Happy Heathen Rites of Spring!

Happy Heathen Rites of Spring!

I know that Spring started on Tuesday, and it's now Friday, and I'm more than a little late.

But, that doesn't mean that my wishes are any less heartfelt.

The cherry blossom height is usually late in April, but somebody forecast that it would be a little earlier than that, and the TV station that reported that said they thought it would be at it's best around the 15th of April.

Well, I live outside DC, which means that the cherry blossoms come out earlier in the city than here because the city leaks so much heat, and it's warmer there. But, even so, the cherry blossoms are in full, glorious bloom right NOW!

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The Future of Knitting Content on this Blog

As I've mentioned before, I got involved in a knitting forum called Knitting Paradise. The link is to sign up for their newsletter. Here is a link directly to the knitting forum.

There are people from all kinds of backgrounds and skills on the forum, and they mainly discuss knitting, problems they're having with knitting, crochet, spinning and weaving. You'll get a better link if you sign up. There are also sections of the forum for photos, so you can show off your best work, a section for swaps and to sell stuff you no longer want, a section to just chat about stuff in general, and more.

Well, people keep asking questions, and I keep answering them. Oh, by the way, if you have any questions about knitting, I can probably answer them, just ask a question in the comments.

And after I've answered questions, I have had people ask me for more accurate directions (i.e., a pattern) for how to knit something.

So far, I've committed myself to writing and publishing two patterns: comfy socks pattern, and a Christmas stocking pattern. They seem to be stuck on a socks thing.

Anyway, on the subject of the comfy socks pattern, there was a general discussion of socks, and I mentioned that my daughter told me about diabetic socks. These are socks that are marketed to diabetics (who are notorious for having foot problems) because they've been engineered to avoid foot problems for people who have diabetes. A friend recommended them to her because, although she doesn't have diabetes, they were the most comfortable socks that he'd ever worn. She tried them and agreed that they were super comfortable.

Well, she described them to me, and what qualities they had that made them so comfortable, and I've been working on duplicating those qualities in hand-knit socks. I've been knitting them for a couple of years, and refining the formula little by little. They're not quite as good as the commercial socks sold for diabetics, but they're getting remarkably close.

You won't find fancy stitches and designs or lace and cables on these, but they are good, handsome socks that hug the foot where it's needed to keep from producing blisters, are loose over the toes to provide comfort and wiggle room (but still snug enough not to fold over and cause blisters), have deep enough heels that they won't slide down in your socks, have legs that won't droop and fall down, and have have a cast on at the top of the leg that's stretchy enough that it will go over your heel without a fight. These are handsome, good looking, everyday socks that will feel great on your foot. And they have a lot of techniques that you can apply to almost any other sock pattern to make them more comfortable.

I have one more thing that I want to test before I actually write up this pattern. That means I want to knit and test wear at least one more pair of socks before I even start to write this. So, you can see that this will not be out instantly. In fact, the more I think about this, the more it sounds like a small book rather than just a pattern. There's a lot of work that's already gone into this, and it's definitely going to be a pattern I feel like I have to charge for.

I read about a woman who's writing and selling books on the internet, and she's making a fortune at it because she's selling the electronic books for about $2. It doesn't take a lot of thought to realize that selling 5 books (or patterns) at $5 each isn't as good as selling 100 at $2 each. So, I'm planning to assign lower prices to my patterns to gain some volume (this doesn't apply to my printed patterns, which also cost money, up front, to print).

But this pattern will be a short book, with lots of photos of construction, and with instructions written out so that even beginning sock knitters can turn out excellent socks from the beginning. So, the pattern/instructions will still be a more robust price. I plan to keep it under $10, but I also plan to make it a treasure-trove of how to knit socks for beginners, with a pile of tips, tricks, and new ways to make socks comfy. So, you'll be getting every penny's worth!

