I know I’ve said it before, but I love my camera! This is my 50mm f/1.8 II EF lens. I <3 this lens! I especially love the way it makes stucco in the backgrounds look sort of watercolored and soft.
To add more to the series of spring blossom photos, here are some other entries. Plum and Crabapple.
Happy Friday! May you have a knitterly weekend. Mine will be filled with friends, yarn, and many activities.
Ekho is a very laid back and relaxed kitty. He follows me from room to room quite often and is generally underfoot in the mornings when you’re half awake and it’s MOST inconvenient for him to be where your feet are.
He tolerates me picking him up a lot and actually enjoys being held like a baby and getting his tummy stroked. He often purrs like a lawnmower without any provocation (I think he realizes that I think it’s cute and I’ll pet him if he does). And he has appropriated every toilet-sitting moment as time for you to pet him because, naturally, you’re not doing anything else. This rule applies to C and myself as well as to anyone we have over, so be forewarned.
I try to put a lot of stuff on top of him ala Stuff on my Cat, but usually he shakes it off before I can get a picture.
But this weekend I got him while he was all snuggled up against my leg and caught him unawares.
I finished spinning up my thrums (except for about 1.5 ounces that I am not sure I want to spin), and plied it (4 bobbins of singles and 4 really full bobbins of plied yarn, plus a wee bit of singles) and then promptly put it on top of Ekho. The look says it all.
Here they are washed and dried.
Fiber/Amount: about 8.5 ounces of Spinderella’s Thrums, which are a one of a kind mishmash of random fiber bits she collects and throws together, so really it could be anything.
Wheel/Spindle: Ashford Traveler
Preparation: Pre-drafted
Spinning Technique: Sort of fast and loose. Since I knew I wasn’t going to get a really consistent yarn because of the many textures in the roving (including bits of thread), I just approximated about the same weight for each of the singles and spun with a more woolen single in mind to keep it lofty enough to fill in the iffy bits if it got too thin.
Wraps Per Inch/Yardage: 9-10, Heavy Worsted/275 yards
Verdict: It’s great, it came out balanced and it’s still soft, so I’m happy.
Planned Project?: Nothing yet. Suggestions?
Steven sent me a link to this article headlined “More men bucking stereotypes, picking up knitting”. I am all for men knitting. I’m all for ANYONE knitting… children, adults, grandparents, teenagers… if you’ve got hands and a brain, I vote that you use them to knit.
This article focuses on the social stigma that male knitters face, and touches on the far from female-centric history of knitting. But this is what gets me (emphasis mine):
“This is part of the popularity that knitting gained beginning in the early 2000s with people ages 18 to 34,” said Mary Colucci, executive director of the yarn council. “Now men and boys of the skateboard generation are driven to knit to create their own hats, individualize their looks.”
But the stereotype of knitting as feminine is being challenged by the fact that many male knitters are athletes, mostly snowboarders and skateboarders, who want to create their own, individualized gear. Boise State running back Ian Johnson made headlines when it was discovered that he spent three to four hours a night knitting beanies and scarves with logos after practice.
Despite the fact that the knitters INTERVIEWED in this piece NEVER ONCE say that they’re knitting their own individualized gear (and in fact, give plenty of other reasons such as relaxation, physical therapy for a shoulder injury, and the sense of creating something from nothing), the article uses an athlete making his own gear as a crutch to bolster the masculinity of the hobby. Why is it not just acceptable that a man LIKES to knit? Why do we have to justify it as an otherwise macho man who just wants some unique gear? The whole justification seems plastered onto the article the article to lend the hobby some credibility.
The men interviewed in this article speak clearly about why they love knitting. Why not focus on that? Clearly masculine stereotypes are just as pervasive as feminine stereotypes in the mainstream media.
Go read the article, then come back here and discuss!
M
And here’s another pair of socks that I haven’t shown you as a WIP and now show you as an FO. It’s magic!
Pattern: Made up, knit from the top down (I usually knit socks from the toe up for C since he likes them as tall as possible), on 76 sts, in a 2×2 rib, using sl2 wyif at strategically placed points to make a really subtle chevron detail that helped me not get really bored. Short row heel and wedge toe.
Yarn: Regia 4-fadig in color 535, which is a sort of foresty green with hints of brown and orange.
Needles: 2.5 mm, (US 1.5) Crystal Palace Bamboo DPNs. 2 Sets.
