An the Oscar goes to...

Ewe-nice for best dressed wooly sheep in a shawl! Yes Ladies and Gentlemen, after much knitting, muttering, a few vacations, and just a little tinking (wink, wink) the Hidcote Garden Shawl has danced its way off the needles.

Time of delivery: Sunday afternoon, 2:00PM EST, 25 Feb 2007.
Vital statistics: Weight 125g, Length ~1920 yds of 2/28 laceweight 100% cashmere from ColourMart,
Unblocked dimensions 45" x 98"

After posting about my frustrations with the cast-off last night, I somehow felt better so I picked up my 3.75mm crochet hook and paying carefully attention to maintaining an accurate, even tension, I did a standard knitwise single crochet cast-off. I started last night, but once I was satisfied that I *could* get it right I stopped and waited until today to finish casting-off those 500+ sts. I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment having completed this large shawl, certainly a task worthy of an Academy Award I think :-) I know Ewe-nice agrees with me!









PS. I know the pictures aren't the best, but it's the best I can do with a crummy camera. I'll post better ones once the wires arrive and I can properly block the thing. That should be quite and event as the shawl is quite enormous :-)

PPS. Once again I remind everyone that I chose to use 3.5mm needles instead of the 3.25mm recommended in the pattern. The size of my yarn was about the same. The end result was that I used 600+ more yards than the pattern calls for and my shawl unblocked already exceeds the final dimensions of the blocked shawl that Miriam knit. I had 2300 yds to work with, so I had the freedom to choose the needle size that yielded a lace fabric that was pleasing to my eye. If you have plenty of yarn and desire a really large shawl, you are welcome to follow my choice. If not, please use the smaller needle. Either way, be prepared for the possibility that you may need more than 1300 yds of laceweight yarn to finish the shawl as written. I can't imaging anything worse than spending this many hours knitting a masterpiece only to run short of yarn on Chart 10. True, some designs can be easily adapted to shorten the length, but I don't see this as one of them. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Good luck!

Done, Sort of...Grrrrr

I'm done knitting the Hidcote Garden Shawl! Well, sort of done. If completing knitting row 21 of chart 10, which is the last row of the shawl, means done then I'm done. But not really. You see I started to cast-off as the pattern directed, after row 21. But, only for a couple of inches--just long enough to see that I was not happy with the finished look. You see the tips of the points are never really closed together if you follow the pattern. They end with adjacent ssk and k2tog stitches, which is not *really* closed and casting-off doesn't bring adequate closure IMHO. So I tinked back, carefully undoing all those cast-off stitches (a huge PITA) and purled one more row making a few tweaks to close the tips and still keep the stitch count pretty much the same.

In a nutshell what I did was p2 tog at every ssk/k2tog located between double YOs, thus closing the tips of the points. I did the usual k1, p1 in the double YOs. I purled across the large stockinette section , inserting a single yo in between the ssk and the k2tog of that area. Or if you were counting it would be : ...(k1, p1) in yo, p7, yo, p7, (k1, p1) in yo, p2tog; repeat. I did not insert a yo where there was a single decrease near the center and the edges. Adding the yo's where I did allowed for ample stretch at the location in the shawl where blocking will place the most tension. This location also maintained balance without detracting from the original design.

So with nice closed points I was really to cast-off for sure right? Not! You see, now I'm on teh right side of the shawl so I need to do things a little differently. I've made 4 attempts thus far and have hated all of them (too loose, too tight, rolls too much to the right side, and just looks funky in a not good way). I've crocheted off purlwise (loose and rolls). I've done a suspended cast-off purlwise with a crochet hook(too loose and funky). I've done a knitting needle knitted cast-off (too tight). And now I'm going to put about 40 sts back otn (I really thought this last one would be it---wrong) and try again. But not until tomorrow. Maybe I'll have better luck next time. Oh, and I didn't even tell you about auditioning beads and crystals for possible inclusion in the aforementioned cast-off fiasco. They were cause for a little more tinking. If I decide I want beads, I'll sew them on later. Grrrrrr

T Minus 3 and Counting down!

That's right, only 3 rows left on Hidcote. Well, technically it's only 2 rows and then cast-off but I figure the cast-off row is nothing more than an extra long, complicated row that still has to be knit. Either way, I'm almost there. I figured I had finished knitting all the difficult stuff and then last night I got to row 11 and a nasty little 4 in a box. What the ****! Knitting 3 sts together is tricky enough, there' no way I was going to succeed knitting 4 together all in one maneuver--esp. at the beginning of a row when all the sts want to go flying off the tip of the Turbos anyway. So I just k3tog and then passed the 4th st over the top afterward and it works just great. Now if only there was a magic pill for dealing with all those double YOs . I am so sick of them! I should be finished casting off tomorrow I think. Then I'll just have to wait until the blocking wires I ordered arrive before I can do the "magic" thing (I think blocking lace is magic).

Once Hidcote is finished, then it's time to move to new and different projects. I still have 2 shawls that need edgings finished. I don't have much left on the Fir Cone Shawl so I think I'll push through and finish it. On the other hand, the Shetland Tea Shawl needs almost all of it's edging--a big job which I will probably procrastinate for awhile longer. I need to finish daddy's socks--a pretty high priority thing but last night I suddenly realized I needed to focus on making a thank you gift for Dr. Thomas. I want to make something personal that will be meaningful for this amazing woman who has been my greatest mentor ever. I can't even begin to list all the things this amazing woman has done to bless my life. I have never experienced such unfailing support from anyone (my parents excluded) in my life. So many others I've encountered in my professional experience have had a flip side that was less than wonderful. At the very least they didn't have my best interests at heart, but Sandra has been nothing but encouraging and positive even when I was extremely ill and at my very lowest point. So I'm exploring my options as I don't have a great deal of time to knit something, but I want to be special. Right now I'm thinking about a little shoulder shawl, possibly Swallowtail, out of either silk or cashmere. Or I have a nice selection of laceweight kid mohair/silk yarns in the stash so I may opt for one of them If I choose a different pattern. Decisions, decisions, decisions!

Weary Brain

So what do you do when you've been very good and worked hard all day on *the dissertation* and your brain is weary? The answer is stupid things like surfing your friend's blogs and finding new quizzes to take that are frighteningly spot on about who you are. Like this one for example:

You Belong in Paris

You enjoy all that life has to offer, and you can appreciate the fine tastes and sites of Paris. You're the perfect person to wander the streets of Paris aimlessly, enjoying architecture and a crepe.

What European City Do You Belong In?

How did they know that I would adore visiting Paris? Ah, the food, the fashion, the architecture, the art! I could stay in Paris for weeks and just soak it all in. Of course I would need a rich Sugar Daddy to foot the bill and someone knowledgeable and influential to show me the town, but hey, I can always dream can't I?

I'm still knitting away on the Hidcote Garden Shawl.The countdown now stands at 10 rows left to knit. I knit the longest row last night, coming in at a whopping 531 sts, and am now easing my way to the points. The end *is* in sight and the worst of the patterned knitting is over and done with. Only a few more rows of those blasted double YOs, which I don't like knitting becasue you can't just whiz through a row of plain purling after them. No, you have to count and anticipate the big holes so you remember to knit the 1st loop and then go back to purling. Ah the sacrifices one has to make for the love of lace knitting!

I finally broke down last night and ordered a set of blocking wires from KnitPicks so I am prepared for the dastardly deed once Hidcote comes off the needles. The wires I bought at the hardware store locally last Christmas were only 18" long which is way too short for blocking big shawls and I hated working with them as they wree also a big thick and clunky. While KnitPicks didn't offer the best price for a set of blocking wires, I knew I would get free shipping since I was ordering needles too so it proved to be the best option overall. I also bought several sets of circulars and dpns, all in small sizes, after having such a positive experience with my first pair of Options dpns. My budget isn't up to buying the Options set yet, but I mostly needed size 3.0mm and 3.25mm circulars anyway. I just have to pace this stuff, getting more tools every few months as the budget allows, but there was no way I was going to face blocking the big honking Hidcote without proper wires. Nope, not gonna do it any other way.

