Feeling Tangerine

Just a note.....

2009-02-04T19:16:00.004-05:00

........that I haven't disappeared, just swamped lately. Half of our local division at work was let go, well more than half, but I'm in the part that stayed. This one wasn't merger/acquisition/redundancy oriented like the others, it is a true shift in business focus so we are scrambling like mad and working around the clock.

Spinning is the only thing I've managed to take a break with. Since this is a large project that involves consistency for a duration, it has been easier to just spin a few yards here and there than focus on knitting related projects. I am really pleased with how it is turning out and I love the heathering.

I was stressing on whether I was on target and stopped before the bobbins were full to ply. I am almost half way there in total yardage for a 3ply aran, 9wpi, 14.5oz and 602 yards, with slightly tight ply to increase the durability of the merino. I got gauge in my swatch (17 spi), a nice fabric (not too drapey like my first sample) and am thrilled with this yarn! It is intended for Harald by Elsebeth Lavold, a gansey (guernsey?) style with traveling cables in the top half. It should make a very comfy curl-up-and-knit-spin sweater for Sunday mornings. Lots of Sunday mornings in Michigan with the long cold season. With cable practice to boot, how good is that!?!

Now I have to spin up the rest of that couch pile from my last post! And those skeins top 6 ounces each!! Much fewer ends to weave in, yay :) You can biggie size the photos if you click on them and actually see the coloration detail.

Stay warm (or cool - wherever you may be!) Personally, I'm looking forward to spring :)

ETA - There has been "stash acquisition" too, hopefully I'll get some pics this weekend........I may have gone SABLE lol :) but that doesn't take very much for me!

I've gone.......nuts

2009-01-11T21:08:00.006-05:00

It takes a lot of wool to make a bit of yarn and my house has been taken over lol. I think I have finally finished blending the batts. Each batt is approximately 1.7 ounces blended from three separate multi-dyed merino tops of 1 pound each. The braids off to the right are what I started with and they looked like a pile of steaming entrails coming out of the dye pot! Much prettier blended don't you think? ;-) The yarn in the photo is my sample from the last post, you can see that I lightened the blend considerably to a more raspberry heather. I only double blended so there will be minor variances in the finished yarn. I could have run it through 1-2 more times but I like watching the subtle shifts while spinning.

I've only spun about 7 ounces so I have about 24 more to go to get to the end total of 1500 + leeway for 100 yards variation in spinning density. I'm spinning a 3 ply so that is 4500-4800 yards in singles then another 1500 yards for plying. And yes, you can BUY yarn, but I like spinning and blending my own. This is my first attempt at a sweater so I am very excited.

Speaking of yarn purchases and excitement, I have received my newest love - St. Aula! From Virtual Yarns of course :) Yeah!!!!!! Stranding on really big needles feels funny but I am in total love with this sweater.

The photos don't do it much justice but if you click on the swatch to make it larger you can see that Dulse is not brown, but green with many flecks of purple, red, etc. mixed in. The background is Limpet, the deep purple but it looks more blue here. The constant blizzards this weekend wouldn't let me get a good natural light photo so I had to make do.

I don't have much time lately and worked most of the weekend so the "Guilt Squad" did major duty staring holes in my back on the office futon. Everytime I got up to do something I was tackled in a traffic jam at the office door by bouncing excited puppers 3 feet tall and pogo-sticking in the doorway. I'm 5'2" - you can imagine the rest but I really couldn't help but laugh at their antics.

And since they did try to be good (even though they *know* they aren't supposed to be on the futon) I'm off to give them some treats and loves before bedtime. How could I resist ;-)

Many thanks again Marina - I wouldn't have considered Dulse without your beautiful photos!

Happy Hogmonay!

2008-12-30T18:06:00.001-05:00

Did you know that Scotland shuts down for the new year for like 4 days to celebrate Hogmonay? Yeah, apparently when you tell a people they cannot celebrate Christmas they get really creative. So I'll get an answer to my question from our Scottish friends when they "stagger back in on Saturday". I love this! I think I will have to add this to my annual celebrations in honor of my ancestors. Then when my friends tease me "you drink like an Irish lass!" I can retort "and party like a Scot!" I should have discovered this in my 20's! :)

My year end party is being spent with my six year old nephew which is apparently a "Family Tradition". My niece gets Christmas Eve's-eve. I'll fill you in on that later.

The Alba swatch is complete. I finally used all of the 17 colors at least once so it is no longer a swatch. It was quite fun because while I had all of the colors in front of me, I wasn't too sure what decisions I had made last year when I re-worked my colors. I like it!

Ophelia is still ahead on number of rows and has not disappeared into the river as yet. She will get more attention once I finish at least one repeat on Alba.

On other fronts, I am preparing to join in with with Ravelry Forum "Spinners Central" to spin for a sweater in the first quarter of 2009. I always thought I would need to be close to a perfect spinner to accomplish something like that but they got me to give it a try and I was delighted.

I dyed up, blended, spun, set and knit my sample. Started out with some basic cables which held up well and then threw in some of Lavold's, they hold up too. The color way is too much like the Shepherd's Wool in my stash so for the actual sweater I dyed up 3 lb's in a brighter mix, everything from deep purple, black, six shades of red, and even some various pinks with a bit of white. I'm blending up the batts now for a nice deep heathered raspberry shade. I think this will help the cables show nicer as well.

Happy New Year Everyone!!!!

Tis the Season

2008-12-15T19:46:00.006-05:00

For sparkly lights! The lights are always my favorite part. When I was a kid we used to have live trees with those really big actual bulbs on the tree. And it was always a huge deal to see how many lights we could actually get on the tree. I have never outgrown that and have been known to challenge the circuit breakers on occasion in my delight. This is as far as I got this year though because I totally broke out in hives by this point. But it looks pretty :)

So while I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I haven't developed allergies to any of my other decorations, I was delighted to find this in the mail when I got home. I must admit, I ordered the kit for stash. Everyone else has "just stash" so I wanted some too. Instead of my standard of "WIP Stash" ;-) We'll see how long this works for me.

I ripped it open, jumped on the bed, and dug them all out to oooo and ahhhh over. Dam I love these colors!! And now that I've been able to check 'em all out I have my choices for St. Aula!!!! Now just to see if the exchange rate will cooperate with my budget. Wheee!!!!

Thanks Sonya, Brigitte and Marina for all of the enabling, you guys are good! But I think it was really worth it!

Back to School for Me

2008-12-01T19:02:00.007-05:00

I have mostly been camped out with google and just about every knitting book I own researching all the various nuances of sleeve construction. Eventually, I will actually knit sleeves for my sweaters, that would actually make them sweaters, as opposed to a pile of potential oddly shaped vests. So to achieve actual sweaters, I find myself needing to understand the "why" of how sleeves are done for that magical transformation. This is so not very blog worthy.

I have also been researching cast-on and cast-off methods - while I understand them and can use them, figuring out why one is the best option for the project at hand - not so intuitive. Most times, the basics work fine. But apparently it's a whole new ball game when it comes to lacey knitting. This is also, so not very blog worthy. But these things take time, and that's what I've been doing with my time, so that's what you get :)

I have also become obsessed with the stranded knits again. I keep trying to do other things, you know, those things with less stitches and bigger needles? Those things that actually let me *finish* something? Yeah, what a unique concept. I like this concept and will learn it eventually, but not this week. This week I had to start Lorraine's Ophelia.

I didn't realize it until I got the pattern that it is exactly what I was looking for when I was playing with traditional charts in the this colorway previously. Still waiting for the two colors I didn't have enough of in stash. Karen was out of stock in the main one but Anne had plenty so they'll be here soon and I can use the J&S 90 that I'm obsessed with :)

I'm loving it but I've had to start exploring different join methods because I was getting blisters from felting. More back to school for me - Schoolhouse Press being on the list.

I ran out of needles and colors to swatch for St. Aula too, so I had to order more of those as well. I really hope the mail comes soon, because these aren't working for me.

Beginnings, new and revisited

2008-11-23T16:10:00.008-05:00

New Beginnings:

I took the pile of squiggly frogged yarn and recycled it. Third times a charm! 17 colors changing every other row. I need one with less color changes to alternate with because my hands were getting sore felting the splices. They are really really smooth now though :-)

Alba Revisited

Tahki Donegal Tweed - yes, yet another CPH. But I really wanted to try the yarn and I need a sweater that I can leave on my chair at work. I was surprised when it showed up. It is definitely a long wool I think and it isn't soft, but it wasn't bothering me to handle so I'm looking forward to this one.

Sweater Swatches - I've been working on tonal dyeing roving and fleece. This is a sample I did in a dye I hadn't used before and had no idea what color I was dealing with. I got everything from soft yellows through fall leaf oranges through almost a burnt orange/brown. I test knit a sample to see the effect and I like it. I'm debating taking on the challenge of spinning for a whole sweater - in reds. We'll see.

I also swatched for St. Aula but the photos didn't turn out and I haven't found the color combination I want so that has to wait. Seaweed is swatched and ready to go.

..........And then we come to this morning. I have been sick, the winter cold thing, and all I have wanted to do is sleep. Sweet sweet sleep for this achey tired body. So I did that for most of yesterday and went to bed at a decent hour like a good girl. And woke up at 3am dreaming that I was almost done with this:

I couldn't go back to sleep so I went digging, found her dusty box, dragged her out and curled up on the couch to figure out where I left off. I never fail to be startled every time I pick her up again how much I love her, fits and all. I won't bore you but I made some progress this am and I am excited that I am now within 24 rows of binding off the shoulders. Does that count as half-way done?

I also realized that I have never done sleeves and should probably practice the sleeve itself with it's shrinking circumference before I try it with the longer floats so I surfed over to the one I knew would not, could not, let me down in having a beautiful and rhythmic fair isle. She didn't, and I'm swatching.

Happy Sunday!

It's just like falling off a bike........

2008-11-17T20:07:00.003-05:00

My head is spinning. My fingers need to be spinning for the nephews mitts but I've been slowly digging through my stash, and cruising yarn stores, and searching online and....... I have no pretty pictures to show.

I realized I need to frog the first sleeve cap on V since I was not paying attention.

I frogged the edging for Alba since I had cast on for Alba the second time for a larger size, which I no longer need.

I frogged an afghan project that I never liked and gave away the yarn because I would never use it.

I frogged a sock cuff in a yarn that I just do not like and decided I didn't have to finish it and could donate the yarn to someone who would like it.

I tossed a bobbin of fiber that I know I won't use because it itches and accepted that I don't have to spin it anyway. It will make great stuffing for dog toys instead and the remaining roving may help being donated to a new spinner that needs practice fiber and is not as sensitive to the itch factor.

I am working to clear out what bogs me down and add to my stash those that I love. So all I have to show right now is piles of squiggly frogged yarn. But I feel wonderfully liberated! And now I feel clear to indulge in startitis - pics next time!

Holloween Treats!

2008-11-02T10:47:00.005-05:00

Trick or Treating was was awesome this year - it was in the 60's and not a drop of rain, a rare gem of a Halloween. I love watching the kids scampering all through the neighborhood all dressed up, makes me feel like a kid again myself.

While I didn't roam the neighborhood in search of candy treats, I did receive a beautiful treat from Scotland. I finally broke down and ordered from Virtual Yarns to see what all the fuss was about with the Hebridean, other than the obvious fact that the colors are fabulous. I like the Seaweed Wrap with the combination of open work and texture and I realllllly wanted to do it in Red Rattle - but of course they didn't have enough 2 ply in stock so I had to switch so I chose Witchflower. I thought it would have a bit more purplish heather to it than it does, but it's still pretty.

I also ordered a few samples of 3 ply and as you can see by the photo, dove in before even thinking to take pictures. This stuff is awesome! Wow. Dense, scooshy, and not itchy all at the same time. I must say all of her research and planning for yarns that meet the specific criteria for traditional designs paid off. Just playing with the stuff makes me want to frolick in the land of crazy cables. But before I jump off that bridge, I have to play with colors for St. Aula and see if a stranded sweater in 3ply is a good idea for me or not.

The Red Rattle I had to get just because I wanted to see the color in person. It's an exact match to my pillow cases - my favorite shade of red. I love the color shadings in Storm Petrol and was quite surprised at how much I like the Solan Goose, have to see if it's too much contrast though. The Limpet was a substitution - I had wanted Kelpie but they ran out so I got a nice note from with a complimentary substitution of Limpet. I love this shade of purple! And lastly, Spindrift. I was looking for a shade that would mimic a golden color without being orange or too yellow. Spindrift may be too brown for my taste but I love the little flecks of blues and purples so I'll have to check it out. There were so many other shades I wanted to try but they were sold out of in 3ply. Some day :)

Well the temp has dropped down to the 40's today so I'm off to swatch and make some baked potato & cheddar soup, yum!

Happy Sunday!

Harvest Yarn & the Sheep Herder

2008-10-26T20:48:00.000-04:00

Varying views on fall. At my house it means way too many acorns to trip over (this year was incredible!), leaves that cover the world, and good reasons for soup and fires. Some areas it means the harvest. I've missed having a garden of any kind in recent years so I curled up with one of my favorite coffee table books for inspiration. Harvest yarn was inspired by a few of the harvest paintings by Vincent VanGogh. I love how he captured the essence of the harvest in colors that bring it to life but are not the typical ones associated. So I captured some of those colors in wool. I find it soothing even though it is a far cry from my usual palette.

Vincent's Harvest
2ply Merino "imperfect" worsted weight (it's a texture thing)
208 yards
100 grams

I keep seeing it in one of EZ's Baby Surprise Jackets, there have been so many adorable ones posted in handspun. Anybody got a little guy to knit for?

So while I was "harvesting" apparently Remy was upstairs "herding". There he is with ALL of the sheep stuffies in one tiny herd. Such a good boy!

Knitting & TV & SUNSHINE!

2008-10-20T08:08:00.000-04:00

All of you are correct of course, relaxing is essential and I need to get back in practice. Something else that goes with relaxing and fun fibery things is TV! Miss that too. I got a DVR so I can record some stuff and schedule some knitting time in front of the tube. Any new shows out there that are worth checking out? I was addicted to House but it went a bit odd with the whole new team thing and I haven't been such a fan.

