KnitMe

Siberia

I am, by my estimate, about 1/6 done with the edging of my Siberian Winter. It's very beautiful and I can't wait to have it to wear, but I'm getting tired of knitting edging! Especially since I can't get a 16-row repeat done in less than 20 minutes yet. It's really beautiful edging, and I even like the faggotting.

Here's a closeup of the edging, which shows the lovely little loopy edge created by the YOs at the start of every other row, and which I wouldn't have known was there from any of the photos I've seen.

Two Old Bags, if you're read blogs, cover your ears a minute. I am knitting this on 'backwards' (wrong side out) just because I couldn't get started off going down the side and had to knit across the live stitches first. Sorry! But I don't think it's going to change the look much.

Meanwhile, I am trying insanely to redeem that silk that I dyed and plyed and that I swatched the other week. Here is the beginning of a Faroese style shawl based on Myrna Stahman's patterns in her book but charted with the 'Pendants' pattern from Barbara Walker II that I swatched. I'm knitting on size 4 needles because I want it to open up more than the swatch did (done on 3.25mm). We'll see. It is making me nuts with all its worming but I am going to beat it or die trying - it'll be satisfying to give it a truly vicious blocking if I ever get that far.

Notice that the center-pull ball is straitjacketed in an old stocking. I was too afraid of what would happen if this ball started to collapse! It's such slippery yarn, it was guaranteed to happen.

Meanwhile I'm making good progress on the knee socks for MEEEEEE this time, MEEEEE. I got down to the ankle and put the first one on a holder and started the second one - I don't want to knit a heel flap on one and then find out I don't have enough yarn to do the heel flap for the other one too.

I did the top K2P2 and the body K4P2 - to my surprise, the K4P2 part is tighter fitting. Who knew? I always thought K2P2 was the pattern that pulled in the most.

I'm enjoying knitting this yarn although green is not my color.

The Dale cardigan is still stalled but it's starting to call to me. I can't figure out if that's just because everything else I'm knitting is making me so nuts right now. For some reason, both the lace yarn and the silk are requiring a lot of time between rows to work out incipient knots in the strand coming out of the center pull ball. I feel like a character in a Garcia Marquez novel, every thread I've touched this month has wound itself into a knot. When will it end??

Kitty

Emily's Kit sweater (from Elsebeth Lavold's Sentimental Journey) is finished.

This is it before blocking.

This is it at the mandatory try-on the SECOND the last seam was completed.

Yes, it's a little big... this just means she'll probably wear it a total amount of time that exceeds the amount of time spent making it.

Blocking consisted of 20 minutes soaking in a solution of Retayne dye fixative and my hot tap water (which maxes out at about 135 degrees), rolling in a towel without rinsing, and laying flat. It shed a boatload of dye into the sink and into the towel but I hope that is the end of that. The cat didn't get speckled in the process either.

I used Cotton Fleece and size 4 and 6 needles and made the largest size. It took from July 18th until yesterday to knit and the seaming was completed today.

I may start this next.

It's the kit for Saga Rose from the 3rd Jamiesons book. The kit is from Two Swans Yarn (see the sidebar under shopping links) - their page about this sweater is here. Isn't it bee-yoo-tiful? I realize I haven't made a colorwork sweater since St. Michaels which I finished well over a year ago, so it's time. I think I will wait until I get well into the edging on Siberian Winter before I start, though.

The Dale lace cardigan is totally stalled, but I've knitted about 3 inches on my knee socks - pictures once they get down closer to the ankle. Meanwhile I'm swatching a little, to satisfy the desire to play with all my great yarn. This is a swatch of the 'Pendants' lace pattern from the second Barbara Walker treasury, knitted on size 3.25mm needles in the silk from hell that I wrote so much about earlier this spring.

It isn't half bad, and it wasn't torture to knit with it. It even sort of took a block. So, maybe I will keep it after all. I made the photo pretty big, in hopes of getting across that wonderful subtle interplay of the different shades of blue in the 2 plys, but I have a feeling it's not possible....

UFO is Finally a FO!

Ok, so you know, I am really bad at this blogging thing! But I have patiently (stupidly) kept trying to do this to show you all the doily I have made from the Kunststrik book by Sonja Esbensen. This was done on size 000 needles and size 20 crochet thread. A present for my MIL, it didn't start out that way, but that's the deal now. . .

And I had a close up shot, but the site keeps giving me an error message, so I am quiting while I'm slightly ahead! Have a good week, everyone!

June

As Good As Chocolate...

I've discovered another cure for a bad day, besides chocolate:

This is some merino and silk top that I bought from a favorite eBay seller, 'bluegooseglen.' It cheered me up immensely just to know it was on its way in the mail. I can't wait to spin it. Only half a pound of black merino to go...

Remember this? In late December you saw it as a newly spun hank of sock yarn (4.3 ounces, something over 400 yards). Then in early February you saw it as a pair of men's socks. Well, it came home to me on Friday and is sock yarn again.

I was considering throwing it into the rotating stash box, which is currently at my house, but I decided I like it so much that I'll hang onto it awhile and then make myself a pair of socks from it - maybe knee socks. I have plenty of commercial sock yarn to use for the feet, if I run out. It isn't my color (it was much more suited to the temporary owner of the socks) but it's SO soft, especially after having been machine washed a couple of times while knitted up.

I got a lovely sample of some superfine merino top, in a color called 'Bird of Paradise,' in my package from Lisa Souza along with my garnet lace yarn, and I spindled it up into about 22 yards of pretty yarn. What'll I do with it? Who knows?

Finally, here is (GASP) my first attempt at intarsia. I sure hope it'll be my last, but with a kid I can doubt it. This is the front of 'Kit' from the recent Elsebeth Lavold book Sentimental Journey.

I sort of winged it, and it shows - but I hope when it's wet and blocking I can use steam to even out the cat's face, which is a tad pinched.

This is the edge - I hate bobbles almost as much as intarsia, but I think this is a very cute edge - it's a row of bobbles with 4 rows of seed stitch above, and it looks much neater in person than in the photos in the book. It's not even unpleasant to work.

The back is done, and the front has about 6 more inches to go. I'm making the biggest size, so it'll be a tad floppy on Emily this year but will ensure she'll get two years of wear out of it.

That's all the news from here. Happy Saturday night.