the storm

Adventure strikes.

The week was off to a good start. Grey, rainy. The fruit ninja arrived in the night, piling Meyer lemons on my doorstep. So I made jelly.

Friday was the start of Spring Break. We packed our backpacks, ready to fly out in the morning.

At 1am, a wall of rain hit. Lightning came in a constant white pulsing light, roaring steadily. All the clocks went dark. Water shot in all the windows as if a hose had been turned on from every direction at once, and I ran from room to room slamming windows. We hid in the bunk bed, insulated in a nest of pillows, while the house was battered and rocked by hail and torn tree branches. I worried about waterspouts and tornadoes - which turned out to be valid, because there were at least three of them sighted around Oahu and Kauai by morning. Nobody gets pictures of these things, because HOLY SHIT TORNADO AND WE HAVE NO BASEMENTS.

In the morning, I went outside to check out the damage. The sky was low and fast moving, with lightning shooting horizontally every few seconds. There was a tree down across the street, fragments of fencing all over the road, coconuts smashed clean open, bushes uprooted.

I walked around the house, and found a tree had fallen on the lines in the yard.

The kids pulled on pants and we walked up the road, holding the phone out in search of a signal. No cell service, no electricity. We got in the car and headed for the police station. The road was gone. There was a crumbled pile of stones and a riverbed where it used to be.

My friend drove by as we inched along the torn roads toward the police station, and followed us up to the copshop. The road fell away into sheer edges, and we crept through car-sized holes cut into fallen trees by intrepid early-morning chainsaw-owners. After a bit of a chat about the downed lines with Officer No Mustache and Officer Nick, we found a bar of signal in the Hasegawa's parking lot (along with the rest of the town, standing around yelling into phones and cradling precious styrofoam cups of coffee) and called my mom's house to report that there was no effing way we would be getting to the airport in time.

But like ants in a stomped anthill, the town scattered into action. Work crews pulled the restaurant's roof out of the post office parking lot, dragged the trees off the road, blocked the washed out roads, bulldozed the landslides, and by noon the power blared back on.  We decided to go for it. Rescheduled the flight, grabbed our backpacks, checked in with the cat-sitter, piled in the car, and set off.

The cats were a bit unhappy about all this. Sorry, cats!

The road was torn up in a few places. Waterfalls that normally have no business running were raging through every gully. We all screamed in excitement/terror over every bridge, and I flailed about the tourists standing obliviously on the brink of crumbling cliffs, taking pictures of the pretty water. FLY, YOU FOOLS. Rock slides, rogue coconuts, and a few wild pigs tried to take out our oil pan. Crews looked energetic while they taught the road who was boss.

So it took an extra 12 hours, but we made it to my mom's house. And we set ourselves to python-style consumption of Chinese food and homebrewed beer. Baby Jesus poured me a pint himself.

I am sure everyone will have cleaned up Maui for me in my absence. Thanks, people who did not flee the scene.

Leif's kilt hose - free pattern

The highland games come every year. Small kilt-wearers need hose, too. Nothing too fiddly or complicated, since young legs will try to grow out of them by the time you're done knitting, but something classier than folding over a pair of knee socks.

I measured the 3 year-old, did some math, had a stiff drink, did the math again, and cast on (pattern follows). Sarah Apple sent me two hanks of magical Ontario alpaca (pfft, "Ontario"? Like I believe THAT is a real place) and it knit up some hose like marshmallows and kitten bottoms.

Simple cables for the cuff. Simple ribbing for growing legs.

Paired decreases and a reinforced heel to complement dad's hose. (But my calf is a bit different and not quite as clever as Toirneach.)

(pictures broken)

Hidden garter keeps the hose from puddling around the ankles, and keeps their knives safely secured.

What, your preschooler does not keep knives in their sock? WHAT KIND OF PARENT ARE YOU? People these days, no respect for tradition.


