KnitMe

Uh, still Sampling...

One of the hardest things about blogging, I find, is thinking of snappy titles for my entries. Some people, like Sheila and Prudence, are really good at it. I, obviously, am not.

The good news is that I made some more progress on my stole. I chose a pretty but very easy pattern to go after the spider webs. It was easy enough that I could quickly add some inches to my stole (it's just a little over 12" long now). The next pattern (you can see it beginning to form at the top) is a more challenging one, so it might be a while before the next photo.

Linette

Didn't do a whole lot

Didn't do a whole lot of knitting this weekend but I plyed like crazy on Saturday. Two almost-full bobbins of Bluefaced Leicester single became these.

The bottom one is about 180 yards, the middle one is about 66 yards, and the top one is about 20 yards. The top one is spindle-plyed from the leftovers on one of the bobbins when the other bobbin ran out.

I'm excited about these because they spun up at such a nice weight - looks like sport to me! It's very different from the two hanks I spun before, which are pretty much worsted, but it's much more usable, at least to me. This time, I plyed a whole lot tighter than I did before and it really paid off. Thanks to Sam's plying lesson I used my finger to unzip the twist and control it running back up the singles, so I got a nice uniform twist.

I have about 6 ounces of top left, if I can spin it all at this weight I'll really have something.

I promise I'll do knitting photos next time - I'm almost up to the armholes on my Byzantine sweater and I've done 60 rows on the Faroese Style shawl.

Prudence

The Unst Beginnings

I made it through one and a third repeats of 10 in the center pattern of the Unst stole. I am using the same yarn (well, okay, a different ball of it) as Linette, and size 0 needles. You can see that the spider web motif that she used in her sampler is also used in the Unst.

This just gets easier as I go along, although one must be careful to keep accurate count of stitches and rows. Patterning occurs on both right and wrong sides, so there is no rest for the wicked!

Sheila

Sampling-along

I've made some progress on the sampler stole. These four motifs are "elemental" motifs. Many of the larger lace patterns involve these basic motifs in combination with one another. So far, the spider webs (top) are my favorite - these were so fun to knit! Next I'm going to start knitting larger panels of the more complex, "combo" patterns. This is slooow going, but most addictive!

Linette

Rose Trellis

Here's a new FO. This is the 'Rose Trellis' pullover from Heartstrings Fiber Arts. What an extremely clever pattern - knitted in the round to the armholes, then the yokes are worked separately front and back for awhile, then finally you knit each shoulder up and over the tops of the yokes. You'd have to see it to believe it. No finishing except under the arms.

The yarn is from 'Color-Me' which seems to be a small one-woman operation, and it's 50% silk and 50% wool - unbelievably soft and smooth, it was like knitting with spun water. This will be for autumn and winter wear under a cardigan or shawl.

It got done very quickly, yes it did... the reason why is something I can't say on the air, except to say that some illicit knitting went on....

As I type this, I'm reminded that Rose Trellis was the nasty boss in some comic strip I used to love but don't get to see in the Baltimore paper. Anybody remember?

{-Prudence, get off the #%^& blog already!-}

OK - someone else post before I do it again!!

Here's more of everyone doing

Here's more of everyone doing everything yesterday in Madame's parlor.

Sam, deciding where to start, and probably receiving brain waves from the Fantum seated just out of sight:

Lo, spinning some outrageously gorgeous silk/wool laceweight:

Karen and Sheila taking advantage of a very flattering background:

Kit perusing Rowan 34, and Marti (wish I could remember what it was she was knitting...):

Ryan and the sock she's designing (sorry I happened to get a closed-eyes shot....):

Lo, Angela, Roi, and Jen, all in a row:

The ever-hopeful Sherlock hoping for some good fortune in the snack department:

My big excitement for the afternoon is that Sam, besides bringing Michael's beard trimmer to shave my felted bag, also taught me how to Andean ply my spindle-spun singles. Here are my 3 little hanks of yarn - the white is merino I was experimenting with, and the 2 grey ones are Shetland. The middle one was the latest spun and I think is my best yarn so far - it actually looks like something I would knit with.

I recommend this way of plying - the winding onto your hand is hard to figure out at first, but once the light bulb goes on, it makes perfect sense. Sam was a very patient teacher.

I got a lot done on my 2 WIPs (mostly while travelling, I stuck to spinning at the Parlor) and I'll put up pictures later in the week.

I'm sure Madame, being the photographer, will have some better pictures over her way today, so check there too.

