Interstellar Knits

Appreciation

2009-03-11T10:44:00.004-06:00

Having a small child does cut into the knitting time, but it's terribly gratifying to see all of one's handknits being used!

This morning it was cold outside, so Julian had to dress warmly. He's adopted a hat that I originally made for myself: improvised pattern, mystery yarn from sale bin at Woolcott in March 2004, when I was stuck in Cambridge in a snowstorm without a hat. He wears his mittens and scarf without complaint when it's cold. And this morning, he suddenly decided that he wanted to carry his bunny around with him. Bunny was a baby shower gift from Diane, made from a Debbie Bliss pattern. He carried it around all morning, saying "MY bunny." Aww!

Now, if I could just get around to making him a sweater...

Piggy mittens!

2009-02-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

Finished: piggy mittens for Julian! Pattern from Spillyjane Knits. Very easy and quick. Made from various odds and ends of cashmerino. More details posted on Ravelry.

Nearly finished: the infamous Pink Socks. Recently begun: the Salina sweater, in chocolate-brown tweed.

February Baby Sweater

2008-12-09T10:53:00.001-07:00

February Baby Sweater
Originally uploaded by dewarewolfe

I had to keep this one under wraps for a while, as it was a gift for a friend, but now that she's received it I can post! Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater pattern, in green Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. Cute flower buttons bought at Shuttles, Spindles, and Skeins. Raveled here.

The baby for whom this was knit should hopefully be making her entrance into the world TODAY! Good wishes to the whole family for a smooth labor and a joyful arrival!

Wooly

2008-12-07T21:13:00.003-07:00

It's my birthday!

One of the many lovely presents I received this year was this shirt (in purple). It's a 100% merino wool shirt, meant to be worn next to the skin, and it's warm and cozy. But get this: on the tag there is a code, and you can go to their website and enter that code to find the biographies of the sheep ranches from whence your wooly merino shirt came. Much as I love knitting my own things, I can't knit everything, and it's nice to find a clothing company that respects its sheep!

Startitis

2008-11-12T10:18:00.004-07:00

Yesterday daycare was closed for the holiday, so I took the day off work and stayed home with Julian. (We had a good time at the playground!) And as we all know, vacation days are for knitting. I'm still knitting the pink sock, but, well, I've started three other projects in the last two days. Oops. There's the Salina sweater, which is for me, and which I've been wanting to knit for ages. There's a pair of Fetching fingerless mitts in some blue merino. And there's a somewhat experimental vest for Julian. It's getting cold here and the other day I pulled out the vest that Gretchen made him, and it actually still fits quite well except for being a little short. Much as I think they look terrible on me, vests are really handy for small children because they add warmth without too much bulk, and they're quick and easy to knit. So I'm trying out some funky blue-green thick-and-thin yarn (a gift from my mother-in-law), hoping I'll have enough of it, and improvising a pattern. But in the midst of all this new-project madness, I did at least go back to the interminable Bonny sweater and frog one of the sleeves and rewrite the sleeve pattern top-down, so I can knit it until I run out of yarn. Now I just have to frog the other sleeve, wash the yarn, and gather my courage to start again. Unless I give up on the whole thing and turn it into a couple of baby vests. Bah.

Incredibly cool

2008-11-09T09:01:00.003-07:00

Last week Oliver and I did some volunteer work for the Obama campaign, knocking on doors to make sure people were going to vote. On Election Day, we finished our morning shift and came back to the local campaign office to check in before lunch. We walked in and this is who we saw:

Yes, that's me with Gloria Steinem. She was touring around Colorado for the week, speaking to supporters to get everyone energized for the election. I shook her hand and thanked her for everything she's done!

I'm back (again)!

2008-10-27T10:03:00.006-06:00

I haven't been keeping up with this blog at all. Bad blogger! But in between working and chasing a toddler around, I've been knitting and sewing.

I made Julian a blankie:

This is the unfinished version; I haven't taken a picture since it was finished. The top is just a piece of fabric with ducks and colored bubbles (because he loves ducks and balloons), and the back is soft blue flannel. I tied it all together with yellow embroidery thread and sewed on a pale yellow satin binding. By hand, because my sewing machine conked out as soon as I sat down to sew the binding.

I've also been knitting socks!

Elfine's Socks, in Socks that Rock Lightweight in Jade, raveled here.

Monkey Socks, in Koigu KPPPM, raveled here.

And now that those are finished, and wonderful, and being worn all the time, I'm back to working on the pink socks. About a thousand years ago I knit a pair of pink socks. They were too tight. So I ripped them out and re-knit them. But then I had a baby, and it took a while to get the socks knit. Finally I finished one, tried it on, and the heel kind of sucked. So I knit the Monkey socks instead, and in the process, I discovered the wonder that is the Toe-Up Flap Heel from Sensational Knitted Socks. Went to Portland and went a little crazy with the Socks that Rock, had to cast on for new socks right away. Finished the Monkeys. Ripped pink sock back past the heel, re-knit. Finished the Elfines. Tried on the pink sock again and said wow, this is great, it's getting cold outside and I need more socks. Am now about 25% done with the second sock and it's going quickly! Hopefully there will be no more distractions and soon I will have another pair of socks to show off.

But you know, Julian really needs a pair of piggy mittens.

FOs!

2008-05-22T07:21:00.001-06:00

Yes, I've finished some projects! First up, a blanket for Michele's Zach, born 4/4:

(lots of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, garter stitch, details on Ravelry)
And my first Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern, a Tomten jacket for my nephew Jake, born 4/17:

(again with the Cotton Fleece, more on Rav) I sewed in a zipper after taking this picture, and it went perfectly, thanks to the tip I found somewhere about basting the fronts together with scrap yarn first. Love the pattern, but I'm glad I decided not to do the hood, as I finished it just in time as it was and I'd had just about enough garter stitch by this point.

The first Monkey sock is finished and I'm past the toe on the second. I have to get cracking on the sock-knitting; we went to Portland a couple weeks ago to see Jake and family, and I went to Twisted, where not only did I meet Tina of StR fame but also Fiona Ellis, who happened to walk in the store as I was standing by the Wall o' Sock Yarn with my hands full of yarn. Anyway, I bought four skeins of Socks that Rock lightweight, because when else was I going to have the chance to see this stuff in person? Jade (for a new pair of Elfine socks, and it's more of a spring green than the picture shows), Typhoon Tina, Atomic #6, and Space Dust.

And now, it's spring, and that means Gardening! I made a raised bed out of 2x10s and several bags of dirt (our soil is terrible) and planted three tomato plants, two green peppers, basil, and zucchini, two rows of radishes and one each of carrots and lettuce. The radishes are all coming up, and the lettuce is just starting to sprout. I'm also working on clearing the big patches of weeds and unwanted saplings, mulching and filling in bare spots with flowers and native plants. So far the flowering sage (Salvia greggii, I think), echinacea, dwarf yarrow (Achillea tomentosa), snapdragons, and thyme (pink-flowering T. serpyllum and variegated Highland Cream) are all doing well, the plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) and sedum are coming back in the shady, dry front yard, and I have high hopes for the California poppy seed I put in last week. It's a lot of work but it's great to be outside, and Julian loves playing in the yard!

Still knitting

2008-02-05T10:46:00.001-07:00

Busy, busy, busy... I started a new job in January; I'm still with the same organization but in a different department, and while it's really interesting and fun, I'm working hard and it wears me out. And then I come home and play with Julian, who is crawling and pulling up to standing and cruising around the furniture, which is tremendous fun! But of course he thinks knitting is just fascinating and wants to help if he sees me doing it, so it has to wait until after he goes to bed.

All of my knitting time lately, what there is of it, has been devoted to a garter stitch Cotton Fleece striped baby blanket for a friend. I'm more than halfway done and trying to finish asap, because I have so many projects lined up! After the blanket, there's a pair of wristwarmers for my mom (in green Silkroad Aran Tweed, I think), a Tomten jacket (probably in more Cotton Fleece, thanks to Emily's influence) for my nephew who is due in April, and then... Salina, for me, in Treacle Felted Tweed. My parents gave me gift credit at the Yarn Barn and I put it to good use. I can't wait to knit this sweater. Of course, I also can't wait for spring (we got another 4" of snow last night), and with my knitting speed lately I'll be lucky to have the sweater by this time next winter, but hope springs eternal.

Shameful neglect

2007-12-28T15:04:00.000-07:00

I have been shamefully neglecting my blog in favor of Ravelry, it's true. At least I've also been knitting! I'm charging right along on the revamped Pink Socks; I'm nearly finished with the first one and it fits well enough, and the second one should go faster since I won't have to keep trying it on and re-knitting the heel. I'm thinking of doing some sort of toe-up flap heel on the Koigu Monkey Socks once I get to that point, which will require consulting of books as I've never done that before. The pink cardigan is hanging around in my knitting basket, but right now I'm working on a simple garter stitch baby blanket for a friend who's due in just a few months.

However, I have a problem. I've been secretly thinking about making the Venezia pullover. Never mind that I: have almost no colorwork experience, am on a yarn diet, swore that my next sweater would be something that knitted up faster than DK weight, have limited knitting time and even less mental acuity for following charts, and would want to change the colors to something that suits me better (either red/pinks or purples). It's so pretty! But no, I'm going to be good. If I really want to do something in colorwork, I can knit an Elizabeth Zimmerman yoke sweater in a nice worsted weight, or better yet, I can re-knit the beginning of the Paloma sweater where I didn't know what I was doing.

Happy New Year to all!

Sniff

2007-12-16T19:32:00.001-07:00

I am sad to report that my much-loved Elfine Socks, in the Sunshine Yarns Rock Creek colorway, have a hole in the toe. They were already kind of felted in some places and wearing thin in others, so I'm not sure it's worth darning them. The yarn is the old non-superwash merino and I didn't know about using reinforcing thread yet, so they wore out pretty quickly. Still, almost two years is a pretty good life for a pair of socks. Now I just need to KNIT FASTER so as to finish my two pairs of socks in progress. Of course, that would involve knitting the socks, rather than the hot pink cardigan I just started. Um, oops.

That's my boy!

2007-12-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

Hmm, what's this?

New toy! Thanks Mom!

(Before any of you Knitters have a heart attack, let me point out that it's Cotton Fleece, from the sale bin. This would not be happening with my Brooks Farm stash.)

Red sweater: finished!

2007-11-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Julian's red sweater is done!

Details: 2 skeins Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, color Salmon Berry Red. Size 7 and 5 needles. Pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple top-down raglan, with ribbing instead of rolled edges and a few stitches added to make up for the smaller gauge. It fits perfectly and is super-cute! It took a little while, though, so I'll be using a thicker yarn for any future baby patterns. (Any recommendations? Cashmerino aran would be ideal if it weren't so expensive.)