PS. Here's another one of those quizzes. This one is almost eerie, but then I guess I'm in pretty fine company. Besides, I'm a big fan of Martha Stewart :-)

Your Aura is Green

You're very driven, competitive, and even a bit jealous. However, you seek out balance in your life - and you usually achieve it! The purpose of your life: inspiring others to be better Famous greens include: Tony Robbins, Donald Trump, Martha Stewart Careers for you to try: Guru, CEO, Talk Show Host

What Color Is Your Aura?

Making progress

My woolly friend Ewe-nice graciously agreed to pose for the camera to show off what's been happening on the knitting front lately. After taking yet another sanity break from the Hidcote garden shawl I am at it once again, this time knitting furiously on to the finish line! Since this is the one year anniversary of the Knitting Olympics and the completion of my first lace shawl, a red Kiri, I decided to go for the gold once more and see if I can finish Hidcote before the end of the month. As of this minute I have 15 rows left, very long rows, like more than 500 sts long rows! While I love this shawl and look forward to wearing it proudly, I am sick to death of knitting it! Whew! Confession is good for the soul, isn't it?

OK, so I'm making fine progress on the Hidcote shawl. I'm also making fine progress on my dissertation and graduation plans for May. I presented another one of my interviews in the phenomenology research group at the college yesterday and had a really insightful experience. It really does amaze me how the use of the interpretive group brings out nuances in the text that I didn't notice, even after spending hours reading and transcribing the dialogue myself. Then to top it all off, my major professor, the wonderful Sandra Thomas, handed me a copy of the letter she wrote to the dean of the Graduate School requesting the waivers and extensions I needed to be permitted to graduate without further adieu even though it's taken me many years longer than the rules allow and there were many semesters where the rules dictated I register and pay big bucks but I didn't 'cuz I was too darn sick to do school stuff and too poor to keep paying tuition when I wasn't working on the degree. Yes, it's a miracle I don't have to come up with a several thousand more dollars, just a relatively meager graduation fee. Hallelujah!!! Amen :-)

In light of all the anxieties produced by the aforementioned University stuff, and the fact that it has been blessed cold here the last couple of weeks, I continued to work on refining my fingerless mitts design. They now have a name---Miss Melly---and a story to go with it (it's still a secret but think "Gone With the Wind"), but the pattern is still under written construction. Since I already made the faux pas of publishing a picture of the design online I can't submit the manuscript for consideration to be published (but at least I know the rules now), so I've decided to offer it as a freebie here on the blog when I get it finished. I figure the feedback will also be instructive and a good experience for a budding knitware designer. In the meantime Ewe-nice, whose paws are too small to wear the mitts, decided to humor me by wearing my latest Miss Mellys on her ears. Well ears get cold too you know? The yarn is Plymouth's Baby Alpaca DK, which is wonderfully soft, comes in delightful colors, and is a joy to knit with. Or, and the wearing ain't bad either--esp. when it's late at night and I'm rewriting that dissertation chapter one more time >:^{

What do you do when...

...it's a cloudy, dreary, and yes, even snowy Saturday afternoon in February (well snow flurries and a transient dusting of the white stuff, but no real accumulation--but here in TN they call that "snow"), and my beloved UT Vols men's basketball played a pathetic game losing to So. Carolina (is this the same team that just beat Kentucky a few short days ago?), and the "grandkids" and their parents have invaded our peaceful little abode once again, and my fibrowacked body hurts so bad I don't know whether I should scream or cry. What do you do??????

Well, the first thing I did was sleep in as late as possible--hiding under the covers is a good thing. Next it was time to smell the roses--see picture in the previous post--followed quickly by the downing of a few pills with an icy cold Diet Coke. Ah caffeine--it's a very good thing. Next, tell beloved niece that you have a headache and convince her to play games on the computer quietly while the Aunt tries to wake up--God Bless NickJr! Next, sit in recliner already outfitted with pre-warmed heating pad and pick up knitting. Ah knitting to the rescue!

I started working on Daddy's socks, you know, the ones I haven't finished yet even though they were supposed to be his Christmas present. Those socks! The pattern is simple, just a nice broken rib stitch with a row of plain knitting in between a row of ribbing so I don't go crazy knitting what seems like miles and miles of ribbing, which I hate to knit. Crazy is having to tink back half of what I did because I forgot that half the rows are just plain, simple knitting--NOT ribbing. Knitting while half asleep, and whatever part of me was awake was in serious pain, is not a very smart thing to do. Tink, tink, tink.

The pills start to work and I start to wake up. That's when I remember that I ran out of yarn on my fingerless mitts I'm designing with just a few rows of ribbing left to knit on the second glove. Grrrrr. I can choose to frog back and skip a few lace pattern rows, thus finishing the gloves in one ball, but with one glove shorter than the other OR I can dash out to the new LYS a grab another ball quickly before the store closes at 2PM. I throw on some jeans and a very baggy UT sweatshirt and dash across the street, returning 15 minutes later with 2 balls of the very nice yarn in hand. Why 2 balls? Because the thought of matching socks seems quite appealing. After all, a girl can never have too many knitting projects OTN at one time or too much yarn in the stash can she? Of course not! Besides, last I checked it's still cheaper than therapy. I wonder if yarn therapy could help the basketball team?

Roses are Pink

Well, at least my Valentine's Day roses are pink -- which is perfectly wonderful since pink roses and pink flowers are absolutely my favorite. Just the fact that I was gifted flowers at all is absolutely amazing. Why you ask, because I can't remember *ever* receiving flowers on Valentine's Day in my whole life. It's one of those facts of life when you are an Old Maid and never did seem to enamour very many males in my younger years, let alone around *the* holiday of love. I don't think I even bothered to buy my own Valentine's flowers, maybe I did once or twice but I usually just stuck to chocolate and festive decor for my apartment. It worked at the time. But this year was different! Yes the flowers came from my mother who was acting in behalf of my dog Miss Emme who contributed her part with a big sloppy kiss (the dog that is, not Mom), but that doesn't matter.

Having a huge bouquet of happiness perched on the corner of my desk has done wonders for the "February Funk" I've been feeling. The winter icky blues just get to me and by this time I'm just dying for it to be spring. If you look down tot eh left of the flowers you'll see the little Valentine I bought myself at Loopville the other day. It was totally an impulse purchase and a bit pricey for me, but the colors in this lace yarn were calling my name. The yarns were a boxed gift set from Kaalund Yarns in Australia, an artisan yarn company that specializes in hand dyed fibers in amazing colorways. The yarn is a super fine 2ply lace weight merino, one ball is an ombre of violet hues called Magnolia and the other a diverse mix of the violets with spring greens and a hint of deep blue purple called Waterlily. The yarns came with a pattern for a "soft wool scarf" but the design was pretty pathetic. I'll do my own thing with this treasure. As a coincidence the Kaalund Waterlily yarn is an exact match to the hand dyed sock yarn from Farmhouse Yarns that I purchased at Yarn Haven last week. I guess I just like what I like and I like the color of thses yarns.

Comparing Laceweight Mohair Yarns

I responded to a query on the KnitList about laceweight mohair yarns yesterday. Specifically, the knitter wanted input about Super Kydd, a new yarn from Elann.com. While I haven't used this yarn yet, I have used many of the others so I emailed the lady with my input. I received a lovely reply with an addtional question about softness with nylon vs. silk as the secondary component in the yarn. After composing a detailed response I thought gee, I should post this on my blog for future reference. So here it is:

Hi L---,

I've been thinking about your last email and the question of softness with silk vs. nylon in laceweight mohair yarns. Let's see, this is what have I used:

Rowan Kid Silk Haze - 70% super kid mohair, 30% silk ($14, 25g/229 yds)
Madil Kid Seta - 70% super kid mohair, 30% silk ($12, 25g/230 yds)
Colinette Parisienne - 70% kid mohair, 30% polyamide ($13.75, 25g/221m)
Habu Textiles 1/12 silk mohair kusa - 60% mohair, 40% silk ($8.69, 14g/186 yds)
Doceur et Soie - 70% baby mohair, 30% silk ($11.55, 25g/225 yds)

So let's compare. The KSH and De S are extremely soft and luscious and get my top rating for all around yummyness. KSH has exceptional vivid colors while DetS has a wide range of pastels that I so love. The Kid Seta is also very soft and has the bonus of variegated colorways. What makes all of these brands distinct is the fact that they use the finest baby mohair which is where the softness really comes in IMHO.

