Did you have a woobie when you were little?  My sisters and I all had various levels of attachment to our security objects, which we referred to as “woobie” after seeing Michael Keaton in Mr. Mom.  My sis Adorable, in particular, was incredibly attached to her blanket and had trouble sleeping without it.

This weekend a little girl brought me her woobie for repairs.  A friend of a friend referred her mom to me, and on Sunday morning the exchange went down.  I’d seen a photo of the hole in the blanket, and although I’d never done any professional repair work before, the family was desperate,  so I was happy to take my best shot.  Apparently the mom had called around to several local yarn shops and none of them offered repairs.  This little girl looked to be about 3 or 4 years old and loved her blanket but apparently liked to bite it in times of stress.  Even worse, she was terrified of being away from her blanket and was extremely eager to know how long the repair would take.

At first glance, I could tell that the blanket needed more than one repair.  There was a large unraveled section (the mom described it as “ramen noodles” where a thread was broken:

Unfortunately, there were also a few other spots where the yarn was fraying and two patches along the edging that were coming loose.  The first challenge, finding a yarn to match, was easy.  The little girl exclaimed “pink!” and the mom reassured me that a repair was far more important than an exact yarn match.  I guessed at 3 to 7 days and about 6 hours and sent them on their way.

That cute little face stuck with me though, and almost as soon as they were gone I headed to Joann’s Fabrics for the essentials (a new crochet hook and a ball of size 10 crochet cotton):

I think the pinks are a decent match — not perfect or even invisible, but not glaringly bad, right?

Once The Baron headed off to his monthly pinball tournament, Zoey settled in for a nap and I got down to work.  Here is what I did . . .

First, I sectioned off the hole.  On the bottom edge the hole was pretty close to the border, so I knew it was not going to get much bigger down on that end.  On the top though, there was nothing to stop the “run” from zipping all the way up the blanket.  To prevent this, I put in a “lifeline” by passing a needle threaded with waste yarn through a line of stitches a few rows up from the start of the hole like so:

Once the top of the hole was secured, I started picking up and re-working stitches from the bottom up, using my crochet hook.  I examined each strand to make sure it was still intact until I found the broken strand.  Once I got to the break, I put the re-knitted stitches on a cable needle to hold them.  A stitch holder or piece of waste yarn would have worked too, I just happened to have the cable needle at hand.

In the above photo, you can see that I took the broken strands of yarn and taped them — this was partly to help me see them, partly to keep them from unraveling any more, and partly to make it easy to keep them away from my hook as I was working.  I suggest trying this, especially with a slippery yarn — as long as you’re not working with a fleecy single, it should be just fine.

Next, I worked the unraveled stitches from the top down with the crochet hook until I reached the broken yarn. Again, I placed my work on a cable needle because that’s what I had nearby:

You’ll have to excuse the hideous yellow tint of the above photos — I was far more focused on the process then the picture quality!

Now the fun begins.  Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of what happened next but the idea is pretty simple.  In this particular hole, just a single strand of yarn was broken.  The broken strand is seen, above, secured by tape folded over on itself.  To fix the hole, my task was to replace the broken strand and join the two open sections of stockinette by grafting the two sections together.

Luckily, I’ve been on a sock knitting kick lately (Monkey Socks, to be exact) so I have my kitchner stitch down cold.  I highly recommend the Knitty kitchner tutorial if you are confused.

Starting a few stitches to the right of the hole, using two strands of the crochet cotton, I followed the path of the broken yarn until the point where it broke.  Then I began to join the two open seams with kitchner stitch until the hole was closed (3 stitches across) and then continued weaving the new yarn over the old for another few stitches.  I was close enough to the edge of the blanket that I just wove the end into the edging, tied it off and hid the ends within the rolled-over edge.

