Sleeves

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?

Startitis

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.

I'm back!

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.)

Knitting as fast as I can

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!

Ravelry, yum

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!

Oops

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!

Proof

Beth asked for photographic evidence of the status of the Bonny sweater, and it's Saturday, and I woke up too early, so I have time and sunlight in which to take pictures. So here it is: a front, a back, and two sleeve cuffs. There's a little bit of weird rippling there on the back where I changed needles (bamboo to Turbos) and my gauge changed slightly, but I'm really hoping that'll go away with blocking.

I spent about an hour weeding the front yard yesterday and oh man, my legs are sore today. But I think I made a dent in the weed population, and am having visions of covering the rock wall with nasturtiums. I actually had a dream that I woke up and someone had mowed the lawn for us. Now there's a hard one to interpret.

It's going to be a good weekend: yarn-swap party today, hiking tomorrow, and gardening, knitting, and spinning to fill in all the extra time. Hope everyone else is having a good weekend too!

p.s. to QuantumTea: the wheel in the previous pic is the Lendrum double-treadle.

Updates

First of all, go wish Beth a happy birthday! We've been friends for 12 years now (omg, how is that possible? we're not that old) and she was partially responsible for teaching me to knit, so I owe her a lot. :)

In spinning news, we have this: 62 yards (2 oz.) of fluffy worsted-spun pink-green merino! It's so delightfully squishy. I'm not sure what to make with it; maybe a pair of fingerless gloves, or I could buy more and make a scarf. I also started spinning the purple merino-silk I bought Sunday and I think it's exactly what I wanted for a DFS. I spun up some of the dyed blue fluff, but it's tricky; I didn't wash it very much for fear of felting it, so there's still some lanolin and dye in there, making it sticky. Spinning teased fluff is a bit of a challenge but maybe I'll try to do more tonight. The color does look really, really good.

In knitting news, I've finished the back and front of the Bonny sweater, and cast on for the sleeves last night! I'm knitting them both at the same time, which is my new favorite technique for things that are supposed to be the same length. I tried to take a picture of the rest of it but it didn't turn out very well, and it's not that exciting yet anyway, just a lot of navy blue stockinette stitch. While I was procrastinating the sleeve cast-on (not something I wanted to do on the bus), I worked on the pastel socks a little, but it's slow going. Thank goodness I have small feet.

Lots of good stuff

Here it is: yarn, spun by me! The white is all Corriedale-cross fleece (except for that stripe of blue merino, an experiment), and the green is the Ashland Bay merino-silk I blogged about before; so it's now a two-ply yarn from both wheel- and spindle-spun singles. It's gorgeous and soft and subtly colored. I'm having ambitious thoughts about spinning a whole lot of merino-silk, possibly in this color but maybe in something different, and turning it into the Diamond Fantasy Shawl. It'd take a while, but wouldn't it look great?

It might be too ambitious to be my Amazing Lace project, though. I'm really looking forward to this knitalong; I'll probably make the fluffy blue thing, but I confess I've been thinking about making a Birch. I'm stalled because my LYS doesn't sell Kidsilk Haze, and I can't decide on a color based only on internet pictures. Expect to see a KSH purchase after my next yarn-hunting expedition.

I have been knitting, in the midst of the wedding and travel and all, and the Bonny sweater has a finished back and almost an entire front and now I'm worrying about having enough yarn for the sleeves. Pictures forthcoming eventually, I swear.

And the last on my list of happy things: the California poppy seeds I planted in the yard last week have sprouted! I'm hoping for lots of lovely orange flowers in a few more weeks.

Weekend report

As I mentioned on Sunday, we had lots of exciting adventures! Supposedly there was some sort of holiday going on but it only interfered with our plans in that the pizza place was closed, so we went to the other pizza place down the street.

We went on a hike along the Towhee and Homestead Trails, where we saw not only the homestead, but also a towhee! The sand lilies and pasque flowers were blooming, as were the plum trees, so that the air around them smelled wonderful. It was a really nice hike and I'd recommend it to anyone.

