“Pre-game Handshake” Super Scarf #12

There’s a time for classic knitting, simple designing, and then there’s a time for . . . . frivolity!!!!

That’s what my “Pre-game Handshake” Super Scarf is all about.

It’s a long line, really, when two people shake hands: shoulders, upper arms, forearms, wrists, hands clasping.  I thought I would give it a try for my most recent Super Scarf.

Actually, I’ve been working on it for a while, but that little surgery and hospital stay cut into my work on this scarf.   I just finished it up yesterday.

  

The caricature effect is similar to my “The Big Kick” Super Scarf from a few weeks ago.

Since there are only two approved colors for the Super Scarf Project, I wanted to use them judiciously to give the impression of two football jersey sleeves, two football players’ arms, and finally their hands clasped for the pre-game handshake.

I was not trying to mimic any specific team by my stripe combinations.  I just wanted to use both colors to break up a solid color block of knitting.  Some players have shorter sleeves that barely go over their shoulder pads and others have sleeves that go long.  My sleeves are not symmetrical for that reason.  I alternated the color scheme from one end of the scarf to the other and changed the striping slightly.

You get to decide if the forearm represents a long-sleeved shirt under the jersey, or simply the skin tone of a player.  That’s why I knit one arm in each color, to represent the diversity in the NFL.  Many players wear gloves; some do not.  You again can decide if the hands are in gloves, or just skin to skin.  I appreciate diversity and wanted to represent it.

I added little cuff at the wrists.  They can either represent cuff of a long-sleeved shirt, or cuffs on gloves . . . or sweat bands for that matter.  I was just having fun!

This scarf looks completely impractical!  I knit it in the round in six separate pieces and then pieced everything together by hand with matching thread and yarn as was appropriate.

This scarf might look cumbersome at the handshake, but if the wearer puts that section up to their neck, it actually covers the “V” area left when a winter jacket is partially unzipped or unbuttoned.

I added the fringe . . . because I can, I guess.  I made it long and then tied it all in a big knot!  They actually make the football jersey sleeves look like stocking caps, but fringe looks good when the scarf hangs down.  The whole thing is just fun.  This one and “The Big Kick” make me giggle.

Enjoy!  

“Up by Three” – My hospital Super Scarf #11

Since Gr8 had been working on a garter stitch Super Scarf, I decided I would keep her company and knit a garter stitch scarf, too.  I thought it would be my best bet for hospital knitting.  It made for minimal packing of supplies to carry along to pre-op.

To complement Gr8′s white scarf, I knit a blue one.  It made for an easy, lazy week at the hospital.  Sleep, knit, shuffle the hall, knit, watch Project Runway, knit etc.  Worked great.

To add a little punch to my finished scarf, I decided to knit goal posts and footballs to represent a field goal. 

When the offensive team can’t get move the football all the way to the end zone for six points, they have the option to kick the ball through the uprights for three points.  That’s why I called this Super Scarf “Up by Three.” 

There are those little footballs again!  It’s kinda fun to play with a simpler knit design and think applique for a few projects!

The goal posts are knit in two separate pieces and the footballs are slightly smaller than those I knit for Gr8′s “End Zone” Super Scarf.

I’ll get the goal post and football patterns here shortly.

Happy knitting!

 

My Mother’s Super Scarf – “End Zone”

Gr8′s a peach! 

I asked her if she would knit a Super Scarf for the Indianapolis Super Bowl.  She agreed.  I gave her some yarn when I went to install her gutter filters a while back and she’s been working on it since then.

She brought the finished scarf when she came to stay at my house while I was in the hospital last week.

She agreed to knit with the provision that she could do something easy because she hasn’t knit for a while and when she does, it’s not a scarf-size project any more.

Fine with me!  I love that she wanted to participate and my Indy brother loved it too.  I told her to just knit.  Knitting every stitch on both sides of a garment is called the garter stitch.  I still like it even after all these years.  It’s repetitive, meditative . . . and easy enough for those of us who like to watch football and knit.   Aside from that, it really shows of the consistency of a knitter’s gauge.