I'm still working on the Monkey socks and I'm thinking about casting on a simple cardigan for myself... first there will be swatching, though.

Rockin' Socks!

2007-10-17T10:43:00.000-06:00

The Rock & Weave Socks are done! (But Blogger's photo upload is broken, so you'll have to look at my Flickr or Ravelry page to see them.) They fit nicely and I really like the cute cuffs.

I'm afraid I may be at risk of joining the Socks that Rock cult. I'd really like to try the lightweight sock yarn, and the Atomic 6 colorway is calling to me. Then again, who am I kidding? So are Socktopus, Metamorphic, and Rolling Stone. But I'm on a yarn diet until I knit up some of my sock yarn stash - I feel bad about neglecting those two nice skeins of Bearfoot for so long.

Ravelling

2007-10-08T10:16:00.000-06:00

I'm in! And it's great. Only problem is that I spent more time setting up my account than actually knitting this weekend. Oh well.

Hat!

2007-10-06T12:25:00.000-06:00

Julian in his new blue hat, made from scraps of Rowan Cashsoft Aran, my own pattern. (76 sts on a 16" #7 circ.) It's a little bit big, so it's perfect for him to grow into this winter!

Ravelry countdown is at 94...

So close!

2007-10-05T14:53:00.001-06:00

There are only 492 people in front of me in the Ravelry queue! My invitation might very well arrive tomorrow! Let's hope I can finish Julian's new hat before then.

make that 343 at 8 pm...

Oh for cute

2007-10-03T11:15:00.000-06:00

Pattern: Knitting Pure & Simple baby top-down raglan. I knit the largest size on #7 needles to make up for using DK weight yarn instead of the worsted-weight the pattern calls for. Rolled collar, ribbed cuffs and hem. I bound off the edges with a #9 for extra stretch.

Yarn: Less than 2 skeins of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in color Wild Sage.

Verdict: Speaks for itself, doesn't it? I need to make more of these. Top-down construction lends itself well to stripes, and I have a fair amount of Cotton Fleece to use up. (This would also be fantastic in aran-weight cashmerino.) Only problem is that this size fits him perfectly, so I may have to add a few stitches in the front and back and a few more rows on the sleeves and hem in order to get something that will fit him next month.

Socktober!

2007-10-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Socktober! I hereby resolve to finish at least one of my three pairs of socks-in-progress by the end of the month. In fact, yesterday I picked up the Rock & Weave socks and figured out how to fix them, which merely involves ripping back one finished toe and reknitting both, so I'm hopeful that those will be done soon. Then it's on to the Pink Socks, the first of which is at the heel, and the Grape Koigu Upside-Down Monkey Socks, which are only a few inches long at the moment. (I started them about two weeks before giving birth, so I've been a little too distracted to memorize the pattern.)

Julian's sweater is nearly finished - I just have to weave in the ends and redo the bind-off on the cuffs a little more loosely. I tried it on him this morning and it is Beyond Cute, so there will be photos soon!

Baby knits

2007-09-29T20:51:00.000-06:00

Julian has received some wonderful handmade gifts, and we wanted to show them off!

Gretchen made him an adorable vest, which fits perfectly and arrived just in time for the cooler weather.

Diane made the sweet bunny from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts, which is a big hit now that he's old enough to grab things and chew on them; the bunny's ears are just the right size for his little hands.

And Emily made the Moderne Log Cabin blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting, which keeps him cozy for all his naps at home. Thank you all so much!

Indecision

2007-09-14T14:31:00.001-06:00

No, wait! Retro Prep! Need to go to yarn store and look at pattern... good thing it's almost the weekend.

Ravelry, yum

2007-09-12T15:03:00.000-06:00

I took a little look at Ravelry today (thanks Kate!!!). Best site EVER. I am a big nerd and a website that combines knitting with an outstanding user interface just makes me happy.

I learned a few things:

1. Someone has made an Hourglass out of Duet already, but we must have some very different knitting styles, because she seemed to have no trouble with the gauge. Oh well.

2. I'm not sure I want to make an Hourglass out of this yarn anyway.

3. I really, really need a copy of Rowan Vintage Knits. (And a roomful of Felted Tweed.) Also, Kim Hargreaves is a genius.

4. I have an idea for the Duet! And it is... Shona from A Season's Tale by Rowan. (The original version has stripes and a turtleneck; I'll ditch the stripes, but I may do the turtleneck, we'll see.) Like I said, Kim Hargreaves, genius. Now I'm just torn as to whether it's really silly to start this before I finish Bonny - they're from the same book! Rowan really has my number; I'm a sucker for all those pictures of warm knitwear in the foggy Scottish Highlands.

Next up: finishing J's sweater, and more swatching!

Sleeves

2007-09-11T13:02:00.000-06:00

Yeah, I'm almost done with one sleeve on Bonny and it's pretty clear that the yarn I have will be inadequate. Bah. So the plan is to frog both sleeves and make them 3/4 length instead, which should do the trick, but I need to gather my strength before ripping out all those stitches. For now, I'm making Julian a top-down raglan pullover in green Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and it's a nice, easy, quick knit. After that I may make him a few more hats, as we had a cold snap yesterday and I realized that the hat I made him months ago now fits perfectly, which means it'll be too small in a few weeks. More little cashmerino hats, hooray!

In other news, I just read this review of Veronik Avery's new book, and now I must make this red fair-isle sweater-jacket thing. Love it. I might choose a darker crimson red instead of this more tomato-ish color, but first I have to get the book and find out what the yarn is.

I swatched the Brooks Farm Duet and it is, duh, totally the wrong gauge for the Hourglass sweater. So now I'm in the market for a nice simple classy pullover pattern in a DK kind of gauge. Where oh where is my Ravelry invite so I can go looking for such a thing?

Knitting as fast as I can

2007-09-03T08:51:00.000-06:00

Maybe if I post about my fear of running out of yarn on the Bonny sweater it won't actually come to pass?

I'm at the raglan shaping on the sleeves (knitting both at once) and I have less than 1 skein left. I just ordered the last existing skein of navy blue cashmerino DK in America from Jimmy Beans; of course it won't match the color, because the stuff I have is at least 8 years old, but I'm thinking I can use it for sewing the seams and maybe, maybe I'll have enough of the main color to finish the sleeves and collar. Otherwise I'll have to reknit the back, which has a weird gauge issue where I switched from bamboo needles to Addis, in hopes of getting a few more inches of yarn.

Julian got another awesome knitted gift in the mail the other day from G. and I'll post pictures as soon as I can get him into it!

I'm back!

2007-07-25T12:12:00.000-06:00

So, I haven't been knitting too much lately. Mostly I've been working on the pink sock, which was going along well until I tried it on and realized it was too long, so I had to rip out most of a short-row heel. I just re-started the heel and it's going to be much better this time, I think.

I've also realized that I no longer have to worry so much about not fitting into anything, so I can knit sweaters again! I love sock knitting, but it's all I've done for months, so I'm feeling like sweaters would be a nice change. I'm going to finish the Bonny pullover, I swear. Then I'm going to knit an Hourglass out of the purple Brooks Farm Duet that I bought at Estes last year. And then I'm going to buy myself some Rowan Felted Tweed and knit this stunning cardigan from the upcoming issue of Interweave Knits. It's going to happen, really!

(I'm going back to work next week and I may be taking a class this fall as well. Whether or not I'll have time to knit anything at all is an open question, but we shall see.)

Stylin'!

2007-06-17T20:47:00.000-06:00

Julian is a lucky boy! Check out the awesome ensemble he received from Amy yesterday: an Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surplice Jacket and matching hat! There are also matching socks, but the bind-off is a little tight to get over his feet without extreme fussing, so I'll re-do the edge. The garter stitch makes the hat and jacket fit really well, and the hat is possibly the cutest thing ever. Thank you Amy!!!

The best thing I've ever made

2007-05-13T21:53:00.000-06:00

Julian Alexander
May 7, 2007, 12:40 pm
7 lbs 12 oz, 19 3/4 inches

And here's a picture of him modeling the hat I made him! The hospital hats were all kind of tiny and kept slipping off his big round head, but this one fit just fine. :)

I picked up my knitting today for the first time since last Sunday, when I did a little knitting to distract myself from contractions. My hands have been very literally full for a lot of the past week, and it seems like when I have a few minutes free there's always something more important (like sleep or food). But I've realized that it's good for my sanity to be able to knit a little bit most days, even if it's just three rows of pink sock.

Pink socks, take 2

2007-04-30T13:38:00.000-06:00

(Still pregnant. Counting down: 8 days until due date.)
So the Rock & Weave socks are basically done, except that I'm not sure I'm happy with the toes, so I'll have to rip a few rows back (and un-graft the finished one) and re-do them. However, there is a big problem with doing that right now. I can't reach my feet. Well, I can, kind of, if I sit on the floor, but it's definitely not the optimal conditions for making socks that fit properly. So, I've moved on to the Resurrection of the Pink Socks! I went down a needle size (to #0), cast on many more stitches, and picked a nice stretchy pattern: the simple Garter Stitch Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks. So far they're looking good, I think, and fitting well, and it's a very easy knit, which is just what I need right now.

We have a new neighbor! She's settled in on top of the electrical meter on our back patio and has been sitting there for a few days now. I'm hoping we'll have baby robins eventually.

Flowers!

2007-04-22T13:26:00.000-06:00

I'm still here, baby's still on the inside, and I haven't been doing that much knitting lately. Quite honestly, my arms get tired now that they have to reach all the way around the baby to get to the knitting! I did pick up the felted slipper that had been languishing for, um, a year or so, and it's nearly done (just have to cast off and sew up the sole), and hopefully its twin won't take quite so long to finish. The second Rock & Weave sock is well past the heel and should be done soonish, though I'm thinking maybe it would be smart to have another pair of socks started so that I'll have something easy and brainless to work on when I'm all sleep-deprived!

But since I have no knitting pictures to share, I took garden pictures instead. The crabapple tree in the back yard is blooming. So much pink! There are three lilac bushes in the back yard, and they're almost there... just a few more days of sunshine and they should start opening. I have my pruning shears all ready to cut some and bring them inside.

There are some red tulips and a couple of taller yellow ones, and the grape hyacinths are taking over the lawn, which is fine with me. :) The front yard is sadly lacking in spring bulbs, so I have grand plans involving a huge order from Breck's this fall. (Crocuses, grape hyacinths, and a whole lot of those miniature daffodils.)

I'm not sure what these two trees are, but they're pretty!

