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November 29, 2005
Another FO
Remember when I thanked my SP for inspiring me to pick up needles again? I finished the socks I was working on before Rhinebeck. I started them on Oct. 3rd and showed the very beginning with this picture:
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Wish I could show you the fabby FO but my camara has gone missing since I uploaded pictures yesterday afternoon. I need to search all of Nece's primo hiding places cause its not in any of the usual ones. As usual I used Michelle's fabby sock pattern and I lost the tag on yarn ball but it was Mountain Colors Bearfoot sock yarn. The socks are toasting up my toes as I watch the first of this season's snow flurries.
Toodles~ yarny days and knitterly evening
Posted by Elka at 02:01 PM | Comments (0)
November 28, 2005
Tale of Two Arans
A quick refresher on what the lady's aran looks like. The sleeve cuff had a rip on CO edge and a smaller tear 4 rows into ribbing. I've already deleted the tons of pictures I took while I was unpicking the rows but here is the finished cuff:
The yarn doesn't exactly match as could be expected when color matching a garment purchased overseas in '91. The owners have had the garment dry cleaned which made the fibers brittle. I kept getting 6-8" long lengths of yarn as I undid the cuff portion so I turned to the stasherooni. The closest match? Wendy aka Poppleton guernsey yarn. This sweater was knit using a sport weightish yarn making all my aran weight yarns too heavy. OK onto the gentleman's sweater:
This sweater had a hole in one of the cables near collar *and* the V was too deap. The original plan was to undo the upper body seams and rip an inch from fronts and back then reseam and adjust button band length to fit. The button band is done in twisted rib that runs parallel to the sweater. Alas the ripping yarn from lady's sweater had me too fearful of such a job. Plus the buttonbands are knit in one piece and doubled. Again I used gansey yarn and its a much closer match to this sweater. Here is a close up of the back which had me initially thinking I could easily take the sweater apart and redo:
The saddles wrap around the back of neck and are seamed in the center but the buttonband itself.... No such luck. Plus whoever knit these sweaters did one smack dandy finishing job. Ignore the yarn popping out~ his was less well put together than hers and I haven't snipped yet. It took an hour for me to find the cuff ends. The hole was right where the upper right hand part of cuff hits. Well in the middle of that cable. I am more pleased with how this turned out than with the cuff repair.
OK Toodles~ yarny days and knitterly eveings y'alls
Posted by Elka at 12:54 PM | Comments (0)
November 22, 2005
Karma
Last week I mailed out some stash redistribution boxes that I had been sitting on for a year. A move, several illnesses, and general laziness had me putting mailing them off for way too long. And I actually had the nerve to entertain bad thoughts about my SP. Not the spoilee but the spoiler. No box and we are into the third month. But once again the theory of Karma proves correct~ I received a box from my SP. Oh me what a wonderful package! Sweets galore to be nibbled along with some tea. Lovely yarn, a book, and two different sets of stitch markers in their own little tin. Wanna see?
First we have the yarn. A mystery hank of hand dyed very cushy wool. Worsted Weightish. And two balls of Lang Jawoll sock yarn picked up in Switzerland according to my SP. The sock yarn color rocks and has torn me from the knitting ennui hovering over Casa d'Elka. Really. I have been working on the same pair of socks since before Rhinebeck and in my enthusiasm to start in on these picked up needles for the first time in a week. Not for the soon to be new improved pair but for the old pair cause I have a secret pact with myself to not CO anything, other than work stuff, til my WIP list has been destroyed. Thank you thank you thank you thank you SP.
Here is the new improved edition of Jacqueline Fee's Sweater Workshop. I had mentioned it as a book I wanted to add to my collection. I actually used to own the first edition and parted with it when a desperate knitter asked. I mean I bought the thing in the 80's and it had been in my library for close to 20yrs. The yarn cacoon, shown earlier in the blog, come from this book and is included in the newest edition. One reason I parted with the book is because all the sweaters are raglans and I have yet to knit myself one. Still I always vowed to knit the sampler and try a raglan so here I have a new edition to work my way through. Thumbing through this book was a real stroll on memory lane. I remember, as a newer adult knitter, driving all over the NE coast and popping into Fish and Tackle shops for the ring markers she suggests. I think I even have the fabric purchased to make the needle roll.....
