Works in Progress

Truly Scrumptious

2012-01-29T20:46:00.000-08:00

This cowl I've just finished for my daughter is truly, truly scrumptious.

(This is me in the cowl -- I'll post pictures of my daughter modeling when she sends them.)

Triangle Loop cowl

a free pattern from Erica Knits (see the link above)
I used Fyberspates DK/Worsted Scrumptious yarn, 45% silk, 55% merino wool. Color 109, slate; and 110, natural. One skein of each color.
Size 7 (4.5 mm) bamboo needle - 16" circular

Quite a few people have made this cowl - but few have blogged about the things I would have liked some company to think about. The most terrifying thing about this cowl is also the most wonderful. You knit it, stranded fair isle (not intarsia, as the pattern says) in the round. The instructions have you cast on provisionally, and then at the end, graft the two ends together. The wonderful thing is you end up with a truly eternal loop - no beginning, no end, not even any edges. Done right, it's phenomenal. I took a picture with a couple of ends still poking out, just so you could see where the whole thing began & ended. The ends are poking out only because I left them that way ON PURPOSE for this picture. You can see a bit of a jog when the pattern moves from row to row, but you can't see the cast on, or cast off, because when it's finished, there isn't any.

The next two paragraphs are full of knitting angst. If you aren't a knitter, or are anxiety averse, feel free to skip them and read the last paragraph before you leave.

The terrifying thing about the beginning being the end is grafting stranded knitting onto stranded knitting. On the "top" side, that's not so bad - but think about the loops that are revealed when a provisional cast-on is removed. The "bottom" loops are actually the part of the yarn that is leading from one stitch to another -- and when the work is stranded, some of those loops are part of a strand that is carried over several stitches.

I wish I'd taken a picture of this -- but the funny thing is, it turns out, if you're careful, it's no big deal. In fact, this grafting is more intuitive than kitchener stitch at the toe of a sock. I started out leaving the waste yarn to my provisional cast on in place. But I realized, even before I started down this road, that at some point I'd have trouble, since I didn't want to leave a whole row of waste yarn INSIDE my cowl. So after the first inch or so, I got brave and ran a needle through those loops that I needed to graft into. And then I cut off the provisional stitches. And nothing horrible happened. At the point the grafting takes place (the first stitches you knit) there are five white stitches in a row, then a slate stitch. So those long slate carries look a little precarious. But in fact, the grafting is like duplicate stitch -- unlike sock toes, in which your work is half a stitch off, these stitches line up. My grafting, which created a row of, shall we say, sewn knitting, created the next row, or last row, in the pattern repeat. It worked great -- a little fiddly with two colors (& two threaded needles) but really, great. I didn't follow any instructions, I just followed my knitting. Of course, the 38 other people on Ravelry who've made this loop didn't think it was any big deal. Or if they did, they didn't mention it. Their cowls look great too. So maybe not over-thinking would have been better. If you've followed this digression, you're thinking that too.

Tomorrow this delicious cowl goes off to my daughter. She goes to school only two and a half hours north of us, but it's always much colder there. I hope it keeps her warm. I hope she loves it. I love it. If I didn't love her, I'd probably keep it for myself!

Our Kind of Birthday

2012-01-14T22:16:00.000-08:00

My sister and I have a tradition. Having birthdays a week apart, and being the same age (in whole numbers) for a week each year, we love to celebrate together with our mom and our youngest sister, and all our husbands.

This year was a special celebration, and today was a special day. My sister and I are both 50 today, and for a few more days yet (before I get, alas, even older). Today her wonderful husband treated us all to a VIP wine tasting lunch at Airfield Estates winery.

What a great celebration it was -- we tasted wine from the vats, had a wonderful lunch, and tasted more wonderful wines while we were at it. It's a family owned winery - and the vineyards are on a farm that began life as a WWII airfield, a part of local history new to me. We were treated with just the right amount of attention - friendly, but leaving us plenty of time to visit and celebrate.

There was cake.

And there were presents.

Though I received lovely gifts, I was also very excited about the gift I gave --

Trish Woodson's My Kind of Town Cowl. If you're interested in the knitterly knitty-gritty, you can check out my project page on Ravelry. I adjusted the pattern to the less chunky yarn I was using, the wonderful Fyberspates Scrumptious Chunky, a silk-wool blend. The color, called water, is gorgeous, and I think looks great with my sister's eyes (though the light in the tasting room library is too dim to show this well).

My birthday isn't even here yet, but already, it's a good one.

Top 5 Knitting Projects of 2011

2012-01-01T23:38:00.001-08:00

My top 5 knitting projects of 2011 are also my ONLY knitting projects of 2011. I didn't finish (or even start) too many things. Also in the picture is the tablecloth quilt I made for my dining room. We use it nearly every day, so I consider it a great success. It's also my first quilt, and I'm proud of it

I'm a tiny bit disappointed there aren't more projects in this picture. On the other hand -- look what I did! The afghan turned out better than I expected. The scarf & mittens are worn. The En Pointe sweater (the rose colored sweater with the twist in front) is one of my favorite sweaters to wear. The whisper cardi has yet to prove itself, but spring will come.

I have two projects on the needles now. The Kelmscott sweater is more than a third of the way finished. And there's another yet to be revealed project in the works.

Happy 2012! Happy knitting, and living, to us all!

In Print (on Paper)

2011-12-11T15:36:00.001-08:00

Knit One, Purl a Prayer: A Spirituality of Knitting (Active Prayer)
by Peggy Rosenthal

Some time ago, an author who writes for Good Letters, the Image blog, happened to mention her knitting in an essay. I, being a blog reader & knitter, commented on the post. A small thing, to comment on a blog, to say, "I wrote about something along this line awhile back on my blog -- here's the link, if you're interested." It's part of blogging at its best -- not just sharing our thoughts with some small segment of the world "out there" -- but conversations with like-minded, or at least like-interested, folks we wouldn't otherwise know.

The author was Peggy Rosenthal, who asked to quote from my post in the book she was writing. And so, that conversation led to a little bit of this blog being quoted in her new book, Knit One, Purl a Prayer -- in print, on paper, and not for a grade. What a treat!

And really, it's a treat for all of us. This is a lovely book -- not just Rosenthal's ideas, but conversations and thoughts from many knitters who shared with her their thoughts on knitting and its relationship to their spiritual lives. Because I believe my Christian faith should be (I hope is) a part of all of my life, I muse sometimes about what that means for me as a knitter. Is it just when I'm knitting something for charity that my knitting has a spiritual dimension? Or is the relationship deeper? It was interesting to read other people's ideas -- and to hear from people of other faiths too, who'd given some thought to how our somewhat prosaic craft has spiritual dimensions.

Besides sharing the words of several thoughtful knitters, in each chapter Rosenthal has suggestions for putting into practice an aspect of knitting and spiritual life. Every chapter has a pattern for a project as well.

The best part of the book, for me, was the company I am in. The chapter that quotes my blog also quotes Luci Shaw, a poet & essayist whose work I've long enjoyed and admired. Turns out she's a knitter too!

I'd encourage any thoughtful knitter to take some time with this book - I think it will enrich your life -- of the spirit and the needles.

Proof of the Pudding. . .

2011-11-24T22:19:00.001-08:00

is in the eating, which we did a lot of -- but the proof of the knitting is in the wearing.

It's a Wrap!

2011-11-21T18:37:00.000-08:00

Last fringe tied last night -- this scarf for my son is finished! Along with his dad & I, it's waiting for him to come home for an all too brief Thanksgiving vacation.

The scarf started with some yarn on sale at Wooly Bully Yarns in Leavenworth. What's a pseudo Bavarian vacation without a little yarn shopping? I bought the beige and variegated yarns at their closing sale -- though it looks like Wooly Bully might still be hanging around -- the web site shows classes scheduled for this fall. Good! I added the black and gold yarns when I decided to do the vertical stripes.

I used Stephen West's Creekbed scarf as a jumping off point. My scarf is made of thicker yarn, my chevrons are smaller, my stripes are different - and I decided to finish it with tassels. I'd read somewhere that this was a good idea for a vertical striped scarf -- but for the life of me, I couldn't find any suggestions for how to make the tassels when I was done. What I did was to leave about 6 inches of yarn at the beginning and end of each row -- when I was done, I snugged things up and tied each stripe (about 4 strands) together in an overhand knot. One or two of the stripes were very narrow, so I added an extra strand of yarn before I tied it.

Leavenworth Scarf

Mericash Thousand Colors yarn -- 80% Merino Wool, 20% Cashmere, color TH27
Mericash Ecological -- 80% Merino, 20% Mongolian Cashmere (held double) Colour, brown
Debbie Bliss Andes -- 65% baby alpaca, 35% mulberry silk
Length (probably a little long) 389 stitches
US 6 needles

Knit by Faith, not by Sight

2011-10-25T15:56:00.000-07:00

With faith, in the pattern and in my calculations, based on a swatch or two, I finished the Whispy Cardigan last night. Before washing, it didn't much resemble the lovely drapey cardigans in the pattern pictures.

Knitting with this stiff, lace-weight yarn has been difficult. I had to wash my swatches rather harshly to get a fabric I liked. Because of this, I had to knit according to the calculations I'd made from the swatch. I calculated both the row & stitch gauge, and used those numbers, times the inch measurements of the pattern, to adapt this pattern, written for wool yarn, to this linen string.

And sure enough, after washing, I was left with the Whispy cardigan I was hoping for. Except for one small problem. The linen yarn wasn't easy to knit. It's not resilient. I often found I'd inadvertently dropped a stitch. Unfortunately, two of the stitches I'd dropped didn't make themselves known until after my sweater had gone through the wash a couple of times.

Then, I found this:

There were two of these, one on the body of the sweater, another on one of the sleeves. A true perfectionist would have unraveled and reknit. I, however, used a crochet hook to reloop the stitch to the point I assume it was dropped. Then I used yarn and duplicate stitch to anchor the stitch in the garment. It ends up looking like a decreased stitch. Given the nubby and variegated look of this yarn, I'd dare you to find it. Except I think it would be more polite of you not to look.

I made this sweater to wear over t-shirts and tanks in the summer. I wanted something that wouldn't add a layer of heat, but would add a layer of style. I tried to wear my new sweater yesterday over a tank, and found that a little skin showed about my underarm. I don't think it'll bother me in the summer, but mid-October, it looked a little odd, and felt a little cool. So I wore my new Whispy over a long-sleeved t-shirt. Not really a good look, but I'm afraid it's the best I can do till I bring this back out in April or May.

I don't think this is the most flattering shot (translate this to mean, "I hope I really look better in this than the picture shows."), but I'm including it, because I know it helps me to select (or not select) patterns when I can seem them on different sized and shaped bodies. So I'll take one for the team ;-)

Details:

Whispy Cardigan by Hannah Fettig

Euroflax Milan, color Granite. Two cones @ 100 g., 625 yards.
US Size 4 & 2 needles (mostly 4)
Modifications: added roughly two inches to length

Next summer, I'll know better how well I like this sweater. But overall, I'm pleased. It turned out pretty much as I expected. Quite frankly, when I ordered the yarn, I thought it was more black with natural, when in reality it's more navy with natural. I wouldn't necessarily recommend anyone else knit this sweater in linen. I don't like knitting with linen. But I think a feather-light linen sweater will be just the ticket when the mercury rises next spring and summer.

On Target?

2011-09-13T23:30:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it -- I hit Target to look at (and buy) the new Missoni for Target stuff today. I didn't get up early and go before work (though I almost wish I had). Instead, I sauntered in after lunch and a little school shopping with my son. Only to find that I'd almost missed it. What had once been three racks of women's clothes was now about 10 items. There was another woman shopping while I was there, filling her cart with almost everything she could find. She had about 10 pairs of children's shoes. My suspicion is that most of her loot will end up on ebay. Ah America.

