Knitting Pattern: Susan wristwarmers

Here's a free pattern for wristwarmers I knit for my mother, and they're named for her.

Susan

Easy Ribbed Mitts

Yarn: ▪ Blue Sky Alpacas Worsted Hand Dyes (100 g, 109 yds; 50% alpaca, 50% merino) in color #2000 Red; 1 skein.

Gauge: 4 sts = 1” in Rib Pattern on size 10 needles

Needles: U.S. size 10 (6mm), 1 set of 4 double-pointed needles (dpn)

Rib Pattern: *K2, P1, K1, P1. Repeat from *

Left Mitt:

Cast on 30 stitches. Distribute over 3 size 10 dpn. Join for working in the round.

Knit 1 round.

Work in Rib Pattern until piece measures 4” from cast-on edge.

Next round: K1. Using waste yarn, K5; return these to the left-hand needle. With working yarn, cont in Rib Pattern until piece measures 6” from cast-on edge.

Bind off all stitches.

Thumb: Remove waste yarn and place live stitches on 2 dpn. K 5 sts from bottom needle; (M1) twice. K 6 sts from top needle; (M1) twice. K 1 rnd even. BO all sts.

Right Mitt:

Work as for Left Mitt, except working the round with the thumb opening as follows:

(K2, P1, K1, P1) four times, K2, P1, K1. Using waste yarn, K5; return these to the left-hand needle. Continue as for Left Mitt.

Photo: I committed a funny.

Be careful what you put your drink next to.
Originally uploaded by The Loopweaver

I haven't posted in a couple days, so I'll make sure there's something new by posting this bit of accidental visual humor I committed last night. I got a cup of hot chocolate on the way to a doctor's appointment, and put it down on a table when I got there so that I could take off my coat. I just didn't look at just what the magazines were first.

Mere News: Buy in Brooklyn is the talk of the borough

I just found three more items with a Buy in Brooklyn connection on my Google News page -- and no, I didn't do a search for them.

The Brooklyn Paper has a story today about the Snowflake Celebration. (The article also references the Umbrella Experiment briefly.)

And speaking of the Umbrella Experiment, The New York Times has a pair of stories about them. One, dated November 30th, gives a good chunk of background. The second, dated December 2nd, is more of a progress report.

News off the Blogs: Two Links

Two Links off The Gowanus Lounge to report this morning.

The first item, "Park Slope Snowflake Celebration Update," notes that many of Park Slope's retailers will be participating in the Brooklyn neighborhood's first Snowflake Celebration on the 13th (website here). Many will be open late and offer discounts just for this one event. The whole thing is organized by Buy in Brooklyn, who are also behind The Great Umbrella Experiment (Link 1; Link 2).

The second item is a "Bklink" subtitled "F Train Gets C's & D's." The line does just that, as reported on the 2nd Avenue Sagas blog.

News off the Blogs: Quick update on Ikea story

Yesterday, in the Red Hook Ikea Special, one of the links mentioned sunken barges.

Today, The Gowanus Lounge has posted art. See it at "Fun With Boats: Sunken Red Hook Barges."

Scarves, one red and one gray

As I said on Tuesday, I got that lace scarf finished. It's 57 inches long in finished length. Here's the promised photo of the completed scarf (I'll post one of it being worn by its intended recipient when I get ahold of such a shot):



I'm working on another scarf, but not the lace stashbuster I mentioned a while back. I found a lovely merino/cotton/nylon blend when I went to show off the last scarf at the yarn store. The gauge swatch looked like this:


The pattern I'm using is called "Irish Hiking Scarf" and is available from Hello Yarn. It's a fairly popular pattern on Ravelry: with just under a thousand made by Ravelry members, it's currently in the top ten (if only barely). For those of you who aren't on Ravelry, the pattern is available for free here.

Here's the obligatory photo. It's a detail of two of the cables (though this shot seems to have come out light).

News off the Blogs: Red Hook Ikea Special

Today's Gowanus Lounge posts finally showed up on my reader, including three about the Ikea that's eventually coming to Red Hook. From what it looks like, either 1) somebody screwed up massively, 2) several people screwed up with remarkable timing, and/or 3) somebody really wants to pull a fast one on us. The current multi-mess largely boils down to a failure to notify appropriate local organizations with enough time to respond, with a fair amount of questionable sense of historic preservation thrown in.


Posts from The Gowanas Lounge:

• "Did the Army Corp Notify the Local Community Board About Ikea's Permit Request?"
• "Ikea Roundup: Sunken Barges, Blue-and-Yellow Paint"
• "Ikea Applies for Ferry Dock Permit as It Severs Red Hook Piers"

News off the Blogs: Brooklyn Photos edition

There are two posts of Brooklyn photos today on the Brit in Brooklyn blog.

I'm not sure if the first of the two was taken in Brooklyn, but given the sign on the front of the facade shown, I'm not too certain how necessary the rest of the building was.

The second post has two photos of the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, with a short architectural-history note.

New feature: QuoteFoot

I've been adding to the sides of left-hand column of my blog's page every so often. I've tweaked the text colors once or twice. But I haven't said anything about it because it's been under construction. In fact, that left-hand column is still under construction, and I may tweak the colors again at some point in the future.

But this one I will announce, as the bottom of the page isn't somewhere people would look to see a blogger's chosen content. I've installed a box at the bottom of the page that I'm calling the QuoteFoot. The etymology is simple enough: it's a footer and it contains a quote. I'll be getting most of the quotes I use from The Quotations Page, though for no other reason than that they make a Google gadget.

And yes, I will be changing them periodically. And no, it's not a feed, so I've actually chosen the quote myself.

Finished!

I've got my red lace gift scarf in my lap as I type this. I'm on the last row before binding off; I'm working on that row while waiting for stuff to load. Except for weaving in the tails, I'll be done by the time I get home from work. I'll post photos as soon as I have them available.

Still not sure what I'll do next though.

News off the Blogs

If you're wondering why so much of my News off the Blogs posts contain so much from The Gowanus Lounge, there's a simple reason for it: TGL posts so dang much. I've weeded things down a bit since my last News off the Blogs, and still have nine posts from today and yesterday. That said, here's some more stuff.

Yesterday's "Brooklinks" post includes the following:
* A historic Bensonhurst cemetary needs a little caring for (especially compared with other equally historic cemetaries like Green-Wood), according to a New York Times article.
* The Great Umbrella Experiment continues to gain notice in another New York Times article.

Today's "Brooklinks" post includes:
* A really old (as in 1873) map of Flatbush, posted on the Flatbush Gardiner's blog.
* The DEP did the large-scale equivalent of spraying Lysol to cover up a nasty odor, reported by the New York Daily News.
* Several links to snow stuff, which for space reasons I won't repost here.

More snow pictures can be found on the post "Ah, Brooklyn's First Snow".

Anyone looking to adopt a dog ought to take a look at this post.

There are three photos of the sky over Williamsburg, which are worth taking a look at. They are posted individually:
* Part 1.
* Part 2.
* Part 3.

Video: "Nora: Practice Makes Purr-fect"

A video of a piano-playing cat.



There's also a sequel.

Photos: It must be December

Yesterday, it was bitterly cold. Bitterly cold. Despite this, I took this picture:


We even woke up to snow this morning. Compare the picture above to these I took today:

Photo: Lattice detail

Lattice detail
Originally uploaded by The Loopweaver

OK, here's another photo from the Cloisters. It's a detail of a stained glass window they have there -- I'd write more about it if I had the info in front of me.