In the Studio with KnittingAmazon

Damask Rose Shawl - Finished!

2012-02-26T13:28:00.000-05:00

I finished up my Damask Rose Shawl last night with 18 grams of yarn to spare. I love the colors of this shawl, although as gradiance sets go, it does seem a bit atypical to me, although I will confess that I am only beginning to get to know the beautiful yarns of The Unique Sheep. My strategy of no transition rows was not as successful on this shawl as on the other two shawls that I used it on, but it was no transition rows or stripes, so I decided to stick with no transition rows.

How it all began

2012-02-25T11:00:00.003-05:00

Back in the summer of 2000 I was in graduate school at Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana studying the history of science when the Beadcats (my sister, Virginia, and her business partner Carol) came to visit Yellow Springs, Ohio. Now, South Bend is only 5 hours away from my home town of Yellow Springs, so of course I had to come home to see them. They were en route to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they were going to have a booth at Convergence, the Handweavers Guild of America conference. They stopped in to see the family and to see if they could get some help at the show. My brother, John, volunteered to come help them set up, and I volunteered to help them set up and help them man the booth at the show. It was my first real exposure to fiber, fabric and beads, and I was hooked.

The show was kind of slow, and I remember that the booth next to ours was selling knitting machines and I sat with one just behind me that was set up and running the entire show, and that convinced me I never wanted one in my house. To make the time pass we decided to do a little bead along, and Carol taught me how to bead a spiral rope. I picked some colors, and by the time the weekend was over I had made this:

I enjoyed this project so much, that I selected some more flower, leaf and lentil beads as part of my payment for my labors that weekend and made this:

There is a matching bracelet as well as earrings. I still have the bracelet and I think I still have the earrings, but I gave the necklace to my niece, Erin, when we went to my brother David's wedding in 2004. I made dresses for my sister, Liz, and her daughter, Erin, for the occasion and the necklace matched Erin's dress. I was originally only going to loan it to her, but she loved it so much, I just couldn't take it back.

I then decided to make a more dramatic variant, and created this necklace:

The large focal beads are catkins, and I used the medium sized ones to make a pair of matching earrings.

It was at this show that fabric spoke to me for the first time. I was wandering the floor when I went by the booth for St. Theresa Textile, a Cincinnati store, and a purple batik said "Buy me!" I walked into the booth, pointed at the fabric in question and said "I have to have that." I had no idea what I was going to make out of it so I bought 5 yards. I soon discovered retro patterns and made this dress:

The pattern is Simplicity 9192. I loved this pattern so much that when I found another really gorgeous fabric I made another one, which I wore yesterday to a retirement luncheon for a colleague (yes, it really was warm enough yesterday to wear this outfit).

The lace shawl is Broderie.

I also bought some fiber at the show, and when I got back to South Bend I bought "How to Knit" by Debbie Bliss and started knitting. I did knit a scarf out of one of the two yarns that I bought. I think it is a kid mohair, silk combo. The yarn is a boucle, so I wanted something simple. I think I did a moss stitch. I still need to weave in the ends.

The other yarn I bought is a worsted weight purple/blue variegated wool/silk blend that I will probably knit into a vest.

And so began my love affair with fabric, fiber and beads.

Rose

2012-02-24T19:30:00.000-05:00

This past Wednesday, when I should have been knitting and listening to my telecons, I was not knitting, but I was thinking about knitting. In fact, I was thinking about knitting this top. This is Fiesta Yarns La Luz, 100% mulberry silk. Have you ever noticed how silk can sometimes feel crunchy and at the same time be so soft? This is one of the Flower of the Month colorways that has been sitting in my stash for a while. After trying on the body of African Violets I wanted to knit a short sleeved version of the top-down raglan so I pulled this yarn out. The yarn band recommends size 6 (4 mm) needles, but I automatically go down 2 needle sizes with Fiesta Yarns, so I am knitting this on size 4 (3.25 mm). My gauge is a little tighter than that on the yarn band, but I like the fabric, and I love the colors. The pattern is from Sweater Wizard Software. The plan is to knit just the body, probably without the ribbing at the waist, and then do some finishing around the hem, neck and arms.

Boreal Socks - Chart 2 - 3 repeats

2012-02-24T19:17:00.001-05:00

I finally finished the third repeat of chart 2 and am within about 0.5 inches of starting the heel. I only knit a couple of rows a day on these, usually in the morning before I go to work. I love all of the beautiful sock designs out there, but I feel bad wearing them with shoes, hidden by pants. I think it would be fun to bring back the breeches from the 18th century that the men used to wear that come to just below the knee and wear them with hand knit socks and flats. Of course, to pull this off you would have to knit knee socks and most of the sock patterns I have seen don't come up past the calf.

Damask Rose Shawl - Chart 2

2012-02-20T09:30:00.001-05:00

I finished up Chart 2 last night and started on the border. The gradiance set for this shawl is really interesting because skein 1 is so different from the other skeins. I don't think there is any really good way to transition between skeins 1 and 2. If I had done the recommended transition rows then I would have had stripes. I didn't do any transition rows, so there is a pretty dramatic change. I started skein 3 towards the end of Chart 2. It has pink in it. The interesting thing is that skein 2 looks like a pale salmon pink when it is on its own, but when you put it in the shawl you see a paler version of the yellow that is in skein 1, as well as the pink that is in skein 3. It will be very tricky, if not impossible to capture with the camera. I like the way it looks like the green and yellow are bleeding into the salmon.

Now that I have decided to let the yarn do all the work transitioning colors I am eager to try other colorways, especially if I can compare my results without transition rows to projects with transition rows. I happen to have 336 yards of my Tart Berries in Luxe that I knit the Through the Looking Glass Shawl out of. When I finish this shawl I may cast on another Over the Moon shawlette. I picked that pattern because it is so simple, no lace work until the feather and fan border, so I can really observe the color changes. Unfortunately, 336 yards is not a whole lot, so I will have to finish the shawlette with another color, but I do have some other colors of Luxe in my stash, so we'll see what I can come up with.

We were really hoping for some decent snow yesterday, but we only got about an inch. I suppose it was for the best, it was a heavy wet snow, which caused power outages in areas that had more accumulation. I made stew anyway, because who doesn't like stew on a cold snowy day.

African Violets Pullover - Body Done

2012-02-19T13:03:00.000-05:00

So this colorway doesn't really remind me of African Violets. I will confess that the first word that came to my mind was camouflage. Camouflage is an interesting word. It is probably derived from the word camouflet, which is French, and means "smoke blown in someone's face as a practical joke", but the modern definition is "an underground explosion of a bomb or mine that does not break the surface, but leaves an enclosed cavity of gas and smoke".

This is certainly the tamest of these pullovers that I have made, and it is also the best fitting. I adjusted the increases of the body and neckline to give more ease in the very top portion, where it fits across the shoulders. I have wide shoulders and the other pullovers, while they fit, are a little snug across my shoulders and will ride up a little. So I increased every other row for about half of the distance of that upper section before you separate out the armhole stitches, and then spaced out the rest of the increases. It increased my yarn usage a lot more than I thought it would. In fact I ran out of yarn on my second skein while I was working the rib around the bottom so I didn't do all 15 rows, and I had to break into my third skein to work the ribbing around the color. I still have plenty to knit the sleeves, though, there just won't be as much left over as my other pullovers.

Christmas Shawlette II - Beauty Shot

2012-02-17T16:22:00.000-05:00

I finally got home early enough to get some natural light, and the sun was shining. The colors blend so beautifully in this shawl, which you might not expect considering that red and green are on opposite sides of the color wheel. This shawl was knit without any transition rows, I just made sure to match the colors when I switched skeins. The edging on this one is a little different as well. Instead of binding off the three stitches in purl I bound them off in knit, which made a little point on each of the scallops. For comparison, here is my other Christmas Shawlette. The biggest difference from a color perspective is the striping that you get with the first color change from the gold to the silver and gold.

Damask Rose Shawl - Chart 1

2012-02-17T07:01:00.000-05:00

This is the first project from the Smell the Roses Club, the Damask Rose Shawl. There has been quite a kerfuffle over on Ravelry regarding this shipment. Apparently there was a miscalculation in the amount of yarn required and folks were coming up short. I am one of the fortunate ones that received a fair bit of extra yarn (26 grams) so I should be able to knit the shawl as originally designed. I love the pastel shades of the yarn and I am really enjoying knitting with Tinsel Toes, it may be my new favorite fingering weight yarn. I will confess that this clue became a bit boring with all of those knit stitches because I still had to count to make sure that I hadn't missed a yarn over (which I did several times), and all of that counting was putting me to sleep. I am intrigued by the shape of this shawl. There are four triangular panels in chart 1, which would make a square, but there are no increases at all in chart 2.

Christmas Shawlette II - Finished!

2012-02-12T21:05:00.000-05:00

I finished this up this evening. On this shawl I did not do any transition rows when I changed skeins and, although it is a bit hard to tell with this photo (I had to use flash), the colors flow beautifully into each other.

For a comparison of technique, here is my other Christmas Shawlette in which I did do transition rows between the skeins.

Both techniques yield beautiful results, so personal preference should dictate which technique one uses. For myself, I like the ease of no transition rows, and it definitely makes it easier to use up each skein before going on to the next, reducing the risk of running out of yarn. On the silver and gold shawl I had 20 grams of yarn left over, but on the green and red one I only had about 10 grams left over. If I had been careless with my transitions, I could easily have run out of yarn.

Velveteen Coat - Vogue Pattern #Unknown

2012-02-11T16:38:00.003-05:00

I started making this coat back in March/April of 2006. The fabric is a heavy weight velveteen, lined with crepe back satin. I bought the fabric from Fashion Fabric Club Online. It is so gray here that I had to use the flash to get the picture. The pattern is a Clair Shaeffer Vogue Couture pattern, but I can no longer find it, so I have no idea what the pattern number is, and a quick search on the internet yielded no results, so I am guessing that it is out of print. It certainly is not to be found on the Vogue web site. So, for the past 6 years it has been living on one of my dress maker dummies (yes, I have more than one) waiting for a suitable method of closure.

I originally bought a number of beautiful glass lamp work buttons at Bead & Button, but one of the shanks broke and I was nervous about using them only to have them break. Recently I thought about using some Czech pressed glass buttons, but the sticking point was always the button holes. The fabric is heavy enough that machine sewn button holes just weren't going to work, believe me, I tried. Next I thought about binding the button holes with silk ribbon and I spent an afternoon trying to make that work, to no avail. I also tried binding the button holes with hand stitching, but I couldn't get that to look the way I wanted it to. Finally I hit on the idea of frogs. So, off to the internet I went and googled and I found Angel Trim.

They are located in Hong Kong and have an amazing supply of fashion accessories. I selected half a dozen different frog designs and submitted my order only to have it fail after I had completed the payment process via PayPal. You can well imagine my alarm, my money had been sent, but not my order. Fortunately I still had the page with my cart on it open, so I hit the "contact us" button and copied and pasted my order into the message, that was on January 29. On January 31 I received an email thanking me for my message and saying that my order would go out that day, airmail. On February 9 I received another email from them telling me that they had been sent registered mail, with a tracking number, and asking me to let them know when they arrived. That same day I had a notice in my mailbox that I had a registered mail parcel. I just picked them up from the post office today. With their selection and service I will definitely be shopping there again, and shipping was surprisingly inexpensive - only $11.

Now I just have to make something equally spectacular to wear with the coat.

