It's Official. I'm Old

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything for a few days (well, more like a week), and it's because of being sick. I was diagnosed with sinusitis at the emergency room which had affected my inner ears, thus rendering me officially dizzy. Actually, beyond dizzy and into my own, private amusement park ride that I couldn't turn off.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who would respond to that by tilling me I've been dizzy for years, but that's a whole other thing.

I'm still taking the antibiotics, and will be for a while, so the bathroom has become my friend, but I'm starting to get away from some of the awful symptoms I was having. I'm off the meds for dizziness and nausea, and if I sit still and close my eyes, I still feel like the room has been moved to a decent size boat, and is gently moving just a little bit, but it's not rendering me in imminent danger of falling, as it was earlier.

The thing that makes me feel old is that I went out and bought a cane so that when I walked, if I got dizzy, I could stop and have something stable to hold onto. It's got four little feet on the bottom, and can stand on it's own, which is more than could be said for me during most of the last week.

When I saw the doctor on Thursday to check on my progress, there was a woman there with a walker that had a nice, padded seat, so she could sit down and relax if she was dizzy, and it had a compartment (bag) under the seat with space between the seat and bag that allowed her to put her yarn in it and have it feed out through the space while she crocheted. I know this dizziness will be gone soon, and I don't need a walker, but I really envied her that day.

One of the next worst things has been that my mind is just not working. I'm thankful to TiVo because I could record Stargate Universe. I watched the first half of the episode from earlier in the week at least four times so far and each time realized that I still didn't have a clue what was happening. That's probably linked to the fact that within 10 minutes of waking up, I've felt like I was ready for a nap all last week.

I'm guessing it will be about another week before I'm really up to speed as far as blogging goes, so bear with me. I have a lot of stuff that I wanted to do this past week that I need to catch up on.

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I have been working on the cabled mobius hat and stuff to go with it.

I got the yarn for it a while back (last week?) and a copy of Power Cables by Lily Chin, which I thought would help. It's a fabulous book for anyone who wants to knit cables, and especially design cables, but did not really have the information in it that I wanted. I'm still glad I bought it because it has a lot of really neat stuff, and some of it isn't things that I had thought of as cables, but it's wonderful!

After some preliminary trials, I determined that I needed a larger size needle than I originally thought, and sent for a size 9 Addi lace needle from Jimmy Beans Wool, and they got it to me very quickly, and I started swatching in earnest. A needle (or needles) with a good, sharp point is really a necessity for this project.

I did more trials than I usually do, but I haven't done something quite like this before, and considering the brain fog engendered by the combination of sinus infection and meds, I think I did quite well.

Every time I knitted a swatch, I looked at it and saw something I could improve. Then I ripped it out and did it again, but different.

Here's the next-to-the-last trial:

That's a cable needle stuck in the swatch, and my penciled chart under it. The other side looks the same except that you can't see that part of the cable needle.

But that's already been ripped out, and I've eliminated some of the space on either side of the cable, between it and the applied I-cord on the side. It looks better and is more the width I actually wanted it to be. I'll be continuing the new swatch, and it'll be the cuff of the hat.

So, being sick slowed me down, but most of the delays on both versions of the mobius hat and it's accessories has been with getting the supplies and tools to work with.

So, at this point, the hat and cowl are started, and I still have to design a scarf that carries forward the mobius theme. I have ideas going around in my head for that, but so far, I don't think that any of them are actually practical in the real knitting world that involves yarn and needles. I'm also thinking about designing mitts to go with all this, but haven't decided if I will do it. The mitts that are in my head look awfully good, though, so maybe I'll do it.

As far as the plainer mobius hat and cowl are concerned, I've finished knitting them, and have the instructions for the hat mostly written. I haven't gotten back to editing and proofing the directions, and haven't done most of the instructions for the cowl yet. I need more yarn before I can do the scarf (I think--I'll have to check what's left over, but I don't think I haven enough). I'm also trying to decide if I want to write a separate pattern for mitts to go with this, or if I'll recommend that you use the mitts pattern that I've already written and will be converting to PDF.

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In more knitting news, or, more accurately, spinning news, Spin Off Magazine has a free trial offer for their magazine. If you've let your subscription lapse, you can get a free issue. I just got my personal copy in the mail, and it really brightened up being sick. I haven't read the article about spinning paper yet, but it looks interesting.

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Firefly is on The Science Channel again tonight. You can catch The Train Job if you missed it last week, and it's followed by Bushwhacked, which is not a fun episode because it's about the reivers. My brain is still not working, and I can't figure out how to spell that.

I hope you enjoyed the two hour return of The Event last Monday, and it'll be back tomorrow night right after the return of Chuck.

I'm about to fall over asleep at this point, and Firefly is coming on, so that's it for today.

I hope you had a great weekend, and will have a wonderful week coming up!