The Parisienne uses only kid mohair, not super kid, so it isn't going to be as soft. I suspect that's why Colinette, a company known for their high-end luxury fibers, opted to use poyester as the stabilizing fiber rather than silk. The silk is used for strength in all these yarns, the softness and luster are just a bonus really.Nevertheless, Parisienne is still soft and very nice to the touch and it has superior ombre colorways that make it stand out from the rest of the fine mohair yarns. I would see this yarn as comparable in texture and softness to the Super Kydd

The Habu textiles yarn has the most silk, but it isn't nearly as soft as the others. Once again, I think this has to do with the quality of the mohair. This yarn is much finer and less halo than the other yarns and I found it required a smaller needle size to get a lace that was pleasing to my eye. Once again though, this yarn would still be considered a soft yarn and nice against the skin.

So to answer your question yes, silk would add to the softness but the nylon should still be adequately soft because the key fiber is kid mohair. When you factor that in with the fact that the Elann Super Kydd is less than half the price of the KSH, etc. I would absolutely go for it. The only reason I haven't purchased any myself is that I have more than enough either OTN or in the stash already.

Probably the only reason I would hesitate to use the Super Kydd would be if my wearing was very sensitive to things that might itch and the shawl was going to have a lot of skin contact (which mine don't). To increase the softness, when you wash the finished shawl in preparation for wet-blocking (a must!!!), add a little hair conditioner to the final rinse water. It works wonderfully and will help increase the softness even more.

Good luck!


Isn't it wonderful to have such a wide variety of fine, fuzzy yarns from which to select? I'm looking forward to trying out the Super Kydd to see how it stacks up to the others. Certainly nothing beats the price point--a very good thing in my book!

Experimenting

I've been taking a brief respite from my nursing research and doing a little experimenting of my own--with yarn and double-pointed needles this time. You see I do my best thinking and writing late at night and my compute corner gets kind of chilly. I wear nice wooly socks on my feet so they don't get cold but my poor hands are not so fortunate. I tried making a pair of Fetching mitts for myself but that Aran wt. yarn is a bit chunky and the mitts feel a bit cumbersome to me. So I decided to look online for a fingerless mitts pattern that used a skinnier yarn but didn't come up with anything to my satisfaction. So, as I mentioned in my last post. I decided to design my own pattern.

Several weeks ago I bought a cone of dk weight 50% cashmere/50% merino yarn from Richard at ColourMart with the express intent of knitting some fingerless mitts out of it. Originally I thought I could just adapt the Fetching pattern but the yarn was much finer than I had anticipated even after washing, so I knew that wouldn't work. Besides, I love lace so a lacy pattern would be great. I came across a sock design from a great knitter here in Knoxville, Judy Sumner of KnoxSocks (Knoxsocks Designs Sock Knitting Patterns by Judy Sumner) that used a really basic lace motif that appealed to me. So I took that and added some ribbing, and after some trial and error I came up with a lace pattern that was easy, stretchy, and appealing to my eye. One of the challenges was to get a snug fit around the wrist but then how do I get enough room for my hand? I thought back to the things I've been learning from Liz Lovick in the Gansey Workshop over on EZasPi and found my answer--gussets! In gansey sweaters gussets are using in the underarm area to allow for comfortable movement. So I played around with increases and found that placing a gusset on the front and back of the thumb with one panel of lace separating them was the perfect amount of room to accomodate the entire hand and still maintain a close fit. And as you can see from the 1st picture the increases transitioned perfectly into additional lace panels. Boy did I feel accomplished having figured this out :-)


I've finished knitting the first mitt as you can see, and it fits my medium/large hand perfectly. The second mitt is about half done and I can't wait to finish it so I can wear it --only the coldest hand gets a mitt tonight :-( I plan to knit another pair out of a different yarn and try to finesse the pattern a bit more before I put it out for the world to enjoy. But I have plenty of the cashmerino left so I think a matching pair of socks is in order. It will be my next experiment in designing with yarn.

The Good and Bad of being Cold

It's been cold here in East TN lately, really cold, like <20 F cold which is cold around here. My space at home is downstairs where it tends to be much colder than the upstairs (one of those thermodynamic principles, you know) and I sleep late and stay up into the wee hours of the morning when everyone else is in bed and the thermostat has been turned way down. In short, it's cold, esp. at my computer. So I decided I really needed to get with it and knit some fingerless gloves for myself. I started in on another pair of Fetching mitts out of the same dark gray yarn I used for my sister's Christmas present. This is good, but gray is dark and not very inspiring and aran wt. yarn makes for thick mitts, which isn't necessarily bad--just thick. So I dropped in on Jinka and Piper at Loopsville on Wednesday to find something cheery to knit my Fetching mitts out of. Does yummy merino yarn have to be in dark colors just because it's winter? I am rebelling! No, I settled for a medium shade of denim blue that will work for me and my sister (although I really wanted pink).

So all this is leading me up to the point of my post which is that I decided to design my own fingerless mitts out of yarn that is pretty and soft and not so well, fat. I surfed the net and found one pattern that I liked but it cost money, which was OK, but the ordering process to get the pattern was exceedingly cumbersome and the shipping policy was, well, a bit much for one simple pattern. So forget that, I can figure this one out myself. And there is that lovely ColourMart cashmerino dk sitting on my shelf which I bought with mitts in mind.... So I have the first mitt almost done--and it looks way cool! I'm taking careful notes so I can write out the pattern and share it with my friends. I might even become famous and get listed in Knitting Pattern Central and have lots of people come and visit my blog and well, gosh! So here's a pix or two. Oh and a pix of my niece dressing up like a rich, chic "French lady" (scarf and chignon) for all my pals on EZasPi (sorry the pix is a bit blurry but it was early for me). Knit on!

Passing on the tradition

Surely there can be no greater joy for a knitter than to pass on the tradition to the next generation. Since I have no children and my brother managed to produce nothing but boys who are interested in sports and music, my only true hope to pass on my fiber fanaticism is my sister's youngest child--my only niece. When school closings necessitated a desperate need for child care 2 weeks ago, Victoria expressed her first interest in wanting to knit. Of course her Aunt Kristina was elated beyond words. The lesson was brief however, so I wasn't sure just how much Victoria liked it. So when she and Mark Thomas came back again this week to spend another couple of days I wasn't sure what to expect. But sure enough, the passion has been kindled and Victoria was ready for more.

Yesterday morning she crawled up in bed with me and intently watched as I was knitting. I was awake at that point but hadn't arrived on the planet yet, if you know what I mean, and was playing around with an idea for some fingerless mitts in a fine gauge yarn. That's when Victoria looked at me with her big cow brown eyes and sighed "I wish you would knit me something." I had made her mother the Fetching mitts for Christmas and they have seen heavy use since then. Plus, grandmother has been knitting on a baby blanket for my nephew Tyler and his wife who are expecting their first baby in June. So of course Victoria is taking this all in like a sponge. I make no commitments but ask her if she wants to practice her knitting. The enthusiasm swallowed up the whole room! I pointed to the yarn and needles she used previously and she was off like a rocket.
I used the little jingle "in through the front door, around the back; out through the window, off jumps Jack" to help her remember the sequence of the knit stitch. In the second picture Victoria is almost cross-eyed trying to get Jack to jump off without the neighbors coming off too! It was just too cute for my big mushy heart to stand. But this time she was able to knit all by herself and completed almost an entire row before the frustration of stitches sliding off the needle when they weren't supposed took over. For a seven year old I thought she did very well. I can't wait for the next lesson :-)

Super Sunday

Let's see, it's Sunday night. In Knoxville its *very* cold and dry. In Miami a bunch of people shelled out hundreds of bucks to sit in the pouring rain and watch this thing called the Super Bowl. It's a ball game. A football game. It's supposed to be a really big deal, but I usually don't care about it as pro football isn't my thing. But this year is an exception because there's this guy named Manning, Peyton Manning, who is the quarterback for one of the teams, the Indianapolis Colts. I love Peyton Manning. Why? Well, he was a star football player for my beloved University of Tennessee Volunteers. Even better, he graduated from UT--very important in my book if you are going to be held in high enough esteem for me to consider a person qualified for hero status among kids. Being educated is more important that playing football, no matter how good you are. Then there's this thing about just being a really, really good, honest person who does good things for others. Integrity is such a rare bird in today's world, esp. in athletics. The Manning family (Dad Archie, Mom, and brother Eli included) stand head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to integrity. And if you don't have integrity, you don't have anything really.

