Share and Enjoy

Tonight I built a sled to aid in cutting guaranteed straight lines.  I researched this device for days and decided on a design.  My table saw was one of the first power tools I bought for myself, many years ago.  I bought it because it was the one I could afford at the time.  So, I have a junk ass Craftsman table saw where NOTHING is sized to “standard” table saw sizes.  No.  And after futzing with a particular piece of my sled for, like, an hour, I discovered that the miter slot to the right of the blade isn’t even the same size as the miter slot to the left!  <SIGH>.

Finished sled

I finally got my sled built to satisfactory specs, mounted up my first leg blank … and discovered the friggin’ blade wasn’t tall enough to cut though the blank plus the sled!  Seething with frustration and determined to make some good cuts tonight, I busted out two squares and set the miter fence.  I also ended up having to remove the rip fence to make use of every millimeter of blade height.  It was scary (and dumb), but I managed to not cut anything but the wood.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get an after pic of me, but I was totally covered in saw dust.  Kris just laughed at me.

One side cut on each blank

I finally gathered the supplies I think I need to start building the computer desk. It was so hot outside, again, that I waited until late to start any work, since all my tools are in the garage. I ended up just rough cutting the legs and gluing them up.

Future Desk Legs

On this day exactly 5 years ago, Brandon and I met.  In writing.  We had been matched the day before by eHarmony, and rather than going through their process of answering several rounds of general multiple choice questions, including:

Your idea of a romantic time would be:
A) a quiet candle-lit restaurant
B) rollerblading on the beach
C) cooking dinner together at home
D) getting dressed up and going to a dance club together

Brandon skipped directly to open communication (eHarmony’s version of email).  Fortunately, he’s a good writer. The last five years have been pretty good.

» Read the rest of this entry «

I finished my TKSC March socks tonight, while watching Louisville lose to UNC. These foot of these socks is knit on the bias, making them very snug across the arch. Useful if you don’t like floppy socks.

The name is in part an homage to what I spent a good portion of time doing while finishing the second sock, and in part a reflection of my issues with the pattern itself.

Technical specs:

• Yarn: Lime’n'Violet Sasquatch Sock in Bette Davis Colorway
• Needles: Size 1 Bamboo DPNs (8 total, I snapped 3 of them making these socks).
• Pattern: Arch-Shaped Socks by Jen Showalter
• New skills:
  • Old Norwegian Cast-On (video near the bottom of the page) – very cool.
  • Make 1 (m1) – a technique for increasing the number of stitches. The tricky part is not to create holes, which is achieved by twisting the stitch as you knit it.
  • Bias shaping – the combination of increases and decreases creates a form fitting sock.

Issues: The designer recommends picking up an extra couple of stitches along the gussets if you tend to get holes. Great advice, and it works, but it throws off your stitch count. The pattern calls for 5 set up rounds after picking up the gusset stitches, before starting the shaping. That would be 6 decreases total, but if you’ve picked up 18 stitches on each side, you’re going to have problems when the shaping hits the gusset decreases and you still have too many stitches left. The goal of the gusset decreases is to return to the original number of cast-on stitches, 65 in this case.

I would recommend doing 4 extra gusset decreases (decrease 2 on round 1, knit 1 round stockinette, repeat these two rounds once), so that you will have the correct number of stitches on the needles when you begin shaping. Did I figure this out after I finished sock 1? No. I figured it out after having to fudge the bottom of the second sock. But, they’re comfortable, and I like the concept. I think at some point I will design my own socks, and bias shaping is a useful (and easy) technique to know.

I’ve become increasingly interested in the history of knitting. I think, being an academic, I can’t help it, really. So I’ve read a few books which incorporate knitting history (Nancy Bush is great for this), and picked up random things elsewhere. I thought it would be fun to share these as I finish my projects, so I’ve been saving them up.

Bonus – Random Knitting Trivia: John Shakespeare, William’s father, was a brogger:

Wool was one of the most valuable commodities in Tudor England, and the wool trade was controlled by the State. A Brogger was a freelance wool dealer, working without the necessary license.

Broggers bought large amounts of wool from rural farmers and sold it at a large profit in the regional markets. Broggers usually agreed a price in April or May, and collected the wool after shearing in June.

–

Source: PBS In Search of Shakespeare via Netflix.

I want to make a wrap (ie., a rectangular shawl, or a fat scarf) to take with me on our trip to Scotland. I searched Ravelry for patterns, but didn’t really find one that I liked that would work with the yarn in my stash (Reynold’s Andean Alpaca worsted, purchased from Yarn Barn at the sidewalk sale a couple of years ago).

The image in my head is of something lacy and soft, just warm enough if things get a bit nippy, but not made out of laceweight yarn. I made a few lace squares when knitting Hannah’s afghan, and I enjoy making the design using bigger yarn. Feeling brave, or delusional, I flipped through several of Barbara Walker’s stitch dictionaries and designed my own using Jacquie’s knitting chart generator.

The wrap requires 2 charts, one for the edge design and one for the center panel, shown below:

At 91 stitches wide, it may take me until August to finish it. Assuming the pattern works, I’ll post it here when it’s done.

When I told Jen about my DPN destruction, and how I wanted to get some short DPNs to make socks, she gave me an entire set of stubby bamboo DPNs that came with a complete assortment that she had purchased off ebay. The benefits of knowing another knitter. Thanks, Jen! Now I just need to look up the instructions for the Old Norwegian cast-on and it’s on to arch sock #2!

I typically only knit on bamboo needles. And after knitting for a while, my needles curve to fit my hand, because the bamboo is flexible. To a point. I was decreasing for the toe of my arch sock today, then SNAP!

Which of these is not like the others? Unfortunately, this pattern is worked using 5 needles. I managed to finish the first sock with the broken needle, but there’s no way I can start the second one until I replace the broken needle.

I’ve started on my March socks, Arch-Shaped socks by Jen Showalter, hoping to get a jump on them so I can go back and do January’s socks, since I joined the group late.  I’m using my Bette Davis yarn from lime&violet.

I grafted the toe on Brandon’s second Earl Grey sock tonight. They fit great, and he’s already angling for a second pair.

Technical specs:

• Yarn: South West Trading Company TOFUtsies #792 (1 skein)
• Needles: Size 1 Bamboo DPNs
• Pattern: Yarn Harlot’s Earl Grey Socks

As with my first pair of socks, I appreciate the simplicity of Stephanie’s patterns, they make learning the art of sock knitting easy and enjoyable.

My Valentine’s Swap partner sent one more small thing in a separate package.  These little ladybugs are stitch markers, for keeping track of patterns.  And they’re small enough to fit on sock needles.  Beautiful and practical.