What the Heck is a Fourchette?

I was knitting my Treads (free pattern on Ravelry!) and got to the semi-fingers when the pattern said to cast on 3 fourchette stitches.  What the heck is a fourchette???!?  Actually, let me back up.  I got to the semi-fingers and, dreading the tediousness of this part of the glove, put it down for a while.  I have avoided knitting gloves or tipless gloves for a very long time, because I thought that knitting the fingers would take forever and be very fussy.  And....I was partially right.  It is very fussy.  But it didn't take forever.  Probably because they are tipless gloves and only four rows high.

Back to what the heck is a fourchette???..... Apparently, in addition being the French word for "fork" and a part of the female anatomy, fourchettes are also the stitches that bridge the front and back of the glove at the finger, and are very easily created by using the backwards loop cast on.

Here is the glove with a couple of fingers done:

And here are a couple of pictures of the fourchettes:

 Each finger has between 11 and 17 stitches - different for each finger; who knew? - and involved making fourchettes as well as picking up stitches from the fourchettes of the previous finger.  UGH.  VERY fussy.

HOWEVER.  I love how it turned out:

Love the design.  Love how they fit.  Love the snugness of each of the fingers. LOVE!
In addition, knitting all of the fingers and the thumb took about an hour and a half.  Not too bad.

HOWEVER (again).......

It took me about another hour and a half to weave in all those ends.

Next post:  Our latest vacation!

Documenting the Potential

This is how bad it has gotten:  I see that I'm about to do something potentially stupid, so I go get the camera to document said potential stupidity on this blog.

Getting a knitting project ready for vacation, I found this great pattern:  Windward
It calls for 560 yards of fingering weight yarn.  Of course, I only have balls of fingering weight that add up to 450 or so, which is the typical amount for a pair of socks or a small shawl, which is why I only have one ball of each.  However, I did find a great big skein of 1120 yards of fingering weight, way in the back of a cube.

After hemming and hawing... "Do I want to break up this skein?" "what if I find a project that needs 1120yards?"  "Yes, I know you bought this 4 years ago, and haven't found a project yet, but you just never know.".... I decided to split the skein in half, figuring 650 yards for each of two projects was still a lot of yardage.  Plus I'd have some leftover from one half since this project only uses 560.

So, onto the swift I pop the skein and start winding.  Aha.  You've probably already seen the problem.

How do I know when I've wound half?  I pondered the idea of eyeballing it and quickly realized there was no way to see if half the skein was wound onto the ball winder, in a ball, while the rest was spread out on the swift.  I couldn't wind the whole skein onto the ball winder, and then put the ball on the scale and wind half the weight off, because 1120 yards would not fit onto my ball winder.

The next logical (?) idea was to take the skein off the swift when I thought I was halfway, and weigh it.  The potentially disastrous problem with this is the skein becoming horrendously tangled, requiring hours (trust me, I've done it) of un-tangling.  Once you put it on the swift and cut the ties that keep it neatly in a skein, you really should just wind the whole thing.   And no, I couldn't take the ball off the ball winder, as I would never get it back on to resume winding because the center would collapse.  So I decided to semi-tie it again to help keep in in place....

Then I took it off and weighed what was left on the swift:

177 grams.

Which led me to the label to see how much the whole skein weighed:

Ha!  It doesn't say.  What skein of yarn doesn't say how much it weighs?????

So, I did some math.  A typical ball of fingering weight sock yarn is about 400-ish yards and weighs 100grams.  So, given that this ball of yarn was 1120 yards, which is approximately three times a typical ball of fingering weight, I deduced that this skein started out at 300 grams.  Half would be 150 grams.  Good.  I could move on.

This meant that the yarn already on the ball winder was approximately 130 grams and I needed to wind off 20 more grams to get each side to be 150 grams.  My next attempt at weighing the skein?:

Ha!  147 grams!  Not bad.  So, I unwound a few grams from the ball winder to make it a little more even, popped that yarn off the ball winder, wound the rest of the yarn on the skein into a second ball.
So, that left the rest of the second ball weighing:

149grams.... as we thought.  And the first part of the skein weighing:

102 grams.  Sigh.  Apparently the skein weighed 250 grams.  See? All nice and documented.  WEIGH THE SKEIN BEFORE YOU START!  (or, look at the fricking label first)

A Knitting Contest with Myself

I started my second Mystic Spiral hat on Monday night.  It was going really well, and seemingly quickly - it starts with 8 stitches and then you increase from there, so you cross off the first rounds really fast since they don't have many stitches.  Since this will be for an upcoming class, I wanted to get it to The Spinning Room as quickly as possible.  So I decided to have a contest with myself to see if I could finish it and block it in time to bring it to knit night tonight.  Wednesday. Two days later.
Here is what I had by yesterday, mid-naptime:

I knitted all during nap-time, then when I got home and then I finished binding off during Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood this morning! Ran home this afternoon after babysitting, put it in a quick bath and got it ready to block using my color coordinated fiesta plate:

and blocked/dried it using my impatient method:

Luckily, this yarn is a superwash merino, so I could use a little heat in the dryer and it was ready to go by the time I left for knit night.  Then, got a nice picture of it on a head at the shop:

Speaking of the yarn I used.... love. Love. LOVE. IT.  This is Kestrel,100% superwash merino wool, handpainted by Liz at Peace Love & YARN in the Still Waters Run Deep colorway.  Merino is so nice to work with because it is so soft, and I just love Liz's color combinations.  You should get some.  The Spinning Room sells it.