Here is the pre-weaving photo:

And here is what it looked like when I was done weaving in ends, fussing with the stitch tension and after a gentle blocking:

To head off any future problems, I looked over the rest of the blanket, fixed another hole that was forming and some edges that were starting to unravel, and reinforced two spots where the yarn was starting to really fray.  Here is one of the repaired edges:

Here is one of the repaired fraying spots:

And here is the second hole — I fixed it in much the same way I fixed the first — I also reinforced a fraying thread right above the hole.

Overall I am pleased with my work.  Although it could have been a lot “prettier” if I’d had time to search for a better yarn match, I think that the durability of the crochet cotton will be helpful in this particular case.

Of course I was happy to “guarantee” my work for several years — I am getting well paid for my time and I think that a good knit repair should last for years.  If for some reason it doesn’t, I want to be the one to fix it

I really enjoyed this little project — the look on that little girl’s face when she handed over her most precious posession to me, well, it was a big responsibility.  I hope I was able to come through for her!

Then I remind myself that sometimes just going through the motions is ok, is necessary even.  I know there will be times in the future when I will be desperate to write, desperate to share, and it is for those times that I try and force myself to go through the motions now.

So . . . here goes:

- Tonight the Literati Knitters are going to Stitch & Pitch at the Dodger game.  I loathe baseball but have been trying to organize a field trip for our group for a while now.  I am quite excited that this first outing actually seems to have come together.  Also . . . gift bags.  Need I say more?

- A few weeks ago I joined my friend Mrs. Jones in a full on dying extravaganza.  It was educational, very fun, and I can see how playing with dyes could become a MAJOR addiction.

Some highlights (all photo credit to Mrs. Jones of course):

Here is a good representation of some of the blues we got.  I dyed a pale yellow skein of a laceweight yarn that I bought thinking of a wedding shawl (what was I thinking?  I loathe yellow . . .) and also overdyed a blue and green skein of Knit Picks Shimmer in the colorway Turquoise Splendor, also a possibility for a wedding shawl, but discarded when I began to feel it looked too “tie-dyed.”

Here are a few early skeins drying in the sun.  I loved the three red and black skeins pictured here — they all came from the same pot, which was especially cool I thought:

And finally,  our fave pink yarn, still in the pot:

- In other exciting project news, I finished the sweater, bear and socks (good luck birthing socks for Mom) for Baby G.  Please join me in thinking good thoughts for him and his parents, who are expecting his arrival any day now.   The sweater and bear really deserve their own finished-project posts, but here are the green Monkey socks:

I can’t help myself, I just love love LOVE the richness of this green color.  Yummy.  The yarn is Knit Picks Essential (now Stroll) in the Ivy colorway.  Since the one giant ball produced both socks, I was able to avoid the odd color change that I had to deal with on my last Monkey sock adventure (please see photos of purple Monkeys from my last post).  Also, I am starting to worry about my inability to ever post photos of blocked socks . . . I guess I just don’t see the point since feet are such great blockers

- I am working on some custom coasters, a request from a co-worker that I like enough to knit for.  I’m using the new Knit Picks yarn, Comfy Bulky — a blend of acrylic (yuck!) and cotton that so far is not too horrible to work with — to make a set of coasters.  I’m double knitting with three colors and so far the experiment is working out just fine.  Hopefully I will post pattern and photos when I’m done.

- Now that all the pressing baby gifts are done, I’m back to that betwixt and between state where I don’t really have any meaty projects on the needles or in the hopper.  I am tempted to start a lace piece, something really big and juicy, but I just can’t quite seem to find anything that sings to me.  I keep coming back to Madli’s Shawl, but I have neither the issue of Knits nor the new book (Knitted Lace of Estonia) where the pattern appears.  Even the library doesn’t have the book . . . so that leaves me stuck since I’m trying to hold off on spending for the moment.  What I do have on the needles are some socks for a friend’s 4 year old daughter, the beginnings of a baby blanket for baby M,  expected in January of 2010, and a project to plan for baby O, expected in November 2009.