I plan to test a different type of sock yarn, and take lots of photos while I'm doing it, then write it all out, lay it out and make a PDF. That's a lot of work, considering that I won't have the money for the new sock yarn I plan to test until the beginning of next month, and it's so hot in my apartment, that knitting is giving me heat stroke, and it's going to get much hotter in here in the next month. It's 80 degrees outside, which means it's about 90 degrees in here. It usually reaches 110 degrees in here long before they turn on the air conditioning.

As to the other pattern, I want to get some yarn and knit a stocking while taking photos of the process as it unfolds for the pattern.

I'm going to quit, now, because Blogger has stopped functioning.

I hope you have a great weekend!

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Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

This seems to sum up Saint Patrick's Day most years for most people, so I thought it would be appropriate.

Another thing that I think is appropriate is sharing with you a recipe for a drink called an Irish Fog, invented by an SCA friend of mine, Alan Feldman/Baron Silver.

1 part Jameson's
1 part Drambuie
1 part Irish Cream

Combine, with or without crushed ice, shake, and serve. It tastes like a chocolate milkshake, positively yummy! It will make you drunkish!

I was going to give you a link to Wikipedia, where they give you a long dissertation on the history of Saint Patrick's Day, but I think this is more fun!

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It's a Harry Potter Weekend!

ABC Family is having a Harry Potter weekend (again). Yes, I know they've already done it to death, but it's still fun for me, so I thought it might be fun for you, too.

Currently, they're showing Goblet of Fire, which is appropriate, because they attend the quiddich world cup in the beginning, and Ireland wins, so there's a lot of shamrock and leprechaun symbolism in it.

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The New Knitty Is Out!

The Spring issue of Knitty is out, and you can see the new patterns here!

It's getting up near 90 degrees in here, and I just can't stand to sit and write any more.

I hope your whole weekend is fabulous!

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We Lost an Hour Today!

That's right, it was time to spring forward early this morning!

It comes around every year, and I'm never prepared. Loosing an hour of sleep always makes me cranky!

But, it's a little after 7 pm, and it's still daylight here! That's a good thing! It makes me feel like Spring is really on it's way.

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Get in on a Review and Giveaway for Knitters!

I came across a great article about something every knitter needs today, and they're giving it away!

Check this out!

If you have hearing problems, like me, you don't really have to hear what she's saying in the video to get the gist. She's giving away a gadget that looks like the spike you stick receipts on, but it looks like it has ball bearings or some other provision to make it spin easily. You impale your ball of yarn on the spike, and it feeds off evenly and without tangles! What knitter doesn't need something like that?

Enter today! The giveaway closes at noon on Tuesday!

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Since I Keep Changing Subjects So Often, I've Decided to Make it Easier

I've decided to not only put in a row of asterisks when I change subject, but to put in a title for the subject change so you can read what you want and disregard the rest.

Enjoy!

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Star Trek 2!

The other evening, I was watching Star Trek (the new, revised version with a whole new history), and loving it, just as I did the previous 5 times I watched it (it's still on my DVR so I can watch it again), and wondering, now that he's created this great, brand-new history, what is J.J. Abrams going to do with it?

Well, that question has been at least partially answered!

They started filming the next movie in January, and we can expect a brand-new extravaganza next summer! Wikipedia has more news here, and that link will probably take you to updates over time. They haven't got a release title yet (movies seldom do at this stage), so everybody just seems to be calling it Star Trek 2.

I don't know about you, but the only other science fiction news that could get me this excited is if Joss Whedon announced that he was putting Firefly back on the air!

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There's a New Sookie Stackhouse Book Coming!

On the first of May, there will be a brand new book about Sookie Stackhouse out! I can hardly wait!

It's called Deadlocked , and there's no information about the story, only preordering on Amazon.

Charlane Harris has some general information about what she's up to (along with some other really great writers) on her blog here. She has, however, published Chapter 2 of Deadlocked using Flash (so you probably can't read it on a phone or tablet). I don't know why she published Chapter 2 rather than Chapter 1 (I haven't read it yet), but it's there if you, like me, can't wait.

