Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Knitting Friday

If I were bringing excuses into the teacher, I would have to use: The computer ate my homework for Website Wednesday's excuse. (I did find the e-mail with my website picks on another computer's e-mail so this excuse is valid and, I have my picks done for next week.) For today's dirth of pictures however, I would have to say: With the grind of caring for a hospice patient it gets more difficult to knit. (Though I'm not complaining because, of course, the grind of being a hospice patient is so much more difficult than finishing knitting projects.)

I've learned something interesting about hospice and heart failure patients: a family caregiver with a few web clicks can become as informed as and even more informed than the hospice nurses. This is because less than 18% of hospice patients are heart failure patients probably because most heart patients keep taking treatment and surgeries to the end: their treatment of choice is aggressive, not pallative.

I did find an excellent, but preliminary study (only 40 white males studied; published 2013) in the Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine which was very comforting to my patient. For the first time, she was able to realize that her symptoms were not unique. It's interesting that heart failure is still the "orphan" care in hospice though it is the number one killer.

So reacting to lack of sleep and time, let me post "My Knitting Day on the Net." Similiar to what I did on Wednesday but with a craft emphasis.

My first knitting hit is usually Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/

where, as I said on Wednesday, I can spend a mother-lode of time. However, sometimes my first hit is All Free Knitting patterns:

http://www.allfreeknitting.com/

which comes in frequently as a e-mail with new patterns.

Then there's Knitting Pattern Central, which has a sister site of Crochet Pattern Central:

 http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/

This used to be a cornucopia of new patterns (twice a week on Wednesday and Saturday) but the site has been sold and the new patterns only trickle in periodically now. However, all the old patterns are still listed and it's a excellent site for that sudden brainstorm of: I wonder where I could find scores of  knitted jewelry patterns stat. (or pet, coaster, Halloween, you name it; plus your "typical" clothes patterns)

Garner Studio's Drops patterns:

http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/en/kategori_oversikt.php

is another treasure trove for the advanced beginner and beyond knitter. I say this about Drops sometimes short-hands their instructions and the true beginner may find an easy looking pattern which presents a challenge. (Drops has one big advantage for me: all the patterns are on this site, you don't have to click other sites and perhaps register to view the patterns.)

And finally, knitting videos for the simpler knitting procedures:

http://www.knittinghelp.com/ 

While a simple search will get you a panoply of excellent knitting videos, Knitting Help has some great, free ones on some of the basics of knitting like casting on. And, while you may say Cable Cast On videos are for the beginner, a German Twisted Cast On video is not. Take a look at Knitting Help. There's a lot of free good stuff there.

OK, I'll leave you now with a lot of sites to explore, I hope. Next week, I should have an orange cotton knitted top to show you. Happy knitting.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich 

Website Wednesday 

I have nothing! I carefully selected interesting (well, I thought so) picks for today and e-mailed them from another computer but the computer mailman has not delivered them! Bummer! It's much too early to call Sherlock Holmes in on the case so I'm going to do something entirely different today. I'm going to lead you through my early morning on the web. Here's what I read every morning. Hope you don't get bored. First, I get the coffee.

Then I visit is The Huffington Post: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Which since its merger with AOL has many headlines leaning heavily towards tabloid sensationalism and many worthless articles.

Next stop is Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/  

where, on a good day, with a lot of interesting postings, I could spend a mother lode of time. However, Ravelry has always had an uncomfortable group of members who see themselves as the morality police. For example, they are sticklers for copyright laws though I think most don't really understand them.

Then I'll visit "smaller" liberal/progressive blogs:

 http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/


Tbogg presents some of the best liberal writing around and some of his sentences are jut museum quality. Though I'm sad that his real-world life interferes with the quantity of his writing.  

I also have a list of many other liberal blogs but I'll single out:

 http://www.alternet.org/ 

I always come away from Alternet depressed but informed. These articles are long reads but very worthwhile and their contributers call them like they see them so Obama comes in for criticism often.