Leif Kilt Hose

Gauge

7 Stitches per inch
12 rows per inch

Materials

Size 3 dp needles (4)
Size 1 or 2 dp needles (4)
117 yds sport weight yarn (hose shown in Gateway Fibreworks superfine Ontario alpaca)

Size and stuff

Height from floor to just below knee: 10"
Height from floor to calf: 7"
Height from floor to ankle: 3"

Circumference just below knee: 8"
Circumference at calf: 9"
Circumference at ankle: 6"
Foot from heel to toe: 6.5"

c4b - slip two stitches onto cable needle, hold to back, knit two stitches, knit two stitches off cable needle



Let's get started! Cuff and garter


Cast on 66 stitches onto double-pointed size 3 needles. Join in the round (do not twist) and p2 k4 for 6 rounds.
Next round: *p2, c4b* to end.
Repeat twice more; 6 rows 2 x 4 rib, 1 row c4b cables.
When cuff is about 2.5 inches, P2 rows. This will be your fold-over point.
Decrease row: p5 p2tog to end; 57 stitches. P2tog at beginning of next row; 56 stitches. p1 k1 rib for 1 inch with size smaller needles.

Leg

switch to larger needles again. Increase for calf; p1f&b, *p7, p1f&b* to end. 63 stitches. Turn work inside out; wrap and turn, to eliminate gap where you switch directions.

k5 p2 rib to end, picking up and purling wrapped stitch. Place marker for start of rounds - these last 2 purls are the center seam for the calf. Knit in pattern for 4 rounds. On 5th round, p1, ssk, work in pattern to last 3 stitches, k2tog, p1. Work in pattern 2 rows. Repeat decrease row, using ssk and k2tog decreases around center purl stitches. Work these 3 rows until 43 stitches remain. One next decrease round, work in pattern to last stitch, remove marker, and p2tog the center purl stitches. 42 stitches remain, pattern should be k5 p2 all the way around, with k2 p2 k2 at the center seam. Work even in rib for 2 more inches, or until leg is desired length, from top of cuff (folded over) to ankle. About 7 inches for 3 year-old.

Heel flap

Put 22 stitches, centered around the calf 'seam', on a needle 1 size smaller than your regular needles. Leave the other 20 on two dp needles.
Work the heel back and forth on the smaller needles, slipping the first stitch on each row.
Row 1 - slip 1 knitwise, k1* to end.
Row 2 - slip 1, p to end.
Repeat these two rows 10 times, until the rectangle is about 1.5 inches long. End with a rs row.

Turn heel

Purl 14 stitches, purl 2 together, purl 1 Turn your work.
Slip 1, knit 7 SSK, knit 1, Turn.
Slip 1, purl 8 p2tog, purl1 Turn.
Slip 1, knit 9 SSK, knit 1, Turn.
Slip 1, purl 10 p2tog, purl1 Turn.
Slip 1, knit 11 SSK, knit 1, Turn.
Slip 1, purl 12 p2tog, purl1 Turn.
Slip 1, knit 13 SSK, knit 1
14 stitches remain.

Ankle Gussets

Using larger needles, pick 11 stitches along the side of the heel flap (into slipped stitches), knit across saved stitches in pattern, pick up 11 stitches on other heel side, knit to midway on heel; this will be beginning of next rounds. On next needle, knit to last two stitches of heel flap, k2tog. This is needle 1. On needle 2, knit in pattern across top of foot. On needle 3, ssk first two stitches of heel flap, knit to end of round (middle of heel). 3 needles total. Knit one round even (keeping rib pattern on top of foot), then repeat decrease round, decreasing last and first two stitches of needles 1 and 3 at sides of foot. Repeat these two rows until 42 stitches remain.
The Foot

work even in pattern until the foot of the sock measures 4.5 inches long.

Decrease for toe

Round 1: on needle 1, knit to last 3 stitches on needle 1, k2tog, k1. On needle 2, k1, ssk, knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1. On needle 3, k1, ask, knit to end.
Round 2: knit all stitches.
Repeat these two rounds, decreasing at sides every other row, until 18 stitches remain. On next round, decrease only on bottom sides of foot; 16 stitches. Knit to end of needle 1, transfer stitches from needle 3 to needle 1, so that there are only two needles with 8 stitches each; one needle for top of foot, one needle for bottom of foot. Using kitchener stitch, graft toe shut.

Done. Make another.