Verdict: They’re great! C loves them, and wore them yesterday. I used all but a few inches of the yarn though. In fact, I had to finish one toe, graft it, and then steal the rest of its yarn to finish the decreases and grafting for the other toe. All in all though, I’d say they were perfect.
Gotta catch you up on some FO’s….
Pattern: Thelonious by CookieA
Size: Medium
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in the colorway “Blue Lagoon”
Needles: 2.5 mm (US 1.5) Crystal Palace Bamboo DPNs. 2 sets.
Modifications: I extended the patterning a little past the last chart to make the travelling motifs come together on the instep before continuing the rest of the way toward the toe. I just was looking at it the way it was and didn’t like the whole wide strip of stockinette created by the two motifs meeting on either side of a knit rib.
Verdict: They’re great socks, although I might have gotten away with knitting the small size instead of the medium. They do bag a bit around my ankles after wear. But the yarn is just amazing. I can see why so many people stalk The Loopy Ewe when she gets a new shipment in. The color was interesting and fun to knit, without any pooling or flashing. And smooshy really is the best way to describe how this yarn feels.
In this great wide internets world, a few new terms have been coined. When a larger site links to a smaller site, it can create a spike in traffic. If the smaller site is lacking in bandwidth, then it can crash the smaller site completely. When one is linked by Instapundit, it’s called an Instalanche. It’s also known as the Slashdot Effect, or being “Slashdotted”. In my case a combination of a StumbleUpon link to my jam tutorial plus a link from the Harlot caused my spike in traffic.
Thankfully I survived due to an increased bandwidth that my Uncle gave me for Christmas when he was still my web host. Thanks Uncle Dave!
Just look at those numbers though! Over the last month I’ve averaged about 425 visits a day to this blog, and then I suddenly have 8.5 times that much traffic! And Thursday had 2777 visits. Holy crap!
Since I don’t get ad revenue from this blog, the number of hits aren’t really important, but it is nice to keep track of how many people are hanging around in my virtual living room. With this many people, perhaps I should be asking everyone to remove their shoes….
M
1. I don’t do well with posting if I don’t start the week out with a ton of posts all set to publish at daily intervals. Last week was such a crappy week for posting because I didn’t take the time on Sunday to work up the week’s posts. Even if I can get through Wednesday taken care of then I can deal with the rest of the week as it comes, but Monday and Tuesday posts HAVE to be done on Sunday.
2. Being sick REALLY sucks. Especially when you have to go in to work to get something done that can’t be done from home. And coworkers try to get you to go home because you’re hacking all over your desk, but the project isn’t done, so you can’t go…. ugh.
3. Cats know when you’re not feeling 100%. Ekho has been super kind to me. Not pestering me so much about food and on the day I stayed home he curled up under the covers with me to keep me warm. He’s a good kitty. I am glad we adopted him.
4. I only want to knit for family. I find that I am guarding my knitting time so zealously that friends who ask me to knit for them are finding a less than enthusiastic response. There are a few choice friends who count as family (Nametwinikin, I’m looking at you), but outside of family and chosen family, it’s just not worth the time.
5. 2 sick people in one house go through an astonishing amount of tissues.
6. The sound of rain on the window is a comforting thing to wake up to. I love rain!
7. An astonishing amount of spinning can get done when you’re with good friends and good company. I filled 2 bobbins between waiting for Stephanie to speak and during her talk. That brings the grand total to 4 bobbins. Just a little bit more to spin and then I can ply it up.
8. Everything is different with a camera. When you have a good camera that you’re excited about using, everything looks different. You start to see everything as a photograph. I wander around seeing things and thinking “How would I frame that as a shot?”, “What ISO level should I photograph at in this light?”, “Which lens should I use to really do this subject justice?”. It’s kind of fun, and kind of infuriating since I don’t take my camera with me everywhere.
M
While walking around my neighborhood taking pictures of blossoming trees, I saw something a little strange. There was an electrical cord hanging down from a tree, so I started to investigate.
Here’s a closer look…
I believe it’s a portable DVD player…. that someone tied to a tree….. Seriously? WHY?!
People never cease to amaze me with their absurdity.
M
Aside from being a great opportunity to meet with other knitters, one of Stephanie’s book tour stops always ends up being amusing and entertaining. She’s funny on stage, but she’s even funnier when you get her out from in front of all those staring, clapping people. Dinner with the grrls is always fun and this was no exception. You can see more pictures in my flickr.
