Pretty Purls Spa Cloth

Pretty Purls Spa Cloth

Yarn:

Knit Picks CotLin (shown in Linen, Chocolate and Creme Brulee)
Skeins: 1
Needles: Size 5 US

Pretty Purls Stitch Pattern:
Row (Left Justified Pretty Purl Row)

1: p
2: k

3: p
4,6: k4, p1, *k5, p1, repeat from * 7 more times, k1
5: *k1, p1, k1, p3, repeat from *7 more times

Row (Right Justified Pretty Purl Row)

7: p
8: k

9: p

10,12: k1, p1, *k5, p1, repeat from *7 more times, k4
11: *p3, k1, p1, k1, repeat from *7 more times

Notes: There are 3 rows of seed stitch at the beginning and end of the pattern and 3 stitches of seed stitch at the beginning and ending of each row. I'm not going to include instructions on this, but if you need help on seed stitch I would recommend that you go to KnittingHelp.com.

There are 3 rows of stockinette after the seed stitch at the beginning and before the seed stitch at the end of the pattern. The first row of stockinette should begin with a purl row. There are also 3 stitches of stockinette on each row that immediately follow the seed stitches at the front of the row and just before the seed stitches at the end of the row.

INSTRUCTIONS

Cast On 60 stitches using Long Tail Cast On.

Rows 1-3:

Seed Stitch Border (For help regarding seed stitch go to KnittingHelp.com.)

Rows 4-66:

Begin Pretty Purls pattern for a total of 6 repeats, adding Seed Stitch edging (3 stitches at the beginning and ending of rows) and remembering to include 3 stitches of stockinette immediately after the Seed Stitch at the beginning of the row and immediately after the Pretty Purls stitch pattern before the Seed Stitch at the end of the row.

Row 67 - 69:

Repeat rows 1-3 (stockinette portion) of Pretty Purls stitch Pattern remembering to include Seed Stitch edging (3 stitches at beginning and ending of rows).

Rows 70-72:

Seed Stitch Border.

Row 73:

Bind off in Seed Stitch

Hobbies

Maybe it's the fact that I'm on day 8 of 13 straight days of working. Maybe it's the PMS. Maybe it's that I have 3 sick people in my house and I'm running myself ragged trying to take care of everything. Perhaps it's not any of those things... but I had such a frustrating experience last night and I'm still irked by it.

Saturday and Sunday I worked my usual 5pm to 10 pm shift at the hospital doing Bed Control. Thank heavens it was a slow weekend and I didn't find myself stressed at all, which is unusual for Bed Control. In fact, yesterday was so slow that I brought out my knitting from my purse and knitted on a sock while I watched the bed board and the bed control program for new ER patients to place. I love that I can knit without looking at my hands! In between calls to and from the nursing stations I knit a good 1.5" on the sock!

At 8:45 the third shift came upstairs from finishing pre-reg close and started their other closing duties. They don't take over Bed Control and Labor & Delivery until 9:15 so there's a bit of time between when they come up and when they take over. At 9:00 they were both at my booth for some reason and one of the girls asked me about the sock I was working on. She talked about how she wishes she had time for doing something like this but there's just no time at all. I told her that I knit while I watch tv or movies, and that I knit some before bed or while I'm waiting in lines or at appointments. She asked how much yarn it took to make a pair of socks and I pulled out a skein of the yarn so she could see and then I told her that it took 2 of these skeins.

My coworker took the skein of yarn from my hand and turned it around and around to look at the colors. Then she saw the price and had a cow. "7.25 for this? And it takes two of them? Do you know how much this costs?" I looked at her and said, "Yes, I am pretty good at math, plus I PURCHASED the yarn so I know that it costs $14.50 plus tax"

She starts in about how she would NEVER pay so much for string and how RIDICULOUS it is! I asked her, "Do you go to the movies? You pay $9.50 for the ticket and more for popcorn or a drink. For that much money you get 2, maybe 3 hours of entertainment. For $14.50 I get 20 hours or more of entertainment and at the end of it I have a beautiful pair of socks that I get to enjoy or I get the pleasure of seeing someone else wear and enjoy." My coworker didn't care to listen but then went on for another 10 minutes talking with someone else about how crazy and stupid it was to spend so much money on string.

Allow me to vent for a moment.

1. Frankly, I don't care what hobbies you have. As long as what you do isn't illegal, hurts yourself or someone else then have fun! You like to garden? Great! You enjoy building stuff in your garage? Wonderful! Just don't have your fun by burning kittens with matches and I'll be happy for you.

2. I was raised that you don't talk about money and the price of things with people outside of family. Enough said.

3. Knitting isn't just about the socks, the sweater or the mittens that it produces. It's a process for me and I like to pick yarn and needles that are pleasurable to use. I love the feel of the needles in my hand and the texture of the yarn as it passes through my fingers. I admire the colors and the tone of the yarn in the skein, after it's been wound and in the fabric. I don't mind paying more for yarn that I'll love through the whole process and after the project is off the needles. I like quality items and it is worth it to me to pay more. I can get a pound of yarn at Wal-Mart for $4.00 but I won't enjoy knitting it and it won't be nice to wear. What is the point of that?