Beauty Shots

2012-02-05T11:31:00.000-05:00

And here are beauty shots of my latest shawls:

Three Quarter Time Shawl

Knitterati Mystery 1

I think it would be fun to make this larger and longer so that you could actually wrap it around you waist. This one doesn't quite go, I have it pinned in back. It shouldn't be too hard, just make a longer garter stitch section, and increase the length of the short row section or turn the ends into ties.

Yarny Goodness

2012-02-05T11:24:00.000-05:00

My husband likes to joke that it is always Christmas at our house because of the packages of yarny goodness that regularly arrive. Now, I don't get such wonderful packages everyday, but I do get them on a regular basis thanks to the number of clubs that I belong to. These are the packages that came this past week.

First up - the first shipment for the Stop and Smell the Roses Shawl Club from the Unique Sheep. Packages from The Unique Sheep always fill me with anticipatory delight, and this one definitely lived up to the anticipation. The yarn is Tinsel Toes, a fingering weight Tencel/wool blend that I have recently become enamored of, the color way is Damask and when I saw it, it took my breath away. The name of the shawl pattern is, appropriately enough, Damask Rose. There is also a pretty rose on a clip, a rose stitch marker and a rose button. I so want to cast on this shawl, but first I have to finish my second Christmas Shawlette.

This is the first shipment of the 2012 Blue Moon Fiber Arts Rockin' Sock Club. The yarn is actually more purple than the picture shows. It is a wonderful, glorious purple. The official name of the color is H.R.H. Crown Princess of Purple, Violetta. The yarn is their light weight sock yarn in 100% superwash merino. The two patterns are just exquisite. I may have to buy another skein so I can make them both. I know I could find something suitable in my stash, but I really think they need to be a matching set. These socks have yet another heel technique for me to learn.

These are my color options for the next installment of the Light and Dark Lace Club. The yarn is Pelusa lace, which is a lace single in 100% superwash merino. The colors are, from left to right: Olea, Golden Locks and Scarlet Letter. I am leaning towards the Scarlet Letter, but I bought extra, just in case I end up making more than one of the shawls. After Diadem proved so popular, I thought it best to be prepared.

And last but not least, the February installment of the Crochet Block of the Month Club. The yarn is Sushi Sock a blend of Superwash Merino, Bamboo and Nylon. The colors are Forest and Mist. The pattern is Winter Laurel. This is my second year in this club, and I am so behind on my blocks.

Boreal Socks - Chart 2 - 2 repeats

2012-02-05T10:13:00.000-05:00

Well, these are not getting finished as quickly as I had thought they would, but I have finished 2 repeats of the second chart. I have at least one more repeat before I start the heel. I am going to try a new (to me) heel technique from Alice Yu using shadow wraps. Everyone on the forum is raving about how easy they are and how there are no holes. I do love the leaf pattern, it is so organic and sinuous.

Knitterati Mystery 1 - Finished!

2012-02-04T14:11:00.000-05:00

I finished the mystery project this morning. The lace border presented the most challenges because of the short row sections at each end, and the lack of detailed explanation in the instructions. I added some beads to the lace. I ran out of yarn before I finished but I managed to get through the lace pattern before I ran out. Then I was faced with the dilemma of how to finish. Fortunately I have a reasonable quantity of this particular yarn base in my stash and, even more fortuitously, I happened to have a skein of red that was just a bit darker than the one that I was knitting with. I finished the garter stitch rows after the lace pattern and bound off and then decided that to make the shawl look more finished I would pick up and knit an edging on the inside curve as well.

Pattern: Knitterati Mystery 1, Knitterati Sock Club January 2012 mystery pattern
Yarn: Main color - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Cranberry Sweets (100g, 400 yds); Edging color - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in St. Valentine (22 g, 88 yds)
US size 5 (3.75 mm) needles

Boreal Socks - Chart 1: It's a pair of toes!

2012-01-29T16:13:00.000-05:00

Somehow I think these socks are going to get knit up pretty quick. I just can't seem to leave them alone. After taking a break I went back and cast on the second sock and in pretty short order I finished up the toe. This photo also shows the yarn, which is just beautiful, and such a dream to knit with. While I was taking the photo my cat, Jasmine, decided to get into the act. Here she is in the long shot. Now on to Chart 2.

Boreal Socks - Chart 1: It's a toe!

2012-01-29T10:16:00.001-05:00

I actually cast on last night. I just couldn't wait any longer, the yarn and the sock pattern are both so beautiful, even though I have plenty of projects in progress. I worked through the toe increases, Chart 1. Now I am going to rest my eyes and my hands and work on something fairly mindless and on larger needles for a while. Before I go on to Chart 2 I will cast on the other sock onto another set of needles using the yarn from the other end of the ball and knit that sock through Chart 1. I will then alternate between the two socks in an attempt to avoid the one sock syndrome. I used the make 1 right and make 1 left increases where you pick up the bar between the stitches, and I made sure to work the stitch in the pattern. I did find that going from the sole to the instep I had some trouble maintaining tension. I think that is because the sole is worked in stockinette stitch and the first stitch of the instep is a purl stitch. I did not have the same problem when I went from the instep to the sole.

The yarn is Hazel Knits Entice (70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon). Needle size is US 1 (2.25 mm) and I am using 2 16 inch circulars.

Lorna Suzanne Cardigan - Two Sleeves and the Beginning of a Body

2012-01-28T11:43:00.000-05:00

The other thing that I wanted to get done this week was finish the second sleeve for my Lorna Suzanne Cardigan and start the body. I actually started the body sometime in the past week but I just finished the last 10 rows of the second sleeve this morning. I knit my swatch on size 7 (4.5 mm) needles, but when I knit the sleeves they came out with a tighter gauge (as is often the case when knitting in the round). In fact, the first part of the sleeve that I knit on 12 inch circular needles came out with almost 20 stitches per 4 inches (my gauge swatch has 18 stitches per 4 inches) and the part of the sleeve that I knit on 16 inch circular needles came out at 19 stitches per 4 inches, which is actually the gauge called for in the pattern. So when I cast on for the body I went down a needle size and used size 5 (3.75 mm) needles for the garter stitch border, and size 6 (4 mm) needles for the stockinette stitch.

Knitterati Mystery 1 - Clue 2

2012-01-28T10:33:00.000-05:00

The second clue of the Knitterati Mystery 1 came out this past Wednesday and it included a riddle, the solution of which is the location of Harper, the hapless non-knitter abducted by the secret knitting society. There was a link to a Google form to submit your answer. I love what Janel is doing with the club this year, it is just so much fun. I also finally received my club yarn, after it spent a week (yes, a week) in the USPS sorting facility in Eugene, Oregon. Once it finally left Eugene it made it here in just a few days. I will probably cast my socks on tomorrow. Today I am planning on working on my second Christmas Shawlette in the Dickens colorway. I want to finish it before I cast on the first pattern in Romi's 2012 Pins & Lace club. That yarn arrived this past week as well, and the yarn and the pattern are just gorgeous.

Lorna Suzanne Cardigan - It's a sleeve!

2012-01-22T15:52:00.000-05:00

A good friend of mine who has recently started knitting wanted to try knitting a sweater and asked for a little help from me, so I suggested that we find a pattern that we both like and do a knit along. The sweater we picked is Lorna Suzanne by Ellen Mason. I picked a yarn from my stash that I bought some time ago back in 2009 as a sweater pack - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Superwash Worsted in Midnight Plum. I knit my gauge swatch and cast on a sleeve. I always like to start with the sleeves because they give me a chance to check my gauge on a larger piece and to see if I really like the way the yarn is working up. The sleeve is supposed to be three-quarter length, but when I had knit that far I tried it on and decided that it would look better full length, so I kept on knitting, and increasing until I pretty much used up the ball and the sleeve had conveniently reached an appropriate length.

Yarn Choices

2012-01-21T16:09:00.001-05:00

I have a real tendency to agonize over yarn choices for projects, and to agonize over projects for yarn. It is just that I want the perfect yarn for the pattern, and the perfect pattern for the yarn. Sometimes the yarn speaks to me, and that makes things easier, but sometimes the yarn stands mute and then I end up with extra yarn because I can't decide. Consider the picture above. On the left we have The Unique Sheep Luxe in the Silverlode colorway, on the right is The Unique Sheep Tinsel Toes, also in the Silverlode colorway.

Luxe has been my go-to fingering yarn for a little while now and I have knit 3 shawls in it this past year. Luxe is 25% Tussah Silk, 75% Superwash Merino, a combination that I love. I was introduced to Tinsel Toes with the Christmas Shawlette and I must say that I have become quite infatuated with it. Tinsel Toes is a 50% Superwash Merino, 50% Tencel blend. The Tencel (a cellulose fiber that was created as a substitute for silk) gives the yarn a wonderful sheen, but unlike silk it does not take up dye very readily. When you get silk wet it opens up and sucks up the dye, resulting in wonderful deep jewel tones. The fact that the Tencel does not take up the dye, while the wool does can give the yarn a slightly heathered look. It also mutes the colors some as can be seen from the photo above. I love the sheen and the texture.

I had originally bought the Luxe in Silverlode for Galadriel's Mirror, because I wanted to have the effect of a mirror that might be created in a pool of water hence the silver to blue transition. Unfortunately, the Luxe didn't quite have the sheen that a mirror would have so I knew that I had not found the right yarn for the pattern. Then I knit the Christmas Shawlette with the Tinsel Tinsel colorway and I knew that it would be the right yarn. I had a 10% off coupon burning a hole in my knitting bag, so early this month I ordered the same colorway on the Tinsel Toes. It came today and I am very happy with it. I think it will be perfect for Galadriel's Mirror.

Of course that means I have that set of Silverlode in Luxe sitting around feeling abandoned. Well, to be honest it has been feeling abandoned ever since I bought it because we both knew it was not the right yarn for that pattern. I think that I will use it for Le Petit Prince, knit from the dark blue to the silver instead of from the silver to the blue, of course now I have to get beads (such a hardship, I know) to match. I have ordered Love Spoken Here on Luxe (I think the yarn base in the photo is Tinsel Toes, or maybe Pashmi) for that mystery knit along, but now I think I will use it for the Secret Garden shawl, which will bounce the yarn that I have already bought for that project...and so it goes. For me, at least, it is important to get this right because if I don't I just will not enjoy knitting the project. I have forced myself to persevere a couple of times when I have been in that situation but I don't like it and want to avoid it as much as possible.

Knitterati Mystery 1 - Clue 1

2012-01-19T20:26:00.000-05:00

I tried to resist the clubs this year, I really did, but I was not very successful. I managed to give up one. But one of the clubs that I could not give up was Janel Laidman's sock club. Last year it was called "Art and Sole," this year it is "Knitterati." Yesterday the first pattern came out. Each shipment includes 2 patterns, one sock, and one mystery. This is the mystery pattern. It came with a delightful story about someone who is kidnapped by a secret society and must knit their way out of the situation. Of course I had to answer the cry for help and cast on. The mystery pattern called for 400 yards of super soft fingering yarn, so of course I thought of Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 and I happened to have a most scrumptious red sitting in my latest yarn acquisition pile just crying out to be knit into something wonderful.

I still haven't received the yarn shipment yet, but according to the spoilers it looks wonderful, and I fully intend to cast on the socks when it arrives.

Draped Vest

2012-01-19T20:07:00.001-05:00

As much as I am a fiber-holic, one thing I do try to do is buy yarn for projects, rather than just buying yarn for the sake of buying yarn. This is a rule that lately has been more honored in the breach, but it is still a rule that I try to be mindful of. This purchase was off the elann.com web site, a great place for getting bargains. The yarn is Vienna by Naturally, a 10 ply (so they say) that is 63% wool, 33% acrylic. I don't usually go for acrylics (not since my early days of knitting), but I liked the pattern and I wanted to try something a little different, hence the Charcoal. I tend to go for colors - not much of a neutrals girl. After finishing up the shawl I wanted a simpler knit, but something a little different, so here we are.