- And then, of course, there is my own new “baby” Zoey.  Could she be any cuter?  For reals, having a pup is so much more wonderful than I could have imagined.  I love watching her pounce on The Baron each morning and seeing how happy they make each other.  She is also incredibly sweet, greeting me at the end of each day with the most plaintive, elated little squeals and whines of delight.  We are taking her to obedience classes and she’s learning to be a good girl, but we are sorely remiss in teaching her not to lick people’s faces, ears, noses, mouths . . . it is just so precious that I can’t bear to break her of the habit.  She is not quite seven months old and weighs just over seven pounds, so she’s still easy to pick up in one hand for a cuddle.  Each new day with her is more fun than the last.  I will not be torturing her with handknits quite yet — but I do want to make her a sweater for the chilly winter mornings ahead — she is quite sensitive to the cold.  I am holding myself back from being a total freakshow and posting a zillion photos of her, but here are just two of my latest faves:

Little Zoey hiding her nose in the covers:

Posing for the camera:

And of course, my very fave . . . SNOUT!

- Finally, a word about Levi’s Baby Blanket . . . I am so excited to see that a few people are actually knitting it!  I wish I had the time to translate the charts into written instructions, but unfortunately at the moment I have neither the time nor the energy.   I will do anything else I can do to help and encourage knitters who are tackling the blanket — please PM me via Ravelry if I don’t get back to you right away via my blog e-mails.

There now, that wasn’t so bad.  Happy knitting, and to anyone who has slogged with me down this far, thank you for reading

Since my last knitting project update, there has been some (albeit limited) progress:

- Sheep Yoke Baby Cardigan:

I have to knit about 6 rows on the button band and embroider in the black hooves and noses on the sheep.  However, I haven’t touched this sweater in about a month and the baby will be here in just a few weeks.  Finishing is a goal for this weekend.

- Druid Mittens:

When last I wrote, I thought I’d figured out a workable gauge (cuff on 2.5 mm, body of mitten on 2.25) but . . . since then I’ve knit almost to the tip of one mitten, only to realize that it is still way too short (like 2 inches too short).  The pattern doesn’t let me repeat it without some funky fiddling, which I don’t really care to do, so the mittens are “resting” at the moment.  Since I have so much yarn, I’m considering ripping and re-knitting with the yarn doubled.  I WILL CONQUOR THESE MITTENS!!!

- Baby Booties:

So the whole idea of making up my own pattern has sort of fallen by the wayside in favor of all the projects I keep accumulating.  I did manage to do an eyelet variation on Saartje’s Booties: instead of the straps, I worked a row of yo, k2tog and yo, ssk, then just threaded a ribbon through the booties.  Fast and dirty (took me under two hours to do both) but they sure did turn out well I think:

- Ice Queen:

Somehow I managed to finish, block and gift, all without getting a photo.  I loved the project though — a quick, easy smoke ring with a single ball of yarn.  The beading was really fun too, and came out beautifully.  I would absolutely knit this pattern again.

There is other big news too . . . I know, I know, way to bury the lead . . . but finally, after so much trouble, I’ve managed to climb aboard the Monkey Sock bandwagon.  Using Knit Picks Essential (soon to be Stroll) I was able to knit a decent pair of socks.  Since I started the socks without a foot in mind (long story, I needed an portable, emergency knitting project) I found a foot to fit the socks after they were half-knit:

This particular foot belongs to Miss V, one corner of my four-person knitting circle.  I think the socks ended up fitting pretty well:

Now that I’ve knitted socks for one member of the group, I’m going to knit up a pair for the other two ladies.  Fun

Of course, as soon as the first pair of Monkeys were done, I immediately cast on another pair, this one in the Essential Kettle Dyed colorway Eggplant.  The socks are a gift for Adorable, whose birthday is today.  Here is my progress as of this moment:

I have just one more repeat and the toes to finish — lucky for me, she has tiny little feet.

A truer picture of the beautiful deep purple of the socks:

As you can see, there is a slight color change at the top of the gusset where I changed skeins.  I don’t love it, especially since the yarns were both from the same dye lot, but hey, they are handmade socks made from kettle dyed yarn.  I am also hoping that the difference will be more subtle when the socks are worn, and that a good washing will help blend the colors a bit.