The tin is kinda hidden at top of picture but it is white with some flowers scattered all over. Just in time I tell you. I was thinking of buying myself some Altoids to house my stitch marker collection. Of course the lemon sour Altoids~ forget the mints they are too, too curiously strong and the gum is just plain ugh~ house my coilless pins so there is always the risk that I grab the wrong tin and find myself with pins instead of markers or vice versa. Anyway I appreciate the new markers and their tin. Thanks much SP
TTFN~ happy knitting
Posted by Elka at 02:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2005
Venezia
Trucking along faithfully on the sweater. Very interesting construction and I must find out exactly when it was purchased cause I think its da bomb. Here are pix of what I just finished doing for Cascade yarns in their new Venezia yarn. BTW lovely stuff~ 80% merino/20% silk Bulky weight with cabled construction. I lurv cabled yarns....
And....
The yarn is NOT coral but rather a hot pink. I need to go play with my camara
Posted by Elka at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)
November 07, 2005
Work
I know I said I wasn't gonna show work stuff but this one is rather different. A few weeks ago I was going to the shoe store and on the way I noticed one of the LYS just happened to be open. Sure it was day time and most yarn stores would be open on a Thursday afternoon but not this LYS. Over the years their hours have become more and more sporadic to the point where they are only open a couple of hours a few days of the week. And even the posted hours are not honored. It seems that every time I am in the area the shop is closed. Nevermind.
Since the shop was open I dropped in to check out the wares and maybe pick up a copy of Jean Frosts Jacket book. One of my fave people from the guild was working that afternoon and I ended up spending a few hours gossiping[no book or interesting to me wares] and selling stuff to the throngs of customers. During the visit an elderly couple dropped in asking about sweater repair work. Apparently they had traveled to Ireland many years ago and purchased some sweaters. Sweaters which had developed a few m*th holes and tears over the years. Above you see the lady's version. It is actually cream but my camara decided to make it ochre for some bizarre reason. My friend felt that she was unable to repair the sweaters herself and knew of nobody free to do the job. I was so on it. Anyway the lady's sweater has a tiny tear at the sleeve CO edge and another smaller one a few rows into the cuff. I think she caught it on a watchband or somesuch. Now that I have finished the sweater knitting that I was diligently working on last few weeks I will undo the CO and rip back a few rows on each cuff then BO. Here you get the before shot:
The man's sweater is gonna be a real job involving undoing all the seams, ripping back the body, and reknitting the sleeve top, shoulder strap, back of neck and buttonband. When I show you the finit woman's sweater I will show the man's. Til then~ happy knitting
Posted by Elka at 11:05 PM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2005
Still Bored
| Semicolon You scored 15% Sociability and 82% Sophistication! |
| Congratulations! You are the semicolon! You are the highest expression of punctuation; no one has more of a right to be proud. In the hands of a master, you will purr, sneering at commas, dismissing periods as beneath your contempt. You separate and connect at the same time, and no one does it better. The novice will find you difficult to come to terms with, but you need no one. You are secure in your elegance, knowing that you, and only you, have the power to mark the skill or incompetence of the craftsman. You have no natural enemies; all fear you. And never, NEVER let anyone tell you that you cannot appear in dialogue! |
 |
My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:
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Posted by Elka at 10:40 PM | Comments (0)
November 04, 2005
Cause I am bored....
Your Linguistic Profile: |
| 70% General American English |
| 20% Yankee |
| 10% Upper Midwestern |
| 0% Dixie |
| 0% Midwestern |
Posted by Elka at 02:57 PM | Comments (0)