I’m in love . . . .with yarn, and gadgets

And oh yeah, my husband. But on the knitting end. I really love the Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Silk Lace 20/2 100% silk. I bought it at A Tangled Skein two weeks ago in the Blue Terra Cotta colorway, and started the Diamond Fantasy shawl in it (Thank you Hannah for the suggestion).



I enjoyed knitting on it so much, that when a Tangled Skein had a fun 20% off everything sale with a Friday the 13th late-night sale from 9 pm to Midnight (as well as sit and knit during those hours with munchies and beverages!), I had to buy ANOTHER skein of this yarn in the Walk in the Woods colorway.



And then my last Christmas present arrived last week. My husband ordered the heavy-duty wooden ball-winder from Nancy’s Knit Knacks, and it CAME! I’ve never used a ball winder I’ve liked better, it just flows so easily, and quickly. I’m even willing to wind my own yarn more often! (I’ve had two plastic ones break on me, and the first wooden one I got elsewhere doesn’t have a comfortable winding design. My sweet husband has been winding a lot of my yarn for me – he actually enjoys doing it – and he also is quite pleased with it.) I'll post a photo of it in use next week. We're off to Massachusetts to attend and perfrom the New England Folk Festival (NEFFA).



Meanwhile, a silly story on myself. I was reading recently my friend Hannah’s blog about the shawl she’d made her mother-in-law, with photos and I thought, oh what a lovely pattern, and followed the links to where it was shown that it was in the Fall issue ’06 of Interweave Knits. I went and looked it up in my copy – and reminded myself that I had STARTED this shawlette in some nice silk I bought at the Montpelier Wool Festival in October. Embarrassed at myself, I found the project – AND finished it within five days!

So here it is just before I unpinned it from blocking, with accent cat (Bailey). Mine is definitely a “shawlette”, but very nice, and I can see getting a fair amount of use from it, especially over the summer, as it may be just the right “extra” for some air conditioned places!




I’m having great fun with socks and lace, they seem to balance each other quite nicely, and since my two friends LOVE their hand-knit socks with wider cuffs then feet, I’ve got lots of opportunities to knit socks – and not add so many to my over flowing sock drawer – and if my husband gets every fifth pair I knit, he’s in good shape!

And 25 years ago on this very day, April 19th, my husband and I had just gotten engaged, and my godson was born! Happy birthday Allan in the Philippines, can’t believe you’re a quarter of a century – your parents and I are only 39!

An update on things . . . .

A quick post about recipients of things I’ve knit. Here’s Lucy the greyhound with her sweater on her back.


And then Laz, the other greyhound with his.


And their human, Kathryn, with her vest!


And then miss Bea with her Elephants baby blanket.


And a blurry picture of me with my Romantic shawl and Barnum the cat on my lap.


And just for fun, and because I think it’s one of the best photos I’ve taken of our babies, our babies Barnum and Bailey, our 13 month old Maine Coon Cats (siblings).


Next post I’ll show the Diamond Fantasy Shawl in progress, that my knitting buddy Hannah put me on to. And last night at SSK group (Silver Spring Knitters) she and another bud, Martha, put me on to Minknits patterns and I ordered FIVE patterns – four shawls and one sock pattern. Working on being strict with myself, and not starting ANOTHER shawl until I finish at least one of the several (I’m not telling how many, it’s getting embarrassing how many – it’s almost as bad as the socks on needles).

And I’ll try and get a photo of N with her socks on. She LOVES them, wore them right away, and was super pleased how they fit around her ankles. Now to finish L.’s – which I’ve misplaced tonight . . . . . .

To end, here’s a photo of Seneca Rocks in West Virginia – a beautiful rock formation we drove by a couple weeks ago.

Yes, I’m still here – more socks, and can you guess…..

I’ve had a hectic month – my son has some serious emotional problems dealing with school, and we’ve had to send him to a special boarding school. It took several weeks to set this up, and though I didn’t blog, I did knit. He has gone to the school, and two weeks in, things are looking really good! And once he was gone, I came down with bronchitis. Sleeping, drinking LOTs of liquids, knitting, reading, tv watching and Sudoko was about it for a week. And then, this last week has been Holy Week, and I sing in my church choir. . . . .(we sang at five different services over the week.)

I finished the first of the Rocking Sock Club socks, and I like it, but I didn’t particularly like knitting the cable pattern on the leg – I enjoy wearing it (I have it on as I type right now) and I think I will like the pair when they’re finished. I hope to finish the second one (which is started) before the next kit arrives from Blue Moon Fibers (somewhere around the end of April).