And what’s next up?

I would like to make some birthing socks to go with the Sheep Baby Sweater — if I start a pair of Monkeys now, can I get them to the mom-to-be before her due date in late July?  I think so . . . I hope so . . . I would also like to make a small stuffed animal for the baby, to go with the sweater and socks.  It’s a lot of knitting and not a lot of time!

]]> http://knittikins.wordpress.com/2009/06/17/still-slow-going/feed/ 0 knittikins http://knittikins.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/and-introducing/ http://knittikins.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/and-introducing/#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 23:55:00 +0000 Lindsay http://knittikins.wordpress.com/?p=454 ]]> It’s been unforgivably long since I’ve posted . . . I think once I got Levi’s Blanket launched into the world I sort of slowed down on the knitting.  How slow?  Well . . . Ice Queen is blocking as we speak, that’s how slow.  My next post will be knitting-photo-heavy, I  promise, but in the meantime, I have another, better excuse for setting aside (only temporarily though!) my knitting:

The Baron and I are growing our little family.  Meet Zoey:

She was left at the pound and then taken in by a rescue, which is where we found her.  She’s part Dachshund, part Chihuahua, almost as rascally as The Baron . . . she’s now 17 weeks old, gives the sweetest little puppy kisses and loves her humans almost as much as we love her.

Need more cuteness?  Here’s my favorite photo of our little girl:

I got myself all tangled up in the instructions for the picot edging, but I am not panicking — I think I was just too tired last night and I’m going to spend a little research time on Knitty before I get myself into a total snit.  I am excited about a project started on Saturday and finished within the week, so I’m going to try and get a bit more done today and tomorrow.  I would love to put this thing in the mail soon!  I have to admit, I would also love to make one for myself too.

How to keep my knitting mojo going?  More audiobooks!  I’ve been bouncing around between more serious stuff and “beach reading” like Phillipa Gregory and John Grisham.  But I’m having trouble finding good suggestions for serious stuff.  At the moment my main complaint is about book reviews.  I’ve sniffed through NY Times book reviews for the past few years and found some treasures.  But today, when I was looking for other credible sources for book reviews . . . nada.  How could this be?  Does no one read anymore?  Is it possible that the NY Times is the only publication that deals in literature?

Come on blog buddies . . . what am I missing?

About a month ago my mother in law asked me to make her the Ice Queen pattern from Knitty.  Since she loves bright colors I’ve been on the lookout for a jaw-dropping ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze.  Even though we are on a spending freeze (basically a self-imposed moratorium on any non-essential spending) The Baron got to buy a few essential pinball related toys.  I decided that one ball of yarn would not kill us, especially since I have been in such knitting gloom recently.  And I am knitting for his mother!

I popped into Unwind the weekend before last and there on the shelf, a full 50 cents cheaper than any other ball of Kidsilk Haze, was one single bright-hot pink fluffball.  I just could not hold myself back.  I grabbed some matching beads and picked up a teeny tiny (size 11, 1.1 mm) crochet hook from Joanne’s.  Finally, after looking at the yarn and feeling fussy for a whole week, I cast on over the weekend and just raced through the project.  It didn’t hurt that I met up with Miss V on Saturday for a literati marathon.

I haven’t worked feather and fan lace before and I was a bit surprised by how easy it was to memorize.  The resulting fabric is delicate and airy but also feels warm.  I just cannot get over how filmy and beautiful the lace looks, especially in such a kick-ass color.

I absolutely love love love the end result and I cannot wait for knitting group tonight.  Right now my big decision is whether or not I should include beading along the top and bottom edges or just along the bottom.  Will beads on the top weight down the lace too much and make it fall like a souffle?  I am also wondering how long I have to wait to pick up another ball to make one for myself

Now though, I feel like I’ve got far too much going on knitting-wise, and not too much of it moving toward a fruitful conclusion.