If I have the time (I usually reserve an early Saturday morning for this), I'll go to a game site:

http://www.gamershood.com/forum/forum.php

The Gamershood's forum is a good example of a game site with variety though I only head for the Room Escape games. And if I really want a challenge, I'll head for the Melting-Mind room/house/asylum escape games which can be found here or at:

http://www.melting-mindz.com/

All these games are formulaic with the best of them having you use logic and the worst of them leaving you to luck.

So that's my early morning internet life.

See you next week with, I hope, the picks which are now "lost in the mail."

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

Well, my knitting was not "full of sound and fury", the phrase Macbeth uses to describe human existence in his famous 3 Tomorrows speech but I feel I can grab another phrase from that speech because all my bits of knitting this week seemed to be "Signifying nothing." There was no: Oh, I knitted up this intricate-patterned shawl in just two days, as some other knitter say. All I got is this almost completed red shawl which I have been working on for months. (Note: Pic #1 & #2 loaded incorrectly.)

#2 H hook edging

 

#1 Red shawl

It's done in frogged, crinkly red crochet thread; always a delightful yarn choice. In Pic #1, the right side is the top and the left side is the bottom of the shawl where you can see some  edging. This edging is triple  crochet clusters (trc) (*8 trc in 1 st, single crochet in next st* across) using a H hook, but that looked sloppy. In Pic #2, you can see it in its full sloppiness. 

#3 G hook edging

However, I switched to a G hook and this made the edging tighter. I also changed the pattern to 10 trc in each stitch, up from 8. I don't know if pics #2 & #3 show the difference but in real life you can see it.  The pattern for the shawl is a variation of Take It or Leaf It. Truth be told, I really wanted to crochet this pattern but I just couldn't get the hang of it. Here's the link if you want to try it:

 

http://crochetvolution.com/archives/fall-2011-archives/take-it-or-leaf-it

 

I just used her basic stitch pattern and added my typical increases at each side of every row. So while she got more of a triangle, I got a crescent. Of course, she has a gorgeous pattern in her edging that I didn't even attempt. Oh well, there will be another day. After all, there was a time when I ran screaming from crochet charts; now I find them very easy to read.

The only other new pattern I started this week is another Birch Vest from Knitting Daily:

http://www.knittingdaily.com/media/p/95296.aspx

 

I've linked to this pattern before (it takes a free registration to get it) and, if you remember, I only use the yoke pattern in this pattern. Then I pick up the stitches and work a knitted pattern for the body. Here's a picture of the latest yoke:

 

#4 Birch Vest Yoke

It's done in a very, splitty cotton/acrylic yarn which is producing a very soft, loose weave. Probably the yarn would be better as an lacy summer shawl but I don't need an orange summer shawl.

 

That's it for today. Let me leave you with a pattern for a crocheted vest (sorry knitters, I just seem to be crocheting up a storm lately) from Lion Brand:

 

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/clc-vest.html?noImages= 

 

This pattern is designed by Doris Chan who is a big name in the crochet world. It's free but its rating on LB is only 2.1 stars (5 is max) because the directions are, as one reviewer said: Wow! And I mean WOW! Tricky, tricky pattern! It really is expert level.

 

I think this vest looks lovely so I'll throw you that old challenge from Mission Impossible: Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to tackle and conquer this pattern. The pool opens tomorrow and I may bring paper, pencil, hook, yarn and these pattern directions and accept my challenge. (Of course, based on the weather forecast, I'll also be working in the rain.) More next week.

 

Happy Knitting. Happy Crocheting. See you next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Website Wednesday

 

The joke around here is that I think I've reached the end of the internet. Just like Edward G. Robinson in Soylent Green remembered when the earth was green and lush, I remember when the internet was a toddler and the depth of its educational output was unbelievable. Of course, that hasn't changed (though then, almost all these sites were free) but I remember when capitalism/commercialism was still just dabbing its toes into this great new medium not knowing if it, the mysterious "web", was going to be the correct venue for its products. Back then, search a word and perhaps the 20th hit would be aimed at selling you something; today, you're lucky if you reach a non-commercial hit by number 20.