Mobius Knitting Pattern Updates

Well, I finished the knitting part of the Screaming KnitFit Mobius Hat. I think it turned out very well, but then Screaming KnitFit patterns always do.

See for yourself:

The cuff on this is a real mobius!

I have a few things to add/change to the instructions (which are mostly written), and then it needs to be proofed and edited. I have a few photos of the hat in progress that will make it easier to see what you're doing. Some people have a hard time visualizing what's going on, so seeing how it's supposed to look at a particular point can assure you that you're doing it right, or warn you that you've gotten completely off the track.

But then, I want to take some pretty photos of it so that the whole package will be attractive. After a bit of thought, it seems like this is the perfect time to buy a head and bust mannequin to use while taking the photos. The whole idea of this project is to make some money, but it seems that the old saying "You have to spend money to make money" is true.

I want to make both a scarf and a cowl to go with this (so the knitter has a choice), and of course, my Screaming KnitFit mitts pattern is perfect with this (with the same fun fur type trim around the cuff). I'm thinking about writing a pattern for mitts that really match, though.

So far, I've perfected the SKF Mobius Cowl to go with it:

This required a lot of knitting that was done and then torn out, but I think it's turned out well!

I started out with a vague idea, which turned out not to work at all. But it showed me the problems with the project, and I eventually figured out how to deal with those problems.

I'm thinking of making each pattern available separately, and also available together for a lower price than the separate pieces. Then, if you want the hat and scarf, but not the cowl, you can buy just that, but can get all the patterns at a discount.

At this point, I don't have enough yarn left over for a scarf. I went to JoAnn Fabrics on Friday to get more, but they didn't have any of the right color. I could kick myself because when I bought this originally, they had two more balls of the same dye lot, and I didn't get them.

I do have about a ball of yarn left, and I'm thinking about making mitts to match with it. I will get more yarn and do some kind of a scarf, and/or some other kind of neck warmer. But that's going to take time. I'll have to either take the bus as far as I can toward Michaels and then walk (and hope that they have some of the same yarn in the same color) or order it over the internet. I'm thinking internet and waiting is going to win.

I was going to start on the pattern for the mobius hat with the cabled cuff, but didn't have yarn for it on hand, so I ordered it. It's arrived (as announced in a previous post), and I'm thinking of switching over to that series of patterns until I can get the rest of the yarn to finish at least one set.

Here's a photo of the Cabled Cuff Mobius Hat I made for Kyle, and this is sort of what I'm aiming for:

My plan is to keep the same look as this hat (witch was knit in Plymoth Encore Tweed in Grape Jam), and maybe make the instructions a little simpler than the way I knit it originally. I made a pretty simple scarf to go with this, but I want to write instructions more like the cowl above incorporating a cable. I may make the cable on the hat and cowl (and the scarf I want to go with it) a bit different looking. This is going to be a real challenge.

I plan to include a chart to put the heart that's on this hat onto one you might want to knit, but I'm also going to attempt to include instructions to put a star on it instead, so there's an option. So, for instance, if you're knitting these for twins, you could make them slightly different.

I haven't figured out yet how I'm going to do the cable for the cuff on the hat, and I'm thinking about that. I want it to go with the cowl pattern I'm going to write for it, and that's presenting some problems, so I'm starting with the part of the cowl that's going to be fairly plain just to get a feel for the yarn.

I have to say that in spite of being acrylic, the Starlette Tweed yarn I bought from Mary Maxim is just yummy soft in my hands and every bit as pretty as the picture.

I cast on, and then realized this is a heavier worsted weight than the worsted I used for the SKF version, so redid it on fewer stitches. Here's what it looks like now:

I expect to be nearly finished with this section of the cowl by tonight when I give up and go to sleep. It doesn't look like much so far, does it?

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There's almost nothing on TV tonight. This is a good evening to break out the DVDs and enjoy things you haven't had a chance to watch in a while.

I watched The Tudors on BBC in America when they had that marathon over the weekend a few weeks ago. The thing I didn't understand about it (and the thing that the people who schedule these things had a problem with, too) is that they numbered the episodes instead of naming them. Then they started numbering from the beginning at the beginning of each season.

So, BBC showed episodes numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 from the first season, and then 6 from the second season, and then continued with 7, etc. from the first season to the end, and then continued with 1, 2, 3, etc. from the second season. Since I didn't understand the numbering system, I recorded and watched the first season (with the exception of #6, which didn't fit with the rest), and didn't record the second season because I thought they were rerunning the batch they chose to show.

Now, each Wednesday, they're showing the episode from the last week, and a new one (which will be shown again next week), etc.

Tonight, they'll be showing episodes 5 and 6 from the first season, which I'm going to record and watch so I can see what I missed.

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I'm mostly over whatever was wrong with me last week and over the weekend, but I don't want to push it, so this is all I'm going to write today.

Have a wonderful evening!