So I'm happy about this super thing. And it's half-time and Peyton & the Colts are ahead. And I'm watching the Knitty Gritty marathon on DIY. I'm not watching Prince do the half-time show, that's for sure (don't like his music, and let's not even go into where he stands on things like values and integrity). Host Vickie Howell is blogging live over on the DIY website so I popped over and posted a comment to show my support. It would have been more fun if it would have been a live show, but Vickie is doing a book tour so that wouldn't work this year. But if the blogging goes well, maybe next year.... They're promoting knitting blocks for Warm-Up America during the game. I feel marginally guilty, but I'm not doing one. If I were doing good-deed knitting tonight I'd finish daddy's Christmas socks--but I'm not doing that either.

I've been sicker than all get out this week. It's been a weird kind of sick though, and I have no idea why or what's going on really. But I do know that all the stress I've been feeling from the dissertation is part of the problem and the best answer I had was to cool it for a few days and sleep a lot. And since my brain hasn't been too functional, knitting has been good therapy as well. I'm half-way through chart 9 on the Hidcote shawl and the end is near! I'm at the point where I'm tired of knitting this one and at the same time I'm really anxious to finish. It's a huge shawl to begin with and I think mine may block out to be even larger since I opted to go up one needle size from what the pattern called for.But since my cashmere is going to bloom once I wash and block it, I felt I needed the bigger needle size to achieve the look I wanted.

Since it's been so cold lately I've been wishing I had a pair of fingerless mitts to wear at night while working at the 'puter or knitting. I don't really have any pretty aran wt. yarn to knit Fetching with, but I have some dk cashmerino and some fluffy fingering wt. alpaca. I opted to use the cashmerino and design my own pattern but I knew I needed to wash this ColourMart yarn first in order to feel confident with my stitch counts and needle size. So that meant unwinding the yarn off the cone and into big hanks--no small feat since I don't have a swift or a niddy noddy--and then washing the yarn and dry it--partially air dry plus a short fluff in the dryer. I ended up using one of those lattice looking cup holder thingies you hang on the wall to serve as my swift and I carefully wrapped the yarn around the outer knobs (42" circumference). I placed cotton thread ties around the yarn in four places after every 25 wraps to prevent tangling and ultimately turned the 150g cone into 3 balls. Thank goodness I have a ball winder! The yarn fluffed up nicely and I'm playing with a simple ribbed lace pattern. I started out with size 5 dpns, but they were too big and I had too many stitches. This go around I'm using size 3 dpns and 54 stitches (the pattern is a 9 st repeat). I've knit about an inch thus far so I'll keep you posted.

Delirious

It's late Tuesday night after a couple of intense days working away on the dissertation. At times I'm so tired I'm delirious. That's a problem when I decided I need a break from it all so I pick up my knitting! If I work with any speed I make mistakes and end up tinking, so mostly I just knit slowly. And I look at the charts more often than usual. Not often enough mind you as I just finished knitting a few repeats on Hidcote where I reversed my k2tog & ssk sts. Fortunately it was in a place where the change really didn't adversely affect the lace so I didn't tink. I dislike tinking ssk sts, but I *despise* tinking sssk with a fervent hatred reserved only for the vilest of things. Yup, it's that awful. The good news is I'm on the last row of Chart 8. Only 2 more charts left to go and this cow has the barn in sight--both for the shawl and for the dissertation. YeeHaw!

The Long and Short of Things

My time to knit has been quite short this week as I have been submerged in the research for my dissertation. But as I mentioned in yesterday's post knitting on the Hidcote Garden Shawl has been a bit frustrating because the stitches are so crowded on the needles. I despise knitting in a crowd! LOL So after working on my research into the wee hours of the morning last night, I was a bit brain-dead when I woke up this morning (it *was* still morning, but not by much). I grabbed my Diet Coke and the shawl and resumed knitting where I left off last night on row 5 of Chart 8. After 3 or 4 repeats I realized I was adding double yos in between the ssk and k2tog sts. where, of course, they didn't belong. Shame on me for not looking at the chart to verify the pattern before starting to knit! I decided double yos were a lot of extra yarn, so I grabbed a 16" circular and slipped my way back to where I started and proceeding to drop the yos and pull up the slack. I knit a couple more repeats when I realized I was decreasing a lot and not adding enough sts to compensate. Yes, only then did I *look* at the chart and realize that I was omitting the 2 single yos in each repeat. Can you say wake up!!! So I frog back a second time (no easy task in the crowd) and fix the mistakes.

Once the evil row 5 is finished, correctly, I start the hunt to find my 24" Addis. I can't find them, but I did find my 32" 4s in the Shetland Tea Shawl which has been languishing in a basket while I knit Hidcote. Oh duh! No wonder my stitches are so crowded--I'm using a 24" needle! Talk about senselessly clueless, I had no idea I was working with a short needle. So the STS got put on a big long lifeline until I can go back and finish the edging and Hidcote got a chance to stretch out a show off for the camera as I transitioned between the 2 Addis. Talk about feeling stupid!

Not much time to knit this week

Well, I'm into the thick of my research and progressing ever so slowly towards the completion of my doctoral dissertation. I had 2 research interviews this week, one of which took all afternoon and 3 days worth of energy. Add a university workshop on "what you need to know about formatting your dissertation so we will accept it and let you outta here" and the usual Tuesday research group meeting and what to do you get? Not much time for knitting this week. Not that I'm complaining mind you, because all knitting and no research isn't a fun way to live either. Been there (cuz' I was too sick to do much other than knit, bead, or tat), done that!

Nevertheless, it wasn't knitting abstinence either. Especially since I the flu closed the schools in Cookeville on Thursday and Friday and Aunt Kristina and the Grandparents got to entertain 2 kids for 2 days while Mommy and Daddy were working and doing their on school stuff. let's face it, it's pretty darn hard for me to focus on writing and transcribing audiotapes with Victoria bouncing in and out of my bedroom announcing "let's do something fun!" Sometimes fun requires my active, constant involvement and other times it's just supervision and access to the "stuff" like the boxes and drawers full of jewelry, hats, and scarves. Aunt Kristina has lots of pretty things ;-) I got a fair amount of knitting done on the Hidcote shawl while Victoria played dress-up. All I had to do was gush appropriately once the costume changes had been made. Easy! Every time she wants to dig in to the fun stuff I just remind myself to enjoy it while Victoria is still young enough to find such things pleasurable. At 7 I still have a little girl for a few more years and I'm gonna enjoy every minute of it.

I was most delighted when Victoria popped in Thursday morning and announced that she wanted to learn how to knit. YES!!! I've just been waiting for her to be interested. I told her we would do it while she was here. I prepped Thursday night by grabbing a pair of size 8 bamboo needles and some Wool-ease and knitting a few short rows to get her started. I decided after trying to teach some high school girls last year that starting with casting-on isn't the best way to go. Last night Victoria was ready for her first lesson. I showed her 3-4 stitches, knit another 3-4 with her, and then she was on her own. She successfully knit several more stitches before becoming distracted by something else. Not bad for a 1st lesson with a lively-minded creative child. Give me a couple more years of maturity and I'll have her addicted too!