 

Having said all this, I'll give up my internet "when you pry it from my cold, dead hands"

 

Grousing over and on to one of my site-type-favs:

 

http://freshome.com/ 

You know, you get to see rooms where every bit of space is utilized and they take a closet and make it a liveable apartment. Be sure to click all around this site for ideas and don't forget this page:

http://freshome.com/2011/08/03/best-ikea-bedroom-designs-for-2012/

I have been into IKEA designed homes of 500 to 700 square feet and it's amazing all the "living" they can put into such a small area. My only quibble (and I have this with all interior design sites) is that these rooms/houses are in pristine condition and it doesn't look like anyone lives there. Mess it up, guys, and show us what it looks like the day before the cleaning help arrives, not the day after.

And now on to pictures:

http://thedraftingclub.com/blog/ 

Currently, this blog is featuring the US Old West and Civil War and these bleak black and white images eerily bring up thoughts about a time, as blogger Derekh says: These photos ... are sobering (and much needed) reminders of just how real it was.  They provide faces, emotions, and settings for all of the facts and figures I’ve read in history books.

Derekh has a panoply of other topics here also (Atlas of America for the Blind from 1837) so be sure click around.

http://www.findingninee.com/admitting-special-needs-and-saying-autism-is-hard/ 

The above page from Finding Ninee is a must-read for all of us. It tells the regrets of a mom who missed the perfect opportunity at work to discuss autism: I had the opportunity to spread autism spectrum awareness, or – at the very least –  inform a co-worker about speech and language delays in children.  In my child. And I didn’t take it. In no way should this mom feel any guilt in not doing "autism education" at this perfect moment (and many of the article comments echo this.) But, to me, the saddest part of this story is that she only tells this half-truth to her co-worker: (I) shared that Robert was in remedial reading in first grade. With the rate of US children in the autism spectrum reaching 1 in 50 (a shockingly high number and a national scandal), parents should not be reluctant to talk about it and must feel comfortable to do so. Because if they don't, this talking vacuum will be filled with know-nothing Yahoos commenting that these stats are phoney. (Note: I do think that with the growing intolerance towards different learning paths/maturation paths among children, some younger children may be classified in the autism spectrum/ADD spectrum incorrectly. Having said that, I have taught severely autistic/moderately autistic children; this is a real and terrible condition. Finding a "cure" for autism should be as important as the Manhattan Project was in developing the atomic bomb.)

And finally, some more pictures, with a twist:

http://smashingpicture.com/awesome-illustrations-by-nacho-diaz/ 

Truth be told, I may be denser these days because I missed a few of the allusions here. Most I got though and many are wicked!

That's it for today. See you next week.

 
 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

 

Knitting Friday

 

Two ibuprofen at bedtime seem to keep my aching bones at bay, at least until 4 am which is usually the time I bound out of bed. Also, walking around the perimeter of the house 20 times (on the inside, of course, I don't want the neighbors to think I'm a complete loon) is a nice, easy, doable exercise which, while it can't top a treadmill, does count as a healthy exercise if it's done often. OK, those are my pain and exercise tips for today, on to the knitting.

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Read-a-Knitting-Pattern

 

I have another knitting website pick this Friday: How to Read a Knitting Pattern. It's a basic and thorough "how-to" guide for understanding what is sometimes as challenging as a foreign language, the knitting pattern. Don't dismiss it with: Well, I'm too advanced a knitter to need this, because there are tips even super-experienced knitters should remember like: read your pattern through first before knitting and mark rows so you don't skip instructions. One basic knitting rule I have: Never get knitting hubris, it will trip you up every time.

#1 Rainbow Shawl

I won't go into the genesis of the Rainbow Shawl again (see last week's KF for more info) but picture #1 shows you the finished shawl with the crochet thread ball still attached (upper left) because I'm such a wimp when it comes to closure. It took about two and 3/4 small skeins of typical No. 10 crochet cotton (available in big box stores; I got mine at A. C. Moore) and I used a H hook. Here's the very fast pattern complete.

Rainbow Shawl: Chain 78 and keep the first and last 3 stitches as double crochet throughout.