Actually, I was surprised that Missoni had flown off the shelves here in our little city. We are a long way from New York, or from Italy. Not being much of a fashionista, I doubt that I would even know of Missoni, except for Vogue Knitting. When I got home, I got to thinking about those Missoni designs in Vogue -- what would they look like to me now?

Here's some pictures from an article from Vogue Knitting, Fall '91, called "Missoni Magic". Do you think the shape of this sweater will be "in" again soon?

Altogether, I found 13 issues in my personal archives that featured at least one Missoni design. They are mostly from the late '80's and early to mid '90's.

My favorite design is from a Fall/Winter '88 issue.

This sweater may have captured the very spirit of '88, but I think, if you'd made it then, it would still be wearable now.

Some of you are wondering, "enough of historic Missoni, did you get anything?"

And the answer is, well, yes. I couldn't resist. There was a t-shirt in the black & white zig-zag design for me, a dress for my daughter, and

A pair of these socks,

And a media box for CD's in the brown print.

Everything looked fun, fresh, and sort of go-go girl retro-chic. The children's and baby's clothes were adorable!

Made the big time!

2011-08-16T22:32:00.000-07:00

The Flower Power throw -- MY Flower Power throw is featured on the Spud & Chloe blog. How cool is that?

Thanks to Susan Anderson for such nice attention!

Flower Power WOW!

2011-08-08T20:31:00.000-07:00

It's done -- Flower Power Throw - made as a graduation gift for my daughter.

Pattern: Flower Power Throw, by Linda Niemeyer, for Spud & Chloe
Spud & Chloe Sweater yarn, from Webs - 55% wool, 45% organic cotton

9 skeins pollen (yellow) (took more of this color than pattern called for)
5 skeins popsicle (magenta) (extra for border)
2 skeins jelly bean (pink)
1 skein turtle (green)

US size 7 needle
Backing is Anna Maria Horner Folksy Flannels, 10 inch squares sewed with 1/2 in seam allowances, for a 54" square, Sundance stack.
On Ravelry, here

Made according to the pattern, except I added the lacy rick-rack border. I had expected to tie the front to the back (like a quilt) as that's what I did when I put a backing on my son's graduation afghan. But part-way through tying, I took a look at the knit side of the afghan and decided this wasn't working with this design. So, the flannel back may shift some, but the front will look better. On the other hand, the fabric squares are so pretty, one could argue about which *is* the back of this blanket.

Three years ago, I made this afghan for my son.

I was thinking as I was laying the new throw out for its final blocking, that this new afghan couldn't be more different from the other one. Which is a lot like the two kids they're made for -- both wonderful, but different from one another. Beautiful -- I'm proud of both of them. I could say that about both the blankets or both of my kids.

Finished, or ready to finish?

2011-07-29T22:49:00.000-07:00

The Flower Power Throw is finished. Or rather, I'm finished with the knitting, and I'm ready to finish the blanket.

All the ends are woven in.
And today, this fabric arrived:

I'm so happy - I think it will make a wonderful backing for the blanket. It's Anna Maria Horner flannel - the sundance stack, which I bought here. I'm contemplating cutting 36 squares, though I could just do 4 squares. Doing a big 6x6 grid gives some natural places to tie through the blanket.

At one time, I thought we'd use this fabric.

but this will be so much better. My sister Marilyn has been fantasizing about sewing, and passed on the Anna Maria Horner site -- I'm so glad she did.

What I'm doing now

2011-07-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

I'm weaving in the ends on the Flower Power Throw.

Some progress made, but . . .

. . . lots left to do.
At the same time,

I'm swatching the yarn I bought for a Whispy Cardigan. It's lace-weight Louet variegated linen. It used to be called Milan. It's now sold as a weaving yarn. The color I'm using is called granite. The pattern calls for Malabrigo Lace, a nice soft wool. Instead I'm using wiry linen. Even though it's quite fine, it's hard to get this stiff yarn to knit down to the right gauge. But, what I want is a neutral colored linen summer sweater. I think, if I persist, this might be the one I want.

Still blogging?

2011-06-22T17:35:00.000-07:00

You may ask.
And, I guess I am. To fill in the long gap, you should know that this happened:

But this:

wasn't finished. In fact, it still isn't.

On graduation day, I was about to the spot the line of yarn is in this picture.

Now, I've finished the blanket (except for weaving in ends) as written in the pattern. But, I want a border. Not a big border, but it will be another 2 or three skeins of yarn before I'm done. I like the border though.

It's both lacy and has some crunchy texture. And though it's knitted, it adds a granny square vibe that I like.

The rick-rack-ish lace border was borrowed (and adapted) from Debbie Bliss's New Baby Knits. "New" is a bit of a misnomer by now, but there is still a lot of cute knitting in this book.

It's the same border I used for this sweater,

made for the same daughter who's getting the Flower Power Throw. Looking at this picture, I wonder if the border came to mind because the color scheme is similar. The sweater colors were dictated by colors available in the sale basket at Yarns International, and the flowers in her Easter dress that year. It was more or less my own design.

That was a long time ago.

Happy Mom Today!

2011-05-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

I finished!

En Pointe Pullover

Design by Alice Tang, from Interweave Knits, Spring 2011
Louet KidLin Lace Weight (linen/mohair/nylon) 4 skeins and possibly a tad of a 5th used
Color #23, Deep Cerise - purchased at Sheep's Clothing (a Louet fashion show's on their blog right now)
Size 7 Addi Natura needles

This was a fun project, and due to our cool spring, I've actually finished it with some time to wear it. MAYBE the loose structure and linen content will allow wear in truly warm weather, but the mohair makes me wonder. Though unoriginal, I'm glad I used the yarn and the color that were featured in the magazine. The linen/mohair yarn drapes without being droopy. And the color's nice.

Looking at these picture, I realize that rolling up the sleeves isn't an attractive solution, so I'll be stepping back to the drawing board (or rather the knitting chair) to shorten the sleeves. Luckily they were knit from the shoulders down.

I did a few things differently than is my usual practice on this sweater. I DID block the front & back rectangles before sewing the shoulders to knit the sleeves. With this loose gauge, it made sense to be careful to have the pieces in their proper dimensions before construction. Often, I wait till a garment is put together to block, especially if I know I can match row by row when seaming. And, I not only followed the instructions to use a crocheted chain to sew the shoulders, I used the crochet technique on the side and sleeve seams as well. Years ago I attended a Stitches class with Cynthia Helene (from New Zealand -- at that time with yarn & patterns too). She strongly advocated using a crocheted chain to sew up sweaters. All in all, I don't agree -- I love the nearly invisible finish of a mattress stitched seam. But for this sweater, with loose gauge and fuzzy yarn, the crocheted seams made sense. Why? Because then I wasn't dragging long lengths of yarn through each stitch, just one loop at a time. And the crocheted chain gives the seam more stability -- it doesn't feel like it will easily stretch out of shape.

Virtually finished, in time to wear out for brunch on Mother's Day tomorrow!

If you're a mom, or celebrating with yours, I hope it's a terrific day!

Senior Prom

2011-04-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

The fun starts here -- friends (from other schools, who don't have prom tonight) over to help with hair and make-up.

And the fun starts here - when you're off for the evening.

Our last senior prom.

I hemmed the dress, all three layers - that was one of my works in progress this week!

A tablecloth quilt?

2011-03-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

Back when my dining room looked like this, I had an idea. I bought all these quarter-yard pieces to help me decide which fabric to use for my window shades. What if I pieced a quilt from them and used it as a tablecloth? It would redeem the waste of all the not-chosen fabric, and it would match, more or less, my dining room. It did occur to me that I'd never made a quilt before. But, I forged ahead, and this morning, I had this:

At this point in the post, you can add "inexpert" to any description of my quilting skills. For variety, you could use "beginner". I didn't take a class in quilting, or read a book. I did use some instructions from the Amy Butler website for the "Amy's Lotus Brick Path Quilt". I altered the instructions to make a quilt that was longer and narrower than a bed quilt, since that would fit my table. (Insert "inexpertly" here.) I'll admit that I now wish I'd made it one brick longer and wider. I didn't take into account the puckering that happened -- and might not have happened if I had pre-shrunk my fabric. I know better than to not pre-shrink, but the thought of all those quarter-yard swatches unravelling in my washer had me cowering. I'm still not sure I regret my decision.
Amy's quilt had pom-poms.

Mine has tassels, which weren't part of my original vision. I love them.

I briefly considered a bound edge, rather than the envelope construction of the original pattern. I decided to stick with Amy on this, because I like the look of the un-bordered bricks. The quilt is machine quilted in the stitch-in-the-ditch method, down each vertical strip. I backed it with a solid piece of cotton, sold wide for quilt backs. If I had to do it again, I'd use a more color-full color than the almost ecru neutral I chose. I used a thin cotton batting.

To close, I'll show some pictures of my first sewing ventures. Here's my pop-over skirt, beloved and despised by all 4-H seamstresses of the 70's.

I'm the one in the navy and white with glasses.
And here we are in the Harvest Festival parade, later that year.

You can be sure all fabric on that float was pre-shrunk.

One Kind of Incentive

2011-03-02T16:51:00.000-08:00

I'm now in a hurry to finish the Flower Power Throw. Because a couple of weeks ago, I bought the yarn for this:

It's the En Pointe Pullover, by Alice Tang, from Interweave Knits, Spring 2011. Thanks to them for the photograph.

Everything about this sweater called to my spring-hungry eyes -- the graceful moebius twist, pretty color, sheer texture. So, I'm being quite unoriginal and bought just the yarn the magazine used.

I've also bought a longer needle (did you know they make 60" needles???) for my throw, and more yarn. I'm nearly halfway, and weighing the yarn on my rattle-trap kitchen scale (I have bad luck with kitchen scales), not to mention counting balls, revealed that my fears are probably well-founded. Not enough.

Progress?

2011-02-18T16:45:00.000-08:00

I'm not exactly racing along, but I'm more than a third of the way done with the body of the Flower Power throw.

The work is much improved by this wonderful highlighter tape -- which I found on a recent visit to Sheep's Clothing. It's moveable -- so I can lift & replace it for each row -- which is what I prefer to do when following a chart like this. I guess Amazon sells it too.

Here we are at 50

2011-01-30T18:22:00.001-08:00

IMG_2541, originally uploaded by phenager.

My birthday was a week and a half ago, but last night, my husband and children surprised me with a fantastic party.

Nothing like a wonderful group of friends from far and near, new friends and friends from childhood, to take the edge off turning 50. I'm glad to be here at 50 -- blessed to have so many great people in my life -- not just the ones who were at the party (special though they are).

Oh yes, and the cake was an Atomic Bombe. Wow!

Two Steps Back

2011-01-17T09:28:00.001-08:00

IMG_2522, originally uploaded by phenager.

I love the IDEA of Spud & Chloe patterns. Great colors, cute styles, terrific presentation. But. The previous Spud & Chloe design I made (Candy Stripe Jacket) had issues with edgings. And so does this afghan. For reasons I can't fathom, the instructions say to slip every first stitch of the garter stitch edging. Garter stitch already wants to have a more condensed row gauge than straight stitch. The slip stitch edge just compounds that problem. I've torn back to the garter stitch border and am now knitting every stitch, even the first one. It'll still have some issues, but I think this will help.

On a brighter note, I'm taking more pleasure than I expected in this intarsia knitting.

Next?

