Another sort of leap - I guest-blogged!

I know you're thinking - maybe I should blog around here a little more often.  Go on, admit it.  (Need I remind you of the first rule of Fight-Club-and-blog-posting, again?)

This dissertation on hand-knit swiffer-covers came out of a conversation I had with the divine Maxcine of Stitch Therapy about acrylic yarns.  I believe she is still shaking her head about it, and not exactly in 'wonder'...

While we're knitting (and no, Sara doesn't Garden so much in February - this is knittin'-season!), Catherine took this fab picture of me and my improvised hat-kerchief-headband pattern:

Orange - the new neutral!

Better view of dragon-skin stitch

The first picture is a little closer to the beautiful yarn's real color (soft, dreamy) - plus, it looks as though a giant tree is flinging its branches out of my head, because it's such a sweet-petite sort of head covering.  Look, a botanical reference!

The Dragon Skin stitch pattern is from Barbara Walker's 2nd Treasury of Knitting Patterns - an encyclopedic sequel to her first compendium of stitch patterns.  I've been doing a sort of Julie-Julia thing, working my way through it.  This one's all about the Year of the Dragon, and I'm riffing on it in other ways, because it's so beautiful... and it's easier to see it in less fascinatingly dyed yarn.  Stay tuned for the mittens, more fish-like, and in the other color you thought I'd never be caught dead wearing or knitting. You may pretty-please guess in the comments, or just let me know - what newness and leaping are you up to?

In which I invoke the first rule of Fight Club

Take 2:  I grafted this one onto the neck of the dog, too.  Slow learner.

Updated with Take 3 photo!

(That means, you sticklers for clarify and simplicity - we're not going to talk about blog posting.  Get it?)

Here's one thing I learned:  turns out that every time after the 2nd time is the charm.  That goes for starting and restarting things, and also:  Yarn-bombing the dog, chapter two, which led up to #3, which is even better!

Better yarn (wool, springy, feels great); it wears better, stretches less, and... I had some.  Also - what a clever idea to incorporate the ID tag from his old collar, huh?

It got filthy-icky-dirty the first morning he wore it, of course, and suddenly I couldn't remember why making this in the form of a knitted friendship bracelet was so important.  Also, as you can see, this sort of cable will curl, and not in a cute way.  And anyway, his old collar had a buckle, too - right?

So I cut the buckle from his old collar and started over, and luckily didn't put it on him the morning after I finished it, because that was the day the Terrible Thing happened in the dog park, gruesomely involving the neck in question.   He's been wearing it for a while now - and with all the interest in his neck, both of the knitting and medical variety, I'm pretty glad there will be no more finishing-in-place.  And you'll have to wait till he wakes up for the photo evidence of the 3x=charm version - this one's a reversible cable, making it thicker and - you know, better.**

I'm looking forward to trying this in another fiber for summer (hemp?).  And in another color, because this green has not been popular with the growing and increasingly passionate Friends of Bu claque.  You may vote for your choice of color for the next Collar Of Bucephalus in the comments.  That will be #4, and that will be the charm, too.

And here's the recipe, but first:  it is astounding how much easier it is to invent a pattern than it is to write one down.  And it's even easier to find one on the web: I owe a lot of generous knitters big-time for their help with patterns, ideas, inspiration, and technique.  Go on now - go kiss a knitter today.

**He wasn't sleeping!  He was keeping the sofa safe from vacuuming:

3x=charm dog collar

you will need: 

not very much yarn (mine's Karabella Aurora 8)

needles 1 size smaller than the yarn suggests

optional/recommended: a buckle (mine came from an old collar, via  http://www.boomerangtags.com/, and I highly recommend them)... or you can graft the beginning & end around your dog's neck (which I did, twice, and it looks great and is the ultimate friendship bracelet, but consider the possibility of dirt, and the convenience of taking the collar off to wash it & pooch separately).  

optional: a tag – the best are from my pals at http://www.boomerangtags.com/

Based on the Aran Braid cable from Barbara Walker's 2^nd Treasury; made reversible primarily to eliminate curl, and it also makes it beefier.

CO 16 provisionally, if you'd like to go back & graft the collar OR if you want to use the CO stitches onto the buckle's bar, which would be a fine plan... and if that's your plan, do a couple extra rows of plain rib, so the cable doesn't pull the stitches and make 'em hard to fiddle with.

You can also CO 16 your favorite way, and plan to go back and attach it to the buckle with a yarn needle.

Work a couple of rows in k1/p1 rib, just to get away from the buckle (or to make the provisional cast-on easier to deal with later).

Begin pattern (slipping first stitch you actually knit, in each row... that is, not the ones you slip to the CN)

Row 1: *sl 4 st to CN and hold in back; k1p1 twice, k1p1 twice from CN*; repeat

Row 2: k1p1 all stitches

Row 3: k1p1 twice, sl 4 st to CN and hold in front; k1p1 twice; k1p1 twice from CN; k1p1 twice

Row 4: k1p1 all stitches

If working in the tag... I don't love the way I did this. I recommend separating the K & P stitches on 2 needles, and rejoining (in proper alternating order) on the other side of the bar.  Keep going until approximately your dog's neck measurement.

If you plan to graft, I don't have to tell you not to make it too tight around the dog's neck. Don't make it too long/loose, either (heaven forbid you had to grab your dog by the collar in an emergency, and it slipped off)

If using the buckle, continue till about 2” longer than your dog's neck – longer if your dog is growing. (You'll want to test the stretchiness of the collar with a few tugs along the way; mine "grew" more than I expected, and I'll be adding a loop to keep the end flat soon.)  The pointy part of the buckle fits nicely through the middle of row #1 - no need to make a buttonhole.

