60 Months

Dear Devil,

Just over a week ago, you turned five years old. I know it's a cliche to rave about how fast time is going, but I swear to Gourds that only yesterday, you were this:

And in reality (something that I feel I have a tenuous grasp on at the best of times), you are this:

And this:

And this:

You have become oh so grown up and not shy about informing people that you are not a little baby anymore! We went on an expedition with some friends yesterday, and one little girl on the playground made the mistake of referring to the house that you and T were playing in as "the babies' house". You spent the next fifteen minutes following the poor girl around, informing her of the error of her characterization. "We are not babies!" In the end, you were great friends and played together happily until her mother ruined it by leaving, but it's an example of your insistence on fairness and things being right.

Since September, and your first suspicious trip to school, you have become a true convert. You are thrilled to go in the mornings, you proudly tell me when you get stickers on your sticker chart for helping out or cleaning up nicely, and you are usually pretty excited to come home and do your homework, such as it is. Your teacher says that it's as if you've been with your classmates forever, that's how well you've fitted in with everyone.

You are now genuinely reading, which I find more thrilling then I can explain. As someone for whom reading is an incredibly important thing, I'm so happy to see you starting out on the journey, and I can't wait to introduce you to some of the books that I loved as a child (and stayed up late with a flashlight under my covers to read after I was supposed to be asleep. I'm sure you'll do the same.) As a result of learning to read, you're also developing a British/Brahmin accent that would make your paternal great-grandfather extremely proud (not that he cared about that sort of thing, but you sound like him a bit) (although you are much more garrulous then he ever was!) Sometimes it takes me a few minutes to understand what you're trying to say because it's such a bizarre combination of American and English pronounciation. I suspect that this experience, of learning to read phonetically in the UK, will color your and your sister's speech for the rest of your lives. An interesting thought, that this experience may leave such an obvious mark upon you. I do hope it's for the best.

It's been a grand ride this far baby, and I am so looking forward to whatever comes next.

With all my love,

Mama (or, as you now insist, Mum)

FO: Crazy pink double knit socks

I've posted about the process of knitting these socks already here, but I'm happy to say I've finally finished them.

The poor things were going back and forth from London Bridge on a daily basis with no toes for several weeks before the Olympics started, and when I finally accepted defeat, I whipped out a couple of toes in time to finish them for February's sock of the month. Here's the specs:

Pattern: plain stockinette socks with 1x1 ribbing at the cuff, both knit at the same time one inside the other, as directed by Kory Stamper.
Yarn: Random bits and pieces from the Sock Yarn Blanket
Needles: US 1/2.25 mm circular
Start/finish: 28/12/09-26/2/10 - almost two months. For a pair of kid's socks. Yee gawds...must have been more then several weeks delay there.
Gauge: ~8 sts/inch.
Comments: I knit the cuffs individually before loading them all on one needle with alternating stitches. Devil had picked out four wee pink balls of yarn she wanted to use, so I split each one in half by weight, and used two for the leg and two for the foot. Details of knitting the heels are in my previous post, and by the time I got to the toes, I was ready to be done.

Getting the socks apart was a bit like watching a snake molt. First I got all the stitches separated onto two needles.

Then they were pulled apart.

Almost there,

Ta da!

Then the toes and weaving in of ends. New socks for Devil!

PS - Tomorrow is Steek Day!

Two socks at a time

A couple of years ago, there was a very cool article in Knitty about knitting your socks two at a time. And not just the usual two at a time, but double knitting your socks. Otherwise known as knitting two socks inside each other using two balls of yarn and alternating which set of stitches you're working on. I was intrigued by the idea, and even had some yarn that I'd mentally tagged for some socks for myself knit this way, but never got around to doing anything about it.

Over the holiday, I realized that Devil was sorely lacking in the handknit sock department. We picked through the bags of scraps I've got for the SYB, and she pulled out several that appealed to her (distinguishing characteristic: pink). I wound each scrap into two balls, and set off.

To simplify things, I knit the cuffs separately so I didn't have to worry about purling in double knit, and then put all the stitches onto one US 1/2.25 mm circular needle. After a few rows, the double knitting seemed pretty straightforward - this was greatly assisted by the fact that I didn't try to match the repeats on the yarn (which was a mix of variegated and self striping), so the two sets of stitches were largely different colors.

I made sure to check every couple of rows to make sure I hadn't totally screwed up and knit the two socks together. There were a couple of bobbles, but nothing too dramatic or messy.

Then I reached the heel. I must admit to having a mental block at the idea of trying to double knit the heels, so I took a page from Elizabeth Zimmerman's book and decided to do an afterthought heel.

Instead of cutting the knitting after picking up the stitches, I knit in a piece of scrap yarn, similar to the way the stitches for a mitten thumb are set aside. It's hard to see in the picture, but the scrap yarn for the heel is there (click for note). I knit a bit past that point, and realized that in order to get the foot length right, I really needed to put the heels in now. I picked up stitches on either side of the scrap yarn in the outside sock,

unraveled carefully,

and started knitting again with the heel yarn.

I did decreases at the edge of the heel every other row until I had about 16 stitches left,

and then I grafted the remaining stitches together. Ta da!

Then I did the inside sock. Each heel added about 1.75 inches to the length of the foot, so I now know how far I have to go before I can start the toes. Of course, with the advent of the massive sampling/swatching project of the last week, these poor things have been neglected in my bag for a while. Hopefully I'll get them done before half-term so Dev has some cozy socks to wear.

FO: There's nothing like garter stitch squares for instant gratification.

Last week was uncharacteristically warm in London, so I was able to pull an ostrich over the fact that my children don't wear coats unless they have too, and certainly don't put anything on their hands! This past Monday temperatures were more "seasonable" and I decided it was time to bite the bullet and get something for the girls' hands.

Some fingerless mitts for Devil, in some lovely Koigu KPPPM that she picked out at Stash on our very first visit way back in June. Cast on 35 stitches on US 3/3.25 mm needles, knit until the "square" was big enough to fit around her palm (~5.75 inches) and sewed them up the side, leaving a gap for the thumb.

I never would have picked out this yarn, but I love how it knitted up. The colors blended beautifully in a range of gorgeous jewel tones. Now I want enough to make a sweater. For me.

However, at £10 a skein, that is never happening. Maybe I can make some mitts for myself instead...

Status update

Well, the good news is that I seem to have broken my standard Halloween pattern, in so much as it is October 29th, and I have two small, un-frillified princess dresses sitting on my dining room table. I have also discovered that I seem to have retained some of the sewing instruction passed down from my mother since I was able to completely wing a "pattern", and cut out these things on the fly.

So, tonight is for putting on ribbons and flowers and other crap. Boo has been invited to wear her costume to school tomorrow, so I need to find a pale blue headband for her to lose as soon as possible.

Unfortunately my other deadline project is still 60+ rows from completion. Lovely yarn, lovely pattern, and they actually fit me, but it may be a rough haul to the finish line.

And just a warning: next month's blogging will be intermittent at best. Not only do I have lots of unbloggable sooper secret Christmas knitting, but I've also taken complete leave of my senses and signed up for this again. Last participated in 2004 before Devil was born, and for some reason, this seemed like the year to start back up again.

Stop looking at me like that!