Lace Shawl I

This one started out as some yarn I got from my LYS. They hand-dye a 50/50 silk/merino and have several gorgeous colorways, but dye lots are hugely different. I got the yarn as a gift from a gift certificate a year ago and have been playing with it but nothing transpired until I started this pattern. Unfortunately, I knew about 3/4 of the way in I wold not have enough yarn. A friend was knitting a sweater with the same yarn, from the same dye lot and I traded her the left overs for my roving and started the border. When you start the border on a shawl like this you think "whew! almost there" and then you realized you have to knit about 40 stitches just to bind off one. I had about 600 stitches on the needles to bind off. The border took as long as the shawl.

Anyway, it ended up being a little less than five feet across, with extensive stretching and blocking. I would have liked it to be larger but there is no way I'm undoing my work. Other than that the shawl is perfect--it's pretty, it's soft and drapey, and has just enough weight to feel substantial.

I have another shawl on the needles. It is in a very fine, threadlike yarn and is on sixe 0 needles. I've one almost 100 rows and the thing would block to about the size of a handkerchief. And every row gets longer. It will be a three year project.

They're Small and Fast

I discovered I had a large quantity of worsted wool scraps and decided I could knit a couple small sweaters for my boys. They may even be done before the first snow! The brown one is completly original. I used the EZ percentage system and made the hybrid. The green sweater is inspired by a jacket from Dale of Norway. This one was EZ's raglan and then I steeked the front.

I love steeks. It is terrifying to cut your knitting. Yes you take scissors and slice right down into your work. But it makes the knitting so much faster knowing you don't have to purl stranded knitting.

I still need to weave in ends (really?) and block them both. I also think I will knit hems for the sleeves of the green one and I need to add a zipper but I think they're so cute! And I used up lots of my scraps. I did however order too many extra balls of brown and green.

Too bad the cat doesn't look good in brown.

Cursed Yarn

Most knitters have heard of it. Knit long enough and you will become intimate with it.

Cursed yarn.

I was reminded of cursed yarn recently at my SnB. A fairly new knitter had finished her project and had brought in a couple new skeins of yarn. She said her friend had discovered her new hobby and had given her this yarn so she could knit a scarf. These skeins had been purchased "a while ago."

That should have been our first clue.

One was a pom pom yarn. The strand was fine with a large slub every inch. The second yarn was a fat, tweedy bloucle. The intention being to knit both together. It looked promising.

Our knitter, as I said, is relatively new to the hobby. Novelty yarn is not the way for her to go yet. But we assured her we could get her into this. We gave her lots of advice and helped her as best we could. The store wound the two skeins into one chubby ball and the cast-on started. After fighting for five minutes to cast-on 10 stitches we pulled her needles and cast on for her. Then she was having problems pulling the slubby yarn through her needles. Another lady took the needles and tried to help by showing some tricks. After doing about four rows she handed the needles back.

This was when someone stood up and accidently tripped over the trailing yarn and pulled the thing completely off the needles. There was no realistic way to pick up these stitches (the yarn was just that weird) and the only option to start over.

Our new knitter put the yarn back in her bag and decided to go shopping instead. Smart. I'm guessing this yarn misbehaved for the original owner too. It just refuses to be anything and at least it was discovered now.

It was a turquoise color, should you happen to be at a thrift store or a garage sale. You have been warned.

Tension Issues

I have discovered a tension issue with my knitting and I can't figure it out.

The deal is: When I switch from knitting to purling, there is an excess amount of yarn used in the process. It is most noticable in k2p2 ribbing when all the leftmost stiches in each knit column are larger than the others. I'm finding it also shows up in my cables.

I hold my yarn in my right hand and I suspect this has something to do with my trouble.

For now, I am wrapping that first purl stitch tightly in the wrong direction and this helps, but it's annoying.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Aran Swatches

While in the middle of all my other projects--some with minor timelines--I have been swatching for DH's Aran sweater. I got a ball of KnitPicks Cotton/merino blend and it doesn't seem right. It creates a very thick and heavy fabric and the cotton simply doesn't have the "give" that I really want if I'm going to be knitting this.