At any rate... mission accomplished.  Contest done.  I win.  Blue ribbon for me.

Knitting Overload....Again.

My brain is on knitting overload again.  I'm knitting a lot.  While I'm knitting, I'm thinking a lot about knitting.  And thinking about knitting a lot of things.  What I'm going to knit next, with what yarn.  What things that I'm going to knit that I can teach in a class.  How much time I have to knit.  How much time I don't have to knit and how I can change that to more time to knit.

Remember that post where I said I loved the Knitter's Pride Karbonz needles and I was going to go out and buy more?  I did and I now have a second sock going:

...which I worked on when I visited my family in Connecticut this weekend and got up early:

Can you even see that???

I will say it again.  I. LOVE. THESE. NEEDLES.  The tips are pointy but not too pointy that they hurt the tips of your fingers.  The join to the rest of the needle is smooth and the rest of the needle is made of I'm-not-sure-what but it  is smooth but not slippery.  A nice combination of needle attributes.  You should get some.  If you knit.  Ooh, and I think I'm going to try a new kind of heel on these socks.  But, I'll tell you about that when i get to them...

I also bought them in a larger size so I could start the Treads tipless gloves:

...and I still love them.  However, I didn't love the yarn for this project.   To clarify, I love the yarn.  Just not for this project.  Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca is 100% alpaca.  But it was a little too dark and too fuzzy.  Too dark to see the braid and linen stitch pattern, and too fuzzy for the same reason.  I also thought it would be difficult when it came time to do the tips - lots of picking up of stitches in a small area.  So I switched to Cascade 220 and it looks much better.  See?:

Cascade 220 on the right. (ok, the light could have been
better...)

And now I'm cruising along, having just finished the thumb gusset:

Better light.  That happens in the daytime.

Look at this cool sideways stitch:

It is a braid and involves all kinds of acrobatics with the needles.  But, it's worth the effort because it's pretty.

And I finally finished my Cozy wrap, AND blocked it:

Blocking.  Yes, I know it's uneven, but it won't be worn
so you can see the whole thing like that and know
it's uneven....see pics below...

It turned out to be about 80 inches long and 22 inches wide.  A really nice size for wearing it like the model above.

I also finally got some good pictures (on a foam head) of my Mystic Spiral Hat:

I've got to get one of these.  So handy for pictures, and blocking too.  And then I started another one:

I'm sure you were wondering about the garden.....  Tomatoes galore.  And an eggplant.

Still no books to tell you about, but hopefully soon.  Loving the one I'm reading and I also started listening to another good one.  I mostly listen in the car, and now I'm trying to think of reasons to get in the car! Never mind that I can just listen with earphones on my phone, but for some reason that never happens in the house, what with The Food Channel and HGTV and all.

Knitting and Spinning : Fair Ribbons!

Yay!  Ribbons!  While they aren't first place (far from it in some cases), I still had fun and love the idea of it.

 As always, after seeing all the beautiful knitted items in the case at the fair, I'm overwhelmed with, "I-want-to-knit-that-and-that-and-that-and-that.  Now."  This year, I didn't knit something with the specific idea of entering it in the fair.  I have all kinds of ideas for next year, though.  Already planning...

The Spinning Bee was lots of fun as always.  For those who don't know, the spinning bee is a 30 minute contest to see who can spin the longest continuous thread of yarn.

It takes place just inside the Sheep Barn:

Here we are getting ready:

Yes, we take our shoes off.  Easier to work
the treadles...

I tied for fourth place, having spun 72 yards.  In this contest, tying for fourth was also tying for LAST.  Not many people were entered...  Still, tons of fun.  And again, makes me want to spin all the wool.  Now.

Ready for the riveting video that Deirdre, the owner of The Spinning Room yarn shop took for me?:

(Did this take a long time to load on your computer? If so, I'm sorry....still new to the put-a-video-in-the-blog thing.)

The woman who won the contest spun 208 yards - almost triple my yardage!  She is an excellent spinner and here is what she has on her wheel:

So cool.  I'm sure if I had that, I would spin faster.  Or better.  Or something. (Or more).

Edited to add: 

Oh my gosh!  How could I forget?????  Paul made me this great cart so I could bring my chair and my wheel easily to the fair.  It started with this:

The he added some wood and nuts and bolts:

And now I have a most excellent cart!:

After using it, we have determined it needs bigger wheels, so a revision/start-over may be in the future.  I'm so glad I have a resourceful husband who had all this stuff hanging around.  And thanks to my friend, Lisa, for the $1 thrift store cart find!