On the knitting front, I cast on for the first sleeve to "V" but did something weird so I frogged and started over, hopefully I'll get some progress this week maybe.

On the happy front, my land lady was in town this week for her grandson's wedding. I was very very happy today when they stopped by and helped me out with a few things that I hadn't been able to fix by myself. Sometimes the simplest things - like the blinds on the living room window (big big window) got stuck when I put them up to open the windows. I never could get them down again so I put paper over the window for privacy. Just wasn't "enough" to bother them about. Well as a few more things occured I felt it was ok to ask and they fixed the blinds too! It was one of the nicest fall days in Michigan with lots of sunshine and having the paper off the windows and letting the sun shine in was WONDERFUL!!! Woodstock happy dances!!!!

And while I know my landlady also happens to be Majorie's mom, it didn't connect that the wedding was her son's, I'm a little slow sometimes and out of touch blog wise. Congrats to Marjorie, have to scope the blog to see what's up :)

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend too.

Fall, Work, and Fear

2008-10-08T19:25:00.011-04:00

I work too much plain & simple and I love my job but it takes alot in this economy to make sure I keep it. Did I mention I'm in Michigan, single, and dealing with the highest unemployment rates in the country while working in the financial industry??? Yeah, I think you get why I've been scared and working too much.

The BIG BUT - with fall starting all I really want to do is make things like homemade soups, roasts, etc. Things that use the oven I haven't wanted to turn on during the hot months and filling the house with all of those wonderful home cooking smells for hours while I curl up with a fiber project in front of the fire. I'm going to try to do that occasionally and sneek some peeks at what everyone else is up to. We'll see how it goes.

During my hiatus I have also lost about 25lbs - working all those hours did have side benefits. I feel great but all of my WIP's are going to be too big and it's not very motivational to pick them up again right now. So in an attempt to get back in some fibery balance I ordered a kit for "V" from Spunky Eclectic awhile back in a hand dyed colorway of Amy's that I have always admired. With my limited time and not being a speedy knitter, I wanted a simpler knit and "V" is a great replacement for the boring sweatshirts that haunt my winter wardrobe. I've not actually knit a basic sweater other than Kepler and that was my first cabling experience. Boring for many of you but I find stockinette in a colorway I love to be very soothing and it fits my time contraints.

I'll see what I can do for balance. I've been kicked out of all the fiber rings so I guess I'm free to post whatever and whenever I can. I miss knitting. I miss spinning. I miss this. But I miss all of you the most.

ETA - Pics & Links

Happy fall ya'll :-) And a very Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

The overworked and overstressed - but definitely trying to fix that,
DeeAnn

test

2008-10-06T07:52:00.001-04:00

Perceptions, or just really strange behavior patterns

2007-11-25T11:42:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone in the US had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend! I spent most of the weekend in bed with my annual sinus/cold/virus misery but did manage to grill myself a turkey sandwhich to celebrate and stare at Ravelry when I could keep my eyes open for an hour or so.

Some good things about a cold or whatever is that it forces you to rest, take care of yourself, cut yourself some slack in the never ending list of daily stuff you need to accomplish, and when you start feeling better, some good old thinking time. Thinking about fiber and knitting habits was high on my contemplation list this weekend. I've almost added all my projects to Ravelry and realized several things that I have weird perceptions on, one that I don't accomplish much on the knitting front, two that I love to spin but never actually do anything with it, three I love red and go out of my way to pick any other color so my whole wardrobe isn't red so I have no red things. Looking at my projects I realized that nearly half are with handspun and or handpainted yarns, some even hand blended from fleece I bought in the grease. That's a lot of time spent before I even get to the knitting part and I enjoy it, I just don't seem to acknowlege that part of the accomplishment to myself very much I guess. Or the time planning, recoloring, improvising, etc. And if I add in all the handspun to my stash I think things will become even clearer but it was great to realize I do use it quite often. So I was very thankful to Ravelry this weekend for giving me a wonderful sense of accomplishment. Even though there is a ton to learn, it is really nice to acknowledge all the strides and straighten out some odd perceptions. Maybe having it staring me in the face everytime I log into Ravelry will make it finally sink in :)

Before my epiphany on the Red issue, I had yet again forced myself to pick another color for the next project. I finished Alix's Prayer Shawl but my photos are lousy so I'll post it when I get a decent shot. With that done, and all my socks finished, I needed another "easy" project and I chose the Nantucket Jacket, Interweave Knits Winter 2006. My definition of "easy" being that I can pick it up whenever I have a few minutes here and there and throw in a row or two without having to look up everything to figure out where I am at. This sweater fits that bill nicely, there is a rhythm to the stitches and I can knit the next row by reading the knitting so it is relaxing and not boring.

I couldn't get the color right in the progress shot but this close up captures it fairly well.

And after the Red Epiphany? Picked up some of my favorite red Silky Wool to start swatching with. Maybe an Elsebeth Lavold design will follow Nantucket :)

Guess what I found!?! and finished even :)

2007-11-09T20:25:00.000-05:00

After I moved in October '06 I misplaced a project of mine and it took me forever to find it - MSFIFFAS!! I did find them and did finish them - love 'em. Now that the weather is turning chilly they are perfect Sunday morning socks, when you have no plans to leave the house, curl up in your favorite comfy clothes, and work on projects. On a really good Sunday, this includes a bonfire in the fireplace, mmmmm.....

Meg Swansens Fair Isle Form Fitted Arch Socks from her book "Knitting":

Check out the soles on these - they really custom fit to your foot. Meg's were knee-highs that I don't wear so I made mine a nice crew height. Wearing hand knit socks is my major motivation for knitting them - nothing feels as good and toasty as hand knit wool socks. And these puppies? they are SOFT - baby yarn soft and perfect for curling up on the couch. Yeah!

I also finished the Sweet Germaine scarf for my friend.

Barbara Walker calls it the Germaine stitch and other publications refer to it as Arrowhead Lace and Cables. I'll post a finished pic when Amanda actually wears it this year. It's Henry's Attic Alpaca Prime - wonderfully soft to knit with. This particular pattern doesn't require blocking, just a handwash and dry flat so not a great deal of maintenance for friend.

One new thing cutting into my knitting time (other than ungodly hours at work) is bowling. How exactly can bowling and knitting compete? I'm still not understanding it myself since I was never a bowler until now. However, some great friends of mine conned me into this and then actually bought me a ball to reaffirm the new anchor. It's a blast even though I don't bowl very well and shhhhhhhh.......there's a cute guy in the league that may just be a bonus. (yes, I do imagine him in a proper sweater, preferrably handknit, why do you ask? Ok, I confess, flirting is actually what I'm thinking about :)

Ravelry and stuff - really bright stuff

2007-10-26T18:46:00.000-04:00

When I first got my computer back up everywhere I looked everyone was going on about Ravelry. No clue what the hoopla was about but like a good sheep I put my name in the bin and didn't think anything else about it. Yesterday I go to post and have an invite message in my mailbox so of course I have to check this out instead. As all of you already know, it's pretty amazing! Now I just may be able to find a sweater pattern that I actually want to knit and to wear :)

I've had a new job for awhile and the hours are quite long. Every time I sit down at the computer at night, I'm overwhelmed by what all of you have accomplished this year, I don't even know where to comment! Wow you are prolific!! Me, not so much. It was too hot this summer to work on the shetland stuff so they have been hibernating. I mostly just finished up little projects and a few shawls. Right now I'm finishing the last repeat before the edging on Alix's Lace Prayer Shawl by Myrna A. I. Stahman. It's on the Debbie Macomber site and I fell in love with it because it seemed like the perfect pattern to hold up to highly varigated hand dyed yarns. So I hit the dye room and came up with the brightest, most cheerful colorway "Oil on Water". My inspiration was actually a oily puddle in a parking lot that was just shining in a greasy rainbow.

Crazy colorways shouldn't just be reserved for socks. We'll see if I still think so after it's blocked, but it sure is fun to knit with happy colors.

Shetland Triangle Shawl - Dandelions and Violets

2007-09-25T18:46:00.000-04:00

Ok, to start the catching up..... My sister was born in the time of year where everything in Michigan has finally reached that lush green state we longed for after 6 months of winter. The first things that come up are always dandelions and violets and I'm estatic that anything at all is blooming.

This year, I dyed some merino to match the moment of the season and spun it up light fingering weight. Then the hunt was on for the perfect pattern for me, and the yarn. I think the Shetland Triangle Shawl was the perfect fit. I love the look of the finished shawl, it can handle the long but somewhat soft color runs that I really wanted to show in the yarn and it's the easiest pattern I ever tried - even easier than Forest Canopy. Both were a great deal of fun for summer knitting. I did manage to finish the spinning prior to the actual heatwave of a Michigan summer so it wasn't the challenge it can be - spinning merino in heat and humidity makes me swear alot!

I love how it turned out and the colors captured the look of my lawn perfectly! She was pleased.

Modifications? Well, I added an extra repeat of the pattern stitch and went up a needle size for it, then went up another needle size for edging round. The final edging is short 2 rows because I ran out of yarn but I think it finished off just fine. I like going up a needle size at the end to get a good stretch on the points.

***I'll update this post with the appropriate pattern credits but right now I think dinner is burning!!

Hello, Hello, Is there anybody out there?

2007-09-18T19:19:00.000-04:00

I'm back!!
Holy fleece, it's been awhile. I do finally have my pc back up and running and internet connections again so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. My technology issues and finance issues were in direct opposition there for a bit but for now they seem to be playing quite well with each other. I'm quite excited and I've missed everyone!

If you don't remember me, my name is DeeAnn and I knit very slowly accompanied by charming greyhounds..... :-)

Now, to get the picture stuff figured out so I can post again and to visit all of you and see what you've been up to this summer. Cheers all!!

Contest results

2007-04-21T10:17:00.000-04:00

I loved all of the stories about how everyone celebrated some of their "Big Oh" birthdays, thank you for playing along with me. And the winners as determined by the random number gods are:

Amy
Brigitte
Nicole
Nessa - whom I don't have a blog link for
Lorraine

So what did you win??? It's a surprise! Send me an email to deeann AT feelingtangerine.com with your address and you'll get some surprise goodies in your mailbox. Pretty good deal to open the box and find something that isn't asking you for money :-)

On the knitting front I finally finished the handspun superwash merino socks I had been working on. The funny thing about socks is I have no sense of urgency to finish them until I cast on for another pair. Since I started the Hosta socks I got motivated to wrap these up. The merino was not blended with nylon so I gave it a fairly tight plying and knit it rather snug in an effort to improve their longevity. After the first wash they got the faintest halo and are the softest socks I own. Happy happy feet!

Thank you for all the kind words for Rocky, I really appreciate how compassionate fiber folks are.

A moment of silence

2007-04-19T11:25:00.000-04:00

It has been a very stressful and sad time here at Feeling Tangerine. Rocky, the wonderful and sweet foster that lived with me for over six months and was just recently adopted by the best family I could have ever asked for, became very ill. Day after day we were all on pins and needles while the vets worked to figure out what was causing the problems. It was all too much for him and last weekend they had to say goodbye. It broke my heart. I loved that big guy and he touched us all deeply. His loss is no less than if it had been one of my girls. The only reason he was ever adopted was because they are outstanding people, they live down the street and me, the girls and my niece and nephew got to visit him. If it was not for them, I would have resigned from fostering and he would have stayed here.

A moment of silence for you, my friend.

Bless you Rocky!!

** I will return to fibery content tomorrow and post the contest winners. Thank you for your patience. - D

Apparently I have done something dumb

2007-04-05T23:58:00.000-04:00

Does this surprise me? Not really.

I was trying to update my blog sidebars today and I saved one thing, then changed another and Blogger didn't like it, so I chose to discard changes, and it didn't like that either. Not having made a backup, I had to start over with something. So this is the current something until I figure out some degree of xml, css, and php or whatever that is. I'm not a programmer, can you tell? I didn't really like my blog layout to start with so maybe my adversion triggered the change?

So with way too much blogger frustration, I lost all semblance of what I had wanted to post. Can't remember a darn thing! Think maybe that 40th birthday zapped a few too many brain cells? Just maybe ;-)

So it's my birthday week and while many people reflect at New Years, I don't usually reflect until my birthday month. This is the one time of the year nostalgia is the trend. I don't have children so my moments with my nieces and nephews are precious to me. I will share with you a few of those moments from my youngest nephews latest visit.

A few of my favorite quotes and moments with Alec while spending the night: (Alec just turned 5 and this picture does not do him any justice - Brad Pitt wishes he was this cute at 5)

When we get to my house and unpack his new play-dough. "Aunt DeeDee you come sit by me and play, ok?" he says. "Ok Alec, what are we going to play?" I answer. "We're going to make PaPa!" he declares. "Hmm, then we might need more play-dough..." I say. "Oh Aunt DeeDee!" he giggles with glee. (PaPa is my dad. Understanding sarcasm at 5 - he rocks!)

While cuddling on the couch just before bed he drifts to a horizontal position next to me. "Aunt DeeDee, I'm going to put my feet on you and you can lay on me ok?" minutes later "Aunt DeeDee, why do you like me so much?" (Because I love you so much I can't even talk??)

While being tucked in for the night one of the dogs jumps up and curls up next to him. "This is a good dog Aunt DeeDee. This dog can stay." as he wraps an arm around her and begins to twirl her fur as his eyes close. (he usually twirls his own hair as he falls asleep)

In the morning after getting up for a few minutes, shouting at me at the top of his lungs while I'm in the bathroom "AUNT DEEDEE I NEED TO TAKE A SHOWER RIGHT NOW!!" and I respond "Hold your horses little man, what's your hurry?" Alec "Oh man! I have to take a shower right now Aunt DeeDee, these dogs just licked me ALL OVER!" (Can you see all of the contortions on my face while I desperately try not to crack up??)

Getting ready to leave for lunch. "Aunt DeeDee are these dogs going to miss me when I go home?" "I'm sure they will Alec but they will be excited to see you next time" I respond. Pause. "Aunt DeeDee, you need to get a kid so your doggies won't cry." (Word for word, I swear! Slay me! I had tears in my eyes imagining the 'kid store' from his point of view where we could just go pick one of those out, you know, to help out the dogs!)

