June 14, 2004
Sick, but fun stuff makes it all better.
Saturday was spent out of doors at the kermesse* at my son's school, and on Sunday I was feeling too lazy to do anything other than read. And this morning I woke up with a head cold. Ugh. Still, I decided to take a moment to knit up the neckband on my tutti-frutti striped sweater.
It was really fun until I worked about 4 cm of the 2/2 ribbing. Working the remaining 8 cm (yep, it's a turtleneck) took some self-motivation because knitting 2/2 rib in the round using a short circular needle has the effects of a valium.
Incidentally, I use a crochet hook to pick up stitches for neckbands. I used to pick up stitches using the needles but I once read in a knitting book that using a crochet hook makes it easier and you know what? It does. But I've discovered that you need to check if the stitches are twisted when you place them on the needle, because in my case they usually are. I just work the stitches of the first round through the back loops to untwist them.
*My son was in a school pageant for the kermesse, and the sewing gods took pity on me by not requiring that I sew a costume for him to wear. His part in the show was being "a tourist on a Caribbean island", so his costume consisted of a beach hat, shorts, sunglasses, and toy camera. Heck, he wore that last month when we went to the beach. So that's what I put on him. And just because, here is a gratuitous shot of him wearing his "costume" while he rides a pony at the kermesse after the pageant. [Awwwwwwwww.]
P.S. My husband bought me a new computer and monitor with a flat screen for Mother's Day, and just finished hooking it all up. Everything looks so darn SPIFFY I couldn't resist sitting my woeful pajama-ed self up here and updating with an entry for you. And the icing on the cake: He changed my ADSL connection to an XDSL connection. People, it was speedy before but now I feel like I'm driving a Ferrari full speed down the internet highway. I love being married to a computer geek. Three cheers for the hubby: Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! (I think another hand-knit sweater is in order...)
It was really fun until I worked about 4 cm of the 2/2 ribbing. Working the remaining 8 cm (yep, it's a turtleneck) took some self-motivation because knitting 2/2 rib in the round using a short circular needle has the effects of a valium.
Incidentally, I use a crochet hook to pick up stitches for neckbands. I used to pick up stitches using the needles but I once read in a knitting book that using a crochet hook makes it easier and you know what? It does. But I've discovered that you need to check if the stitches are twisted when you place them on the needle, because in my case they usually are. I just work the stitches of the first round through the back loops to untwist them.
*My son was in a school pageant for the kermesse, and the sewing gods took pity on me by not requiring that I sew a costume for him to wear. His part in the show was being "a tourist on a Caribbean island", so his costume consisted of a beach hat, shorts, sunglasses, and toy camera. Heck, he wore that last month when we went to the beach. So that's what I put on him. And just because, here is a gratuitous shot of him wearing his "costume" while he rides a pony at the kermesse after the pageant. [Awwwwwwwww.]
P.S. My husband bought me a new computer and monitor with a flat screen for Mother's Day, and just finished hooking it all up. Everything looks so darn SPIFFY I couldn't resist sitting my woeful pajama-ed self up here and updating with an entry for you. And the icing on the cake: He changed my ADSL connection to an XDSL connection. People, it was speedy before but now I feel like I'm driving a Ferrari full speed down the internet highway. I love being married to a computer geek. Three cheers for the hubby: Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! (I think another hand-knit sweater is in order...)
37 comments to this entry:
What a cutie! And that is quite the pageant. Enjoy the new computer and connection.
[Kathleen on 14 jun 04 @ 09:47 pm]
What an awesome hubby! Whenever I read your blog, I realize I have soooo much to learn! I've never picked up the neckband to knit ANYTHING before. From the photo, it looks pretty easy. I'll have to give that a try sometime. Your son is so cute! I bet he made a good tourist. Reminds me that my hubby loves to wear Hawaiian shirts on Fridays. I'll have to tell him he looks like a tourist!
[Evelyn on 14 jun 04 @ 10:00 pm]
BTW, hope your cold goes away soon!
[Evelyn on 14 jun 04 @ 10:01 pm]
Good tip about the crochet hook - anything to make picking up those stitches easier! Neckline looks good. Hope your head cold clears up soon.
[Anita on 14 jun 04 @ 10:57 pm]
Get better soon.It's horrible having a cold in the heat of summer.
The stripey sweater looks fab !
[Emma on 15 jun 04 @ 12:08 am]
That's odd. I used to use a crochet hook. Now I don't, and I think it's because the fact that I could just fell out of my head somewhere. On a highway or a side street somewhere, it's lying there -- the knowledge that a crochet hook helps. Glad you reminded me.
As to hubby/computer, son/pony, you got good mens in your life, dont'cha?