2011-01-10T21:48:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, when my son graduated from high school, I made him an afghan as a graduation gift. We've got another senior this year. This time, the afghan is Spud & Chloe's Flower Power Throw. It's been years since I've done any intarsia knitting. I'm telling myself it'll be fun. The colors (the same ones used in the pattern) certainly ARE fun. I'm contemplating a border of zig zag lace in the magenta color to make it an original. Maybe like the edging on this baby cardigan?

More Macarons?

2011-01-09T21:48:00.000-08:00

May I present the Macaron Mittens? So called because they match these slippers. More importantly, they match the hat that matches the slippers. (See Thorpe hat posts here.)

I started these early last week, and then had two sick days at the end of the week. The first sick day was a day of bad t.v. interspersed with naps -- no knitting. The second day, I was recovered enough to be a bit bored, and finished the second mitten. I used leftover Pastaza yarn from the slippers -- leftovers after using leftover for the hat. For a recipe, I used Mittens 101, by Kate Atherley, from Knitty. If I had these to do again, and was making them when I had a bit more on the ball, I'd make a thumb gusset, instead of the slit style thumb these have -- I think that fits better. I made garter stitch cuffs, which are NOT what the pattern calls for, but surprisingly fit quite well.

The color blocking is partly a result of using up leftovers, but it's kind of fun, even when not necessary. Like the hat, they'll be especially enjoyed at Shakespeare in the Snow, coming up in just a few weeks.

Knitting 2010

2011-01-01T12:44:00.000-08:00

Knitting 2010, originally uploaded by phenager.

Here it is -- my knitting (and a bit of not knitting) for 2010.

Those two identical sweaters? They are -- but one is felted, awaiting reincarnation on a shelf in my closet. The second one is being worn frequently and washed more carefully.

The tweedy pink sweater was knit in 2009, but modified for a better fit this year.

And the not knitting? New shades for my dining room this summer.

Last project of 2010

2010-12-31T12:33:00.000-08:00

Another pair of my favorites, the custom-fit garter stitch glove, (Ravelry link) by Joan Goldstein.

Knit for my son, as a late Christmas gift.

The yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot, in the Harmony Woods colorway. I bought this yarn at a trunk show at Knitty Gritty.

The coat in this picture is really very black, but the sunshine was very shiny yesterday, so take that into account when thinking about the colors in these gloves.

Happy 2011! Next up -- Knitting in 2010.

Peace, goodwill to all!

2010-12-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, from my house to yours.

I hope you're as happy as we were (even though *I* don't look it) on this long-ago Christmas. I've got a new "Baby's Hungry", and my sister has "Giggles". None of us can remember the name of my youngest sister's doll - but they're both so cute. Our mom made our dresses. We were blessed, and still are.

Yes, Virginia, it is another pair of gloves.

2010-11-28T22:46:00.000-08:00

Just finished another pair of the wonderful custom fit garter stitch gloves - this time truly a custom fit, for a young friend of a friend with some specific fit issues. They're knit of Mini Mochi, a sock yarn with long color repeats. These gloves (in a child's size) took only one ball.

Now I've started another pair of gloves, to replace some my son lost (to give him credit, he didn't lose them for 2 years). Socks wear out, gloves and mittens get lost. At this house, mothers knit.

Hope all of my U.S. readers had a good thanksgiving weekend -- full of things to be thankful for, and the grace to be grateful. We have snow on the ground, and unseasonably cold weather, so hand-knits are especially useful right now -- one more thing to be thankful for.

Harry Potter, of course

2010-11-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

This sweater, tossed in the laundry basket after the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows Part 1, reminded me that there's a little unblogged knitting around here.

Back in September, my daughter's high school had a Harry Potter day as part of one of their spirit weeks. "Mom, could you make me a Harry Potter sweater?"

Well, no, not by Wednesday, I couldn't. But, I could make a nice Molly Weasley-ish "H" to tack onto a store bought one. (This one is from the GAP.) And I did -- out of better than it needs to be Hebridian Yarn from Virtual Yarns (Corncrake, I think), leftover from a long-ago knit Grant Avenue. It's been on and off the sweater once already - the only drawback to using such yummy yarn is that it isn't quite as washable as the sweater is. The first time it was worn, the H was very carefully sewn on -- this last time, for the midnight showing of the movie, not.

Here she is -- off to school, a nerdish Hogwarts student.

And no, I didn't attend the midnight showing, but I saw the movie last night and enjoyed it very much. Can't wait for the rest of it!

And another pair of gloves.

2010-11-17T17:59:00.000-08:00

After I took this picture, I moved all the rummage from my table - the remotes, the new Knitters magazine, etc. But of course, this is the best picture of the bunch.

I'm knitting another pair of the custom side-ways garter stitch gloves. The link is to a Ravelry project page -- from there you can get more pattern information, if you're interested. I'm using Mini Mochi, which is a wonderful yarn, a tad finer than the gloves really call for. But, they seem to be turning out OK. The recipient loves purple & rainbows, so I think these will fill the bill.

I bought the Knitters this weekend; my subscription has long lapsed. There is one sweater (Daydreams in Lace) that has me tempted, but otherwise, I think my break from this magazine continues.

Lucky Day!

2010-11-16T17:59:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning to a note from my husband -- hours ahead of me in Japan this week, he'd noticed that he knew the "Daily Dose" winner from Powell's Books in Portland, OR. So, now I have $20 to spend at Powell's. I might just buy the book I recommended, since I read a library copy. Daily Dose is a daily email featuring a customer review of a book. The customer reviewer wins $20. What would you buy if you had $20 to spend at a bookstore (and could add to it if you needed to)? I'll let you click on the link to read what I wrote.

Zero History
by William Gibson

Less than 24 hours before, I had news of another win -- the door prize at a fundraiser for the ballet guild.

Isn't it fabulous? I resisted buying it in a darker color at the fundraiser. A local store called Ideal Jewelry was our fund raising partner - a portion of all of Saturday's purchases went to the ballet guild. If you're local to me, I'd suggest them as a great place to do a bit of Christmas shopping -- unique products (they design most of their own jewelry), and very reasonable prices.

This bag matches the color scheme for my blog, doesn't it? I think it'll look pretty great with a black coat and black pants this winter.

Is it better, the second time around?

2010-10-30T16:52:00.000-07:00

It's finished! Again!

For more information, here are all the Am Kamin posts - for both the sweaters. And here's the Ravelry link.

What did I do differently?

The sleeves are about an inch and a half shorter than the first sweater I made.
I knit the sweater in one piece from the armholes up -- so instead of sewing five pieces on the raglan lines, I knit the whole thing together.
I did some short rows so the button band would not be a bit longer than the sweater.
I knit a set of short rows right after I put all the pieces together, so the back of the sweater is longer than the front. This is per Elizabeth Zimmerman's raglan instructions, but also coincides with the length of the various raglan lines in the Am Kamin design.
I didn't bind off or decrease at the neck edge -- I did short rows.
I also started the front of the neck sooner (thus lower) and a bit rounder than in the original sweater (and the pattern). Yet, as you can see, it is still a high crew neck. It just fits better.
I crocheted a chain along the bottom of the inside of the neckline. My first sweater wanted to stretch out at the back of the neck, and looked sloppy after the first wearing. Thanks to the Yarn Harlot for this idea.

This sweater will never go in the "hand wash/wool cycle of my front-loading washing machine (LG - otherwise good).

My second Am Kamin

From New Style of Heirloom Knitting
Seven skeins of Cascade 220, color 9404 (ruby) dyelot 3882, purchased from WEBS
8 La Mode Buttons #4258
Size 6 needles throughout except for first few rows of tubular cast on (size 4 for that)
Began March 26, 2010; completed October 29, 2010

And yes, it is better the second time around.
I love my new sweater, just in time for sweater weather!

Next Verse, Same as the First?

2010-09-05T23:20:00.000-07:00

I've joined the pieces of my second Am Kamin sweater. The first one, I knit in pieces. This time, I'm knitting the raglan yoke as one piece. The original design is nicely shaped so the front is cut lower than the back -- I've already done some short rows that go from the sleeves around the back - in other words, adding an extra set of rows everywhere but the front. Later, I'll use short rows (I think) to shape the neckline.

The cons of this alternative are that right now, the rows are SO long. But nearly every row gets 8 stitches shorter.

And, in the "you learn something new everyday" department, I used Meg Swansen's article in the last Interweave Knits (Fall 2010) to learn to make the crossed, twisted stitches without a cable needle. After two sweaters (almost) and hundreds of cable crosses, I think I've finally got it!

Is it finished?

2010-09-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

The roman shades in my dining room are finished. As you can see, I chose the fabric with the trees, and, I don't know if you can see them, but there are birds as well.

Here's an action shot, lowering the shade.

And another shot of it closed.

I made the roman shades with instructions from this book,

which I've used several times over the last 20 years or so. The shades don't require a lot of sewing, in fact, in some respects they're simple. But because everything needs to be straight, and even, and fit the window, they're not easy. It did take extra long to finish these, because my sewing machine broke in the middle of the project.

And the last (I think) finishing touch is this picture by Mary Beier. My husband and I were charmed by her work at a local art show. It turns out to be a little modern for the room, but it makes us happy. That's one of my most important criteria for decorating -- I choose what pleases me.

Last First Day

2010-09-03T18:07:00.001-07:00

IMG_1861, originally uploaded by phenager.

Actually, probably not the last first day. There's many firsts ahead. But, this week my daughter had her last first day of high school.

Away we go!

Gone to the birds. . .

2010-07-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

My dining room looked a lot like this for about 20 years. Or more or less like this. The corner cupboard moved from the old entryway/breakfast room about 12 years ago, the same time the carpets came up and the floors were finished.

I've been thinking about updating the room for a while. The obstacle? The wallpaper, for one thing.

Stripping the wallpaper wasn't fun.

Also, I was more sure I wanted something else, than I was about what that should be.

But now, it's almost done.
The walls are Sherwin-Williams "rain" and the corner cupboard is "sassy green". The fabric festooned around are samples in hopes of making new shades for the windows.

I plan on making roman shades for the two side windows. I'd also like to put the same fabric on the door in a simple, gathered panel. The questions is, which fabric?

We have made some decisions about what to hang on the walls. This is a new picture:
It's a print of a painting by Blenda Tyvoll that I've admired for a long time. It's from her series "Tree of Life."

This photo (digitally painted) is by Tricia McKellar from her departure series. It's been waiting in my Etsy favorites for a while.

We'll soon run out of wall space, but there's two more artists I hope to include before we're done. Mary Beier was at our local art in the park this past weekend. And maybe something from Jennifer Lommers, who makes paintings I'd like, even if she wasn't a terrific person and married to my cousin. But I'm glad she is. The common theme, if you haven't guessed it, is birds.

And I do own other tablecloths -- I love print tablecloths, which, I've found over these growing family years, hide a multitude of ~~stains~~ sins.

So far in July. . .

2010-07-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

We've picked up our son at the airport. Sam's been in Egypt since school got out -- we're glad he could go, and are really glad he's home.

I've been turning these:

Into this:

I make freezer jam, just the recipe in the pectin package. I think it tastes fresher & fruitier. Not to mention, it doesn't require heating up the kitchen on a hot day.

Oh yes, I'm knitting too -- picking up Sam meant 8 hours in the car -- knitting the red sweater, again.

The front and back are done to the under-arm, and I've got a good start on the sleeves. Surprisingly, I find the knitting more fun the second time around.

Long Time, No Blog

2010-06-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

Lots happening at Works in Progress, but not much blogging lately.

After school got out, our two kids left on adventures. One here. One here.

So, the rest of us (both of us), went here:

Now that we're home again, I'm working on this:

This is my dining room - in transition. The wallpaper came off, and I'm planning to paint. After steaming off all the paper, and then getting the paste off the plaster, I'm vowing to never wallpaper again. What color?

