The Forty-Five Dollar Socks

My friend gave me a pattern that was published by a yarn company. Had I bought that brand of yarn (Opal) I would not be in this mess. But instead I purchased a hank of Koigu in an awesome color. I naively thought I could knit two socks with one skein. Wrong!

I realized I would need another skein so I went back to purchase a second skein and the store was out of the color. Then, after I turned the heel, I realized I wouldn’t even finish one sock with one skein so I would need a total of…THREE.

The owner of Yarnin’ Around in Gresham found two skeins at a store in Ashland and kindly ordered them for me. I reimbursed her plus shipping and handling. First skein = $12.25. Two more @13.00 = $26.00. Shipping = $7.00. TOTAL = $45.25.

I will finish these and wear them every day for the rest of my life.

Giant Granny

As I may have mentioned, I can’t read crochet patterns and I don’t know one stitch from another. But I can make a Granny Square. If I don’t think about it. Once I get going, I can’t stop or I’ll forget what I’m doing and I won’t be able to start again. So instead of an afghan made of lots of squares sewn together, I have one GIANT Granny Square. Pretty cool, though?

Yarn Yoga Challenge Swatch

Here is the pattern for the Challenge Swatch due February 19, 2007. The challenge is there is no photo so you won’t know if you are doing it correctly or not. Good Luck!!!!

Tweeded Mock Ribbing

Cast on a multiple of two stitches using size 8, 9 or 10 needles and any worsted weight yarn.

Row 1: *wyib sl 1 purlwise, k1, yo, psso: Repeat from * to end of row.
Row 2: purl

Secret Code:
(If you don’t understand this…check out a stitch dictionary or look in Stitch ‘n Bitch for directions.)

wyib: with yarn in back
sl 1 purlwise: slip stitch as if to purl but don’t
yo: yarn over
psso: pass slip stitch over

Circle of One

Here are some comments on knitting from my book, Down Home Musings. This is the still-not-finished afghan I mention.

Today is cool…a faux Fall day. There’s a nice breeze here on the porch, and I am sittin’ and knittin’ and enjoying the peaceful morning. When I stay still I have some avian visitors. Louie and Winkie are the pair of cardinals that make their home here, and they come to the feeder several times a day. Knitting is a quiet activity and does not seem to disturb them. In the spring, I leave scraps of colorful yarn out for them to put in their nest. (That little spot of day-glo orange helps me locate the nest among the branches.)

You might think that knitting is an “old lady” thing to do. I am an old lady…but actually I have been knitting since I was a small child. My Aunt Clara used to come from her home in Chicago to visit us each summer and she always had her knitting with her. She gave me my first pair of needles and started me on a craft that has provided me hours of pleasure.

I love the feeling of soft yarn sliding through my fingers, the joy of watching the stitches come off the needle and become a garment, the sense of accomplishment when I am finished. The rhythm of knitting soothes my soul and settles me down when I am over-whelmed by life and its responsibilities. There is always a project in the basket beside my chair and I can pick it up and knit for a few minutes or an hour or an afternoon. It’s portable and goes with me when I travel (although I can no longer take the needles on the airplane).

I do other fiber work as well. Crocheting, needlepoint, weaving. But knitting remains my stalwart best friend. It has brought me hours of entertainment and satisfaction, and I hope the things I have made have been useful to those who received them. I tried to organize a group here in town to meet at the library and knit shawls for cancer patients or blankets for the homeless. No one was interested. “Too busy.” “Too hot.” “Better things to do.” “Don’t know how.” “Not in a rocking chair yet!”

So I am my own “circle of one” here on my porch. I feel a sense of communion with other women elsewhere who enjoy this craft, and I am grateful for the happiness it provides me. I sent a shawl to my friend in Maine who has terminal cancer. She says it gives her comfort and she thinks of me when she wraps herself in it. Today I am working on a multi-colored striped afghan to use up some scrap yarn I found when I cleaned out my storeroom. It will be a bright spot next winter and remind of these days on the porch. Maybe help me find my own nest.

Bag Lady in Training

This photo speaks for itself. This is Skye Louise the little kitten adopted from the Shelter last November. She is growing into a beautiful cat with an engaging personality. She loves to steal my knitting needles. Do you think I should make her a bed?

Bag Ladies Rule!

Yesterday I acquired yet another bag in which to tote my knitting about. This one is a gift from Time magazine as a bonus for renewing my subscription. It looks to be just the right size for the Copper Afghan. Red and black. Kinda squarish. Zipper side pockets. Large zipper opening on top. This makes something like eleven dozen bags of varying sizes and shapes and functions that I use to contain my projects and keep them ready to grab-and-go at a moment’s notice.

There is a bag for all seasons, a tote for all reasons. Big and small, roomy and cramped. Filled with pockets and zippers and buckles. Some people have stashes of yarn or fabric. I have a Stash of Bags!

Mostly I want these for knitting projects. But I also use them for my “Activity Kit.” This is the stuff I want to take with me whenever I go anywhere that might involve waiting or down time. Riding on the Max for example, or waiting at the vet’s. In my Kit you will find a knitting project (small), a paperback book, a Sudoku puzzle book, pen, pencil with eraser, notepad, granola bar. This is in addition to the bag that serves as my “purse” which contains all manner of necessities along with my cell phone.

