KnitMe

Finished, Started and Tagged

The Faux Russian Stole is finished. This was such an enjoyable knit. All those lovely diagonals, crosses and diamonds appeal to my love of symmetry and balance. One of my dear friends who is an accomplished quilter really likes this stole. I really like her quited tote bags. A trade is in the works.

The yarn is a Shetland jumper weight, but I have no idea what the brand or shade number is. I got it in a trade with Angela a few years ago. It's a lovely deep blue with flecks of dark green. I knit this exactly as written, imagine that. Here's an "in use" shot so you can see how big it is.

There has been lots of plying going on around here. Back in March I was spinning this wonderful Deep Sea superfine merino acquired from my favourite purveyor of fine yarns and fibres, Lisa Souza. The finished yarn is a three ply heavy worsted weight. I really like the way the colours blended. I'm thinking about knitting the sweater on the cover of Lace Style with it, or perhaps something from one of the Noro books.

While the Rose was tied up with all that plying, I have been spinng some Blue Moon Fiber Arts merino/tencel in the Puck's Mischief colourway on the Little Gem. I have been using the LG more often since I got the E Flyer. The ceramic inserts on the flyer and yarn guide make for much smoother spinning, and the LG just seems to hum. Great colours, eh?

The perpetual sock is all but done. These are knit in my favourite every day 3 x 1 rib pattern with Mountain Colors Bearfoot. Nice warm socks, just a little out of synch with the seasons. I started these in March when it was still cold. They feel very nice on my feet. It must be the mohair content that gives them such a nice cushy feeling.

Also on the go is the Prairie Blanket from Oat Couture. The yarn is an acrylic called Marble. This is for Project Linus, so it has to be machine wash and dryable.

Last week I started the Gothic Leaf stole, another wonderful Sivia Harding design. There's a link to the knit along on Sivia's site if you want to join in. I'm using Elann's Baby Silk fingering weight (so soft!) on a 3.75 mm needle.

Vanessa tagged me for the Seven Things meme, so here goes:

1. I lived in Montreal during the early 70s when the FLQ (Front de Liberation du Quebec) crisis was happening. I was in a building when it was bombed. Incredibly, no one was hurt. When the dust settled I saw that the cinder block wall that had been behind me had moved forward with each brick coming further forward than the one beneath it. The top of the wall was hanging over my head, but it didn't fall.

2. I was born on Halloween.

3. I love food, yet I find cooking a challenge. I would rather wash up than cook. My first cookbook was titled "The I Hate to Cook Book". I still use it. Dining chez nous is always unpredictable. I once served a completely inedible chicken dish to dinner guests. DH saved the day by calmly bringing the garbage can into the dining room, dumping the contents of our plates into it and serving up drinks while we waited for the pizza to arrive.

4. I love symmetry. I like od numbers and am particularly fond of the number five.

5. I am a complete homebody. There is no place I would rather be. I have very little desire to travel, unless it's to a fibre festival. I am never bored and I am never lonely at home.

6. Into each day there should come a little chocolate. Dark chocoate. Just a little, every day.

7. I rarely have more than five knitting projects on the go, and more commonly have only three. I am monogamous to the project on the needles, which is why I only come out to play here on KnitMe every six weeks or so. Otherwise I'd bore you to tears showing you the latest inch of this or that.

I'm supposed to tag seven other bloggers to offer up seven random things about themselves. So Caroline, Sam and Jan, my three blogmates here on KnitMe, and Kerry, Vicki, Kim and Jen, consider yourselves tagged. Or not, if you're not keen on memes.

Too darn hot

to give you an in-use shot of the Cable Down Raglan.

Maybe next week after it's totally dry.

I was really pleased with the WEBS Colrain yarn. You can see from the photo how much of a sheen it has - see how the stockinette parts look a totally different color than the reverse-stockinette parts? The purl fabric reflected the light of the flash differently. It's very nice stuff.

Now that I've made this, there are a couple of things I wish I had trusted my instincts on, and done differently.

The sleeves are knit straight, no decreases, and no extra stitches are cast on at the underarm. When the stitches are removed and held for the sleeves, no extra stitches are cast on for the body, and then none for the sleeves when the stitches are picked up again. I think if I were to do it again I would cast on a couple of extras, and decrease them out over a couple of inches. The sleeves were a bit tight in the biceps, and this would have fixed them without me having to block carefully.