Sickness and socks

2007-04-03T14:34:00.000-06:00

The rockin' socks are more than halfway done! Considering that I only started them a couple weeks ago, this is pretty impressive by my usual standards. However, I've had both motivation and opportunity. Last Wednesday I started feeling sick to my stomach. I had tea and toast and stayed home from work, but by 9:30 that night I wasn't keeping anything down, including water, and I was feeling like absolute hell. We called up the hospital and fortunately my wonderful doctor was on call that night, so she told me to come on in and get some IV fluids. When we arrived they set me up in one of the really nice labor & delivery rooms, hooked up my IV, and attached some monitors as a matter of routine. A few minutes later, the nurse looked at the monitor screen and pointed out that I was having contractions every few minutes.

Well, no wonder I felt so terrible. Contractions! At 34 weeks! Not good! We knew that dehydration could cause preterm labor, but I hadn't realized it was already almost happening - I thought it was just more stomach pains. So I stayed in bed with my nice IV and had three liters of fluids, a dose of anti-nausea meds, and a shot of anti-contraction meds. My doctor determined that I wasn't dilated or effaced at all, so I wasn't in labor for real and the baby was probably going to stay put for a while longer (though he is Extremely Active and apparently likes to throw dance parties in there). After four hours in the hospital I was feeling a lot better, and we decided that the contractions had eased up enough that I could go home, but I had to stay in bed all day Thursday and drink more water than I had previously thought possible.

So, I stayed in bed on Thursday, and spent most of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on the couch with my knitting. I'm feeling fine now, or at least as good as I can feel at 35 weeks pregnant, but I'm still taking it easy, working at home, drinking tons of water, and so on. When I started these socks I was struck with the realization that if I wanted to finish them in a timely fashion, I'd better do it before the baby arrived - now I know that could be earlier than expected, but I actually have more time for knitting, so I'm hoping to have a pair of socks soon, and a healthy baby a few weeks later. :)

Yes pictures

2007-03-16T12:10:00.000-06:00

It's a beautiful sunny day and Blogger has recovered, so as promised, pictures! The Shetland Triangle has been added to the project sidebar over on the right (some of those unfinished works are really embarrassing... I should do something about that). The wristwarmers are shown here, slightly overexposed, but I think we can all handle a little overexposure when it's such a nice day. If you look closely, you can see that there are buds on the daffodils!

Project specs:
Materials: Leftover Regia Silk from the socks and blue beads from Beadworks in Harvard Square.
Needles: US #1.5 bamboo double-points
Pattern: re-created from Saartje's picture.
Total time: a few days.
Opinion: They're wonderful. I don't know if it's the silk yarn or that I bought the right size beads, but these were easier to work with than the (fuzzy) alpaca I've used in the past; the beads slid nicely on the yarn and the finished product looks really good and feels great.

Pictures of the socks coming just as soon as I bestir myself to put new batteries in the camera...

No pictures

2007-03-15T11:15:00.000-06:00

I was going to take pictures of my latest projects, the beaded wristwarmers and the Socks that Rock, but it's gray and cloudy, terrible picture weather.

Then I was going to post a slightly older picture of the Shetland Triangle shawl, which I started a couple weeks ago, just to post a picture, but Blogger isn't letting me post pictures right now!

So, um, I'm knitting the Rock & Weave Socks in the displayed color ("Fairgrounds") and loving it so far. (though thanks to Amy, I will be keeping a close eye on the fit as I knit the heel.) The silver wristwarmers with blue beads were a fun and super-fast project and look great, though (as usual) I want to re-do one of the seams. And I promise, there will be pictures once the clouds and the computer stop conspiring against me.

Knitty!

2007-03-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

The new Knitty is up! Quick favorites:

Isabella - so pretty and wearable I might even make it, despite its being knit in 100% cotton on #3 needles.

Queen of Cups and Clessidra - ooo, pretty socks! And Clessidra is even in my new fave sock yarn, Regia Silk.

Congrats to my friends and neighbors, Anne and Tara, on their well-reviewed book and new feature article, respectively! The pictures in Tara's article make me want to hit the Dakota Ridge trail this weekend. (Until I remember that I am huge and can barely walk two blocks without needing to sit down for a while.)

And something I neeeeeed, from the book reviews: Beads Knitting by Kotomi Hayashi. More pictures and details about the book here. I haven't put up a picture yet, but I'm about 70% finished with another pair of beaded wristlets made with the leftover silver sock yarn, and it's reminded me how much I adore beaded knitting, especially in easy little projects. So what if the book is entirely in Japanese? I can learn Japanese, right? And if not I can certainly re-create beading charts from the pictures.

Silver Silk Socks

2007-03-01T13:14:00.000-07:00

Yarn: Regia Silk, color 091. 55% merino, 20% silk, 25% polyamide. One skein per sock with a bit left over.

Pattern: My basic toe-up, short-row heel-and-toe sock pattern with the 8-stitch "Oblique Openwork" pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. I reversed the pattern for the second sock so the two socks would be symmetrical instead of identical, which required a little bit of pattern-tweaking. Knit on a #1 bamboo circular, Magic Loop technique.

Verdict: LOVE the yarn. Of course I don't know how it wears yet, but it feels terrific on my feet, and the polyamide should give it extra durability without detracting from the softness at all. The silk/merino blend is luxuriously soft but it's remarkably inexpensive. I'm definitely going to buy more; it's a great yarn to show off lacy patterned socks. (And it comes in a gorgeous rich burgundy color, too.) This pattern was, shall we say, rather slow to knit. It looks good, but next time I'm doing something with fewer slanting decreases. I think I also made the toes a bit too tapered for my weird squared-off feet, so I'm tweaking my toe-up pattern once more to make the short-row toe a little more blunt. I'm so happy these socks are finally done and I can wear them!

New socks and renewed socks

2007-02-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

I am about to weave in the ends on the Silver Socks! And then I'll have a new sock project...

Many months ago I finished these pink socks. I love the color, I love the yarn, I love everything about them except that they're waaaay too tight across the instep (which is uncomfortable and will make them wear out faster) and I think I want to make them longer. So... they are about to be completely ripped out and re-knit. This time I think I'm going to use the garter rib pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks instead of plain stockinette, because my high arches just need more stretch in a sock pattern, and I've also learned that I should increase by a few stitches when knitting short-row heels. Someday I will have my personalized sock pattern completely refined and perfected, but until then, time to re-knit. I would be more resentful of the process except that the color is so fabulous that I can't wait to have wearable pink socks.

Alpacas, again

2007-02-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again... time for the Alpaca Extravaganza! I drove up to the county fairgrounds in Longmont to check out the scene. As usual, it's not a huge gathering, maybe 20 different stands, but it's always fun to see the cute alpacas and there's some nice roving available. As you can see, I had to buy some. After taking the spinning classes at Shuttles I'm a much more picky shopper; I know that I prefer carded rovings and I like the higher-quality stuff that has all the plant bits and guard hairs picked out. These two are very nice, though, and I'm looking forward to spinning them up.

The caramel (2oz) is from Apple Valley Ranch and the black (4.2oz) is from Three Meadows Ranch. One stand was selling rovings from Alpaca with a Twist, which was really pretty stuff, but I decided to support the locals instead.

In other news, the silver silk socks are past the second heel and into the final stretch... who knows, with enough time on the couch I might even finish them this weekend! I went to the doctor yesterday and everything is fine, though I'm starting to feel large and awkward and uncomfortable. We're getting some things set up in the nursery and I'm thinking seriously about some craft projects, but that'll still depend on my energy, motivation, and mental ability, all of which are in short supply lately. Fortunately, sock knitting doesn't require too much of any of those.

Crafty fun

2007-02-14T13:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! The posts up at Steph and Laurie's blogs may be my favorite V-day readings ever.

I'm still knitting over here; I started the Shetland Triangle shawl in the lovely soft blue yarn, but haven't photographed it yet, and I made a lot of progress on the interminable silver socks at stitch&bitch last night. I also seem to keep getting larger, which means that the baby's arrival date is approaching. I can't say I'm much for baby knitting, somehow; I have too many of my own projects to finish, and I worry about the washability of baby knits. I am, however, thinking about sewing things, especially now that I have my machine set up in my new craft space (which is still messy and un-photographed). The first baby craft was suggested by my friend Chris; I told her about these awesome baby carriers and how I couldn't decide which designer fabric I liked best, and she said, why not make your own? So I'm thinking about that, and maybe I'll get to the fabric store and pick up some batting someday, and then today on Mighty Goods I see a link to these adorable mini poofs. $78 for that? I could totally do that. I might have to buy a LOT of polyfill stuffing, and do some extra reinforcing on the seams, but don't they look fun?

Bloody brilliant

2007-02-05T20:55:00.000-07:00

As I am well-known to be an obsessed fangirl, I am very excited about Alison's new book. My Weasley Sweater plans may have to wait a little while, as I probably shouldn't try to learn intarsia while also taking care of a brand-new infant, but I'm sure there will be other good patterns in there.

Blue

2007-01-30T09:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I came home to find a package from Beth in the mailbox - and it contained yarn! Thank you Beth! It's three skeins of the long-discontinued Rowan DK Soft. Perhaps it's the influence of the similarly blue Shetland Triangle shawl from Wrap Style, or perhaps it's that three 175m skeins of fluffy DK/fingering-weight wool screams "lace shawl" to me, but I'm thinking, yeah, lace shawl. Maybe the Shetland Triangle, maybe the Swallowtail, something along those lines: a smallish lace shawl in gorgeous sky blue to cheer me up on gloomy days like today.

I'm back!

2007-01-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

I finally made it through the stacks of boxes to the camera! First, some pictures only a homeowner could love:

On the left, our shiny new behemoth of a furnace! The house came with the original furnace. From 1961. Needless to say, it was not the most efficient model in the world, and we didn't like the possibility that it could give up the ghost at any time. So we bought a new one and put in a humidifier and central air while we were at it! On the right, the rest of the crawl space, newly sealed against radon. Now that's done, we can actually put stuff in the crawl space! This is great because until now, all of that stuff has been sitting in my future craft room.
It was even more crowded yesterday when you couldn't see the desk from this angle. I'm still waiting for the troop of house-elves to arrive and finish organizing everything for me, especially since I can't really lift anything these days.

And for knitting content... yesterday I went to Shuttles for the first time in ages, and I picked up a nice Lantern Moon basket to keep my living-room knitting in (rather than just leaving it on the coffee table all the time). And while I was there I noticed that they had a copy of Favorite Socks for sale! I hadn't realized it was out yet - Anne told us February - but I suppose it's almost February. It's a great addition to my sock book collection and I'm looking forward to making several of the patterns. I particularly like the ones on the cover.