Just a quick progress report on the Hidcote Shawl. I finished chart 7 and this morning and have started in on chart 8. I was knitting along last night thinking how well I was doing and how I had made no mistakes in this shawl. Then as I started to knit the last RSR I realized that I had knit 2 additional yos into every repeat on the previous RSR. I had jinxed myself! There was no way I was going to haul out close to 900 sts so I studied my options and decided I would just compensate by knitting a decrease, either a k2tog or ssk, in the offending position on the current row. That would return my stitch count back to normal and would not be very obvious in terms of the design. One would have to know I had made a mistake to find it because I was consistent across the entire row. So much for perfection. Chart 8 is short and I may get it done this weekend. That leaves only 2 charts left to go.

My only challenge now is that the rows are so long my 32" needle is getting mighty crowded. I could break down and order a 40" needle, but it would be at least a week before it arrives and I don't want to be held up waiting. Or I could buy another 32" and use 2 needles like they were regular straights. If I did that I wouldn't have to wait because I could go to Jinka's and buy it. I do seem to use size 4 needles a lot for lace so I don't think it would be a waste. But then again Addi-turbos are expensive and I want to try the new KnitPicks Options needles. Oh decisions!

Smart. Very Smart.

Some people are smart. Very smart. Like the kind soul who decided to put together a blog page listing all the knitting KALs, swaps and exchanges for the year so those of us who may not be quite as in the know can just go to one place and find a ready made group of friends to knit a project with. Of course I won't remember where the master blog listing is located 2 days from now, so I did a little smart thinking of my own and saved it all here for future reference. That is if I have any time to knit something new. All my smart thinking is being swallowed up by my research project at present. I was just going over my timeline this afternoon and I feel overwhelmed by just how much work I have left to do. Yikes! But I was good today and got a nice amount done so I can knit and watch the Tennessee Lady Vols play Duke in basketball tonight. i just didn't have the energy to go to the game in person, so sitting at home and knitting as I watch (and cheer, and scream) will just have to do. Smart. Very smart!

The Sabbath is a Day of Rest

Today is Sunday. And being the very faithful Latter-Day Saint that I am I took advantage of the Sabbath Day as a Day of Rest. I slept late, I took a long nap after Church, and I rested from my labors on the Gansey Pillow. It was miserably cold and rainy today and my body hurt like holy toledo! My neck was especially unhappy, making it difficult for me to concentrate on the talks in church (one of which was a very nice discourse on keeping the Sabbath Day holy). I didn't stay for Sunday School as I was in far too much pain.

After dinner I picked up my knitting and starting working on the Hidcote Garden Shawl again. I had let it languish a bit while enjoying my gansey adventure, but decided to pick it up again after noticing that my forearms were hurting more than usual after a gansey knitting session. Perhaps the tighter knitting required for ganseys is more demanding physically than the looser knitting lace prefers? Whatever the reason, it was a good choice to switch. I've finished 6 of the 10 charts in Hidcote and I'm already several rows into chart 7. Even though the rows are quite long (300+ st) the diamond motif in this center section is pretty fast knitting as lace goes. I just need to finish this chart and I'll be ready to move on to the final lace pattern which resembles stems of lavender in bloom. A couple of my Hidcote garden KAL partners finished their shawls this weekend and they started in January! Wow that's fast, focused knitting. Hidcote is a huge shawl so knitting it in 19 or 20 days is seriously impressive.

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are bamboo.Warm, cozy, and thoughtful, you take your time and enjoy how things feel, smell, and taste. You love the craft and beauty of traditional things, and you value the comfort and experience of knitting as much as the results. But while you are reveling in your warm cozies, don't get stuck. Warm is wonderful, but so is the whole wide world!
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

What Kind of Knitter Are You?

You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting and do it all the time. While finishing a piece is the plan, you still love the process, and can't imagine a day going by without giving some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation involves leaving ample space for the stash and supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn ends and you begin.http://marniemaclean.com
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Froggy went a Fishing

Here onn Good Old Rocky Top Froggy went a courtin' to bring his Lass a handknit gansey pillow, but halfway there he fell into the Frog Pond and had to be fished out! What did froggy learn?

1. You can't knit the top half of the 1st gansey pillow pattern by simply repeating the written pattern once more while maintaining the continuity of the center section. Following this direction will result in the hearts and triangles landing in strange places. OK. So I reckon that one simply continues each section at the same spacing interval established previously (4 rows between triangles and 6 rows between hearts). That shouldn't be hard, right? I just need to read my knitting as I do when knitting lace and forget about the chart which would be inaccurate. So I put the chart away and knit on into the night. Guess what I learned next?

2. It takes more concentration to accurately knit 3 distinct patterns which repeat at different intervals than I have late at night (esp. after being mind-numbingly sick for several days). About 10 or 12 rows into the upper half I realize I started knitting the triangle 1 row too soon and I added extra rows to the heart so it doesn't match all the other hearts. Things do not look good. I toss the knitting aside and go to sleep.

3. I did have enough sense to wait until this morning before frogging back all those rows and picking up those squirrelly k/p/k stitches. I retrieved the chart from it's notebook and did some cross-eyed counting before starting the upper half of the pillow again. Let's not talk about all the twisty yarn piled up on the bed.

4. Gansey knitting resumes. I knit a few rows, starting the triangle on the correct row and putting the proper number of stitches in the heart. I pause to admire my work when what!!! Oh noooo! I messed up the moss st. border on one edge about 3 rows back. I guess it's back to the frog pond. Poor froggy!

5. BTW, I ditched the stitch markers at the half way point of the pillow. The good news is I managed to successfully keep all the patterns in their proper columns so at least that worked :-)


I think frogs and moss and ponds get along pretty well. Hopefully everything will get better soon.

Swatching Silk

Last night I was drooling over the new listings of silk yarns over at ColourMart. To make matters worse Richard posted his intentions to take the prices up again shortly to adjust for the increasing costs of shipping and the decreasing value of the USD. So I'm debating if I should buy some more silk now and I realize I haven't even knitted anything from the silk I do have. OK, so it's time to do some swatching.

Following the example of our fearless Gansey w/s leader I decide to make something useful out of the experience. Something small, a little lacy, something that would tell me more about how I could use this lucious fiber. Well, I been doing a fair amount of scripture study lately and wishing I had a few more bookmarks to help keep my place while I'm chasing cross-references. Bookmarks! That's it! Small, useful, I can use any stitch I want. Perfect! So I pulled out a book of stitch patterns (darn, I had to give the BWT back to the library last week) and started thumbing through. I sort of knew I wanted to do a simple horseshoe pattern, and I didn't find anything else better (Gotta buy my own set of BWT books).

I had Richard wind 3 strands of the 2/28 laceweight silk together on this cone of Bonbon pink. I used 2.75mm needles and cast on 17 sts. I knit 4 rows in moss st. before starting the pattern. The borders are 3 sts, also knit in moss st (k1, p1, k1 on all sides) which I continued all the way to the tip of the bookmark. I knit 2 rows of St. st. before proceeding with the horseshoe lace. After seven repeats of the lace, I continued working in St. st making a Cdd every right side row until there was only 1 st left on the needle. A few t-pins and some steam and I had a nice little bookmark. Final measurements are 7.5 x 2" excluding the tail (hence the row gauge is 8.5 st/in).

Now for the commentary--- The silk was incredibly smooth and soft to the touch, but once knitted it had good body and a nice drape. The 2.75mm (US2)needles yielded a firm enough texture for a very nice summer garment. One could easily go up to as much as a 3.5mm (US4) for a lace shawl or stole, or even a 4mm needle (US6) if you wanted a very lacy effect. The 3 strands of silk seemed to be similar to a #10 crochet cotton (maybe just a tad bigger) or a laceweight wool (like KnitPicks Shadow). Of course there is no stretch or spring to the silk so that has to come from the knitting, and there's no halo either, hence my judgement to use a smaller needle size than I would use for a comparable wool or mohair fiber.