Knitting. It's a Sickness.

Knitting.  It's a sickness.  It really can't be helped.  Here is some proof:

1) I bought these double pointed needles recently:

They are a new-to-me needle, metal tipped.  I finally remembered I had them, and tried them today. I. LOVE. THEM.   I already have many many many sets of double pointed needles.  And three other sets of size 1.  But tomorrow, I'm going to buy another set of size 1 of this type so I can knit both socks of the pair at one time. And I'll probably get some in other sizes even though I already have those other sizes.

I just can't help it.

2) And I'm also thinking of getting the interchangeable set of circular needles in this brand.
Guess how many sets of interchangeable needles I already have?:

Three. Plus a whole lot of individual circular needles in all the various sizes an interchangeable set (or three) has.  But......

I can't help it.

3) Spinning is a sickness too.  I bought some roving to take to my spinning bee.

But, then this was there too, so I bought it:

I just couldn't help it.

4) I have a lot of yarn:

There is more in the blue squares.  And on a shelf to
the left....and the right.

But The Spinning Room recently had a sale:

I just couldn't help it.

5) I have several projects started, in progress, not finished yet:

This is not all of them...

But I'm going to cast on for this one instead:

Ravelry.com pattern picture

...probably tonight after I re-do the bind off of my Cozy wrap which I finished last night but the bind off was too tight and which I will show you in the next post (or the one after that) after I block it.

And I'll  probably cast on  this which I was obsessing about recently but I have to find beads for:

Ravelry.com pattern picture

I just can't help it.

See?  A sickness.  I CAN'T HELP IT.

How to Cut Up a Watermelon

I. love. Love. LOVE. WATERMELON.  I was cutting up a watermelon the other day and remembered that someone once commented to me that the way I do it seemed so fast and easy.  And me, always thinking about things to put on the blog, and always seeming to do something food related, thought I could show you how I do it.   If you have no interest in knowing something like this, you could read why I don't have anything else to blog about - because that might be interesting - and then skip the rest and wait for a more exciting post.

So, I didn't have anything else to blog about today, since:
a) I'm STILL working on my Cozy wrap.  I'm almost done.  I decided I would stop at the end of the skein I'm working on, since it is getting pretty long (57" as of last night).  So hopefully there will be a good knitting post soon...
b) I haven't finished any books to tell you about.  I am reading a really really good one though...
c) I haven't cooked anything exciting.  Just the Kale, Quinoa and Avocado salad again.  And it's yummy again.
d) Nothing exciting is happening in the garden.  Things are just growing.
e) No drag racing to tell you about.  AND I'm missing a drag racing event this Saturday (Buick Day at Lebanon Valley Dragway) in order to participate in the Spinning Bee at the Altamont Fair.  Which leads me to....
f) I haven't been practicing my spinning for the Spinning Bee so I can't show you that.

On to WATERMELON...
I can't remember when or how I learned this method.  I used to cut watermelon into triangles, then cut it off the rind and cut it into pieces.  Or just leave it in triangles and eat it that way.  Cutting it into pieces is better, I think, and more portable to put into a container.

First, get your watermelon into a wedge piece:

Buy it that way or cut it up that way.
Then, run your knife along the rind, all around the edges of the wedge:

I did it with a steak knife which is a little bit flexible and that helps with the curvey parts.  At this point, if you did it right and if you really wanted to, you could take the whole chunk out of the rind and cut it up.  But, I leave it there because it makes it easier later. (see way below...)

Then, on one side of the wedge, make 3 or 4 horizontal cuts, all the way down to the rind:

Make more cuts if you want smaller pieces.
Then, turn the wedge around and do it to the other side:

No, I didn't use two knives.  I'm trying to make a point.

Next, cut into the wedge vertically, making several cuts long the length of the wedge:

See the little grid pattern happening?

That's it!  Now you can pick up the whole wedge, and let all the pieces fall into a bowl. Perhaps your new antique Fire King mixing bowl.

THAT's why you leave it in the rind to cut it.

Empty rind:

Pretty clean, but you could spend a little time getting some more of the melon out if you want to.  I don't have the patience.

Yummy watermelon filling my new antique Fire King mixing bowl:

The other day, by accident, I got a seeded watermelon.  It was really really really hard to cut it up the way I described because there were so many seeds.  At least a million.  They were getting in the way of the knife.  I really dislike eating seeded watermelon.  Again, mostly because of my impatience.  It takes 10 years to eat one piece because you have to get all the seeds out.

How about a picture of my Watermelon Slice Socks since I'm talking about watermelon and since I entered them to be judge in the Altamont fair?:

Ok, so I didn't realize I had such a terrible picture.  There are black beads knitted into the pink part to represent seeds.  You can click on the link up there to see the official pattern picture.  If they win a prize I'll post a better picture...

Next post:  Something a little more exciting.  Hopefully.  Don't know what yet.