cat | All Night Knits

Before I get started today, I wanted to say thank you to all of you that commented, liked or simply read Please Don’t Tell Me What I Cannot Do. It was overwhelming to see that the blogging world actually cared about my circumstances, and the outpouring of support and encouragement left me a bit dumbfounded. I’m still surprised that something that personal poured out of me, obviously it needed an outlet. Infertility, especially miscarriages is something that most people want to sweep under the rug, like seeing it in the daylight would solidify it in reality. It felt like a weight lifted off my shoulder to just write about it, to purge my mind. So thank you so much. Thank you.

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Perhaps white was not the best yarn color to try to photograph, but live and learn and play with photo editors! So with no further adieu, I humbly present Week 7’s Stitch Pattern!

Hello Week 7!

I will tell you that knitting this was a delight – a little confounding do to my dearly departed GG’s handwriting- but once you get past that it seemed to knit itself. When I started taking pictures of the dishcloth with my iPod, they were horrible! No joke, it was like the image just disappeared in the picture, which gave me the opportunity to play with both Instagram and Vintique . I haven’t done much editing with these applications, but playing around with them last night was a blast. Whether it was successful or not, I shall let you decide.

Sharpened and Hi-Light.

Super Duper Sharpened with Lo-Res Filter

Aqua Filter

To be honest, I am feeling the Epic Fail with theses. On the plus side, I was introduced to all the fun filters and sophisticated things that can be accomplished with an iPod; something I foolishly used (until just recently) to listen to music and check the weather. Silly me!

With the filters on my iPod not giving me what I wanted, I pulled out my trusty Canon and decided to go old school – if you can consider digital photography and Photoshop to be old school that is. I was pleased with the result;, this could be because of the abject failure of the first attempt but hey, I am still learning! Most people who work in hospitals aren’t well versed in the fine art of making their pictures not suck. Or maybe that is hopeful thinking! Anywho, here are the shots from the Canon.

Before Photoshop Close Up

After Photoshop, Thank you Hi-Pass

Full Frontal

Stitch Pattern Dishcloth

Magnified Close Up

Much Better!

So GG, what did you have in store for us this week eh? Well, once again there was no name to the pattern, no punctuation, and a very odd Cast On number. Well Week 7, you haven’t disappointed me!

co38 – Cast On 38 Sts. (Feeling Pretty Good)(Why yes, I am a smart a**!)

R1 correct, kall- Row 1: (RS) Knit all Sts. (Seriously, sometimes when I read these patterns I think of the movie Nell and her secret language!)

r2,pall – Row 2: Purl all Sts. (Nice, nice)

r3 p2 k1 end – Row 3: P2, K1 to end of row (This would have been simple, but there are 38 sts and that definitely is a multiple of 3! Eh, don’t fight it Rachel, just see what happens).

r4 k2 p1 end- Row 3: K2, P1 to end of row (Well at least we are being consistent with the whole incorrect number of stitches dealio. Again Rach, just breath in through your nose and out through your mouth).

rep to end, fin. – Repeat Rows 1-4 to desired length, BO loosely. (Dear God, Please let this work out ok!)

Well, it ended up working out better than ok! The pattern was almost spa like in its interwoven bumps and ridges. I would even go so far as to say it felt luxurious! With this in mind, I got on Ravelry and started my scavenger hunt for dishcloths and facecloths for something similar. The closest I found was from Anne Mancine listed under Spa Day Facecloth, which was the same pattern, just outlined with a seed stitch border. What I found a bit confusing though was that the pattern contained a Copyright – how is this possible? GG wrote the pattern (or more likely copied it down from a magazine or a book) circa 1968. Thus I remain confounded by the whole Copyright thingamajigger. Well, it is something new to add to the every compounding list of things to learn.

Thank you again bloggers for all your support and encouragement. Feel free to leave comments, questions or insights….your knowledge is priceless. OH, and Max says Hiya:)

Hiya Bloggers!

