch.  What you see here is the sock just before I started grafting.

I didn't photograph the grafting part (if you'd like grafting instructions there are good instructions in both Montse Stanley's Knitter's Handbook and the Vogue Knitting book as well as the Knitter's Companion) but this picture shows the result of my labor.  The only really obvious sign of the repair work is that the new yarn is a bit more vivid than the old yarn, which is not surprising given that these socks have been through the wash quite a few times.

The color (and pooling) differences are a bit more obvious when you see the whole sock.  Fortunately, since the repair is in the toe, and it wasn't too obvious, it won't be noticeable to the "sock police" who apparently inspect men's socks for their uniform drabness and conformity to a very limited set of colors, textures and styles.   And because of that, it was happily accepted back into John's sock drawer, along with its mate.  The mate will likely need a similar repair in the future (hopefully I have enough left over yarn for that when it happens) but for now they can be pressed back into foot warming service as Chicago proceeds to welcome the arrival of winter.

I know some folks don't bother with sock repair, and normally I'm in that category, but in this case, it was definitely easier to repair than to knit a whole new pair of socks.  And it always makes me happy to see John smile when he knows I've done something special for him to help him hold onto something in his warddrobe that he really likes.

When a knitter's husband loses his job at a particularly bad time for both the year and the economic cycle, what does the knitter think she needs to do to make sure he finds another one?

She starts a pair of socks for him, of course!

I know, I know, the world does not make decisions based on whether John has a new pair of socks, but to give myself something more positive to think about, I convinced myself that if John had a lovely new pair of socks to start a new job with, certainly the job would come.  Of course, they couldn't be just any pair of socks, there had to be some more challenging element about them to reflect both the challenge John faced looking for a job, and the supportive sentiments that I had for him.  At the same time, being man socks, they had to conform to John's standards for socks as well, so the design couldn't be too complicated, and the yarn couldn't be too out there.  The yarn also needed to be thick enough to keep John's feet warm during his downtown winter commute.

The yarn was the easy part!  It's Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock Heavyweight in "Thraven" -- just about as perfect a yarn as you could ask for as far as this project and John and the knitter are concerned.  The yarn is thick and warm, the colorway is subtle but still lovely and engaging. 

For the pattern, I decided to stay simple.  It's a toe-up stockinette sock until it gets past the heel, and then on each side of the sock there's an X and O cable -- my way of sending hugs and kisses along with him to work in a subtle way, since the element isn't very visible from the front or back of the sock.  To account for the extra stitches taken up by the cabling and to shape the sock better to John's calf, there are also two increase rows, one at the start of the pattern and one at the midway point (STR Heavyweight is pretty bulky for a sock yarn so it doesn't take many extra stitches to give you reasonable increases in circumference).  The cuff is about 2" of K2 P2 ribbing, placed so as to make the top of the cable look a little as if it is extending into the ribbing.

The socks have actually been finished for a little while now, but I decided I couldn't do a reveal until John actually accepted an offer. Yesterday that happy moment finally came (we found out he was going to get an offer for one of the jobs he was really interested last week, but it took almost a week for all the details to get nailed down) so the socks get to make their appearance.

I wouldn't let him wear the socks until the offer was almost certain. In typical, very sweet John fashion, he played along and once he got "permission" to put the socks on, they have been on ever since.   I think it's fair to say that he doesn't mind the cables, and he finds the coloration of the socks subtle enough not to be worried about the prying eyes of the sock police. 

So he's happy that he has a warm pair of socks that actually go with dress pants and I'm happy because there's a special little detail that I know is there, even if no one else does.  Definitely a successful pair of socks -- in more ways than one!

I love you, babe! I know you're going to rock the new job! I'm so excited for you!

To all of you who left your kind comments on John's new socks or congratulated John on his new job, both John and I would like to extend our thanks.  We are very excited and relieved that he was able to find something new so quickly.  To those of you out there with spouses and partners who are looking for something, you are in our thoughts.  We understand completely what it feels like and we are both really hoping that things will start to get back on track for many people soon.

I've been thinking about small projects lately.  In part because small projects have that rapid gratification aspect that the product knitter that I am really loves, but also in part because I have a small person running around and it's such a treat to see her eyes light up when she's presented with a new toy or a new pair of socks.  I know she doesn't really understand what it means to me to make her things by hand, but when I watch her get excited about a new hand made gift, I like to think that she can sense the love that went into the project, even if it was only a little project.

I like to think of  these socks as my "Reverse Claudia" pattern -- they are modeled on Claudia's default sock design.  The "reverse" part comes from the fact that they are knit toe up instead of top down.  But they are a fundamentally similar sock* with a short row heel and picot cuff.  They make a sweet baby sock. 

The socks themselves are knit on 2.25 mm dpns using Trekking XXL colorway 108.  As with the last pair of socks I made for Z, just above the ankle there is a decreased area to help give her better fit and help the socks stay on.  I started with 16 stitches and increased up to 40, which makes for a good fit for her right now.

It was hard to get her to slow down for very long once I put the socks on, but John was able to get her it sit for a few seconds so that I could get a model shot.  They fit like a glove -- or a sock -- but there's still plenty of stretch in them so I suspect that we will make it through the winter.