So Gr8 knit, and knit, and knit.

When she got done, I appliqued the little knit footballs because she wanted my help to dress up the scarf for XLVI.  We’ve called it “End Zone”.  In football, the end zone is the area between the end line and the goal line, bounded by the side lines.  The offensive team’s goal is to enter the end zone with the football in order to score.  Gr8′s footballs are in the end zones.

The little footballs are easy to make. I’ll  post the directions here when I get the chance. 

Thanks Gr8!!!

Goodnight makes me laugh!

That granddaughter of mine . . . . . I love that I don’t have to micromanage.

Case in point:

This morning we had a chat about her grades.  They’re fine, but I need to tell her that I’m pleased.  None of us only wants to hear complaints.  During our conversation, I asked her what she had coming up in the near future for assignments, projects, etc.

Goodnight: I have a test next week.

Gram: In what subject?

GN: Science

Gram: What day next week?

GN: Thursday . . . I think.

Gram: How will that go for you?  Need any help?

GN: Nah!  I don’t need any help.  It will be easy for me.

Gram: Why will it be an easy test for you, honey?

GN: Because I decided to start paying attention in class.

Works for me.  I love her honesty!  I didn’t laugh until later, but my heart giggled immediately.

She went to a school dance last night.  She had a good time, but she told me she’d overheard the boys talking about seeing who could dance with the ugliest girls.  Pretty soon one of the boys came up to her and asked her to dance.  She turned him down!!!  She told him that she’d overheard their plot and told him it wasn’t nice.  Then she spread the word about what the boys were up to and they all got turned down.

I laughed because she did all that without any forewarning from her Gram.  I can’t wait to see what kind of adult she’ll be.  She has an advocate’s heart.

She had as long a week as I did – perhaps longer.  She did some worrying about her Gram.  All I did was sleep, give blood (a lot!), shuffle down the hospital halls with my IV pole and ‘hospital purse’, pee into a ‘hat’, watch Project Runway, and knit.  She spent the week with my mother.

I’m not exactly sure who ended up being in charge of the house, but I heard that Goodnight announced to Gr8 one day after school, that she had the evening all planned for the two of them.

“We’re just gonna chill out, toss some pillows and blankets on the living room floor, gather all my stuffed buddies around us, watch Harry Potter, play Chutes and Ladders and Monopoly.”

I started laughing before I heard the entire plan.  My mother hates Harry Potter, wouldn’t want to play another game of Chutes and Ladders in this lifetime (besides we don’t own it) and she never really liked Monopoly, except that it kept her own four children out of trouble for hours on end.  And, I can’t imagine her crashing out on my living room floor . . . stuffed buddies or not.

Goodnight was yanking her chain from the get-go, just to make her laugh.  Gr8 was worried about me all week and Goodnight decided to cheer her up.  It worked.  Maybe she actually was in charge of the house after all.  I know she’s in charge of my heart . . .

Goodnight is off to a party this afternoon.  I’m heading to the store to find Chutes and Ladders so I can plan a fun night with my granddaughter. . . .   I think I’ve got it covered.  We’re just gonna chill out, toss some pillows and blankets on the floor, gather a bunch of stuffed buddies around us, watch Harry Potter . . . . . .

If a rolling stone gathers no moss . . .

I’ve had a fair amount of time to think about things . . . life . . . this week.  Too much time, perhaps.

I took a look in the mirror and had a great laugh.  I looked at the girl I thought I was going to see (yeah right, I know), and saw some sags here, and some jiggles there, with wrinkles running like blue highways connecting the sags and jiggles.  I’m not fond of that road map, but it is what it is.

For better or worse, I’m out of the hospital after a week’s time.  My November surgery got bumped up a month.  I was happy to get it over with.

Before I left, Goodnight gave me a hug and whispered in my ear so Gr8 couldn’t hear, “Gram, can I be in charge of the house and then just let Gr8 think she’s in charge?”

I love it when she gets creative like that. (ps. My answer was ‘no.’)