And lastly,the confession--- I admit to a bit of envy for those of my Colourmart friends who own fine gauge knitting machines. Oh how I wish I could whip out a few short sleeve tops to live in out of this delicious silk! It would knit relatively fast on a machine. Using US2 or 3 needles, well, not so fast :-(((

PS. I didn't wash my bookmark so I can't speak to that aspect of the yarn. Other than that, it definitely a 2 thumbs up from here in on old Rocky Top :-)

PPS. Click on ColourMart on the sidebar to find Richard's website (where the best deals are).

Gansey Education Continues

So my gansey knitting education continues today with a few more insights. I am now up to row 36 on the 1st pillow pattern and here's what I've figured out today:

1. Crushed raspberry frangipani yarn really does look quite smashing once knitted up. Smashing...did you get it.... LOL (boo hiss, moan groan). Ok, I need humor because I've had an awful day so forgive my feeble attempts.

2. Frangipani yarn doesn't seem nearly so scratchy once you get going knitting it. The feel of the pillow top isn't at all unpleasant. So another reason to not pass judgment on a yarn by what you see and feel in the ball and wait until you've tried it. I'm still not knitting a sweater out of it for myself, though.

3. Black dots that don't look at all interesting on paper can surprise you. I wasn't at all impressed with the 2-row stairstep sequence in the center of the pillow. It was one of the reasons why I intended to knit the other pillow first. But hey, once knitted this pattern looks amazing! I love the texture. The bottom line, a) you can't trust the chart to tell you the truth about a stitch pattern and b) ya gotta swatch it first before passing judgment on a stitch pattern--you might just be surprised!

4. I really dislike k1, p1 knitting. I avoid 1x1 ribbing and have never done moss stitch because I hate the constant manipulations required for throwers to do k1, p1 knitting. But golly gee, moss stitch sure is superb way to knit borders. Nice texture, no curling, maintains its width without the sucking in of ribbing. Moss stitch is cool! I'm getting better/faster at knitting k1, p1 sequences and will no longer look away from a pattern because it is done in moss (seed) stitch.

And one last observation which is independent of ganseys, knitting is wonderfully soothing when it's cold and yucky outside and you're having a really sucky day. A warm fireplace, a good movie, and a lap dog also help :-)

Reelin' Me in a Gansey

I'm reelin' me in a gansey! "Reeling" you ask? Why yes, because reeling in is what you do to fish after you've hooked them and fish because the guys that did the reeling in the UK were the ones who wore Ganseys. Gansey Sweaters (Jumpers) that is. And I'm getting quite an education participating in Liz Lovick's Gansey Workshop on the EZasPi Forum. The above scan is of my second class project, a pillow comprised of stitch patterns used in Gansey sweaters. I am using the authentic, from the UK, spun from pure new wool, 5ply Frangipani Yarn and 3.25mm needles for my pillow. Here's what I've learned thus far:

1. Black dots on the pattern are the bumps on the right/front/public side of the knitting. The bumps are made using purl stitches--but only if you are knitting on the front side. You have to make a knit stitch on the back side to get the bumps to show up in the right place on the right side. Got it? Oh, and you have to be adept at reading from right-to-left and from left-to-right because a pillow is knit flat and you don't want your bumps to end up on the wrong half/side of the pillow. Now I'm sure you've got it!

2. Frangipani yarn is spun differently from most yarns used over here "across the pond". One is "woolen" and the other "worsted" spun. Don't ask me which. It's very tight and *very* twisty. Like tatting cotton tight and twisty. So you have to pull out long lengths of yarn from the ball in order to give the fiber space to twist up on itself and then chill out again before you wrap it around your needles and knit those little bumps. In tatting when the thread is too twisty you just drop your shuttle and let it untwist itself by spinning around in the air. Trying to do this with knitting is not so easy. Hanging on to yarn up near the ball while letting a metal needle with a point and some fabric hanging from it spin in front of you is, well, potentially dangerous. At least when it's going on midnight and I'm in bed with the dog it's dangerous. I decided to leave this untwisting technique to my tatting. You just gotta learn to love the twist in the yarn and somehow, once it's knitted up, everything looks just fine.

3. Stitch markers are your friend. I generally avoid stitch markers as they are more of an annoyance than a help in my lace knitting. In Gansey knitting they are your friend. They help you keep the different stitch patterns in their proper place. And sometimes, in the plain sections, they allow you to just knit across to the next marker without counting like a crazy woman. This is a good thing. That is unless you think you're in a plain section when you really aren't. For that problem see #1 about the bumps.

4. If you are a blue blood with sensitive fingers, do not use Frangipani yarn. It is rough and scratchy. Not icky scratchy. Just scratchy in a rustic kind of way. But then it doesn't take much for this I-don't-have-a-clue-about-fleece-and-spinning-and-wool-except-that-
I-can-go-to-my-LYS-and-buy-something-all-ready-to-knit city slicker girl. While I am hopeful that a shampoo and conditioning treatment will help soften things a bit, I know this is not a fiber I want next to my skin no matter how cold it is outside. I will not knit a sweater from Frangipani. Oh, and a good hand lotion treatment before knitting sessions is helpful :-)

5. Do not decide to cast-on and start knitting a pillow at 11:00PM. You will grab the right yarn, the right needles, cast-on the right number of stitches, and start knitting the wrong pillow pattern. I really intended to knit the one with the anchors on it. You see I'm doing this doctoral dissertation on HOPE and the anchor is one of the symbols linked to HOPE and so I thought it would be timely to knit the pillow with the hearts (love or charity) and the anchors (HOPE) as a part of my adventure in learning. What I learned is to go to bed and turn off the lights and cast-on the next day when I'm awake and lucid.

6. It's a good thing I purchased 2 balls of Frangipani from Pat at the Yarn Barn so I have enough yarn to knit both pillows. Oh, and I also learned that the "Sea Spray" is a perfect shade of aqua blue and the "Crushed Raspberry" is a little dark for my taste. I'm glad I chose to buys 2 balls instead of 1 cone. Hmmm, maybe I should have tried the Herring Girls Pink. Next pillow, next one.

Orkney Oy!

If at first you don't succeed at knitting the Orkney gansey swatch correctly...Oy! I don't know why I managed to knit the 1st one using a stockinette ground instead of a garter stitch ground, but I did. But thanks to our fearless leader, Liz took a gander over here and saw the error of my ways :-)

This time I dug a little deeper in my stash and found a slightly fatter yarn to use. One of my follow EZasPi classmates had mentioned using Sinfonia cotton for her swatch and I knew I had a ball somewhere. I didn't find it the first go around but was successful tonight. This time I used US3 (3.25mm) needles and I found the knitting much easier. The larger gauge compensated for the inelastic fiber and the predominantly knit stitch use made this swatch a very fast knit. The block was 3" square which was right on target. I think I pass this time :-)

Getting an Education

So classes are officially underway for the spring semester on Rocky Top and what am I doing? I'm getting an education, not in nursing, but in the fishing communities of Victorian England and Ganseys, the sweaters knitted and worn by those who live by and made their living from the sea. Fascinating! I got into this through my camaraderie with the knitty folks at EZasPi where Liz Lovick is leading an online workshop on Gansey Knitting. So instead of going to the University Bookstore and buying textbooks (Thank God I'm past that point) I went to the used bookstore to snoop through the knitting and craft books. And guess what? I hit the jackpot! I found the top 2 out-of-print (OOP) books Liz recommended for reading about Gansey Knitting. The 1st is Michael Pearson's Traditional Knitting: Aran, Fair Isle, and Fisher Ganseys (c 1984) and the other is The Complete Book of Traditional Guernsey and Jersey Knitting by Rae Compton (c 1985). And in keeping with my lace addiction I also came across a multi-technique lace book called The Gentle Arts which includes both knitting and tatting patterns among its many offerings. It's a good thing I don't need any more yarn for awhile since I just splurged on all these books. While the prices were more than reasonable they still add up and my trade-ins only defrayed a part of the outlay. The sacrifices one has to make for education!