Pausing at the windows in the tunnels of the play center at Burger King to blow me kisses and shout "I love you Aunt DeeDee!!". Then when he gets to the hard climb just before the tunnel to the slide informing me "This is the part where you have to cheer and say "Great job Alec, you are the best!", ok? You say that right here Aunt DeeDee cus I'm the winner, ok?" "Ok Alec, but there isn't anyone else here" I respond. "I made up some friends over there and they get to be the losers" he tells me. "Alec, everything isn't about winning and losing, sometimes it is just playing" I say. "It's ok Aunt DeeDee, it won't hurt their feelings, they aren't real." he says explaining everything.

Packing to go home, I ask Alec "Alec are all of your toys in this bag?" "I don't want to go home right now Aunt DeeDee" he says. "I know Alec. Check this bag to see if all of your clothes are in here" I reply. "Aunt DeeDee, I don't want to go home right now!" he says a bit louder. "I know Alec. Did you get your underwear out of the bathroom?" I say. "Aunt DeeDee are you LISTENING to me??" he yells. "Yes Alec, that is why I am talking to you. But in this case, just wanting something doesn't make anything change" I tell him straightforwardly. He hangs his head and says "Oh maaan!" followed by a big sigh as he trudges off to get his underwear. A few minutes later he says "Aunt DeeDee is Madalynn going to spend the night tonight?" "No Alec, tonight is a school night" I answer. "But she HAS to Aunt DeeDee!" he declares. "Why does she HAVE to Alec?" I ask. "Because then it can be my turn again!" he informs me smiling victoriously at figuring out this solution. (Madalynn is his sister, as you may have guessed)

"Aunt DeeDee, I think you wore me out." he says softly from the backseat on the way home. "Two points for Aunt DeeDee then!" I declare looking over my shoulder but he is already asleep by then.

No one has ever struck me speechless so many times in so few hours! Hug your kids or dream of them - they are truly priceless :-)

They say it's your birthday, gonna have a good time!!

2007-04-02T23:01:00.000-04:00

Birthday Fun:Yep, it's my birthday, one of those "Big Oh" ones so I've been celebrating all weekend and plan to continue all week! :) As you may have guessed, as a result, I have no knitterly progress to show for myself whatsoever. So what is a blogger to do? I thought a contest may be nice? If you feel so inclined to leave me a birthday greeting with a thought or two on how you enjoyed some, or one, (I'm assuming you are all over 10 :), of your "Big Oh's", sometime between now and next Monday (the 9th), I will use a random number generator to select a few lucky folks for some nice gifts. I'm thinking some hand dyed fiber or yarn, some custom gemstone stitch markers, and maybe some hand made soaps. I'll post some examples during the week to actually put color back in the blog.

Swatches:
Many Thanks to everyone that expressed an opinion on the recent swatches for my next fair isle brainstorm. If you haven't expressed an opinion yet, please do. It is as nice to hear that it appeals to you as it is to hear that you think it is crazy. As I practice with design, feedback is crucial. I can come up with ideas, but if they have no appeal to others, then I know to just make them up for myself. But if they ever do seem to appeal, I will work on writing up actual patterns to share.

So far the consensus is:
1. no one expressed that they detested it but maybe those that did were feeling that they shouldn't say so in the comments
2. some expressed that that the orange/yellow shades may be overwhelming but liked the more subdued bands of blue and green and deep orange that tempered them a bit in the larger swatch.
3. some expressed that the colors really jumped out and thought this was a good thing, more so after seeing the repeat that I cut and pasted together.
4. and yet others shared that the orange/yellows advance and the greens/blues recede, not necessarily a bad thing, but distinctive in this pattern

Personally, I fell in love with the orangey/yellow shades and my goal was to find something that showcased them and made them stand out, without making them too dominant. I like the shades, but they aren't flattering to my complexion so some temperance was in the objective. I also find that the colorways A. St*rmore puts together are striking and unexpected, which appeals to me greatly. I find the "art" factor here, the distinctiveness that is expressed by the most talented of colorwork designers. The colorways I have done to date are more conservative and stretching into that realm is a personal goal and something I strive to achieve someday.

So enough for text, express yourself and we can have a little fun! If you want to enter the drawing, state whether you spin or not and I will keep the fiber categories separate so you don't end up with something you have no use for. The goal is a little sharing of fun :)

I'm really having a great birthday!

Maybe?

2007-03-28T17:50:00.000-04:00

ADD Knitter on the loose

2007-03-28T08:29:00.000-04:00

This is what happens when I get bored with monotone projects and have read too many Fair Isle blogs.......I crave colors like some people crave chocolate or Cracksilk Haze and I get a little cranky until I get my fix. The next band would pull out the greens and periwinkle-ish shade but I thought I should pause to assess. The stitch patterns aren't set, more placeholders for working out concepts and colorways. So what do you think? Interesting? Yay? Nay? Meh?

I used to paint my house. I could do that a lot faster than I can knit.

It's all in the tension.....

2007-03-26T22:17:00.000-04:00

I had some interesting realizations this past week. It started out fairly ordinary as I succumbed to the influences of blogland and an overwhelming need to cast on another pair of socks. Not just any socks, I wanted spring socks and I really, really wanted to try and tackle a pair toe up. All of my other socks have been top down and I've refined that process to produce a perfect fit, something I have been loathe to stray from. So with some inspiration from Amy, I dyed up some sock yarn in colors that make me feel the whispers of spring. And with further inspiration from Brigitte and Wendy, I decided to try Wendy's standard toe up sock pattern.

Now, Wendy knits socks on Size 0 needles, same as me, so I didn't really pay more attention than that, I just dove in to try this toe swatch. Reading the pattern for the toe explained nothing to me. I had no idea how this was going to make a toe and had to blindly follow the instructions exactly to finally gain the understanding on how casting on 32 stitches was going to work. The whole time the little voice in my head is whimpering "but I don't want my toe that wide!" I got quite the laugh when I realized how the short rows were actually working and that that measurement was for half the foot, not the toe tip! That's when I realized what was wrong. 32x2 = 64 - that's a little bit tiny for a foot. Does Wendy have really skinny feet? probably not.....ummm, gauge, what's the gauge? 8spi???? I get 10spi on 0's, how is she getting EIGHT??

Then another little voice brings a tid bit of information to the forefront from something I read recently where the Knitter/Author stated something to the effect of "don't mess around changing needle sizes, any good knitter can get several different gauges from the same needles just by adjusting their tension." I swore this was AS but she mentions changing needle sizes for gauge often so I don't know where it came from. But the gist of it was, I realized I'm a rather snug knitter. I don't knit tightly, have a very relaxed grip on the needles, don't even bend aluminum 00's, haven't had any difficulties getting my needle into stitches, so I never gave it any thought. But there it was.

So I took this realization and played with it. By adjusting my tension ever so slightly while working on the Queen, I think I have achieved what I needed to get those floats to behave properly. Now I have to get a few more inches done to see if my theory is holding.

As for the socks, I'm going to try the same on the other toe. I think it will make the short row stitches lay nicer. If it does, I'll frog this one and make it match. This one is a little wonky anyway - somehow I got the short row wraps on one side fine, but on the other side, they are showing inside instead of outside. Not sure what happened there but Wendy's instructions are great and I'm having fun learning a new technique. And the yarn is pretty :)

ETA: Marina pointed out that the tension quote I was looking for was indeed AS, although she stated it a bit more eloquently, on her FAQ's page on the VY website.

A little update

2007-03-24T15:28:00.000-04:00

Chart rows = 47.
A little bit of progress on Ambassador. I'm liking the sweater much better than the graphic. It amazes me what happens when you start out with the traditional shetland Fair Isle X's and O's and just kind of stretch it from there. Can you see them all now? Lots and lots of little x's and o's. And only a few hundred more rows to go!

It is actually quite satisfying to knit a pattern I enjoy in only two colors. It will also work very well with my professional wardrobe which means it will get alot of wear. I think it would look equally cool in foreground and background shadings but at this time, I wanted to focus more on the actual blueprint of sweater design. If I do another one, I can play in the color box to my hearts content :)

And for Marina, the side shot results of the pattern placed the "Norwegien Way". Not bad, and definitely worth it to get the sizing I needed. Thank you very much for the information.

Ambassador to the Queen

2007-03-19T23:48:00.000-04:00

I want to thank everyone for your support and suggestions for overcoming the challenges of the Queen. All have been very helpful and you will see them in practice as I get further along. As of now, I have managed to start the re-steeking for the smaller size and begin the armhole steeks and the neckline shaping. Not enough for a photo update but I am making progress.

There was a scary scary moment as I was knitting away and heard way too much clattering and clanging coming from the kitchen. I jumped up to check out what Mr. Puppy (he's almost 80lbs - he gets a Mr. ;) was up to. As I was picking up the coffee pot he knocked over in his curiousity and then walked back around the corner to the living room, my heart dropped to the floor and I uttered some unintelligible shriek as I saw him sail away with the Queen.in.his.mouth. Fortunate for me, whatever that scary noise was that I made, he dropped the sweater and she suffered just a hint of puppy slober and broken skein yarns. WHEW!! My oh my is he quick! I now keep the locking tub next to my knitting spot - that subterfuge is not going to work on me twice, uh huh! Mama's got your number Mr. Puppy!

Knitting on the Queen is being reserved for the weekend knitting and I decided I could play with other things during the week. So I put in a few rows on Ambassador this week too. Much less eye-crossing in knit. The true patterning won't show fully until I get at least a couple repeats in. See, I'm really good with the short floats - not a single ripple. Very refreshing :)

Royal Challenges of Anne Boleyn - "The Queen"

2007-03-12T18:13:00.000-04:00

As most of you that stop by my blog are well aware, I am not a very experienced knitter. I'm talking the experience you aquire in doing something more than once and more than one way which gives you a bit of foreknowledge on how things will turn out. I am a rather ambitious knitter and trying things a bit beyond, or sometimes a lot beyond, my perceived skill set appeals to me often. Knowing this aspect of my personality, I have also learned to accept that I will frequently make some really significant mistakes that often have no recourse other than to start over. This is the stage that I had been at with Anne Boleyn and why I sent her off to the tower for an extended stay. So this weekend I had to see if she could be reconciled with or if it was a case as Lorraine put it "Off with her head"!

The Tussled Queen:

The Royal Challenges I faced with this sweater are as follows:

1. Long floats with short anchors - Some of the floats in this design are 16 stitches with 1 stitch between so 16-1-16. Most rows have floats of 9 or more. My comfort zone was floats of 9 or less, and not lots of 'em.

2. The knitted fabric appears rumpled - Most of the pretty pictures all over the net of stranded colorwork in progress all lay perfectly flat like beautiful fabric. The Queen was looking like she had been slept in, or slept with as the case may be. The dread that my floats may be too tight and that the sweater would never lay flat kept me in a state of anxiety when working on it. If it was wrong, I wanted to fix it *before* I continued to further the mistake. For the life of me, I still haven't figured out what I need to do differently.

3. Frustrating Needles - I know, I have so many needle issues. In this case, I was using Inox which have that bend where the needle meets the cable. I always end up with this bend going against the curve and feel like my knitting is all tangled up.

4. Long Charts - the pattern repeats are 48 and 60 stitches. I was finding it very difficult to remember the row and it is tough to figure out where I am at by reading my knitting in this particular design.

5. Size - Probably the most common beginner error. I went by the "To Fit" measurement and not the actual garment dimensions. My prior sweater worked out perfectly by the "To Fit" chart but this one will give me a cardigan with over 8 inches of ease. That's like super baggy sweatshirt ease, not elegant cardigan ease!

The Primped Queen:

And my solutions:

1. Practice - I worked on Alba and Ambassador for more experience and improved my confidence a lot. These floats are now easier to execute, although not perfectly flat.

2. I drowned the Queen - Seriously, I just spritzed her a little with water to dampen, straightened her out, and lightly steamed with the iron. I did the whole thing to make sure I wasn't just moving the problem or happened to pick a 'good spot'. It's beautiful!! I'm not a sucky strander!! Not great, but it doesn't suck. This is a *huge* weight off my shoulders and I am much happier now.

3. I switched to Addi's and very lightly scuffed the right needle only where I need to stretch the stitches for the floats. The tip and the join are still all nice and slippery. For me, this is the perfect tool for this task and should make things go quicker. Up to this point, it has been taking me an hour just for one row, a very time consuming knit.

4. I colored in the charts. I'm very visual but the distinction of the symbols was not enough to keep the actual picture of what I was knitting clear to me. The colors do. I also wrote in the actual number of stitches on the very long sections. Again, 9 seems to be my magic limit of what is easy for me to glance at and *know* what to do as opposed to having to think it out, squint alot, and stop to actually count little boxes.

5. The big one - the way too big one! Well I am nearing the row where all decisions must be made and I have to choose where the armholes and neckline decreases will be. I have decided to take the plunge and remove 3.5 inches from the front. This will mean the Falcon pattern will be like the instructions say for the smaller size but the Hounds pattern has different placement so I will have to refigure the charts and decreases for these. The bright side to this is that the front of my sweater will start with Hound Heads - instead of Hound Butts as the design is written.

Doing this means I have a 4.5" "steek" for the first half of my sweater, oy! So I will cast off the extra ones so there will be 2 separate steeks for the front. The only problem I see with this is that when I go to pick up stitches for the button band, I won't have edge stitches and may go blind trying to make sure I am always in the same column. Am I missing anything that is going to bite me later on this??

Oh, and the Apprentice* doesn't have matching shoulder seams on this one so I'll be tackling that too. See, with more experience I would have had the foresight to see that coming - I do now, thanks to all of Marina's experience and the analysis from working on Ambassador.

*While Jade Starmore is indeed a master knitter and accomplished designer, in the book "Tudor Roses", published in 1998, Alice refers to her as her Apprentice. "Anne Boleyn" is the pattern from this book, designed by Jade, that I frequently refer to here as "The Queen".