If you're a fan of Charlane, you might want to check out Diana Gabaldon, who is the author of the series I'm currently reading, the Outlander series.

The first book in the series is Outlander , and it's about Claire Randall, who lives in England during the 1940s. On a trip to Scotland, she walks between two stones of a henge to collect a botanical specimen, and winds up in the 1700s. Her adventures are immediate and exciting, and it all takes off from there.

I'm about halfway through the second book, Dragonfly in Amber , and loving it!

Oh, Once Upon a Time is on! I have to go watch it!

Have a wonderful week!

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Knitting Needle Review

The first thing I have to say here is a disclaimer. This is not a review of all possible knitting needles, just a review of the needles I've been lucky enough to try out or have heard a lot about.

I should also say that I am a very biased reporter of the facts.

I really love the sharp, long points, and hate the short, stubby, blunt points. I've also tried plastic and wooden needles, and I find that I tend to snap them with amazing regularity, and since I can't afford to replace needles (either in knitting time lost while I get new ones or in money spent), I tend to avoid those. I also like circular needles because they're more versatile. I can knit flat if I want, or knit circularly in the easiest way possible. So, mostly, you're going to hear about needles that I like.

 Fixed Needles

The one exception to the plastic knitting needle situation is the Bryspun circulars. They have a metal rod in the tip, and the plastic is slightly flexible, but still stiff, so they don't tend to break like their DP needles do. I like to use their DP needles in the larger sizes because they have some give (they're not too stiff) which is easier on my hands; the surface lets what you're knitting slide smoothly, but tends to prevent the stitches from jumping off; and they're just nice to work with. I only work with them when I have plenty of the same size on hand because I manage to snap them on a regular basis.

The points on the Bryspun needles are very similar to the Addi lace needles, but a little more concave, which makes them a dream to knit with.

Everyone who likes sharp points seems to love the Signature needles with stiletto points the best. Here's a photo of a stiletto point.

And, for comparison, here's a photo of the three different needle points they have available. That's the stiletto on the left, middy in the middle and the blunt point on the right. They mention on their website that the stiletto are the most popular.

I haven't had the privilege of trying them yet (in other words, I can't afford them), but have heard that the cables on the circular needles are wonderful.

I watched an episode of Knitting Daily where they were making gauge swatches on short single point Signatures, and it looked like they were knitting with jewelry, and I'm just dying to get a pair. The available stoppers on the ends look like this:

You can see why I said they look like you're knitting with jewelry.

The down side of these is the price. Everyone says that they're worth every penny, but nobody denies that they're expensive.

At about half the price of the Signatures, I love the Addi lace needles. They originally advertised that they had copied the Baleen needle points, but those were a concave shape, and the Addi lace points that I've gotten lately seem to be straight.

Below is a comparative photo of an Addi lace point, and the point on a Chiaogoo lace needle of the same size. Addi is shown on the bottom with Chiaogoo on the top.

Addi lace needles are made in brass with a clear coating that I think is resin. If you remember the grey coating that used to be on some needles that everybody insisted was Teflon, that was actually resin. The clear resin coating on the Addis doesn't seem to be quite as slippery as the old grey coating was. If you're knitting lace, this can be an advantage. The slipperiness is close to a nickel coating, but not quite as slippery.

At this point, I'm reviewing the fixed Addi lace needles. I'll get to the interchangeables in a bit.

I've noticed that after you have them for a while, they tend to smell like brass that's oxidizing, and I tend to get the smell on my hands and I don't like it. The points, however are quite nice. From the photos, they seem to be very similar to the stiletto points on Signatures, and at about half the price. The joins are wonderful, and the cables are very flexible. I used to love these needles before I tried Chiaogoo.