Meanwhile, I’ve become obsessed with knitting TOE-UP socks. I really like knitting the short-row toe, I’ve even mastered the crochet chain provisional cast-on – last two socks the crochet chain pulled out PERFECTLY! I finished the Apple Pie socks, and the yarn is soooo yummy to knit AND so yummy to wear!


So then I started toe-up socks for my two closest friends, both of whom have “odd” shaped feet and ankles. The blue-orange-red-green-turquoise stripped socks are for N. who’ve I’ve known since we were 3 or 4. I did the foot on 72 stitches, and then went to 80 stitches for the leg. She says the first one fits perfectly. She’ll get the pair tomorrow, and the weather here is being COLD!!!!!!! (It was 34° when we drove to church at 8:45 this morning!) So she’ll have a chance to wear them.


And the other sock pictured is in Fixation for my friend L. (who I’ve known since we 14 in high school!) She has a wool allergy, so that’s why Fixation. I worked 54 stitches on size 2 needles for the foot, (actually we were at a music weekend in West Virginia and she and her husband were there, so it was the perfect time to keep checking HOW the sock was fitting. Initially I’d cast on 60 but they were waaaaasay too loose, so I went down to 54 stitches.) After I did the heel, I added 16 sts – but when L. tried it on, it was much too tight around her ankle. I ended up adding another 8 stitches, bringing the leg to 80 stitches. I finished the first sock just before we headed home at the end of the weekend, and it fit perfectly. So once N’s socks are finished, I’ll cast-on for L.’s second sock.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading blogs, and one of my favorites mentioned a wonderful silly, thing to knit for Easter. I called the shop that carried the pattern, and they sent it to me, and I took off! It only took, at most, an hour to knit one, and it was such fun, that I went nuts. I ended up knitting 30 so far! I gave them to everyone in my choir, plus the rector and choir director, and for several good friends, and my goddaughter. So here’s what “they” look like BEFORE felting.


And after felting.



And then, some after embellishing ‘em.





And I hope all figured out that they are Easter EGGS! I got the pattern from The Yarnery in Minneapolis, MN.

So now I’m finishing socks (and have already started a SECOND pair for N.), and trying to find a lace shawl pattern to work in this most glorious hand painted yarn from Claudia (http://claudiaco.com/) that I was enticed into buying at my LYS.


But I really should get back to my SIL’s birthday present . . . .

Socks, socks, and MORE SOCKS!

I LOVE knitting socks. Every now and then I go on a sock bender – and I think, thanks to the Rockin’ Sock Club from Blue Moon fibers, I’m on one now. I joined the club in January, and the first sock arrived this week. I like the color, I LOVE the yarn, which I knew I would, since that was the reason I joined the club, and the pattern is interesting – toe-up, which is not my favorite way to knit socks, but, I’m game to try again.

I started almost immediately – following the pattern exactly, using the smaller sized needles the pattern called for (US 0, 2mm)(which is my usual sock needles size), and the toe was good, but the provisional cast-on with crochet chain didn’t pull out correctly, but I clipped it out when it became time to pick-up those stitches, but then as I went along on the foot, gee it looked too wide for my slim foot. The designer states that she has a wide size 10 foot. Well, I have a SLIM size 7 foot, which nowadays is a smallish woman’s foot. One of the often stated advantages of toe-up socks is being able to try it on your foot as you go. So I knit along for awhile, and tried it on. Wide, wide, wide – sloppy around my foot. So . . I ripped back to the toe, and didn’t increase as the pattern calls for, just adjusted the rib pattern to fit my stitch count. And it’s working quite well. Buuuuuut . . . .


The Rockin’ Sock Club (RSC) has a webpage, and a blog that all of us members can post on, and I’m checking it everyday. I read several of the comments, and realized that MAYBE I should have followed the idea of going DOWN to smaller needles for the foot, and kept with the pattern’s stitch count. Smaller needles. 00 or 000. I have that size needles in a Civil War era sock for my husband, (he does Civil War re-enactment music stuff), and I’m having problems finishing them between the smallness of the needles, and the LONG length of the dp in that size compared to my usual 6” sock needles. One of the RSC posts mentioned that Susan Bates has 7” sock needle sets with the smaller size needles, including a link to where one could buy them, so I have now ordered them – even an inch shorter will be better than the ones I’ve been using. So I’m putting the RSC socks on hold until they arrive.