I am knitting this one pretty much according to the instructions, no rewriting to avoid seaming. The only thing I am doing is keeping the selvedge stitch in pure knit, no purls, just to make the seaming a little easier. I do wonder about the pattern instructions though (they were free with the yarn purchase). There is no schematic and the instructions do seem to be a little brief. This is the back, and I have started on the left front.

Three Quarter Time Shawl - Finished

2012-01-15T14:43:00.002-05:00

I set this shawl aside when I was over half-way through the last clue to finish up some of my easier projects that had been sitting around for too long waiting to be finished, but yesterday I picked it back up again. As I mentioned in a previous post, I did not do any transition rows when I started the next skein in the gradiance colorway, I simply made sure that I picked up the new skein in a spot that matched the current skein. I am very pleased with the results, and love the fact that I didn't have to deal with two skeins at a time. Working the color changes this way also means that I have almost nothing left of skeins 1 and 2, and a fair bit left of skein 3, but at least I don't have to worry about when to make transitions, or running short of yarn later.

Blocking the shawl was not as hard as I thought it would be, although I did not block it out exactly as shown in the pattern photos. I knit my shawl on size 3 needles rather than size 5 (I just cannot bring myself to knit lace with size 5 needles, it just doesn't feel right to me) and so my shawl is smaller than it would otherwise be (I knitted a medium according to the pattern) and I think that this affected how the border blocked out. First I laid the shawl out as much as I could, stretching it into place by hand. Then I started with the neck edge, pulling it out and into place by hand, just following the natural curve of the knitting and pinning about every inch. After that was done I started on the edging. Beginning at the bottom center I pinned out every third blossom, pulling the center petal first, then the two side petals. I worked from the bottom center up each side. I then went back and pulled out the two blossoms in between, again working from the bottom center up each side.

Latest Club Arrivals

2012-01-14T15:07:00.002-05:00

So I think that I have may have mentioned that I belong to a lot of clubs. Some might say that I have a problem. I prefer to believe that I am merely doing my bit to help stimulate the economy and support independent artists. And can you really have too much yarn? Really? After all, it keeps me off the streets and out of the pool halls. And I can take the beautiful yarn that someone else has created and turn it into another beautiful thing that is also functional. As habits go, I think that mine is a pretty good one. Of course, all the clubs that I belong to mean that there are always wonderful surprises in my mailbox. Well, not always, but often enough to keep me smiling and happy, and today I hit the jackpot. Two lovely surprises in the mail box today.

First, the latest Sip 'n Stitch offering from The Unique Sheep. Have I mentioned lately how much I love The Unique Sheep? I belong to almost every club that they offer, the only one that I've passed on is the mini-skein club, mostly because I haven't been bitten by the hexapuff bug. And I love their mystery knit alongs. I am eagerly awaiting the start of the next knit along - Le Petit Prince. But back to the Sip 'n Stitch.

The coffee this time has chocolate. The yarn is Pashmi in Red Eye Gravy. And check out that cute little ceramic dish from Cats Paw Pottery. I'm not sure what I'll use the little dish for, but I'm sure I'll find some use for it. I love the extras that they include.

The other shipment that I received was the latest Flavour series offering from Zen Yarn Garden and Woolgirl. This is their third offering - Cranberry Sweets - and the picture does not do justice to the yarn color, it is such a luscious red, it really does look good enough to eat.

Plus there are cranberry jelly candies and a matching stitch marker. You could probably see things better if I had unpacked them all, but I wanted to show you the package just as it was pulled out of the box so that you understand the extra lengths that Woolgirl goes with her clubs.

Virginia's Scarf-In-A-Scarf - Finished!

2012-01-14T11:17:00.000-05:00

I actually started this back in September, probably as an easy and compact knit for traveling. I was doing a fair bit of traveling last fall for work. I have now knit three of these scarves, one for me, and one each for the Beadcats, Carol and Virginia. I do hope that Virginia likes the colors, I almost gave up on it because I wasn't sure about them. I also have three scarf-in-a-shrug kits to knit up, hopefully before Bead & Button this year. I always like to come bearing presents.

Azores Islands Pullover - Finished!

2012-01-14T11:10:00.000-05:00

I finished this up on Thursday. Once the body is done the sleeves go very quickly and I have started a new project at work so I had a fair bit of reading to do. I only have two more colors of the Boomerang yarn to knit up into pullovers, and then I will start working my way through the Baby Boom, which is a lighter weight version of the Boomerang. This colorway is Azores Islands, part of the Fiesta Yarns Color Cruise 2012 series. The pattern is a modified top-down raglan from Sweater Wizard software, 3 skeins, size 5 and 6 needles.

Tie-Neck Top - Finished!

2012-01-08T11:21:00.000-05:00

I have decided that I need to finish up some of the unfinished projects languishing around the house and this is the first one that I got to, probably because it was sitting in a bag just a few feet from where I usually sit to knit. Finish or frog is my current mantra. I do this periodically, especially when the clutter starts to get out of hand or I start to feel overwhelmed by the number of works in progress I have. I did not end up picking up stitches for the sleeve shaping as I mentioned I was going to try in the previous post. I had forgotten that this only works if you pick up all of the stitches at once and then do short rows, and I just didn't feel like doing that here. It wasn't that big of a seam to sew up. I did sew the seam from the end of the sleeve inward though, so I could use the same yarn to knit the garter stitch edging. I do find it a little curious that the picture in the magazine does not show the garter stitch edging on the sleeves, of course it wouldn't be the first time that I have found mistakes in the sample garment photographed for the pattern.

I forgot to post this picture last time. This is the view that greeted me this past Thursday, after that cold front blew through - a light dusting of snow.

Tie-Neck Top

2012-01-07T11:29:00.000-05:00

I started this top on June 17, 2011, right after getting back from Bead & Button. It is from the August 2011 issue of Knit 'n Style, one of the (too) many knitting magazines to which I subscribe. The yarn is from the Premier Yarns Deborah Norville Collection - Serenity Garden Yarn - a Dralon Microfiber. The pattern called for a US size 7 (4.5 mm) needle, but I had to go down to a US size 5 (3.75 mm) needle to get gauge. I ended up picking the colorway that was in the magazine - #80004 Gems, and I purchased 6 skeins even though I am knitting the 32 inch size, which only calls for 5 skeins. I often buy an extra skein, especially if the yarn is variegated as is this one.

Of course I modified the pattern to knit it in the round and now that I have the front done I am going to try to pick up stitches from the front shaping rather than casting on stitches for the increases. We will see how well that works. I also plan on doing a three-needle bind off at the shoulders. Being an avid "in the round" knitter I was very interested in a recent blog post by Wendy Johnson in which she discusses the merits of knitting pieces and seaming. I have long felt that seams can interfere with the drape of a garment, but she points out the fact that in knitting in the round you are actually knitting a spiral, which can also affect the drape, even causing the knitting to be skewed, depending upon the weight of the yarn. In my knitting I tend to leave seams only where they serve a structural purpose, but now I shall consider my modifications a little more carefully.

The reason that this piece ended up sitting in my unfinished objects pile for so long was the fact that I realized when I started doing the neck shaping the blocks of color would get a lot larger. Now if I had knit the front and back separately, the blocks of color would have been twice as large in the body as they are, and so the change would not be as drastic and I was a little worried about the aesthetics of the piece. On the other hand, by knitting in the round I had avoided the whole challenge of matching the colors at the sides. I am glad that I purchased an extra skein, however, because each time I started a new skein there was wastage as I matched the color sequence between the two skeins. I am however, happy with the way it is turning out and I think I did a pretty good job of matching the color blocks on the two top front pieces.

Three Quarter Time Shawl - Chart E

2012-01-01T16:07:00.000-05:00

Finished up Chart E, another set of blossoms, only to discover that I have two more sets of blossoms in Chart F. Sigh. I am getting really good at those increases...

I have to go back to work on Tuesday, and that makes me kind of sad. I've enjoyed my time off, I really needed the break. I even got a fair bit done in my studio. Things are coming together and I am getting organized and creating homes for all the stuff that I have accumulated. I have photographed the pattern envelopes for all my Vogue, McCalls and Simplicity Patterns, and I won't tell you how many that is. I still have the Butterick and Folkwear Patterns to photograph. They are all on my iPad and the pictures are labeled with the pattern number. I thought about photographing the back of the pattern envelopes as well, but the iPad camera isn't really that great and the details weren't very readable. I suppose I could have scanned front and back into PDFs, but that would have been a lot more work. Making a stack of patterns and snapping pictures is pretty quick. Labeling them all is a bit more tedious, but still not too bad. Hopefully once I get my studio squared away I will be able to do some sewing. I have a wonderful cutting table, but right now it is a bit cluttered...

Three Quarter Time Shawl - Charts C & D - Repeat Once

2011-12-31T17:39:00.000-05:00

After my false start I have completed Charts C and D, twice, correctly, no problems with rows 61M or 63. All that is left are Charts E and F. Chart E is almost a duplicate of Chart D, only 8 rows, but more of those Estonian Lilies, which are beautiful, but kind of tedious to knit with all those increases. Chart F is very similar to Chart A, and will presumably produce the beautiful leaf edge that will be such a pain to pin out.

Three Quarter Time Shawl - Charts C & D - Correct!

2011-12-30T16:06:00.001-05:00

Amazing how much better things work out when you follow the directions ;-). Fortunately I only had to reknit the last row of Chart C and Chart D is only 8 rows. I did have one heart stopping moment when I was knitting row 63. I got to the center stitch and seemed to be off by 3 stitches. Then I realized that I had done my 3 into 9 set instead of k3tog and everything was okay. I am glad that I ripped back, my stitch count would have been way off if I hadn't and that would have totally messed up the amazing leaf border, which is one of the most beautiful things about this shawl, even if it will be a royal pain to pin out. But it will be so worth it. I also like the way the colors are pooling better on the corrected version.

Let's Try This Again...

2011-12-30T11:36:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I'm an idiot and obviously need to learn to read directions more thoroughly. I got back to row 61M and still had issues with that row and row 63 and I just couldn't understand what was going on, so I went back to the directions and looked them over again and said "oh"...or maybe that should be "doh!" At first I thought about forging ahead with my variation, but it really didn't take me long to decide to rip back and redo it. Yes, rip back, without lifelines, 32 rows. I've done this sort of thing before and I've gotten pretty good at it, although I don't think I would try it with a pure silk yarn, but with a nice wool or wool silk blend it isn't that hard, even if it is a little scary. I just pull out the needles and start frogging. I stop one row before the row that I want to start with, and that last row I pull out a stitch at a time, while picking up the live stitches on my needle. The toughest thing about this particular row were all the S2kp stitches that I had to undo. But now I am already to begin again.

Three Quarter Time Shawl - Chart D

2011-12-29T19:22:00.001-05:00

Well, I don't know what the deal is with row 61 (the last row of Chart C), but despite all my efforts I ended up with extra stitches in row 63. Fortunately they occurred around the center stitch, so I improvised and it all worked out okay. Row 63 isn't a very difficult row, but it contains a bunch of increases to create the Estonian Lilies. I actually had to go over my knitting working from the center stitch out making sure that everything was symmetrical. Whatever happened in those two rows, I didn't have any trouble with the rest of Chart D. After I pinned it out for the photo I checked the symmetry of Charts C and D and everything looks good. Now I get to repeat Charts C and D, so I will get another crack at rows 61 and 63.