You Belong in Spring

Optimistic, lively, and almost always happy with the world... You can truly appreciate the blooming nature of spring. Whether you're planting flowers or dyeing Easter eggs, spring is definitely your season!

What Season Are You?

Gansey Pincushion

I'm participating in Liz Lovick's Gansey Workshop in the EZasPi group. The first class assignment was to practice gansey knitting charts and techniques by knitting two pattern "swatches" and turning them into a small pincushion. What a novel idea, making swatches into something useful! LOL

I've ordered some 5ply Frangipani yarn, the stuff used to knit authentic ganseys, but for this project I used yarn from my stash that was sufficient to meet the needs of the project--namely a very smooth, firm textured yarn in a fingering-sport weight. I used smooth baby pink DMC Senso which is about a fingering weight. I think this one is microfiber but I don't have the ball band any more so who knows? I used US2 (2.75mm) needles and the resulting fabric is firm but still pliable. I think I guessed correctly in my needle choice. I pinned out my blocks and steamed them before assmbling the pincushion. The diamond block measured 2.75" x 2.75" while the other block was 3.0" x 2.75." The diamond block called for 1 less row in the pattern so that, along with the top/bottom purl bands probably accounts for the difference in size.

This was an interesting exercise. My swatches passed the Liz test which requires they be examined from 6 feet away to see if the texture of the stitch pattern is clearly visible. If it is the yarn and needle choice was appropriate. If not, you get to try again. I like passing tests on the 1st attempt :-) 

Florida Wins, Hell Freezes Over

I shoulda seen it coming. It was all my fault. I shoulda known better that to cheer for the University of Florida to win the NCAA championship game in football last night against Ohio State University. After all Hell would freeze over before an "I bleed orange" Univ. of Tennessee Volunteer fan would root for their arch enemy the Gators. And so it did. In the midst of record warm temperatures and daffodils about to bloom in East TN I woke up to SNOW on the ground! Yikes!!!! Snow.

I promise immediate repentance, Lord. I won't do it ever again. I'll never cheer for Florida again. Please take that cold stuff away, QUICK! And as luck would have it, I had to go out of the house this morning. In a semi-stuporous state I was rummaging through storage bins trying to dig out a very warm sweater to wear over a turtleneck. Add one of those nice Alpaca shawls I've been knitting all year and presto---no coat needed! The status of my winter coat supply is well, pitiful at best, but then who needs them around here? Not often enough to invest is a really nice, warm coat.

My morning panic over sweaters left me with knitters remorse for not having knit a few nice sweaters that fit properly and are constructed out of quality yarns. The only ones I've made were out of "fashion" chunky yarns from big box craft stores and knit on fat needles. My swatching was inadequate, the yarn to pattern combinations awful, and the resulting sweaters excessively short and wide. In a words, big knitters *don'ts*. The box of don't sweaters is what led me to stop knitting sweaters, but my knitting savvy has increased wonderfully as of late. I know better than to make the same mistakes I once did. No more crappy yarn. No more size 15 needles. (aka broomsticks). Maybe I'll knit a proper sweater in time for next year's cold weather. If we have any cold weather that is.....

Hmmm... now to find the mosquito killers. We're gonna have a bumper crop of the little devils next summer. A girl can't win for losing..... Go Vols Go!

Here's Kiri--Again

I love the Kiri Shawl. It's an awesome pattern. It's lacy without being too lacy. It's easy enough to knit without being too complicated or too boring. Well that is unless you did what I did and add extra repeats to make a bigger shawl so that by the time you get there you are so sick of knitting little leaves that you are ready to scream. But then again that screaming may have been influenced by the fact that it was Christmas and I was trying to finish and I was hopelessly too far behind to get all my knitted presents finished in time for Santa to put them under the tree. But then again it didn't really matter because the presents were for my parents who knew what I was up to and didn't care if they were done by Dec. 25th. God Bless Mom & Dad!

So here's my second Kiri shawl which finally got it's lovely bubble bath and trip to the blocking bed. I had to wait until the last of the relatives departed so I could have the bed to use for blocking. I suspected the shawl would be too big to fit on the bed, which it was, but I fudged it anyway 'cause I wasn't up to crawling around on the floor waving T-pins and metal rods. Oh, the metal rods---this was my 1st time using blocking "wires" to block the straight edge of the shawl. These were aluminum welding rods I found at the little Ace Hardware Store in Dixie Lee Junction. Things sure have changed at Dixie Lee Junction from my high school days when DLJ was known only for the fireworks shop which was next door to the dilapidated drive-in movie theater which showed only XXX movies and was a frequent topic of discussion among the jocks and rednecks at good old Farragut High School. But I digress... The wires do make a terrific straight edge to the shawl but threading them is a little tricky, esp. since I had to use 5 of them to cover the wingspan of the shawl. But they do a much better job than running a long length of fishing line to block the top, so that's that. Oh, and the shawl is a heathered purple and not the blackish brown color that it looks like in the pictures. I have a crummy digital camera but the price was right (yup, free).

The final statistics:
1. Pattern: Kiri Shawl from All Tangled Up
2. Yarn: KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud, color-iris, 4 skeins knit double-stranded (used ~1550 yds.)
3. Needles: Addi-Turbos US 5 (3.75mm), 32" circulars
4. Finished dimensions: 40x80" (15 repeats, 16 leaf motifs along center line)

New Year's Update

OK, so in my last post I updated that status quo of most of my knitting projects. This time I thought I'd update my blog and add those little things like KAL buttons and pictures of wips. You know, all the little things I've neglected for a few months plus all the new things I've jumped in on over the holidays. OK, so here's goes:


I bought the amazing new book by Jane Sowerby called Victorian Lace Today. The photography is enough to make this book a coffee table special and the updated Victorian era lace patterns make it a must-have for any lace knitters personal library. And when great books and patterns emerge, the online KALs of folks wanting to knit them together quickly follow. So the VLT KAL blog was one of my newest additions.


Not being the kind of soul who knits only one lace shawl project at a time (ROTFLOL)I also chimed in on a new KAL of folks knitting the Hidcote Garden Shawl designed by Miriam at mimknits.com. I bought the pattern back in November thinking I would knit it as a part of the Lacevember KAL. I knit on it for maybe 2 weeks before it got pushed aside in favor of Christmas knitting. So now I've picked it up again and am making good progress. I'm using ColourMart 2/28 laceweight cashmere in a pretty dusty aqua blue color and size 5 needles. I've finished the first section of lace and am into the diamonds (C6, r13).














OK. So that's what up with the lace along parties. But when that lace jumps ship from shawls and stoles and hits the ground you get...lacy socks. And that brings me to the next KAL-the Branched Fern Socks. A member of the Lace Knitters list, Rochelle Ribeiro designed this pattern for a contest. When she didn't win she turned her disappointment into joy by sharing her great pattern with friends online and started a KAL group. Way to go Rochelle! I haven't cast-on yet, but I plan to use some Regia Silk yarn for this one.

And then I detour from lace altogether and follow my fellow EZasPi friends in a workshop on Gansey Knitting led by the Brit Knit extraordinaire herself, Liz Lovick. This should be interesting since I know nothing about Ganseys, Guernsey's, or other Aran and Celtic knitting forms. I don't plan on knitting a Gansey sweater, but a small project incorporating the techniques will be sufficiently educational.

Knit, Knit, Knit

It's that in between the holidays time and I'm still knitting like crazy to finish Christmas presents. I cast-off mother's Kiri shawl late Wednesday night. I deliberately knit several more pattern repeats in order to make this Kiri a bit larger than my 1st one. Using double stranded Alpaca Cloud helped it be a bit more substantial as well. I haven't blocked her yet since my sister and her family arrived yesterday to spend New Year's with the "grandparents" and Aunt Kristina :-) They occupy all my blocking spaces in the house, so the task (and the pictures) will have to wait.