4. Yes, I paid $14.50 for a pair of socks that I'll have to make myself, nonetheless. What they won't know is that I waited until that yarn was on sale to purchase it. I also make other sacrifices if it is going to be an expensive project and will save up the money before I purchase the yarn. It may seem ridiculous to you but that's probably why this is not your hobby. Personally, I think her $10,000 collection of manga is ridiculous but that's why it's not my hobby. Refer to #1... as long as she can afford it and she enjoys it then that's great!

It took everything in me not to throw double pointed needles at them or make it personal by throwing their own hobbies back at them. (You just had major back surgery 7 months ago so why exactly are you swing dancing and hurting your back again to the point of missing work?) But I stayed on the high ground by just smiling and letting them be tactless. Ooookay! I feel better now!

Namaste

A big part of my 2008 so far has been spent going through my house room by room and making decisions about "stuff". We have a lot of "stuff" around here and now that Ailish has joined us and added her own "stuff" to the mix... well, let's just say that it didn't make things any better. For a little thing she's has a surprising amount of "stuff" and considering her size you'd think it'd be small "stuff" but you'd be wrong.

Exhibit A

One thing that I've decided is that I have a lot of purses that don't suit me. I'm not a small purse kind of person. To make life a little easier I've ordered a Namaste Everyday bag in black and I'm looking forward to its arrival! In order to make a little room for it I'm putting up my Namaste Messenger bag in chocolate brown up for sale on Ravelry.

Ravelry ladies, here are the pictures of the bag!

The outside of the bag

Cute striped lining and pockets
Zippered divider and side zipper. There are also two interior pockets
Just like luggage, the outside can unzip to add some width to the bag. There is a small stain next to the zipper on the bottom of the bag.

The seam has popped open here just a little bit but would be easily repairable. Obviously seaming is not my favorite part of any project.

If you have any questions you can feel free to email me at briannekeene@gmail.com

Stalled

Knitting has been uneventful as of late. Well, I take that back. There has been eventful knitting just not of the good and productive nature.

I started a modified Anouk for Ailish and things were going well until Owen found the project and managed to remove and lose one of the size 7s from my Denise needles. We've searched the house over and over for weeks with no luck! Anouk went back in the bag and into the craft closet until I receive a replacement from the company. The order was placed today and hopefully I'll be back to knitting my girl more cuddly clothes by next week.

The Monkey fever bit me and I pulled some Tofutsies (color 718) from the stash play with. Mom had purchased this yarn for me while on vacation and I thought it would be fun to play with such an interesting yarn. Fun was not quite the right word. I went through three needle sizes and then when I found the right one (size 0 if you were interested) I knitted the cuff down to the heel and tried it on for kicks just to find that the sock wouldn't fit over my heel.

I'm an adult so I did the only obvious thing. I pulled my needles from the sock and stuffed it in my knitting bag to give the yarn to someone else. This is why it is so important to have knitting friends to help you through the hard times! Kate is going to make some socks for little miss Haley and I hope that she loves them! (Kate, I happen to have a skein of 724 in the stash if you'd like it.)

Thankfully, inspiration struck and I'm in the middle of a sock that I'm in love with and should fit. (My fingers are crossed which makes knitting a little difficult, but I'm dealing.) These are done toe-up and while I've made 2 pairs of socks this way I've never been happy with the way that the heels have turned out so I sent out an email to my girls to get some help.

While I wait for help to arrive it's time to look back to projects that I've finished recently but haven't displayed!

May I present Thuja. These socks were a quick knit on size 2 double points, knitted exactly as written in the pattern. Sarah dyed the yarn herself and I love the amazing job she did with the fiber! Just look at the subtle variations in color. Beautiful! It is the perfect match of yarn and pattern.

The last project for today is Wisp. (I've been on Knitty a lot, can you tell?)

Call it sacrelige, but I'm using this lace scarf as a table runner.

Knit as directed by the pattern but on size 6 needles instead of 8 to give it a little tighter look and without the yarn overs on the sides. The yarn is Misti Alpaca Lace in Sea Mist, which was a joy to work with. Even with doing a full 17 repeats of the lace pattern I still have 25 grams of yarn left which is enough to make another Wisp. Perhaps someone will see a Wisp of their own under the Christmas tree this year?

Yes, I'm already thinking of Christmas knitting! Ailish started crawling on Christmas Day and is now pulling herself up onto her feet and I think I'm going to need all the head start I can get to make sure that I have my holiday knitting done before Easter 2009!

Hey Tammy...

Guess what I've worn to work for the past 2, very very cold nights?

Saying hello to some old friends

And now for to FO's that never properly made their debut on the blog...