The problem is the DH preferred the feel of the cotton to pure wool. I may consider and alpaca wool blend for the softness but I am concerned how warm alpaca can be. DH definately won't wear a sweater that will overheat him.

What to do, what to do?

Going to Run Some Arans

I have been thinking sometime about a sweater for my husband. I've been taking note of his wardrobe and shoving all manner of patterns under his nose. Of course it's quite infuriating to be told the reason he doen't like that pattern is because the model looks "embarrassed." But I don't want to spend time on a sweater and have him hate it.

Now, for some reason, he is quite proud of his irish heritage. He has a whole 16th of it in him (The 100% German rolls her eyes). Anyway, I stumbled on a website that knits clan arans and his family name happens to be on the list:

I could do this. He would never wear a 100% wool sweater but he would wear a wool cotton blend. I showed him this picture and he liked it. The only thing I'm concerned about is that he liked it because it looks like it "has muscles."

Yes honey, you too will have muscles just by wearing this. Just don't forget to workout with me.

Rumplestilskin Need Not Apply

I have made a decision.

I will no longer call myself a spinner. I made a five month go at it. I was preetty good too. I was spinning thread so fine I needed to four ply it to get worsted weight.

And I just don't enjoy it.

So rather than forcing myself to keep at it, I will use my spindle as decor, stash my fiber and move on with my knitting.

Finissimo!

This is what happens when you spend five years knitting a masterpeice:

The cat decides it's worthy of his attention.



This purse is a pattern from knitpicks using their bulky Wool of the Andes. It uses the pooling of the variegation to create the swirls of color.

This is a purse from Vogue knitting. It's felted with two plys of knitpicks Worsted Wool of the Andes (at 2 bucks a skein you can't go wrong). I'm lining it with some leftover fabric I have--A bright metallic red with gold embroidered roses and I love it. It's more a peice of art than a purse.

On the Needles-August 2007

The gray lace shawl
An adorable rose basket purse (pictures soon!)
A felted gray purse
The Summer game day sweater
The rowan cardigan
a randon stole in some yarn I got at LYS sale.
A cape from VK Fall 2007

Foodie notes from the South

I'm back from my trip to South Carolina and Georgia. We visited family and friends and had a great time.

Alas, our budget is tight and we only ate out a few times but let me share my two great discoveries:

Kudzu Bakery's Key Lime Pie-It's not gelatinous. It has a great chocolate and perhaps nut crust. It had little shavings of lime peel. It was heaven. It didn't have whipped cream or merangue and it didn't need them. I heard their peach pie is also wonderful.

The River Room's Shrimp and Grits-South Carolina on a plate. Yummy grits (how much cream and butter need to be added to grits to make them yummy?), yummy sausage and shrimp mixture smothering the grits. So many miles to jog to work this off! But worth every step.

Crab Status

I cleaned my son's hermit crab tank today. I kept waiting for all six crabs to come out of their hidey holes but it never happened. I felt the need to do a status check anyway to make sure they were still alive.

All six are alive and well. All have new pointy toenails which indicates they have all molted successfully. And all now live in a newly cleaned tank.

Lace knitting

In my opinion, and I know several people would agree, the ultimate test of your knitting skills is the wedding ring shawl. An ethereal knitted concoction made of the finest yarn and the smallest needles that can pass through a wedding ring when completed. The are examples of such work that use over 22 Miles of yarn.

To me, this is a dare. Do I have the skill to produce such a product? Yes. Do I have the attention span? Provided I find the right pattern, maybe. Do I have the ability to complete this endeavor? That is the dare. I lack stick-to-it-iveness.

But I have found a couple patterns that appeal (Meg Swanson's A Gathering of Lace). They are not true Unst lace but one has the fine gossamer quality I want, while the other has the pattern changes I need to keep me interested. I already have plenty of laceweight yarn. I have many, many small needles.

My LYS is having a big sale today and I expect I will own a book or two after my visit.

But in order for it to be a true challenge, I need a goal. Let's say by the end of 2007 I will have one lace shawl to call my own.

Vogue Knitting Fall 2007

I got my VK. I got it a week ago but I am still in leaf through mode.

Sixty patterns. Gorgeous yarns, Decadent garments...sigh...

I love my VK.