After the hike, we went to the aforementioned pizza place downtown, stopped in at the bookstore for a trail map and wildflower guide, and then, well, I'm all about the chocolate-peanut-butter-swirl.

And of course, I knit: the back of the Bonny pullover is finished! I'm well into the endless rows of seed stitch on the front, and it's going well now that it's become my commuter knitting.

On Thursday we're heading out to the Big Giant Wedding (as the matron of honor calls it) and posting may be sporadic. The hotel supposedly has wireless internet, but I'll likely be too busy doing bridesminion duties to post anything. However, there will undoubtedly be lots of time spent waiting around (rehearsal, hair salon, etc) and so I'm taking plenty of knitting. I'm thinking of turning the blue-green Koigu into Pomatomus. Mostly because it's just so much fun to say, however you say it. Pomatomus!

Blue and green

The second pair of wristwarmers is finished! Of course, it's too warm to wear them now, but they're so cute, and who knows, we could have another snowstorm next week. (I'd rather we didn't, though.) Yarn: Plassard Alpaga. Needles: US #1, just a couple of DPNs I wasn't using for socks. Beads: some blue ones I found at the bead store. Pattern: basic structure from the Jan/Feb issue of PieceWork magazine, star pattern found here. Super-easy, very fast, lots of fun. I'm definitely making more of these, though I might go to the bead store for more sparkly beads first.

And while you weren't looking, I've been working on Bonny! I'm all the way up to the raglan shaping in the back, and it's been going amazingly quickly. I'm a faster knitter than I used to be, and it's mostly just stockinette so it's good for taking to s&b events or knitting while watching absorbing TV.

Remember this? Dirt, seeds, no green stuff? Yeah, they're taking over the world now. The sunflowers and four o'clocks are particularly vigorous, and two columbines finally came up a few days ago, after many weeks' wait. I'm hoping the allergies will slack off enough to let me start the real outdoor garden this weekend, possibly starting with some lettuce and herbs. That is, if I'm not totally preoccupied with the spinning wheel I get to take home from class tonight...

Stash!

I wasn't originally planning to participate in this blog-meme. I don't have a yarn stash to compete with the more serious collectors out there, and it required dragging all the yarn out to take its picture. But then this arrived.

Yep, it's a swift and winder, purchased for super cheap at Jo-Ann.com. I set it up as soon as it arrived yesterday afternoon and since then I've wound, um, more than twenty yarn-cakes. It's hugely gratifying to take tangled messes of yarn and turn them into tidy little bundles. So, since I had to pull all the yarn out of storage anyway, I took pictures:

The fiber stash. Back row: Ashland Bay merino, brown alpaca, gray-green llama (Kelly), undyed Corriedale. Front row: cherry-strawberry-kool-aid Corriedale, kool-aid and plain Corriedale and a little of the merino, and Ashland Bay merino-tussah.

The sock and lace yarn. Back row: Trekking, Stahl Zimba Top, teal Cherry Tree Hill Supersock, Winterberry from Sunshine Yarns, four skeins of KPPPM, the leftover Rock Creek and Bearfoot, and a tiny bit of Koigu. Front: Misti Alpaca, KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud (stream, moss, autumn).

The yarn belonging to works in progress. Back: Douceur et Soie (Wrapped in Tradition from Wrap Style), Shetland/Gotland from Shilasdair (Paloma sweater). Middle: more Paloma. Front: cashmerino (Bonny), Shetland Spindrift (North Sea shawl).

And everything else. Most of it you can actually see the labels on; yes, that's Mission Falls cotton in the front, from the sale bin; a lot of teal Rowan 4ply Botany on the right (also on sale), which may someday become socks; the top left is all cashmerino odds & ends; and actually most of this is stuff left over from other projects. But I'm sure I'll find a use for it all someday.

And that's the tour of my yarn! Thanks for stopping by. I'm going to go take pictures of the newly finished Bearfoot socks, start in on that blue Koigu, and put away all this yarn. And have some lunch. Bye!