Prudence

Shimmering Diamonds Shawl

During today's soiree, I attempted to knit a few rows on the "Shimmering Diamonds" shawl, a project I have resurrected after a three-year hiatus. But there were so-o-o-o many distractions, between Sheila's de-stashing, and actually meeting in person Roi and Angela and Caroline, not to mention becoming re-acquainted with my knitting teacher Sandy, that I am to be forgiven if I got only three rows knitted on the shawl. Boy, do I feel my startitis kickin' in!

Karen

Success! I have successfully de-stashed

Success! I have successfully de-stashed unto Soiree attendees. However, I seem to be re-stashing just as quickly. Hmmmm.

To show that stash does eventually become a FO - here is the tank top that I was working on at the last Soiree.

Many thanks to Sheila for hosting such wonderful gatherings in her lovely home. Convivial company, beuatiful surrondings, delicious food, what more could a knitter ask for? I hope to eventually meet many more of you as time goes by and continue this tradition both within the PNW and elsewhere.

Angela

More folks....

Here are more of our soiree attendees who either had to leave early or just haven't posted for themselves yet...

Here's Marti Dolezal....

And the fabulous Lori...

The absolutely wonderful Roi, all the way from Arizona and newly expecting her first grandchild!!

Caroline and Sam out on the deck shaving a KnitKit Bag...

And the baby, fast asleep.

Sheila

Miracle WIP2

I'm making progress on the Aran Cardigan. The length is where I want it, but I've decided to change the bind off. Instead of standard ribbing, I'm doing an applied i-cord. My friends over at FiberTraditions have shown me two ways to do this. The one I think looks best includes a slip,knit, psso for the attached edge. I need to frog the k2tog i-cord, and redo. Then 2 more sleeves and a button band, then it truly will be a Miracle! Here's a photo:

Jen

I've enjoyed my time at the Soiree. Angela brought me some Quebecoise Yarn from Birkeland Bros. I promise to make my best friend a vest from it. Due date - 10 years. Do you think I will make it? She promises to still be my friend, even if it takes me longer. Here we are with little Sherlock:

I think he will fit perfectly in my knitting basket. Happy Soiree!

Creatures of the Soiree

Alright - finally, as promised, my first Pink Tea entry: Legends of the Shetland Seas (Hazel Carter pattern from Blackberry Ridge) in Lisa Souza's Sea Glass colorway. I did not expect to enjoy lace knitting as much as it turns out that I am. It's wonderful to be learning some new techniques and it's a joy to work with this beautiful yarn. I was concerned when I began, as I really couldn't see the pattern developing very well, but after a complete repeat of the first two charts, I can see things shaping up nicely. Initially, I had some difficulty finding the right needles for me. I started out on Addi Turbos, but found them far too slippery. I'm now working on Addi Natura bamboos and having a much better time. I look forward to trying the Inox needles that Madame picked up for me, as they have a bit sharper point that I think will be very helpful. More as it happens...

Toast to Marcia's Mom

Our dear friend Marcia asked us to toast her mother's health as she prepares for bypass surgery on Monday. Marcia, we all toasted her a successful surgery and pain-free recovery.... here's Karen raising her glass:

(it's 3:16 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time)

Sheila

Ryan The Dyer... and Sock Designer!

Ryan created the last entry, showing her prowess with the natural dyepot. Here she is, with her own swirling sock design.... for more about that, see the Mossy Cottage blog!

Sheila

The Gathering

I have been itching to get a picture of all the swatches en masse, and Sheila, under the auspices of the soiree, turned out to be the ultimate enabler. Here is a picture of all the current swatches and balls of natural dyed yarn, as they are laid out today for us to chat about.

Top to bottom, left to right:

The two balls at the very top: marigold, and failed black walnut
First row: Failed bracken, black walnut, alder cone
Second row: Bracken, foxglove, purple plum tree leaves with lemon ammonia afterbath
Third row: Dandelion with vinegar afterbath, coreopsis with lemon ammonia afterbath, purple plum tree leaves

Time to get back downstairs. I hear a lemon bar, a blueberry bar and a glass of San Pellegrino calling my name...

Ryan

Those from Afar

The Fantum arrived, bringing with her a wonderful bag sent by Janet of KnitKit. Made from Manos of Uruguay yarn, it is exquisite!

The Fantum, true to her nature, requested no pictures for her today, but we are very glad to have her here, and greatly enjoy her company.

