Lacey Vee Is Done!

My Lacey Vee Cardigan is done – and by the weekend it might even be warm enough to wear it! Here’s the info:

Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Brilla

Pattern: Lacey Vee Cardigan (#405) from Cabin Fever

Modifications: hmmm, where to start? ;-)

1. In the original pattern you start with filled in purl squares where the lace is and only do the lace squares in a vee shape. Since I really wanted to get it done before Maryland I decided to simplify my life by just making all of the purl squares lacey. I think it looks fine that way. :-)

2. The vee was a little too deep for my taste so I did the standard “start the neck decreases when you bind off for the sleeves.”

3. I didn’t make the back of the neck a scoop neck. That part of me is always cold, especially in over air conditioned places.

Overall I really liked the pattern. I thought it was well written and easy to follow. And proving that you can teach an old knitter new tricks :-) I learned something new. The pattern has you pick up the sleeve stitches and knit down. Instead of doing a k2tog and an ssk on either side of a central stitch, you do one double decrease. I love the way it looks – very neat. For the double decrease they have you do slip 2, knit 1, pass 2 over. I prefer slip 2 knitwise together (like the beginning of ssk) slip 1 more knitwise, stick your left needle back through all three and knit them together. This gives you the middle stitch showing and the right and left stitches slanting neatly behind.

So of course since I finished a project I had to start a new one...or two. :-) I started a new sock but there isn’t enough to be worth a photo yet. And I’ve been so depressed about the news from Virginia Tech that I decided to knit a blanket for Afghans for Afghan’s Mother’s Day Campaign for Afghan Mothers. At least it makes me feel like I’m doing one small thing to make the world a better place, at least for one baby.

They request all wool blankets in colors that won't show the dirt. I went stash diving and came up with a bag of teal (color #31) Plymouth Galway (which you may recognize from my Pirate Hat) and an assortment on hand dyed yarns that go with it. They are all very nice yarns but I just don’t love the colors. Some of them I ordered online and they didn’t turn out to be what I thought and one is just a “what was I thinking?” purchase. Hopefully they will all look pretty together in the end. I’m doing a mitered square pattern, of course. :-)

And now for some gratuitous pictures of my cats:

Here’s Louie helping me model my new sweater. Doesn’t he look just thrilled? (Not!)

And here’s camera-shy Minerva who doesn’t usually get to be in my blog since I take most of my pictures outside and she’s strictly an indoor cat.

And here are Ravenclaw and Minerva playing on their cat condo which my daughter calls Hogwarts. Can you guess what my kids were into when we got these cats?

My Socks Rock

I finally finished my first pair of Socks That Rock. I only started them in December, so it’s not that bad. Here’s the info:

Yarn: Socks That Rock lightweight, colorway Fire On The Mountain

Pattern: basic toe up sock pattern

Stitch Pattern: Double Fleck Stitch, from the 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar

It was tricky finding a stitch pattern I liked. The yarn has very short color repeats, bright colors, and high contrast. You really have to swatch in the round on the number of stitches you plan to use to get an accurate representation of how it will look in the end. I swatched A LOT of different pattern stitches – and then once I found one I liked I ripped the whole swatch out because I knew I would need the yarn. It was worth it. I’m really pleased with how this stitch looks. The purl stitches in the Double Fleck Stitch add a nice bit of contrast that helps to break up the striping. I’m sure I’ll use this stitch again.

Isn’t it amazing how many stitch patterns there are? I’ve been knitting for 35 years now and I’m constantly finding new ones. I really like the 365 Knitting Stitches Calendar. It has lots of good stitches and they’re very well photographed. I do wish they were charted, but I guess you can’t have everything.

It’s been a productive week. I actually finished my Lacey Vee Cardigan too. I tried to take a picture of it, but it’s wet from blocking and the color doesn’t look right. I promise I’ll take one as soon as it’s dry.

Now I’m going to go cast on my Regia Bamboo socks… :-)

O Canada!