You can get a pretty good sense of the color transition in this photo. I think it looks good, I may never do another set of transitions rows with a gradiance set again. I find that thought rather liberating. I guess I am lazy about some things, and color changes are one of those things.

Three Quarter Time Shawl - Chart C

2011-12-29T13:56:00.001-05:00

Chart C was a bit of a challenge. I actually had to refer to the written directions and use markers (gasp! I hardly ever use markers with lace, they just seem to get in my way). I am still not sure that I did the last row correctly, about a third of the way through the row my brain locked up and I had to get out my novelty frog magnet to help me keep my place in the chart.

I tried an experiment with this project. As I mentioned, the yarn is a gradiance set and it is recommended that you do a series of transition rows between the skeins, and I have done that on the other three shawls that I have knit using gradiance sets. But this lace pattern is taking up most of my brain power and I just didn't want to deal with the transition rows, so I decided to see if the yarn would do all the work for me. I knit until I was almost at the end of the first skein and then I grabbed the second skein and started with a length that matched the color of the first skein and started knitting. And I am happy to say that the colors are transitioning beautifully.

Postscript: Well, I just finished going back over that last row in Chart C and I definitely made a mistake, but I believe it is because there is a mistake in the chart. After the two sets of stitches that are gray, there is a motif that the chart indicates should be knitted twice, but when I did that I actually ran out of stitches, and if I leave out that second repeat, everything works out. It only affect the second half of the row and the mistakes were easily fixed. At first I was just marking where the mistakes were with slip on markers, but it wasn't just a matter of picking up a missed stitch, so I decided I needed to just fix them as I went along by slipping the stitches from one needle to the next until I got to a spot where there was a mistake, fixing it, and moving on. We'll see how good I am when I start the next chart.

Three Quarter Time Shawl - Charts A & B

2011-12-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

I saw this shawl on the Earth Faire web site and just fell in love with it, so I bought the kit. The kit doesn't seem to be available right now, but the pattern is. The yarn is The Unique Sheep Eos in Chocolate Roses, one of their gradiance colorways. The shawl pattern comes in four sizes, small, medium, large and extra-large. The kit comes with enough yarn to make the medium version. The pattern is not for the inexperienced lace knitter, however. There are multiple charts, and because of the different sizes there are multiple combinations of those charts. To add to the complication, only the first half of each row is charted, you have to knit to to the end of the row (which is really the middle of the pattern row) and then reverse direction to get the other half of the pattern row, and remember to reverse some of the stitches as appropriate.

This was another project that I cast on in early December (the 5th, according to my project page). I think I had a fit of new project-itis at the beginning of the month, but then it took a back seat to some other projects and I finally picked it back up yesterday. I would not advise working on this one in fits and starts, unless you take really good notes on where you are at, it is just too easy to lose the bubble on where you are and what you are doing. Yesterday I finished Chart A (the top picture), and this morning I finished up Chart B (an easy one, the chart is only 8 rows).

You can see the beads better in the top picture (I used the flash), but this picture has more accurate colors.

Pattern - Three Quarter Time Shawl, beaded version, by Mary R. White

Wilhelmina Shawlette

2011-12-28T11:36:00.001-05:00

I cast this on early in December (the 8th, according to my project page), but it took a back seat to a couple of other shawls. I finally got back to it this past week. The design is from a book published by The Cooperative Press of projects inspired by literary characters called What Would Madame Defarge Knit?. This shawlette was designed by Chrissy Gardiner, and was inspired by Mina, the heroine of Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. I made mine in Serendipitous Ewe Fate Fingering in Blood Thirsty.

And here a beauty shots of my latest shawls (I seem to be making a lot of them lately).

The Wilhelmina Shawlette

Arachne's Delight

The Jungle Book Shawl

The Christmas Shawl

I also have the Dickens colorway (red/green) for this shawl, now I just have to decide which color to start with.

Arachne's Delight - Finished

2011-12-25T14:45:00.000-05:00

I am spending a quiet day at home knitting and watching all of the "Thin Man" movies with William Powell and Myrna Loy. This is the October 2011 Light and Dark Lace Club Shawl. The yarn is PennyRose Lili, a 100% merino lace weight in Toffee.

Azores Island Pullover - Body Done

2011-12-22T09:41:00.001-05:00

A trip to Charlottesville, two trips to Aberdeen Proving Ground, reviewing documents at work and reading Alexander Dumas at home (The Three Musketeers) produced the body of my latest pullover. The yarn is Fiesta Yarns Boomerang in Azores Islands, the Color Cruise colorway for May. Do you see what I mean about the colors? They are a somewhat unusual combination that I would never have considered - purple, blue and red all go well enough together, but then they added that seafoam green. And yet, somehow it works.

I wore my Casablanca Pullover to dinner last night. We took the kids (both in college) to dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise. The food was fine, but the service was extremely slow. It took over an hour for our food to come out. The waitress was very apologetic, even though we didn't get mean about it. After the kids took off to do some shopping, the manager came out, apologized, and told us that he had comped our dinner. All we paid for were our two beers and the appetizer. The thing that I don't understand is why it was so slow, the place was not very busy.

So, this morning I was checking the stats on my blog (I like to see where the hits come from) and I had 89 hits from Russia, in one day. Kind of weird, huh. I know it is a big country, but I've never had that many hits in one day, let alone from one country.

Casablanca Pullover - Finished!

2011-12-20T10:26:00.000-05:00

I finished this up this weekend, taking a break from lace knitting and enjoying the soothing rhythms of simple knitting. I will confess that this colorway does not really remind me of Casablanca, but I do like the colors. Honestly, I haven't really found any of the Color Cruise colorways to be that evocative of the places that they are supposed to represent, unlike the Flower of the Month colorways. And wait till you see the Azores Islands Pullover. It has a very unusual combination of colors that I wasn't sure about at first, but which is growing on my as I knit.

Yarn - Fiesta Yarns Boomerang in Casablanca, 3 skeins
Pattern - Top Down Raglan from SweaterWizard
Needles - US 5, 6

I have also been busy organizing my studio. I have been taking photos of the pattern envelopes of my sewing patterns with my iPad so I can leaf through the pictures when I want to find something to sew. I have made it through my collection of Vogue and McCalls patterns, and am on the Simplicity patterns.

Arachne's Delight - Charts C

2011-12-17T21:30:00.000-05:00

I finally got back to this shawl and finished up Chart C. I have done two repeats of the border already. I did make some modifications to the pattern. I completed the final repeat of the motif, which gave me 402 stitches. I only increased to 408 stitches, rather than 432 as called for in the pattern. This will give me 17 repeats of the border pattern to each triangle, rather than 18.

This past year knitting has pretty much consumed my crafting time, but I have decided that I need to make time for the other crafts that I enjoy: sewing, beading, weaving, crochet. I may even tackle spinning next year. So look for other types of projects next year. I also plan to spend more time reading the resources that I have been accumulating, so expect to see some book reviews in the future. I am not sure where all of this will lead, but I feel a need to make some changes in my life. I have also been organizing my studio. My yarn stash is almost completely cataloged and put up in plastic bins. There is the inevitable overflow, and I don't have the latest acquisitions cataloged, but it is mostly done.

The Jungle Book Shawlette - Finished!

2011-12-14T19:48:00.000-05:00

The pattern had a slight asymmetry deliberately introduced to give the pattern a more organic feel. An effect that I really like on the gradiance sets and the semi-solid colors, but with the dramatic color changes of my yarn it just wasn't working, so I adjusted the pattern to make it symmetrical. I also went down to a size 5 needle, which gave me a slightly tighter gauge than called for and a slightly smaller shawlette, although it is still 54" across. The colorway is Fall Goddess on Luxe by the Unique Sheep and I used a little less than 1 skein (400 yards).

I think that this colorway really demonstrates the necessity of matching yarn types and colors with patterns. I had originally bought this yarn for the Phoenix and the Carpet shawl, but once I started knitting with it I just wasn't happy with the way it was turning out, because it just wasn't coming together the way it should. So I put the shawl aside for a while until a different colorway spoke to me - the Golden Mustard. Meanwhile, Fall Goddess sat in my basket feeling a little abandoned, knowing that it could become a beautiful shawl, if only the right pattern came along. Fortunately one did and I am extremely happy with the way the shawl turned out. I loved knitting it and watching the colors change and pool and play off of each other.

Of course, the yarn itself is important as well. If you don't enjoy handling the yarn, it just isn't going to be that much fun to knit with. I love knitting with Luxe. It has a nice twist to it, so it has great stitch definition and once it is blocked it develops a wonderful hand, soft and drapey, but not limp. It is one of my favorite fingering weight yarns. Personally, I feel that if you aren't enjoying the knitting, you shouldn't do it. Life is too short and there are too many beautiful yarns and wonderful patterns out there to spend time working on something that you don't love.

Tangled Threads - Crochet Block

2011-12-10T20:05:00.001-05:00

This weekend I pulled out my Crochet blocks. I am way behind, I have only crocheted up 3 of the 12 block sets that I have received. I was actually keeping up at the beginning of the year, but fell behind some time in April. So this morning I organized the kits that I have received by fiber type. The plan is to work each fiber type and start assembling them into something, blankets, pillows, whatever strikes my fancy. Right now I am working on the ones in Luxe. This block is Tangled Threads by Melinda Miller, and was the August block.

Christmas Carol Shawlette - Finished!

2011-12-04T19:58:00.000-05:00

Once I felt confident that I had memorized the edge chart, it went very quickly. What can I say? I love the yarn, love the pattern, love the colors. The yarn is Tinsel Toes, the pattern is Christmas Carol Shawlette, the 2011 Christmas Club, and the color is Tinsel, Tinsel. This is the first time that I have knit with Tinsel Toes and I really like it. The Tencel adds a nice sheen and I think the shawl will be both elegant and cozy, which is a hard to beat combination.

Casablanca Pullover - Body Done

2011-12-04T13:58:00.000-05:00

I have been working away at this one between other projects. This is my easy project, perfect for car rides and reading boring documents at work, both of which occurred in the past week. I took some time out this morning to finish the ribbing and knit the neck band. I'll get the first sleeve started and then go back to working on the border of my Christmas Carol Shawlette - I'm over half way done.

The yarn is Fiesta Boomerang in Casablanca, one of their Color Cruise 2012 colors, 3 skeins, size 5 and 6 needles, simple Top Down Raglan from Sweater Wizard Software.

The Jungle Book Shawlette - Clues 1, 2 & 3 - Take 2

2011-12-03T11:42:00.000-05:00

So Clue 3 came out yesterday and after dinner I dived eagerly in. I had been reading the forum so I knew that there was some errata, and that the spines were not intended to line up with the spines from Clue 2. But after I knit a few rows I knew that I wanted the symmetry so I decided to rip back. But as I was contemplating the changes to the pattern I decided that I really wanted to go back and fix the asymmetries that existed in Clues 1 and 2 as well. So I ripped back to the last increase row before Clue 1. For those wondering, I did not have any life lines, I simply pulled the knitting off of my needles and started ripping back. When I got to one row before the row I wanted to start knitting at again I tinked, putting each stitch back on the needles before pulling out the stitch from the row above.

But, before I started knitting Clue 1 again I had to make a slight modification to the chart. You see, the pattern really wants to be knit over 41 stitches, not 40, so I added an extra stitch, resulting in a symmetric pattern.

So far, so good. Then I got to the next increase row, but how many yarn overs did I need to do? I knew that I needed to add another stitch to the chart to make it symmetric, but did I need one stitch or two in the knitting? It turns out that I needed one stitch, so instead of my increase row being k3, (yo, k1), end yo, k3 it was k4, (yo, k1), end k3. This gave me 81 stitches for the chart pattern. And the result was that everything lined up beautifully.