Pandora's Box

2007-03-09T00:10:00.000-05:00

Behold, Pandora's Box!! In it I have sealed all of my knitterly woes and left it in the dark caves to gather dust for time on end. In my naive unknowing, I was bold, curious and desirous of beauty. I drew to me the glorious writings of icon and apprentice. I brought forth the richest of threads in royal hues from many lands. I engaged the spirit of the masses to rejoice with me as birth was given to this tribute to a fallen queen. I set about my labors with delight as the magic unfurled and form began........

....then I awakened and came to realize that one so humble as I had not the fortitude to endure the long nights and tedious, interminable floats wraught by the apprentice. I came to know the truth of my brashness and was brought to my knees in humility at my presumptuousness that lowly I could execute the visions of the icon's offspring. Loathe to continue on this wearisome quest, I withdrew from the support of the masses and secreted away the evidence of my shame.

Many moons have passed since I discovered the folly of my ways and I am drawn once again to wipe off the dust. In reflection I have learned much in the eons since last I beheld the beautiful queen. I have dared to open the box and release the buried woes, praying that there is indeed a bit of hope left in the bottom..........

........underneath that huge pile of yarn!!

My crafting has gone to the dogs!!

2007-03-06T15:34:00.000-05:00

Well, one dog in particular. I got a call from the greyhound rescue group I work with and they had a beautiful white guy coming up from Daytona that needed a place to stay. Being the supportive person I am and since the house seemed a bit empty after Rocky was adopted, I said sure, sounds like fun. Well, they didn't know much about him before his arrival other than the obvious, he is white and male. Well, his name is Remix and he is also TWO....and three feet tall....and 75lbs....and TWO.

Typical Remix:

Most of you have known a two year old in some form during your life so you understand that two is very very busy, very very persistent, and very very stubborn. Yes, all the 'very's are necessary, it's either that or a whole bunch of exclamation points! He is just one big bundle of enthusiasm for life, ready to Go-See-Do anything and everything. He is also sweet, lovable and charming and makes me laugh all day long because his antics are hilarious, and let's face it, he is too darn cute. At least my Kya thinks so :)

And his favorite thing in his new home (other than stealing dishes out of the sink)? WOOL seconded slightly by ALPACA. While I give the guy credit for having great taste, the fact that persists endlessly trying to taste all of my projects is really cramping my knitty spinny style. On the bright side, he occasionally naps and as long as I don't move, he may stay that way for a few rounds on something...... shhhh...... I think he is about to doze off ;-)

Forest Canopy Complete!

2007-02-21T18:27:00.000-05:00

My poor photographic skills in the last post showed the yarn I'm using for Forest Canopy quite washed out in the sun. This is what the yarn actually looks like. It is a blend of 2 shades of blue, 2 shades of purple, and 2 shades of green.

In knitted form, it does appear kind of a grey blue in artificial light, and more of the colors show in daylight. Each batt that I used in spinning it was hand blended with hand cards so the mix of colors was never exactly the same. Approximately 20 individually blended batts went into the singles and then were plied together. The effect leaves muted stripes of color waves. The wool is long staple and silky blends of Romney lamb and a BL-Romney cross.

These photos are fairly true to color in natural sunlight.

And of course the blocking shot. It blocked out to 70"x35" - not much smaller than Kiri and it won't likely shrink up much because of the type of wool. Which means I will probably knit another sometime soon.

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl, Susan Pierce Lawrence
Yarn: My handspun fingering weight, approximately 346 yards
Needles: Knit Picks Options slick metal size 8's
Pattern review: The pattern itself is specifically designed towards new lace knitters and is very well written. It contains useful advice on yarn and needle selection, life lines, gauge and swatching etc. The instructions are written and charted, well layed out and very clear. The repeats are easily memorized and rythmic. It is an ideal example of patterns that make "reading your lace" very easy and quick to know exactly where you are at at all times. Great travel knitting project.
Issues: The only issue I had was the line"Slick, metal needles are a recipe for disaster when knitting lace. Needles made from wood or bamboo are preferable to those made from metal." I prefer it very much when pattern writers express things like this as *their opinion* instead of a declaration. Something like "I find slick metal needles difficult to work with in lace knitting and prefer wood or bamboo because it provides a little more grip to the stitches. Choose needles that work for you." is a perfectly benign way to put it instead. After all, does my shawl look like a "disaster"? It would have been if I tried to use bamboo needles, the 'sticky' is just too much for me...... jmo

Plan, what plan??

2007-02-16T18:13:00.000-05:00

Where there's a plan, there's always the option to chuck it out the window, isn't there? I mean, I had all the best intentions to establish a bit of project monogamy and get some of those wip's completed, but I appear to be claustrophobic when I place arbitrary, if logical, restrictions on myself. The practical side of my brain screams for a bit of order when I take on too many different things simultaneously but the creative side screams that that kind of thinking is for straight-jacket certifiables, and since I'm just ordinary crazy, it is far more fun to live on the edge and cast on with wild abandon. And people think knitters are calm, quiet types....riiight.

So Marina explained "the Norwegian way" of dealing with pattern repeats that refuse to cooperate and meet the specific measurements required and I think this method will indeed tame Ambassador. So I recalculated and cast on. Well, almost cast on, I still have to count the stitches one last time before I can start. So, no pictures - it's a needle with loops on it, lots of loops, not exciting. Well exciting, but not...you know what I mean.

Then we have Sweet Germaine making an appearance. It's a scarf for a friend (that I was, ahem, supposed to do last year) in cables and arrowhead lace. So I have some lace and cables going on to quell the desire and hopefully keep me from starting yet another sweater. The "sweet" part? It's Prime Alpaca and knits like a dream! If you ever thought about trying it and hesitated, it is really nice yarn and quite reasonable. Spunky Eclectic has all the Henry's Attic yarns at good prices.

Then we move on to the "shawl issue". Remember when I did Kiri last year? I never thought I'd actually use it, I just felt compelled to make it. Well it lives on my living room sofa and I use it all the time, especially while I'm waiting for the heat to catch up. It is a touch too long though and in a bit of jeopardy when I jump up to go stir the chili or some such thing so I wanted to make one a little shorter. Now I have had a skein in stash forever that was from the first fleece I ever bought off the back of a stinky sheep (I actually like the smell of fresh wool, even after finding out what that stuff is that's stuck in the skirtings, but we already established the "crazy" part of this post haven't we? moving on.) It has my first explorations at cleaning, dying, hand carding and blending. So it's a little less refined than it could be but it has a bundle of heart that went into it so I wanted to make a shoulder shawl from it.

Enter Forest Canopy:

It's about that big too but I thought I'd spare you another picture of Earnshaw ;-)

A Valentine Day Tribute

2007-02-14T00:02:00.000-05:00

Happy Valentines Day to all!

While this holiday has become quite commercial in US society, to me it has always remained a day to remind us of caring. Not going through the motions, not expressing platitudes, but honestly and truthfully expressing love from the heart. So this Valentines Day, I have not bought a box of chocolates, nor have I smelled a single flower. This day, I tribute to Sonya and Kevin at Cottage 46. Sonya is a favorite of mine in blogland and shares her knitterly experiences with enthusiasm and integrity and I have found her to be quite an inspiration. Sonya and Kevin are having some rough times right now and the gracious Rebekah, during her own challenging times, has started a project to honor them and keep them warm with knitterly love and hope.

So enjoy the love, and spread the warmth. Contribute your knitterly love to some folks that need it, now more than ever. I know that is what I will be doing.

Hugs to all of you that stop by that have some challenge to face, my heart goes out to you all.

It was nice while it lasted.......

2007-02-12T20:15:00.000-05:00

I am so glad I had a wonderful day yesterday because today I realized that I was totally full of it. It was a happy state of affairs for a brief while.

I mixed up my calculations on Ambassador. What I did figure out is what it would take to make it work. What it takes, I don't have. The only way to get matching shoulder seams with this pattern is to have an even number of repeats. For an odd number of repeats, in a cardigan, you end up having to split at the sides with 3/4's of a repeat on each side of the front and 1/4 of a repeat on each side of the back. With a perfectly symetrical pattern, there is no way the shoulder joins will match up in pattern.

So if I need an even number of repeats for this whole concept to work, then I have a choice of 10 or 12. At the swatched 8spi, and a repeat of 32 stitches, I can have a 41 inch sweater (with button band) or a 49 inch sweater. I need as close to 44 as I can get. So for my theories to work, I either need to lose 3 inches over all, or I need at least 7.5spi for a sweater approximating 43.67 inches. That was my big 'Hurrah!' moment. 7.5spi is perfectly respectable for stranded color work. I would be very happy with that. It just isn't happening.

So I did manage to create what I think is a really nice pattern. I came up with a sweater design that suited it. I conquered most of the math. I swatched like a good knitter. I came up with edge treatments and finishing details that worked. I even did most of the calculations that would allow the sleeves to be picked up and worked from a second set of charts that shifted sideways so not only would the shoulders match, so would the sleeve seams. So I consider my concept a success and I got farther with it than I thought I might. It just won't fit if I execute it.

Musings

2007-02-11T23:37:00.000-05:00

I had such a fun day, did you??

I discovered that half the reason I'm missing everyones posts is because between "the New Blogger" and Bloglines I lost a bunch of my feeds. I am in the process of repairing this situation which makes me very happy.

There was a good deal of lively conversation on KBTH with the new IK and some helpful advice on Turkish Cast On's. I now have answers to why I bent my needles (for the first time ever!) trying, albeit awkwardly and incorrectly, to master a toe up technique for socks. I received some wonderful enabling advice on some Romney sock yarns from Red Bird Knits that I wasn't aware of. I have a great fondness for Romney, some of the best fleece I've worked with, but I had never found a Romney yarn. They are currently out of stock but it's on my bookmark watch list. Romney can be anything from fine and long and silky like the finest shetland for laces.... or carpet fiber. I've enjoyed the silky stuff and still have some fleece to clean!

I also chatted a bit with Marina on some of the techniques she's used with her wealth of fair isles and spent a good bit of the day working out some things with the Ambassador sweater! Maybe not exciting to all of you, but I'm very pleased. I was brainstorming techniques for the hem and cuff/collar/button bands. I wasn't too excited about a seed stitch, garter stitch, or corrugated ribbing for the simplicity of this design. So I combined them all in very small amounts and I think it works. Simple, yes. But the sweater is simple so they work together. I washed up the coned Harrisville Shetland that I had for this project and re-swatched. Still a tight knit at 8spi but improved over the 9.25spi I was getting while it was still oiled.

A little blurry but you get the gist. I also figured out the gauge issue, and the repeat issue and hopefully the way to get just the right shoulder seams. I know many of you are asking yourselves why I would be crazy enough to design a sweater in just two colors and actually be excited to knit it? Why, because I am going to bribe myself by knitting it at the same time as something more challenging or completely monochrome so it is refreshing in comparison! That will work, won't it?!?

Earnshaw Begins

2007-02-08T19:23:00.000-05:00

First, for the record, I have not finished spinning the 2000+ yards for Earnshaw. But... I couldn't resist casting on to see if the yarn would play out as I had intended. It is definitely going to be a happy knit! Reminds me of all the pinwheels we would put in the yard in the spring when I was a kid. I love the color orange - bright yellow orange - but it isn't the most flattering color unless it is just the right shade. I did manage to capture the shade that I wanted and the mix of colors keeps it in balance with all the rest. See? Totally happy colors :) Now my challenge is to continue spinning bulky singles to finish this. Sounds easy? Not! If I get distracted for even a few minutes, my hands automatically start drafting for a 2ply sock weight, the most common weight I spin the most of.

Now, my concession to the 2007 Knit from your Stash philosophy is to finish a WIP (or more) for every new project I start. I want to clear the decks to focus some time on Anne Boleyn that I haven't touched in months and months and to resurrect Alba in her final colorway. I also want to knit a heavier weight shawl - preferably in Silky Wool (I love that stuff!) and the Ambassador fair isle that I'm struggling a little with. So the following are my current targets:

1. Earnshaw - new
2. Handspun purple socks - wip
3. Sweet Germaine scarf for one of my best friends - new (but I should have started it much sooner)
4. Red Twist socks - wip

We'll see how I do ;)

One more try...

2007-01-27T20:05:00.000-05:00

The doldrums are just a pain aren't they?? Oh well.

I am in the process of catching up with all of you but you are a prolific bunch so it's taking awhile :)

On my front, here at Feeling Tangerine? not much, just a quick post to help kick the doldrums. I finished the last of the mittens (I know, I know, I'm sorry but that's all I have knit lately!)

Mittens for Ana

It's hard to see but these ones have sparklies in them:

and a scarf for Ana's Blue Bear:
The scarf matches one that she got and she was thrilled that Blue Bear got one too.
Kids are hilarious :)

Earnshaw is from Simply Noro.

The yarn it calls for has angora in it which I cannot wear. (I can pet the bunnies and spin fresh angora, but commercial angora or mohair preparations make me itch to high heaven.)

Since I couldn't use the Noro, I decided to go with the Spin to Knit approach:

I had to have the book because I had met so many of the showcased spinners online, especially Symeon North of Pippi KneeSocks . I'm not actually following any of the advice in it, just supporting friends :)

I couldn't decide on colors and finally just threw them all in. Why should kids have all the fun?

I know this is not a challenging project, but I've never done anything in just stockinette and garter stich and all I really want is a super cuddly handspun hoodie to snuggle up in for the winter so I think it will do just fine. The roving is all dyed up, now to just spin up a few thousand yards......

Better late than never!

2007-01-09T16:05:00.000-05:00

Well Happy New Year all! December and January have been very very busy and I caught a plague or two to top it off as well. Dad turned 60 to start it all off and the Maine sister brought her family in to surprise him. It was great and we all had a ton of fun. Then came the Christmas festivities far and near, then the post Christmas Birthdays, then New Years, then the New Years birthdays ........and then lots of curling up on the couch in pj's with tissues to recover from the "extra gifts" that the kids all had to share. Sound familiar? I know, "happening in a household near you" all over this time of year.