Finally, a good excuse for not blogging for over a week. :-) We spent spring break in Montreal, which is a lovely city (I’d move there in a heartbeat) but perhaps not at its finest in early April. Our weather was fairly awful but that didn’t keep us from having a great time.

This is the view from our hotel. From left to right the buildings are Christ Church Cathedral, the Tour de Catedral office tower (built on land that originally belonged to the church), and La Baie (the Hudson Bay Company.) Pretty cool.

Here are my kids (don’t tell them, I promised I’d never put them on my blog) standing at the observation area at the top of Mont Royal. Though my guidebook describes it as a “simple hike up from downtown”, they LIE! When we got to the “250 steps in all, and the last 100 go straight up” I thought I was Going To Die. Luckily the view from the top was worth it and the sun even came out from behind the clouds for a few minutes for us. Plus there was a little shop with a wide selection of ice cream treats. :-)

One way they’ve dealt with the weather in Montreal is by building the Underground City. It’s a network of pedestrian tunnels and shopping malls, all completely underground. Let me tell you, it’s a 13 year old girl’s idea of paradise. There’s even a huge mall that was built under Christ Church Cathedral. I still can’t understand how they pulled that one off. And the strangest thing we saw in the Underground City? In honor of Easter, in one upscale mall they had a petting zoo.

With a llama.

I did manage to sneak in a visit to one of the yarn stores. I’ve never seen a store like it.

There are rows of boxes full of cones of very fine yarns of all types and colors. If you like you can choose up to 12 and they’ll wind them onto bobbins for you. I was more than a little overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices. They also have a variety that they’ve already blended. One of those really appealed to me, and I decided that I wasn’t likely to do better (at least not in anything resembling a reasonable amount of time, and while my daughter did humor me in visiting a yarn store – not to mention walking 2 miles with only vague directions to find it – I didn’t want to push it. They had 2.5 pounds of the color I liked and assured me that would be enough for a sweater. You will not believe the price. It was $25 Canadian, which works out to just about $22 US. Unbelievable.

Yeah, it’s a little bright. What can I say – I love pink. :-)

And my other favorite purchase? Yarn Harlot’s new book. I hadn’t been able to find a copy at home, and I was inordinately pleased to buy it in her home country. And nothing could be more perfect than spending an evening reading a travel book about knitting while on vacation.

Progress Report

The good news is that I’m making good progress on the Lacey Vee Cardigan. The even better news is that I have so far resisted the urge to start another project. I will confess to fondling my bamboo sock yarn, but I can’t start those until I finish the wool ones I’m working on (at least not without buying two more size 0 Addi turbos.) And trust me, the yarn is much prettier than it looks in any of the online color cards.

Back to the Lacey Vee… I’ve finished the body, sewn the shoulders, and picked up and knit the buttonbands. You pick up the sleeve stitches and knit down which is my personal favorite way to knit sleeves. I got them both started last night during Survivor. They’re supposed to be ¾ length sleeves, but I’m cutting it close on how much yarn I have so basically I’m planning to knit until I run out of yarn. That’s one reason I want to do both of them at the same time.

Here’s the body:

And here it is sewn up with the buttonbands (no buttons yet):

Spring has come to Maryland, and here’s our gorgeous saucer magnolia:

We’ve been very lucky this year. If we get a high wind, heavy rain or a hard freeze right after it blooms we can lose all of the flowers. This year the conditions have been perfect.

And back by popular demand – more pictures of the cats. Louie is doing what he does best (relaxing) and Ravenclaw is doing his usual, “I must walk toward you while you try to take my picture” act.

Spring Fever

So there I was knitting away on my Gravel Road Cardigan, when all of I sudden I thought, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have a new sweater that I could actually wear at the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival?” Now if you’ve never been to the festival (and if you haven’t you really, really should) let me tell you that while it is technically possible that it can be 50 degrees F and raining (which happened one year in the mid 1990’s) it is far more likely to be 90 in the shade (if you can actually find any shade.) A wool sweater is highly impractical. I should know. Last year I wore one. I had just finished my FLAK and I was desperate to show it off to people who would appreciate it. I think I wore it for an hour before I gave up and tied it around my shoulders.