Reknitting those two clues took me all evening, and this morning I tackled Clue 3. Once again for my increase row I did k4, (yo, k1), end k3, giving me 161 stitches for the Clue 3 pattern. In Clue 3 however, the extra stitch went at the beginning of the right side rows, instead of the end. But once again everything worked out perfectly.

Now back to my Christmas Carol Shawlette. I am about a quarter of the way through the knit on border.

The Jungle Book Shawlette - Clue 2

2011-11-25T09:41:00.001-05:00

As I was knitting the first row of Clue 2 I discovered that I had made a mistake on Clue 1. Somehow I had ended up 2 stitches short. Obviously I missed a couple of yarn overs, but I couldn't see where, so I frogged and started over. This early in the game it is easier to just start over than it is to diagnose and fix. I am enjoying the pooling and I think that this colorway is more suited to this kind of shape, where the row length changes, even if it is a step increase rather than a continuous increase, than to a fixed row length.

Yesterday afternoon and evening I worked on some simple knitting, another raglan pullover in Fiesta Yarns Boomerang in the Casablanca colorway, one of their Color Cruise 2012 colors. There were too many interruptions to try to focus on lace, but today I will go back to my Christmas Carol Shawlette. I am about to start Chart 4.

Christmas Carol Shawlette - Chart 3

2011-11-24T12:42:00.000-05:00

I managed to squeeze some knitting in this morning before I had to start the cooking and finished up the two repeats of Chart 3. I started the second skein on row 13 of the second repeat of the chart. The turkey is in the oven, and the bread is toasted for the stuffing. Pretty soon we will have to chop the celery and onions and peel the potatoes and get them all cooking for the stuffing. I saute the celery and onions in butter (lots of butter), boil and mash the potatoes, cut the bread up into cubes and mix them all together along with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Yum.

Christmas Carol Shawlette - Chart 2

2011-11-23T18:14:00.000-05:00

I was four rows into Chart 2 before I realized that I had forgotten to do the increase row. Luckily there were only 46 stitches in each row to tink back. That is what I get for trying to multitask. But even with the false start I still managed to finish the second chart while I was watching King Solomon's Mines on TCM. I had to use the flash to take this picture, which really brings out the gold in the yarn and almost makes it look metallic.

Christmas Carol Shawlette - Chart 1

2011-11-23T16:14:00.000-05:00

Of course, once I had finished Clue 1 of the Jungle Book I was restless for another Unique Sheep project so this morning before heading into work I cast on A Christmas Carol Shawlette, The Unique Sheep's Christmas Club this year. The yarn is Tinsel Toes and this is my first time knitting with it. I chose the Tinsel Tinsel colorway, which starts out with gold and goes to silver.

There was also a green and red colorway option, and having seen that shawl completed I wish I had gotten both! Can you have too much Unique Sheep yarn?

The Jungle Book Shawlette - Clue 1

2011-11-23T16:07:00.000-05:00

The first clue came out last Friday and this past weekend I cast on after knitting a couple of swatches (yes! I actually swatched!) to determine the needle size that I wanted to use. The pattern called for size 6, but I knit the last two shawls with this yarn (The Unique Sheep Luxe) on size 4 needles. I ended up splitting the difference and went with size 5 needles. When I signed up for this KAL I ordered Luxe in Sunflower, a wonderful yellow, but I swatched with Nature's Goddess, because I was lazy and it was already wound into balls. And while I was swatching the yarn shyly asked if it could be the Jungle Book Shawlette, and so here it is. But never fear, I have plans for the Sunflower colorway.

Pattern - Jungle Book Shawlette by Janine le Cras
Yarn - The Unique Sheep Luxe in Nature's Goddess
Needle - US 5 (3.5mm)

Beauty Shots

2011-11-23T14:09:00.000-05:00

I finally got enough light to take some beauty shots of my last three shawls. It also helps that I took the afternoon off. So, without further ado - The Holden Shawlette:

Yarn - The Unique Sheep Verve, Old Farm House (November Sip 'n Stitch yarn)
Pattern - Holden Shawlette, by Mindy Wilkes

The first Fickle-Zen KAL:

Yarn - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Lace II, Raspberry
Pattern - Fickle-Zen Mystery KAL #1 by Michelle Miller (aka Fickle Knitter)

And Through the Looking Glass:

Yarn - The Unique Sheep Luxe, Tart Berry
Pattern - Through the Looking Glass by Janine le Cras

Holden Shawlette

2011-11-20T11:58:00.001-05:00

So last weekend I received this yarn as the first shipment in the latest Sip 'n Stitch Coffee Club by The Unique Sheep. The yarn is Verve a Light Fingering Superwash Merino, in Old Farm House gradiance. The pattern is the Holden Shawlette by Mindy Wilkes. I thought that the pattern would show off the subtle colors of the yarn, and the stitch definition of the yarn would show off the pattern. The pattern calls for repeating the lace motif 2 and a half times, but I repeated it 3 times. The colors of the yarn actually reminds me of Agate.

I also bought myself an Espresso Machine and enjoyed my first cappuccino this morning made with the coffee that came with the club shipment. Purists might take issue with me not using an Espresso or French Roast bean, but I just wanted to enjoy the flavor of the coffee, not send myself into orbit with a caffeine buzz. I know that I could have used a French Press to make the coffee, but then I wouldn't have had the frothy milk, and I really like the frothy milk.

Through the Looking Glass - Finished!

2011-11-15T21:21:00.001-05:00

I spent the last four days knitting Never Ending Borders (NEBs). First was the Fickle-Zen Mystery shawl, which I knit in one day, and then there was this shawl, which took me a bit longer. I will confess that I made a couple of unintentional design changes (otherwise known as mistakes) on this one, but it still all worked out okay. The color is Tart Berry, the yarn is Luxe by The Unique Sheep. This is one of my favorite fingering weight yarns. It has a fairly tight twist so it gives great stitch definition, and when you block it the yarn softens a little and you end up with this wonderfully soft, drapey shawl. I love the colors and as I was knitting I thought that the last skein, which is dark blue and purple, would look wonderful in Marici and might be suitable for a shawl pattern that I have been eyeing.

Fickle-Zen Mystery KAL

2011-11-12T09:24:00.000-05:00

I spent all of last week working on the first Fickle Knitter - Zen Yarn Garden collaboration, the first Fickle-Zen Knit Along. Roxanne dyed the yarn and Michelle Miller designed the shawl. The yarn is Serenity Lace II in Raspberry. I used a size 5 needle, rather than than size 7 called for. Now that the weather has turned colder I have become a real fan of small shawls, wearing them around the house and to work. This was a quick and easy knit, and the border pattern is easily memorized. I did modify the pattern slightly by working a knit 3 together on the right hand side, so it would be symmetrical with slip, knit two together, pass slipped stitch over on the left hand side.

I signed up for The Unique Sheep's Sip 'n Stitch Coffee Club this fall and received my first shipment this past Thursday. A bag of coffee (whole bean), a coffee cup and, of course, yarn.

It makes me want to get one of those hutches that have the hooks for the coffee cups, and an espresso machine so I can really enjoy the flavor of the coffee. I don't usually drink coffee, so when I do I tend to splurge.

Arachne's Delight - Charts A & B

2011-11-07T20:20:00.000-05:00

So Friday I cast on the latest offering in the Light and Dark Lace Club. For this one the yarn and pattern are both by Ruth of PennyRose Yarns. I've never done a shawl of this shape before. The pattern called for size 5 needles, but I went down to size 3. I just can't knit yarn this fine on size 5 needles. By the time I cast on the first two clues had come out, so I was able to work off of the combined chart. The lace pattern is super easy.

I finished up the last row after we got back from a day in Charlottesville with the kids. We finally got to meet the son's girlfriend. We all went to the Veritas Vinyard for the tasting and tour. I highly recommend doing the tour. We even got to taste some wine in process from one of the fermenting tanks. We liked the white wines, but weren't too impressed with the reds, they didn't really have much body. The vinyard is located near Afton Mountain, and the countryside is just gorgeous.

My cat is curled up in her chair under her blanket. I leave the chair set up for her, with the blanket in place (she gets perturbed if humans sit there, or if humans put things there).

And when she gets up and settles down, I pull the blanket down.

Creating a nice cave that gets warmed by her body heat. I always figure she curls up there when the world gets to be too much. I totally understand.

Through the Looking Glass - Clues 6 & 7

2011-11-04T17:09:00.000-04:00

A couple of squidgy photos of Clue 6 and Clue 7. More for the colors than for the pattern, as the pattern is the same as Clue 5.

I finished up both clues last weekend, but haven't felt much like doing anything this week. I did start the border, but I've only knit one repeat. I did make a mistake near the end of Clue 6, but I didn't discover it until I was near the end of Clue 7. Hint, it didn't affect the pattern, just the stitches at the beginning and end of each row. I was one stitch short at each end. I didn't bother fixing the mistake, instead I repeated it in Clue 7. As I've said before, do something once and it can be seen as a mistake, do it twice, and it is a design feature. I had to do an extra row of stockinette stitch to get the right number of stitches for the border, which worked out okay because in the original pattern you end up with 2 stitches too many for the border. Now that I am on the border, I no longer feel the need to be monogamous to this project, so I think I will cast on the most recent Light and Dark Lace Club shawl.

Through the Looking Glass - Clues 4 & 5

2011-10-30T10:56:00.001-04:00

I completed Clue 4 yesterday while watching The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn. He must have been fun to know. Not many men can pull off a role like that. I just love knitting this pattern, with this yarn. It is amazing, but Janine le Cras' designs actual make me a monogamous knitter. The lace pattern isn't too complex, but it isn't boring knitting either. It is just right. I also knit most of Clue 5 last night. While I was finishing Clue 5 this morning we heard a strange booming sound that seemed to be coming from the area of the chimney. It sounded like someone or something banging on a piece of sheet metal. Then we heard crows cawing. After I finished the clue I went out onto the deck to take a look and there were two large crows on top of the chimney. I don't know what they were trying to accomplish.

I think this is the first picture I've taken of this shawl in natural light. There is even some sunlight in the upper right hand corner of the picture. The next two clues are basically the same as Clue 5, which was a very easy clue, and then I will be on to Clue 8, the knit on border. I need to find something to do with the leftover yarn, though, it is too pretty to let it sit languishing in the leftovers pile.

Through the Looking Glass - Clues 2 & 3

2011-10-29T10:26:00.001-04:00

I finished up Clue 2 last night but didn't feel like posting because I had a major allergy attack and was all stuffed up. Since the chemo triggered menopause began I periodically have these massive allergy attacks, for no apparent reason. Actually, the first year or so after the chemo I didn't have any problems at all with allergies, but then something changed. Every day is something of an adventure where my hormones are concerned. It is amazing the amount of influence they have over our bodies and our brains. At this point I just roll with it, and treasure the good days (which thankfully seem to be coming more often and lasting longer)..

This morning I finished up Clue 3. This was a short clue whose primary purpose (I think) was to transition to the next gradiance skein. This is the second shawl that I am knitting with a gradiance colorway (the first was the In Dreams shawl) and I love them. Which reminds me, I still have a ten percent off discount code to use at The Unique Sheep...

This clue has nupps or beads, depending upon your preference. Personally, I am not a big fan of nupps so I went the bead route. I wasn't sure about the bead color at first. These beads came with the Gold Mustard yarn that I had originally purchased for this shawl and I wasn't sure they were going to go with the Tart Berry, but the bead color is Berry-lined Light Topaz, so I was hopeful. When I first started adding the beads I wasn't sure I was going to like them with the light pink and I even tinked back and did a row with nupps, but then when I was purling back on the wrong side and got to the first nupp I remembered why I really hate nupps. So I tinked back and put the beads in and now that I have finished the clue I think they will work.