Coming soon in future posts: pictures of the almost-finished stripey handspun scarf, the almost-finished silver socks, and my ever-increasing midsection! But for now, the house-elves haven't shown up yet, so it's back to unpacking for me.

Travels with Yarn

2007-01-20T18:08:00.000-07:00

Julia just posted a list of Yarn Shops She Has Visited. I know a new meme when I see one, so I feel the need to post my life list as well. I learned to knit in 1995, I think, and we've moved and traveled a lot, so I have a reasonable list, though it could always be longer... So, in rough order from east to west:

Liberty, London, England

Shilasdair, Skye, Scotland

Circles, Jamaica Plain, MA

Woolcott & Co, Cambridge, MA

Spark Crafts, Cambridge, MA

Pins & Needles, Princeton, NJ

Glenmarle Woolworks, Princeton, NJ

The Yarn Barn, Lawrence, KS

Shuttles, Spindles & Skeins, Boulder, CO

Mew Mew's, Louisville, CO

Lamb Shoppe, Denver, CO

A Knitted Peace, Littleton, CO

Showers of Flowers, Lakewood, CO

The Recycled Lamb, Lakewood, CO

String, Highlands Ranch, CO

The Strawberry Tree, Denver, CO

The Shivering Sheep, Denver, CO

Weaving Southwest, Taos, NM

The Yarn Shop, Taos, NM

BB's, Santa Barbara, CA

In Stitches, Santa Barbara, CA

Mabel's Cafe & Knittery, Portland, OR

And festivals:

Maryland Sheep & Wool, Friendship, MD

Estes Park Wool Market, Estes Park, CO

Taos Wool Festival, Taos, NM

Alpaca Extravaganza, Longmont, CO

Enough already

2007-01-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

Sam and Cathi both said it well, and I'm sure you've all seen the news reports. We've had four feet of snow in three weeks, then we had a windstorm which knocked out power for much of last night, and part of the ancient fence at our new house is now lying flat on the ground, and there are mutterings in the forecast about yet more snow - and high temperatures in the teens - this weekend. The city actually ran out of salt/sand mix in the last storm. You know, I used to live in New England. This is a New England winter. I may have only lived here for a year but I know this is not a Colorado winter!

But on the bright side, I have a job that lets me work at home sometimes, which is really great considering that I'm getting increasingly large and clumsy, and falling on the ice (which I did last week) is no fun. Today I finally made it to a doctor's appointment that had been rescheduled three times due to weather, and everything is going well in there. It was, however, rather alarming when they gave us the pre-admission paperwork with the "What to bring to the hospital" list. Gah! I still have four months to worry about that!

Oh, and I've been knitting. Fortunately I was well into the garter-stitch scarf when the lights went out last night, so I could work on that by candlelight. (Knitting gray socks in dim light is not such a good idea.) I'll post a pic when it's farther along, but I'm knitting it lengthwise on a 32" circular, so right now it just has that squished-up look. We're all getting together for stitch&bitch tomorrow night, for the first time in a while (what with the weather and the holidays) and I'm hoping to make lots of progress.

Stay warm, everyone!

I've been tagged!

2007-01-02T23:10:00.000-07:00

Anne tagged me for this New Year's meme, so here goes...

First Things First

What is the first thing you did in the new year? - Finished watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Then I went to bed.

What is the first thing you ate in the new year? - Blueberry muffins (from a mix) that I made in the morning of January 1. They were delicious!

What is the first thing you knit in the new year? - I'm casting on for a new scarf, simple garter stitch knit lengthwise but using stripes of handspun yarn from the dye workshop at the end of the Spinning 1 class.

What is your first ‘blessing’ of the new year? - Can I carry over ones from last year? New house, a baby on the way, and my job is making me happy so far this week. That's pretty good, I think.

What is the first thing you will do to make the world a better place in the new year? - Um... I gave my hairstylist a big tip this evening after she told me about her recent business woes, does that count?

Post the first photo you took in the new year! - I haven't taken any pictures yet! I think the camera may still be hiding in a box somewhere. But I promise to post pictures of the house as soon as it's slightly less of a disaster.

Happy New Year... may your year be filled with peace, prosperity, and compassion.

NJ yarn sale

2007-01-01T10:30:00.000-07:00

A quick PSA for knitters in the New Jersey area: I just got email from Glenmarle Woolworks in Princeton (where we used to live), and apparently they are CLOSING the store and having a HUGE SALE. The store is closing on January 6, 2007: "FINAL SALE going on now, up to 70% off storewide, Sale Hours 10-5 Tuesday through Saturday, Wednesday and Thursday until 7pm." Check it out if you're in the area.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T09:49:00.000-07:00

Happy 2007 to everyone!

I am delighted to report that we are entirely moved in to our new house!!! Yesterday we went over to the old apartment for the last time to clean it and pick up a few things we'd left behind, which, now that I think of it, is a very symbolic thing to do on December 31, not that I saw it that way when I was shoving the vacuum cleaner around. Moving day was last Thursday but we've been busy unpacking and digging out of the snowdrifts for a few days. The house looks fantastic already, even with a lot of boxes still sitting around, and we love it. I tested out the oven for the first time this morning and made blueberry muffins. Yum.

I almost never make New Year's resolutions. I'm more likely to make random resolutions throughout the year as inspiration strikes. That said, I have a few plans for this year:

Unpack.

Have a baby.

Everything else is just extra.

Hope all of you have been enjoying your vacations and have a great year!

More exciting news

2006-12-20T15:16:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned earlier, in passing, that we were house-hunting. Well, we bought a house last week! It's a 1961 tri-level, ~1700 sq.ft., 4br, 2ba, positively a baby compared with Mafia's turn-of-the-century home, but I'm not really in a condition to be ripping out walls. ;) We are, however, repainting the master bedroom, which was a sort of butterscotch orange that clashed with everything we own. Now it has three purple walls and one blue and looks totally awesome. I'll miss my little knitting room, but there's plenty of space for all of my craft stuff, and I have plans to organize it a little better once I can afford some shelving. We're moving in next week!

The other piece of exciting news is that I had a big ultrasound on Monday, and after about half an hour of measuring and poking and prodding, the baby finally uncrossed its legs and... it's a BOY! We're delighted, and he looks to be healthy and doing just fine in there. I have visions of knitting all kinds of cute little Aran sweaters, which will probably never happen, but fortunately L.L. Bean is there to provide adorable intarsia things for me.

And now, a question: if I have been sent home because we're having an enormous blizzard, and because I am "non-essential personnel," should I try to do some work at home, or just give it up and knit all afternoon?

Fascinating

2006-12-14T16:35:00.000-07:00

~~So far it seems like the primary effect of people switching to New Blogger is that I now see Google sidebar ads when I try to read blogs in my Newsgator window.~~ My bad; it's not Blogger's fault, it's Newsgator's. Jerks. I mean, I know it's free, but couldn't they just give me ads on the main page frame instead of in every.single.post?! Bah.

knitty bloggy Boulder babies

2006-12-12T13:08:00.000-07:00

(Apologies to this blog, from whom I stole the title.) Now that we've all gone public, I can mention that I'm not the only one having a kid this spring: Katie and Erica are both expecting as well! We've all experienced the same thing: the first trimester just makes you not want to knit for weeks. Terrible!

We're in good company, though. In addition to, like, the entire craft-blogging community expecting babies, one of my favorite sports stars is also due in June. I suspect she's going to be back in shape a little faster than I am, though.

By way of explanation

2006-12-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Peaches has modeled for this blog before - she's very photogenic. These recent finished projects don't fit her very well. That's fortunate, though, because these are intended for someone else.

Someone small who will be arriving in our household in the vicinity of May 8.

Yes, it's true: I'm pregnant. :-) This is our first child, and we couldn't be more delighted! So far everything seems to be going very well. The first trimester was generally unpleasant in many ways, but I can't complain too much as I know it could have been much worse and I'm feeling fine now. We don't know yet if it's a boy or girl, but we're hoping to find out in a few weeks!

So now you know why my knitting and blogging have dropped off drastically in the past few months... it was hard enough to get to work before noon and stay awake past dinnertime.

Oh, and the knits? The jacket is the Baby Bolero from One Skein, knit in two skeins of Mission Falls Cotton, with a few revisions as suggested by Emily: sleeves were knit by picking up stitches and knitting down to the cuffs, and shoulder seams were done with a three-needle bind-off. The hat is of my own invention with help from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns, in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino. I have more of the Mission Falls left and I think I have to make a matching hat, and I'm sure there will be more little sweaters and blankets in my knitting future!

Ooh! Yay!

2006-12-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

New Knitty!
Let's see, I like Argosy and Tiffany, love Rolling Thunder and Monkey, and am practically ready to cast on for Norberta. Oh, and I do like the binary scarf, but due to massive geekdom would have to write and translate my own message, so it'll have to wait until I think of what I would want it to say.

It's that time of year again

2006-12-07T08:18:00.000-07:00

It's my birthday!

And for those who remember that last year I was prime, now I'm 2⁵.

In other news, yes, I have been knitting lately, quite a bit actually, but it's time for holiday surprise knitting! So pictures will have to wait. I did knit up a tiny baby hat for the Caps to the Capital campaign; most of it was knit at Emily's lovely party on Saturday. I turned the heel on the gray silk sock, but it's been languishing while I knit other things. But I have to finish it (and its mate) soon, because Maggie gave me her copy of Folk Socks! My main problem, other than buying some solid-colored sock yarn, is deciding which socks to make first. Yay!

Saturday sky?

2006-12-02T09:43:00.000-07:00

More like Saturday "more snow?! Are you kidding?" We had about a foot of snow here the other day, which made getting to work rather interesting. Fortunately I didn't have to dig out the car, or drive on the icy streets full of stupid people who can't drive in the snow (STAY HOME, people). Rather, I put on my thermals and 12-year-old hiking boots and the super-mittens and hauled myself to the bus. Which was, of course, late. I hate how the days when you least want to wait for the bus are the days when it's most likely to be 25 minutes late.

Today, hallelujah, it's Saturday, which means:

1. Having time to sit around in the warm house while my hair dries,
2. Spinning more purple stuff to ply with the full bobbin I finished last week,
3. The Handweavers' Guild sale,
4. And a charity-knitting holiday party at Emily's.

It's a good day! Now, to dig the car out...

Breakfast

2006-11-24T10:21:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and is enjoying the long weekend!