Row 1 - 4: Double crochet across starting in the 4th chain from hook. (Note: Ch 3 does not = a double  crochet.) Turn.

Row 5 - Increase Row: Chain 3 and work the first three stitches as DC, then *2 DC in next stitch, 1 DC in next stitch* across ending with 4 stitches to go. 2 DC in next stitch and 1 DC in each of the last three stitches (edging.) Turn. (Note; I fudged it so the pattern worked on 78 stitches because the variegated thread hides a lot. If you work this on different yarn, the CO should be 2x stitches plus 1, plus the 6 edge stitches. )

Row 6: Chain 3, and half-double crochet in each stitch across.

Continue in this 6 row pattern until you have increased the shawl to your desired length. At that point, make Row 5 a no-increase row (work it as you work Row 1 through 4) and continue in pattern until you reach your width. End your shawl by working Row 6.

Edging: With the yarn still attached and a larger hook (I think I used a J hook), work your way up the one side of the shawl, across the top and down the second side in the crab stitch evenly placed. When you reach the bottom edge: Chain 10 and slip stitch into first bottom edge stitch. Repeat this is every stitch across the bottom and you're done. Block or don't.

 

This shawl overlaps at the top so I fastened it with a colorful Knit Picks wooden cable needle and I was good to go. As usual, the Rainbow Shawl is really a generic pattern and you can tweak it to fit your size and tastes. Obviously, I'm not married to the double crochet/half-double crochet pattern so you can try all sorts of wild and wacky stitches if you like. (I liked simple stitches because I wanted the colors of the crochet thread to be the "star.") Even the edging is just a suggestion.

 

#2 Lacy Feather & Fan

Also this week, I worked on  the Lacy Feather and Fan scarf whose link is here:

 

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lacy-feather-and-fan-pattern

 

#3 Close-up of F & F

This is crocheted with a H hook in lace weight wool. I don't know why the right edge wants to curl but the scarf it supposed to be blocked when finished. It's a beautiful, simple pattern which, as usual, I keep screwing up. Finally, I wrote a cheat sheet and all is working well. The pattern calls for a chain of 76 but that was just too wide so I'm using 57 for better results. A closer picture of the pattern is in #3. It's such a pretty pattern and looks like knitting without the angst of lace knitting. Plus, this is one lace pattern which could be a traveling project since it's so easy to memorize.

I'm also working on a knitted project this week, the Elann Pasticcio Circular Vest, which is no longer available as an Elann free pattern. A little back story: about 6 years ago when this vest was available, I chose not to copy down the pattern but chose to work on another free vest also offered by Elann. Fast forward to today when I'm older and wiser and I realize that the Pasticcio vest is worked in one piece, as a circle, and really is the easier of the two patterns. Luckily, although Elann no longer carries the pattern, you can find it on this site:

 

http://sharonwatterson.wordpress.com/2010/05/23/circular-vest-free-knitting-pattern/ 

 

Sharon Watterson has kindly provided the pattern pages (scroll down) plus a detailed explanation on the how -tos of this vest. As you can see from pic #4, it's knit from the center out. (I did my usual crochet hook "button" at the CO and did not divide 8 stitches on DPNs as suggested.) As usual, this vest is being made on my "swatch" yarn, that is, cheap stuff, because the armholes may be tricky and you're at 28 stitches in each of your 8 sections before you start them; much too late in the game to pull out good wool if I make a mistake or if the

#4 Pasticcio Vest

pattern needs tweaking. Having said that, as usual this prototype is working up so easily and if I don't have any problems at the armholes, I'm going to kick myself for not starting this in good yarn.

But more of this saga next Friday. It's time to say good-bye for today. See you next week. Happy knitting.

 

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

I get the true meaning of "bone tired" now and it's not a good bone tired like "Oh, I'm bone tired but did I get a lot accomplished today." but more like: "My bones ache getting into bed at night and still ache the next morning." But I am finding a lot of ways to make pasta so life still has some meaning. Putting Movie Monday on hiatus for a while is helping time-wise and I have been watching snip-its of Scoop (later Woody Allen) when I can, so all is not lost.