For an optional narrowing to make buckling easier:

next row: P2tog, k1p1 to last 2 stitches, k2tog

next row: p1k1 all stitches

next row: ssk, p1k1 to last 2 stitches, p2tog

next row: k1p1 all stitches

To finish, you may either:

separate K & P stitches onto two needles and graft;

OR separate K&P sts onto 2 needls and do a 3-needle bind off;

OR just bind off in k1p1 rib so you can get this thing on your dog already.

You can (of course!) make this using a different cable stitch.  One nice thing about the Aran Braid is that the center cross in front somewhat undoes the natural tendency of the two back crosses to twist. Also – it's fancy-looking, yet easy to memorize, and easy to know what you last did (which tells you what to do next).

Look, I made a... wait, I yarnbombed my dog

Bucephalus developed a bump and a rashy-looking patch around his collar, which of course has the seams and the nastier part of the nylon stitching on the *inside,* so it will look nice.  You can plug in one of my oft-told rants against fashion here, unless you're more in the mood for my original soundtrack to "Why is everything made like no one cares?  Because you'd have to pay people to care."  (Yes, I think people who make things should be paid.)  So Bu's been running around naked in the park, and we get him there and back (and around the block for his other 3 walks each day) with the excellent Easy-Walk harness by Premier (its finishing stitching and seams are on the outside - nice).

And this has been fine, but if we ever did need a handle to pull Bu out of some form of canine stupidity, a collar would be a great choice.  So I knit him up an irritant-free collar.

Thanks for the photo, Catherine.  And dude, don't worry - no one wants the ball.

This actually seemed like a terrific idea right up until the part where I completed it on the dog, in the park, on a cold, windy day, in the presence of other dogs who thought it was part of a great new wrestling game.  For that lovely seamless look, I grafted start and finish together using Kitchener Stitch, a technique in which I am not well versed, and which requires that I mutter the steps of each stitch under my breath, like some incompetent sorcerer's apprentice.

During that part it was clearly the single dumbest thing I'd thought up in a long time.

Now (he's asleep), it's looking like a pretty OK idea again.  He has a very permanent collar, once I weave the ends in - which I'll do, as soon as he stops being anxious about the inordinate interest I've been expressing in his neck.  We'll cut it off him when it gets too grungy.  That will take a while - it takes a lot to gross out a dog.  And he sure will look fetching for the annual Holiday Coffee and Keep the Dogs from eating the Donuts event tomorrow.

Mark your calendars!

 

More reminding - you must come! 

  
We are a joyful, newly formed band of voices, and we can't wait to sing this wondrous collection of wintry, Christmas-ish carols into the very vibrating air that YOU will be breathing, as you sit in the pews of the beautiful SFX Church.  This is kind of my singing Dream Team (don't pinch me), and the repertoire is better-than-best.

Proceeds from this concert benefit the Brooklyn Conservatory Chorale - making possible scholarships, space rental, music purchasing, soloist hiring, and much more.  Please join us - and you get to sing along with the carols at the end.  Promise.

And if you're thinking that's not enough singing for you - please come to the Messiah Sing-Along *this very Sunday* at 4pm, at St. John's Episcopal Church (139 St. John's Place @7th Ave.)... donations will be collected to benefit CHIPS, to help restore their kitchen after the recent fire.  Please come, please sing, please give (and if you have a Messiah score collecting, dust, bring that, too!)

Please imagine this photo, as taken by Tom L

Gradually, I'm finding all these photos in my phone and thinking... what if someone else had taken this?

Here are a few more, including the face of my beloved, my niece about to be shot up in the Coney Island bungee thing (yeah, no, I can't tell, either - but I was there), and this one is especially for Tom, because (well, if you've seen his photos of rocks, leaves, water, shadow... you know why).

Note to self:  learn to use the phone camera.

Ball is not lost

Yes, that's the same dog.  It's the same pose, in the same park.  But look - it's a different leaf pile!  This is a very, very good time of year for leaf piles.  Leaf piles are very good for - doing that thing Bu does, in that same pose, day after day (see above).

The giant blue ball (what, you don't see it?) was a gift from a dog named Sasha, who cares only for tennis balls.  I planned to give her this awesome tennis-ball gizmo that left Bu completely indifferent... but we have never seen Sasha (or her very nice human) before or since that day, years ago, when The Precious #1 entered our lives.  It's recently been pointed out that at some point, the manufacturer might discontinue this item, and this would be a good time to stock up.  In bulk.

It's available here - and those good folks also sell a squeeze-tube for high-paced treating (in case squeeze cheese is not your thing).

No idea why Bu is blue in this picture.  And Sasha - we owe you one.

Happy day after

Wow, that was just all so tasty and so sweet and so affectionate and generous-hearted and kind and fun.  Cranberry sorbet, you're my new BFF!

Thanks to all our friends, neighbors, guests, and pets.  And a big shout-out to my nephew Ben, who did all kinds of helpful things, requested and unsolicited.   Who knows whether I could have done it without you?  I'm just really, really glad I didn't have to.

I know many of you are not feeling this, but:  can we all feel just a little sorry for Robert now?  I  know, he's in Costa Rica.  But it's been raining a bunch, and he's been working on a project, not (mostly) surfing, beaching, or kayaking.  And he didn't get to obsess about the food, or the wine pairings, or the proper turkey making method - and he didn't get to eat any of it.  He'll be fine, really (and he'll be home very soon).  But see how wistful he looks, in a sort of "Rembrandt painting left under the stairs a little too long" sort of way?

Miss you, RMo!  And man, you missed a swell feast, a swell after-feast, and a few weeks of the most beautiful November days ever.  Literally.  Combined.

Travel safe home, spouse-y.

Neighbors - see you in the park, same pup time, same pup channel.