I would like to say that I begged Stephanie to take the pictures of my finished EPS, but really, I just looked over and she reached for the camera. A quick rundown of how to work the auto-focus and she got to it. And Stephanie, if your mother was right and the knitting book thing doesn’t pan out, you might have a future as a professional photographer. :) The shots were very well framed, although my face left something to be desired in most of the shots. Especially the ones with my mouth WIDE open.
Pattern: Calculations and numbers from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Percentage Sweater-EPS, but made-up colorwork and with waist shaping added. Also I worked folded facings instead of ribbing, including facings with buttonholes for the front band. Knit in the round and then steeked up the front.
Yarn: Reynold’s Whiskey (100% wool), less than 6 balls of burgundy, less than 1 ball each of charcoal, teal, deep raspberry, light gray, and light blue.
Needles: 3.25 mm (US 3) 24″ circulars, and 3.25 mm bamboo dpns for the sleeves.
Gauge: 6 spi and 9 rpi.
Verdict: I love it so much. I wore it today to many oohs and aahs from the people on public transit who watched me knit it. The thing I’m most glad of is that I didn’t skimp on the finishing. I kept all of my facing stitches live and then sewed them down by hand instead of knitting them together with other stitches or binding them off and then sewing them down. I think it made a huge difference toward the lightness of the sweater. It’s not bulky in any place, even thought it’s got doubled up facings. The steek went a little awry, but nothing was unfixable, and I covered the steeks with grosgrain ribbon anyway, so you can’t tell at all.
M
C got sick this weekend. It started with a sore throat, and I figured it couldn’t be long until I got it myself. I thought he might be exaggerating about how much it hurt, but my throat has started with its own soreness this evening and I think he was dead serious. It hurts a LOT. More than any other sore throat I’ve ever had. No amount of water or tea is soothing it. Ugh.
EPS is done and blocked and there are pictures in my camera to prove it, but first thing’s first. I told you I had concocted a way to work the button bands, but didn’t elaborate.
I wanted something that would blend well with the stockinette-with-a-purl-turning-row facings that I knit at cuffs, collar and hem. I had briefly considered knitting the facing plain and then using my sewing machine to stitch buttonholes into the fabric, but the more I thought about it, the more I figured it was a bad idea for many reasons 1. cutting open the stitches like that with only a tiny buttonhole to keep them in place seemed iffy to begin with. 2. I was worried that the pressure of the feed dogs on my machine would stretch out and misshape the band and I’d be left with a fluted edge where I wanted a smooth button band.
So I did this instead:
All along the facing where I wanted a buttonhole (I chose 5 of them), I knit the first half of the facing and made a buttonhole as usual. Then when the facing was long enough, I worked the turning row. Then I completely reversed the facing, knitting the same number of rows BEFORE the second buttonhole as I knit AFTER the first buttonhole, etc… until I had 2 sides of a perfectly matching facing.
Once I’d sewn down the live stitches from the facing, I used buttonhole stitch to join the two sides of the buttohole and to make a nice solid edge around the hole.
M
I have pictures, they’re just in my camera and I haven’t had the time to process them yet. On Monday night I was busy finishing the sweater, last night I finished my heretofore unseen Thelonious socks right before I left to go to knitting, and this morning I needed to shower, so there’s been no time to process images. If you were here in person, you’d thank me for taking a shower rather than processing pics ;)
Hopefully I’ll have some time tonight to do it and to block the sweater. I’ve decided to add some grosgrain ribbon over the steeks just for peace of mind. I would hate myself terribly if I accidentally caught one of the steeks on a shirt button and unraveled part of the yoke. Having them flapping in the breeze makes me anxious.
This weekend I booked my flight and registered for TNNA, so I’ll be there at the beginning of June. Now all I have to do is find myself a place to stay. That’s harder than it sounds as OSU’s graduation is happening the same weekend and all the downtown hotels I’ve called are booked solid. If anyone knows of a good place in downtown Columbus that all the graduation people might have missed, I’d love to know about it. I’ve got to find SOMETHING.
M
M1: Do it, cut it! Hundreds of thousands of knitters have done this before. Don’t freak out!
M2: All those other knitters were CRAZY! This is CRAZY! Knitting should not be cut in half!
M1: This was your plan all along, so just stick with the plan
M2: What if I missed a step, what if something goes horribly wrong?*
M1: And if you don’t do it, you’ve got a sweater you won’t wear because it’s got a weird freaking placket in the front that was MEANT FOR THE STEEK! Just do it already.
M2: OMG! Here goes. *breathe* EEEK!