A Chiaogoo lace point is shown above the Addi point in the photo above. The points are very similar, and seem to be almost (maybe exactly) the same as the stilettos. When knitting with them, the very end of the point seems to be a little more blunt in the Addis.

Chiaogoo lace needles come with stainless steel tips, which will never smell like the Addis do. They also have the size of the needle imprinted on the needle tip, although I find the imprint difficult to read. The steel has just the tiniest bit less slipperiness than nickel coated needles, but not much. They're very close. The joins on these are smooth as silk, and the cables are sturdy (braided steel with a plastic cover), and very flexible, with no memory.

They also have a different feel when you knit with them. They feel like precision tools in a way that makes the Addis seem almost clumsy by comparison. This is not something that I can describe any other way. They just feel very precise, and just perfect to knit with. All this at about half the price of the Addis (or about 1/4 of the price of Signatures).

If you have an allergy to nickel, all of the needles reviewed so far should be safe for you.

Interchangeable Needles

Now we get to the ones that will not be safe for people with a nickel allergy, and the ones that are interchangeable, too. There are also ones in this list that are safe for people with allergies.

Options needles by Knit Picks are brass with a nickel coating. The very tip of the point is sharp, but they have a shorter taper than all the needles reviewed so far. Options are also available in resin-impregnated wood (Harmony) and plastic (Zephyrs) with the same tips for those of you with allergies. As far as wood or plastic needles go, they probably have the sharpest points it's possible to have with those. The cables are very flexible, and the joins can be excellent, and the join has a hole in it (for using a key to tighten them) which can also be used to thread a lifeline through so that you don't have to do it manually. They offer a quality product with a low price for what you get, so they're a good, economic buy.

I have had a cable come right out of the connection one time. I've had some connections come unscrewed when I didn't fasten them right, and I've had some connections that developed some roughness due to use.

Knit Picks is a wonderful place to buy from, and they guarantee everything. I mentioned the cable that popped out when I ordered from them, and they sent me two brand new cables, free in my order. I've heard many people mention that they've almost instantly replaced a product that broke or malfunctioned.

In fairness, I should say that one or another of my Options needles were used at least 4 hours every day for about 4 years, and the worst thing that happened was that one cable popped out of the connector. Plus these are very popular needles that see a lot of hard use by thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, possibly a million knitters for many years, so hearing about some problems shouldn't scare you off from them. Think about the times that you've sat on your knitting, or otherwise accidentally done something really bad to your needles, and you'll see that they have a very good record.

One to the Addi lace clicks! The first thing I need to say about these is that I haven't tried them myself. But I've read a load of reviews, and heard a lot from people who own them. But you should take anything I say with a grain of salt.

Addi originally released the set with 4 inch tips in brass with the clear coating. So many people didn't like the short tips that they later released 5 inch tips, and for a while, both were available. Sometime around this time, they changed to a nickel coating instead of the clear coating.

Now, it seems that they may be selling sets with either the 4 inch tips and sets with 5 inch tips. Other news I've heard leads me to believe that only the 5 inch tips are available. If you buy a set, and the tip length matters to you, you should be sure to check and make sure you get what you want.

Everybody seems to love the cables. Very flexible!

I've heard mixed reviews about the joins. They do not screw together like most of the other interchangeables, but rather, click together, more like the Denise needles. Hence, the name. Some people report not having any problems with the joins, and others report that yarn catches on them and it's difficult to move the stitches along them. This may (or may not) have something to do with how well the owners learn to operate the click mechanism.

Some people seem to see right away how to click them together, and others never get the hang of it, and their needles keep coming apart while knitting.

I've just gotten (in my opinion) the best interchangeable needles available. They're the Hiya Hiya Sharps interchangeables. The small set (sizes 2 to 8) have just come out in the past few months, and the large set (sizes 9 to 15) will be out soon.

They're stainless steel, with points that seem to be identical to the Chiaogoo lace needles, and they also have the size imprinted on the tips. Speaking of the tips, you can get the set with 4 inch tips or with 5 inch tips. If you like a more blunt point, they were previously making them with a regular point in both size sets.