Sheila

Blue Tea

Madame is in the kitchen concocting mysterious concoctions, so she sent me down the hall to post another little note here. This is my lace in progress, the 'Faroese Style Shawl' from the Best of Knitters Shawls & Scarves book - design by Myrna Stahman.

The yarn is the Nandia silk/cashmere yarn that's been driving me nuts - I think this is a great pattern for it, as it's stockinette stitch and fairly simple. I'm using my 3.25mm rosewood needles because they have the sharpest points of all my wood needles.

I worked on this a lot yesterday on the plane. It requires much concentration to keep from missing or dropping something. It might not be such great soiree knitting material, since I'll probably be inclined to run my mouth too much to remember to concentrate!

Jojo has already attempted to chew on the needle. Somehow pets know which are your most valuable/hard to replace items, and make straight for them!

It's almost soiree time so I'll stop here. Soon we'll be marching people up to the computer here and making them blog - probably even the elusive Sam!

Matin du Soiree

The Lady Prudence Fiddletwist aka Caroline from Baltimore arrived safely to the Parlor last night, and has been accepted with happy purrs and puppy kisses. Throughout the day today we will post entries so that you can share the soiree with us!

Ginger made sure that the first guest felt welcome!

Keep checking today for more Pink Tea!

Sheila

HK Sampler Stole

I finally cast on for my Shetland stole last night. The plan is to knit a Shetland sampler stole using patterns from Sharon Miller's book, Heirloom Knitting. As a guide to the construction, I'm using Miller's instructions for the Unst stole in her book. First, with a 2-ply lace yarn, I cast on 145 stitches (seemed like a good stitch count based on most of the lace stitches which I think I'll be doing), then knit 4 rows. These are throw-away rows which will be discarded later. Then I join in the cobweb yarn and knit another 4 rows, then a row of eyelets, then knit 3 rows. Now I'm ready to start the first lace pattern.
Here's a close-up of the little eyelets, all in row. Aren't they cute?

Onward. For the first lace motif I chose a trellis diamond pattern because I wanted something really easy. After one repeat of this, though, I started getting bored. So I did another divider sequence (an eyelet row with 3 rows of garter stitch before and after), then one repeat of the "madeira" pattern, another easy one. Both "trellis diamond" and "madeira" are graded as level *** (three stars) by Miller because every other row is a plain knit row. Having warmed up a bit, I think I'm ready now to graduate to a (****) level pattern.

Linette

Red Colorway

I was supposed to cast on for my Shetland stole and work on Scarlett, but did I do that last night? Noooo, instead I swatched up a red colorway version of the blue jean fair isle I posted in my last entry. Here's the chart:

And here's the swatch:

I include a chart because I get a kick out of seeing the transition from paper chart to yarn swatch. I don't like this red colorway nearly as much as the blue one. But it might make a nice pair mittens or something.

Linette

Royal Purple

Here's an attempt at photographing my WIP of the Byzantine Bazic sweater from the fall Interweave Knits. It's designed by Kathy Zimmerman for some big fat yarn, but I don't do big fat yarn so I started it in the Berroco Bluefaced Leicester I just got from WEBS (this shade is called 'dahlia'). What you see is the 20 rows of welt, plus the first 6 rows of the body pattern. The piece is too wide to stretch it out for the picture, but in the center you can see the cables from the welt opening up to meet and cross in the middle. I knew this was going to be a hard color to photograph - but I hope you can see what a wonderful sheen this yarn has.

Click here for a bigger picture that shows the cables more clearly.

This pattern requires a certain amount of alertness, because in between some of the moving lines there's moss stitch instead of just purls, so you need to pay attention to whether you knit or purl the stitches that cross in back, and it has nothing to do with what a stitch was before the twist.

The more I work on it, the better I like it. That center panel is to die for. This is the first time I've received a magazine and just HAD to start something from it immediately. Isn't it funny, with all the yarn and patterns stashed around, I had to start the newest pattern in the door with the newest yarn in the door.

Fair Isle Swatch

To take a break from Scarlett, I swatched an FI design that I had doodled on the computer. My goal was to come up with a pretty but casual fair isle with a faded denim-y look. Oh, and to use the color "leprechaun" in a design. I adapted a chart from Sheila McGregor's FI book. The color scheme was inspired by a photo of a museum-piece sweater which appears in Anne Feitelson's book. I like the swatch a lot but wonder if it would look dorky if knitted up as a whole sweater. I might just give it a try.

Here's the chart I created:

And here it is in yarn:

Linette