M1: You’re doing alright, just keep going…. Wait… what is that?!
M2: OMG OMG OMG! It’s starting to unravel! FUCK! What do I do? *hands begin to shake*
M1: Other knitters have said it started to unravel, but then stopped unravelling. Don’t FREAK OUT! Just calm down and finish it, there’s no going back.
M2: *pants* OH GOD! I think I’m going to screw up the most beautiful sweater I ever knit before it’s even done!
M1: Just keep going! You’re almost to the colorwork.
M2: Oh Shit.
M1: Oh Shit.
M2: I’m supposed to have 3 stitch on each side of the steek. There’s only 2 on this side, not 3.
M1: Uh… yeah.
M2: Crap. Is 2 enough for it to not unravel?
M1: No idea….
M2: ….. not helping….
M1: Well, just finish, you’ll make it work.
M2: I always do, don’t I. Maybe I should have started at the top…
I somehow got off on my first cut by one stitch too far left and ended up with 2 steek stitches on the left and 4 on the right. But the steek is cut and the facings are picked up.
I always thought the yarn harlot was exaggerating when she talked about having to have a little lie down after cutting a steek. Now I’m sure she was dead serious. My hands are still shaking and I feel like I’ve just run a mile chased by rabbid dogs. I think I need a cup of tea.
M
*I DID miss a step, I forgot to sew the steeks before cutting, which I know is not strictly necessary, but I realized it when I was about 2″ into the cut.
The yoke is done, the underarms are grafted and the sleeve hems have been sewn down. The ends are woven in and it’s time to steek the piece.
I’m a little bit nervous. No turning back after that. I want to make sure that I have time when I do sit down to do it so I can get the facings picked up as well. I think maybe tonight with some good lighting and an extra hand for photography will be just the trick.
M
The thing I love most about summer and the warmer months is the fresh produce. During the summer I head to my local farmer’s market every weekend and return home laden down with fruits and vegetables that were just too beautiful to pass up. I sometimes buy more than I can carry and bought myself a bag-lady type cart to help with that.
We all have foods that define periods of time for us. A favorite Christmas cookie that brings to mind the smell of an evergreen and the sparkling lights or the tang of a fresh strawberry picked warm from the garden that reminds us of our childhood. For me, summer’s quintessential food is Pasta Salad. The way my mother makes it. Of course, after cooking for 7 children and 2 adults for lo those many years, she usually used larger proportions, but I cut it down for regular-sized-family consumption.
Pasta Salad ala Claudia
16 ounces (1 lb) of tri-colored rotelli pasta
1/2 large cucumber
1 green bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
1 small red onion (not in my mom’s version, but I love me some onion)
1/2 bottle of good Italian salad dressing*
A splash of balsamic vinegar (this is not strictly in my mother’s version either, but I <3 balsamic vinegar and put it in everything I possibly can.
* don’t skimp on the Italian dressing. If you get the really cheap kind (which is mostly oil) the pasta salad will be slimy. I like Kraft Zesty Italian myself.
Boil water and cook the pasta according to the package directions, to an al dente texture. If you cook it too long, the pasta will fall apart in the salad.
While the pasta is doing its thing, cut up your veggies into a 1/2″ dice. You might want the onion a little smaller if it’s a powerful one.
When the pasta is done cooking, rinse it thoroughly with cold water to stop the cooking and cool the pasta. If you put the pasta into the veggies when it’s still really hot, it will start to cook the veggies, which makes them loose their crispness. That is a BAD thing.
Add the pasta to the veggies in a large bowl and coat with the salad dressing and add balsamic vinegar to taste, mixing well. Remember that it’s much easier to add salad dressing to taste later than to overdo it in the beginning. Ask me how I know. And the dressing gets soaked in to the pasta as it sits, so you will probably need to add more if you are eating leftovers later.
Keeps very well in the fridge and is just as good the second day, and the third, and the fourth if it lasts that long. It’s fresh and tasty and so easy that you could make it for a last minute barbecue, or a potluck lunch.
Also, it would be very easy to spice it up a bit by adding crumbled feta cheese, or a bit of grated parmasean. Or lightly steam some broccoli and add it to the mix. Or clean out your vegetable drawer and chuck whatever you’ve got in there.
What are your tastes of summer?
M
Now available in the store. And also available as a kit from Judy at the Ball and Skein shop.