I've been blogging since the fall of 2002.  Six years gives you the time to make a lot of knitted projects.  It also gives you a fair amount of time to live with and test drive garments to determine which ones actually do stand the test of time for you and which ones made little contribution to your life other than to be interesting when you made them.  Since winter is here again, and winter gets me to root around in my drawers and under-bed containers for warmer garments, I thought it would be the perfect time to talk about and celebrate the sweaters that have really withstood the test of time for me.

The first sweater in this line up is probably my all time favorite hand-knit by me sweater ever.  It's first photo shoot was weak (and in the dark of winter) so I decided that, 5 years later, it would get another chance.  Which is only fitting since the photography chez Keyboard Biologist has gotten much better and this sweater hardly appears to have aged at all.

I first "FO'd" this sweater in early February, 2003.  The pattern is by Debbie Bliss, it's called, very descriptively "Raglan Sweater with Cable Detail" and is from Noro 1 (which appears to be out of print).  It's a very simple pattern: raglan sleeves with a cable detail, roll neck collar sweater bottom and unembellished cuffs.  I knit the sweater using Noro Silk Garden, Colorway #7 (which has long since been discontinued... I think when I got the yarn, I got it on sale for that reason -- a shame because it's a fab colorway).

There is absolutely nothing complicated about this sweater.  If I remember correctly, the big learning experience for me with this sweater was learning how to mattress stitch seams instead of backstitching them (which was the only thing I knew up to that point).  It took a lot of inertia to overcome some of the intial problems I had figuring that out, but once I did, I've never looked back.  I don't think I've backstitched a single sweater seam since then.

What makes this sweater such a staple item for me?
 

• First and foremost, it's warm.  Silk Garden is a blend of wool, mohair and silk -- silk and mohair are both fibers that excel at providing a lot of insulation for relatively little weight.  With a nice turtleneck, this sweater can head outside on it's own in 40 degree weather. 
  
• Second, and almost as important, this yarn wears like iron.  Once again, you can thank the mohair and the silk.  Neither of these fibers pill because they are generally very long staple fibers and both are very durable fibers.  This sweater loosened up a little when I washed it the first time, but other than that the yarn looks just as good now as it did when I first knit it.  I don't really need any more yarn right now, but I've been considering another Silk Garden sweater just based on the warmth and wear characteristics. 
  
• Third, it's an easy to wear shape.  The raglan sleeves make it fit comfortably and it has side shaping so it doesn't look like a sack.  I can wear it to work, I can wear it at home and it's even been worn out to some mildly dressy events.  It's got enough ease so that it goes easily over other layering pieces and the loose rollneck doesn't bind or set my itching radar wild (I am incredibly intolerant of most wool or animal based fibers near my neck -- even some cashmeres send me into a frenzy of scratching).
• Fourth: color, color, color.  Jewel tones with blue undertones have always been my friends.  I would love to say that when I got this yarn I purchased it knowing that, but in fact, I just thought the yarn was pretty. 
  
• Fifth and finally, striping serendipity.  While I did try to start the sweater pieces in the same place in the color progression for all the pieces, it was harder to do than I thought it would be.  In the end, it was sheer luck that the stripes on the sleeves seem to match up  almost exactly with the stripes on the front of the sweater.  The back and the front don't really match up at all, and since I don't see the back when I am wearing it, it doesn't bother me much -- not to mention that it helps me remember which way round to wear the sweater!

A belated Happy Thanksgiving to all who were celebrating today.  It was a restful day spent at my parents house with an incredibly excited baby who couldn't believe her good fortune when she saw some of the new toys that her grandparents had found for her.  She was especially thankful for the little table and chairs and simple shape puzzle. 

What am I thankful for this year?  Many things.

• I am thankful for a healthy family.  Last year we were dealing with my father's heart surgery situation which blossomed into far more than it should have.  This year, he is healthy, happy and also enjoying better mobility from a very successful hip replacement. 
  
• I am thankful for a beautiful, vivacious, active and loquacious baby girl.  She has made my heart grow bigger and watching her grow and mature is just the most amazing thing I've been a part of.  Every day she brings something new into my world.  Today it was adding adjectives to nouns "Flowers!  Pretty!" 
  
• I am thankful for my wonderful, caring husband.  He constantly helps me see so many different sides to things and always helps me be a better person than I am sometimes inclined to be.  He also never complains about my hobbies or the time they take or makes me feel bad when I need some space.  He is a rare and wonderful person.
• I am thankful for my brand new baby nephew -- my brother's first child.  I will probably be this child's only aunt, and I plan to spoil him silly even though he is far away in Houston.  He is a beautiful healthy little guy and I am sure the world will be a better place for his presence in it.
• I am thankful for the good friends I have.  Making friends has never been easy for me, so I cherish the ones that I have.
  
• I am thankful that John was able to find a new job, and one that he is very happy to be taking on.  I hope it opens up new doors for him and brings fun challenges his way.
• I am thankful for vacation time and grand parents who find joy in spending time with Z

I feel like I could go on and on this year, but what it really comes down to is that I am thankful for my family and the good things that have happened this year.  I think Thanksgiving, in some ways, is better than New Years for looking back and thinking about what the year has dealt you.  It encourages you to look at your blessings instead of counting your hardships and failures.  It's always a time that makes me realize how truly lucky I really am.