Through the Looking Glass - Clue 1 - Take 2

2011-10-25T19:08:00.000-04:00

So I was happily knitting away on this shawl with the Autumn for Anna colorway when the yarn informed me that it really didn't want to be an Alice in Wonderland themed shawl. It wanted to be something fall-like. Then, when I was looking at colors for the Jungle Book KAL I spotted the Tart Berry colorway and just fell in love (we will not go in to how many colorways on The Unique Sheep that I have fallen in love with). My yarn came this past weekend just as I was finishing up my Golden Phoenix shawl so I happily cast on and finished clue 1 today.

And speaking of my Golden Phoenix, it blocked up so wonderfully. The shawl is soft and drapey and the beads on the ends give it a wonderful swag.

Tools of the Trade - The search for a new knitting bag

2011-10-23T10:36:00.000-04:00

Almost two years ago I purchased a Namaste Hermosa Knitting Bag, and it has served me well but it is starting to show its age. The first thing that I noticed was the side sagging.

You will notice that the sagging occurs where the side pockets are attached and is due, no doubt, to the weight of the contents of those side pockets. The other thing that I noticed was wear on the handles.

I do love the capacious nature of this knitting bag, but I don't really like the fact that it was basically just one big pocket inside, other than a couple of little side pockets. I also don't like the length of the handles. I used to carry this bag over my shoulder, but lately have been carrying it in my hand, and I am not tall enough to keep it from occasionally brushing the ground. So, the search began. I am currently trying out a bag from Sherpani. A Moda Sport Tote Bag.

It is definitely smaller than the Hermosa (but what wouldn't be). And it has lots of pockets. There are 6 just on the outside. That front quilted section is divided into two pockets, and there are two water bottle pockets, one on each end, and the zippered pocket that has a built in key lanyard. Plus there is a large pocket on the back. And the handle strap length is adjustable.

Inside there are more pockets. Small pockets for cell phone and other small incidentals, plus a large zippered pocket, and two more water bottle pockets on the ends. And the whole thing can be zipped closed, something the Hermosa didn't do.

I am still figuring out how to pack it, but so far it has been working okay.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Finished!

2011-10-22T22:08:00.000-04:00

We were just serenaded by owls. It was kind of creepy. There were several calls going on, some kind of howling, some hooting, some almost cawing. They were close behind the house in our woods. It woke the kitty. But it is quiet now. Not sure what set them off.

Finished my Golden Phoenix early this evening. I did a gentler block than I typically do on shawls, it just seemed right. I started out with blocking wires down the sides, but they were pulling the sides in a way that I didn't really like, so I ended up using pins about every inch.

Pattern - The Phoenix and the Carpet by Janine Le Cras
Yarn - The Unique Sheep Luxe, in Gold Mustard, just over 200 grams.

And I received yarn today, two of my orders from The Unique Sheep. Both Luxe. Sunflower, for the Jungle Book KAL. I know, not very jungle like, but I like the color. I seem to be on a bit of a yellow kick lately. Yellow used to be my favorite color when I was growing up, and I still love it. In fact I painted my living room a bright yellow (the previous occupant had painted it Mental Institution Green, the first thing I did when I moved in was repaint it).

And Tart Berry, for the Through the Looking Glass Shawl. Perfect timing, really. I've already cast on.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Clue 9

2011-10-22T10:56:00.000-04:00

And a quick picture of Clue 9. On to the last clue! I still have to figure out how I want to do the bead placement and bind off, which means that I also have to frog my first attempt at this shawl.

So why is it that when you are stressed out about something you always wake up at 3am thinking about it? Not that I would have been having this experience lately, but some housework did get done before dawn this past Thursday. Thankfully I have slept better the past two nights. Emotional and psychological resolution is a good thing, now I just have to get the reality to match.

Barcelona Pullover - Finished!

2011-10-22T07:06:00.001-04:00

I also finished my Barcelona pullover last week. The change in color between the top half and the bottom half is partially due to uneven natural lighting and partially due to the way the yarn colors pooled. In the bottom half of the sweater the pink really started to dominate. I love these sweaters made with Fiesta Yarns, they are just so colorful and fun and now that the weather is cooling off a little I am wearing them whenever I have the opportunity. I wore my Poppies sweater this past Thursday and threw my Limestone Shawl around my neck to add a little extra warmth.

Pattern - Top Down Raglan from Sweater Wizard Software
Yarn - Fiesta Yarns Boomerang in Barcelona, 3 skeins
Needles - Size 5 and 6

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Clue 8

2011-10-22T06:51:00.002-04:00

I finished Clue 8 yesterday, but only snapped a quick picture because I really wanted to keep going and start Clue 9, the penultimate clue. I am hoping to finish this shawl up this weekend.

There was one nice thing that happened this past Wednesday, I came home to an unexpected package from The Unique Sheep. I was quite puzzled, because although I do have several yarn orders in with them I had not received any shipping notices, and the envelope really didn't feel like it contained yarn (it wasn't squishy). When I opened it I found a very nice Thank You card thanking me for being one of their top customers this past year and these goodies.

A little notebook and matching pen, a magnet, a tape measure, hand lotion, yummy tea and pattern tamers. It did bring a smile to my face on a day I really needed one. I will confess, however, that I have never really understood the point of pattern tamers. Oh, I get the magnetic strip idea. I use them when knitting anything with charts. I just don't get the idea of putting a patterned ribbon on them to make them pretty. It seems to me that it would detract from their functionality by distracting the eye from the very thing that it is marking.

Birthday Do-Over

2011-10-21T17:01:00.000-04:00

This past Wednesday was my birthday. Unlike my birthday last year (which was wonderful and spent in Jordan) last Wednesday was (to paraphrase Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly) not my best day ever. The stupidity at work that has been stressing me out for the past few months finally came to a head with the result that I am now looking to get out of my current organization. I have a few possibilities, I just hope that one of them pans out in the near future. You know how it is, once you finally decide to do something, you just want to do it. It is a wonderfully freeing feeling knowing that I will be getting out, there is a lot of stupidity (mandatory work force development classes to name just one) that I will no longer have to put up with.

Bruce and I have established something of a tradition of taking our birthdays off from work. I had to go in this past Wednesday because Wednesday is my telecon day and I really can't miss them, so we decided to move my birthday to today and try to forget that Wednesday even happened. So, I have spent the day watching movies on Fox Movie Channel and Turner Classic Movies and knitting. We also took a walk around the neighborhood, and had a late lunch early dinner of waffles. Made from scratch.

And here are beauty shots of my Diadem shawl.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Clue 7

2011-10-19T06:46:00.000-04:00

My brain recovered enough on Monday that I was able to finish Clue 7 of my Golden Phoenix. Just 3 more clues to go!

But on Tuesday I came home from work so mad I was swearing like a sailor. One of the managers where I work apparently considers the people who work for her to be furniture because she periodically likes to rearrange us. This time she is even changing work assignments (alienating employees and sponsors and risking the success of the projects affected), and even though no one (except her) thinks this is a good idea, no one is willing to stand up to her and tell her. I am so tired of the managers where I work being unwilling and/or afraid to do the right thing.

On a much brighter note, I finally received my first shipment in the Flavour series. This is a joint venture of Roxanne of Zen Yarn Garden and Woolgirl. The first offering was Pumpkin Spice.

I was restrained and only purchased a single skein of Serenity 20 (70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere and 10% nylon). Each shipment comes with a coordinating stitch marker. The current offering is Roasted Chestnut and Divinity, and you can order through the end of the month. Once again I was restrained and ordered one of each color in Serenity 20.

My Diadem - Finished

2011-10-16T10:43:00.000-04:00

It was a bad week, hormonally speaking, so I didn't get a lot of knitting done. Most of the week I was dealing with an on-again off-again migraine that never really went away. Friday afternoon it came back with a vengeance and with visual aura. I mostly managed to get it under control Friday evening with a combination of Exedrine Migraine and meditation/biofeedback, but it still hasn't completely gone away. I did manage to finish one of the sleeves of my Barcelona Pullover and get about half-way through the second. I also managed to knit about half of Clue 7 of my Golden Phoenix shawl. And I managed to finish my Diadem. I thought about making it a little larger and even expanded the final chart, but I had so much trouble focusing on the last lace row of the existing chart that I decided I just wanted to finish.

And just for comparison, so you understand the transformative power of blocking, here is a picture of the finished shawl before I dunked and blocked it, a purple squidgy pile of yarn.

It hasn't helped that our house has been invaded by what I am pretty sure are wolf spiders, apparently they come inside in the fall looking for a warm place to winter. I just captured one (literally, it ran across the floor of the room and I had to stop blogging and catch it) and released it outside. Here it is on our deck. He (she? not sure how to sex spiders, I'll stick with "he" seeing as how we have no neuter gender) is at least 2 inches across.

This is the third one that I have captured and released this weekend, I don't think that I have been catching the same one over and over, because I swear they keep getting bigger. I spotted the first one yesterday morning. It was on the floor right next to the day bed that I sit on, less than two feet from me. It crawled onto one of my (many) knitting bags, so I picked up the knitting bag and took it out onto the deck and shook him off. Then, yesterday afternoon, while Bruce and I were sitting here watching an episode of Farscape one ran across the floor, and stopped under a mini chaise that I picked up in Philadelphia. I captured him in a plastic container and we released him outside, and now, this morning, number three. You have to admit, he really is a gorgeous spider, and pretty well behaved and easily captured.

And lest you be grossed out by the spider story, here is an amusing picture. We found this in our bag of goldfish that we snacked on yesterday.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Clue 6

2011-10-09T19:22:00.000-04:00

Spent all afternoon watching Turner Classic Movies and knitting on Clue 6. It took about 3 hours to knit the clue. A bit of marathon knitting, but now I feel a bit brain dead. Time to take a break and make dinner.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Clue 5

2011-10-09T14:21:00.000-04:00

Half-way done. I started the second skein of yarn almost at the end of Clue 5. I spliced the new skein into the old. As I was knitting I started thinking about what to do with the Luxe in Autumn for Ana and I think I may try a lace over-skirt variation on a circular shawl. I thought I would start with an i-cord and then cast on to that, work back and forth until it was large enough to get over my hips or shoulders, then join.

My Diadem - Chart B

2011-10-08T15:18:00.000-04:00

I have been enjoying knitting my Golden Phoenix so much that I actually achieved project monogamy this past week, but today I did tear myself away long enough to finish Chart B of my Diadem. It is every bit as beautiful in the Moon Purple color as I thought it would be.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Clue 4

2011-10-08T10:28:00.000-04:00

Finished Clue 4 this morning. This shawl is knitting up so quickly, and I just love knitting it. It is such a relaxing knit without being boring. The yarn is lovely to work with and who wouldn't be cheered up by the color. I am almost half way done.

I realized that I haven't posted beauty shots of the Teaberry shawl, so without further ado...

Although both pictures were taken in natural light without flash, the color in the bottom picture is actually closer to reality.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Clue 3

2011-10-06T21:09:00.000-04:00

Finished up Clue 3 this evening, watching a very funny movie called Matinee. I am so loving this pattern, although I have made a couple of modifications for the sake of symmetry. I was having problems getting the beads on the stitches for a while. I was using the crochet hook, but I had to use a 0.6mm crochet hook to get through the size 8 beads, and getting the yarn through without splitting it was not easy. But then I remembered a method that I used when I first started adding beads to knitting - a needle and thread.