Pink

2006-11-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

I have this pink yarn. To be precise, it's 6 skeins of Rio de la Plata worsted from LambShoppe, in the "Pink Carnation" color. I love the color, but I foolishly bought all of the yarn in stock even though it wasn't enough for a sweater. I've been trying off and on for months to figure out how to squeeze a sweater that will fit me out of ~800 yards of yarn. And I think I've hit upon the solution: Give up on the sweater. It's a single-ply yarn, so if I do make a sweater it's going to pill horribly. So why not sidestep the problem and just felt it? I'm thinking, a Sophie bag (lined with some rayon from my sewing stash), a pair of felted mittens, and maybe a set of the felted bowls from One Skein. Of course, this means first I have to swatch and see how well it actually felts, but I have high hopes for some cute pink mittens in my future.

Taos!

2006-11-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

My apologies for the incredible delay of this post. My only excuses are that a) I was out of town for three weeks, and b) as soon as I got back we started looking for a house to buy, which is a new and exciting way to use up every speck of my time and energy. But more on that later - for now, the expedition report!

One sunny Saturday morning, a bunch of Boulder knitters all woke up way too early, loaded up the cars with knitting and snacks, and drove to New Mexico. I rode along with Anne and Kate, and we had a lovely drive, complete with amazing views of the mountains. With a stop at Pizza Hut for lunch, it took us about 6 hours, but finally we arrived at the enormous traffic jam that is downtown Taos. (It might not be that bad when there aren't hundreds of knitters in town, but I doubt it.) We abandoned the car as soon as possible, grabbed our wallets, and hit the wool festival!

I knew it was a small festival, but I hadn't realized quite how small it would be. There were, maybe, 50 vendors? There were raw fleeces, hand-dyed yarns, some expensive weavings, and hand-knit goods. The most exciting, in my opinion, were the Brooks Farm and Skaska stands.
As you can see, I restrained myself to only one fiber purchase: two skeins of Brooks Farm "Harmony" in a gorgeous rich red. I was thinking of making it into the Wool Peddler's Shawl (from Folk Shawls), but now I'm not so sure. I might have just enough for a sweater. We'll see.

After a stop at La Lana Wools, which had some nice stuff but was way overpriced, we went out for terrific Mexican food in honor of Katie's birthday. (Now I want enchiladas for lunch. Drat.) And then we headed back to our suite at the charming Taos Inn for the night.

The next day the weather turned horrible. Anne and I braved the mud at the festival to look for a few last purchases, but then we fled to the indoor shopping options and ended up at Weaving Southwest. I'm not a weaver, but they had some stunning artwork for sale (all too expensive for me, sadly), and lovely yarn, and best of all, tools. I'd been looking for a really nice two-yard niddy-noddy since Estes, and I finally found one. It's alder wood with a smooth oil finish, it's simple but perfect, and I love it.

Then it was time to take off, as I had to be at the Denver airport in time for my flight to California. It turned out to be a good thing that we hit the road early, because all the rain in Taos turned into SNOW once we got up into the mountains! Thanks to Anne and her Subaru, we didn't slide off the road, made it through the weather, stopped for burritos, and still arrived at DIA in plenty of time. In a delightful coincidence I ended up sitting next to an old friend on the flight to SB, and we chatted all the way there, and then after being in snowy mountains all afternoon I was in the warm, sunny, flower-filled coast before bedtime. And that's the whole story!

Red Hat

2006-11-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

Check me out!
Pattern: Tweed Beret from Winter 2006 Interweave Knits, the smaller size.
Yarn: O-Wool, 100% wool, less than one skein.
Time: Three days, a few movies' worth of knitting.
Opinion: I think it's kinda cute. :) It fits well, it keeps my head warm, and it doesn't squish my hair too much. Not bad!

(Sorry about the fuzzy picture - seems like I could either get good focus and bad facial expression, or vice versa. Since this is my blog I get to pick the more flattering picture!)

Back in Boulder

2006-11-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

I'm home again! And it is COLD here in the mountains, let me tell you, or at least it is compared to southern California. I'm afraid my sinuses hate me now. I'm trying to placate them with the humidifier but the sniffles continue.

The good thing about this cold weather is that it makes me want to knit. In fact, it's giving me a severe case of start-itis, and the only things preventing me from having ten new projects on the needles are: 1. my new needles haven't shipped yet, and 2. I can't decide which hat to make. Yes, it's time once more for the annual "I want to knit myself a hat but I can't decide on a pattern" kvetching! I have a skein of red Vermont Organic O-Wool that I'd like to turn into a hat. I went through the archives at Claudia's to find all the advice people gave her last year, but nothing really jumped out at me. I dragged out Vogue Knitting Caps & Hats, both volumes, and I liked the herringbone-stitch cloche, but then I googled it and saw complaints about the fit and the stitch pattern, and I'm not sure this yarn would work anyway. Then the latest issue of Interweave Knits arrived, and now I'm thinking about the beret pattern (as well as several sweaters). Swatching will commence just as soon as I have another mini Snickers bar.

I haven't forgotten about the Taos report, I promise, but I want to wait until I get my loot back from Anne so I can take pictures of my pretty new stuff!

Weather-inappropriate knitting

2006-10-20T14:32:00.000-06:00

I'm still in sunny Southern California, where it is 80 degrees and gorgeous. So, in solidarity with those in Boulder (where it snowed this week) and all of you going to Rhinebeck, I knit two rows of Paloma last night. Two rows. Of the back. I had no idea traveling-stitch cables could be such a pain in the neck. Fortunately, I realized that the real problem is that I'm using blunt-nosed Addi Turbos, which make me swear when I try to do a T2R, and what I really need is more Knitpicks Options. Who, me, rationalize?

I must say, though, the more I work with it, the more I adore the yarn. When I bought this kit (June 2003) I was still a somewhat inexperienced knitter and knew nothing about spinning. It's a lovely soft squishy Shetland/Gotland blend and is knitting up nicely, when I get the stitches to go the right way.

Dude!

2006-10-13T15:31:00.000-06:00

Sorry, again, I'm a total blog-slacker lately, but I just had to post because I'm on vacation. Well, a working vacation. But I'm in southern California. This is the view from the library where I sit every day.

And the burritos are so, so good here.

I'll post a report on Taos soon, though I can't take pics of the loot because I left it all at home. But a good time was had by all. :)

Shawl!

2006-09-28T21:34:00.000-06:00

It's done!!!

It may take a while to get better pictures, but now you can all at least have an idea of what it looks like. :) I should have bought blocking wires - the edge is a bit wiggly. Oh well, it's Shetland, I can re-block it as much as I like and it'll be fine.

The specs:
Pattern: North Sea Shawl from Folk Shawls.
Yarn: Jamiesons Shetland Spindrift in "Twilight." (I think I bought 8 skeins and I have 3 left over - perhaps I miscounted?)
Needles: Knitpicks Options #5 - so useful!

If anyone wants a closer look, I'm planning on wearing it to Taos!

Update: I unpinned it this morning and put it on. I'm in love. I want one in every color. I love my alpaca Flower Basket Shawl too, but it feels very fancy and delicate. This feels like a lightweight sweater that I can just wear around the house every day. Next up, another comfortable wooly shawl, perhaps the Wool Peddler's Shawl from the same book.

Update

2006-09-28T11:13:00.000-06:00

I'm halfway done with grafting the two ends of the North Sea shawl together. It's taking forever! Tonight I'll sit down on the couch with a movie and finish it, and then weave in all the ends - fortunately Shetland wool is nice and sticky so it shouldn't be too hard. And then, blocking!

Shopping!

2006-09-23T10:24:00.000-06:00

Psst!! For anyone who hasn't heard, today is the 14th Birthday Sale at Shuttles! 15% off everything! Get yourself down to Table Mesa and check it out!

Update: I'd been meaning to pick up a copy of One Skein, so I got that, and then how could I resist Bearfoot on sale? This is the "Evergreen" color and it's gorgeous. The blue stuff is "Mohair Kiss Ombre," for another Misty Garden scarf. And they were giving away copies of "My Little Knitting Book," which has a chart for inventorying your needle sizes, and Kitchener stitch instructions, and all sorts of handy reference info! Yay Shuttles. :)

Intrepid knitters!

2006-09-16T16:28:00.000-06:00

Today was the Boulder Knit-Out!

Unfortunately, first it rained, and then the wind picked up to the point where the roving I was spinning actually blew away, so we didn't have a huge spectator turn-out and we had to pack it in much earlier than anticipated. But it was still a good time: I met lots of nice new people, including Michaele and Amanda and several others whose names I don't remember. Fortunately, Jenifer documented the whole event with pictures at her blog. You can see me in one of the pictures spinning on my drop spindle, which I pulled out when my fingers were too cold to knit, and it got the attention of a few local kids who all seemed to be much more intrigued by spinning than knitting. It's a shame about the weather; hopefully it'll be better next year and we can all stay out longer. I was thrilled to win one of the door prizes, and picked out a skein of bright red O-Wool. I'm not sure what it'll become - a hat, perhaps? - but it feels like it'll be very nice to work with. And on the way home, I stopped at the adjoining farmers' market and bought some honeycrisp apples! It must be fall!

Only 8 reps left on the North Sea Shawl and I can't wait to finish it... but for now I'm taking a break and plying some merino. Props to everyone who made it out to knit today and I hope to see you all at future events!

A good day for socks

2006-09-08T18:25:00.000-06:00

My prize yarn arrived today! Ruth also included this cute ceramic jack o'lantern, and some yummy chocolate, which was only saved from immediate consumption by the fact that I just ate two cupcakes at the department picnic. (Oof.) Thank you Ruth! I can't wait to start some Trekking socks. But right now my needles are occupied:

Regia Silk, in the "Oblique Openwork" pattern from "Sensational Knitted Socks," which is knitting up very nicely even if it's hard to photograph. I love all of the patterns in this book because they're so nice and stretchy for socks, and it's easy to plug them into my standard sock pattern.

I'm looking forward to a cool, rainy, autumnal weekend filled with knitting, tea, and watching the U.S. Open finals. Perfect!

I may already be a winner

2006-09-05T12:10:00.000-06:00

... in fact, I am! Thanks to Ruth for awarding me some snazzy bright Trekking! I'm looking forward to turning it into happy bright wool socks for winter. :) The Regia silk socks are well underway, but I haven't taken a picture yet because I am lame. Sorry 'bout that. But right now I am STARVING so I have to run off to lunch!

More than halfway

2006-09-01T19:26:00.000-06:00

I've been working almost exclusively on the North Sea shawl for the last week or two, and look: I've finished the first half and the center panel! The pattern then calls for putting that bit on a holder - hello, fabulous KnitPicks Options needles - and knitting the main pattern all over again from the other end. Then there is a lot of grafting. I'm about nine rows into the other side, so it'll take a while, but I'm hoping to have it done in the not-too-distant future.