I took along some knitting just to humor myself.  I wasn’t sure what knittin’ and purlin’ looked like on dilaudid, but I know some knitting clubs go out for drinks and knit.  How different could dilaudid be?  ;-]

They let me knit in pre-op until the very second they rolled me into surgery.  I tossed my knitting into my bag and they zipped it up and off we went!  It was actually a relaxing way to wait.  Besides, I met four nurses who all belong to the same surgical nurse’s knitting group.

More stories later.  I’m still resting.

But I was wondering . . . If a rolling stone gathers no moss, does a rolling kidney gather no stones??  I’m open to suggestions at this point!

Maybe Philip will have a prayer/poem in his book that would be appropriate for the occasion.

Maybe Travis will have a Peace Quote about . . . stones.

Carol for Peace can just take a photo of a stone and it will make me laugh.

And Carol E. – is there a quilting fabric with stones on it?

Ms. Dancing could write something about stones – in prep for her writing class . . . maybe?

And all the rest of you readers, leave me a joke or something.  It’s been a boring week in the hospital.  I don’t have cable TV at home so I was mildly amused for a while, but last night apparently was the finale of Project Runway and so ALL AFTERNOON they ran back-to-back episodes of the whole season.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking the show at all.  I watched it for six hours.  I was too exhausted to click the clicker.  And then . . . they discharged me in the evening before I could watch the finale!!!!!!

When that happened, I had to laugh at myself.

All’s well.

“Super Trees” Super Scarf #10

I have finished another Super Scarf. 

This scarf is a tribute to one of the Community Projects of the Indianapolis Super Bowl Host Committee and to the folks who are working together to make their goal of planting 2,012 trees by the year 2012 a reality.  Click the link to read about 2012 trees.

2012 Trees has partnered with KIB, Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, for this massive tree planting initiative.

I recently received an email from my older brother, who lives and works in Indianapolis.  He was involved in the I-70 shut-down when volunteers concentrated on planting trees and spreading mulch on a beautiful autumn day.  Click the link to read more from the Indianapolis Star.

For my tree tribute, I decided to use a classic Barbara Walker chart and turn it into a Super Scarf. 

Twin trees I comes from Charted Knitting Designs -A Third Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker.  I used that chart because it was narrow enough to qualify for the width specifications of the Super Scarf Project.

Take a close look at the branches of the trees.  I didn’t make them all the same.  The top sets of trees on either side are done following the chart exactly.  But on the lower two sets, I decided to make the branches look a little different, so I made them weave in and out differently.   Frankly, that was tougher than following the chart six times.

I wanted my trees to ‘bloom’, so I used a double loop/fur stitch at the tip of each branch.  To achieve the effect I wanted, I cut the double loops, unraveled the yarn plys, dampened the entire scarf and tossed it in the dryer.  The  result was softened yarn on my blooming trees.

There are three pairs of trees at each end of the scarf.  For the center section of the scarf, I switched to a classic 2×2 ribbing for around the neck.  I’m not tied to having a design go the full length of a scarf.

To  pay further tribute to volunteers who had/will have a hand in the Indy tree-planting initiative, I knit two tiny pairs of mittens, and sewed them to the ends of the scarf.

Rather than fringe, I decided to knit what looks like little fences to finish off the scarf ends.

Since the above garment is not a sweater, I don’t think I am going to be tied to blocking the trees to make a straight scarf.  I rather like the undulation.

I love the blooming trees and the little mittens!  Hats off to all the volunteers who’ve had a hand in Indy’s tree-planting!

 

 

“Stitching Unstitched” – Super Scarf #9

I kinda hate to put my paint brush knitting needles down, but I finished the scarf that I was making with them.   When I left my knitting needles at home and wanted to knit at work, I had to ‘punt’.  (Sorry for the pun, but I’m still giggling from the football quotes I posted earlier.) My solution was to use some paint brushes sold in the college bookstore for the art students.  Worked like a charm!

It’s a simple scarf, really.  I used the seed stitch on both sides of the center design.  Down the middle, I used the stockinette stitch and yarnovers to creat the holes.  There are seven sets of the double holes making up the length of the scarf.

