I am still grieving the fate of my little sweater that I posted about yesterday. However, I think the stretching may be due to the fact that even though I washed it alone, I did not have it in a lingerie or sweater bag (as is my normal practice) and that may have been enough to stretch it out of shape even though such a disaster has not happened with any of my other sweaters washed in the same cycle, at the same temperature, with the same soap.
I did write up the pattern for it this morning. You can call me the ultimate nerd, but I have a little Moleskine (prounced mole-a-skin-a) that I write my patterns in. I only write the version that I actually did, and then later, if I want to write the pattern up and add different sizes, I have something to go on. I have little *’s to indicate notes on why I did something the way I did or tips to make things work better (say I tried a method and it didn’t work – stuff like that). So this morning, the pattern for that little sweater was recorded in the Moleskine.
If I do write it up in other sizes and have it tested, the knitters may choose to use different yarns so the sizing I did with the gauge I got (which I measured over and over and over again as I knit to ensure it was what I thought it was…which is my approach to gauge). The other yarns will probably hold their shape better, as other yarns I have used and might have substituted in this pattern have. Once I type it up, I will add the sizing and then there is a knitting board that I frequent (in fact, happen to be a mod on) where I shall put out a feeler for a couple testers. All is not lost…
In other news, I made pecan pie this morning. It is something I bought the ingredients to make at Christmas time, but with Joey’s surgery and Grandma’s funeral, I never got it made. I still have my list of things that I was going to make, and I decided to just start making them. They’ll taste as good now as they would have then, and I’ll still get my annual “fix.” Last weekend I made Peanut Blossoms. Today I’m making the pie with a leftover piecrust I had saved. Still on the list are fudge, white chocolate chip and Craisin cookies, and cookies that use “fruitcake fruit” but taste much better than fruitcake.
I used the recipe from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. Betty Crocker is my standby old-faithful sort of cookbook. ATK makes things more difficult, adding steps that Betty Crocker doesn’t bother with. Sometimes, as with this recipe, they are well worth it. It’s a good cookbook to have around, though I haven’t liked everything I’ve tried from it.
Doesn’t this make you wish you were coming to our house for supper?
I finished reading my February book before the month ended – Sidney Poitier’s The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography. More about that in later posts. My March book is Echo House by Ward Just. I used to live in the Washington D.C. area, and I love politics. This book fits in with both those interests, and I must say, so far I am enjoying it.
And speaking of monthly goals…yesterday when I was in town, I stopped by Earl May and picked up their seed catalog for 2007. This morning I was browsing through it and pondering what I might plant in my garden this year. I’ve been wanting to have an herb garden, and I was considering exactly what herbs I might plant. Such as lavender. What might one use lavender for?
I seemed to remember Interweave Knit’s Holiday Gifts issue last year had some sachet patterns that used dried herbs as stuffing. I got out the magazine, and sure enough, you stuff the sachet’s with dried lavender. So perhaps I’ll be including lavender in my little herb garden.
In flipping through that magazine again, I noticed a sock pattern, and when I looked at the yarn used by the pattern, it happens to be Reynolds Whiskey, which I have two skeins of color 86 I had planned to knit for myself (into what, I did not know). Ach! This pattern would be perfect!
I had ideas for other projects I might use this yarn for, but I was hesitating because I wasn’t sure how it might feel against the skin. This will be the perfect opportunity for me to find out – a la socks for myself.
Pretty, eh? My initial goal this year was to knit one sock per month or six pairs of socks over the course of the year. I had pulled some yarn from my stash for my “March socks” but I had not yet decided exactly what I was going to do with it, and I could not find the needles I wanted to use with it. This yarn I have the right needles for, and I’m in love with the pattern, so I’m all set. Perhaps I’ll be casting on new socks this afternoon as I watch the NASCAR Busch series race…