[Rachael on 15 jun 04 @ 12:23 am]
Cute boy and a useful husband - you're a lucky gal !
I don't get the crochet hook thing though ? If you have to untwist all your stitches after doing it, doesn't that make it harder again ?? Enquiring minds want to know !
[Heather on 15 jun 04 @ 01:34 am]
The boy looks so sweet! Did he want to take the pony home? Please Mom...pleeeeaaaasssseeee.
Tutti Frutti looks good enough to eat, and you did it so quickly!
[Silvia on 15 jun 04 @ 02:56 am]
Looking forward to seeing the dancing stripey sweater shots. And I agree - where would we be without our computer geek hubbies? Hip hip HOORAY!
[Leisl on 15 jun 04 @ 03:03 am]
Can't wait to see the tutti-frutti sweater in all it's glory. You've got me dreaming of stripes...
[julia on 15 jun 04 @ 04:48 am]
Your son is too cute for words!
I have to try the crochet hook picks. I need all the help I can get when it comes to picking up stitches around the neck. Still can get over those fantastic colors. Lookin good!
And woohoo for the new computer and speedy connection. Gotta love that!
[froggy on 15 jun 04 @ 10:31 am]
And of course, feel better real soon.
[froggy on 15 jun 04 @ 10:32 am]
I feel sooo accomplished: I use a crochet hook too (ok, back when I still knitted I used one, ahem), and apparently I didn't even steal the idea from you! Yay me! Perhaps I even thought it up myself? I'm quite sure it wasn't something my mother taught me... Hm.
[marrije on 15 jun 04 @ 10:32 am]
On second thought, I /don't/ feel that clever. Looking at your picture, I see that you take a much better course of action than I do: putting a large number of stitches on the crochet hook and then (probably) slipping them onto the knitting needle. I wriggle the hook through the knitting, make a loop of the yarn and pull it trough, then put that loop (stitch) on the needle right away. Which may not be totally efficient... But I do recognise the twisted stitches problem!
[marrije on 15 jun 04 @ 11:03 am]
The colors you're using for the tutti-frutti striped sweater are fantastic! Must make a note of the color combo. Your little guy looks like a confident little rider in that photo. Feel better soon!
[susan in pa on 15 jun 04 @ 03:11 pm]
You son is definitely a cutie, big Awwww for that picture. Hip hooray for hubby. High speeds are alway better, no matter if they be computer, car, or roller coaster.
Becky have yourself a knittingly week!
[Cathy on 15 jun 04 @ 03:25 pm]
Hope you get over that nasty cold soon! We need dancing photos in that snazzy striped sweater.
[Jackie on 15 jun 04 @ 04:19 pm]
Get well soon. The best way to get over a cold is to treat yourself - some yarn perhaps?
[Lindsay on 15 jun 04 @ 04:37 pm]
*Ding-dong*
Hi, neighbor! Here's some chicken soup to make you feel better. I'd urge you to drink it on ice to combat the heat if it weren't pretty gross-sounding. Therein lies the reason summer colds suck. Cold drinks don't help and the stickiness makes you feel even worse.
The tutti-frutti sweater is adorable, though, and I've never picked up stitches with a crochet hook but I'll darn sure try it. I hate picking up stitches! Anything to make it easier.
Your rootin'-tootin' tourist man-boy needs a lariat to go with his camera. Then he could take pictures of himself and how cute he is.
Feel better soon!
Send good vibes to my husband and maybe he'll be similarly inspired to install DSL at my house, which would be a great improvement over my current dial-up service. My husband, an electrical engineer, is incredibly useful, but never inspired to encourage me to spend more time on the computer. :) Gee, I can't imagine why!
[Rachel on 15 jun 04 @ 05:47 pm]
Wow, new computer digs!!! Vroom vroom!!
[Jenny on 15 jun 04 @ 06:15 pm]
Isn't being married to a computery guy great? My husband never fails to amaze me with what he can do.
I can't wait to see the finished tutti-frutti sweater, those colors are great! Hope you're feeling better soon, there is nothing worse than a summer cold!
[Jenn on 15 jun 04 @ 08:24 pm]
Hi, I went to a Kermesse back in 1968 when on a French exchange. On my return to school French lessons the teacher told me the word did not exist despite me and my quite good French( excellent family I stayed with near Lyon) explaining exactly what happened there. I always wondered if I got it wrong so you now have restored my convictions that I did not Thanks a lot. PS I see the link to the Pixie hat. Have you or anyone else knit this sucessfully? I have tried twice and I just cannot make the pattern and the numbers work so I have given up and made baby buckets instead! Much easier!
[Judith on 15 jun 04 @ 08:43 pm]
Nothing worse than a summer cold, hope you feel better soon. Love the stripes!