Now that my sister is here, I needed to put the finishing touches on her Fetching fingerless gloves. I knit the last thumb and sewed in the ends while we chatted after the kids opened their presents. I can't believe how tall Mark Thomas and Victoria have gotten in only 6 short months. Mark had just passed me at 5'4" in July and he's passing Julia (aka Mom) now at 5'8+". But he's also in size 11 shoes and he just turned 12 last week. Yikes! Victoria is 7.5 yo and is shooting up like her brother. It won't be too many years and I'll be reclaiming my title as shortest person in the family.

So anyway, I tossed the 1st mitt over to Julia while I finished the 2nd one. her hands were icy as usual so she put it on right away. She said she tried wearing athletic wristbands after we chatted about this idea, but they were too tight and uncomfortable. But it wasn't 15 minutes and she was commenting on how her hand was warmer already and the Fetching mitts were just perfect for when she's at the computer at work. Yippee! She didn't even mind my color choice of charcoal gray. I told her I was trying to be practical about how grungy they might get with extended use. I guess I'll have to knit another pair so she has one for the office and another for home. That's simple since they are such a fast knit:-)

Now I'm on to daddy's socks--my last gift knit. I measured his foot and am making up the pattern as I go. The subtle tweedy variegation in the Trekking XXL yarn is helping me minimize boredom, which is a good thing since I'm using size 1 (2.5mm) dpns and a 72 st count (yawn, yawn). After consulting with our local sock expert/celebrity Judy Sumner (KnoxSox Designs) I decided to do the cuff in a broken rib pattern. It was a very good choice. I just finished the last row on the heel flap and am ready to turn the heel. Picking up the gusset stitches should be interesting. I may have to switch over to my trusty Crystal Palace bamboo needles for the task as I've been using the new Knit Picks dpns which have a finish similar to Addi-turbos. They are super slickery (one of my mom's favorite invented words) which has been both wonderful and, at times, challenging in this project. These needles are not for the faint of heart sock knitter for sure!

I need to get daddy's socks done so I can move on to the 3 KALS I've signed up for. The first is the Branched Fern Socks KAL initiated by one of my Lace Knitters pals. She designed this great lacy sock pattern so a bunch of us are going to join together and knit ourselves a pair. Oh boy!

Next is the Hidcote Garden Shawl KAL. I've been granted special entrance to this one, but am ineligible for the prizes since I started knitting my shawl back in November. For this one I'm using Richard's ColourMart 2/28 laceweight cashmere in aquamarine--a beautiful dusty aqua blue. After swatching I chose to use US 5 (3.75mm) Addis for this project. Right now I'm on chart 5, row 19 of the pattern which is almost to the end of the first section. The pattern is extremely well charted and is very easy to follow so even newbie lace shawl knitters will be able to keep their place. I've knit a ton of cdd's at this point and am ready to move on to the next stitch sequence :-) I didn't have that luxury when I was crazy tired of knitting on Kiri!

And the last group I jumped into in the Victorian Lace Today KAL. I'll be lurking there initially until I decide which project to knit 1st out of this amazing new book. Of course the EZasPi group is starting a gansey workshop, but there I'll be learning technique and history and knitting little things. I'm not planning on knitting a full-blown gansey sweater just yet. The way things are going, It won't be cold enough around here this year for me to wear it. Heck, I've got daffodils shooting up like rockets in my garden and the earliest bloomers already have buds. This is 3 weeks earlier than ever before! Daffodils in December... Sheesh!

There's no place like home

It's good to be back home again after an extended absence. I'm talking about accessing the internet from my desktop computer at home of course, something I haven't been able to do since our wireless router died sometime last summer. I replaced the router and got the upstairs computer back up without a hitch but nothing I tried worked when it came to my own computer. I tried all the little things the online help said to do, but none of it worked and I was frustrated and just plain old grumpy about the whole thing. My previous experiences with tech support services over the phone have been awful, mostly because American companies keep outsourcing tech support to places like India where they speak a different kind of English language. You know, the kind that can't be understood and you spend and hour just repeating "I'm sorry, I can't understand what you're saying" and playing a-b-c-1-2-3 with every letter and number in the hopes they'll finally get it. Sheesh! But after 2 hours on the phone with tech support (still with foreign accents, but I think they may have at least been on American soil) I have finally managed to get everything together to successfully reconnect with the web "in my own little corner in my own little chair." Hallelujah!

It's pretty hard to blog from someone else's computer so I have some catching up to do. The up side is I spent a fairly good amount of the time I wasn't surfing either in my garden or knitting. I got lots of lace knit and my garden received Yard of the Month from the neighborhood. How cool is that? I was *so* surprised! Right now I'm madly working on Christmas presents so stay tuned!

Finished another Lace Shawl

I've had internet access problems on my own computer, so I haven't taken the time to update my blog. But I have been finishing knitting projects lately and I need to tell you all about them! I'll try to get some pictures posted soon, but here's the scoop:

Mystery Stole 2: I cast off last night! I knit the body of the stole right on schedule with the KAL--about 6 weeks--but I got derailed on the edging. I've decided I don't love knitting edgings that are perpendicular to the shawl. Oh I think they're really pretty and all that, but the shorter rows, frequent turning, and etc is cumbersome at best and is generally a hassle. So this one sat in a basket lacking the edging on one side for a couple of months until I decided to empty my UFO basket and get things finished. Actually, it's mostly becasue it is now cold enough and I want to *wear* my lace pretties :-) I dressed the stole out this afternoon and it is really a striking piece!

The final facts: Yarn-KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud, Color-Tide Pool, approx. 950-1000 yds., Addi-turbo needles size US 3 (3.25mm), Blocked dimension- 18" x 84" (72" length of body of stole plus 6" on each side for edging). Comments: This was a great design and fairly pleasant to knit, an intermediate level lace pattern; you do need to count like crazy and concentrate on the charts. I would knit this one again. Thanks Melanie (pinklemonknits)!

Ostrich Plumes Scarf: I finished this scarf back in September I think, although it was a few weeks before I got up the courage to block it. I used only pins for the blocking so the edges were a bit dimpled. I need to get some blocking wires! Then I reblock it and the scarf will look even better. As it is it already looks pretty darn wonderful so I can't complain. It took me awhile to memorize the pattern, mostly because I kept wanting to knit the pattern on every other row instead of every 4th row. I do love the ostrich plumes lace motif though and will definitely knit it again in either a scarf or a shawl (or both!).

The final facts: Yarn- Rowan Kid Silk Haze, Color-Candy Girl (a bright, deep raspberry pink), approx. 1.5 balls (~375-400 yds.), Addi-turbo needles size US 6 (4mm), Blocked dimension - . Comments: My 1st KSH project (I'm crazy in love with this yarn), After blocking the ostrich was *very* lacy. I think size 4 (3.5mm) needles would have looked better.

Branching Out Scarf: This is the infamous pattern from Knitty.com that many suggest as a good 1st lace project. I disagree. It's a nice design, but the "how many ways can you knit a 3 to 1 decrease in a single row" aspect of the design drove me bonkers. Yes, it was essential to the look of the branching, but it was a PITA to knit (esp the k3tog). It was such a PITA that it took me 7 or 8 months to find the courage to pick up this UFO and finish it.

The facts: Yarn- Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, Color-Bright turquoise, 1 skein (the whole skein!), Size 6 needles (I tried them all- Addis, Bamboo, BaleneII, Bates--none of them improved this knitting experience). I haven't blocked it yet, but it's approx. 9"x66". Comments: Never again. Not the pattern and not the yarn. NOT NOT NOT!

Sock Memories Socks: This was my brainless portable sock project. Just plain mostly stockinette knitting out of a royal blue, raspberry pink, bubblegum pink, and purple color mishmash. But they fit perfect (56 sts. on 2.75mm dpns) and I love how soft and yummy this KnitPicks yarn is. Too bad it's not superwash. I've already cast-on for the next pair (purples, blues, and yellow) as it's time to wear those warm wooly handknit socks! Yum :-)