The cables are clear plastic, and they are flexible and have no memory (don't keep trying to curl up).

The joins are screw-in, but have a lip that goes over the cable part of the join and seems to make them smoother than most of the joins that screw together. Oh, and did I mention that there's a swivel joint in each join? Well, there is! Some people had problems with the join coming unscrewed during knitting, so the manufacturer included two little pads of rubbery plastic to use for traction while screwing them together, and nobody seems to have a problem with them coming apart when they use the pads to tighten them.

These needles have the same precision feel to knit with that the Chiaogoo needles do.

To top it all off, they have the nicest case that I've seen come with a set of interchangeables, ever! It's made of silk brocade, which is available in several colors. There's a zipper pouch for keeping cables secure, spaces for the needle tips (with a few extra if you want to add more tips), and a zippered compartment for the little rubbery pads and anything else you might want to keep with them, like stitch markers, scissors, etc. It's everything I want in an interchangeable needle case.

The only warning I have for you is that there are so many options with this set that you have to be careful when you buy to make sure that you get what you want. Check the point (regular or sharp), the tip length (4 or 5 inches), the size (either small or large set) and the color of the case. Each set (small or large) seems to cost about the same as the Options, but both sets together give you much smaller and larger needles than you'll get in Options. I really don't like to knit anything that needs needles larger than about size 9, so the small set with extra Chiaogoos in size 9 are perfect for me. And I really appreciate having interchangeables that go down to size 2. I know others really only want the big needles, so choosing to separate it all into two different size sets might be a good choice for most.

Whew! That's a lot of information! And it only covers needles with sharp points! You can see why I didn't want to get involved in reviewing ALL needles!

I hope you're having a good day!


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Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope you have the best Valentines Day ever!

If you'd like to know more about the day, check this out! You might not want to do that, though, because a lot of what Valentine's Day is about is founded on martyrdom. Just skim down to where they talk about more modern celebrations.

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For all you knitters out there, the universe out there has brought you the best Valentine's Day present, ever!

You'll have to pay for it, but the new, revised edition of The Principles of Knitting is out!

This is the best knitting reference book that has ever been written! This is the book that people were selling for $350, and people were lining up to buy it! This has stuff in it that you've never even heard of before!

It's a big book! In order to hold all that information, this book is huge! The best doorstop book ever. You can use it for ballast in a ship! And it is crammed with ways to cast on, increase, decrease, and do anything else that has anything to do with knitting! Amazon has it for a reduced price, too! If you're not sure, order it anyway. If it goes out of print, you may be able to sell your copy for $350. But at 2 am, when you can't remember how to do a particular cast on, and you have to do it right now, this is the book you want. No matter how esoteric the question, you can find your answer here!

It's Valentine's Day! Treat yourself!

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Hi! I'm Still Here.

Sorry!

I know it seems like I've been ignoring my blog and that's true, but I haven't been really well lately.

At the beginning of December, my doctor discovered a problem, and I've been taking tests for it ever since. She seems to think that it's got something to do with my kidneys, so she's sent me to a urologist. My first visit to him was just to have him outline a list of tests that he says need to be done so he can find out what's wrong.

Oh, and he requested that I leave a urine sample.

Before I could even get home, they had left a message on voice mail telling me that they were going to do a lot of tests, and the sample I gave them wasn't big enough to do all the tests. They wanted me to go back and leave another sample.

Unfortunately, although the trip would have taken me 15 minutes each way if I had a car (and that's if every light turned red just in time to catch me and there was really bad traffic), the trip on the bus meant that the whole thing was a six hour round trip. And the trip was arduous enough that although my appointment was on Wednesday the 18th, it made me feel very sick, and it wasn't until Monday that I started to feel better.