[Kiki on 15 jun 04 @ 09:53 pm]
What a really cute combination of colours in your tutti-frutti - name reminds me of some candy (little softie chew sweeties) that used to be around 'many moons ago' when I was a little girl! The colours you choose are just the same! hehehe "Oh to lifes bygone simple pleasures. *G*
[Lydia on 15 jun 04 @ 11:57 pm]
that does it! I didn't even know I wanted it, but now I do -- a faster connection!! maybe I can convince him that he needs it for Father's Day!
[ann on 16 jun 04 @ 01:21 am]
Your site is fantastic, and I love the things you knit. (I'm also jealous that you live in France, but that's something else) Hope you feel better,
Julie
[Julie on 16 jun 04 @ 02:47 am]
Get better Becky!!!! The only thing that makes me feel better when I'm sick is lots of sleep, knitting, and bactimicina!!! That sweater looks awesome... what fun, funky stripes.... whoo!!!!!
[ms. amy on 16 jun 04 @ 05:17 am]
I started out using a crochet hook to pick up stitches when I learned to knit, because I got so darn frustrated trying to use the needles (stitches slipping off everywhere, the yarn getting twisted the wrong way, etc.). I've kept doing it, even though I'm now "able" to use needles. But I agree with the twisting - even if I try to be careful, it never seems to work...
Cute kid on a pony, by the way!
[Sarah on 16 jun 04 @ 07:00 am]
have to admit, those colours are really starting to grow on me. That sweater looks more appealing every time I see it :)
Bon Retablissement!!
[Kathleen on 16 jun 04 @ 09:43 am]
Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray!
Get well soon! I'm also married to a computer geek but he is in no hurry to get us a new computer...cash flow, you know.
Your son is adoreable as always.
[Orli on 16 jun 04 @ 02:24 pm]
Congrats on the new computer digs! Oooooh, flat screen monitor...slurp.
I just love the way the sweater is coming together. And you're totally cruising on Audrey! I started putting mine together on my vacation, but it was too much work. :)
[Em on 16 jun 04 @ 02:26 pm]
Awww, Pony Boy!
Did you check out purlgirl's May 17 entry: Intarsia and the Cult of Cuteness?? http://groups.msn.com/CarolinesTruien/shoebox.msnw - link to a very adorable page by a Dutch woman who has made up tons of adorable, cute, rad, knitting graphs - including (ta da!) Batman!!! http://groups.msn.com/CarolinesTruien/eigenontwerpen.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=500
[Patricia on 16 jun 04 @ 05:34 pm]
cheers for the hubby and cute pictures of captain destructo!
dont know what you'll do with a turtleneck in the heat of the summer but cheers for the sweater too :)
[stinkerbell on 17 jun 04 @ 03:14 pm]
It must have been a good weekend for fundraising b/c the annual Kermesse that benefits the children's hospital (IWK-Grace hospital) here in Halifax, NS was the same weekend as yours, Becky.
So, Judith, the word does exist and the events exist and not just in Lyon! In the Merriam-Webster for Anglophones it's spelled Kermis and seems to be of Dutch origin, which could be why your French teacher didn't think it was part of the language. It's such a great word, though, isn't it?
Speaking of good words, how about "Better"? As in, Becky, I hope you're feeling better!
BTW: started my first baby sweater this week. I'm progressing beyond tuques!
[Stephanie VW on 17 jun 04 @ 04:37 pm]
Awww...what a great guy! That is one of the best
gifts to get...a new speedy connection with a new spiffy computer and monitor and a computer geekie hubby. Great combo! I'm green with envy. ;)
[Leah on 18 jun 04 @ 01:21 am]
BTW, I love the way your stripey sweater is looking.
So much, that I started looking into some cotton yarns in multiple colors to possibly do one myself.
I already have the pattern, why not, no?
I hate when that happens because I just don't knit things up that fast as anyone here and I am "Modifications" challenged...with a capital M. Oiy!
[Leah on 18 jun 04 @ 01:25 am]
Hi,
I have been spending alot of enjoyable time going all thru your blog.. You are a world of information and you are a Great Inspiration...
I just LOVE all of your work...
I am searching now for the books you recommended.. I do have The Big Book of Knitting but want to get the Finishing one... Your sweaters are just so Beautiful and professional looking. I hope to be able to do some almost as good as yours :)
I see you like Rowan patterns.. Is there any reason for your preference?? Are the directions easy to follow..
I don't know How I came across your Blog but I sure am Glad that I did.. I am keeping it in My Favorites Forever.. Thank You..
Penny in New York....USA
[Penny on 03 jul 05 @ 09:19 pm]
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