A perfect scarf for spring and summer. Light and airy, but just warm enough for those breezy spring and summer nights. Works up quickly in a fingering weight yarn. This pattern could easily be worked in a heavier yarn to make a cozier scarf.
Yarn Requirements: Ball and Skein Arbori (50% Merino, 50% Tencel), 1 skein (2 oz, and 350 yards) in colorway Purple Haze, or handspun like this version, 2 ounces at 21-23 wpi.
Needles: 3.5mm (US 4) needles for flat knitting.
Gauge: 47 sts (one chart wide) in pattern = 8″ after blocking.
Finished Size: 8″ wide by 50″ long.
Please visit the store to purchase an instant download.
M
I finished the second sleeve on EPS, and joined the sleeves to the body. It was fiddley and uncomfortable to knit the first few rounds, but improved and after a few rounds I started the short rows. I worked 3 sets of short rows, using the center point of each sleeve as my reference.
The first set I worked 14 sts past the center sleeve point, the second 12 sts past and the 3rd (to sort of smooth them all out) at 20 sts past. I chose to do it this way (clustering the short row turns around the sleeve cap area) because I was concerned about the yoke pulling to tightly over my shoulders. I’ve worn yoked sweaters before and had a problem with that in the past, so by giving a bit of extra room to the shoulders by way of the extra fabric created in the short rows, I hope it solves this problem as well as creating more fabric on the back of the sweater so it doesn’t ride up.
I have tried a bunch of short row techniques, but had never tried the japanese way that Nona describes in her excellent tutorial. They worked perfectly, and if I didn’t know where to look, I wouldn’t be able to find the turns! I love learning new things!
When the short rows and a few more rounds were done, I got to start the colorwork (!!). I’d been thinking about this part as I worked on the stockinette body. I’d been waffling about whether to use EZ’s charts, or to make my own. And if I made my own, did I want a geometric pattern or something more pictorial…. and how would I handle the color changes…. clearly my mind has too much time on its hands :)
In the end, I just sat down with an excel spreadsheet set to be knitting graph paper and futzed with a zig zag pattern until I liked it. But this… THIS is the part I have been anticipating the whole sweater! I can’t put it down. I feel cheated when I have to stuff it in it’s bag and go to work. I want to sneak out and take knitting breaks like smokers take smoke breaks*. Not just because you’re tired of working, but because you NEED to go sate that desire.
I’m making up the rest as I go along. I’ve only got up to the first set of decreases charted, but it’s very intriguing watching the whole sweater reveal itself to me in this way. I’m so in love with it, I’m not sure I can take scissors to it when the knitting is done.
Don’t forget! Tomorrow is the release for the Persephone Scarf.
M
*this has long been a pet peeve of mine. Why is it that smokers get breaks specifically for smoking when knitters don’t get breaks specifically for knitting?
Watching this on Sunday morning, I laughed so hard that I woke C up.
M
This is where we get deep into the madness part. And it’s a picture heavy brand of madness, so my apologies to those on Dial-up.
So I’m working on the EPS still, but I hear the siren song from the many piles of yarn stowed around my house. While sock yarn is singing and crooning to me, the skeins belting it out are the sweater yarns (they travel in packs rather than one skein here or two there, so it’s more like a choir).
The sweater that’s next in the queue is the Hourglass Sweater (ravelry link) in this beautiful chocolate brown Araucania Nature Wool. I plan to use the chocolatey brown for the sweater itself, and then the olive green there in the center for all the facings and turning rows. I want to make a sweater that is uniquely MINE. These are both colors I love and I think they’ll work out really nicely together.
I’ve also been thinking about this DK weight Zephyr. The color is luscious and I should have enough to do something good with…. but I might hold off and design something with it.
And the other one that’s caught my imagination is the 2 pound cone of wool/hemp that I bought a few years back. I have some plans to dye it, but dyeing is more of a summertime activity since it doesn’t have to heat up your house.
Too many sweaters, so little time. And that isn’t even the half of it. I posted all my sweaters worth of yarn in flickr after photographing it.
M
My sock yarn stash may be growing (I can neither confirm nor deny reports of that nature), but right now I’m enamoured with sweaters!
I finally did the math and began my EPS - Elizabeth (Zimmerman)’s Percentage Sweater. The basic idea behind this sweater is that you take your chest measurement (or bust measurement for the ladies) and multiply it by your stitches per inch, which gives you K, your key #. All other sweater measurements are based on this number. For instance, the sleeves begin with 25-35% of K for your cast on, and increase to 35-45% of K. I’m mostly following her numbers, although I did add waist shaping and while I used my bust measurement x spi as my K, I cast on more stitches than key because my hips are larger than my bust by a few inches and I didn’t want to constantly futz with pulling the sweater down around my hips.