Busy

All sorts of things are going on over here! Saturday morning I went to the hardware store and bought gardening supplies, with which I came home and started the garden, seen here. OK, it doesn't look like much at the moment, but I promise that there are sunflower, rudbeckia, shasta daisy, zinnia, four o'clock, and columbine seeds in there, and if we're really lucky, in a few weeks they'll turn into seedlings, and then someday, rumor has it that temperatures will stay above freezing at night and I'll plant them in the yard. We'll see.

After all the planting, I made cookies, pruned the saplings in the back yard (with these, which rule), and cleaned off the back porch. And then? I knit. I knit at Borders all afternoon, and then at Jenifer's all evening. I met several new people, all super-cool, and generally had a really good time.

When I started writing this post last night, I was dissatisfied with all of my knitting: everything seemed to need finishing, or ripping, or something. I'm happy to report that it's all better today. I seamed the first blue-star cuff and started its twin. The Bearfoot sock had somehow ended up with one fewer pattern repeat on the leg than the first sock, so I ripped it back to the ankle and re-knit, and I feel good about it. I even knit several rows on the Bonny sweater, and after much pattern insecurity and measuring, I think it's going to be okay. All of my mindless knitting is back to being mindless and is ready to take on the bus tomorrow. Whew!

Wit beyond measure

We're home! Yes, more travel - we went up to Boston for the weekend. It was great to spend time with good friends and visit some old haunts. I spent plenty of time (and money) at Tealuxe, and bought some great new shoes. The knitting-related content of the trip was a stop at Woolcott, where Beth found some lovely rust-colored wool for a hat and mittens, and I found several skeins of Cashsoft Aran in navy and gray... which will of course become a scarf! I won't make it as long as the movie version, or as wide, but I do like the pattern. I knit up a gauge swatch while videotaping this morning's lecture (there isn't much else to do up in the a/v booth, especially when I can't hear the lecture over the projector) and it's lovely stuff. I think I have a cashmerino problem. Speaking of which, the Bonny sweater is growing slowly but not enough to warrant a new picture.

More travel coming up next weekend, so perhaps I'll be able to do more of the shawl on the plane!

But now, time to pass out, as I'm exhausted after this afternoon: the first lab of the semester. The second section is tomorrow afternoon; let's hope my tired feet recover by then.

Like I said,

only a matter of time. I stopped at Pins & Needles after work and picked up a new pair of circular needles for working on Bonny, because the 16" ones were just too small. Both of the knitting stores here in Princeton seem to only carry Addi Turbo circulars in anything resembling a decent selection (there were a few pairs of Clovers, but only in large sizes). Which is a little annoying - I like Turbos, but sometimes I prefer bamboo, and then there's the price difference... Oh well. Anyway, I also picked up some Eucalan wool wash, which I hadn't tried yet, and... you guessed it, two skeins of KPPPM. I stood there for quite a while, drooling over all the colors, but I kept coming back to the fantastic rainbow-colored 122 (it's a little more subtle than in this picture). Isn't it pretty? I could just sit and stare at it all day...

Oops. Sorry, back from the hypnotic trance. It's so pretty that I'm having second thoughts about making it into socks, because then I couldn't stare at it all the time. What to do?

More travel

We're back home again, this time after a road trip up to Cape Cod for a wedding. The wedding was lovely (congrats Allison & Kira!) and it was a fun weekend, except for the godawful traffic throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts. I drove all the way to the Cape on Friday, but Oliver took over the driving on the way home (we stopped at his mom's house on the way - hi Jean!) and I managed to do some knitting in the car. When I was a kid I would always read in the car, and I never got carsick, but these days reading in the car hurts my eyes. Knitting, though, is just right. At least, it is when it's a nice small simple project, and right now the Bonny sweater fits the bill.