Maybe the color of the sky in my new picture?

The color's called Rain. The picture, a wonderful new Etsy purchase from Tricia McKellar.

An Opening for a Princess

2010-05-01T20:59:00.001-07:00

IMG_0700, originally uploaded by phenager.

Actually, the position has been filled - a fun, busy week!

Knitting And Crocheting Blog Week - Day 1

2010-04-26T23:15:00.000-07:00

How and when did you begin knitting/crocheting? was it a skill passed down through generations of your family, or something you learned from Knitting For Dummies? What or who made you pick up the needles/hook for the first time? Was it the celebrity knitting ‘trend’ or your great aunt Hilda?

My grandma, Grace, taught me to knit when I was about 12. I started with "footsocks". She gave me the same Sears Knitting book she'd learned from, and bought the yarn for my first projects. I still have the sweater she knit for my high school graduation, though it doesn't fit anymore. I think only one of my aunts (my grandma had 5 daughters and one son) knits -- my mom learned later in life but "it didn't stick". I have quite a bit of my grandma's knitting tools, and some of her pattern books as well.

Peer Pressure

2010-04-14T14:56:00.000-07:00

Kym says all the cool kids are doing it.

I was the kind of kid who wasn't much into peer pressure. But now, I can jump in when I want -- even though I know it's way too late for cool. This is a fun collage of the words on my blog.

You can make yours here.

Grass around the Lake

2010-04-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Also known as Candy Stripe Jacket, from Spud & Chloe.

I really like this sweater --

Knitty Gritty details:

Spud & Chloe Candy Stripe Jacket - Pattern no. 9503
knit in Spud & Chloe Sweater yarn, 55% superwash wool, 45% organic cotton. I used 5 skeins "Lake" (though the pattern, even for the next smaller size, called for 6 skeins), and one skein "Grass".
size 7 needles (the size called for in the pattern, which, for me, is weird). I liked bamboo needles with this yarn.
Yarn purchased at Dancing Ewe Yarns & Tea in Ellensburg.
Buttons from Blackwater Abbey, originally purchased for my red sweater. Their buttons are under accessories.
Ravelry link
Size M

Here are the buttons. I'm not sure they're the perfect ones, but I like 'em. Sort of a "Lothlorien" edge to them.

Here's the back -- you can see that perhaps this isn't either the right size or style for my shoulders, AND as other knitters have said about this pattern, the collar wants to roll. I think it's to do with the i-cord edging, but also could have to do with the collar shaping. I think the sizes on the collar for this jacket don't scale quite right, but I could be wrong. Mine actually went on pretty well. And, I've decided the whimsical collar and slightly rolling front edge are design features. But, if I had this to make again, I'd substitute seed stitch for the slipped stitch pattern. It would make a firmer fabric, which I'd prefer, especially for the front button bands.

I finished this sweater with one of my new labels. They were featured in the last Vogue Knitting, and I got 'em from Angie at Remember Wynn, via Etsy. I would heartily recommend these labels and this business - I can't believe how quickly Angie replied to my queries, and then sent my labels. They're much softer than the woven ribbon ones I had been using, and the four holes are just perfect for sewing into a sweater.

I wore this sweater quite a bit this last weekend and week. On Monday, my husband made a special point to tell me how much he liked this sweater -- explaining that he could find me so easily in a crowd (we were touring colleges with our daughter). Not quite the same as telling me how lovely I looked, but he did point out one positive aspect of hand-knits -- they ARE unique.

The Spud & Chloe yarn is a superwash/cotton blend. My gauge may have been a tad looser than I'd intended, but not by much - I think there was some relaxing of gauge with the first washing. With all the recent wearing, I did have some pilling, and a bit of shedding of fiber when I washed the sweater. Also, the ends of this sweater wanted to come unwoven more than most yarns I've used. Still, all in all, I'd use this yarn again. It makes a nice fabric, and the colors are really great. This Lake blue is a great shade with dark indigo jeans, and a blue I like very much. I'm happy with the green as an accent color.

A Sad Story

2010-04-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

It's about my red sweater. This one - Am Kamin.

After wearing it three days in a row, I decided to wash it before adding some ribbon to counteract the stretching it was doing in the neck.

I accidentally felted this sweater.

It was like a death, but it wasn't. I grieved, I was sad. I was ashamed of doing something so stupid.

But unlike a death (losing a pet for instance), I can make another sweater. My goal is to be able to wear it next fall.

So, if it feels like deja vu all over again, that's because it is.

I do intend to do a few things differently (besides obviously avoiding laundry room idiocy). I thought the knit-as-you-go button band could have used a few less rows - so I plan to do a few short rows so that the band will be flatter. And, I intend to knit the raglan part in one piece -- I'll knit the back and two fronts (which I'll knit at the same time) up to the armholes, and then knit all three pieces (plus the sleeves) at once. I think it will make for a nicer raglan line.

Please -- I'm not allowing comments on this post, and I REALLY don't want any comments, suggestions, or sympathy.

Thanks.

Tomorrow: a finished sweater!

I'm a slow knitter, but . . .

2010-02-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

It took me four years to finish Am Kamin. But in defense of myself, and also to encourage anyone else who is thinking about attempting that sweater, here are the things I finished WHILE I was knitting (or not knitting) Am Kamin.

Thank you for all your kind comments.

A Gold Medal Day!

2010-02-21T21:17:00.000-08:00

It started here, somehow.

Pictures of this beautiful sweater, knit by a Japanese knitter, floated around the blogging world. At least the knitting, blogging world. And then Theresa knit hers for the 2006 Knitting Olympics. Someone knit this amazing sweater in 16 days! Maybe I could do it? I bought the yarn in May, and by July of 2006, I'd cast on.

Now, in February of 2010 (February 19, to be exact) I cast off.

I cast off in a lovely tubular cast off. I wove in my ends, popped the sweater in a bath, and by midnight, it was laying out to dry.

I've had it on ever since.

Am Kamin

From the Japanese book, New Style of Heirloom Knitting
8 skeins of Cascade 220, Color 9404, Ruby
Knit on size 4 and 6 (mostly 6) needles
Pattern is one size -- I made it larger than designed. Actually since I cast on for this sweater, I've started making my sweaters closer fitting. I think I'll be fine with this more boxy fit -- it's a sweater I want to still be wearing 20 years from now, so classic fit and style is fine.
La Mode buttons - I bought 4 different buttons for this sweater. My daughter helped me choose the heart ones. They're from JoAnn's Fabric. I'm not a fan of JoAnn's. I had to pay an extra fee to have the buttons I need sent from another store. I'm waiting for the rest of the buttons, but I'm wearing my sweater anyway.

This is the first button I tried - it's the same shape as the one in the pattern book, but isn't red:

Then I found these wonderful buttons at a trunk show for Black Water Abbey yarns. I decided the pewter buttons contrasted too much, and distracted from the intricate cables of the sweater.

The plain red buttons were from Sandy's Fabric downtown. They would have been fine.

But, like Goldilocks, I thought these hearts were just right.

They have the irregular shape that was part of the appeal to me of the original leaf buttons, and they're close in color to the sweater.

Many thanks to Tracey, whose emergency skein of yarn, I'm a little embarrassed to say, I didn't need. But knowing it was there made the last bit of knitting easier.

The neckline of the sweater has stretched a bit as I've worn it over the last couple of days, so I may wash & reblock the sweater and then add some ribbon around the neck to stabilize it. Any other ideas?
This wonderful cable is only on the arm. This color is truer in these indoor pictures, I think.

Crunchy, cabley goodness!

The Kindness of Strangers

2010-02-09T21:18:00.001-08:00

Am Kamin yarn, originally uploaded by phenager.

About a month ago, I realized it was possible that very close to finishing my Am Kamin sweater, I might run out of yarn. This is always disconcerting, but especially since I bought this yarn in 2007 from a store that has since closed. The yarn is Cascade 220, and the color is still in production. But, how to find more yarn of a dye lot long gone?

After some quiet panic, I decided to see what Ravelry could do for me. It turns out, quite a lot. I could search stashes, and even projects, by color and dye lot numbers. There's also a group on Ravelry for people seeking yarn, or hoping to get it rid of some. So, I posted, and I wrote messages to people who just might still have some of this yarn. And one kind knitter, Tracey, had a skein of "my" yarn, and sent it my way. It arrived this weekend, and I don't know that I've ever been so happy to see the right numbers on a yarn label. Thank you Tracey!! (Ironically, Tracey's Flickr ID is EvilTracey -- Hah!)

I know all the advice about buying extra yarn, but I will say that I thought I HAD extra yarn. But this project, knitted from a Japanese pattern, altered to fit me, and full of cables & twisted stitches, is just the sort of thing to use more than I expected. What I'll take away from this experience is a new resolve to post dye lots with MY yarns on Ravelry, in hopes of being helpful to someone else, someday.

Now, for something completely different --
Haloscan will be no more, as of February 11. So, I've reverted to Blogger's commenting. That means that comments left on Haloscan have disappeared from my blog, but not my heart. Or my hard drive, for that matter, since I have email copies of comments. I think it may also mean that I've lost the ability to reply to comments personally by email. In the process of cleaning out the Haloscan, I tried a different template -- not sure what I think, except that it's the time of year that I am in the mood for a little change. Depending on when you read this, you may see version 2 or 3 of template changing.

The Story Continues

2010-01-31T17:28:00.000-08:00

Now that my daughter and her hat have returned from camp, I was able to do two things. I did decide to add the crocheted edging. Since I am not really a crocheter, and because I brought this along to do while I watched basketball at my mother-in-laws', I'm not sure if the edging I did was exactly what the pattern specified. But it does add a nice finish to the hat.

And, I was able to get some pictures on a live model in daylight.

All improvements, I think.

What now?
Calculations have been done for the raglan decreases on the sleeves of my Am Kamin. Slowly, but surely, we progress.

What Knitting Mothers Do

2010-01-26T15:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, as I was running errands, my daughter phoned me. "Mom, I need one of those earflap hats for Shakespeare in the Snow. Can you buy me one? And gloves, I need some gloves too."

Shakespeare in the Snow is the "geeks get to have fun too" event of our high school's IB (International Baccalaureate) curriculum. They left today, 15 minutes ago, so you need to translate the conversation into terms of "the party's tomorrow and I said you'd make a cake."

So, we solved the glove dilemma with cheap gloves & some from the closet. But the hat -- the thing is, with the hat, I'd been planning to make her a hat with the leftover yarns from her Macarons slippers. Over Christmas vacation, she'd borrowed her cousin's hat, the one she's wearing in this picture, and loved it.

Ever since, I've been musing about making a hat for her with the leftover yarn from her slippers. Someone even suggested the Thorpe (if you click the link, it's under free patterns, about four down) pattern along the way.

So, after putting away my groceries, I pulled out the leftover yarn, made a guess (an educated one, since I'd swatched this yarn for the slippers) on needle size, and dove in.

By midnight, I had this:

Thorpe for Shakespeare in the Snow. I left off the crocheted edging, though I won't promise not to go back & do it later. I did add a pompom, which could stand to be bigger. But it was midnight, and it was definitely a situation where good enough was good enough. It's not as well executed as these, but we were both happy, so that is a success. I'll hope to share a picture of her wearing it soon, assuming it comes back from camp!

Nirvana

2010-01-19T16:16:00.001-08:00

Nirvana, originally uploaded by phenager.

It really is -- Nirvana yarn from Sunday Knits. It's my birthday gift from my husband, intended to make Kelmscott. It came nicely packed in a Sunday Knits tote bag, too. The black blur in the photo above is our dog, Lucy. Let's just say I gave up.