There is nothing done to take into account cable flare at the bottom edges of body and sleeves. Perhaps this is intentional, and it is ok on the body, but on the sleeves it could become annoying - who needs bell sleeves? I tried blocking so that the body of the sleeve widened to match the width of the cuff edging, but decreasing a couple in the first knit round after ending the cables would have done the trick too, for free. It would also have been logical to put a bit fewer stitches on for the neckline, and increase at the beginning of each cable, it might have made everything lie down better.

We'll know for sure how well blocking made up for these little details, when I get the thing on.

I finished one Panda Cotton sock. I really like how it came out and I hope I can concentrate better to get the second one done faster.

I knitted this on size 1 needles, using the You're-Putting-Me-On toe-up sock pattern with heel gusset, and the rib pattern from the Retro Rib socks by Evelyn Clark that are reprinted in the new Interweave sock book. The stitch definition is really good in this light solid color. This line of yarn must be succeeding with customers, because they've just come out with some pretty painted colors in it.

It's turned humid here so I've started a summer knitting project.

I'm using the Hempathy yarn that the pattern calls for. Like her Silky Wool, I just cannot bring myself to knit this yarn at the gauge on the ball band. I swatched, and it was a lovely light fabric, but it was very loose and I'm afraid it would sag - it is about half cotton, after all. So I went down a needle size and up a garment size and we'll see. It's making beautiful stitch definition at this gauge and the design is lovely and elegant like all Lavold's best work.

As far as spinning, I finished my one ounce of white cashmere

and I'm spinning one ounce of white silk/merino to ply with it.

Oddly enough, guess which one is harder to spin. Yeah. Who'd have thought.

Hope you are having a peaceful easy day and getting all the snooze you can use.

Daphne says

Pay more attention to me!

You knit too much.

Well, she may say so but I think I'm not knitting enough.

Here is one Panda sock, not quite done.

This is making a lovely sock but I feel like it's taking forever to knit and this is just the first sock. I think this yarn has a problem with the time/space continuum. I got the heel and gusset done in no time but the straight-ahead knitting is endless.

I got one sleeve done on the Cable Down raglan and I'm racing against time to finish the second one before it's too hot to knit with a whole sweater in my lap. You have your choice of two shots, one with no flash and thus blurry but with a better overall idea of the patterning, or one with flash thus sharp but somehow losing some detail. Either way, both are better representations of the actual color of the yarn than any pictures I've gotten up to this point. Excuse the cat tail, Bonnie was helping.

I did manage to finish my diamond scarf from Victorian Lace.

It turned out just as I wanted - not too long. The pattern wanted me to do one more repeat of the center pattern before putting on the second border, but I wasn't sure I had quite enough yardage left for 32 more rows, and I really wanted a scarf I could knot around my neck and not be able to sit on the ends. I think it'll be perfect. It's about 4 feet long, I didn't block it hard because I didn't want it growing much in either direction.

That being done, I finally started the afghan from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits. You can't really tell what it is because right now it's just seed stitch, over and over for about 225 stitches across.

The yarn is perfect for an afghan - I wouldn't want it for a sweater, the 30% acrylic comes across in a sort of dry hand, but it'll be perfect for something that has to be washed a lot. In my house things that lie around on couches and chairs need lots of washing. The color isn't quite what I expected it to be when I looked at it online, but it is a lovely sort of watermelon-raspberry shade that I think will be pleasant to have around. It's going to be a little smaller than the one in the magazine, because it's not as fat a yarn, but that's ok.

It's kind of funny to think that I am making an entire blanket on fewer stitches per row than many fair isle sweaters....

Knitting for Daughters and Other Small Comforts

What do you do when your daughter, who has dressed exclusively in the Bruise Palette for the last five years, suddenly pipes up with a wish for a rainbow scarf? Particularly when said child has never asked you to knit her a single thing? You get spinning, of course! It started as this:

and then became this:

and is in the process of becoming this:

Thus far, she pronounces it, "Cool..." so I think I'm on the right track. I tried to talk her into some texture pattern, but she declares that she wants it, "Just flat." Um...o.k. I can do that. She's aware that it will have a tendency to curl, even with the garter selvedge, but she thinks she can live with that. Whew!