Portland

We're back from Oregon! I did, indeed, get lots of shawl knitting done on the plane, and the Flower Basket is starting to look like a shawl rather than a very insubstantial hankie. (just look at all those baskets!) I even made a little progress on the infamous Bonny. Oliver took my picture in front of Mabel's Cafe & Knittery, which is a great place. Oliver and my mom and brother could sit and have cool drinks while I checked out the wool, and they even helped me decide what to get, looking remarkably happy and patient about the whole thing. So I've been planning to make a new pair of mittens to go with my red winter coat, and after much fondling of various fuzzy yarns, I picked up three skeins of Cascade Bollicine Etoile in #14 "sooty." It's so soft and fluffy... So I think I'll make a lace scarf, possibly this one. As for the mittens, I searched my stash for something thick to match the mohair, and I think I've found it: some old Stahl Limbo Color in Indigo. I'll swatch it up and see how it looks.

I picked up a copy of the Stitch & Bitch Knitter's Journal at Powell's and I really like it. The graph paper and helpful tips, combined with the success of my tiny modification to the ChicKami, are inspiring me to actually consider designing my own patterns!

A small introduction

It's a blog! I migrated my old knitting page over to Blogger so it won't have to move when I change jobs in six months, and so it can be more blog-like. Hopefully this will encourage me to knit more, so that I can post more often.

Newest project: the Flower Basket Shawl! Beth and I are having a knit-along. The yarn is white Misti Alpaca, though I also bought some navy blue in case I need to make another one. Yarn from Fuzzy Mabel, which has free shipping for July and August. The shawl is, as of today, approximately 1.5 inches long.

I'm still working on Oliver's Skyespun sweater, purchased on the Isle of Skye during our honeymoon. Update: One sleeve finished! Next: other sleeve, and collar, and then the Great Weaving In of Ends will commence.

I'm also starting a new ChicKami in Rowan Handknit Cotton ("Diana"). I already made one in pale blue; I had to re-do the straps and neckline ribbing to add a few more rows and make new, shorter straps, and it fits much better now! The new one is going to be a size smaller, so it'll fit more snugly. Someday I'll learn to measure myself more carefully before choosing a pattern. The color is quite a bit darker and more purple than in the photo at right.

I put the Rowan Bonny sweater (in navy blue cashmerino) on this list solely for motivational purposes. It has many rows of moss stitch on #3 needles and has been about 1 inch long for 3 years or so. Embarrassing.

Details of the finished projects:

• ChicKami I, Rowan Handknit Cotton in Chime. This is a great yarn for summer stuff, though my cast-on edges seem to get a little fuzzy in contrast to the smooth knitted fabric. From Bonne Marie's outstanding pattern. Keep in mind that the I-cord straps will stretch significantly when you're wearing it - make 'em short.
  
• Needle case - not one of my most perfect sewing efforts, especially as it was made before I bought the rotary cutter, but it does the job, and I like the fabrics. It folds in half and then in thirds and ties shut with a ribbon. My own design.
  
• Fuzzyfeet, from the Knitty pattern, a birthday present for my mom. Yarn is "Town" from Glenmarle Woolworks and trim is, um, what the hell is it? Oh yeah, Plymouth Furlauro, super-soft eyelash. I also made myself a pair in screaming purple but haven't felted them yet.
  
• Purple mittens, from a kit from Morehouse Farms, a birthday present from Beth. Color: grape juice. Dense, warm, a delight to knit and wear. Only problem is they clash horribly with my new red coat, so I may just need to make another pair. Or five. We are moving to Colorado, after all. I can still wear them in the fall with a sweater instead of the coat.
  
• Pink fuzzy scarf, yarn bought at 2004 Maryland Sheep & Wool Fest. Two different yarns: one 50/50 merino/mohair, one entirely mohair, simple 2x2 rib. It's fuzzy and warm and HOT PINK. Also clashes with aforementioned red coat, but I wear it indoors a lot.
  
• Gloves, KFI Cashmerino in gray and blue-green, from the "Johnstone gloves" pattern in the Rowan "A Season's Tale" book. It was a little confusing knitting gloves flat and then sewing as I went along, but I followed the pattern faithfully and it turned out well. My one correction: the distance from the top of the ribbing to the base of the thumb was too long for my small hands. I love the stripes though, and being able to make my own gloves so the fingers are the right length. Fortunately I have more of this yarn as I expect to wear these until they fall apart.