So anyway…. I’ve had this pattern for a lightweight summer cardigan aging in my pattern stash. Then this winter a friend of mine (hi, Pam!) was culling her stash and I came home with just the right amount of yarn for it. Clearly it was Meant To Be. I swatched it up and lo and behold, the gauge was just right.

So I cast on and I’ve been knitting like a fiend ever since. I’m not a huge fan of cotton yarn (love to wear it, hate to knit with it) but this yarn (Filatura di Crosa Brilla) is 42% cotton, 58% rayon. It’s not too bad to knit with, but I do have to be careful not to knit for too long without a break or my hands and wrists start to hurt. It’s very pretty. Of course I never met a purple I didn’t like, but this is a particularly nice one. The yarn has a nice sheen to it. The pattern is Lacey Vee Cardigan (#405) from Cabin Fever. I’m almost ready to divide for the armholes. I’m not making the vee quite as deep. I don’t need to emphasize my lack of cleavage. :-)

Making Progress

I’m making good progress on the Gravel Road Cardigan. It’s worked in one piece to the underarms. I just got to the dividing point so it actually feels like I’ve gotten somewhere. Here it is:

I’m having the same problem as my friend Cindy with getting the color right in a photo. This photo is much too light. Do you remember the 64 color box of Crayolas from when you were a kid? The color reminds me of Violet Red, which was always one of my favorites.

We’re making progress with the weather too. This is what my backyard looked like a week and a half ago:

Here’s what it looks like now:

It’s still too cold to feel like spring, but at least it feels like it won’t be too much longer now.

Evolution of a Sweater

I decided I really needed a lightweight cardigan. Since I didn’t have anything between sock weight and worsted weight in my stash, I decided to order Debbie Bliss Merino DK from Elann. They called the color Fuchsia, but when I opened the box it looked more like cranberry to me. Not what I had expected, but still pretty. So I set about swatching.

I tried many pattern stitches, but none of them spoke to me:

Then I remembered the Gravel Road Cardigan, from Janet Szabo’s Twists & Turns newsletter. I’ve been admiring this one for some time. When I made my swatch (and washed and blocked it) I discovered that the gauge was perfect:

Here are the buttons I found:

Since it’s DK weight on size US 3 needles it’s kind of slow going. But it’s very pleasant knitting and I know it will be a sweater that I will wear forever.

Here’s what it looks like now:

And here’s what my back yard looks like now, after two inches of snow and another inch or so of sleet:

Sometimes You Just Need a Pirate Hat

Have you seen this blog? I’ve long been tempted by the pattern for a felted pirate hat. I just love felting so this one is right up my alley. Well, I found myself in need of a pirate hat for an upcoming event so I knew just where to go. I told myself that I was not going to buy any yarn for it, assuming that I ought to be able to find suitable yarns in my stash. Sadly, my selection of eyelash is limited to bright orange (it’s a school color thing) so I had to go with Bernat Boa. My only choices there were a black/white blend or a green/blue. (I’m just not an eyelash kind of gal.) I went with the green/blue and managed to find a bag of navy/teal Galway, which is my absolute favorite yarn for felting.

This was a real instant gratification project – I cast on last Friday and had it in the washer Monday evening. This is what it looked like pre-felting:

It felted more quickly than I expected so after I took it out of the washer I had to stretch it a bit to fit my head. I found a bowl that was just the right size which also helped give it a nice round shape.

I know pirates are supposed to have a parrot, but this pirate has to make do with a black cat!