- Sheep Yoke Baby Cardigan:

I started this little colorwork project by trying out Fair Isle.  I was less than thrilled with the slightly lumpy result, but rather than rip it out I just cast on for a second cardigan and worked the sheep with intarsia.  I’m happier with the intarsia cardigan but there are still so many ends to work in!  I’ve been trying to darn in ends while I have my Literati Knitters to distract me, but so far it has been slow going.  I then decided (don’t ask me why) to work the sleeve in the round rather than flat.  I guess I was thinking fewer ends to weave in, but . . . I always think magic loop is such a great concept and then I remember what a pain it is!

So now I have two partially finished cardigans and a ton of ends . . . not very satisfying at all.

Add to that the fact that the baby I’m knitting for is a boy (a fact that I learned after starting the sweater) and I really want to knit something more manly for him.  Maybe a sweater and hat with stripes.  I don’t know.  I’m just not very pleased with my baby-gift progress.  And did I mention that I’m sick of weaving in ends?

- Druid Mittens:

I love and loathe these mittens.  Gauge totally deserted me since the cable pattern of the mittens shrinks the fabric up so much.  I knit 3/4 of the mitten body of BOTH mittens (again, don’t ask — I was trying to keep each section consistant by knitting the two mittens sort of at the same time) on size 0 needles before deciding that they were just WAY too small for a grown up person.  Again, rather than rip I just ordered new yarn and was back on my way.

A side note: Woodland Woolworks rocks.  They sent me one odd ball from a different dye lot than the other balls I’d ordered and when I called they immediately got the correct yarn in the mail to me along with a return envelope for the odd ball.  Of course, me being me, I put the odd ball somewhere special so that I’d be sure to remember to mail it back . . . and I have not seen it since.  Go me!

So not wanting to repeat the gauge issues I’d had with the first pair of mittens, I made two cuffs and then worked about two inches of each mitten using two different needle sizes.  I finally picked the one I liked best and ripped the other back to the cuff.  At this point I have 4 totally unfinished mittens and I’m wild to get these little suckers done, especially since they are going to end up in San Francisco where the summers are notoriously cold, but I am not too hopeful.  It feels like they will be on my needles until eternity.

- Baby Booties:

A friend has asked me to knit a pair of booties for her, something that she could give to a new baby arriving in her family.  Although it’s not normally something I’d volunteer for, Miss V and I have been plotting to create some bootie patterns so this request seemed like good motivation.  My job is to come up with the bootie form on which to build cute little bootie animals.  So far, I am not doing so hot.  I’ve given a few ideas a good test knit, but so far I am not loving anything and I’m a bit frustrated with myself.  On one hand I am trying to build a better mousetrap, but on the other . . . reinventing the wheel.  And now I’m writing entirely in cliche.

- Ice Queen:

My mother-in-law specifically requested a smoke ring.  This weekend I found a really intensely hot pink ball of Rowan Kidsilk Haze, some pretty matching seed beads, and a size 11 crochet hook small enough to fit through the beads.  I am dying to chuck all of the above and just bite into some meaty, colorful lace.

Poor me . . . frustrated with my knitting.  There are worse problems a person could have, but there you go.  Today I am a very fussy knitter.

VITAL STATISTICS: Pattern: My own.  I think the recipe for Levi’s blanket is fairly simple but I’ve never designed anything before.  Please leave a comment with any questions or thoughts!

Made for: Baby Levi

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash Bare (undyed) Worsted Weight

Yardage: About 750 yards – I used 4 hanks and had a bit left over.

YarnSource: Knit Picks

Needles: US size 5 KnitPicks Options needles.  I wanted an extra-dense fabric so I worked on slightly smaller needles than I normally would have.

Gauge/Final Size: About 44×32, depending on blocking.