The sequence of the holes was not a random decision.  If you take a closer look, you can see that there are eight pairs of holes in each set.  That number coincides with the number of cross stitching holes on the outside of an official NFL football!

Yup!  If you unstitch the white stitching from that old pigskin, you are left with a pattern of holes!  Have a closer look.  See the holes?  And while you’re at it, look at the texture on the ball itself.  That’s why I used the seed stitch.  It provides a similar texture.

My “Stitching Unstitched” Super Scarf is an up close and personal look at the football.  There’s a symphony of texture and design out there on the football field and it’s my goal to interpret as much of it as I can.

And . . . . on my word of Honor, I used the paint brushes for the entire scarf!!!!!

Check out the Super Scarf Project and help the Indianapolis Host Committee meet its goal.

Happy knitting!

Football Quotes – for the 2012 Host Committee

I’ll be busy climbing up and down my ladder today, so not much time to chat.  But before I get outdoors, I wanted to share a few football quotes that make me laugh out loud.

“Pair off in groups of three.”

“Lead us in a few words of silent prayer.”

“Line up in a circle.”

“You guys line up alphabetically by height.”

“Men, I want you just thinking of one word all season.  One word and one word only:  Super Bowl!”

All of the above quotes are from Coach Bill Peterson, Florida State, Rice University, and Houston Oilers.

To the 2012 Super Bowl Host Committee: Huddle up, share some of your best motivational quotes, stay inspired . . . hang in there for the long haul!

And you knitters out there . . . . how about just one Super Scarf?  Come on, it’ll make watching XLVI so much more fun!

Giggling Down to my Toes!

I should warn you . . . . I grew up under the parental tutelage of, “Just because your friends do it, doesn’t mean that you have to do it!”  That’s great advice, of course,  but in the case of sox, I had to reconsider.

Sometimes an old girl just has to take her turn!

Check it out.   Scroll to the photo of stripey sox on Ms. Dancing’s feet. 

One of the comments left there was from another blogger friend of mine.  Ms. Dancing encouraged Ms. CFP to flaunt her feet, too! 

Now check out the flaunting.   At the end of her post, Ms. CFP issued the challenge to me.

So, with an indulgence from my folks for doing it just because my friends are doing it, check out my stripey feet.

Anyone else want to play ‘Happy Feet’ with us?

What’s a knitter to do?

It’s obsessive, I admit.  But I love to knit and will go to great lengths to keep at it.  After all, it’s the one thing I’ve been doing the longest in my life . . . except for breathing, I suppose.

Yesterday, I thought I had my work breaks well planned out.  I threw some yarn in my bag and made a mental note to grab a set of knitting needles before I headed out to the garage.

Turns out the ‘mental note’ had a very crooked path to travel and never arrived at its destination, so when it came time for my first knitting break, there were no needles to be found.  Emptying the contents of my bag, upending it and shaking violently was only a rudimentary exercise to delay the obvious.  I hadn’t brought any needles with me.

Not to be outdone, I scoured my office cubicle for anything pointy and slender to use as substitutions.  No luck.

No problem!  I marched myself to the college bookstore and found the paintbrushes for the art classes we offer here.  I fondled them to get a sense of what needle gauge they might represent.  Then I selected two brushes, exactly the same and headed to the check-out line.

The clerk ringing me up reminded me that they were the same brush.  I knew that, but refused to tell her why I wanted them.

I headed back to my office, fetched my yarn, and got to work.  I guessed the paintbrushes to be about a size 8 (US) and out of curiosity, I punched a whole in a piece of paper with the pointed end of the needle, measured the diameter and found a needle conversion chart online.  I was right!

So . . . . I spent the rest of my break time happily knitting away on another Super Scarf for the Indianapolis 2012 Super Bowl.  Do I get to say that I ‘painted’ this one?    Just curious . . .

 

If anyone needs to know . . . . here’s the hole that the paintbrush made and a metric tape measure showing the 5mm diameter.  Click the link for one of many resourses for Needle Sizes and Conversions available on the web.