Oh sweet oasis, how I have needed you! We have been renting cabins in Hocking Hills for years, the quaint cabins are set deep into wooded groves surrounding a lake where you can frolic in the clear water or waste an afternoon in one of the boats just drifting away the hours. I love it here, it is the only place I’ve ever been to that can completely purge my scatterbrained mind so completely. It is my Heaven on Earth.

Pieces of my most favoritist place on Earth!

I packed my bag with almost no care; changes of clothes and my ever ready dopp-kit were thrown haphazardly into a duffle bag with almost no thought, except maybe for comfort. It was the other bag, the goodie bag of awesomeness that I took care with; my camera, my iPod and it’s speakers, two books and a couple of WIPs for good measure. These were the items I cared about, the ones that wouldn’t make a trip into nature feel complete without their presence, and the best part of this nature is NO CELL PHONE SERVICE. That fact alone removed the knots in my shoulders and the heartburn that starts in my knees.

When we arrived, did I mention my husband was along for the trip? Well, he was, so there. Where Trevor and I are concerned there is no such thing as awkward silences, and being in the cabin we tend to do our own things together. If that makes sense. We’re both so absorbed in soaking up the carefree vibes that even being apart brings us together. This probably makes no sense, every marriage is a secret between two people as it should be, but I always feel closer to him in the cabin. Getting away from all the distractions that make you want to pout like a big, pissed off baby are all gone and you are just with each other again. Peace can do that I suppose.

The view from the cabin’s deck.

Anywho- Arriving made the stress melt away almost immediately, as if it never existed. We curled up on the outdoor couch and began devouring the books we had brought. Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects and John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars were my picks for the weekend and although they fall on very different ends of the literary spectrum, they were both incredible. If I had half the talent of the book reviewers I have read recently I would review them for you, but since I don’t I highly suggest you look into them for yourselves! There was a natural, natural to me it seems, migration from the couch to the boat with our books, the water lapping against the sides lulls one into a story, and for me this is the most conducive environment for creativity. So, on to the knitting.

WIP- Baby Blanket

Of course I only took one picture of things I am working on, I am prepared like that! The baby blanket to the left is for a friend of mine. I always do a swatch to see not only gauge and texture, but also to frame. I think it is nice to have a frame swatch of the baby blanket you bring your baby home with to keep as a memento, plus I never feel like I am wasting yarn! This swatch is going to suck to frame because the texture is so raised, the the blanket (God willing) is going to be beautiful.

Second in progress baby blanket.

This second guy here is also a baby blanket but will be far easier to frame. I love doing baby blankets for people because it is fun to always try out a new stitch pattern. I sit down, or email people all the different stitches and patterns that are available to them and let them choose. We go through size, weight, pattern, color and of course material. Most choose acrylic for obvious reasons but I have made several christening blankets from silk that were just a joy to have on my needles. Also, just as a forewarning, this will probably be my stitch pattern for this week. It was taken from my great-grandmother’s book and is absolutely hysterical the way she wrote it.

If you’re still with me, thanks for hanging in there because this post is turning into something more like a tome. The vacation was great, the knitting is fantastic, but life can still suck the root when you get back home. The biggest part of living in a society where everyone is sharing everything is that, well, baby pictures are everywhere. Baby pictures, pregnancy pictures and manically grinning families is something you are bombarded with on a daily basis. The biggest hiccup in my life is that I have always suffered from severe emetophobia; a fear of vomiting. To be honest just typing that word has the ability to make my heart start to race and my palms sweat. When you desperately want to be a mother but know that where you are now, even with therapy and medication (yup, they medicate phobias) would never work, it is fucking devastating. Pardon the foul language but I know no other way to get my point to bluntly across.

Knitting baby blankets is something I do because I LIKE doing it. The idea of making something that will bring a new life into their new home is pretty amazing, it just knowing you may never get to bring your OWN baby home in your creation that is devastating. I won’t go any further, for another post perhaps, just popped into my head. Even if nobody reads this at least the thought is out of my head, forever in black and white, and I can go back to doing what I do, going back into the real world, needles clicking all the time.

Besides, who looks happy to see us!