The way I’m knitting the sweater right now, it has no ease either negative or positive. It just skims my hips and my waist and my bust. But after I steek it and add the bands, I’ll probably have .5-1″ of positive ease, which should be perfect for a cardigan to wear at work over my regular clothing, or throw on to go out and get the mail. I’m looking for an easy and beautiful sweater. There is nothing I hate more than gapping button bands, so I am avoiding negative ease like the plague. Since I don’t want it bunching or gapping, I also shunned ribbing in favor of a simple folded hem with a purled turning row on the body hem and at the cuffs. I’m still dithering about working the bands and collar with the same folded hem, or something else. I really would like the folded hem best to fit with the rest of the sweater, but after steeking it I might just want to be done.
That picture was taken on Sunday morning, so it’s a little old. I’ve now got the body knit up to the armpits, and one sleeve all but done. Just one more sleeve and I can start the yoke - I guess that means I should get to charting it….
I plan to add short rows, as EZ suggests, to keep the back of the sweater from riding higher than the front. But since I missed the one at the bottom of the back, I will go with a few sets of short rows before the yoke, and maybe some on the sleeves before I start the yoke so it doesn’t pull across my shoulders.
I have a deep abiding love for the yarn. It’s Reynold’s Whiskey, which I also used for the Foliage Shawl. The colors are lovely and for those of us who are self-proclaimed wool snobs, it’s WONDERFUL. It is squooshy, and heathered, and has the very rare bit of VM that ensures it’s not overly processed. My only bitch about the yarn is that it’s billed as a DK weight, which it most certainly is NOT. At 195 yards per 50 gram ball, it’s squarely in the fingering weight category (although on the heavier end) according to my favorite yarn reference. As a result, I got a good fabric on 3.25 mm (US 3) sized needles. The knitting is kind of slow going as a result, but I can see this as a sweater I will wear often and really enjoy.
I’ll keep you updated with milestones. And while writing this post I think I figured out how to do the button bands with a folded hem. Maybe a tutorial is in order…
M
I love spinning. I just haven’t hardly had the time to sit down when I wasn’t already exhausted. I can’t spin when I’m exhausted, so I have been spinning only rarely.
But I’m working on this:
For my birthday last year, Margene gave me 2 big bumps of Spinderella’s Thrums. I figured I’d better at least work on them before the next birthday rolled around, so I pre-drafted.
There are a lot of little nips of other fibers and some random threads in there, that make it sort of Zen spinning. You can’t get it perfect because the other little bits in the fiber will make it uneven no matter how hard you work at it, so you just have to accept that it will be lovely no matter what and keep spinning. It’s been very enjoyable and I think I may need to take some time this weekend and really dedicate myself to spinning this.
I’ve got 2 bobbins full and haven’t even finished one 5 ounce bump! I plan to make a 2 ply, but I’ll wait to see how the third bobbin comes out before I ply any 2 together. That way I can catch any inconsistencies and work them to my advantage.
M
A good way to avoid doing your taxes is to have self-imposed knitting deadlines. Like this little wisp of a shawl. Knit in less than a week, with a heavier weight yarn, the whole thing was satisfying from start to finish and I never got bored.
Pattern: Foliage Shawl, my design, soon to be released in the store.
Yarn: less than 3 skeins of Reynolds Whiskey (100% wool, 195 yards per 50 gram skein), in color 086, which I believe they call Deep Raspberry.
Needles: 4.0 mm (US 6) 24″ circular
Finished Size: 56″ across the top, 28″ down the back.
Verdict: I wanted to do a simple shawl, easy to knit, with an easy to memorize body stitch, and a knitted on border with a similar motif and the leaves spoke to me. The whole project was wonderful. The fact that both body and border repeats were easy to memorize meant that I could knit it anywhere and not have to futz with a chart unless I got lost on where I was (which didn’t happen often). The yarn is a squooshy, lovely, heathered wool, which is not really a DK weight, no matter what the manufacturer says. For the body I used the same leaf motif as from Persephone, but without the diagonal lines to divide it up. I would call this a success.