I chose (hinted? or chose? why quibble?) the Nirvana because I didn't want the angora of the original. I'm not allergic to wool, but angora is a bit iffy for me. And the Nirvana came in two different lovely blues -- a pale one, and this denim-y ocean.

I'm looking forward to making this sweater, and I'm looking forward to wearing it. But first, I've got the red sweater to finish, and two others in the pipeline. But ahh, won't this be something to look forward to?

By the way, if you're interested in this sweater, or Sunday Knits Yarns, Carol very nicely sent me some small samples to swatch with -- and I think she'd do the same for you.

It's mine!

2010-01-18T21:11:00.000-08:00

It's my birthday today -- that's mine.

All 49 years. Lots of blessings.

There was even yarn for a birthday gift; which I'll show you when I can photograph it in daylight.

But also, this sweater is mine:

It's Beryl, by Bonne Marie Burns. On my Ravelry page, it's here.

I like it, but I think it turned out too big. Because it is knit in one piece to the underarm, it's not easy to alter.

But last week, I had an idea, which I tried.
I took off all but about 3 rows of each side of the button band, and added crocheted loops instead of button holes.
Here's a close-up:

And a not so close close-up:

It's not perfect, but it works better, for me.
It now looks OK unbuttoned, which I appreciate in a cardigan.

Most mis-matched hand-knits by a single knitter

2010-01-14T20:25:00.001-08:00

IMG_3896, originally uploaded by phenager.

I promised my sister, who took this rather dorky photo, that I'd blog this. So Linda, here it is. All dorkiness is, of course, my own.

Between Christmas & New Year's Day we had a wonderful family get-away to celebrate my mother's birthday. One of the fun things we did was ice-skating at this outdoor rink. It was in a fancy-ish vacation development near the house we were renting. I realized as I was skating that not only was the development fancy-ish, but I was definitely the most mismatched (un-fancy) skater on the rink.

So here I am, in my mis-matched, handknit glory.

The mittens are from this book:

and were knit about 20 years ago of scrap yarn. They are not my most attractive mittens, but they're the best, functionally.

The hat is just a cast on and knit hat, of Noro Kureyon, that matches a sweater I made a few years ago, pre-blog. It doesn't match the sweater I'm wearing.

And the sweater -- the sweater is knit from Yarns International's Shetland 2000 (which is known as Shetland Supreme, these days). The yarn is a joint venture between Yarns International (my favorite Bethesda yarn store) and Jamieson and Smith. It's made of wonderful, undyed, naturally colored Shetland wool. It's unfashionably boxy, but is a favorite of mine, both for its cozy warmth, and total knitterly geekiness. The sweater is based on a pull-over from Ron Schweitzer's first book, Travel Logs. The buttons are made of shed antlers, and were a gift from my in-laws, following a trip to Alaska.

I'm skipping the knitting Olympics on Ravelry, but this was a gold-medal day for hand-knit wool wearing!

What arrived on Christmas Eve?

2010-01-04T17:17:00.000-08:00

My wonderful yarn from Schoolhouse Press! It's for EZ's Green Sweater, and is the same yarn that was used in the original. It's a bit rustic looking, but reputed to wash into a softer yarn. I love all the shades of green in it!

It's Briggs & Little 1 ply sport weight, 100% wool, 430 yards, 4 oz./skein. The color is called Fir Green.

More Gloves

2010-01-03T16:47:00.000-08:00

Since Thanksgiving, I've finished two pairs of gloves -- both birthday gifts to people I love.

The first pair was for my husband. They were a new edition of the pattern made to measure for him. Joan Goldstein drafts her pattern to your measurements, and will send new sizes for a small fee.

Custom-Fit, Sideways-Knit
Garter-Stitch Gloves

designed by Joan Goldstein
Knit using Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn, 1 skein of the Moose Creek colorway (60% Superwash Wool, 25% Mohair, 15% Nylon, 350 yards, with some left over).
Knit on US 2 needles, 6 stitches/inch.
Yarn purchased at Camas Creek Yarn, Kalispell, MT.
Pattern available from Joan Goldstein, P O Box 2556,
Bigfork MT 59911, h-jgold(at)bigsky(dot)net, for $8.

Joan (who gave me permission to post her contact information) asked me to say that this pattern is for experienced knitters.

The other pair I've finished is for my mom, for her birthday. I gave them to her last week at her belated but wonderful birthday party. They're of the same yarn as the gloves above, but the color is called Chinook. I used the pattern sized for my hands, with a couple of tweaks. This is the first time I've fiddled with this pattern's fit on my own, and I was pleased with the result.

Happy Birthday mom!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T11:49:00.000-08:00

Following the example of Julie at Knitted Bliss (a blog I enjoy and recommend), here are all the items I finished in 2009. As you can see, we're low on quantity and very high on gloves.

In fact, there are two new pairs of gloves I haven't shown on my blog since they were just new skeins of yarn. I'll post some individual pictures & details in the next couple of days.

In 2009, I didn't knit as much as I like to. But I'm very happy with the knitting I did, much of it (at least the completed parts) for other people. I did knit the Botanica Medallion cardigan and a pair of gloves for myself. I'm happy to say that I'm enjoying *my* gloves as much as I hope other people enjoy the ones I've made for them. And I've seen all my gift items except the red mittens worn out in "real life" by the people I made them for. This is very gratifying to the giving knitter.

In 2010, I hope to finish the red sweater, aka the Japanese sweater or Am Kamin, which I've worked on for years. I have plans to modify my Beryl sweater so it fits better. And I have yarn for two sweaters for myself. I'm hoping for yarn for ANOTHER sweater for my birthday (Chuck?). I probably will make one MORE pair of gloves, since my son lost his well worn and loved pair this fall.

I hope you hang around this year to see if I can do what I hope. Thanks to every one of you who checks in from time to time. I hope 2010 is a great year for all of us!

Channeling Elizabeth: Recreating a Family Heirloom

2009-11-25T15:41:00.000-08:00

Channeling Elizabeth: Recreating a Family Heirloom
The title is a link to the wonderful story in Twist Collective magazine of the re-creation of a beautiful sweater, of unpublished design, by Elizabeth Zimmermann. There's a bit more here, at Brooklyn Tweed. But Schoolhouse Press *is* publishing the design, and found a supply of the original yarn. Today I acted impulsively and ordered the kit! I don't usually buy yarn impulsively. I plan. I wait -- I do a lot of waiting. I ponder. But today, I just jumped. There's a limited supply of the original yarn. It wasn't expensive. And, it's headed my way. Hurray!

Nutcracker Macarons

2009-11-16T16:03:00.000-08:00

Last night I finished my daughter's Macaron slippers. I've noticed on Ravelry that several folks aren't adding the embroidery. This is what mine looked like unembellished.

I think the embroidery adds a lot -- in fact, I think it's the folkloric detail that appealed to me.

The circles add interest the stripes don't. And the embroidered macarons have a wonderful dimensionality.

Here they are on her feet:

The bottom line:
Macarons:

designed by Kristin Nicholas, published in Knitty, Fall 2009.
Cascade Pastaza: 50% llama, 50% wool, 100 grams, 132 yards (note: this yarn is heavier than the yarn called for in the pattern. I made what would roughly have been a women's M/L by following directions for size S.)
1 skein each of color 270, 059, 269, and 042. 2 skeins of color 084.
US size 7 and 6 needles
Fiber Trends suede slipper sole
Yarn & suede soles from Sheep's Clothing
Great color choice by my daughter
I used the crochet option for the drawstring, and made tassels instead of pom-poms, at my daughter's request.

This was a fun pattern. The embroidery was not difficult, and went quicker than I expected. I will admit that I decided that if the embroidery was folkloric, perfection and uniformity were not necessary or desirable. I think that without the suede soles, this would make a terrific Christmas stocking. Sewing the suede soles on was not so easy. My soles were just a tad big for the socks I made. I found I had to put a shoe inside the sock (or my foot, at times) to place the suede soles correctly.

And here they are flying out the door.

Open Water

2009-11-14T17:04:00.001-08:00

I have a wonderful nephew who is having adventures in Italy this fall. He's on a terrific semester abroad in Florence. He made me feel very special last week, when he sent me a facebook message asking if there was any knitting-related purchase I wanted from Italy. So, you can read a bit about his adventures here. I think there's a new knitting magazine in my future!

PS If you haven't clicked through, there's a great photo of the yarn shop window you should see.

What's next?

2009-11-03T21:05:00.000-08:00

If I've finished the gloves, what next?
When the Knitty Fall surprises came out, I was taken with Kristin Nicholas' Macaron slipper socks. My daughter is a ballerina, and she is supposed to wear slippers or socks backstage over her ballet slippers. My daughter also isn't the biggest fan of my knitwear. But, when I showed her these, she was excited. So now, my job is to finish them to be worn backstage during this year's Nutcracker, which is the second weekend in December.

Saturday, my local yarn store, Sheep's Clothing was having a little Halloween sale, and the two of us went yarn shopping. She chose this yarn by color, really.

It's Cascade Pastaza which is actually a little heavy for this pattern. It's 50% wool, 50% llama, which surprised me. My daughter is a bit of a princess & the pea type, and I would have thought this yarn is too "woolly" for her. But she loved the colors. So, I'm adjusting the pattern for a bigger gauge to accommodate this yarn. With a few little tweaks, I'm making the smallest size, and aiming for a result more like the medium size.

Gloves, pair 5

2009-11-02T21:00:00.000-08:00

I've finished the gloves that will be my mother-in-law's birthday gift.
Her hands are longer than mine, so they don't fit me "like a glove".

But they sure are pretty.
More information about the gloves in the previous post, and in the sidebar.

Yet another pair of gloves

2009-10-25T22:05:00.000-07:00

I'm making another pair of gloves from the wonderful Custom-Fit Sideways-Knit Garter Stitch Gloves pattern. This pair is for my mother-in-law's birthday. I actually think I have two pair of these yet to go before I can get back to the red sweater. My husband and mom have birthdays coming up -- and I think they might enjoy these too. Well, not these, but like them. Glove details are here in my first post about them.

These are made of Handmaiden Casbah sock yarn, in the Safari colorway. They have a touch of cashmere and are SO soft.

This picture shows a little more about the gloves' construction. First you knit a flat hand print, using a provisional cast on at the first edge and for each finger, putting stitches on a string for each finger as you finish. You then go back and knit the top of the hand, picking up the held stitches and then grafting the provisional cast-ons as you go. It's fiddly, but the end result is, in my opinion, well worth it.

I'll end with a proud mama shot. It was homecoming weekend here.

What came home from Japan?

2009-09-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

My husband came home from Japan, bringing gifts. I hate it when he travels (without me) for work, but there was some consolation in the presents in his bag.

I'd asked for a Japanese knitting book or magazine. He came home with four!

This vest is one of my favorite things in the book with the 9 on the cover, for reasons I can't quite explain. Possibly there's something to do with the lovely red color.

This sweater with the chevrons is a great use of color striping yarn. I'd lengthen those sleeves though.

And there were several garments that channeled the late 60's/early 70's granny square vests my grandma made us. There were also some intricate crocheted sweaters that could almost convert me from a knitter to a crocheter. This doll-like girl modeled every sweater in the book with the white sweater on the cover. She fascinates me.

I found a web site, I think associated with Nihon Vogue, that lets you get a better look into some of these books. This is the inside of the big magazine, which to my American eyes reads back to front. And this link let's you look inside what might be Let's Knit Series Vol. 9.

Still the Japanese Sweater

2009-09-07T21:27:00.001-07:00

I mentioned that I've decided to work on "The Japanese Sweater". "What is that?" some of you might ask.

I've been working on Am Kamin, from New Style of Heirloom Knitting, for years. This is what it should look like when I finish:

So far, I've knit the back.

