And She Knits Too!

Short-Row Heel Saves The Day

I finished the first Jaywalker sock again last night.  You may remember my running out of yarn dilemma of last week--it was solved by ripping back and doing a short-row heel (which I admit I prefer) instead of a classic heel.  I have plenty of yarn left and everything should go just fine from here.  And I know the sock looks stumpy.  I made the bigger size for my wide size 9 1/2 feet and so they're wider but shorter.  They fit, so I'm not complaining.  I will test drive these socks a bit to see if I should deviate from my usual 64 stitch socks.

I even started on the second sock and am 10 rows from the heel.  I'm motivated to finish because I want some new socks and a chance to win some STR yarn provided by the lovely Cara.  Also, my pal Anmiryam sent me some gorgeous Vesper yarn in the Aqua Melon colourway.  I'm thinking I'll use it for a plain pair of toe-up socks with a picot hem, though her Vesper Jaywalkers sure are cute.

In 45 years, I want a party like this

Mémère's party was great.  There were 21 of us there, with family coming to Peterborough from Montreal, Toronto, Brampton, Ottawa and even Kapuskasing to join the party.  So it was a bit of a family reunion as well as a celebration.  My Mémère is looking good and feeling great and we ate a fantastic dinner (thanks to Mom, Dad, Uncle Marc and Susan), drank a lot of wine, sang songs, told jokes and stayed up too late.

Yesterday we all had to leave to get back to our lives, which is probably good because we couldn't have sustained that pace for too long.  And my kids got to stay up really late, drink pop and even learned a bit more about appreciating family and the importance of those generational connections.  It was really nice (except the hangover).

Happy Birthday Mémère!

And She Nits Too

This has not been the greatest week.  Both Emma and Alexander had a pukey bug which kept them home and me in laundry while my work piled up and everyone's stress level went up a notch. 

Things finally seemed normal and everyone was back at school and I went to the Aveda Academy for a nice cut and colour (which made me feel good and look fabulous).  My bliss did not last.  The daycare informed me yesterday that poor Emma has lice.  And while it's not a big deal health wise (they are just bugs) it is a big deal time-wise.  There is nothing more boring than combing out lice and nits.  For mother or daughter (though I suspect it's more boring for the daughter).

I took Jo's advice and chose mechanical removal over pesticiding my kid's head.  I used olive oil and cider vinegar and spent a whole lot of time combing yesterday.  Today Emma and I had a date with a nit comb and we're good for a few days before we have to do the whole thing again.

So there's no knitting to report.  Thankfully the rest of us are good.  I figure the dye would kill any wee beasties (to quote my pal Beryl) that might have decided to nest in my hair and our dryer has been heat treating whatever we put in there to try to keep this infestation down to one kid only.

I'm off for the weekend.  It's my Memere's 80th birthday party tomorrow.  A nice big fun family gathering.  We'll eat lots, talk even more, and Memere can be queen for the day--she certainly deserves it.

Daisy, Daisy

Give me your answer, do.

I'm half crazy, all for the love of you...

The Daisy Shawl is done.  And I love it.  The last bind-off was a bit of a drag.  I ran out of yarn about 20 sts before the end and had to rip it back.  Ripping back KSH is not fun.  Once I got the bind off undone I had to go back 13 rows (ie a pattern repeat) and bind off again.  But I wasn't angry for long because it's beautiful...

There's no outside shots today because it's really cold (-20C), and I'm not dressed for photos, but Emma offered to model it for me:

So pretty,

Optimism, that's the ticket

Let's just say I used the word fuck a lot last night.  And the freakin' news people only took 10 minutes to call it a minority Conservative government--there's very little drama in elections in the electronic age.

The good news is that the NDP did very well--29 seats!  They were a strong force for social democratic values with 19 seats, I think they're going to keep things from going completely to hell in this next parliament. 

Okay, so I'm being a tad optimistic.  It worked for George (Hugh Laurie) in Blackadder IV though:

Edmund: George, I'm in trouble here... I'm not sure your particular brand of mindless optimism is going to contribute much to the proceedings.

George: Well, that's a shame, sir, because I was planning on playing the mindless optimism card very strongly.