I field a lot of questions about knitted on borders (like in Mountain Peaks and Zephyros). It’s just tricky to get your head around the fact that you’re knitting a border perpendicular to the body stitches, but attaching it as you go. I had planned to use this pattern as a demo piece for working a knitted-on border, so I think I will publish a tutorial to coincide with the pattern release. This could delay the release, depending on when I get the time to do the tutorial, but it’s not like I haven’t released anything recently ;) There is no drought of pattern releases here!
M
I finished my second persephone scarf. Since I was offering it for publication, instead of fielding a million questions about a suitable substitute for the handspun yarn I used for the original, I thought a commercially available fiber would be good. Something that you could compare it to if you wanted to substitute or the like.
Judy first approached me with a request for the pattern to knit it up in her yarn, but since I couldn’t release it until after the 15th and I was in search of a yarn to work it up in, it seemed like the perfect coincidence.
Pattern: Persephone Scarf, available April 23rd as a stand-alone pattern through my store and as a kit including this yarn through the Ball and Skein store. Judy has pre-orders for the kit here.
Yarn: Ball and Skein Arbori (50% Merino, 50% Tencel), 1 skein (2 oz, and 350 yards) in colorway Purple Haze
Needles: 3.5mm (US 4) 24″ circular (any needle for knitting flat could be used, I just prefer the circs).
Verdict: The yarn is BEAUTIFUL with a wonderful sheen. It drapes nicely and the color has so much depth, mostly purple, with green, brown and smokey gray. The color shifts are subtle and remind me of a hidden lake at twilight, when the purple sky reflects off the water with the algae and rocks underneath.
So I’ve alluded to it, but didn’t give you all details, but I went to Denver at the end of March for Imbrium’s wedding. The whole flickr set is here. I didn’t feel comfortable taking pictures of the actual ceremony since there were professional photographers doing that, but it was BEAUTIFUL! I don’t cry at weddings and I cried, a lot. You could feel the love permeate every molecule of air in the room. It was small and lovely and fairly screamed the personalities of the bride and groom.
And their friends are really good people too. Just in case you were concerned. There wasn’t any inappropriate drunkenness and no creepy uncle hitting on bridesmaids. It was just perfect.
That cake was absolutely delicious! Mmmm…
M
Wow… I just sort of fell off the face of the planet, didn’t I?
I’ve been knitting, I’ve been working (really hard) and neglecting my house, which is really to be expected, considering my MO. But I have knit a lot.
In all fairness, I finished this pi shawl before I left for Denver (although I didn’t block it until I got back), but I have a strange need to present this stuff in chronological order.
Pattern: Pi Shawl by Elizabeth Zimmerman from Knitter’s Almanac (ravelry link).
Yarn: 2/4 Highland Tweed in Oatmeal from the closeouts many moons ago at Webs. I bought 2 pounds and used most of it for this. I’m glad I washed it before using it, as it fluffed out a LOT and was much easier to knit with.
Needles: All 4.5mm (US 7’s) in double points, 16″, 24″ and 32″ circular.
Modifications: Most of the shawl was done with concentric circles as outlined by EZ in the July section of Knitter’s Alamanac, but used the same diamond/lotus pattern that I came up with for my first pi shawl.
Verdict: It’s exactly what I wanted. HUGE, useful as a blanket and nice and warm.
Also, I owe you all a contest winner. According to Random.org’s Interger Generator, the winner is Nicole! Nicole, I’ve e-mailed you for your address.
M
Zephyros is the Spring Wind in Greek Mythology, the wind of change. Welcome the new life of spring with this clean-lined shawl. Solid enough to keep the chill off on a spring morning, but elegant and interesting to knit, with the wind theme echoed throughout.
Pattern now available for download through the MimKnits Online Shop. Thanks to the kit recipients for being patient with the errors. They should all be corrected now for this release.
Yarn Requirements: 950 yards of Jaggerspun 2/8 Heathers (light fingering weight). Sample is knit in Sylvan Green
Suggested Needles: 3.5 mm (US 4) 32” circular needle and set of 4 double points in the same size.
Gauge: 20.5 sts and 34 rows per 4” in stockinette after blocking.
Finished Size: 48” across the top and 29” down the back.
Techniques Used: This pattern uses the following techniques:
knit, purl, k2tog, p2tog, yo, placement and slipping of markers, p2tog tbl, sl1 k2tog psso, sl, ssk, psso, wrap and turn (explanation included), and a provisional cast on.
M
This pattern release brought to you by The Raconteurs.
I managed to make it through a whole week of posting! And now to reward the hard work, today is random.