Stitches East Comes to Baltimore

Since Stitches was practically in my own backyard I decided to check it out. It wasn’t as big as the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival but I still managed to find some things to buy. The highlight for me was definitely Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I headed there first thing Friday morning and was rewarded by riches beyond measure. There were none of the screaming, pushing hordes from Maryland either. I tried to hold back, but there were four colors that I just couldn’t resist. I was especially delighted to see their Lightweight yarn. I was disappointed when I got home from Maryland and discovered that I had bought Medium weight. I like my sock yarn in a finer weight. The only other purchase I made Friday was also sock yarn – Regia Bamboo. I had never seen it before and I do like bamboo.

Here’s the sock yarn:

4 skeins Socks That Rock

Regia Bamboo

I was really looking for something special for a dressy jacket. I found it just before closing on Saturday. I found it at the Seaport Yarn booth. I couldn’t resist a blue and purple rayon metallic blend and a kid mohair in the most gorgeous blue I’ve ever seen.

Here they are:

Blue Violet/Silver Rayon Metallic from Wagtail Yarns

Inky Blue Ripple from Blue Heron Yarns

And I bought a couple of patterns:

And some cute stuff from Everything But Yarn:

But by far the highlight of my weekend was seeing so many friends. I met up with lots of online friends, caught up with my favorite vendors (like Buffy from Shelridge Farms), ran into an old friend who had moved away and lost touch, and met a lot of interesting people while standing in line and sitting around the big tables in the food area. I heard a rumor that Stitches East will be returning to Baltimore next year. I think you can count on seeing me there.

What I Did During My Summer Vacation

….from blogging.

I finished my Spirit Trail socks:

Yarn: Spirit Trail sock yarn from Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival

Pattern: My basic toe up, short row heel. The cuff pattern is knit the first row; knit 3, purl 1 for the second row and repeat.

I made a pair of gift socks (since they’re for a 13 year old girl I seriously doubt she’ll see my blog):

Yarn: Sockotta Bold Stripe Effect from The Celtic Knot Yarn Shop

Pattern: My basic toe up, short row heel. The stitch pattern is basically knit 3, purl 1, but I switched to stockinette every time the color changed which changed the look a bit.

I knit a bunch of stuff for a church bazaar:

Scarves: Paton’s Boa (1 skein, 16 stitches, knit until done)

“Heart Felt Wishes” Bowl

Apple hat

Pumpkin hat

I’ve worked on a bunch of other stuff too, but that’s all I’ve managed to finish. In the future I promise to update my blog more frequently than once every five months. *smile*

Short Row Heels

…and the woman who loves them.

I originally tried short row heels because I was looking for a heel that really looked good in self patterning yarn. Once I knitted my first one I fell head over heels for them. (Sorry – I just couldn’t resist that one.) <grin> I love the “bullseye” pattern you get.



These are the Spirit Trail socks I’m working on now. The weird looking spot where the heel meets the foot is a marker (contrasting color yarn.) I never write anything down so markers are my best hope of making a second sock that’s even close to the same size as the first. <big grin>

Opal Brasil Socks Done!

Remember the socks I started back in February? Here they are, all done:





Yarn: Opal Brasil
Pattern: My own generic toe up pattern with a chevron patterned cuff. The chevron pattern was adapted from a stitch in Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.

This was my first time knitting socks on two circular needles and I am totally sold. I did the toes on double points (I knit my socks from the toe up) but as soon as I had finished the increases I switched to the circular needles. I bought a new size 2 Addi Turbo at Maryland Sheep and Wool – boy are they expensive. But they’re my favorite kind of needle so I just try not to think about it too hard.

I’ve already started my next pair of socks (I always have at least one on the needles) in some Spirit Trail sock yarn I got at Maryland. It’s yummy!