I was blessed with nieces and nephews spending some nights over in all the chaos, my sister made me dinner not once but twice - very spoiled I was. On the knitting front, the mittens were a hit and the girls squeeled with glee and I glowed. Sisters and brothers in law acknowledged the wool and *do not machine wash* factors and warm feelings were shared by all. In the middle of all this cheer there was a sudden pause from the not-so-wee nieces.
Then.they.asked.for.sweaters.
Quick on my toes I informed them that if they stopped growing, I'd start knitting sweaters instead of mittens. Being 8 and 9 they actually got excited and started to think about this for a few minutes before catching on to the glitch that kept this from working out in their favor. Yes, I am the *mean* aunt that tortures them with sarcasm and a smart aleck wit that leaves them always wondering ;-)

And in true New Year style, I decided to start something, well, new :)

Ooo Bright Lights, Bright Lights!

2006-12-11T20:16:00.000-05:00

I see a bunch of year in review posts out there but I have decided to procrastinate on that one. At the moment I seem to be in the thrall of simple projects. There is definitely something to be said for quick knits. They are refreshing and can renew your inspiration. They can help you forget that several of your *big* projects didn't get off the ground quite right and allow you to bury your head in the wool until you are ready to go beat them into submission. They are a joyful break from *the maths* needed for everything else you are working on. And let's face it, as slow as I knit they are something that I can actually get DONE :)

Now, socks are not "quick knits" on my list, but in this case they have only needed toes for two months so they qualify. And this pair - a couple of firsts for me. First, they started out pretty with all the little tiny color changes.....then, they pooled. Ackk! Ok, I decided to proceed anyway to see if I could build up my tolerance. (ok, I was lazy) Then I had a great idea - if I knit them and wasn't totally crazy about them, then maybe I could *machine wash them* and not freak out if something *bad* happened. So I did! And I still hate the pooling but these ones softened wonderfully and didn't bleed a bit with the blue jeans and downy! and the pooling part is covered by shoe! Yeah :) I know, I'm a dork, but dang it, I have been afeared that the mysterious *something* could go wrong in the washing machine and I would ruin months of work. Maybe the label people were fibbing and they weren't really superwash. Maybe....maybe.... But I didn't and it worked and I am happy :) And these puppies are *bright* - definitely clown socks - crazy happy cheerful bright clown socks. They may just compete with the Christmas tree lights.......if I ever get the tree up *sigh*

And since that wasn't enough *bright* for the week - neon-toxic-retina searing-Barbie blasting-screaming pink yarns for the Maine niece's mittens. Think she'll lose these in the snow???? ;-)

Schmink Day

2006-12-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

RLB - "Schmink"
1980 - 2004
Happy Birthday Baby Bro!
Love You Always.....

Look Mom! Both Hands!

2006-11-30T20:01:00.000-05:00

Brigitte asked me what I was going to do with the red carpet yarn. I actually spin a lot of yarns that I have no idea what to do with - I just enjoy creating them. In this case, Boogie gave me an awesome idea - and then she posted a pattern for me! She is wonderful folks :)

Amy posted the pattern Tuesday and I have finished mitts on Thursday - handspun bulky mittens for the Michigan niece. The pattern has even decreases for a round top so there is no true right or left mitten to keep it simple for the lit'lins. Knitting with handspun is so much fun - just watching all the unique characteristics and colors develop makes everything go so quick! Go find some Lit'lins and make 'em some handspun mitts - it's good stuff. And if you need some handspun for the project, check out Spunky Eclectic (Amy) and Pippi Knee Socks - great product and excellent customer service. Two of my all time favorites indeed, well, and my stuff of course ;) Now to figure out what color for the Maine niece.....

Yarn: handspun 2-ply merino bulky, 125 yards/4 ozs
Used: 2.1 ozs for a 7 year old
Pattern: Boogie's Bulky Mittens
Needles: 7 US Bryspun DPN's

Do-Overs

2006-11-27T21:02:00.000-05:00

The Alba "swatch" was a great experiment and showed some more changes that I want to make.

First, I was only going to change 2 colors but I have decided to change the whole green section, re-order the sequence and eliminate one of the color changes. J&S just doesn't make one more green that I feel is right for this section so instead of matching Alice's number of colors, I am eliminating one and dividing it between the two neighboring colors.

Second, by changing the green section around, it also requires more changes in the seed stitch border which means a degree of surgery.

Third, I'm glad I cast on a sweater sized swatch because my gauge changed significantly over a few inches, becoming tighter, more even and therefore smaller. So I actually need to cast on the larger size to compensate. This sweater was originally in a combination of fingering weight and "Lite DK" so the gauge with shetland jumper weight isn't the same, but I was getting the same gauge at the beginning.

Fourth, the cast on edge is curling forward and showing the floats behind. Can't have behinds showing in the finished sweater. For Rosemarkie, I cast and then turned it before joining so the first row is the purl side of the long tail cast on which tucks the edge back instead of forward. I had forgotten to do that with Alba.

So Alba is in the Do-overs pile waiting to be cast on again. I can scavenge some of the yarn from my first attempt if need be but I think it will stay in the bin as a perfect piece to practice surgeries on if the need ever arises. Now I need to order the corrected yarn for the whole sweater and get it cast on again before I get completely sidetracked by yet another siren call.

PS - to those of you that were curious what the actual colors were, I will let you know as soon as soon as I get pics of the new cast on.

For the love of red

2006-11-24T22:46:00.000-05:00

There is a lovely long hallway in the house I'm renting with golden oak floors - the real kind 1930's style. I needed a rug to protect this beautiful floor from all of the traffic it will receive and I lucked out and found a gorgeous runner that appealed to my love of color. It's wool too - I think Rocky likes it as much as I do as it gives him a nice vantage point when I'm working on the pc ......or maybe it's just vanity on his part :)

I was playing with a bit of merino this week in dye shop with these colors as one of my inspirations.

I love it as a two ply with all the hints of color - but then I rarely meet a red I do not like. Although so far it is the most difficult color to photograph for me, the accent colors show much better in person.

I had big plans for crafting this weekend but they were thwarted by water heaters, leaks, leaves, rakes, blowers, non-functioning garage door openers and smashed fingers and swollen hands. When reflecting on this US Thanksgiving weekend I am very thankful that I do not hurt myself any more than I do! There are many other things I am thankful for, including the new water heater my landlords put in that provided the hot water to soak this wounded bod, but that one is on there :)

Frolicking

2006-11-20T21:48:00.000-05:00

I so can't focus lately - literally! One of the medications I have to take right now has a side effect of "blurred vision". I try to time things so I don't take it during the day so I can actually see the computer I work on all day but by the afternoon I really need it so my evenings are all a tad bit fuzzy. So I'm going with it and playing with the fuzzier side of things - blending up some lovely fuzzy batts and doing some spinning.

A fun mix of some soft and silky Romney fleece, Targhee lamb fleece, Leicester, and a little sparkly nylon, plied with a blend of Raime, Romney, Corriedale and a little sparkly nylon. The purples are blended with the chartreuse and white, and the chartreuse is blended with white to bring more balance to the sharp contrast of the marl. Soft and tough and just a hint of glitter - it's a chick thing :)

360 yards
5 ounces

The "dye shop" is coming together too. It is definitely working and I have improvement plans this weekend - big fun for me. I'm craving a sweatshirt/tunic in handspun for cuddling up in front of the fire this winter. Ooo, and some knitting with big needles, you know, like 6's or 7's instead of 0's and 3's for a little change :)

And now all the dust bunnies in my house twinkle!

Knitting Lessons

2006-11-12T17:45:00.000-05:00

Well we started out with getting used to holding so much "stuff" in your hands at the same time, what you do with that crazy finger holding the yarn, and "which way was I going?" She is my favorite student, always willing to try and no hissie fits no matter how wonky things got once in awhile. She had the hardest time with the concept of turning the work around and switching hands to start the next row, instead trying to knit back, zig zagging back and forth across the same side. I know theoretically this is possible, the knit back backwards thing, but I don't know it and we were already 'in progress'- a little late for me to be figuring it out. She has the potential to be a true knitter - she took her knitting with her to work on it in the car, at the vets office, and while watching movies. She had so much fun that she got up in the morning and started knitting and ended up staying the whole weekend to work on it. Most of that time, she looked just like this:

Apparently the teddie bears are great helpers :)

On another surprising note, my brother asked me for slippers. (no, he doesn't read the blog) I was floored. He gets the obsessive compulsive aspects, the lack of patience thing, the need for creativity and challenge, etc., we are a lot alike that way. But he just doesn't get the choice of "knitting" as the expression of that so to ask me to knit him something was a trip. We'll see. If he brings it up again then I may just do it, especially since I received so many helpful hints to keep the soles from wearing out that I of course have to try them out.

As for my own knitting? Well, I just haven't had any motivation to knit so no progress there, but I did start organizing to create a "dye workshop" in the basement and yet more unpacking and re-organizing. This is all very unexciting in this stage and lacking any kind of fun photo documentation or funny stories to tell - but I'm sure some of the above will follow shortly. (I hope :)

Little Miss Knit Kit

2006-11-02T22:29:00.000-05:00

Thanks for everyone's advice regarding the best tools to teach a 7 year old knitter. I managed to pick up some size US9, 7" straights that feel really easy to handle. I think this is going to make a huge difference in her learning experience. I remember needles feeling like bat wings when my grandmother tried to teach me as a child. I took immediately to crochet but knitting was too awkward for me. I picked up a crochet hook for her too just in case. And Paton's Classic Merino in light blue for practice yarn. I figured yarn at worsted weight and stretchy to start was a good plan, yes? And not too great an investment if she decides she would much rather do something else. I'm so excited I feel like a little kid myself. I haven't had an opportunity to teach someone something in a long time.

I set up the cast on for 15 stitches and started her off with enough to give her some stability. We can always turn her practice knitting into a headband or something to put a goal to it.

I cannot seem to find the pattern I used for the sock protectors. I really liked it and they fit beautifully. I do like the idea of the double sole though - that should be perfect. And a great excuse to find the local yarn store in my new neighborhood too ;)

Sock Protectors & Learning to knit

2006-10-30T00:15:00.000-05:00

I'm so bummed! Last year when I first started knitting socks I was wearing my first pair every other day. They were handspun and not superwash but I was extremely careful when washing to prevent felting. They started to felt ever so slightly anyway. That was when I learned that running around all day every day on synthetic carpets in handspun socks will cause felting faster than anything other than the washing machine. That's when I made these:

Sock Protectors! They turned out beautifully and I proceed to wear them every day on synthetic carpets to protect my socks. The socks did wonderfully. The slippers? Well.......

It is looking like I need another pair. What I would really like to find is that rubbery paint stuff they dip gloves in to turn them into waterproof work gloves. Then I could coat the bottoms and delay this problem greatly. And maybe I could darn these and then coat them. What do you think?

And on to the really exciting knews - Since I moved close enough to return the nieces and nephews to mom in the middle of the night if necessary, I am very excited that my Michigan niece will be coming to spend the night at Aunt Dee Dee's house this weekend. She is seven and she desperately wants me to teach her how to knit. She can be very focused and analytical when she chooses to be so I think she will be fun to teach. My only concern is making her very first attempts enjoyable. Do you think it would be easier to teach a child on straight needles or circs? Maybe I will teach her to kool-aid dye too :)

Hey!

2006-10-17T21:43:00.000-04:00

Ok, I've moved! Actually, I've been moving and am still moving (ughh!) Not feeling well and trying to accomplish large stressful tasks do not make for a speedy conclusion unfortunately. But I only have one load left from the old place and then I will be here and I can spend the next few months wondering where everything is at ;-)

I have sooo much to catch up on! I was very pleased with all the comments and responses to the Alba swatch and the Yarnival note on my Kiri Shawl post. I was quite surprised to be included. If you haven't checked out Yarnival yet it is a wonderful compilation of monthly blog highlights.

And exactly why was I blaming it all on Marina with the Alba swatch? Because watching all that sweater surgery she does so well I figured I could just dive in and replace 19 colors in one fell swoop. And if it didn't work? Heck, I could always do surgery! Well, I managed to pick 17 of 19 on the first try and only have to replace 2. I'm thrilled and hopefully I can frog a few rows and get the new colors tested this weekend. The row I am considering requiring surgery is row 2 and 3 in the moss stitch hem only. I'll have to think about that. And if we are all lucky I'll find the box with my camera cable and have some pics to share. In the meantime, the one thing I could not move: My frog pond :) I wonder if my landlord would notice if I started a new one......hmmmm..... ;)

Ummmm.....

2006-09-28T21:20:00.000-04:00

I wasn't seeing eye to eye with Alice on.......well, any of the 19 colors. Oops.

Did I mention that this is all Marina's fault? OK, as long as everyone understands that I'm supposed to be packing - see that ticker up there at the top that says "NINE days" - and that all this distraction? Yep, I'm blaming it all on her. Uh, huh, sure am! ;)

Happy Knit-Spin-versary!

2006-09-20T22:35:00.000-04:00

OK, so I am a little behind, what is new? :) July last year I learned to spin and August I learned to knit. The first yarn I spun that was usable for a project was a crazy kool-aid dyed orange sock yarn. Well, some of it was sock yarn and some of it was "fluffy" sock yarn but eh, it was working for me. I had practiced stitches, increases, decreases etc. etc. and then I found the Sock 101 tutorial on Knitty.com that shows you how to make a mini-sock. I loved spinning but I wasn't sure if this knitting thing was going to be something I would stick with so I didn't want to buy expensive needles or anything and the big aluminum size 8's from my grandmother probably weren't going to be much use for this project. Being of an enterprising nature, I picked up some 3/8's dowel rods for 39 cents and made myself a set of dpns and sat down and knit that little mini sock. It turned out quite cute and after working with it, the construction of a sock made sense so I whipped up another set of dpns from the second dowel and proceeded to spend the month working on my very first knitted items, socks!

From the very beginning, I had to knit things that come in pairs, at the same time. I am completely incapable of knitting socks sequentially. I did it once and it just bothers my brain. I have to do sleeves at the same time too. I mean ok, it is possible, but I really don't like it. The bright side to this issue is that it is easier for a beginner to make sure things are matching up between the two.

I can't explain how nutty I felt that they actually fit and were 'real'. I was in love with all of the crazy color shifts in that yarn. I wore those socks every other day for the rest of the year, wore them, washed them, gave them one day to dry and started over. This was the first time I had a pair of socks where the heel wasn't hanging out the back of my shoe and I was amazed. I was pretty much hooked after that :)

Sweet!!