Spring has finally arrived here in the NorthWet and the sun is shining, so this will be a short entry. I'll leave you with other small comforts that are making me happy to be a human today:

A bag of freshly picked fawn colored Shetland, waiting to be carded:

Another Shetland, drying in the sun:

Fiery gernaniums on my deck:

Beautful lilies in my window (pretend you don't notice how badly said window needs to be washed):

And, last but not least, a sock in progress in the most gorgeous Apple Laine Apple Pie yarn (thanks, Jen!. The color is Earthly Delight. How could you not love yarn with a name like that? I wish the camera could capture the silk sheen of this yarn. It's just the loveliest stuff.

What can I say - it's a happy day!

Up to my ears in baa

Picture heavy entry today because, after all, I was at Maryland Sheep and Wool on Saturday with NO STROLLER. Emmy had fun doing other things while I went to the festival with only myself to manage. I felt so light and fast and it felt so uncrowded. I have no idea whether any of those things were true, but they FELT true.

My first stop was the booth of Sheila and Michael Ernst, just to say good morning.

They were doing a roaring business in their lovely glass circular and double-pointed needles.

Janel from Spindlicity was there, sharing Sheila's booth space with her Chameleon Colorworks fibers and some Spindlewood spindles.

From there, I went straight off to the main building to get a chance to spin on a wheel I've eyed for two years and been unable to get near.

It was beautiful. It was fast. It was single treadle and double drive. It was my first experience of using a big fast single-treadle wheel. I wanted it, even though double drive is not my thing by any means. I haven't got anyplace to put it and really shouldn't be plonking down that much cash. So I did the grown-up thing and walked away. I think if it had been scotch tension I might not have been able to walk away.

Fortunately there was much to distract me from my broken heart. (Please excuse the slightly blurry photos, the light was inconsistent and I wasn't always good about waiting for my flash to recharge.)

This gorgeous wheel by Norm Hall took my breath away. Later on it had a sold sign on it and if I'm not mistaken I finally followed it to the parking lot.

The colors of Brooks Farm:

The colors of Tess Yarn:

On my second pass through the fleece sale, I found this stunning fleece, a Coopworth cross with something I would not have thought would be at all nice - Leicester? Lincoln? maybe Romney? Anyway it was absolutely gorgeous. Bold crimp, long staple (at least 6 inches), and such luster.

If someone had been there to split it with me I'd have bought it on the spot, but it was $12 a pound and almost 9 pounds.

When I arrived at 9:40am, the t-shirt line stretched from Building 1 all the way up the hill back toward the entrance and almost to the skein and garment building. With 5 hours to spend there, I didn't see the point in spending 2 hours in a line, so I passed it by. Later, when lunch rolled around, everyone evidently went off to stand in food lines, and the t-shirt line reached only to the corner of Building 2, so I stood in the line and ate my lunch and finally got the shirts I needed.

Before we get to see what I bought, let's see some sheepy faces.

(OK, these may be goats. They were next to a sign that said 'Kid Hollow Farm' and they had teeny little horns.)

Most of the sheep were Corriedale and Romney.

This delicate girl was, I'm pretty sure, a Bluefaced Leicester - did the picture catch the slightly blue-grey cast of the skin showing through the fleece on her face?

And this is a Wensleydale. Look at the long, slightly straight fleece.

So, what did I actually buy?

Not much, but really nice stuff. A two-ounce ball of angora/silk/wool roving in a shade called 'Bluegrass' from Wild Meadow Angoras, which is the same stuff I bought last year and spun into my Swallowtail shawl. I want a scarf out of this gorgeous fiber, and since I'd forgotten the name of the vendor I was very glad to see them sitting in the exact same spot as last year. A skein of sock yarn that was new this year at the Barefoot Spinner (no website). Another skein of Tess sock yarn, blue and purple and an attractive minty green. Another skein of Mountain Colors Bearfoot, because I can't leave that yarn alone, in a mix of forest green and shades of pink called 'Meadow'. A beautiful Bosworth midi, with a cocobolo whorl and a bloodwood shaft. A cocobolo pen and a yarn gauge from Turnstyles.

Later on, we had a small gathering at my house, and the last thing I did before I lost the ability to sit upright was bind off Emily's shawl, made from Lisa's Sock Merino.

She wore it off and on all afternoon yesterday and has taken it off to show-and-tell at school today. No other significant spinning or knitting was done this weekend, unfortunately. Once I recuperate from the fatigue, I always want to immerse myself in all my fiber toys. So instead I post a million photos and sigh about the wheel I let get away.