It's The Little Things

What is this, you ask? And why would anyone bother knitting it? Well, the answer is – it’s a water bottle cozy. I work at Girl Scout day camp during the summer. It gets very hot and water bottles are an absolutely necessity. The woman I work with always complains (good naturedly) that my water bottle sweats all over her paperwork. I had some leftover Fixation (stretchy sock yarn) in my stash so I decided to knit a water bottle cozy. I played around with different methods of knitting a circle (EZ’s pi method, Yarn Harlot’s multiple of 5 method) but I had a hard time getting it to lie flat. Don’t ask me how many times I ripped it out and re-did it but, hey, it gave me something to do during the Survivor finale. I probably should have made it a little taller but I finished a ball of yarn and was too lazy to start another. I’ll let you know after camp how it works. I know you’ll all be waiting with bated breath. <very big grin>

The Process Knitter

I am definitely a process knitter. Which is a good thing, since I start a lot more projects than I actually finish. <grin> I have one ongoing project that will take me years to knit, and I’m enjoying every minute of it. It’s my Sock Yarn Afghan. I started it in the summer of 2004. I needed an interesting project to work on during a week long family reunion. I knit a lot of socks, and I’ve always wondered what to do with the little bit of yarn that’s left over. When my daughter was younger I used them to make Barbie clothes, but those days have now passed by. Since most socks I knit use hand dyed or self-patterning yarns they don’t readily lend themselves to being used together. My friend Joan knit an afghan using mitered squares (which I love) but what made it really special was that each block was bordered in black, which really tied it all together and kept it from having that patchwork look.


I made a full size afghan which turned out really well.


So I decided to start another one, using sock yarn.

As you can see, after almost two years it still isn’t all that big (that's a 12 inch ruler at the top), but I’ve gotten hours of entertainment from it already. I love finishing a square and getting out all of the colors to decide what to use next. I love remembering the original pairs of socks. It makes me feel like a pioneer woman making a quilt out of scraps of her kids’ outgrown clothes. And now my friends bring me their leftovers too, so I can look at squares and say, “My friend Joan gave me that yarn.” Or my friend Rosie, or my friend LynnM who mailed me hers from Minnesota, or my friend Cindy who brought me a bag at Maryland Sheep & Wool last weekend. It’s like a knitting scrapbook. If I ever do finish it I think I’ll have to immediately start a new one. But I don’t need to worry about that for quite a while. <grin>

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival 2006

Another year, another great sheep and wool festival. For me, every year it becomes less about the buying and more about enjoying the chance to see friends I only get to see once a year. By 11 AM (it opened at 9) the vendor areas were too crowded for me. A bunch of my knitting buddies set up camp near the entrance in what little shade we could find.

Here we are:


Knitting buddies


More buddies


Buddy Meta working hard on replacing the yarn that Katrina took away.




And here’s Cindy Park in her Spring Forward Cardigan. It’s absolutely gorgeous!

It’s amazing how much shopping I got done in less than two hours. It’s probably a good thing I didn’t stay in the vendor area any longer.


Books and patterns:
Dyeing to Knit (autographed by the author at the fair) by Elaine Eskesen of Pine Tree Yarns

Big Girl Knits by Jilian Moreno & Amy Singer of knitty.com

Knitting Rules! by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (Yarn Harlot)

Cable Needle Freedom by Carole Wulster of Knitting Software Inc.

Sam the Ram & Sue the Ewe by Rita O’Connell of Earth Heart Designs

Stradivarius Stole & Mobius Capelet by Candace Eisner Strick of Strickwear (impulse bought while standing in line at The Mannings)



Yarn:
Kit for Blueberry Jam cardigan from Shelridge Farms (not pictured - they’re mailing it to me so I could substitute Mulberry for Spanish Moss)

Sock yarn from Spirit Trail

1. Fuchsia/blue/purple colorway


2. Shades of blue/purple colorway

Sock yarn from Socks That Rock

1. Two Can Rock


2. Hearthstone


3. Lapis

Opal sock yarn, colorway Traumfanger (Dreamcatcher) - pink/blue/yellow

Trekking XXL sock yarn - bright primaries/natural

Fixation sock yarn – shades of purple

Etc.
Size 2 24 inch Addi Turbo

Spirit Trail bumper sticker

Now I'm trying to finish my socks-in-progress so I can start some with my new yarn. I think the Spirit Trail pink and blue will be first in the queue....