2006-09-17T13:53:00.000-04:00

Remember the Knit Sock Kit Swap I mentioned awhile back? Well I was blessed with really terrific swap partners. I ran into some big troubles with the bag I was putting together and it was giving my machine a thrashing. I called in backup and Amy helped me out by delivering an adorable bag and a bonus skein of her handdyed sock yarn and I shipped out the goodies I had been collecting. It all worked out in the end and the recipient was very happy.

During the hub-bub I received a wonderous package from my other swap partner but couldn't truely dive in until I had everything else settled. So diving and photographing got to happen today. Check it out!

Kerry over at Hank the Llama (excellent blog name!) sent me some great gifts that I'm really looking forward too. The drawstring style bags are working out great with the numerous socks I have on the needles - I love the fabrics she chose. And new projects to plan? How about the fair isle socks kit from KnitWits and the lovely Lornas in that scrumptious shade of merlot? I will definitely be curled up in front of the fire this winter with some really beautiful sock projects. Did I mention the needles? She put in two pairs of those funky elastic circs so I can do both socks at the same time like I love to do! How sweet is that?! and a good indication that you have snagged one of the best swap partners ever is that she sent goodies for the girls too - scented tennis balls and greenies, high favorites around here. Kerry is multitalented and obviously knows how to show her machine who's boss. She can also lounge on beach, fly a kite and knit all at the same time! I take inspiration from that :) Thanks Kerry!!

....and this stuff?? I received a call this week from my LYSO. I had been in weeks ago and they have a new yarn from a local mill that she was helping them with. It's a blend of fine wools like merino, rambouillet, targhee, etc and is the softest yarn I've encountered yet. At the time she only had a few samples in primary colors and I had made a comment that it would be so great if they had something like a deep wine heather - I'd be all over it. Well look what they made just for me!! A deep wine heathered with the darkest darkest blue. They made the first batch at my request and named the colorway 'Berries'. It will now be included it in their line as a standard color. How sweet is that?!? It's a light worsted weight and the only sad thing is that I have no idea what to make with it! I need suggestions - what kind of thing works well with darkly heathered yarns?

It is shaping up to be a very fine fall knitting season!

The Bright Side

2006-09-09T12:59:00.000-04:00

Thanks for all the get well wishes, made me feel much better they did! I'm on the mend but doc says it's a little bit more than the flu. Seems I've managed to get stomach ulcerations! How exactly one does this I'm not real sure but she gave me some meds and I have to go back in a few weeks. I figure this means I just need more knitting time right? And apparently the sinus issues - they're just a bonus. So what did I do since I couldn't work on Queen Anne? Remember this?

Inspired by this:

It is now this:

Project: Kiri Shawl, free pattern from Polly Outhwaite at All Tangled Up
Yarn: Hand dyed Henry's Attic Fingering Weight Kona Superwash. Dyed by me in the Frittillaries colorway.
Needles: Inox greys size 7US
Inspiration: Yarn from Marina and VanGogh's painting - "Frittillaries, Crown Imperials in a Copper Vase" and the view from my kitchen

This one was a very interesting project. It is the first shawl I have done and the first lace I have finished and blocked. There is always much discussion on "process vs project" around the knitting blogs but this project for me begs the question - which process? The process of looking at a huge hunk of naked fingering weight yarn that was deliciously soft and dreaming of what it could be? The process of finding inspiration in a famous painter and your everyday surroundings driving you to mix up dozens of shades of dye to get the right nuances of color? The process of selecting just the right pattern to show off this gorgeous new yarn that fills you with delight? The process of learning this form of shawl construction and marveling at it's ingenious simplicity? The process of making stitches in endless rhythm as the rows never seemed to end? The process of the victorious cast off and the declaration of 'done'!? The process of crawling about on hands and knees with a box of 250 pins and wet wool wondering what you were thinking? The process of picking it up the next day and holding it to the light in wonderment that it really stayed that way, forever freed from it's rumpled beginnings and the feeling of awe in the thought 'I made this'? Or the process of growing comprehension of the seduction of lace and the feeling that something changed in you as an artist and creator as a project was brought forth to completion? Hmmmm I think I loved them all.....

Thing Two

2006-09-03T23:08:00.000-04:00

This is the colorway for the second original fair isle sweater that I want to do. I would love to capture some of the detail stonework or grillwork from the buildings I pass everyday downtown. I figure if they say to start writing a book you should write what you know, then the sweater thing is probably the same. In my case, I know the midwest and I know my city. If I ever wrote a knitting book, instead of titles like "In the Hebrides" or "Pacific Coast Highway" I'd have "Commuting in Detroit" Heh, yeah, these are the thoughts that amuse me dearly. I don't know when I am going to get to this one but I had to capture the colors. They had become a nagging, persistent vision in my mind, reminding me not to forget, so now they are in a bowl where they can be quiet. Although with my color choices, quiet is not usually a word that comes to mind.

I was really looking forward to the 3 day weekend and making some progress on a few things. Unfortunately for me, I woke up feeling lousy on Saturday and by night I felt a bit feverish and the sinuses started going. I curled up in front of the fireplace for awhile, it was actually chilly here. I can't work on Anne Boleyn much because with the ultra sensitive nose the shetland sends me into fits of sneezes. So I'm working on socks and stuff and admiring Queen Anne across the room. I need to finish up this repeat and I will be almost there for the neck and sleeve steeks, the first milestone.

Check out the stitch markers Lorraine, crystal quartz & sterling, fair isle size - they match everything! And I thought jewels went perfectly with a royal cardi :)

Thing One

2006-08-27T21:13:00.000-04:00

Remember when I mentioned that I wanted to design my own fair isle (stranded colorwork) sweater? Well, I decided to do two. One is two color, Midnight and Pearl. I had a sketchy sketch, (drawing not being one of my stronger skills), and with a little help from MS Excel, a chart. Well, more than a little help, I was camped out at the computer until I got cramps in my shoulders fine tuning. I started with the traditional X's and O's, turned that into an allover X lattice, and O's inside the diamonds. This made me very aware of the dozen or so lattice type patterns in my house that may slightly influence the creative process. Then to keep things from getting boring, I took the center design from the diamonds, which became more oval than round, and kept some veritical, turned the others horizontal and changed them up a bit, and then the ends come together to form a third distinct pattern that draws the eye. Ahhhh the power of three - I think it's good!

I don't know why I decided I had to swatch since that is all I'm going to be doing for bootcamp, but I had to see if the idea looked good in stitches (and bootcamp doesn't start until Sept 30). I got started first thing in the morning, still in my pj's. I think it is going to work, so I may be in business. Now I have to decide on the shape of the sweater. It will be boxy, I like boxy but with a lower amount of ease to keep it more structured. It will be a cardigan jacket style. It will be cropped-ish, but not too short. This is what I am aiming for anyway. Now I have to figure out how / what size "standards" exist for guidance.

The yarn is Harrisville Shetland. I have read some nice things about it in blogland and thought it would be nice to try it. I didn't prewash it, just knit it up and I will wash the swatch and see how that works. I was surprised but whatever their process is, it makes my nose itch less than Jamiesons. One challenge though is that I'm getting 8.5 to 9 stitches per inch. This could make for a very long knit. I was extremely proud when I got the whole design with it's variable patterning to have the longest float of 6 stitches - easy knitting baby! Stay tuned, this could be fun :) Now to get back to dear Anne and the hounds. And my bootcamp swatches. And packing and house hunting. Oy....

PS - I have to make socks that match, just have to ;)

New Guy's

2006-08-26T23:32:00.000-04:00

Well it has been eventful as always here at Feeling Tangerine. We have some new guys in our lives. This one is Rocky and he's a nutty charmer that is staying with us as a foster until we find him a good home. He's quite sweet and comical - he sleeps with his tongue hanging out of his mouth and has to peel it off the floor when he wakes up! Such a character.

The other new guy isn't as cute but we like him too - it's my new project manager at work! The scary lady? Zero tolerence - she was escorted out last week. Whew! That is a major relief for me. The new guy seems ok, we'll have to see how he works out.

On the fiber front, I haven't decided on the heels for the purple handspun socks - y'all are clear outta suggestions it seems! ;) I ended up having to start the clown socks in the meantime and just use my standard heel. You wouldn't think it would be so challenging would you?

I also have an announcement to make - I have decided to become a "real knitter". Instead of just forever winging it with lots of prayers that my hairbrained ideas will work out, I have decided to pursue proper training and begin proper tracking. So get this, I signed up for "Knitting Bootcamp - Double Duty" - a 3 month intensive double time class to thoroughly dissect the knitting process. Joan equates it with the Masters program in that the class covers darn near everything they can possibly cram in. I have tried to take the self taught path to cover a little of all the major diciplines, stranded color work, intarsia, lace, cables/texture, etc. I'm hoping that the combination, with the intensive class and the original design experience, then hopefully I will be on the way to becoming a well rounded enough knitter to get into Meg Swansen's Knitting Camp. I would love to have an experience like that so it's a goal - hopefully in the next couple of years. It just sounds like a great time :)

Some days it just isn't worth chewing through the restraints........

2006-08-19T19:04:00.000-04:00

With an absence of sorts you kind of expect something great must be happening or lots of spinning or knitting or something must be going on. You expect grand hurrahs or taddahs or .... something. Is that what you're getting? Nadda. So what has been going on? Just life getting in the way I guess. Working lots and lots. With all of the overtime I've been pretty much getting home, eating, feeding the dogs, taking them for a walk, and then it's time for bed. And to top it off, weird stuff keeps happening. For instance, I was working diligently to get the bag together for the KSKS swap and somehow it ate my machine so it's in the shop. I dog sat for my mom and she leaves the van in the driveway, runs in to get the dog, goes out and the van is imbedded in my garage door. Took a few hours to get it straight enough to open but now it's manual, yuck. Had a project manager leave on one of my projects. They replaced him and the new lady is a little nuts and went ballistic on me in a meeting. How crazy is that!?! I had to report that she threatened me, not pleasant.

So I've dragged out the simple things since I have been limited to knitting in line, waiting for the dogs, getting an oil change, etc. The handspun superwash merino is knitting up nicely, like your favorite scrunch socks. I thought I would try a new heel on them instead of my standard flap and gusset. What is your favorite heel? There are so many I don't know which to try next.

Still Life with Sock and Coffee

[EDIT: Followed Marji's advice for the picture code]

Remember those weird things? Blogger isn't letting me upload photos today for some reason so you just have to imagine the pretty purple marled sock resting serenely in the sun on a restful Sunday morning. The sock is poised, patiently waiting at the exact spot where a decision for the heel will start in the next row. Ahhhh........nice. I can pretend for a few hours that I don't have to go work with the scary lady tomorrow....

On a brighter note (maybe), I decided I need to design my own fair isle sweater. Stay tuned, this could be fun........or something. (are you laughing with me, or at me?? not that it makes much difference but it is nice to know ;)

This and That

2006-07-30T20:07:00.000-04:00

Saturday's Sky for Sandy. I took the picture on Saturday but I was computer challenged in getting it posted. I love the shot so I'm sharing a day late :) It is Queen Anne's Lace season in Michigan and I keep wanting to pull over on the road and take pictures with all the other wildflowers that show it off. I'm going to have to break down and do it because it makes the most lovely colorways.

This Saturday I took Kya and we manned (and canined) the booth for the rescue group at a huge Pet-a-palooza event in the area. She loves all of the attention but it was around 95 degrees so it made for a long day. It was well worth it though, we spoke with dozens of people about the breed and the horrid conditions in the greyhound racing industry. I hear we got a few adoption applications submitted too, Yeah!

And last Saturday I got to amuse the ladies at the LYS by showing up in a t-shirt and a Shetland wool vest on an 80 degree day! It was wonderful, Cristal was in and she was the one that helped me verify that my colorway would work and critiqued my first fair isle swatch. And Joan (LYSO) was in, albeit busy until we interupted her, and I was delighted to receive a very genuine and super huge smile as she congratulated me on Rosemarkie. Unfortunately, none of us had a camera so you get a really tacky and fuzzy shot in the mirror. See, it does fit! And I'm not really camera shy, but every time I looked I'd goof up the angle so this is the best I got. And yes, it does have the timer do-hickey but I didn't feel like figuring it out and setting it up. Maybe next time :) I had a good chuckle with Cristal over my fair isle "hat". When I first read AS's Fair Isle book it was absolutely perfect for me. I had a great time swatching everything under the sun in stranded color, two handed and happy. I marched in to the LYS and declared that I wanted to knit a simple fair isle sweater - maybe one with just a border to start. Joan advised that I should knit a hat. "But I don't want to knit a hat, I want to knit a sweater." "But you should knit a hat, you don't even know if you like it." "But I love it and I don't want to knit a hat." back and forth we went until I conceded and said I would make a lovely hat. I came back the next day and found the Celtic Collection and began picking out my sweater lol. I love the challenge and she was just trying to save me from spending a lot of money and maybe not liking it. She is a wonderful lady and runs a wonderful yarn shop that specializes in the traditional knits. Unlike the other shop nearby that suggested a handpainted boucle for a dk weight substitute for a stranded colorwork sweater. I stared at her wide eyed, shuddered, and left the building. wow.

And for the lovely Lolly (actually for me, just inspired by the month of purple) I made some wonderful and scrumptious superwash merino sock yarn. I love it. Superwash is very slippery and not the easiest to spin. This is from the very first batch of roving that I bought to learn to spin on. This was another purchase that Joan in her infinite wisdom advised me against. While she was right, I persevered and after spinning for a year, I had no problems with it at all and will have some terrific purple socks :)

Oh, and I found out that they are having a knit night next Friday in the evening - so if all goes well and I can get out of work early, I may get to watch some real knitters in action! Sweet!

Lovely Handspun fun!

2006-07-23T21:44:00.000-04:00

Isn't that gorgeous? Looks just like sunshine! It's a beautiful skein of handspun cotswold fleece from Sydney over at Tigers in Red Weather. She held a contest on her blog and used a random number generator to choose a winner, and that winner was me! I like that, I do :) It's her own handspun and I was quite excited when it came in the mail - quite "Feeling Tangerine" don't you think?! I haven't decided what I shall make of it but Kya thinks it would make luscious legwarmers as it happens to match her fall coat. She keeps eyeing it, I have to watch her, she's a sneaky one, she is. Thanks very much Sydney!!