But I decided I wanted to be more comfortable with toe-up socks, and the provisional cast-on with crochet chain. I read Wendy Johnson’s blog regularly (http://wendyknits.net/) and she doesn’t do cuff-down socks at all, just toe-up, and she has posted her basic pattern, and has it in her book, with a good description of picking up the stitches in the crochet chain.

Here’s the result – after two tries on the toe – and five on the crochet chain pick-up. I got closer on the last one, only had to cut out half the stitches this time. I’ve since experiment a bit more today, and I may have it. Maybe. I’m just doing Wendy’s basic sock in some glorious yarn from Canada called Apple Pie. (or Apple Laine) the color is Blue Bayou, much oranger in “person” then on their website, or in my own photos. The yarn is 50% wool, 20% mohair, 20% SILK and 10% nylon.

Shear heaven to knit with. I’ve not gotten too far (only started yesterday), but I’m liking what I’ve got, and how it’s feeling.

And to continue the socks theme – I finally finished the pair in trekking that got lost for two months. They told me last night, that I’ll probably still prefer cuff-down socks.



In her book Wendy explains that one reason she doesn’t like cuff-down is because of having to Kitchener the toes – I understand that many don’t like doing Kitchener – but, having finally mastered it (it took several years) – I LOVE it, and LOVE the look and feel of the finished socks. We’ll see what my feet say about the Apple Pie socks. I figured they were a perfect candidate for toe-up as I’m not sure I have enough in two skeins to make my cuffs as long as I usually do (8” before the heel), so with toe-up I can just knit until they’re either the length I want, or I think I’m running out of yarn, and need to finish ‘em.

Finally, for grins, here’s the back of my car. I figure folks might enjoy all my bumper stickers – RSC sent me one in the first project – NSK – Notorious Sock Knitters! MSWF is Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.

Elephants Finished – AND with LEFTOVERS!

I finally got the missing yarn from Virtual Yarns – I ended up PAYING for two skeins, one of Golden Plover, and one of Limpet. They “waved” the shipping charges. I also received with the two skeins, three mini skeins of the other three colors I was short! That was nice, but late, as I’d fudge on two of those. I was actually glad to have the third color, because, as I was working the border, I was a bit concerned about that color – I ended up NOT needing it, but . . . . .

There’s no question in my mind that Virtual Yarns didn’t send me the right amounts of the different yarns. I ran out of FOUR of the colors, and have an incredible amount of TWO leftover. (see photo below of my leftovers from the original kit!) I’ve got 45 grams (we think) left of Mara, and 30 grms of the Calluna, and, IMO, just the right amount of Sundew left. That’s WAAAAAY too much on the Mara, which to me says they definitely shorted me on the colors I ran out of. I do wish I didn’t LOVE the yarn, the colors, and the patterns so much! I really do want to make at least one more of her baby blankets – this time for ME! I was reluctant to give the Elephants baby blanket away – but I think Bea loves it, but being just four, a blanket was not a super exciting gift, though her two year old brother was impressed with it. Even more so, her parents LOVE it.

Here’s a photo of the blanket on its own.


And then the minute we finished taking the photos, it was given feline approval – by master Barnum.


And then here's the blanket with the leftovers from the original kit. You can see that there's quite a bit of Mara (blue) left -- much more than really should be.


Meanwhile, I’ve run out of yarn for the vest that matches the dog sweater. So I’m finishing a pair of socks tonight, trying NOT to work on the wonderful shawl I’ve started out of glorious Seasilk yarn from the Victorian Lace Knitting Today (half square in trinity stitch).

I’ll post photos of the socks and shawl for my next post.

Finished Jacket!

I’ve been busy. I realized HOW busy when I checked another blog, and realized I hadn’t read it for three days! I finished the Bressay jacket (see photo below) last Tuesday, and have been wearing it nearly every day since then – and though we had a hellacious amount of ice (not snow, I’d much rather the snow) last Tuesday, and have been nearly iced in since then (most of the local school systems closed early on Tuesday, and didn’t reopen until this Tuesday [Monday being a legal holiday]). Driving’s been fine since late Wednesday, but walking. . . that’s another story. Even going out to our cars (which are right in front of our house, maybe, at most 20 steps from front door to car door) has been treterous – I’ve hung onto the cars to get to them!

But now it’s Ash Wednesday, and it got to over 50 today! We almost have a clear driveway!
And then here’s my next project: What is it?