1. C and I have been renting Dr. Who, Season 1 through NetFlix. I don’t know what it is about British Television… is it just me or does it seem better to anyone else? I LOVE the series. We got pulled in because we got the first season of Torchwood on a whim and loved the humor and the plot lines plus a little bit of cheesiness.
2. I think I may need to buy a new printer. The HP Color LaserJet 1600 that I have to print patterns is giving up the ghost. When I print cardstock, it prints fine on the first pass, but then I try to print the opposite side and it keeps “jamming”. I put that in quotation marks because it SAYS it’s jamming, but no paper is jammed. It just can’t pick up the paper from the tray. It’s a bit curled from the first pass through, and if I make efforts to flatten it, I can get it to work. But that’s a lot of work. Plus I’d rather have a printer that does automatic duplexing so I don’t have to babysit the damn thing while it prints. I’m looking into my options. Dell has some nifty looking printers….. I have to sit down and price everything, plus price cartridges, etc… No matter what, it’s not gonna be cheap.
3. It just hit me that I have a lot of sock yarn. Granted, I’ve had a lot of sock yarn for quite a while, but I never felt it was too much until yesterday. I used to knit socks at an alarming rate. I was popping out at least 1 pair a month even with the other knitting I was doing, but now…… There’s only been one pair (and for someone else) since Christmas! I’m working on my Thelonious socks, but…. read on to #4 for more. The thing is, I’ve been buying sock yarn at the same rate that I used to KNIT it, so my stash of it has grown alarmingly. I either need to start knitting it faster or buy it slower, either way I think it may be considered a yarn diet. Ick.
4. The Thelonious socks are a strange creature. Because I have so much frustration and messing up involved with them, I’m sort of reluctant to show them in progress. Like if I do, then they’ll be real and then when I screw them up royally, I’ll have to admit it. Of course, I would admit it anyway… but that’s not the point.
5. I need to stop by the store on the way home from work to get a black toner cartridge. Someone remind me ;)
6. I’m reading another in the Hinges of History series by Thomas Cahill. That man is amazing. I don’t know how he manages to make non-fiction so much FUN! More on it later.
7. Don’t forget the contest!
M
The tree pollen is out in full force (and my nose and sinuses won’t let me forget it), the bulb flowers are popping up their heads, and the days are turning progressively warmer. Today was the first day in at least 5 months that I’ve got outside with no sweater or coat, just a shirt, and been comfortable.
I find myself with thoughts of gardens and fresh produce, of leisurely strolls just to enjoy being outside. We’re heading into my very favorite time of year and I want to be savoring every moment. I always get rather dark and stagnant in the winter (although each winter has been a little better), so as the sun comes out and the days lengthen I try to peel back the layers of moroseness and ennui and feel the earth around me awaken. It’s amazing to be part of it. And to be so conflicted. I can feel it coming, even though it’s not here yet, and I savor the slow arrival and the minuscule changes. But I can’t wait… so I buy flowers and spend long periods just looking at them. At least now I have the ability to do them justice with pictures.
I’m thirsty for more! Show me your favorite harbingers of spring and come back here and leave a comment with a link when you have. I’ll draw a random comment for a yarn-y prize. Let me know about it by 5 pm MST on Tuesday, April 1st (this is not an April Fool’s Joke, I promise) and I’ll announce the winner, hopefully Wednesday.
M
I really didn’t expect to get so many people de-lurking when I posted about birth control. It seems like there are a lot of women for whom artificial hormones are just BAD NEWS! I’m rather excited at the prospect of getting back to ‘Normal’, and being able to think clearly again.
I have been knitting some Thelonious socks (those are the ones I’ve messed up so many times) and I’m almost done with the cuffs. I have swatched and am just a few calculations away from starting my EPS, which should be nice since I will have a lot of knitting time this weekend. I’m a little nervous since I plan to steek it. So if I messed up on a calculation, I am kind of worried that I can’t go back and fix it if the yarn is in a million row-length pieces.
I bought a bunch of beautiful fringed tulips this weekend… there are 4 more pictures you can see in my flickr photostream if you click through the picture above.
M
The Aspen Grove Shawl is now available for purchase and download in the store.
The shawl is designed in 3 parts. Each of the 4 repeated wedges of the shawl begins with a gathering of leaves, then moves downward into the twisting, odd trunks of the aspens, culminating in the feather and fan edge, which reminds me of the strata of decay on the forest floor, shot through with the communal roots of the aspens above.
See the store for more info.
M