The Dale of Norway Cardigan

I started this sweater five years ago. It's a Vogue Knitting pattern and Dale of Norway Heilo. It's not finished yet, but it's so close. if I had started it this year, it would have been done now. I have learned so much in the last five years.

This thing was knit as six different pieces that had to be sewn together. Yes those are raglan sleeves. Yes that is stranded knitting. Why didn't the directions have me knit in the round, add the sleeves, add the hood and steek the whole thing? That would have saved me the hundreds of little ends that I have been weaving in the past few weeks. I still have to finish the front edges, attach a zipper, block it, and do some embroidery. But it's so close.

And yes, when it's done I will wear it.

What I'm Knitting-July

A Lace Experiment
A Sock in BearFoot yarn
A sock in Trekking bamboo yarn
A sock in Top of the Lamb
The Denim cardigan
A lacy stole for someone who demands a little black in everything
The Summer gameday shell in Cotton Fleece

And my Dale of Norway Cardigan is in the finishing process. I would have done this thing differently were I to knit it now. But that is a whole 'nother blog.

A Really Great Day

Today, my Dad, my kids and I went up to the airshow in Cheyenne. My dad was USAF and currently has a pilot's license and airshows are definately his thing. He could sit for hours watching aircraft and has no idea how to interact with kids.

My children are four and 21 months, they have the attention span of granola and one is super clingy and the other would rather be anywhere than your arms or lap.

Recipe for chaos? Probably.

It was a great day! We watched the airshow and then schlepped to another parking area to wait for a shuttle and take us to the plane show. So many opportunites for breakdowns and tantrums.

They were angels. No really, I couldn't believe it. 4yo was excited and chatting away and 1yo was amazed by the huge planes and wanted to sit in all of them.

Opa bought us all ice cream at Little America (which has jumped up to the exhorbitant cost of $0.50!) and we came home and put the kids to bed where they are currently taking a blissful nap.

And the best part of all? My Vogue Knitting was in the mailbox.

Hey...Priorities.

The 'Burbs and the Bees

Two weeks ago, my 4yo informed me that there was a bee nest in the back yard. He proudly pulled me out to the back gate and showed me his discovery. Sure enough, there was indeed a wasp's nest in our fence, right by the gate. DH was out of town and I told 4yo that daddy would spray it when he came home.

And I forgot.

When DH got home three days later, he was immediately informed by 4yo about the bee nest.

And we forgot.

Last weekend we were in Home Depot and happened to be in the grill aisle, which also happens to be the bug spary aisle. "Daddy! Are you going to get spray to kill the bees?" Of course we are.

And we forgot to use it.

This morning, 4yo found the bug spray and informed me he was going to spray the bees. I told him Daddy would do it, but he could watch.

After lunch, he got stung.

I can't even say this was a well intentioned mistake. Our 4yo did everything he could to get us moving and he got stung. I'm thankful he's not allergic.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out at midnight July 21st. I had the book read by noon.

I discovered Harry Potter in the Houston airport five years ago, on my way to Cancun. The Sourcerer's Stone was the best part of that trip.

I have read all seven books, repeatedly, and I have disected nearly every line and phrase. On the rare occasion that I met someone as obsessed as I (Carrie) we would debate Potter predictions for hours.

And now it's over.

Thank you, Ms Rowling, for writing such a wonderful series. When my boys are old enough, I hope to rediscover the magic with them.

Ho hum

My washing machine has been broken for over a month.

My husband is away on a business trip.

My achiles tendons are acting up and it hurts to walk.

I lost my credit card yesterday.





Life is just peachy.

Brown Sheep

I can't beleive I forgot to blog my fieldtrip!

My DH took last Thursday off to be with the boys while my mom and I and several other ladies from my LYS drove to Nebraska and toured the Brown Sheep Wool Mill. It was so much fun.

We got to see yarn made from roving to spinning to plying to dying. Fascinating in itself but the second to last stop was the pile of roving seconds (spinners know what I'm talking about) at $5.00/lb and then the store, which sells all it's seconds by the pound. We're talking three sweaters and two pairs of socks worth of yarn and a pound and a half of roving for less than $60.00.

Who knew you could find heaven in Nebraska? Only a 2.5 hour drive away.