What is most surprising me is that for some wacky reason, I have no desire to write about politics. In fact, the crazy, greedy antics of so many of my species just bemuse me lately. I can't believe I have moved beyond the indignation towards the self-destructive, hypocritical nature of man. Maybe that's also only on hiatus, like Movie Monday. We'll see.

OK, maybe the indignation is not dead because you have to take a look at this:

http://www.castlesphotos.com/2013/02/the-hearst-castle/ 

This is San Simeon, the once private residence of William Randolph Heart (the Citizen Kane of that famous Welles movie) which is now part of the CA park system. What an unspeakable obscenity! As that late-great Ozymandias once intoned: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!

But there is joy in the world and nothing proclaims it like pictures of animals:

http://onebigphoto.com/category/animal-photography/page/2/

Be sure to click on individual animals for full screen pictures. 

I can't believe that I haven't linked to One Big Photo before; it's a treasure trove. And don't forget to go to its main site:

http://onebigphoto.com/ 

and scroll through all the Categories listed there.

And now for some "light" reading at Classic Reader:

http://www.classicreader.com/browse/1/title/ 

Well, I lied about the "light" part but this is an excellent site to bookmark. It contains scores of public domain books from assorted categories (how can categories not be assorted?), though I think the Young Readers choices may just draw hoots of laughter today. While there are many public domain book sites on the web, this one is special because the font is very readable and the books are divided into chapters, making for easy "pick up and put down" reading. I'm even thinking about starting Adam Bede by Eliot which is kind of spooky. You get your best selections in Fiction and Young Readers and the site hasn't been active since 2010. But, hey, public domain books have been "dead" a long time and they're still worth the read, or re-read. Take a look.

That's for today. See you next week.

 

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich 

Knitting Friday 

When I searched my soul for a reason to buy that alpaca lace (which was on sale, of course), I came up with the ridiculously great price reason, of course, but also I promised myself that I would start using all the lace wool I had and thus remove it from the yarn museum I was creating. Well, I first kept my promise with the claret-colored Shimmer Mesh shawl I made (pictures last Friday) but I discovered that this was really only on the edges of keeping my promise since Lion Brand lace is more light fingering and probably could have been used in a sweater. (Have more, so one can still be made.) But this week, I did start working with real lace; you know that fine yarn which is a bear to knit because of the patience, time and curse words it takes. I took out some Knit Picks blue-hued lace and thought I would start this project:

http://www.knitca.com/lace18 

which is a very pretty lace and you really don't have to use a cable needle for the 4-stitches right cable. However, reason intervened and I remembered I didn't have the two lifetimes needed to work up a knit lace shawl. So here's what I chose instead:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lacy-feather-and-fan-pattern

It's a crocheted feather and fan, very light and lacy. I only cast on 57, not the 76 stitches recommended (19x.) At 76 stitches, it looked too wide. The only "watch point" is the beginning and end of the single crochet rows. At the beginning of the row, you must be sure to recognize the first stitch from the previous row which you are skipping and, at the end, you must find the top of the chain you're going to need to make your last single crochet. Pictures and more on this next Friday. 

And now, on to some reading. Below is a Wikipedia website discussing the boyfriend sweater curse with some interesting theories as to why it “works.” The curse is: if you knit a sweater for your b-friend, the romance is doomed. You know the old cause and effect conundrum: I walked down the street of the bank and it got robbed right afterwards……… One explanation of the sweater curse which might have merit: you know the romance isn’t going well and you try to “cement” it with a handcrafted gift.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweater_curse

#2 Cotton sweater, underarm

#1 Cotton sweater, front view

As for knitting this week, my biggest knitting achievement was getting past the armholes on the black cotton sweater I’ve been knitting. It’s only a 2xs stitches + 1 pattern but you have to add stitches for the underarm so the lace pattern can’t be off even by one stitch. On the left is the front view and on the right is an armhole view of the sweater. I wound up creating a page of handwritten instructions on how to cast on the stitches at the armhole. Overkill, you say? Well yes, but I have missed lining up these simple patterns after the armhole cast-on so many times that time spent writing out instructions is worth it. Now, I just have to get up the energy to finish the thing. Summer is fast approaching.