That big silver spring thing is called a bead stopper and it keeps your beads from sliding off the end of the thread. It is just a spring, with the outer loops bent out. To get a bead onto your stitch you simply thread the sewing needle through the stitch, then loop the needle back through the bead, slide the bead down the thread and onto the stitch, put the stitch back on the knitting needle and then pull the sewing needle out of the stitch. No splitting of yarn, and you are far less likely to lose beads in the cushions.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Clue 2

2011-10-04T16:51:00.000-04:00

I took a mental health day today. I was getting my piano tuned and there has been some stuff going on at work that has me pretty stressed and I just needed a day off. So I spent the day knitting. It was exactly what I needed. This pattern is especially soothing to me. It isn't a difficult chart and the geometry and symmetry of the pattern is pleasing to the eye as well as the soul. I have decided to call this shawl the Golden Phoenix. Here's to rising from the ashes.

The Phoenix and the Carpet - Clue 1 - Take 2

2011-10-03T21:03:00.000-04:00

My yarn has started talking to me, telling me what it wants to be, and what it doesn't want to be. I distinctly remember when this happened with fabric, but that is a story for another post. This weekend the Luxe yarn in Autumn for Ana that I was knitting Through the Looking Glass with informed me that it really didn't want to be Through the Looking Glass and that maybe I should design a fall themed shawl for it, perhaps a circular shawl. So I frogged the first clue and went looking for another color to knit Through the Looking Glass in, and I think I may have found it, but will reserve judgement until I receive it. In the meantime I decided to restart The Phoenix and the Carpet shawl in the Luxe yarn in Gold Mustard. I happened to have size 8 beads that exactly match the megatamas that came with the original yarn that I purchased for the knit along. So far I am happy with the combination of yarn, beads and pattern, and so far the yarn has not protested.

My Diadem - Chart A

2011-10-01T21:13:00.000-04:00

And here it is, the first chart of my Diadem. The yarn is, of course, fantastic, the colors, to die for. I love this pattern, it is actually pretty easy, but a lot of fun to knit and the resulting shawl is just gorgeous. 'Nuf said, I'm going back to my knitting.

Diadem by Ruth Greenwald
1 skein Serenity Silk + by Zen Yarn Garden
Size 5 needles

Moon Purple

2011-10-01T17:31:00.000-04:00

And speaking of positively scrumptious yarn, look at what showed up in my mailbox this past week - my custom dyed order of Purple Moon from Zen Yarn Garden. The above pic is of the Serenity Silk + (75% Superwash Merino, 15% Cashmere, 10% Silk), 2-ply fingering weight, 500 yards/100 grams. I have already wound one skein into a ball and will soon be casting on my Diadem shawl. I gave my original Diadem Shawl to my sister, Virginia, so I really needed to make myself one, and when I saw the Purple Moon color from the last Light and Dark Lace Club I knew that I wanted that color for my shawl. I don't have any set plans for the other 2 skeins of Serenity Silk + other than that I want to make a larger shawl from them.

I also got 6 skeins of Serenity Worsted.

I plan on knitting Evendim with this yarn.

My Scarf-In-A-Scarf

2011-10-01T17:04:00.000-04:00

I also finished up my Scarf-in-a-scarf this past week. This has been my mindless knitting that I take to work. I love these kits from Hand Painted Knitting Yarn. The colors are so beautiful and blend in the most wonderful way, and the matching silk scarf is so lovely and elegant. I have a number of their kits. I already started on my sister Virginia's scarf-in-a-scarf.

Teaberry Shawl

2011-10-01T16:58:00.000-04:00

Well, the nameless shawl has a name and is finished. I named it Teaberry because the color of the yarn reminded me of the color of the Teaberry gum label, and I really liked Teaberry gum. I used 110 grams of my 116 gram skein, leaving just 23.5 yards left. While I was working on the third section of the lace pattern I contemplated doing three repeats of the motif, which I could have done, if I left off the last couple of rows, which don't have any lace, but I wasn't sure how the shawl would look. Would it have a nice edge? Or would it just look unfinished? I had a spreadsheet that I was using to keep track of my yarn usage and how many stitches I had knit. Yes, I actually calculated how many stitches I should be able to get out of my 450 yards. In the end I just got tired of knitting the lace pattern after that first repeat in the third section, and decided to finish with a knit on border. I decided to use the border from the Diadem Shawl by Ruth Greenwald. Conveniently the number of rows in the border pattern fit perfectly into the number of stitches that I had after finishing the body pattern.

Nameless Lace Shawlette - Update

2011-09-27T21:31:00.000-04:00

So, last night I started the second lace section. When I first was laying out the lace pattern I simply went with fitting as many repeats in as I could, but as I started to knit the first pattern row I decided that I wanted at least some of the lace repeats to line up with the lace repeats of the first section. So, back to the drawing board. I actually counted stitches and marked them on graph paper to figure out where to place the lace pattern. There is a pleasing symmetry, and it isn't too busy so the beautiful variegation of the yarn is on full display.

Nameless Lace Shawlette

2011-09-25T19:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I received this positively scrumptious skein of yarn. This is the September shipment of Roxanne's Art Walk Sock Yarn Club. I joined last fall and have been delighted with the shipments, although this is the first that I have started knitting with any of them, although I did wind one skein up and did some swatching. The yarn is Bamboolicious (70% Merino, 20% Bamboo, 10% Nylon) and the minute I touched it I knew that I had to cast it on and make something, hopefully something splendid or at least pretty nifty, with it.

Now, I still have a hard time knitting beautiful yarns into socks. It just seems kind of rude to put them on your feet, but I do like the one skein shawls, so I pulled out the Over the Moon pattern that I used for my first Camp Loopy Project. I really like the shaping, crescent shawls sit so nicely on the shoulders, and I figured that I could find some pretty lace motifs to put in place of the stockinette stitch of the original. So, I pulled out my Barbara Walker "Treasury of Knitting Patterns" collection and found the Twin Leaf Lace motif. Here is the first section finished.

Now I just have to figure out what to do in the next section...

Moonfleet - Finished!

2011-09-25T14:07:00.000-04:00

And here it is - the finished Moonfleet shawl. It is incredibly hard to get good beauty shots of this shawl, especially with the overcast day we are having here. It is wonderfully light and ethereal, just the effect that I was going for.

Pattern - Moonfleet, by Janine Le Cras, available at The Unique Sheep, or on Ravelry
Yarn - The Unique Sheep Eos in Mermaid. I used about 800 yards.
Beads - size 8 Silver-lined Ceylon Alabaster from Earth Faire and Silver-lined Aqua Magatamas (long 4x7 mm), also from Earth Faire. (When you select the beads option at The Unique Sheep, Ellen of Earth Faire selects the beads to go with your yarn. It is great fun seeing what she comes up with.)

Through the Looking Glass - Clue 1

2011-09-25T13:55:00.000-04:00

True to my word, after I blocked Moonfleet, I cast on the next shawl - Through the Looking Glass. The shape is Faroese, the center panel represents a chessboard, and the wing motif is lady bugs. I am using a Gradiance color way - Autumn for Ana.

But this was not the yarn that I ordered when I signed up for this Knit Along. When I signed up I ordered a solid color - Gold Mustard.

With berry-lined light topaz iridescent beads. I actually ordered Autumn for Ana for the Phoenix shawl because I really didn't think that the color I had originally chosen was going to show off the design, but as I started to see some of the finished shawls I decided that the Gold Mustard yarn would be a better choice for the Phoenix shawl and decided to use the Autumn for Ana yarn for the Through the Looking Glass shawl. The beads that I had originally gotten with my order will work just as well with the new colors, although I will have to find some beads for the Phoenix shawl, but that won't be hard given the size of my bead stash.

Both colors are Luxe, by The Unique Sheep, a wonderful combo of superwash merino and tussah silk. Not fuzzy, great stitch definition, wonderful to work with.

Moonfleet - Clue 8

2011-09-24T08:44:00.000-04:00

I am so excited! I finished up Clue 8 last night, now all I have to do is the border and the shawl will be done. I worked this clue a little at a time, 2 repeats on Tuesday, 2 repeats on Wednesday, half a repeat on Thursday (I was fighting off a migraine) and finished up on Friday. It wasn't too bad, taken in little pieces like that. I still don't like the purl two together through the back leg, but there were only two rows that I had to do that on. Thank goodness for Addi Turbo lace needles, nice and pointy. I have already wound the first skein of my yarn for Through the Looking Glass and have the knitting needles standing by.

Moonfleet - Clue 7

2011-09-20T17:17:00.001-04:00

So I was all set for an easy penultimate clue but when I got to the last part of Clue 7, the part that transitions to the next clue, I discovered lace stitching on both right side and wrong side rows. And, to make it even worse, there were purl two together through the back leg. Fortunately the actual lace motif is only 5 rows, and only 2 of those are wrong side rows. The other rows are easy - only one row with beading - and the rows are not long and the pattern is an easy one. So, on to the penultimate clue. I might even finish this up by the weekend at which point I will continue my efforts to catch up on The Unique Sheep knit-alongs. Next up, Through the Looking Glass.

Moonfleet - Clue 6

2011-09-18T14:28:00.001-04:00

Finished up Clue 6 this afternoon. An easy knit. Clue 7 consists of one more repeat of the King Charles Diamond Pattern (the clue 6 pattern) and then a transition chart and then I will be on to the last chart before the border. I love this yarn (Eos, by The Unique Sheep), it is one of my favorite lace weight yarns. I am seriously contemplating knitting another Evenstar shawl in the Aubergine Eos that I have in my stash. I knit my first Evenstar out of pure silk, and I am not sure that I am sold on pure silk for lace, I think I prefer a wool/silk blend, it gives you the best of both worlds.

Scarf-in-a-Scarf

2011-09-14T18:32:00.000-04:00

Hand Painted Knitting Yarns puts out a number of very beautiful and simple kits. This is the scarf-in-a-scarf kit, and it is the second one that I have knit. The first one was for Carol, my adopted sister and co-owner of Beadcats. The kit comes with 4 skeins of Precious Yarn 2-ply 60% silk, 40% Fine Merino and a matching silk scarf. One of the things that I really like about them is that they have a number of colors inspired by Operas. This colorway is Parsifal. This is dead simple knitting, garter stitch. I picked this project up because I had to travel for work this week. This past Monday I had to fly to California and I needed some mindless airplane/airport knitting. I spent yesterday hanging out with some great Marines at Camp Pendleton and crawling on an M1 tank. I took the red eye back last night and got to spend the day at home, which is way better than spending the day sitting on an airplane and then driving home during rush hour traffic. Knitting while reading on my Kindle helps make the trips bearable.

The yarn itself is wonderful to knit with and the colors work up so beautifully creating an iridescent effect.

Caribbean Pullover - Finished!

2011-09-11T14:54:00.000-04:00

Considering that I finished up the body of this sweater on August 29, it sure has taken me a long time to knit two sleeves, but I finally finished the sweater this past Friday. This is my third Camp Loopy project, the 800 yard project. It took 872 yards. The yarn is Fiesta Yarns Boomerang, Caribbean colorway, 3 skeins (2.73 to be exact). The pattern is a top-down raglan from the Sweater Wizard software, although I modified the spacing of the increases for the neck and body, using the spacing from a bottom up raglan. I have experimented with bind offs on all of these sweaters. On this one I did regular bind offs on the neck and the sleeves, although I did go up a needle size for the bind off on the sleeves. For the bottom of the body I did a lace bind off because I wanted something stretchy. It is definitely stretchy. On this sweater and also on the Barcelona pullover I cast on 16 stitches under the arm instead of 14 to give a little more ease in the sleeves as well as the body. I also made the cuffs a little looser by only decreasing to 42 stitches rather than 39. I don't like tight cuffs. Now we just need some fall weather so I can wear my pullovers, it will be a nice change from turtlenecks.