I'm afraid I've ripped out the very few rows of the pink-orange-purple StR Jaywalkers and decided to do something different with it, though I'm not sure what yet. Thanks to the cool rainy weather, I was feeling more mellow, and decided to save that yarn for sometime when I need a pick-me-up. Instead, I've switched over to the gray Regia Silk I bought at Mew Mew's a while back. I opened up Sensational Knitted Socks to look at the pattern I want to make ("Oblique Openwork"), and it fell open to her provisional cast-on technique. Which is brilliant! I'd always just made a crochet chain and then picked up from there, but she does this clever thing of crocheting over the needle, and it worked very nicely.

Lately I've been working my way through the Enchanted Forest Chronicles and the Cecelia and Kate series (same page). They're tremendously fun books, if you like books about princesses running away from home and rescuing dragons. :)

I'm feeling much better now

2006-08-27T09:23:00.000-06:00

The student center cafeteria changed its menu, and the burritos are significantly improved. They're not perfect, but they'll do. :)

This past Thursday was our last Spinning 2 class, and the topic was "students' choice". We all wanted to learn about spinning different kinds of fiber. Here we have the result. Left: (top) camel, (L:R) combed natural-colored cotton, hemp, and combed tussah silk top. Right: (bottom to top) bombyx silk cap, camel, tussah, cotton, and hemp.

My favorites were the tussah and camel; they were the softest by far, and also the easiest to spin... though as Maggie said, the camel might not have seemed so easy if we hadn't just been spinning cotton. (Cotton is impossible.) It was a great learning experience and I definitely want to buy more silk to spin.

I've been working away on the North Sea shawl and am halfway done with the center panel! I'll try to post a new picture soon. The KnitPicks Options needles are still fantastic and the stitches are flying along.

A rant

2006-08-23T12:46:00.000-06:00

(This has nothing to do with knitting. I just need to get it off my chest.)

WHY ARE THERE NO DECENT BURRITOS IN THIS TOWN????!!!!!

I just had one for lunch and it had CHICKPEAS but NO CHEESE. That is SICK AND WRONG. And it was way too expensive, and had entire chili peppers inside it, so now my head is on fire. At least three of the other places I've tried would have been decent if it weren't for the revolting "cilantro-lime rice." What's wrong with plain old red rice? Everyone knows cilantro is gross and should be optional if it's served at all. Along the same lines, sometimes people just want tomatoes. Not pico de gallo. Especially when the pico is full of giant cilantro leaves and raw onions. So why not have tomatoes in the veggie burritos? Oh, and WTF is up with all the places around here that offer to "smother" your burrito in vile green chile? If I wanted something smothered I'd order the enchiladas. Sometimes I really miss California.

P.S.: The perfect veggie burrito is: warm flour tortillas, filled with pinto beans, red rice, grated cheese, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, and guacamole. That is all.

A good cause

2006-08-20T22:05:00.000-06:00

My cousin is participating in a fundraiser for the Cascade AIDS Project, to benefit HIV prevention education, advocacy and support services for people living with HIV or AIDS in Oregon and Southwest Washington. She has a very modest fundraising goal and it would be lovely to surpass her expectations. If you'd like to help out, click on over.

Pink socks!

2006-08-20T19:02:00.000-06:00

Yarn: Regia 4-fädig Color, #5440, 75/25 wool/polyamide.
Pattern: toe-up, short-row heel and toe, garter-stitch cuff.
Verdict: Love the color but they're a bit tight around the ankle, right at the top of my foot. I've washed them and am waiting to see if they stretch a little; otherwise I'll have to rip back to the heel and do some increases. That might have to wait a little while, though; once I've finished a project it's sort of painful to immediately rip it back and fix it, and besides, my favorite sock-knitting needles are otherwise occupied with the Jaywalkers. The toe is very comfy, though, and they feel like they'll wear well.

ROCK!

2006-08-17T08:30:00.000-06:00

Amy rocks my socks!!!

Her husband was passing through our town on a road trip, and dropped off this gift. It's Socks That Rock in the "Fairgrounds" colorway. Thank you Amy! In a display of sock serendipity, I finished the Pink Socks last night during Project Runway, and started weaving in the ends on the bus this morning, so I'm ready for a new pair! And thanks to Cara, who has singlehandedly perpetuated this meme across the internet, I feel positively obliged to make - what else? - Jaywalkers.

The only problem with all of these pink socks is that they clash with my new shoes. Er, did I say that? Oops. My credit card slipped and fell on the internet. Fortunately I also have no shortage of black shoes, which will work nicely with pink and orange.

Don't pet the prairie dogs

2006-08-13T22:52:00.000-06:00

Seen in my neighborhood:

FO: Handspun wristwarmers!

2006-08-12T14:05:00.000-06:00

I get cold easily. Last week in spinning class, I forgot to bring a long-sleeved shirt, and after three hours of spinning in an air-conditioned room, my wrists were cold and stiff. So I came home and turned the pink-green merino into the wristwarmers from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I shortened the pattern slightly, I think, but it was an excellent use of 62 yards of yarn. They're warm and cozy, but leave my fingers free for spinning or knitting (or typing). The pattern was a piece of cake, though the thumb opening in the pattern seemed very small so I knit an extra repeat before rejoining. This is my first-ever knitted object made with my own handspun yarn! What will I do next with this awesome new power?

Keep looking up!

2006-08-12T09:32:00.000-06:00

In keeping with the title of the blog, I'd like to remind everyone that tonight is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower! If you can, go outside for a while and look out for meteors. If you can't make it tonight, there will probably still be some tomorrow night. Have fun!

New yarn

2006-08-10T23:33:00.000-06:00

Kate has new yarn up at her store - check it out!

I have a small FO to post about but no pictures yet, so it'll have to wait. Our second spinning class was tonight; we learned about gear ratios and long-draw and double drafting, which is tricky but interesting. And we got lots of homework so I'll be busy with spinning this weekend.

On a random note, thanks to Emily, I am seriously coveting these shoes, just because they looked so good with her Hedera socks at S&B last night. I only have two other pairs of Danskos; it's not quite a full-on collection yet, right?...

Spinning Two!

2006-08-04T13:30:00.000-06:00

Thursday night was my first Spinning II class. And it was great! I haven't been spinning as much lately because of travel, and trying to finish knitting projects, and so on, but now I feel very re-energized and am looking forward to lots of spinning and knitting over the weekend. Some things I learned:

Finer yarn: more twist, less tension in the brake band. Thicker yarn: less twist, more tension.

Dust your wheel every once in a while. It's probably not as vital as it is for my sewing machine, but it helps.

Wool combs are very pointy and scary-looking, but I vastly prefer them to hand-carding.

If you want a thicker yarn, only draft short lengths at a time. (This falls into the category of "ohhh, duh, that makes sense!")

Scotch tensioning is less efficient but more versatile than double-drive.

Instead of stopping frequently to test your singles for wraps-per-inch, just measure it once, take a sample of the measured stuff, and wrap it around a piece of cardstock. Keep that nearby while spinning and you can compare your singles to it every so often, instead of having to stop and re-measure, and you can write notes on the card and use it as a reference later. (This greatly appeals to my organizational impulses.)

There was more, but most of it was very hands-on learning and doesn't translate so well to blog-text. (How to properly tie a leader onto a bobbin, how to comb fleece, etc.) Our homework involves spinning 3 sizes of singles, and I'm a little concerned about my ability to spin <10 wpi singles. I mean, that's HUGE. This may take me a while.

The doctor is IN

2006-08-02T22:23:00.000-06:00

Tonight I didn't go to knitting; I worked late, came home and did laundry. But I had some tricky knitting to do. As I said, the North Sea shawl is much longer... but there was a hole in it. A big, ugly, unintentional dropped stitch kind of hole. About 60 rows back. The bamboo DPN is at the exact location. Obviously there was no way I was going to frog that much of the shawl, so I took heart from Steph's post, took a deep breath, and laddered it down.

This is what it looked like when I started back up the ladder. There were a few problems at the beginning and I had to stop and have an Oreo or three. I used #1 DPNs for the repairs; for simple jobs, a crochet hook works better, but this required a lot of fussing and the DPNs were perfect. Have I mentioned that Shetland wool is a colossal pain to rip back?

Finally, after a couple hours of working on it, swearing, ripping it back again, and having another cookie, I fixed the first few stitches and after that it was smooth sailing. As you can see, I moved it to my desk, which has better light, and put it on top of a white notepad so I could see the stitches better. This helped a lot. There was a tiny bit of fudging the first row or two, but now it's done and it passes the test: I can't remember where the hole was and I can't find it. Hooray! I'm almost halfway through the pattern... let's hope there are no more crises. I'm trying hard not to think about the 96 stitches' worth of grafting that's waiting at the end.

Home again

2006-08-01T10:04:00.000-06:00

I've been vacationing since last Tuesday afternoon and, after putting several hundred miles on the car and having lots of adventures, I'm back online! Of course, I haven't uploaded any pictures yet, and I have to do some actual work, and there's knitting guild tonight and SnB tomorrow and Spinning 2 on Thursday, and we won't even mention the laundry, so it may be a little while before I post the details. But I'm home. And the North Sea shawl is twice as long as it was when I left. :)

Monday is Snack Day

2006-07-24T18:05:00.000-06:00

Everyone seems to be blogging about food today, and I'm no exception. I made chocolate-chip banana muffins yesterday, and felt that I should share the chocolate goodness with all the other bloggers out there. So, without further ado,

Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 squishy mashed bananas
2 eggs
1/3 c milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 c flour
About half an 8-oz bag of chocolate chips

You know what to do. Mix it all up in the order given, spoon into a muffin tin (a measuring cup works well for this), and bake at 350 F for about 20-30 minutes. (For my fellow Coloradans who live above 5000', I set the oven to 345 and baked for 25 minutes.) Makes about 24 muffins. This time I happened to have mini chocolate chips on hand, and they distributed nicely throughout the muffins, but regular chips will work just as well. The best thing about these muffins is that they allow you to have chocolate for breakfast and pretend that it has nutritional value. In the words of the Doctor, "I like bananas. Bananas are good."

¡Cuidado, las llamas!

2006-07-22T14:10:00.000-06:00

(it's a beautiful sunny Saturday - perfect for taking pictures!) The latest handspun from my newly-fixed wheel:

Left: 2 oz. of local llama (Kelly from Livermore, CO). Some of it was dyed green, and a hint of sparkly synthetic was combed in. This wasn't de-haired so it's a bit rough in places, but the downy fiber is amazingly soft and smooth. It's a nice rustic yarn. The fiber was a little slippery to spin because of the lack of crimp in the fiber, unlike wool.