Here’s the pattern I'm using again:

http://us.schachenmayr.com/patterns/short-sleeve-sweater-ajour-pattern

#3 The Rainbow Shawl

And finally: the Rainbow Shawl. Someone suggested that I  was knitting it for LGBT unity. That's not why I picked the yarn but it's as good a reason as any for wearing it. This is made from No. 10 crochet cotton and you can see the second ball of thread on the left so it's going to be a nice summer-sized shawl. Since it's not done yet so I won't post the pattern today. The inspiration came from Critron:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/critron

which I lamely started and posted last Friday (look at pics #1 and #2 there.) As you know, I decided to "abandon ship" on this project and cast on 78 stitches instead. What you see in pic #3 is a crescent shaped shawl which started with a chain of 78. I didn't know you could do that! I'm enjoying the colors in this project but the thread is slightly rough.

That's it for today. My goal next week is to finish at least one project. This will probably be the Rainbow Shawl or the black sweater. See you next Friday. Happy knitting.

 

 

  

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Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich

Website Wednesday

I'm finding that my days are getting into a routine and, although routine is a word I try to walk away from, the advantage is a lot of pockets of time for knitting. and reading Robert Caro's first volume of LBJ's biography, The Path to Power.  As you know, I hate the modern bio slant of "You Are There" with something like: Washington awakened to a cloudy, cold morning as he gazed across the river......... Caro replaces that phoney touch with "let me explain to you what it was like for the people in this biography to be in this certain place/time." (and I'll use primary sources as references.) He draws you into the story and the setting without that folksiness I so dislike. I've always enjoyed listening to Caro during his hours-long interviews on CSPAN; his writing does not disappoint either.

Off the wall, wacky, eclectic? I think my picks are different this week. You decide.

http://www.houseofturquoise.com/

The House of Turquoise! You must be thinking: Has this woman gone mad? But blogger, Erin, is obsessed with turquoise and I admire people with passions. It's an interior design site with the emphasis on all things in the turquoise-related color family. I used to tell the kids to look for the red in all paintings because almost all the time, you'll find it. Erin looks for the turquoise. I didn't realize that this color makes for "popping" accent pieces. I also didn't realize that I have a turquoise side chair in my house. A lot of pictures of pretty interiors, chatty posts and some pictures of dogs.

If you have a quirky or creative spin to your personality, take a look at:

http://dornob.com/

because you won't see a "flat-packed urinal composing straw bales for outdoor events" everyday. Be sure to look around this site for  many furnishings, household objects, and interior designs which will have you saying: Wow! or What a neat idea! I can do that.

Now, if you want to test your geography skills, go to:

 http://www.minijuegosgratis.com/juegos/hwdykyworld/hwdykyworld.html?c4e6=5d3c

The first test is easy: World Cities. You get to click on the area of the globe where you think the city is and they get to tell you how wrong you are.  When I failed this test (I was 1801km from Sydney, Australia) I hit "Done" and worked my way to this site:

http://tripwow.tripadvisor.com/slideshow 

You can create your own trip slide show for this site or just click on the zillion of slideshows presented here for views from around the world without leaving the comforts of home and, no packing necessary.

OK, just fun at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/sleep/sheep/ 

You try to hit five sheep with tranquillizer darts before they escape. My score was Ambling Armadillo, not great. 

And finally:

http://gizmodo.com/

A lot of reading with Gizmodo but it's worth the time. Here are some examples of their topics: Texting People Who Leave Their Numbers Public Is Awful and Great and Cities Are the Future of Human Evolution. You won't be bored and, they have pictures.

That's it for today. See you next week.

Capitalism - Feudalism without the Kings
Tax the Rich 

Knitting Friday 

I'm really typing fast today because I started a crochet project (this might also work in knit but I haven't tried it yet) that is so exciting I can't wait to get back to it.