Actually in that photo she's pleading for a walk. I've been working some overtime and between that and the heat, it's cut into the nightly walk time. How long do you think I managed to hold out against that look?

I did manage to get a little spinning done, not a whole lot but a start. And it's Project Spectrum Purple too. I've got some sock yarn to do in shades of purple as well, hopefully next week. I seem to do alot of heathers, I really like the blended colors and all the crazy shades you can mix in. I ordered the J&S shade card and I'm anxiously waiting on it. Meanwhile, I'm mixing my own.

I was thinking how fun I thought it was to win the handspun yarn from Sydney and I thought it would be nice to continue the trend. I have some fleece I'm working on and some ideas, so stay tuned and maybe I'll come up with something to share :)

Let loose the hounds!

2006-07-09T23:38:00.000-04:00

I hung out with Alice this weekend and made some progress on Anne Boleyn. The long floats are not my favorite but do you see the Hounds? The next pattern band has Falcons. I thought this sweater was perfect - I've definitely got the hounds and Falcons have always been one of my animal totems.

One of the things I realized while watching the video was that it was the first time since I started knitting that I actually got to watch someone else knit. Especially fair isle. I've done all of my research on the internet and in books so except for the little videos on knittinghelp.com, I haven't seen other people and how they do it. I do remember my grandmother from when I was a kid but not in any detail. I would love to find a group locally to talk to some people, I think it would help me out with my technique - even in slo-mo those shetland knitters are FAST, wow.

Do you dream in color?

2006-07-05T21:51:00.000-04:00

So what have I been up to? Squid soup perhaps? Kind of looks that way doesn't it?

No, that is some wonderful Romney lambs fleece that was one of many, many dye pots this week. You see, I finished Rosemarkie and then I started thinking. And when I started thinking I had these beautiful images of delightful colorways. I carried the only color card I have all over with me - checking different lighting, different wattages of light bulbs, natural sun and shade, with differing color combinations and gradients, on and on. Then I wanted to swatch of course and see how all these mysteries of my mind really looked in the clear light of actuality......

But I don't have that big bucket of all the colors to swatch with, or any scraps from prior projects (ok, I have six skeins - but the wrong colors!). So I'd have to order the colors and wait for them to ship and then remember what that beautiful image was.......that would of course require patience. I have less of that than skeins. So I did what any impatient, fair isle knitter would do - I broke out the dye pot and tried my hand at capturing some of those colors.

I wasn't actually nuts enough to try and spin each individual shade into it's own individual skein but I wanted an idea of how the core of them would work together - so I spun them together (remember that patience thing?) And I got a swatch, a nice simple *small* swatch (that's what they really look like Marina :) Now, I think the colors are great and there are about 8 more shades that go in there. So now I'm thinking yeah, maybe I should swatch those in actual shetland, maybe the wait would be worth it and I could always use them in the sweater.....

......and about that time I started thinking some more and realized I'm creating colorways for unknown sweaters - sweaters without patterns, sweaters that do not exist! What would I swatch??? I started to feel like Brad Pitt's character in Twelve Monkeys ((Games) Colors, locked up colors, colors that want to get out!). And the really scary thing? There's more, the wool is still drying.....

Ever tried to pee with a greyhound in your lap???

2006-07-01T22:30:00.000-04:00

Just checking.

Happy Independence week - Love those fireworks, don't you!?! ;) ugggh

I proudly present.......Rosemarkie

2006-06-26T21:22:00.000-04:00

My second sweater in all her glory :)

After a little bit of a marathon, some egging-on from many of you (that is so wrong when you type it), and a button snafu, ("oh yeah, buttons come in different sizes!") I was finally able to give Rosemarkie her first bath. All those blotches - those are soap suds as she lies at the bottom of the sink. I was like some goofy proud new mama that keeps staring at the baby and glowing.

...and her photo shoot. Hanging out in the tree was a lot nicer than lying on my dead lawn. It also helps display some of my inspiration for the color choices. Unfortunately some really bad storms recently wiped out all of the roses in front of that tree. I was so disappointed but there you go - inspiration from your, actually my, kitchen sink.

I did not do the shoulder shaping that I had considered from the Feral Knitter because I wanted to see how it turned out as written. But I could not resist snugging-up (another technical term) the ribbing on the very top of the shoulders to make certain it did not develop 'wings'. Apparently I am square because the shoulders fit perfectly.

A close up for detail, just in case you really haven't seen enough of this sweater over the months it took me to knit it. I think it took much longer just because it was going so easy. I kept thinking the scary thing must be fast approaching. Some unseen unknown that should be intimidating but in my naive enthusiasm wasn't. For the record, it is fun to knit fair isle sweaters and not skeery at all! Maybe some folks just hype it up so you will be more impressed with them, like they slayed a dragon and you should be in awe. Maybe they're just impressed with themselves for accomplishing something so darn neat and amazing that they convince themselves there must have been more to it. We'll never know I'm sure, but don't be surprised if you see some dragon inspirations around here. Sounds like fun now that I think about it.

And of course the inside shot with all the pretty floats lined up like good little soldiers. I am as geeked about this thing as I was the first day I swatched for it. If I still love it now, I think it will have a nice long life in my wardrobe.

Pattern: Rosemarkie
Source: Celtic Collection, Alice Starmore
Yarn: Jamieson's Spindrift
Started: December 15th 2005
Completed: June 25th 2006
(set aside 2-3 months during that time)

I think I need a gallery now ;)

I know, I'm not a kit person - but it's a customized kit, that's different, right!?

2006-06-18T09:02:00.000-04:00

KSKS - The Questionnaire:
What are your favorite colors? Red, deep, rich, primal, passionate Red. All rich deep shades of jeweltone colors. No pastels, no really earthy hues except as accents or in combinations of natural fibers.
Are you a new sock knitter? How long have you been knitting socks? I learned to knit last year and my first project was a pair of handspun handknit socks. I am currently working on Meg Swansens fair isle form fitted arch socks.
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? I like yarn appropriate for the project. If the detail is in the stitch work, then solids/nearly solids/evenly blendeds show it best. If the detail is primarily in the colors as it can be with handpaints, then bring on the color. I really dislike colorways that pool and blob - it's icky.
What fibers do you prefer in sock yarn? Wool, wool blends. Always thought it would be nice to try silk.
Where do you usually knit socks? Wherever, they travel well.
How do you usually carry/store small projects? Ziploc bags inside my carry all/briefcase like bag.
What are your favorite sock knitting patterns? Fair isle, texture work, or just for fun. I like to explore and don't really have a favorite pattern, I customize what I am working with.
What are your favorite sock knitting techniques? I like knitting both socks at the same time whether that be magic loop on the same needle, separate needles, or separate sets of dpns. I love magic loop and my addis. I don't have any issues with dpns but I dislike sticky bamboo needles.
What new techniques would you like to try? Multi color cables, toe up, maybe afterthought heels - I like very form fitting heels and the afterthought and short row heels never seemed like they would be deep or snug enough so I haven't tried them yet.
Do you prefer circulars or dpns for sock knitting? I love magic loop and my addis. I don't have any issues with dpns but I dislike sticky bamboo needles. Did I mention that? ;)
What are some of your favorite yarns? My handspun, Regia and Trekking hold up well
What yarn do you totally covet? Always wanted to try Lorna's Laces or Socks that Rock or Lisa Souza or Virtual Yarns Hebridean. And I'm sure there are numerous others that I haven't heard of yet that are fab.
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? Half the Starmore collection and my own designs based on Van Gogh and the masters. You said time and money was no object......
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? Addi turbos, bryspun flex, my ancient luxite circs and aluminum straights from my grandmother. I love the sound of aluminum straights because they remind me of her and they come in pretty colors. Can someone explain why all knitting needles seem to be gray these days? Just wondering.
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be? Probably a soft and silky but strong longwool.
Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? Swedish fish and lindors truffles - but not really together.
What’s your favorite animal? Tigers - champion defenders of their young, dolphins - extremely intelligent and community oriented, dogs - noble and loyal, ants - industrious and undaunted and the platypus - face it, it's just funny. Although Jamie now has me facinated with sea slugs, squishy but beautiful and quite interesting.
Do you have pets? What are their species/names/ages? Dogs, Kya and Lily. Kya is a rescued racing greyhound age 4 and Lily is a rescued maybe-greyhound-mix from the shelter age 3. They are absolute sweethearts.
If you were a color what color would you be? Red, no doubt about it
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else’s). Dark red tailored silk blouse with cufflinks or one of many next-to-your-skin-soft-favorite-sweatshirt-type sweaters.
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? Grand Canyon, Atlantic Ocean, Stonehenge, the highlands, casablanca lilies, oxalis, historic architecture/stone and wood work. And ants, I love the ants.
Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read. "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Thomas A. Edison, inventor and leader. There is a lot accomplished in the journey, not just the outcome. I love to try things differently or try different things, just to see what happens. I am often facinated by the result, sometimes a little embarassed, but still facinated none the less. Many people see this as a waste of time, I see it as a way of life. Maybe I just never got over being 3.
"It's a small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it." Steven Wright, comedian. I don't know of any other single line that sums up for me how much people in general overlook the true scope of reality.
Do you have a wishlist? Yes but I don't have that long to type.

Wonky Left Cross Stitches

2006-06-14T21:52:00.000-04:00

So what is up with these crazy wonky stitches on my left crosses? I have tried everything I can think of and can't seem to get rid of this problem. It happens every time, no matter what I change. Do any of you wise knitting sages know how to fix this? So far I have tried the following:

Increasing tension
Decreasing tension
With Cable needle
Without cable needle
Knitting continental
Knitting english
Knitting through the back loops
Washing and blocking
Holding on to that little loop for dear life and ever so gently crossing stitches

None of this has changed the outcome one iota. I am perplexed to say the least. Any and all advice is very welcome!

Buttons and Kits and Colors and Knits

2006-06-13T20:18:00.000-04:00

I ordered the buttons for Rosemarkie so now I am waiting for them to arrive. I want to make sure the button holes actually fit the buttons (that's right, I was thinkin'!). I laugh everytime I realize I forgot to get buttons, I don't think I ever thought I would make it this far lol.

I did manage to pick up all of the button band stitches. I dragged out all of the stitch markers I have and sat down and counted and measured and counted some more. I think I did a fairy nice job of it, we'll see when it is blocked. Hopefully those buttons will make it here soon.... I really want to cast on for the next fair isle but I refuse to until this one is done. I'll let you peek inside the box though. That's the current swatch palette. There may still be some tweeking but so far I've only changed one color, can you believe that? Karen at Two Swans Yarns sends some very nice boxes of goodies.

Meanwhile, out exploring the internets and blogland, I came across an idea I thought was so neat that I just jumped in and signed up. It's a Knit Sock Kit Swap hosted by Scout and Bev. The premise being to create a sock knit kit, not knit the socks. Sounds like a great deal of fun to me! I love the idea of putting something together to inspire and enable someone else and having a defined objective. It will be a pleasant diversion I think.

Whooo Hoooo, it's Scissor time!

2006-06-09T21:32:00.000-04:00

Well the day finally came and I found the scissors - matching ones Lorraine should note! I ended up deciding to do the shoulders and the rest of the pattern for that matter basically as written. So I didn't do any shoulder shaping. I did do a simple three needle bind off instead of a graft only because the pattern doesn't match up and I think it looks better with a seam in that case. With a nice kitchenered join it seemed like it would look more like a mistake. I'm sure I put enough of those in there already.

If I had more general experience in sweater construction I would have done the shoulder shaping but in this case I thought it more important to learn why I may or may not want to change it, instead of just changing it.

And I couldn't go to bed last night until I cut it. I don't know why the cutting is the dramatic part, it is so anti-climatic as to be rather boring actually. Personally I found the only stressful part to be the measuring to make sure it was the right length to call it done. It is difficult to measure something that ends up that cramped up with steeks and pointy ended stitch holders sticking out everywhere, especially with the v-neck. But so far I think all will be well.

I started picking up stitches for the button band - which I am finding is not so easy in such a really dark color. I am praying a lot that I don't miss a stitch. I made it to the V picking up stitches and I am only 2 rows off from Ms. Starmore's gauge - 2 rows! I was so excited to be that close, I really had no idea what to expect and I within 2 rows pleased me greatly. We'll see how I do with the button bands. Oh, and I almost lost it when I realized I have no buttons! I cannot imagine putting regular old buttons on this thing and the thought made me very sad. So I have another quest to find buttons that will be appropriate.

Edit: I was obviously cloudy brained with the euphoria of the moment. I need to make some serious adjustments to her figures, that is if I can determine why her figures are what they are so I can create the same result with my necessary adjustments. Oy!

Green Moss and Daisy's

2006-06-07T21:56:00.000-04:00

This is the Daisy Shawl by Sharon Miller. And no, I did not cast this one on after my declaration to finish things. It's been one I have played around with a bit. I like it, it is a nice pattern and my test of alpaca instead of mohair seems to be a good one. I really want to do the Green Moss Shawl though and was hoping alpaca would work for that one too. Hence the test on Daisy.

Poor Daisy got stuck in this state because of my indecision in choosing between her and Green Moss. Green Moss has the lure of unique shape and construction which sounds like a fun challenge. Daisy is listed as an experienced knit, but I am not sure why other than that funny thing you do on the 'wrong side' switching purl and knit stitches in the double yarn over? I found that tricky in figuring out the chart since those symbols aren't explained on it, but other than that it is a repetitive pattern. Green Moss is a repetitive pattern too but a semicircle with an odd beginning. I am intrigued, I like odd. I think I would learn more which is the number one thing I love in a project. I may have to call Miss Daisy a swatch and switch my fickle heart to Green Moss. After I finish Town and Country and Kiri of course. Then I would have one lace project only. I could handle that, and swatches don't count against me. I love swatches :) .........Daisy sure does look good in that yarn though, doesn't she......... And a nice shade of June Blue for Project Spectrum as well.....