Right: 1.2 oz of silk hankies, hand-dyed by Stefania. The silk hankies are a pain to work with in some ways; they don't draft very evenly, you have to be quite forceful when pre-drafting, and silk fiber catches on everything and floats through the air. Once it's pre-drafted, though, it spins quickly, the joins are very easy, and the end result is soft, smooth, lofty, and generally divine. And this color makes me swoon!

Ooo, shiny

2006-07-20T21:18:00.000-06:00

My new KnitPicks needles have arrived! I ordered one set of #5 Options needle tips and a pair of 24" cables. As I mentioned before, I'd been having a hard time with the North Sea shawl; it's a lace pattern, so I need pointy needles, but unlike a lot of lace patterns, the yarn is a stiff, sticky Shetland wool. (No slippery Kidsilk Haze here!) The verdict: they're AWESOME. The tips are exactly sharp enough, without being excessively dangerous. The plating is nice and smooth for fast knitting. The join is smooth and feels sturdy. I've never used interchangeable needles before, so I also appreciate that once I finish the first half of the shawl I'll be able to just put end-caps on the cable and use it as a stitch holder while I knit the other half. I didn't need to use the tightening key on the joins, but I can see how it would be handy if you can't get a grip on the needle. I'm not rushing out to buy a full set quite yet (okay, mostly because I've been in a frugal mood lately), but I'm sure I'll accumulate more pairs as I find other projects that require them.

Meanwhile, I'm getting plenty of use out of the #1 bamboo needles... I finished the first pink sock! That's less than two weeks toe-to-cuff. Of course it helps that it's plain stockinette stitch with a garter-stitch cuff, and it would have been done last night if I hadn't had to contemplate how I wanted to do the cuff. But now it's done, except for weaving in the ends, and I can start the second sock. Which I had better do soon or else my attention will be taken up by the newly-back-in-favor North Sea shawl and the shiny new needles.

I would be taking pictures of all this wooly goodness, but it's been dark and rainy by the time I get home every single evening this week, so there's no good light for photos. Don't blame me, blame the Rain Gods.

Hot

2006-07-17T12:05:00.000-06:00

It's been warm here lately. Of course, this meant that yesterday I foolishly hopped on my bike and rode 9 miles along the creek path. I didn't collapse from heat exhaustion, I didn't wipe out (though I did nearly get taken down by a dude taking a curve way too fast on his racing bike), and I saw: two red-winged blackbirds, a goldfinch, several ducks and geese, a tiger swallowtail, a bunny, about fifty prairie dogs, and a couple taking wedding pictures by the creek. (Awwww.)

After all that work, though, I spent the afternoon passed out on the couch, so I'm afraid there are no new knitting/spinning pictures to post. The first pink sock is ready for a heel, and the red silk and gray-green llama are all spun and waiting for their photo-op. Today, perhaps, if the light is still good when I get home from work.

I'd like to thank the Academy

2006-07-13T08:52:00.000-06:00

I've been nominated as a finalist in the Amazing Lace poetry contest!

Yet more socks

2006-07-12T13:28:00.000-06:00

Finished: Pastel ankle socks. Yarn: Koigu PPPM, color 100L. Pattern by Alison, except that I knit it toe-up. Two socks at once from the same ball of yarn was a big pain, so I ended up knitting each separately until I'd finished the heel, and then I knit the cuffs at the same time (on one long circular needle). This is one skein of KPPPM, plus a bit of reinforcing thread, knit on #1 needles. They're cute and comfy, but I'm looking forward to the yarn softening up a bit.

Started: Howlingly loud red/pink Regia socks. Toe-up, short-row heel/toe, plain stockinette, maybe a picot edge if I'm feeling adventurous.

Back-ordered: The KnitPicks Options needles. I'll post my opinion on the #5s as soon as they arrive.

Fixed: Wheel. I took it in to Maggie, she couldn't figure out what to do with it, so she called Gord Lendrum himself and he suggested tying a piece of string around the rod where the footman attaches to the wheel, to cushion it and tighten the joint a little. Fortunately, I have a few pieces of string here and there... the extra Rowan Handknit DK Cotton that I have left over from my first ChicKami worked perfectly and my wheel is smooth and quiet once more. To celebrate, I spun and plied the rest of the red silk hankies from Stefania. It's drying now but I'll take a picture soon - it's wonderful yarn.

Oops

2006-07-10T00:00:00.000-06:00

A whole week has gone by and I have completely failed to post. Bad blogger!

I have: not worked on my lace project at all; picked up the sleeves for the Bonny sweater again; and nearly finished the pastel ankle socks. In fact, I would have finished them, except I foolishly cast off on a #3 needle. Bad move. They barely fit over my arch, much less my heel, so I'm tinking the cast-off edge and doing it over on a #6.

I would post a picture of my new toy (mine is red, and even cooler than that picture) but wouldn't you know it, I picked it up Friday after work and of course the entire weekend has been gray and soggy. Given that this Does Not Happen in Colorado, I fear that the weather gods have it in for me. Oh well, I got a lot of sock-knitting and sports-watching done. And miraculously, the poppy and nasturtium seeds that I tossed in the yard after I'd been weeding a month ago have sprouted! Since my other nasturtiums were destroyed by the hailstorm, this is especially exciting.

That's all the news here, and since my computer is behaving badly after I made it do some very memory-intensive things this morning (just tracking the path of Saturn and its moons, that's all) I think it's time to log out and reboot. More sock pictures coming soon!

Socks!

2006-07-02T13:34:00.000-06:00

Yarn: Handpainted sock yarn from Kate at Zeitgeist Yarns

Pattern: Embossed Leaves Socks from Interweave Knits, Winter 2005

Modifications: Knit on US#1 bamboo DP needles. Added 4 stitches to compensate, so the purled sections are larger. Worked heel flap in slipstitch pattern rather than plain stockinette. Only worked 2 repeats before starting the heel, to make the leg shorter, and worked fewer repeats on the foot as well.

Thoughts: Kate makes gorgeous yarn. :) I almost wish I'd picked a simpler pattern so the colors would stand out more. As for the pattern, I may be the only knitter on the internets who doesn't like the star toe. Yes, it saves you a lot of grafting, but with this version of the star, you have this big ridge of purl stitches right under your toes! I think I'll be sticking with short-row toe-up socks from now on.

Progress report

2006-07-02T13:29:00.000-06:00

The Amazing Lace project is coming along... very, very slowly. Due to some stupid mistakes, this is the third attempt, but I think I finally have the hang of it and it looks just like the picture. That's 1.5 repeats of the pattern; I have to do 18.5 more repeats, then kitchener the ends together so it's a ring, and pick up about 300 stitches along the edge. This may take a while.

Much simpler are my Koigu socks. Toe-up, short-row toe with pink reinforcing thread, stockinette on the top of the foot and reverse st. on the sole, for a nice smooth feel underfoot. Yes, I have sensitive feet, but I also really like the way this is turning out. I was knitting 2 socks at once but it was starting to annoy me, so I'm just doing one at a time now, at least until I get to the cuffs. Next up: short-row heel.

Pins and needles

2006-06-29T12:11:00.000-06:00

I'm on the Knitter's Review email list, so I read the review of the new KnitPicks needles this morning... and I think I'll be ordering some this evening. The North Sea Shawl has been languishing for a while, and while it's partially due to other-project-itis, it's largely because I'm frustrated with the needle options. I started with Addis, but the tips are too blunt for all the k2ts and such, and then I tried bamboo and plastic-coated greys, but they were too sticky for the rough Jamiesons wool that I'm using. So, a very pointy nickel-coated needle sounds like exactly what I need.

I'm hoping to take some project pictures after work today, since it's been far too long since I updated the sidebar... there's definitely progress to report!

In spinning news, I've been spinning the silk and it's wonderful, but my lovely wheel has to go to the shop this weekend. The point at which the footman attaches to the wheel is a little loose, so the footman slides back and forth on that hinge and clacks against the wheel with each turn. I really hope it's an easy repair - has anyone else had this happen?

The epic mode

2006-06-26T19:41:00.000-06:00

Did someone say classical dactylic hexameter?

Browsing through
Wrap Style, I
spied a lace
poncho, and
instantly
loved it:

"I'll knit a
lace shawl to
wrap me in
kid mohair
blended with
silk thread,

Azure as
Aegean
waters on
quiet shores,
lighter than
fair winds."

Brilliant, or
simply a
grand sort of
obsessive
showing-off?
We'll see:

Alpine lace,
picot edge,
yarn over,
k2t,
Throw me a
lifeline!

Then, on an
aeroplane
far above
Wyoming
Knitting while
sleepy:

I fear I've
lost a stitch.
Where? I have
no idea.
Beware the
frog pond!

Last night I
sat down and
gritted my
teeth, and I
ripped out the
whole thing.

Start afresh,
knitting with
books-on-tape
(Narnia!)
First repeat
Finished.

Nineteen more
pattern reps,
then pick up
two hundred
stitches and
knit up.

Epic! I
know this now.
Challenge me
with your lace -
Triumph will
be mine!

Who needs a
golden fleece?
I'm not an
Argonaut
Simply a
Knitter.

For more on this classic form, see this page.

Yet more spinning

2006-06-25T09:07:00.000-06:00

As you can see, I've been spending a lot of time with the new wheel, and testing out the new fibers. Here you can see the alpaca and the silk. I've been following the silk-spinning instructions at Knittyspin and they're very helpful. After spinning merino, the length of silk fibers is a new and different experience... not to mention the way the pre-drafted fiber floats through the air and snags on anything in its path. I love the color, though, and the speed with which pre-drafted fiber flies onto the bobbin. I'm spinning it a bit thicker than usual so the smooth hand and reflective quality of the silk are very noticeable. The Knitty article also pointed me to Crown Mountain Farms, and I could stare at that color page all day.

Before I did all that, though, I needed to return the half-full bobbins that belonged to the borrowed wheel, so I finished spinning and plying 2 oz. of the purple merino/tussah, which turned into nearly 200 yards of mostly-fingering-weight yarn! (I think I need to buy a wpi gauge.) I have another 6 oz. of it waiting to be spun, and the store is ordering more and will hold it for me when it arrives, so I should eventually have enough for the shawl. I'm not sure if I mentioned that I ordered the pattern, and while I was at it I ordered this one too. Whether I'll be ambitious enough to spin the yarn for the Faroese shawl remains to be seen.

And because I don't have enough projects, I picked up a copy of Last Minute Knitted Gifts, so I can make myself an Hourglass Sweater. First, though, I have to finish the blue socks. Which are, once again, on the third iteration of the star toe. These socks have been a learning experience, and the lesson is to go back to knitting toe-up socks.