And the fronts are done (the last few inches since I finished the Botanica cardigan).

I've begun knitting the sleeves, both at once.

If you look closely, you can see the wonderful tubular cast-on. Here's a link to the instructions that a) worked for me, and b) seem most similar to the pictures in the back of the New Style of Heirloom Knitting book.

I bought my book from Amazon.jp, which is an adventure in itself. It's also available from the Needle Arts Bookshop, if you're uncomfortable dealing in yen. The book is in Japanese, but there really is a lot of help on the web to help a knitter understand Japanese patterns.

The blog "Crossed in Translation" has lots of good resources in the sidebar, if you're interested in tackling this sweater, or one like it.

I'm very happy to be making progress on this sweater again.

Botanica Medallion Cardigan

2009-08-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

My husband suggested that we could use this for an afghan or a table cover when I'm not wearing it. It does look OK here.

But it looks OK here too.

I love the crunchy texture of all these stitches in the Blue Sky Alpaca Skinny Dyed Cotton yarn.

I followed the pattern exactly (I hope), except that I misunderstood the triple decreases in the center medallion - the pattern calls for a different triple decrease, which doesn't leave the straight line of center stitches that I have here. And, I agreed with several other folks on Ravelry and moved the seam from the center back to under the left armhole. I grafted the seam nicely, but I still wish it was more invisible. Also, the directions have you unwrap all the cross stitch wraps at once, but it's much easier if you unwrap the triple wraps 6 stitches at a time.

This is a great pattern - both simple and complex. It's a simple shape, worn in an unusual way. Most people who see it on would never guess that it is a large circle with armholes. The way the row gauge shifts as you move outward on the border stitches is so clever, and the stitches themselves, especially the Indian Cross Stitch, are so pretty. Several people have mentioned that they think the trinity stitch section is wrong-side out. I'd just remind anyone making this that the prettier side of the trinity stitch section is what is turned back for the collar and around your face. So it is right side out, where it counts.

Details:
Botanica Medallion Cardigan, designed by Shiri Mor, from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2009.
Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton, 7 skeins, gravel color (the pattern calls for "clay"). Yarn from Knot Another Hat in Hood River, OR.
Size M/L, though if I had to do it again, I'd make the border in size S, but the medallion in size M/L -- if you are not tall, and not thin, like myself, this might be something to consider.
US size 7 needles for the center medallion and size 6 for the border. Mid-border I switched to Addi lace needles (circular, but used back and forth). I'd recommend these needles, or some other pointy-tipped ones for this project. The trinity stitch was much easier after I switched.

Success? I think this sweater would be better for someone slimmer, with Michelle Obama arms. But then most clothes are. I'm happy with this sweater. It's comfortable to wear, both interesting and pretty. I think the color will be nice -- I'm not finding the neutral color so versatile as I'd thought, but the neutral tone keeps the sweater more casual, which I like. I wore it to my high school reunion last weekend. Only one friend knew I'd made it, but it made me feel more myself all night, to be wearing one of my own hand-knits.

Textiles from Thailand and India

2009-08-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Instead of saying tomorrow, I should learn to say "next time". I promised a look at textile gifts from India and Thailand, and it's taken me longer than I expected to take pictures and do this post.

My daughter recently returned from three weeks in Thailand and India. It was so great to have her back home & hear all about the wonderful things she saw and did. She'd been with a church group, and visited refugee camps, orphanages, and schools. But she also rode an elephant and brought home some fun gifts. I think I've raised her right, because my gifts were all textile related.

This lovely scarf came from Thailand.

My gift from India was this big length of fabric.

This is the end of the long piece of yardage. The dark blue part looks like it was dip dyed.

This is the border that runs all along the side of the piece.

It's a large piece of light-weight fabric. I'm musing on what I should do with it. It's very long - so there's plenty to work with. I am thinking a skirt, something full but not voluminous. Any thoughts?

Finally, she bought herself a textile gift.

Here she is (in the middle) with some friends in their Indian finery. I think the girls' clothes are called salwar-kameez - a tunic over pants. My daughter picked a cotton tie-dye. It's not fancy, but she looks great in it. And we've had fun looking at the hand-made fabric. I still need to finish the ends of her scarf, and the threads that tied the tie-dye were still in place when she got dressed that morning. Here are some details of the fabric:

I think the light spots look like little volcanoes.

I think these textile gifts are so beautiful and none of them were expensive. We'll all enjoy them for many years.

Next post (see, I do learn sometimes): something is finished!

Spud and Chloe

2009-08-10T14:00:00.000-07:00

It just happens that Dancing Ewe Yarns and Teas in Ellensburg is right on the way to SeaTac airport -- at least if you're driving from our house. So, we made a stop for lunch (at the Yellow Church Cafe) and yarn.

This is what I got -- the new Spud & Chloe sweater yarn (tempting just for the cute tags, but also soft and springy feeling) and the pattern for the Candy Stripe Jacket. The colors are Lake and Grass. I love the red in the picture, but the actual red yarn used is pretty orange for my taste. I love this blue. I've admired this cute jacket pattern since the Spud & Chloe range was announced. I'm a little nervous about the style on *me*, but I'm going to risk it.

Tomorrow, pictures of textile gifts from India and Thailand.

More gloves?

2009-07-31T15:43:00.000-07:00

We were in Kalispell last weekend for a wedding, but there was some spare time for exploring. I happened to have googled "Kalispell yarn stores" and so found myself at Camas Creek Yarn What a delightful store! Besides LOTS of beautiful yarn, the building is very beautiful, with a pressed metal (I'd say tin, but it looked coppery) ceiling. There was a computer in the back so I could check my own Ravelry projects for the size needle I needed for the Botanica Lace Cardi (#6), and my son could check his facebook while he waited. And there were comfortable couches with reading material for non-knitters that occupied my husband. Until the box of Mountain Colors Bearfoot yarn came out -- then he was distracted. The darker colorway, Moose Creek, is for his gloves. I don't know what (or whom) the beautiful blue Cascade colorway is for, but I couldn't leave it in the store. More garter stitch gloves in my future, I think.

If you're in western Montana, take some time to check out this beautiful store. It's between Glacier Park & Flathead Lake, two other famous local sites.

Inch by Inch

2009-07-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

I am loving the texture of the medallion border. Can't wait to finish. I am enjoying the knitting more now that I bought a pair of Addi lace needles. Those sharp points make the knitting of three together much easier. I concur with others who've found this yarn to be very "splitty". If I try to knit without looking, I regret it.

No Thoreau Here

2009-07-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

Distrust any enterprise that requires new clothes.

~Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Me, I love an excuse for new clothes. This weekend we attended a wedding in Montana. And the skirt I was planning to wear didn't quite work with any of my shoes. So now I have these:

People who know me very well (like my sisters) know my inordinate fondness for shoes. But they also have never seen metallic shoes on my feet. I both love these shoes and am not sure about them. They are lovely, and actually comfortable. They are also flashy. The jury is still out, but I'm looking for all excuses to wear them while resolving the dilemma.

On a less frivolous note, my heart & mind are often with my daughter these days, who is on a trip to Thailand and India. My friend Theresa is travelling in the same group, and is writing about it in her blog. No shallow talk of silver shoes there -- check it out.

Medallion done - cherries!

2009-06-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

I'm finished with the center medallion of the Botanica Medallion Cardigan. The color is neutral, but this picture is too blah. I'll try to have better contrast next time. This was taken as I was giving a light blocking, so I can knit the border the right size. If you're knitting this, you might notice that I did the wrong kind of double decrease in the outer, non-leaf area of the medallion. I was knitting in the car, and Vogue no longer prints abbreviations in the magazine. So I gave it a shot, and kept it consistent. I'm claiming mine is different -- not wrong.

As for the cherries, they're here because they're here -- technically the second bowl of the season, as the first batch went to the family my daughter is staying with while dancing out of town. But these are the first Rainier cherries to come home with me from the farmer's market. My favorite, and so beautiful.

Touching the world

2009-06-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

with rose colored gloves. Will that be like looking at the world through rose-colored glasses? I guess I'll find out next winter.

They are Custom-Fit, Sideways-knit Garter Stitch Gloves by Joan Goldstein. This is the fourth pair of these gloves I've made, so I'll let you learn about the pattern here in a previous post.

These are made of Artyarns Ultramerino 4 in colorway 112, mauve roses. I had planned to photograph them with the roses growing in my garden, but as I watered my pots and window boxes this morning, I decided to use these moss roses instead. They're variegated like the gloves are. Still not sure about this color, but they're growing on me.

In the meantime

2009-06-09T16:12:00.001-07:00

You might be interested in this essay about knitting metaphors in poetry.

Life is a little like this right now,

. . . but school will be out soon.

Accidentally next door . . .

2009-05-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

to Knot Another Hat. I know it's hard to believe. I'll admit that I had every intention of keeping Knot Another Hat on our itinerary this weekend, but I hadn't realized the hotel I'd found was just two doors down. If you like quaint old hotels, I recommend The Hood River Hotel. Very nice. And of course, there's a great yarn store just a couple of doors east.

But enough about hotels -- yarn is what we're here to talk about. I came home with:

some beautiful Handmaiden Casbah Yarn, Safari colorway. For one MORE pair of garter stitch gloves. My mother-in-law admired the ones I was knitting (the blue-ish pair) and I decided that she has a pair coming for her birthday. I would tell you that my mother-in-law likes surprises, but I decided to get her reaction to the yarn. It was rather a revelation, since her response was more like mine would be (me, who doesn't enjoy surprises) than I thought. She likes the yarn, and she's going to enjoy looking forward to the gloves. Double good.

I also bought yarn for the cover sweater on the latest Vogue Knitting, Spring/Summer 2009.

This is Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton, in gravel, rather than the clay color the pattern calls for. Nichole, who was working at Knot Another Hat, suggested that while the clay color was neutral, it might not be so flattering - and having light sallow (pale olive?) skin, I know beiges can be trouble. If I would have been asked to name this color, it would be called gray sage. The folks at KnitPixie call it a warm grey, but I see green tones. It's a mid-tone neutral, like the clay, but will work better for me, I think & hope. There's a nice video of the Botanica Medallion Cardigan (and many others) from this issue here.

Finished gloves, again

2009-05-12T13:47:00.001-07:00

Here they are, the next in a series of Garter Stitch Gloves. These are made for my friend Ni Doh Pah, though I think I'll wait to give them 'til fall, now that warm weather is here. Details about the pattern can be found here. If you look back to the first post, you'll notice that I've made them in a different yarn but same colorway. So, they're slightly less fuzzy but otherwise much the same. They're made of Mountain Colors Bearfoot Yarn, in the Sapphire Trail colorway.

At last, I'm working on a pair of these gloves for myself.

I'm NOT sure about the color. I chose this as the best I could find that would look good with my various coats (red, black, khaki) and also look OK, but not matchy, with my favorite ruby red scarf (Clapotis). It's Artyarns Ultramerino 4 in colorway 112, which is mauve roses.

We were away this weekend, and I accidentally booked a hotel two doors down from Knot Another Hat. Stash post tomorrow!

Easter

2009-04-15T22:53:00.000-07:00

A bit late, some pieces of our Easter.

These are the cakes I made for the birthday celebration that was part of our family Easter dinner. They're supposed to look like sunflowers, and they do a little. But mostly they look like a circle of peeps.

The idea is from Taste of Home magazine, last spring sometime. I used a mix cake (horrors) - a yellow cake that called for butter. I made a chocolate cream cheese frosting, though next time I think I'd like a plain chocolate/buttercream frosting better. The sunflower seeds are chocolate chips.

