Pattern For a Bearded Cap

Okay, this isn't my own pattern, but it's hilarious and I will definitely want to make several knitted bearded caps. Find the pattern here:
http://chickenstitches.blogspot.com/2010/12/bearded-beanie-knitting-pattern.html

Solar Decathlon in DC Brings Back Memories

I love the idea of the competition for off the grid housing at the Solar Decathlon in Washington, DC (http://www.solardecathlon.gov/). Last winter we were without power from Dec. 18 - Dec 28, without phone access for much of the time, and because the main pumps work on electricity, we were without water, too. We had no way of knowing where/if/when relief supplies were coming and it wasn't until we had our services back that we watched the news and discovered that water and propane had been delivered several times within two miles of our home. A lot of good it did us!

My son freaked out and proclaimed our imminent demise as the night temperatures dipped well below freezing that first night, and demanded, "What are we going to do? We can't get out of here." My husband and I just smiled and said, "We'll just do what we used to do every winter when we were growing up." And he always teased me for keeping a lot of candles, kerosene lamps, propane, etc., on hand, "just in case!" That old five-gallon bucket in the laundry room saw a lot of use as a water-carrier from the creek to the house to flush the toilet. We managed to keep the living room warm with a propane space heater (make sure a window is cracked a hair if you use open flame for heat) and piled on a lot of covers plus woolly hats at night. My son discovered the joys of reading by kerosene lamp, which incidentally heated the small bedroom he slept in very nicely as long as he dressed in layers during the day and wrapped in a goose-down quilt at night. I was reminded of my childhood every morning, seeing those magical frosted shapes iced onto the insides of the windows by the bed. But you can bet that as soon as we could travel, we went to visit my cousin in the next town and I got a long, hot bath! Those quick, ice-cold, stand-up baths aren't all that pleasant.

But I do miss the days in my youth when we didn't have to worry about depending on faceless corporate culture for our comfort and survival. If the power went out, did we even notice? We heated and cooked with wood and coal. Our water was gravity fed from an artesian well; before that, our wellbox was built into the back porch and covered by its roof; many school mornings we broke the ice to wash and brush our teeth at a little washstand at the edge of the porch. The chlorine-scrubbed toilet was over by the barnyard and we certainly didn't want it in the house! The phone was an 8-party line that we couldn't use most of the time anyway - the other people on the line kept it busy. TV was allotted to an hour after homework was done, if the power was on and the ladder wire to the top of the hill was still in one piece or hadn't been twisted. Things haven't gotten simpler; they've become more complicated since then.

But, it's nice to get up to a warm house, to flip a lever and the lights come on or the john flushes. To "zap" a quick snack in the microwave, to have a special water heater for cups of tea, to know there's food in the fridge and everything doesn't have to be homegrown and canned if you aren't able to do that. If I could have all that and not depend on being hooked into corporations' wires and pipes, well, that would be fantastic independence.

Thanks to all the entrants for what they are doing. I just wish the Appalachian State University's Solar Homestead design didn't look so much like my grandfather's chicken house that just grew by modules into a mismatched group of shapes, wooden storage boxes, and a cookstove under a lean-to attached to a storage shed, that my grandmother used to can on. At first, I thought the design was a gas station, then noticed that it looked more like a conglomeration of second-thought additions onto a storage building.

Maybe they'll work on aesthetics next time.

Fitted Shawl Crochet Pattern

Yarn: Worsted Weight
Crochet Hook: Start with Size I and change to Size K at Row 20

Abbreviations:
beg = beginning
ch = chain
dc = double crochet
dc cluster = 2dc, ch2, 2dc in same space
Ending dc = dc cluster in last dc cluster, then dc in ch2 at beg of prev row
prev = previous
rep = repeat
sc = single crochet
sk = skip
sp = space
st/sts = stitch/stitches


ROW INSTRUCTIONS
1. Using Size I hook, Ch 61 (this is a multiple of 6, +1) [I have arthritis in my fingers so I crochet very loosely. If 61 stitches doesn't seem to be enough, increase your beginning chain to 91 or even 121 and try that.]
2. Ch 1, sc in each of previous 61 sts. You can rep Row 2 if you want a wider band for a collar.
3. *Ch 5, skip 2 sts and sc in third st; rep from * continuing all the way across, forming 20 loops.
4. Ch 2, sc in top of first loop. *Ch 4, sc in top of next loop; rep all the way across. After sc in the last loop, dc in base of first ch 5 in previous row.
5. Ch 2, *dc cluster in next loop, ch 1, sk 1 loop; rep from * all the way across. Ending dc.
6. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2; rep from * all the way across. Ending dc.
7. Rep Row 6.
8. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 3; rep from * across. Ending dc.
9. Rep Row 8.
10. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, dc in ch3 sp, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
11. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, 2 dc in dc, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
12. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, [dc, ch1, dc] in single dc, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
13. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2 [dc, ch2, dc] in ch1, ch 2. Rep from * across. Encing dc.
14. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, dc cluster in ch2 between 2dc, ch 2, Rep from * across. Ending dc.
15. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
16. Rep row 15. (This row can be repeated several times if you want to lengthen the shawl at the shoulders.)
17. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 3. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
18. Rep Row 17.
19. Rep Row 17.

CHANGE TO K HOOK
20. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, dc in ch 3, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
21. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, dc in dc, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
22. Rep Row 21.
23. Rep Row 21.
24. Rep Row 21.
25. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, 2dc in single dc, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
26. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, [dc, ch 1, dc] in 2dc. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
27. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, [dc, ch 2, dc] in 2dc, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
28. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2, dc cluster in [dc, ch 2, dc] of previous row, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.
29. Ch 2, *dc cluster in dc cluster, ch 2. Rep from * across. Ending dc.

Repeat Row 29 until within a couple of inches of desired length (remember that blocking will add length).

Last Row – Ch 2, *5dc in dc cluster, sc in ch 2 between dc clusters. Rep from * across; dc in beg ch 2 of prev row. Bind off.

Work in ends at beg and end of shawl then wash and block the shawl.

You can make an I-cord about two and a half feet long from the same or contrasting yarn (or cut a ribbon or cord to length) and thread it around the neck to tie in a bow, if desired.

Pattern by Jennifer C Rose
March 2010

Please contact me with any feedback about this pattern. It probably still has some kinks in it that will need fixing. : )

I'm on Facebook

I have a Facebook page at:

http://www.facebook.com/jennifercrose0

so that's where I mostly post. But it's a bit restrictive for posting patterns and stuff like that, so I'm seriously planning to take some photos and post my knitting and crochet patterns on here. Plus, it'll be a good place to group my favorite links. :)

I've been enjoying the heck out of the Winter Olympics.

Happy birthday to me