So today I'm going with mindless optimism.  And I'm leaving the radio off.  Okay, denial and optimism.

Me, Mermaid and Maps

The beer is chilling in the fridge, the yarn and pattern are on the couch, the tv is reserved, now all I have to do is vote (right after Alexander wakes up--I think he's asleep but am too scared to check) and wait until the coverage begins.

Despite Jo's pleas to avoid election coverage, I will not be able to resist.  I love this stuff.  I love the maps and little bar graphs showing the results for each party.  I love yelling at the pundits and critiquing the journalistic analysis.  For me, political coverage like this is a sport, one of the few I like to watch.  And since the results will affect me (unlike whatever happens in the NHL or Olympics) I like to know how it ends before I go to bed--I don't like surprises when my clock radio goes off in the morning--the fact that it goes off at 6am is surprise enough. 

I'm also an optimist.  Maybe the NDP will get more seats than the last time.  Maybe the polls are overstating things.  Maybe the votes will split just right.

And unlike regular TV there are even some surprises.  Like I said, I'm an optimist.

Sunday stuff

Dinner is on the stove and I have a *few* minutes to chat.

My Jaywalker sock now has a short-row heel.  I like it.  I'm a short-row heel person and I should just go with that (though I want to do an eye of partridge heel just to try it).  My japanese short-rows weren't perfect, but I have another sock to practice on.  I like garter stitch short row heels because you don't have to worry about the wraps, but they aren't as deep as stockinette heels and I need to conserve yardage.

The Daisy Shawl is done.  I ran out of yarn while binding off (shit!) so I had to rip back the bind off (shit!--it ain't easy with KSH) and a row of daisies.  But now it's off the needles and very pretty.

I can't block it though because Alexander has been throwing up all day and isn't super careful about where.  I block shawls on the rug in front of the tv, so I'm waiting.  I'm sure you understand.

I'm also sick with a crappy cold.  Advil Cold and Sinus with extra Advil is helping (I've got a wicked headache to add to the crappiness), but it does give me the excuse to sleep and laze around and knit.  I've been doing both.  I've been scrimping on my sleep this month and it's payback time.

I have avoided the news these last few days and this has been good.  Nothing is going to change my vote so why should I listen to people talk about the election.  Though I admit, this article on polling was very good--mostly because it critiques television coverage. Tomorrow I'll be doing beer and CBC TV election coverage.  All will be revealed then.

Well, time to put the water on (we're having pasta with tomato sauce with sausage). 

Solution

Thanks for all your ideas yesterday.  I decided to be bold and rip back.  I found the ankle area a tad wide on the original ones so this time I will go with the yarn-conserving short-row heel.  And I made the leg a few rows shorter for good measure.

I'm fine with doing this.  It sucked to find out that I wouldn't have enough  yarn yesterday, but they're just socks and I like knitting them so it's no biggie.  I've ripped back miles of complicated stuff and even ran out of yarn on an aran I worked on forever many years and had to use another dyelot to finish--so this is nothing.

Crap!

The nice man at the post office didn't think I was crazy for weighing my sock and yarn until I whined about not having enough yarn.  Though I see the benefit of buying a scale now.

Yarn remaining: 48 grams

Weight of sock: 67 grams less 4 needles at 1 gram each=63 grams

Not. even. close.

Insert string of explitives here.

Does a short row heel use less yarn than a heel flap one? 

Anyone have 15 grams of STR in Moss Agate?  (Now *that* really makes yarn sound like drugs).

Other solutions? 

Ya, I knit it anyway

Jaywalker sock one is done.

And, it fits quite nicely.  Notice I haven't grafted the toe.  It's not because I avoid grafting, actually I kinda like it.  No, it's because I'm worried I won't have enough yarn for the second sock, which I am not going to cast on until I can be sure.

I don't have a fancy scale like Claudia so I'm hoping the people at the post office won't think I'm completely crazy when I ask them to weigh the sock and yarn.  (I've got two parcels to mail so it's not like I'm making a special trip).  If not I'll see if The Bay sells scales.  I won't actually buy one, I'll just try it out.  I won't take blog pictures though.  That would get me kicked out of the mall and sent for psychiatric assessment.