For the last couple of years, our church has made a cross of the Christmas tree we used in December. Then on Easter Sunday, everyone helps cover it with flowers. It smells and looks wonderful. A beautiful resurrection image.

Slip sliding away!

2009-04-14T22:25:00.000-07:00

As promised - the slippers I gave my sister for her birthday:

I think my sister was happy to get them.

Here's a shot from before I sewed the soles on:

I'm a little afraid I sewed the soles on a bit "wonky". I hope not.

They're Fiber Trends Felted Clogs. The link is to the "new version", which is narrower than the version of the pattern I actually use. I haven't knit this pattern for a while - but I like it. The results are pretty wonderful too.

This is my sister's second pair of these slippers. They last a long time, but eventually it's time for a new pair.

I used Berocco Ultra Alpaca yarn (a wool/alpaca blend)- One skein of the green, which is called Lovage, and two skeins of the blue, Blue Glasynys. I needed all three skeins -- because the soles are knit double in garter stitch, they take a lot of yarn. And, when you're done, they're nice a squishy to walk on. I really like how this alpaca wool blend felts. The fabric is very dense -- the knit stitches have completely disappeared. When I was done, I did a bit of needlefelting with some Mountain Colors Mountain Goat yarn in Sapphire trail. This is yarn that's leftover from my first pair of garter stitch gloves.

Another glove

2009-04-03T19:22:00.001-07:00

I have been doing a bit more knitting lately. But since one of my readers has a birthday coming up, you'll have to wait to see that project. Unless of course, you don't have a birthday coming up, AND you belong to Ravelry. Then you're welcome to go see what I've been up to.

Meanwhile, I've also started another pair of garter stitch gloves. I DO love this pattern, and the result is so lovely from a knitterly perspective and so wearable.

Observant readers will also notice that I apparently love this colorway as well. It's Sapphire Trail, from Mountain Colors. The first pair of gloves I knit from this pattern were in this color, but a different yarn -- the Mountain Goat yarn, which has some mohair and is slightly heavier. This is Bearfoot sock yarn, which does have some mohair as well, and nylon for washability and strength. I didn't try to buy the same color as before -- I was just aiming for the most beautiful colors I could, from the selection they had at Dancing Ewe in Ellensburg. These are, once again, a gift for someone. I am planning to make myself a pair, at last. But as you can see, I've left it long enough that mine will be worn (as these will) next winter.

Observant readers will also notice I have very short fingers. This photo makes them look shorter. Really.

More Burmese textiles

2009-02-26T20:39:00.000-08:00

This is my friend Ni Doh Paw and her daughter.

This is the beautiful bag she made for me.

Here I am with the bag over my shoulder.

Here's a detail of the weaving -- the strap is a different pattern than the body of the bag.

A generous gift

2009-02-24T18:20:00.000-08:00

This is the hand-made gift I've been meaning to share with you for several months. Schedules around here have not coincided enough to put a photographer & daylight & me in the same place with time to do this. Finally, today I just took some pictures inside, with a tripod.

For some time I've been helping with a small ESL class for women at my church. The women are mostly Karen (kuh-wren) from Burma, (aka Myanmar) via refugee camps in Thailand. I help a bit with these classes -- that's all. Which makes the generosity of my Karen friends all the more amazing. One day last summer, when I gave some of them a ride home after class, someone came running out of their apartment with a tape measure. Much giggling ensued, and protests by me, but measurements were taken, and some time later, I was presented with this beautiful skirt. My skirt has a zipper and a waistband -- the true Karen skirts are wrapped, I think.

This skirt was hand-woven and then sewed to fit, by my friends Ah Mu and Ni Doh Paw.

Here are some detail shots:

The mittens I just finished are for Ah Mu. I hope to make Ni Doh Paw some gloves soon. I'm slow enough that they'll have to be put away for next winter.

There are some pictures of the looms used for this weaving here.

If you want to know more about why these people are refugees, this video is a good start. It's not as graphic as some I've seen. It is, however, very sad.

More Karen textiles to come!

Two in the bush!

2009-02-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

I've finished my Bird in Hand Mittens

Here's a detail of the birds on the thumb:

And the palms.

Bird in Hand Mittens, as designed by Kate Gilbert
Cascade Venezia Worsted yarn, 1 skein each color
US Size 1 needles

If I did it again? I'd use another yarn -- this one is soft and beautiful, but the red bleeds too much to use it with the white.

Made for a friend.

1 in hand = 2 in bush?

2009-01-20T17:16:00.000-08:00

What have I been doing since I finished Tempest?

I'm working on Kate Gilbert's delightful Bird in Hand mittens.

I'm knitting them from Cascade Venezia yarn, a mostly wool with some silk blend that I bought at Knitty Gritty Yarn in Richland.

Unfortunately, I didn't test wash a swatch -- actually, I didn't swatch at all. . . The mittens are turning out fine (one bird in hand, one on needles) EXCEPT that this red yarn bleeds.

My daughter, an honest critic, tells me that the recipient will never know they aren't meant to be red & pale pink mittens. My husband, on pain meds, said "You didn't WASH them?!" in a horrified voice.

The bird on the thumb.

Ironically, the photos look fine.

They're a gift for a friend who gave me a wonderful, hand-made gift. Photos of that in an upcoming post.

New Year's Day Tempest

2009-01-02T10:50:00.000-08:00

I managed to please myself and amuse my family by finishing Tempest on the way to our annual New Year's Day dinner. I cut the thread on the last of the 14 buttons in the parking lot of the school gym where we meet.

The color is truest in the outdoor shots, but I'm including this one to show how it fits.

Tempest, from Knitty, Spring '08, designed by Weaverknits.
Knit with Fleece Artist Blue Faced Leicester 2/8, Blue Lagoon (the darker shade) and Ocean, purchased from Little Knits.
Knit on size 6 needles in size "E", with "H" tendencies. I did not alter the sleeve length, I just have short arms.
La Mode buttons from Joann's Fabric (50% off!) and "classic" buttons from my button box.
Other than casting on for the size of my hips and decreasing for the size that fits my waist & bust, I followed the pattern as written.

The hem and unfinished, rolled sleeve edge. I had thought I'd finish the sleeve with a hem or something, but ended up liking this as designed. The hem ended up fine -- using a long tail cast on, and then beginning with a right side row, left a little row of purl bumps to use to pick up for the hem. In a sense this formed a "turning row" which was very nice. However, I might just start with the hem, a provisional cast on, and knit a turning row if I ever knit this again.

The buttons, which my daughter said reminded her of seashells. I think the colors (and variety) have a sea-glass feeling. I used different buttons (only three kinds, really) because I like them, but also because Joann's seems to only order 5 sets of each button, so there were not 14 of ANY of the buttons I liked in the store.

My gauge seemed to relax as I knit through this sweater (also I changed needles after the dog chewed up the bamboo one I was using). Even though I'd washed & blocked my swatches, it still relaxed a bit more than I had expected, and is a tad larger than I'd planned. I like how it looks, though.

I'd heartily recommend making this sweater to fit -- It worked well for me to cast on the stitches I needed for my hips, which are large in proportion to my waist (or maybe my waist is . . .). If I did this rapid decrease again, I wouldn't do all my decreases at the sides, but maybe do another set about 3 inches in on each side (like darts) on the same row as the "regularly scheduled" decreases.

I wouldn't however, do the slip stitch edge for the front center edge & then pick up one stitch for each slipped loop again. This one stitch for every two row ratio makes the button band a little too "stretched". I'd prefer to knit this to the actual ratio, which is likely 2 stitches to 3 rows or so. I'd also practice the tension on my sewn bind-off before starting on the front bands of the sweater.

Here's the only picture of me wearing the sweater at our party. I got lots of compliments on it, and my aunts laughed to think of me finishing it on the drive (I had an hour).

One last look.

2008 Knitting

2009-01-01T21:27:00.000-08:00

Only 4 projects completed. Not an impressive quantity knitting wise -- but 3 great sweaters for me, and a beautiful afghan for my son.
Sweaters: From Chicknits -- Beryl and CeCe
Tempest, from Weaverknits and Knitty.
Counting Pane Afghan, from Woolly Thoughts.

Happy New Year!

Pictures of Tempest -- maybe tomorrow.

Pillowcases?

2008-12-29T23:47:00.001-08:00

pillowcases, originally uploaded by phenager.

This sewing was actually for two girls with post-Christmas birthdays. I made them each a flannel pillowcase. I combined two sets of instructions -- Craft Warehouse's pillowcase kit, and a pattern titled Moon Dreams Pillow Case from the sadly now closed Pieceable Dry Goods.

Channeling my inner Aunt Jessie

2008-12-27T15:36:00.000-08:00

This is one reason I haven't been blogging -- I've been sewing. Sewing for Christmas. I made this Emmeline Apron for my sister.

This is the reverse side of it, as modeled by my daughter.

This is the potholder I made to match -- actually I started to make a patch pocket, but didn't like the look (maybe the original design had it right?). So I took a page from my wonderful great-aunt Jessie, whose signature Christmas gift was potholders and dishrags. I even used old terry towels as an insulator, just like she did.

This is my collection of "Aunt Jessie" potholders. Much the worse for wear (and in need of a wash), but the most useful ones I own. She recycled items that had been donated to a mission/shelter and weren't useful. I never would have imagined, years ago when she gave me these, that I'd be following in her footsteps. But I'm glad and proud I can.

Works in Progress, Holiday Special

2008-12-08T21:21:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

So Thankful

2008-11-28T15:29:00.001-08:00

What else I'm not doing enough of . . .

2008-11-16T14:40:00.001-08:00

books, originally uploaded by phenager.

Not blogging too much. Not knitting enough. Not reading enough.

The teachers and staff at my school are each making a scrapbook page about themselves. I had pictures of my family and my knitting, but even the pictures in the album labeled "book group" were actually of people. No books. So I took this picture to share with my new co-workers. And now with you. A nearly unedited view of one of our bookshelves -- I couldn't resist moving the old puzzle game of wood & golf tees one of our kids made. You can still see the spot in the dust though. I don't dust enough either. Which is better than dusting too much, don't you think?

Birthday lunch

2008-11-03T21:52:00.000-08:00

One of my friends recently wrote about how so many of us were facing times of "moving on" in our lives. I suspect that is because so much of life is change -- sometimes hoped for, sometimes dreaded.

Our lives have had lots of changes in the past months. Mostly good ones, some not so. One of the mostly good ones was sending our first kid off to college. Mostly good, because that's one of the targets we've been aiming for, as we raised him. And good because he's at a great school, and doing fine. But still an adjustment, for us as well as him.

His birthday was last week, and yesterday we drove to Seattle to take him to lunch. A long way to drive for lunch, but it was worth doing. We ate here - and then took Lucy for a walk at Golden Gardens, before shopping at Archie McPhee's (you were thinking Nordstrom?) and taking our car-less kid to get a few groceries and such.

It was a great day. Seeing my two kids so happy to see one another might have been the best part of all.

Is a picture worth . . .

2008-10-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

at least a couple of posts?

I'm working on Tempest -- the only available needle I had in the right size is a bit too slippery (for me) in this yarn at this gauge. So I've been in the market for a wooden or bamboo needle -- which surprisingly took three trips to three stores to find.

So of course, I've found other things.

These buttons, from Joanne Fabrics, are one possibility for Am Kamin. (Am Kamin, which is somewhat forgotten, but not gone.)

But then today at Knitty Gritty, they were having a Blackwater Abbey trunk show, and I found these buttons:

The original sweater has leaf shaped buttons, which should be too much, with all that cabling and crossing going on, but somehow isn't.

Which ones would you use? Lots of time to think and try -- I'll finish Tempest before I start work on Am Kamin again.

Blanket has a Back!