Moonfleet - Clue 5

2011-09-11T14:40:00.000-04:00

Last night I finished up Clue 5 of Moonfleet. This was a short clue and the knitting was easy after I finished the fourth repeat of the Diamond in the Well Pattern. I am just over half way done now. I have really been enjoying this project. The combination of the lace pattern, the yarn and the beads are all just coming together so perfectly. It is always hard to choose the yarn when participating in a Mystery KAL because you don't know what it will look like and some patterns just call out (in my mind at least) for certain colors. I am always relieved when things turn out well. I also like the fact that it is a rectangular shawl because the rows don't keep getting longer, each row is a nice length and doesn't take too long to complete.

Moonfleet - Clue 4

2011-09-10T10:14:00.000-04:00

While I wasn't driving around looking at flood damage, or taking a long nap, I managed to get some knitting done. I finished up my third Camp Loopy project as well as finishing Clue 4 of Moonfleet. This clue has a couple of tricky rows (especially row 9) and I did find myself making mistakes on all three repeats, but I also got really good at fixing my mistakes. For Clue 5 I have one more repeat of this Diamond in the Well chart and then another transition chart.

Tropical Storm Lee

2011-09-10T10:04:00.001-04:00

This past week we were hit by the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. It started raining Monday evening, and rained pretty much through Thursday. I don't know how much rain we got (still need to get that rain gauge), but I heard one report of 17 inches. I can believe it. I thought it was pretty much over by Thursday because we didn't get much rain during the day, but after we got home from work we got hit by another gully washer, and had a pretty good thunderstorm later that even resulted in a Tornado warning. Friday they closed the base that I work at due to flooding and washed out roads in the county. Friday afternoon we decided to drive around and see what we could see. One of the wash outs occurred on Route 205, just past Round Hill Road on the way down to Colonial Beach.

Here is a view from the bridge just before Round Hill Road. You can still see how high the water is. The bridge was blocked off to thru traffic, perhaps because the state was worried about structural damage.

We walked on down to the site of the washout. There were other folks out taking pictures as well. There were two spots were the road was washed out. This is the first spot, it only took out part of one lane.

And here is the big washout that took out the road. Apparently two vehicles ended up in the hole. You could see some busted plastic and glass in the bottom.

And here is the rest of the hole.

It must have been terrifying to drive into this hole, especially if the water was still high. One of the women that we met there had driven a school bus full of kids from a football game in Colonial Beach through the same spot not too long before the road gave way. She said the water was up to the steps of the bus. Thank goodness that she and the other two school buses with her made it through safely.

Wandering Scarf - Finished!

2011-09-06T17:40:00.000-04:00

I finished up the scarf this weekend. The yarn is wonderful to work with (as all Zen Yarn Garden yarns are), and the resulting scarf has great drape. But it is the color that really got to me. First it is purple, which is my favorite color, and it has such a wonderful depth to it. The whole time I was knitting it I kept wishing I had more, so I sent a message to Roxanne, and she is going to dye me more in Serenity Worsted (for a sweater) and in Serenity Silk (for a Diadem shawlette and another shawl, yet to be determined).

Here is the blocking picture, which shows the pattern better.

Light and Dark Lace Club - August 2011
Pattern - Wandering by Ruth Greenwald
Yarn - Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Sock (Fingering / 4 ply 80% Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon, 450 yds)

Wandering Scarf - Clue 3

2011-09-03T11:09:00.000-04:00

I didn't get much knitting done this week. On Tuesday I had to go uptown for a meeting, and that left me so exhausted all I could do when I got home was watch a mindless movie and go to bed. Then, on Wednesday I got a migraine with visual aura. This is only the second one that I have ever gotten. Fortunately one Excedrin Migraine knocks that kind of migraine out. It also knocks me out. On Thursday I knit one row shy of a complete repeat of the 4th clue of Moonfleet, and last night I picked up the Wandering Scarf again. Clue 4 and 5 came out yesterday as well. So, this is Clue 3, a fun lattice pattern. I still love the yarn and really wish that I had bought more when I had the chance. The moral to that story is always buy more when you have the chance, because you may never get the chance again.

Caribbean Pullover - Body Done

2011-08-29T20:43:00.000-04:00

I got a lot of knitting done on this today, despite having to go to work, because my building had no power. I am still perturbed that the status was listed as fully open when the power had not been restored and the only buildings that did have power were those that had backup generators. To add insult to injury (quite literally) the traffic lights at the major intersections approaching the facility were still out and there were no police there directing traffic, resulting in at least one accident. The real crime was the fact that after the police cleared up the accident they left the scene. We were finally sent home at 1230 after several generators failed, but I have already received a status update stating that the facility is fully open tomorrow. Maybe I am cynical, but somehow I don't believe it. Fortunately, or unfortunately, I have a meeting up near Baltimore tomorrow, so regardless of the status of my building I will actually be able to work.

But enough griping about stupidity, so here is the body of the Caribbean pullover completed, and I have started on one of the sleeves. This is my third Camp Loopy project, the 800 yard one, and I should have no trouble finishing it with time to spare. I did this deliberately, picking a project that I know I can finish easily in the time allotted. I have enough stress in my life without adding any more. I am looking forward to cooler weather, when I will be able to wear all of these lovely sweaters that I have been knitting. I have completed five and have two more in the works (including this one), as well as yarn for several more.

The yarn is Fiesta Yarns Boomerang, in Caribbean, 3 skeins
Top Down Raglan from Sweater Wizard
Size 5 and 6 Needles

Lotus Garden Scarf - Chart 1

2011-08-28T18:32:00.000-04:00

So, remember the Charleston Socks that I knit earlier this year? Well, this is the other pattern that came with the club shipment. I actually picked out the yarn and even wound it into a cake while I was working on the socks. I even cast on and knit the set up row. And then it sat. I finally got back to it a week or so ago. The yarn is Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 (70% Superwash Merino, 20% Cashmere, 10% Nylon) in Baltic Sea. I am adding beads at the central double decreases. Now just 5 repeats of Chart 2 and the scarf will be halfway done. For the complete scarf - repeat and graft. The pattern is by Janel Laidman, Art & Sole Sock Club.

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-28T18:23:00.002-04:00

Most of the day it wasn't too bad, some wind and rain, but we've had much worse before. It didn't really start to get bad until the eye passed to the east of us. We had a branch, actually two branches come down on our deck around 9 pm.

And a lot of leaf litter and smaller branches in the yard. I actually napped for much of the evening on the day bed in our living room. Just before the power went out it started getting worse, so Bruce and I went out onto the front porch to check things out. He had the good sense to take the flashlight with him. We had turned the porch light on and were shining the flashlight into the yard just to get a sense of things. There was some lightning, and after one rather spectacular flash everything went dark, including the porch light. "Uh Oh" we said to each other. This was around 11:30 at night. At that point there wasn't really anything else to do but to go to bed. We took a couple of candles upstairs along with the flashlight.

I think the best part was the two of us lying in bed reading on our Kindles in the dark. I have a lighted case for mine, and he was using a clip on light that I had received from The Unique Sheep in one of my club shipments. When we finally put out the lights, it was very, very dark. He dropped off pretty quickly, but I lay awake listening to the storm for a while. A thump on the roof startled both me and the cat. We can see a branch up there, but neither one of us wants to climb up there to get it down. We did lose one tree in our woods. Our woods are pretty wild and we tend to have a non-interference policy with nature in general, so we probably will not do anything about it.

We both woke up around 4am, and things had mostly died down by then. I opened one of the bedroom windows a few inches to get some fresh air and the cat promptly jumped up on the shelf in front of the window to scope things out. The power came back on around 11am, earlier than expected (when I called in the morning, Dominion had said between noon and 6pm). Times like these I wish I had a home weather station...hmm, maybe I should set one up, as well as a seismograph...

Moonfleet - Clue 3

2011-08-28T18:05:00.000-04:00

I spent most of yesterday working on this shawl and listening to the storm. I did put Turner Classic Movies on once I realized that when working on lace I really need some TV playing because it makes me look up periodically. If there is no TV playing I won't look up from the knitting and rest my eyes, resulting in eye strain. For some reason just looking out the patio door is not enough, or maybe because the scene rarely changes I don't look up often enough. Clue 3 consisted of three more repeats of the Mohune Y pattern, and then a transition pattern, which I finished up this morning. Here is a close up.

Moonfleet - Clue 2

2011-08-27T08:40:00.001-04:00

This week I have been focusing on lace, the Wandering scarf, the Lotus Garden scarf (more soon on that) and the Moonfleet shawl. I love knitting lace. I think it is my favorite kind of knitting. I finished up Clue 2 this morning, waiting for Irene to hit. She still hasn't touched us yet, but the sky is overcast and the air is warm and still and humid. I can see a little bit of movement in the tops of our trees, and now the breeze is just starting to penetrate the shelter of our yard. We should start to get some wind and rain soon. We aren't too worried, we are on high ground, but not exposed, our house is about halfway down a ridge line, so we tend to be sheltered from the worst of the wind. When Isabel hit our area we only lost one tree in our heavily wooded yard.

I have also been successfully fighting off a migraine with biofeedback. Whenever the pain starts I imagine the blood flowing from my head into my hands.

Here is a close up of the lace motif. The pattern calls it a Mohune Y pattern. It is easy, but not too boring.

Wandering Scarf - Clue 2

2011-08-24T17:51:00.000-04:00

I finished up Clue 2 this afternoon while watching an episode of Mission Impossible on Netflix. I bugged out early from work because I wasn't feeling well, victim of a random allergy attack. Ain't menopause grand (not). The second chart was easy and quickly memorized. The main thing that slowed me up while knitting were the frequent stops to fondle the yarn and admire the color.

Wandering Scarf - Clue 1

2011-08-23T18:45:00.000-04:00

Here is clue 1 of the latest Light & Dark Lace Club. The yarn is Serenity Sock (80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon) by Zen Yarn Garden. The color is Moon Purple and it is just amazing. It kind of reminds me of blackberries. The design is by Ruth Greenwald.

Earthquake

2011-08-23T18:17:00.001-04:00

So I'm sitting in a meeting this afternoon and things start to shake. The first thought we all had was "who is kicking the table" but the shaking went on and got stronger and we realized it was an earthquake, so we all went outside. The osprey were carrying on cranky, wheeling about in a group. I can imagine what the shaking must have felt like in their nests (which are up on tall poles). This is actually the third earthquake that I have experienced. The first one was when I was in high school in Yellow Springs, and I was sitting at the kitchen table and when things started shaking I wondered what my brother had blown up in the basement. The second one was in California after college, and there was no mistaking what it was. A few things fell over, but there was no damage - I was not there for that big one that collapsed the freeway. When we finally got home a few hours later it was to find a little bit of damage, and one very spooked kitty.

A shelf leaped off the garage wall and something on it attacked my car, leaving a small dent and scraping off the paint. We'll pick up some touch up paint to help prevent rust.

A small vase leaped off a shelf in the bedroom and had the misfortune to land on the base of a lamp. Fortunately it is a clean break and I will be able to fix it.

And some books toppled off of a shelf in my studio. I thought about taking pictures of the scene before cleaning it up, but was afraid that you wouldn't be able to tell that something had happened (yes, I do need to do some work down there, and I am, but it is always slower than I would like). The only damage was a tin that got smashed by some books. You can see some of the culprits lurking in the picture trying to look innocent.