Some blocking photos:

Some detail photos:

Then, of course, there are those times when planning and collaboration just aren’t possible, and when deadlines creep up on a person all sneaky-like.  That’s been the case with Levi’s Blanket, which I’ve been struggling to design and create in the mere five months since he was “matched” with his adoptive parents.  Well now he’s here, official, adopted, and in need of his blanky!

After several false starts designing my own cables, I decided I would not try and reinvent the wheel.  Sticking with my original theme of “three,” I combed through stitch dictionaries and finally came up with three different cables.  Working my trusty Excel skills to their outer limits, I created a color-coded chart that takes up a full 11×17 sheet of paper. The chart is 85 rows high and 158 stitches across.  It’s a monster.  Once I was happy with my instructions, I took a deep breath, cast on with Swish Worsted in bare (the natural colorway), and started cabling my heart out.  Three (and change) chart repeats later, I’m just a handful of rows away from finishing.  Since I’ll probably be meeting Baby Levi next week, I’ve got sore wrists and a grating feeling of anxiety deep in my gut even though I’m fairly sure I’ll be able to finish up quite easily.

While I’m happy that I took on this project and pleased with the results, its a good reminder of what I like and don’t like about knitting.  I love the process.  Sitting for hours, thoughts drifting or focused, listening to radio, tv, a book or just silence, each stitch is a quiet focal point, a badly-needed valve for my daily frustrations.  I love to give gifts, but more than “stuff” that is made overseas and breaks easily, I try to give time, experience, or handmade things . . . and NOT on a deadline!

Well, that’s what’s been going on with my blog lately.  I was so focused and fretty about publishing my Mandala round-up that I just couldn’t bring myself to blog about anything else.  Now that I’ve finished and it’s up, there are so many other things to talk about!

First of all, since I can never be without a lace project, I’m trying to figure out what lace to knit next.  I really enjoyed the Mandala but I think I’m now fairly convinced of my preference for shawls that are triangular or rectangular rather than round.  I loved the way that my Frost Flowers & Leaves shawl turned out, and I love the way that it looks on my sister.  Of course, she is amazing with wardrobe and could make a paper bag look glamorous, thus the nickname.  I like the practicality of a triangular shawl, although it does concern me a bit to have a triangle-tip pointing, um . . . down one’s back.  But the circle just doesn’t make much sense.  I understand wearing it folded up around the neck, but then why bother with the lace if you’re just going to wrap it up tightly?  Thrown around the shoulders it felt a bit awkward to me.  I didn’t like how the top folded over so that the wrong-side was facing out around the shoulders, and I didn’t like the overall feeling that I was wearing a tablecloth.

Sure, I’m not exactly a maestro with draping fabric, and not exactly in the age or weather bracket for extensive shawl wearing, but still.  I want a pattern that looks and feels lacy but also has a classic, elegant simplicity to it.  I’ve always been drawn to Pink Lemon Twist’s Hanami Stole and it’s always on my mind.  I think I’d like to knit it for myself, in the  most luxurious yarn I can think of!  Of course, cash and color are my two stumbling blocks in that area.  With Hanami as my starting point, I’ve taken Ravelry’s new pattern recommendation experiment for a spin.  It’s the little sciency-looking vial icon at the bottom right on the pattern page.  You click on it and it suggests similar patterns you might like.  From this experiment I found the Curved Shawl with Diamond Edging from Victorian Lace Today.  It appeals to me because it’s curved rather than pointy along the bottom, and I like the repeating circle motif.  Still, it is not exactly the clean, sleek look I’ve been hoping to find.

Since I don’t have another lace recipient in mind, I guess I should just go ahead and pick out some lace for myself.  I do have a ton of other people to knit for at the moment.  Levi’s arrival is anticipated at any moment, and his baby blanket is almost (maybe . . . I need to block and see how I feel . . .) finished.  I’ve also got mittens and socks on my needles at the moment, and as soon as I’m done with knitting for Levi I need to start knitting for baby N, a lucky little kid who’ll be meeting his or her wonderful parents in July.  Lots of knitting to do, which I hope will lead to lots of blogging!