Today’s Groupon was for a local place called The Laboratory, which was described as having a rotating selection of 30 craft beers and meaty sandwiches. So we talked our daughter in to going there for lunch, but they weren’t opening until 3pm. So much for that…
Monthly Archives: December 2010
Running before I walk?
So, I’ve decided to try to tackle this bag that I mention in my last post. One of the very first links on Google (for “knitting in the round”) turned up this video. This looks completely doable to me. I ran off to Michaels to get the right needles, but they don’t have the right yarn (even after I figured out what the heck “Aran weight” yarn meant). My local yarn shop (which I didn’t even know existed yesterday) is closed until Monday. Ugh! Must wait…
In the meantime, I finished my daughter’s blue scarf and then I started, and restarted (and restarted) a “sock” for my laptop. But, then my daughter showed me a knitting pattern for a scarf in a book she’s been really enjoying (The Magic Thief) – how could I resist switching to that? (Side question – just how many times CAN you unravel and knit with the same yarn?) Sure, I just finished a scarf for her… but her brother has a scarf AND a hat (and is now angling for mittens. Ugh – mittens?! I could probably manage some sort of bag-like device that fit over his hands and tied around his wrists with a draw string… maybe…)
After my daughter went to bed, I realized that I may have gotten over my head with the scarf, too. It turns out it has a “keyhole” at each end that requires having two balls of yarn going at the same time to work each side of the scarf around the keyhole. I got spooked by this and when the instructions offered a  non-keyhole alternative, I took it. I’m regretting that a little now, because upon second thought, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard. But, in the meanwhile, I’m discovering all kinds of cool things you can do with knitting and purling:
Unfortunately, I’m also learning that I really need to remember what stitch I’ve just, uh, stitched (stutch?) because the knobbly part at the bottom starts to look pretty weird if I get off by one K1-P1. Muttering out loud while I knit gets me some weird looks from Redbeard, so I’ve got to come up with some system. Maybe the way a hold the yarn out of each stitch? My purl stitch “technique” is still pretty “fluid”, though…
My hideously poor short term memory also means I also can’t keep track of how many rows I’ve done and so I’ve just been eye-balling the checked squares to make sure they’re square. Â I guess I’d better figure out a trick for that, too. The problem is worse because I can’t tell how to count rows after I’ve done them!
Still – I really like how the scarf is going so far. I think I will try the “keyhole” thing at the end of the scarf.
Okay, I’m hooked (so to speak)
Working on my daughter’s scarf:
And now that it’s really, really not a secret– here’s Redbeard’s scarf:
I’m starting to think beyond scarves, now… and I have my eye on this project as my “work up to” goal. Felting is what got me re-interested in knitting in the first place.
Holy crap, it’s a hat!
A couple years ago, my mom decided to move on to the next generation and teach my daughter to knit (since I was clearly a lost cause). Because we don’t live that close, she sent her a book to help her remember after we’d gone back home. I was looking at the book the other day and decided to both learn to purl and knit a hat. (Why not?)
So, I took the remainder of the red yarn from my son’s scarf and made him a hat!
Why did nobody tell me how magical this whole knitting thing is? (Oh, wait, she did…)
I only had instructions for an adult-size hat, so I had to improvise a bit on the number of stitches, but it fits!
This purling thing is not so bad, actually….
Totally sold on this knitting thing…
Boxing Day Brew
Today was seeming quiet enough, so decided to brew a batch of beer. This time around I wanted to make my new favorite type: a Scotch ale (also called “Wee Heavy”, strong and malty). We have a mini-mash recipe that’s supposed to be like Pike’s Kilt Lifter, though I’ve never had it, so I’ll have to take their word for it.
The mash went fine, but I was using dry extract which gunked up because I couldn’t open four bags and stir at the same time. If only I had three hands… By the time I had that mostly sorted out, it nearly boiled over. After that was taken care of and the last chunks of malt goo broken up, it was clear sailing. Well, filtering out the hops was a pain, but it’s always a pain and I’m going to do a secondary fermentation anyway so what’s a little extra muck in the primary?
My wort chiller (which is worth it’s weight in, well, copper) brought the wort temp down pretty quickly, but I misjudged and stopped at 80° instead of 70°. Luckily, it’s unusually cold today, so our walk-out freezer (the garage) got it cool enough to pitch the yeast in about an hour.
So assuming everything goes according to plan, it’ll be ready to bottle by the end of January and I can bring a few bottles with me to a conference in February to share.
Epic Beer Tasting
I’m not much help with the knitting, so I’ll have to help keep the beer quotient up around here.
Luckily my boss took me out to an epic beer tasting, appropriately titled “Epic Beer Tasting”, with 67 bottles to pick from. The list was dominated by porters and stouts (which I have to be in the mood for), but I found a dozen or so that looked good. They ranged from pretty good (like Cigar City‘s Sea Bass) to basically undrinkable (Drake‘s Jolly Rodger).
Most of them were more “interesting” than enjoyable, but at least they got me motivated to start another batch of homebrew. We’re going to make a strong Scotch Ale this time around, and I just stopped by our local homebrew shop for supplies this afternoon.
The tale of two scarves
I’ve been working on two scarves. One is a secret, which is why I haven’t posted anything about it. Well, it was secret until my youngest child told Redbeard yesterday “You’ve got a grey scarf, Daddy! But, it’s a secret.” So, no pictures of it yet, but I will now acknowledge its existence.
Anyway, I made that scarf with a heavier (yes, grey) yarn and it was so easy. All my stitches were just right – it looks great, if I say so myself. I used size 10 needles, for what that’s worth.
So, my youngest wants a red scarf and so I’ve started knitting one for him. It’s worsted-weight, on the same needles. I’m not finished yet, but let’s just say that I’m banking on the undiscriminating tastes of 3-year-olds when it comes to fine fashion. (So far so good, he ran up a little while ago while I was knitting and rubbed his cheek against it, happily exclaimed that it was soft and ran on).
I’m not sure what’s going on with this scarf, but everything that can go wrong has. I pulled out a couple rows, but what I redid was worse. So, now I’m just plowing ahead. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:
It’s not totally clear from the picture, but it’s like my stitches reversed themselves briefly. And then left a big hole. I’m trying to decide if I can claim it is a button hole…
First scarf, sort of
I ran out of yarn, does that mean I’m done?
It’s a square!
I think I figured out how to turn the corner to the next row:
And I know what I did – at the end of the row (at least my rows) there is always a big loop that can’t be tightened. Unless, you loop the yarn over the needle. I just assumed that anything that made that big loop go away was the right thing to do!
First attempt
After watching some really helpful videos at Knittinghelp, I decided to give a few rows a try.
But first, what style of stitch, English or Continental? Knitting help says to pick whichever, but clearly seems to be pulling for Continental. I also think that’s what my Mom tried to teach me. So, I go with that. I cast on, which is surprisingly easy (and eerily familiar), then knit back and forth a few times. Whee! It feels a little magical to take yarn and turn it into something. Filled with confidence, I watch the video for purling. I watch it again. Then I continue knitting.
Because I’m not counting stitches, it takes me awhile to notice it is getting harder and harder to squeeze my little project onto the needles. But, even when I do notice (why won’t this stitch go on the needle?), I’m not sure what’s going wrong. But, I flail with the needles in a way that seems to stem the tide of extra stitches. I learn to cast off and survey the damage:
Hmmm… I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to have fewer corners.
And whatever I am doing at the ends is not pretty.
I’m going to try again with a narrower “scarf” and count the stitches this time.