So, I talked them into the idea that I should go to the lab (which I'm being told is nearby, and close enough for even me to walk to) instead of all the way back there. I also have to make an appointment for a CT scan, and then an appointment to go back to see them for the final test.

I'm waffling back and forth between hoping that they can find out what's wrong and fix it, and that there's nothing wrong in the first place. There's clearly something wrong with me, but I can't figure it out, and clearly the doctors I've been seeing don't care enough to bother.

The GP, who is new, is the one who found out that I have the problem I'm currently getting tests for, and she wants me to go to two other doctors for problems that doctors have been notable for not doing anything helpful, and, in fact, wanting to do only stuff that makes things even worse, so I'm not enthused about going to either one of them.

On to more pleasant topics!

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In the past, I've read some really good books that really seem to be reasonably modern fairy tales rather than anything else. Some of my favorites have been written by Diana Wynne Jones.

I think my all-time favorite of her books is Fire and Hemlock. My local library has it, so yours might, too. Look for it in the young adult section (along with the Harry Potter books). Don't be fooled by the designation, you'll love it even if you're an adult.

Another one of her books that I love is Howl's Moving Castle , which is even more fairytale-like than the other one. I won't go into a lot about what it's about except to recommend it.

The reason I'm mentioning it is that Howl's Moving Castle was made into a movie, and has been released a while ago on DVD, but will be on one of the Encore channels this coming Saturday. It'll be on three times times on Saturday starting early in the morning. Check your local listings.

Ok, it's Anime, and that's nice, but I don't usually like that. This one, however, would be difficult to do any other way. So, if you like fairy tales, check it out!

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I bought a lot of sock yarn over the internet to make some socks for Christmas presents. The color wasn't bad, but not anywhere as wonderful as the sample looked on my computer screen. This may have been partially my screen that was to blame, but I don't think so. I was disappointed, but I made the socks.

I felt bad about it, though, and saw a great sale on sock yarn and thought I'd buy some really great yarn and make some socks in addition to the ones I already made.

All right, I know that that would make them late, but I haven't gotten to see anyone I made Christmas presents for yet, so at this point, it doesn't make a difference.

So, I sent to Mary Maxim to buy some of their Aloe sock yarn in Sahara (for the presents) and blue (for some socks for me). Well, it all arrived, and I love the sock yarn for me, but the replacement yarn I got is horrible!

The sample of Sahara yarn in their catalog and on the internet looks interesting:

It looks pretty, doesn't it. But the real yarn has the parts that look lavender in the photo looking more like pink. The lime green that you can barely see in the photo is very prominent in the yarn. The stuff in the photo that looks like a sand color seems to be totally missing in the yarn I got. There is some navy blue, which I would think would help, but it hasn't got a hope of mitigating the ugliness of the other colors. I'm going to have to talk to them tomorrow about returning it. I just plonked it down in front of my keyboard and took a photo. Here's what it looks like:

They just don't look alike to me.

The blue yarn for my socks is beautiful! Here's what it looks like:

That photo looks just a little washed out.

More news as it develops.

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I've recently found a website called Knitting Paradise. The main part of it seems to be a forum, and it's really addictive. You have to sign up and be a member to post anything, but it's free. They send you an email every day with a link to the main forums and the top subjects. If you comment on a subject, you'll get emails every time someone else has something to say on the topic. If you comment a lot, you can be snowed under with emails. Just so you know what you're signing up for.

A lot of the people who are members are new knitters or don't have a lot of experience. Some of the questions recur at least three times a week. Some of them recur three times per hour.

So, I've decided to make this blog more worthwhile for knitters by answering some of the more popular questions in-depth in individual posts.

So, you're going to start to see my usual posts interspersed with posts on individual knitting topics. For instance, I plan to make my next post about circular needles. They always made perfect sense to me, but from reading the forum, I've realized that it's not as straightforward as I thought for a lot of people.

In the meantime, I hope things are going better for you than they have been for me. Have a great week!


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