2008-09-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

I made myself do it -- I added a back to the Counting Pane afghan. I used a lovely soft gray flannel. This fabric happened to be 60 inches wide. This meant I didn't have to have a seam in the back of this blanket. I had dithered about using a knit or fleece fabric, which would have a similar "give" as the knitted afghan, or using a woven fabric that would add stability. In the end, I couldn't find any fleece that was the right color and thin or fine enough not to make the blanket too bulky. Putting a woven fabric with a more fluid knit wasn't easy, but now that it's done, I think it'll make the afghan more stable, which should be a good thing.

The hardest part was getting the fabric cut to the right size. It was hard to get the afghan laid out so I could either measure it, or use it as a "pattern". Once that was done, I stitched a half inch around the flannel fabric and turned the edge under. I then carefully (and nearly invisibly) sewed it around the edge of the blanket (inside the border). Then I laid it all flat and pinned the two layers together at the intersection of each square's border. Then I tied every other intersection, using the gray yarn for my ties.

Tomorrow I'm going to show it off at the elementary school I work at. Then next week, it goes off to college.

See, See my CeCe

2008-09-07T22:28:00.000-07:00

Finished: CeCe by Bonne Marie Burns, in Butterfly Super-10 Mercerized Cotton, Color Ecru, by El D Mouzakis - 125 gr, 230 meters. I bought 4 skeins but used 3 -- but also made the sleeves 2 inches shorter than the pattern called for. This is a victory, since I usually knit sleeves to pattern length, and then shorten them or roll them up later. I can learn, it just takes me a while ;-)! Yarn from Sheep's Clothing in Kennewick.
I used size 5 and 6 needles.

I'm happy with this sweater -- I've worn it twice already. I do find that the fitted sleeves to the elbow stretch out with wear.

This sweater also looks great with the dress that originally inspired me to make it -- a coral polka-dotted sleeveless dress. I'm very happy with the neutral color.

Less blogging lately -- I've started a couple of new jobs, one of which is even paid! But life is more hectic right now.

LAST weekend

2008-08-15T07:59:00.000-07:00

I went to Portland -- but I didn't visit any Portland yarn shops. Bookstores, yes -- but for yarn shops, my friend Martha invited me to check out her stomping grounds across the river in Vancouver. We started out at Unraveled - a small shop with a lot of lovely yarn. I came away with two sets of Brittany Birch double point needles for the sleeves of the CeCe sweater I'm knitting.

Then it was off down the street and around the corner to Stitchcraft, a really wonderful store. Nicholette's store is a white background for beautifully colored yarns and fabrics. I just loved the airy brightness and hope I can return soon. While there, I bought the Emmeline apron pattern, which I've been admiring since before it was published.

On the way home, I stopped at Knot Another Hat, in Hood River, OR. I arrived 15 minutes before closing, and couldn't decide what to buy. But, I'm sure I'll be back, because between the great yarn selection and the view of the Columbia Gorge from the window, this is a fantastic place.

Have you checked out the video on Vogue Knitting's site? Why do I like these sweaters SO much better on this video than in the magazine? Every one of them is terrific! Click the tab marked video, and see what you think.

This photo is off-topic, unless, like me, you live where the temperature will be above 100 degrees fahrenheit today. Longing for some of this mountain coolness . . .

"A" You're Adorable

2008-08-03T22:07:00.001-07:00

Lucy, originally uploaded by phenager.

Life is a little more fun, and a lot more busy. We have a new puppy, named Lucy.

Ce Ce

2008-07-29T09:38:00.001-07:00

IMG_1704, originally uploaded by phenager.

Yesterday I cast on. I'm making Chic Knits' CeCe - a little lace sweater to go over the new dress I've worn all summer. I hope I still like my dress as well at the end of the summer (or next summer) when I've finished this.

Most people on Ravelry have used Rowan Calmer for their CeCe -- I'm using Butterfly 10 cotton. I like this yarn for summer sweaters, there were three choice for a white-ish sweater, and the price is right. (My color is ecru.)

Count This One Done!

2008-07-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

A long car ride yesterday, and Counting Pane is finished!

Here's a close-up of my rather rounded mitered corners.

I didn't quite knit the border the pattern calls for. If I had, it would be all gray, and slightly narrower. Instead, my son & I chose some of his favorite colors from the afghan (the green wasn't a favorite, but I thought it popped) for the border. Also, the directions are NOT for knitting the whole border at once, in the round; but that's how I knit it.

The back -- my son would like this covered. I'm shopping tomorrow for either some flannel or very lightweight fleece. I think it's heavy enough, but I'm willing to try it.

Even though it's July, he's wrapped himself up in it to read. He likes it.

Details:

Counting Pane Afghan, designed by Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer.
Yarn used: 11 colors of Rowan Felted Tweeds, from WEBS.
Midnight, Gilt, Rage, Avocado, Ginger, Cocoa, Melody, Sigh, Treacle, Whisper, and outlined in Carbon. I bought 23 skeins of yarn, and finished with two skeins of gray (carbon) and one of midnight blue unused.
Size 4 needles (I knit loosely -- your mileage may vary).
A mathematical afghan for my son's high school graduation gift.

Family Reunion and Frisbee Golf, Our Way

2008-07-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

One of the highlights of our family reunion this past weekend was this game of Frisbee Golf. Actually, if you click on the link about Frisbee golf, you also might click on this one about Calvinball -- the version we play is also reminiscent of that. I've never quite been sure whether my cousin, Scott, taught us a game he has played before, or a game he's making up as we go along.

If you want a fun outdoor game for your next family, church, or neighborhood event, start with between two and twenty people, ready to have fun. Our group ranged in age from 6 to 55, though last year the group range was more like 5-70. Anyone who can throw a Frisbee and is mobile enough to navigate your terrain is eligible. Skill is not required, and may not even be helpful. It's better if everyone has their own disc -- lots of us used discs we'd gotten for free somewhere. The kind of discs MADE for Frisbee golf might work well, but I think you'd have to be more careful not to hit anyone with one of them, so be careful if that's your choice.

All players take turn naming holes. In a small group, each person might get more than one turn. We had about 18 people, so we each got to call one. A hole is more than just saying "throw your Frisbee and hit that tree", though that could work. The hole you can see us playing in this picture went something like, "your Frisbee has to land in that far sprinkler, then you go through the gap in the trees and your Frisbee has to hit the stage in the outdoor chapel. The hole is par 8." Other holes involved throwing discs under tables, on the left side of trees, etc. Whoever calls the hole gets to call par as well. It doesn't really matter how accurately "par" is calculated, since the score will be what the score will be, anyway. Everyone keeps track of their own score, though we've been know to "help" folks keep track of scores that are suspiciously low. Everyone throws at their own pace (or all at once), so your fellow players are part of the hazards of the course.

Besides great glory and acclaim, the winner of this game got to name the person who would say grace at the next meal. This then was either a great favor to bestow or a punishment to inflict depending on one's outlook. Other years, the prize has been a popsicle for everyone.

Attendance at L___ Camp was a little low this year, which got us to talking about why folks come, or don't come. Those of us who do come really love these yearly weekends. Die-hard fans of "family camp" exist in every generation -- grandparents, parents and kids; and some of the "in-laws and out-laws" are as dedicated to camp as those of us born to it.

One of my cousins shared that when he told folks he worked with that his vacation included a family reunion, they thought that was "too bad". I guess they imagined "having" to be with people he didn't know or like so well. We enjoy a weekend of three generations eating, playing and catching up on the news of the past year. But obviously not everyone who's invited sees it that way. I suspect it's possible for the same event to be a real drag and a great blessing.

Still, it was a great weekend. And next year, when some of the folks who wanted to be there but couldn't are there, it'll be even better.

How about you - are you a fan of family reunions? Or not?

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

2008-07-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

I just finished this book -- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. I was lucky to get an advance reading copy from the New Yorker. What a delightful summer read!

Novels written through letters (epistolary novels, if you're persnickety about vocab) tend to distance the reader from the story, I think. Instead of being immersed in the events of the story, the reader is a bystander, hearing about them, by eavesdropping, later. However, I found myself engrossed in the characters and plot of this book.

Juliet Ashton is a writer on a book tour, as this novel begins. She receives a letter from a man on the island of Guernsey, who by chance has a copy of a book about Charles Lamb that she once owned. The story is told through letters between this man, Dawsey Adams, and Juliet, as well as letters to and from Juliet's best friend, Sophie, her publisher, Sidney, and others.

The story takes place just after World War II. Guernsey's history during the war is a very interesting part of this book. Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands, was occupied by the Germans for 5 years during the war. The title refers to an initially fictitious literary society, "created" to provide an alibi for neighbors caught out after curfew. To substantiate their alibi, the literary society begins reading and discussing books together.

This is a story where "story" features strongly -- as a theme of the book, but also in the sense that besides charming characters, there is an interesting plot as well.

The book is due for release on July 29 -- I'd heartily recommend it for anyone (but I think the main audience for this book will be women) who likes warm-hearted, history-based fiction with a British bent.

Blanket without borders

2008-07-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

It's all done but the border!

My son likes it.

Now to knit the border, and decide what to do about the back (nothing, or something).

A meme

2008-07-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

Flickr Meme -
I saw this meme over at Tiennie's blog, and I thought I'd try it. For the record, my first meme. the rules:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd's mosaic maker.
the questions:
1. What is your first name? You know!
2. What is your favorite food? ice cream
3. What high school did you go to? Wapato High School
4. What is your favorite color? Blue
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Viggo Mortensen
6. Favorite drink? Red Wine
7. Dream vacation? Prince Edward Island
8. Favorite dessert? Chocolate Mousse
9. What you wanted to be when you grow up? Teacher
10. What do you love most in life? My family
11. One Word to describe you? Creative
12. Your flickr name? phenager

(Photo credits below)
1. Pam Pam, 2. Ice Cream Dressed in Red, 3. Dad, Steven, and Arlene, 4. llibreria - bookstore - Amsterdam - HDR, 5. Viggo Mortensen, 6. The Storm, 7. Charming Prince Edward Island, 8. three is not a crowd, 9. My family, 10. Pipe Cleaner Muscle Man, 11. Love will come through.., 12. Sea to Sea 08

Some of these answers are more surely true than others. I especially love the picture I found for "blue" - a bookstore window in Amsterdam. How many me-ish things can you put in a picture?

From Sea to Sea

2008-07-07T09:56:00.000-07:00

They arrived on Saturday -- the cyclists from Sea to Sea. They're riding their bicycles from Seattle to New Jersey to raise awareness and funds to fight poverty in North America and around the world. It was amazing for our tiny church (40 families) to welcome about 170 cyclists and their support team. They camped in a park beside the Columbia River.

On Sunday, we worshiped together with them.

People were strewn across the lawn in front of the band stand, where ever there was shade. It may be the first worship service in history that began with a sample of Queen's "I Want to Ride my Bicycle".

Two Canadian cyclists stayed at our house for a couple of nights.
Dora and Alida are doing the whole distance -- a few cyclists are doing a segment, such as Seattle to Denver, or Grand Rapids to New Jersey. They're my new heroes!

www.flickr.com

Video coverage here.

If a picture is worth a thousand words . . .

2008-07-05T08:15:00.001-07:00

Here's 9000 about last week.

Couldn't Be Prouder!

2008-06-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

It starts here. . .

Or maybe it starts here. . .

I wouldn't say it ends here, but this is certainly where things ended up, so far. My son graduated from high school on Saturday. He gave the Salutatorian address, entitled "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys".

We are so proud of him -- it was a great weekend.

The afghan however, wasn't finished. I'm continuing the tradition of knitted gifts that come with an IOU. He's not leaving home till September. It'll be done by then. I hope.