Pattern: The UnGranny Smith at Knitty
Yarn: RYC Cashcotton DK in Apple
Needles: KP Options in Size 3 and 5 US
Time To Knit: A very long time. Started in November 2006 and finished in June 2007

If I were to knit this again I would have made it in a smaller size since it has a bit of ease to it. Also, I'd make the body of it longer and the arms a bit shorter. It is a WARM sweater and I can wear it on a cool day without having to put a jacket on, which is wonderful!

Pattern: Clapotis from Knitty
Yarn: Art Fibers Royal Silk
Needles: Brittany straights size 6 US
Time To Knit: Started during big ice storm in January 2006 and finished in March 2006, approximately

This is a great pattern! Once I just decided to trust the pattern and not second guess every single stitch it went better. I had originally planned on making this for myself but then I came to the realization that I was having my second child in a couple of months and the odds of me wearing 100% silk within the next 10 years without completely ruining it were pretty slim. So this became my Mom's Christmas present and she is in love with it! She wears it almost every day, whether she's out and about or just at home. The fact that Mom adores it and uses it so often is such a pleasure to me.

The silk was incredible to work with and made the finished product absolutely delightful. The fabric has amazing drape and shine to it. Mom claims that it is one of the warmest scarves that she owns and yet is wonderfully light. Perhaps in a few years I'll be working with that yarn again on a project for myself!

I've started my own Clapotis out of Reynolds Rapture so that I can have my own Clapotis to enjoy. With it knitting up on 10.5 US needles it moves quickly so I'll be able to enjoy it soon. I had 7 skeins to start with and now only have 1.5 left to go! Hopefully I'll be done with it this weekend so that I can show it off!

More than just knitting

Monday was quite a day. Tornadoes in January boggles my mind, but it happened and it happened on a night that I was at work.

I work at a local hospital in the Admissions Department. My whole job is to find beds for the people who need to be admitted through the ER, are directly admitted by their doctor, and who are coming out of surgery. It is a stressful job and I'm never ever bored. Multi-tasking is a must for this job and so is a hard skin because you spend your entire time calling people (nurses on the floors) who really don't want to talk with you and don't want to give up their empty beds.

When I came on shift at 5pm I went down to the basement of the hospital to Bed Control, where I sit in front of my computer and 2 very large, flat screen televisions that show me every single bed in the hospital (there are over 600 beds in total). I work with Dorothy almost every night unless one of us has a day off. We've gotten close and work really well together.

We soon get word about the tornado warnings and all patients are evacuated to the hallways. Dorothy and I started getting increasing ER patients over the system that we needed to find beds for. By 7:30 the ER was declared a Level III disaster and we were getting 4 and 5 ER admits at a time and as soon as a bed was found for one person another 2 would pop up... and this on a day when we were a bit short on beds as it was.

Everyone worked together amazingly from the ER to surgeons and the floors. I ended up staying an extra 2 1/2 hours to help the third shift with Bed Control and left work at almost 12:30am. It was a long, stressful night and on my way home (through rain where visibility was less than 10 feet) I realized that I hadn't eaten or taken a break through the whole night. I stopped at home to check the weather and then drove to a local storm shelter to help Bryan get the kids home because Owen was really upset.

When we got home at 1am and after the kids were asleep I sat in bed and knitted. I breathed deeply and felt my neck and back start to relax.

Last night was not much better. The hospital was still packed from the night before and it was another busy night in the ER. I worked my usual Tuesday 8 hour shift and at lunch I brought out my iPod and knitting. Between the Clapotis on my needles and the Mozart in my ears I was able to go back to my computer with a better attitude and outlook on the night.

When I first started knitting in April of 2005 I never would have thought that it would impact my life as much as it has. I'm working my usual Wednesday 8 hour shift and while I can't count on it being an easy night, I can count on knitting to help me get through it.

Start as you mean to continue

This phrase succinctly sums up my thoughts about the New Year. I did my best to end 2007 with having already started some of my goals that way I can keep moving with the momentum and give myself a great start to the year! Then I heard Brenda Dayne's podcast by the same name and knew that it was going to be my motto for the year.

I was having a hard time falling asleep one night early last week and decided to write down a list of everything that I wanted and needed to do the next day. List writing is a favorite activity of mine but that night I got on a roll and even surprised myself when my list ended at #65. Obviously this list was not going to be accomplished in one day but I gave myself to the end of the month to finish it.

Updating the blog was number seven on the list. It has been over a month since I posted anything and at some point I began putting it off because I didn't have sufficient time to make a really good post and then it just snowballed from there. Today I decided that I just needed to make a post and get on with it!

A lot has happened in one month and I hear Ailish starting to wake from her nap so this won't be much longer... but look at what Mom and Dad gave me for Christmas!

This is an Amy Butler bag by Rowan purchased from Simply Fibers, a skein of Alpaca Soxx yarn in cream and the Interweave Press book Favorite Socks.

I'm so in love with this bag... it's ridiculous.

It holds so much stuff!!! LOOOOVE!