Some background: Remember my generic top pattern (I'll repost it again soon)? Well, that was inspired by the Mohair minimialist top:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mohair-minimalist-top

where, for the first time, I encountered a top which was knit top down without raglan shaping. For me, it was a "bells and whistles, penny-finally-falls-in-the-slot moment." Once I had that piece of the puzzle there was no stopping me and I wrote up my generic top-down top which I have been using ever since. (Oh, I am such a lazy knitter!)

I hope, the same inspiration is going to come from the Critron shawl, which is the crocheted version of the knitted Citron shawl first posted in Knitty.

Critron:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/critron

Citron:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter09/PATTcitron.php

I started out thinking I would crochet a summer Critron shawl in crochet thread since the pattern's yarn choice was lace.  Here's my first attempt at the Critron (#1). 

#1 Criton, pretty lame

The only difference from the original pattern is that I used crochet thread, a J hook and I added a few more "resting" (no increases) rows. However, I got a bell shaped 5" X 6" blob which looks nothing like the top of a crescent shawl.

For my second attempt, I used double crochet (not the pattern's single crochet) and a J hook but that sample only looked bigger, not better. (#2)

#2 Critron, big and still lame

Then my brain got mad and I thought: What if I eliminate the entire set-up part before Section 1 and just start with the number of stitches on Row 7, 30? So I chained 30 stitches on an L hook, switched back to my J hook and worked one row of single crochet. Then I started working from Set-Up, Row 8. Very soon I got a nice curved shape but very soon I realized that 30 stitches were not going to fit around my neck. Then I cast on 54 stitches (Section 1, R1) and I came closer to my wrap-around-the-neck goal but not quite. At the moment, the project is in the frog pond but I'm going to start again with a chain of 78 stitches (Section 1, R. 15) and then work up my own pattern.

Like the Mohair minimalist pattern, I'm hoping that the Critron will be my starting point inspiration. As with MM, I learned something new from my Critron mistakes: You can chain just the right amount of stitches in crochet cotton thread to make the curved top shape of a crescent shawl. I don't think the Critron pattern meant to teach me this but that's the whole serendipitous nature of inspiration. The only problem right now is to discover just what number of stitches I have to cast on and just how I'm going to make the increases through the body of the shawl. More on this another Friday, I'm sure.

It took me almost a week but I finally broke down and used Lion Brand's free (over $35) shipping and half-price wool cone yarn sale to buy these (#3):

#3 What I needed, more wool

The picture on the LB website of the creme-colored wool (left in #3) is horrible. It was really a leap of faith with that purchase since the pic made it look like it had flecks of gray/black running through it. It doesn't. The cone on the right is charcoal gray.

But I really can't be blamed for being drawn to LB light fingering cone wool since I just finished this (#4):

#4 Shawl in LB cone wool

Which is a Lion Brand pattern done in claret colored LB cone wool. It was a dream working with this wool and I only stopped the shawl (or very wide scarf) because I got so bored with the simple 2-row pattern. Now, my decision is: Should I make the edging around the entire shawl? Here's a picture of the side and bottom edges (#5).

#5 Ends of the shawl

I'm favoring doing nothing. I think there's enough design throughout the body of the shawl that I don't need more icing on this cake. For any crocheters out there, here's the pattern I used again:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/shimmer-mesh-shawl-and-bag 

Scroll down for the shawl pattern. I don't know if I mentioned this last Friday, but all through the pattern I never remembered the beginnings and endings for these two rows. It was wacky because I always had to look at my cheat sheet to remember them. Talk about no retentive memory!

#6 Ajour ss sweater

The only other project on fire right now is the Anjour sweater pictured on the left (#6). Here's the link:

http://us.schachenmayr.com/patterns/short-sleeve-sweater-ajour-pattern     

I'm just using the lace design (not the sweater design) which has purls between the lace row and not knits. It gives you a raised design which I'm liking. 

That's it for today. The pictures took so long to load today that I managed to write this blog and chain 78 for my crescent shawl.

See you next week. Happy knitting.