(By the way, we had some truly remarkable weather here yesterday - check out Anne's pictures!)

Wool Market, Part II

2006-06-19T19:08:00.000-06:00

Now, I know it's the Estes Park Wool Market. But there are so many wonderful things that are not exactly wool! For example,

caramel alpaca from Paradise Valley Alpacas, 4.5 oz;

white llama from Red Barn Fiber Processing, 3 oz;

a llama cookie cutter;

burgundy silk hankies (ironwood/cochineal, 1.2 oz) and a spinning wheel basket from Stefania;

and finally, I did eventually buy some wool: three huge skeins of purple-blue Brooks Farm Duet, 50/50 wool/mohair. (If you look at the picture in their webpage banner, I think it's the one on the left edge; my photos aren't coming out well.) It is absolutely divine and I'm thinking of using it for the Hourglass Sweater (from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts) - a very simple pattern to show off the color variations and shine of the yarn.

I probably could have bought more, but I definitely have a decent stash of spinning fiber built up, and I want to start working my way through it. The only things that I'd considered buying but didn't were: a new niddy-noddy, I loved the birdseye maple ones that Stefania had but they were more than I wanted to spend; and sock yarn, which I completely failed to see except at the Shuttles booth, and I can get that any time. I don't know if I missed it because I'm so spinning-obsessed, or if it really wasn't there. Oh well, I know that Sue at Mew Mew's just ordered some new Trekking... and as for the niddy and more fiber, I'll have to wait for Taos.

I was sorry to miss the blogger meet-up, but I'm looking forward to reading about everyone's adventures, and I'm planning to be at Estes every year for the foreseeable future, so I'll see you all next year!

Wool Market, Part I

2006-06-19T10:57:00.000-06:00

On Saturday morning, my mother and mother-in-law and I all piled into the car and drove to Estes Park, home of Rocky Mountain National Park, the hotel that inspired The Shining, a lot of beautiful scenery... oh, and the Estes Park Wool Market.

It's only about an hour's drive, and the drive is full of lovely mountain scenery. And there's even shopping along the way! Yes, we had to stop and pick up a little something for all the mountain men in our lives. We arrived around noon and stopped for fairly decent burritos at Cisco's (in Stanley Village) to fortify us for the afternoon, and then we made our way to the fairgrounds...

We met many friendly sheep, llamas, alpacas, goats, and bunnies. There was an entire barn full of llamas, and separate tents for the sheep, goats, and alpacas. I think the llamas take advantage of their height to look snooty, and they do it very well so that they're just charming.

This Jacob sheep had the most impressive set of horns I've ever seen. And that fleece! So thick and fluffy!

The alpaca tent was a dangerous place to be: it was full of adorable doe-eyed alpacas, and there was plenty of fiber for sale. Raw fiber, prepared roving, yarn, all in a range of natural colors. Needless to say, I succumbed... more on that later. I had no idea when I moved here that one advantage of living in the mountain West is the large number of alpaca/llama breeders in the area.

Now, my parents have been raising goats for my entire life, and I grew up bottle-feeding the kids, so I know from cute goats. These were fine specimens. The fiber goats are mostly much smaller than the dairy varieties, and look at that curly coat! They were also, as my mother commented, MUCH quieter than the sheep; the sheep tent was deafening with all the BAAing. I suspect it's because goats are smarter than sheep (most things are smarter than sheep) and aren't constantly being surprised and alarmed by their environment.

Since this post is already long and photo-heavy, I'll post the shopping report separately. (Also, I still have to take the pictures.)

Belated blogging

2006-06-18T00:19:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the terrible tardiness in posting lately... my excuse is that Monday I was still exhausted and recovering from the trip (and a cold), Tuesday I picked up my wheel, Wednesday was Kate's going-away party, and Thursday was spent in cleaning the house before our mothers arrived on Friday. And of course we all know where the entire fiber-arts population of the western U.S. was today.

But before I get into all the fabulous purchases, I should catch up (and besides, I haven't taken pictures yet). I had a wonderful time at Reunion. Friday my plane was delayed (bad weather in Boston, what a shock) and so Chris picked me up and we had dinner at IHOP. Mmm, hash browns. I stayed on campus, and our class's dorm was the same one I lived in senior year, which was simultaneously lots of fun and kind of weird. Saturday was wet and gray and squishy, but the campus is beautiful in any weather, as you can see in this view from the beautiful new student center. The student center is, of course, home to the bookstore, where I bought way too many things that say "Wellesley College" on them and I still think I could have bought more.

On Saturday afternoon, soggy with rain and nostalgia, Chris and I left campus and drove over to Beth's house, where we chatted and knit and, of course, played with the Lendrum! Things seemed to be going more smoothly by the time we headed back to campus for our lobster dinner. (Yes, lobster. And mussels and chowder.)

Sunday turned out to be a lovely sunny day, perfect for the alumnae parade, which is the best part of reunion. It's hard to explain to anyone who didn't go to a women's college, but there's something really moving about seeing the class of 1936 in attendance, having a wonderful time and devoted to the college, and knowing that we're all part of the same community of brilliant women. It was wonderful.

After the parade we went to meet Beth again; we had lunch at the new incarnation of Pho Pasteur (I have a serious addiction to fresh spring rolls) and then we went on our yarn crawl. As you can see, we went to Woolcott, of course; the odd thing is that I didn't seem to buy any yarn. I bought some needles, Crystal Palace #1 bamboo circulars, which I'm sorry to report are utterly worthless and have a terrible, un-usable join. Hmph. Beth picked up some good yarn, though, and then we wandered over to Beadworks to satisfy Chris's craft-shopping needs. I bought some blue and purple beads for more beaded wristwarmers, which you can expect to see as soon as the weather cools off again. We hit up two more yarn stores, Spark Craft in Davis Square, which had a few nice yarns (Malabrigo) and lots of other craft supplies, and Circles in JP (see photo), which was really great and full of excellent rare yarns. I also failed to buy yarn at either of these, but it wasn't my fault; I almost bought some gorgeous dark-red Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool at Circles but she only had 2 skeins, which is not enough for a cardigan. I'll just have to order it later. It really was the best red yarn I've ever seen.

I had a turbulent but uneventful flight back to Colorado on Sunday night, and have plenty more to report, but this is getting long and it's past my bedtime. Stay tuned for much more spinning, the Estes report, progress on the blue sock, and lack of progress on my lace project!

O Canada

2006-06-14T08:55:00.000-06:00

Squee!

2006-06-12T23:46:00.000-06:00

I'm back from Reunion, which was wonderful, and I'm still working on the big post with pictures and stuff, but for now I just have to say: my spinning wheel is here! I got a message from Maggie at Shuttles and I'm going to pick it up tomorrow. I can't wait!

Travels

2006-06-08T18:19:00.000-06:00

It's been quiet here lately. O. returned from a week-long business trip on Sunday, and it's good to have him back. Now I'm off to my college reunion tomorrow; unfortunately it's supposed to be rainy, but I'm looking forward to seeing the campus, and going yarn-shopping with Beth.

I finished spinning and plying most of the dyed blue fleece from the last spinning class! It turned out amazingly well, I think, especially since I spun it just from the teased locks, without the benefit of any sort of carding or combing. I used it as an exercise in trying to spin a thicker yarn, since I have a habit of spinning thinner and thinner singles. The lack of carding meant that the colors held together, so there are bits of lavender, navy, bright blue, and dark blue all blended together. I love it. There's only about 85 yards, so I'm not sure what it will be - maybe a small scarf in a large gauge.

I'm working on the second sock, and have started spinning a second bobbin of the purple merino-silk. Unfortunately I have to return the wheel to the store next week, and mine hasn't arrived yet. Boo.

Some of my plantlets are flourishing: that's thyme, basil, parsley, some lettuce seeds I threw in just for filler, and most excitingly, three nasturtiums that sprouted from seed and are growing at about half an inch per day, as far as I can tell.

I probably won't have much time for blogging this weekend, but I'll be busy taking pictures, seeing old friends, shopping, and of course knitting - watch for updates next week!

New yarn store!

2006-06-03T15:34:00.000-06:00

There's a new yarn store in the neighborhood! It opened on Thursday, so of course I had to drive down to Louisville at the first opportunity to check it out. It's called Mew Mew's Yarn Shop... no prizes for guessing who it's named after. The owner, Sue, is a longtime knitter and yarn-store employee, striking out on her own, and she's done a nice job so far.

You can see a list of their stock on the website, but I took some pictures and notes as well. Seen here: lots of Misti Alpaca (bulky, worsted, and lace, be still my heart), and Crystal Palace Kid Mohair. Below that, the SOCK YARN. Now, I love Shuttles, but I'm sorry, they don't carry the best sock yarn. Now we have a new source for Trekking (yes!), Regia (many varieties), Wildfoote, and that Austermann stuff with aloe. She doesn't have the really great Trekking colors yet, but I suggested that maybe she should order some because everyone loves it. And yet more stuff that Shuttles doesn't carry: Rowan. Rowan tweed, to be precise, and there's also some Wool Cotton over in the corner. And on the bottom shelf, that's Regia Nation! I was sorely tempted to make some French or Italian socks, but I restrained myself. Well, sort of.

A few things did have to come home with me: Gray Regia Silk, which I've been wanting to try; it feels fantastic and is going to make some beautiful lacy patterned socks, and Regia #5440. Isn't it fabulous? I found this picture showing how it knits up and I can't wait to start working on it. But I am virtuous and will knit the other blue sock first!

In summary: nice little store, carries stuff we can't get elsewhere, friendly owner, friendly cat who likes attention, and best of all, it's open on Sunday afternoons. Hooray!

Accomplished

2006-06-03T11:07:00.000-06:00

First, an announcement: CONGRATULATIONS to Erica, who is getting married today!

And now, we have: one sock, finished!

Yes, it's rather different from the pattern: 12 rounds of ribbing instead of 18, four extra purl stitches to make up for knitting it all on #1s rather than 2s (except for the cuff), one fewer pattern repeat in the leg, one-half fewer repeats in the foot, and a slip-stitch heel. Whew. But now the ends are all woven in and it fits nicely, so I can cast on for the second just as soon as I go buy more reinforcing thread. (I suppose I should change out of my pajamas first.)

Vexed

2006-06-01T23:20:00.000-06:00

I knit an entire star toe, very nice, and just before I cut the yarn I tried it on just in case... and it was too short. So I ripped it back and am adding five rows of plain stockinette before I start the toe. Tomorrow, perhaps, it will be finished, and meanwhile I have the Misses Bennet to entertain me.

Sock pic

2006-05-30T19:20:00.000-06:00