I became a Bag Lady when I lived in San Francisco and didn’t have a car. Riding the Muni taught me how to travel light but with everything I might need in case I was stuck somewhere for a long period of time. I continue the tradition to this day.

Missin’ My Sis

During that last year of her life, we did quite a bit of knitting and crocheting and needlepointing, and those items are treasures now. We found a knit/crochet pattern for a shawl at Pacific Five & Dime on Irving in San Francisco. I knit a brown triangular shawl and she crocheted a red one. Then we gave them to each other. When I toss this shawl around my shoulders I feel her love even after all these years. She died in 1984. I don’t know what happened to the brown one I made. Her daughter-in-law might have it.

Happy First Birthday Brayden

Brayden Bolden is the young man who would be my sister Frances' great grandson. Teresa, his mother, is the daughter of my nephew Steve. Brayden turned one in October 2006 and the quilt was a birthday gift. His first word was “doggie.”


It is so much fun to make things for this newest family member. I know my sister would have showered him with hand-made items so I am filling in for her. He is adorable and I love getting updates from his mom.

Fiber By Any Other Name

This is primarily a knitting blog because knitting is my primary activity. But I also crochet, tat, quilt, weave, do needlepoint, embroidery and macramé. So from time to time I will stray into the outer reaches of fiberdom and report on things I have, or have not, done in those areas. Today let’s talk about needlepoint which provided a “busy hands” occupation while I was quitting smoking. That was in 1996 and I haven’t done any since, partly because that also coincided in time with my getting tri-focals and being unable to focus. (Well…that’s what I blamed it on anyway.)

My sister was a prolific needlepointer and I have a box of her work in my Giant Craft Stash that I plan to get out and make into pillows or frame and hang on the wall. That project has joined the queue of Projects Waiting In the Wings. Several of my own canvasses are in there as well. And one stitched by my mother (that would be fifty years ago). I will be able to cover quite a bit of wall space when I finally get around to this. Or fill up several room-sized couches.

Anyhow…here is a Sun Pillow made from a kit purchased at the Irish Craft Store on Geary in San Francisco. There was a matching Moon kit that I should have bought at the same time. It would have made a nice pair. This one sits on a chair in my dining room along with a Seashell Pillow my friend Lin made for me. A finished Fruit Pillow my sister made spends its days on my bed. Needlepoint is a genteel sport that has fallen out of favor these days. Is it time to bring it back?

Feltin’ Good In the Neighborhood

Back in 1995, I discovered felting. It was all the rage then and I bought some wool yarn at a little knit shop in San Francisco called Atelier Yarns http://www.atelieryarns.com/ I bought a pattern from the Brown Sheep Company for a Fabulous Felted Hat and set out to knit a giant baggy object that eventually did magically turn into something I could wear on my head. Made with double strands, the yarn ended up costing a fortune. Afterwards I washed it in hot water to shrink and mat it, and then I molded it over a bowl the approximate size of my head to dry. That didn’t work so I just put it on and wore it till it was dry. Talk about “hat head”! I have it still although I rarely wear it. I made one for my daughter as well and hers still hangs on a chair back in her room. I need to re-felt them as they have gotten larger over time. So I will throw them in with the new project I am starting (see below).

This technique laid dormant for about ten years and then I ventured into felting again while I was living in Osceola. I saw a little clutch in The Studio, a knit shop in Kansas City http://www.thestudiokc.com and purchased the wool yarn (Noro) and pattern to make it. I entered it in the Missouri State Fair, but, unlike my quilt, it did not win a prize. It’s still pretty cute, I think. I intended to line it, but...

Now I have need for a tote bag (you can never have enough bags!) and I think I will try to design my own pattern. I’m ready to try felting again. I'm starting with a 29" size 13 circular needle and some Cascade Peruvian wool. Casting on 100 stitches and using double strands, one of Colonial blue and one of Lichen Green. I'll make handles/straps by knitting an I-cord which is always fun. This should go very quickly and I will take it along this week to one of my craft groups. I need shrinkage advice from a skilled felter. Not sure when to stop. I seem to remember it shrinks quite a bit side to side, but not sure about top to bottom. I guess I'll find out. Anyway...a perfect project to start while watching the Super Bowl!

Stay tuned to watch the progress of the Quickie Felted Tote. Photos will appear on the website at some point in the not too far distant future. Keep coming back!

The Wedding Afghans

My son, Andrew Carl Graham, was married to Laura Duffy on July 7, 2006 at her parents’ home in Colorado. Later in the summer, they had a reception on Sauvie Island here in Portland to celebrate with friends. For that event, I made them each an afghan which pretty much took me all summer.

Laura’s is an off-white cables & lace knit with basic Red Heart worsted weight yarn. I found the pattern in Heirloom Afghans to Knit and Crochet by Leinhauser & Weiss.

Andy’s is a greenish-blue knit on the diagonal with self-striping yarn, the same diagonal pattern as used for the Red Scarf only much much larger. It’s knit with Lion Brand Homespun.