A dog sweater for a greyhound! (That's Barnum the Maine Coon supervising.) The yarn I bought for it wasn’t making the desired gauge, and “feel,” so I fussed around, and have found that doubling it works beautifully! But it took four or five starts before everything fell in place, AND then . . . . I realized that I had misread the sizing for the sweaters, and was making it TOO small for a large greyhound. I spent a lot of time in the frog pond this week. But I’ve reached the fun part on the first sweater (I’m making TWO dog sweaters, and a matching vest for a choir friend who’s turning 50 in March), and expect to finish it by the weekend at the latest. I’ll start on the human sweater after that, then do the second dog sweater – and I believe the second greyhound is much smaller than the first, so she’ll get a smaller sweater. Here's the sweater drapped on my golden retriever, Kaitlin (she's fat and 12)


I missed both Tuesday knit groups, for two reasons, one I was scheduled to go the theatre to see King Lear (The Classic Theatre of Harlem production at the Folger Shakespeare Library – with the Fool played by someone I’ve known since he was 12! (he’s in shouting distance of 40 now)– He was BRILLIANT! And the production was very interesting!), two – even though we switched our tickets from Tuesday to Friday, I wasn’t going out in the ice. Apparently three brave souls did make it – and, I’m sure had a lovely evening. I didn’t make it this week as it was Mardi Grais itself! (Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Lenten Eve) and I love going to the Pancake Supper for Shrove Tuesday at my church –

Meanwhile, I finally got the missing yarn for the Elephants Baby Blanket! I paid for the skeins – they sent it with free shipping, AND three mini skeins of the other colors I was original needing – that I’d fudged. So I’ve been distracted from the dog sweater, and have picked up all the stitches around the blanket, and am busy working the border on it. More details on all, but probably not until after the weekend, as I'm off to New York state for a music weekend (lots of knitting time, no blogging time!).

I Think I Have Short Arms . . . .

I go from schizophrenic knitter to obsessed knitter. I finished the body of the Bressay Jacket Thursday night. Collar, button bands, and buttonhole bands, sides sown together, and started on the sleeves. The pattern called for picking up the stitches, and knitting back and forth – flat – that seemed silly to me, so I sewed up the sides, and picked up around the armhole, and knit down. Works beautifully, and is going fast. Just finished all the decreases – tried it on again – and it’s WAAAAAY too long – and I still have a cuff to go.

Sigh, so frog city. Back to the last of the every six row decreases, and just continue with every six row, and that should give me a short enough sleeve. One hopes. If that doesn’t work, I may have to rip way back and do an every fifth row decrease. I do hope this works. I’m suppose to go to the theatre on Tuesday, and I’d love to wear the sweater (suppose to, as DC is forecast the most snow we’ve had in a couple of years Monday and Tuesday – well, as long as the Metro runs we should make the theatre!)

Here’s a photo of how it stands before I start back on the sleeve. I really LOVE this sweater, it’s turning out wonderfully!


And the front, with our smallest cat Snowball in my arms

I went back to the new yarn store near me, A Tangled Skein (now on the web atangledskein.com) and got some lovely purple yarn to make a vest for a choir friend who is turning 50 in March – and has jokingly said she’d love a vest for her, with matching for her greyhound. I found a pattern in the book, Men Who Knit, and the Dogs They Love, that is perfect, and her favorite color is purple, so I got this nice purple from Araucaria Nature Wool 100% from Chili. The only problem with all this – one of her birthday presents is a SECOND greyhound! So, I need to make TWO greyhound sweaters! And besides going to A Tangled Skein, I had lunch at the restaurant across the street from it – Franklin’s. Good food – and for those into beer, it’s a brew bar! And a fun general store. A nice knitting outing for the day!

I’ve been bad knitting wise, got some new to me sock yarn this week – Apple Pie from Canada in a color called Blue Bayou, which I thought was bluer than it is in fact. BUT it goes gloriously with the Bressay Jacket, so . . . . it’s wool/mohair/silk and nylon.

I notice that the colors look bluer in photos then in the "yarn." Bit closer to true colors in the close-up.


Meanwhile my FI project is on hold as I try to find a 40” 0 circular needle. A Tangled Skein didn’t have one – more needles coming next week (and sock yarn, and other delicious sounding things). But one of my friends who went with me may have one, -- hopefully. If not, I’ll work the phones Monday and Tuesday. (Most of the LYS around here are closed on Mondays) And if that fails, get one on the internet. And I’m looking for buttons for the Bressay Jacket -- A Tangled Skein doesn’t have buttons. And I know from working in a yarn store, it’s hard to have a large enough selection of buttons for a broad range.

Back to the Bressay Jacket – I had hoped to have one sleeve done tonight, and I’m still hopin’.