PS - More to come on those other swatches soon, just getting organized. I have to, so I can find the scissors.

......and I'm just a big ol' fibber!

2006-06-04T12:10:00.000-04:00

I declared it. Stated it publicly even, out loud and everything - "I have too many projects on the needles." Do you think it stuck? Do you think I listened? nooooooo....... So I've been looking for a long while for more big projects that I want to do. So far I've done a wee bit of cabling, some fair isle, some intarsia and slip stitch, and started checking out lace. I've touched on the major diciplines of texture, color, and open work. Not a bad start in the knitting world but I need to learn more on finishing. I know, the key to learning this you say, is to actually finish something. I'm working on it, believe me, I just keep getting interrupted. You know, silly things like work, taking out the trash, feeding the dogs, crocodile wrestling, it's a busy life!

But anyhoo, I hadn't been able to find a big project that I liked. Then a wonderful woman on one of the lists said she had an extra copy of Tudor Roses. I'd seen Henry VIII and Margaret Tudor and really wanted the book. So it showed up Friday and I've picked two - and not those two either. I'm a mad woman I am! And if I finally find some full-bodied-but-not-itchy wool for Kilronen, it'll be a hat trick! Ooooo she's feelin' s-a-s-s-y!

Off to search for more swatch supplies. Do you know that there is a real shortage of nice dk wool in this state, town, whatever?? What am I to do.......

Roses are red, and June is blue - so I have a project spectrum, swatch for you! It needs a nice gold with red threads, heather or tweedish for the fair isle portion, but it goes up to your neck so it needs to be a bit softer, but it's also texture work so it needs a firm hand (not drapey). This being new to knitting thing means I've only been exposed to very little of the yarns available on the market and it is so tricky to gauge softness over the internet :) I welcome any and all suggestions.

Sometimes it's easy being green

2006-05-31T21:41:00.000-04:00

The peonies haven't even bloomed yet and we broke a record with 94 degrees this past weekend. It's been high 80's-90's since and rainy. Spring in Michigan can be anything I guess. I did have a little fun watching the ants work the buds so bloom is soon, very soon. I love the sweet scent of peonies and the absolutely huge blooms. They are starting to remind me of my knitting though, 'still in progress'. I am grateful to have the shawl to work on right now but I think it overwhelmed me to have one more thing on the needles. I'm declaring June a month to finish some things up before starting anything else.

The shawl is Kiri. I've admired how this pattern has turned out with other dramatically varigated yarns so I'm hoping this one will be successful as well. These things sure don't look like much during the knitting now do they...... but they do make a nice ending tribute to project spectrums month of May, green.

And if you didn't catch it, check out Lolly's final May post on Living Green. It's a great reminder as we enter those hectic summer months.

Fritillaries and Sheep Thrills

2006-05-28T17:23:00.000-04:00

Well I got my knit on......... sort of. My hand is still hurting and I have to be careful with it, at the same time I need to use it when I can so it doesn't stiffen up, so of course I have defined knitting as physical therapy. I can't purl with my left hand but I can knit so I've been continental knitting and english purling. It doesn't make for perfect tension so I don't want to affect any of the current WIP's. So what do you do when your knitting is a little precarious, your dexterity is a little wonky, and and your tension is a little loose? I figured on Lace, but nothing fancy.

That fingering weight merino from Marina hit the dye pot and out came the Fritillaries colorway. I'm confessing that I am a tad bit giddy. It was one of those moments that make you think you should hold your breath but I was too busy blowing on the yarn to help it dry. Having to wait overnight made me cranky and I was up at dawn to see if it really did turn out exactly how I wanted. So I grabbed my coffee in my monster Sheep Thrills mug from Kings Pottery and the monster ball of yarn and camped on the porch to knit for a few hours before it hit 92 degrees. Ahhhhh beautiful, I am definitely giddy. I hope everyone else is having as wonderful of a weekend!

Many Thanks

2006-05-20T12:28:00.000-04:00

The lovely and talented Marina sent me yarny gifts - naked Henry's Attic Kona Superwash that I have been 'dyeing' to try! yuk! yuk! I couldn't resist :) Now what to do with this luscious goodness? I'm thinking a colorful handpainted shawl would be wonderful in the fingering weight. Something I wouldn't hesitate to grab and throw on since it is superwash, kind of like a favorite sweater, cozy and comfortable. I feel very honored that she shared part of her stash with me, Thank You Marina!

She was also asking about what I steamed my wool in and expressed that she was thinking of baking some in the oven. I bake sometimes too and pretty much do it the same way Amy does and she has been kind enough to post her method here Boogie's Oven Baked Wool. As for steaming, I just use a simple stainless steel steamer basket insert in a Corning Ware pot. I use the same pot in the oven too but without the steamer basket of course. And for big batches I use a roaster pan.

The biggest thing to remember is that the pot must be non reactive. So stainless steel, Corning Ware, Pyrex, or the roasters coated in porcelain, make sure there are no chips though. I like the steamer for when I really do want some of the colors to bleed together for a good blend. The oven is great for larger batches and when you want to keep more color distinction. Make sure you don't over cook it or let it dry out. There are a lot of tutorials out there to dye in the crock pot too but the one I picked up gets to hot and the wool boils and shrinks - not what I was looking for so I'll have to find another one.

Maybe I can get some dyeing done while this hand heals. It does improve everyday but it will take awhile more. The whole situation was unreal and I've been in a bit of a shock really. Like a glitch in reality that seems to prevent me from getting to the next step, a skipping record that just needs to move on already. Looking for a new shawl pattern should help. If you have any favorites that are nice in the fingering weight I would love to hear about them. Thanks to everyone for the healing thoughts, I really appreciate it.

Owwwwieeee!!!!

2006-05-19T10:33:00.000-04:00

See that?! That hurts! Dog bite, first time I got hurt in animal rescue. Happened Saturday and it is starting to heal but I still can't use it. Hurts like @$%%^^#@!! Can't knit, can only type one handed which is soooo slow as to defeat the purpose of typing. Am I whining enough, probably yes.

I do have goodies to share though and Thank You's to send so I better get a move on if I'm giong to get them posted this century! Oww.......

Forever in Blue Jeans.....

2006-05-10T19:18:00.000-04:00

These 13 hour days are really cutting into my fiber time! And my jeans time too. After working 9 hours and commuting 3 1/2 to 4 hours I've been really strapped for minutes. They have completed one section of road construction so hopefully things will speed up shortly. Either that or I'm going to have to learn to knit while driving, or sitting in traffic as the case may be. I'm not complaining too much though since this getting paid thing is really helpful, but hey, we all want the best of both worlds right!?

Remember that blue jean lace weight yarn I was bemoaning awhile back? The yarn was nice but didn't suit the project. I had the options of modifying the project to suit the yarn or modifying the yarn to suit the project. I chose the latter and frogged my progress. I reskeined the yarn and over dyed it.

Because it was already dyed in larger sections that were higher contrast, I used variation in the medium and darker ranges adding in a little purple in one direction and a little green in the other. I applied it randomly to blend it out a bit. The end result is even better with blue jeans and definitely suits the pattern better. I really like it now. The update on the color makes it exciting to knit even the simplest pattern. I am also glad that I took the time to rip out my initial effort and start over. I am much much more comfortable with itty bitty yarns now and it shows in the execution - balanced and even, just like it should be.

Dyeing for fun!

2006-04-30T12:17:00.000-04:00

Yarn / Fiber Dyeing Tutorial

Dyeing your own roving or yarn can be very rewarding and a lot of fun. It can also be very useful if you find yourself in possession of some wonderful fiber that just isn't quite the right color for you. There are some great colorists out there that work wonders with dyes - let them inspire you. Everyone has their own unique eye when it comes to color and you will create something that is very much your own. I have outlined the basic steps here to give you a starting point to get your feet wet so to speak.

Fill sink with water as warm as you can still handle and add about a half cup of vinegar.

Prior to dyeing, soak wool for about 20-30 minutes to open up the fibers.

Measure out dye and hot water according to recommendations on the packaging or throw caution to the wind and do it however you like. Remember, the more dye, the more saturated the color, the less dye the less saturated. Dye should be mixed in a disposable container or glass container that will only be used for this purpose. Utensils and containers cannot be used for food preparation after being used for dye. You can experiment with variations and depth of color, as well as blended colors.

Add vinegar to your dye mixes. I like to use several variations of the main color and will often mix the main color and disperse it to three different containers. Keeping one container as is, I will 'doctor' the other two enhancing the shades with differing colors or just making them lighter or darker.

Squeeze water from the wool or yarn, do not wring or twist. Lay out two sheets of plastic wrap overlapping the sides then add a third sheet covering the overlapping seam. This helps to keep the dye from leaking while steaming. Lay out the wool/yarn in the center of the plastic wrap to apply dye.

Dye can be applied using many things. I typically use a turkey baster, paint brush and straws. You can saturate the wool or leave areas of the original color showing through. In this case, I saturated the wool using dyes in different hues but the same tones then added some areas of darker tones, then some darker tones again. I also flipped the wool over to make sure both sides were saturated through. You can dye it in stripes or blend colors throughout, or a combination of both, whatever works for you.

Once the wool is dyed, roll the wool in the plastic wrap lengthwise keeping as much air out as possible then secure the ends by twisting them very good. The ends can then be twisted together forming a circle and the cirle laid in the steamer. Cover and steam until the dye has exhausted. When this occurs, the water in the plastic wrap will appear clear or at least much lighter. For dark shades I usually give it at least 30 minutes, for light shades it can be quite quick.

Once the dye exhausts you have to cool the wool prior to washing it so it doesn't felt. I would do the same with superwash even though the felting isn't a problem. You can remove the wool from the steamer by picking it up by the twisted ends of the plastic wrap. Holding both ends up, untwist one and set that end in a strainer, hold the other end up and untwist slowly. This will allow the water to start draining out and the wool to slide out without having to touch it. BEWARE - IT IS VERY HOT! Continue unwrapping until wool slides into the strainer. Then allow it to cool to the touch (this takes awhile, just leave it be until it cools) and squeeze out the excess water. Do not wring or twist, just squeeze.

Fill the sink with warm water that matches the temperature of the wool or warmer. It is very important not to place warm wool in cold water or the fibers lock down and felt togther. Once the sink is full turn off the water, put some soap in your hand and rinse the soap into the water. This adds the soap without causing suds - you do not want sudsy wool, it takes forever to rinse.

Once the soap is dispersed into the water (I use liquid hand soap), add the wool and just let it soak for about 20 minutes. Do not stir it about! Wet wool felts and you don't want to do that accidently after all your hard work. After it soaks, squeeze out the water again and set it back in the strainer.

Fill the sink with clean water the same temperature as the water you washed it in and add about a quarter cup of vinegar. Add the wool and soak for another 20 minutes. The vinegar cuts the soap so it rinses clean and doesn't leave any residue. Again, do not stir it about or handle it any more than absolutely necessary.

After 20 minutes, squeeze out the water again and set it out on an old towel. Fold the other half over and step on it to soak as much water up as possible.

Hang the wool to dry and put an old towel under it to catch any potential drips. Unless it is really humid, wool usually dries in about 24 hours.

Once it is dry, admire your work and your wool is now ready for use.

I will add some helpful hints and suggestions in a follow up post with the lace yarn I overdyed next. If you have any questions, or if I missed something let me know and I will add it. This is only one way to do it, there are many others including kettle dyeing or even baking it in the oven. Each method yields different results, it is all your preference. Experiment and enjoy!

Yeah!

2006-04-24T21:08:00.000-04:00

So far the job is going great and I'm surrounded by a lot of really nice people. I appreciate this so much because my last job wasn't quite that way. I am working in good ol' downtown Detroit. I have to post some pictures when I get a chance. Considering the current economic state in Michigan and the automotive industry and manufacturing, Detroit doesn't feel depressed. I was so happy about that. The city has been through so much since I was a kid and it's probably going to be another rough stretch but it's not giving up. Downtown is full of flowering trees and tulips and daffodils in the islands, the streets are clean and the window cleaners are all out. The old turn of the century architecture is still beautiful and of course there are an awful lot of Red Wings jerseys out and about :) Everybody I've met has been wonderful and full of spring fever, like me!

Speaking of spring fever, Kya now spends a great deal of time behind the couch so she can catch some rays in the sunshine. As a celebration of the new job I bought the girls a "Good Cus" squeak toy. Kya loves it so much she has been dragging it around with her everywhere and not sharing too much with Lily. I think it is hiliarious that if I give them a plush stuffy toy the first thing they have to do is unstuff it then play with it's remains but she will drag this goofy rubber toy around like a teddy bear.

I have a bunch of photos to post tomorrow too. I dyed up some roving that I love and that merino lace from the last post that was pooling in ways I couldn't control or enjoy? I over-dyed it and I think it may blend it nicely to keep the blue jeans feel but match the pattern better. Amy said you can get it to stop doing that by tweaking the number of stitches cast on and stuff, and I could have done that but I felt I still wouldn't be too excited about it. Stay tuned and you can tell me what you think.

Now that the initial chaos and stress is fading a bit I can concentrate a bit better and have knit a bit on my Twisted Stitch socks but I really have to get my color work projects back in swing. Hopefully soon!

Thanks to everyone for all the good wishes!!! I will be back to responding to each message now that I have a little more time. Between the new job and the volunteer work with the greyhound rescue group, (Michigan Greyhound Connection) I have been so busy I haven't had much chance to keep up! I've been helping them out with adoptions and it is a lot of work! But so rewarding, you can see the latest group of dogs and their new families here. I helped every one of them find a new greyhound to love :-)

Rip it good!

2006-04-16T18:40:00.000-04:00

Ok, it's over! This is one WIP that hits the RIP pile. I love the simplicity of the Town and Country pattern and the yarn is a very nice merino lace that I won in a contest over at Boogie's, but together? ick! I don't like all the crazy pooling that the color is doing, it's just awful and I will never finish this project because I don't even like to look at it. So it gets ripped. I think I will toss the yarn in the dye pot and see if I can even out the color to something more soothing for me. I'll see how it turns out.

Next on the RIP list is the baby sweater I was designing. I don't think there is any problem with my general design ideas but the width of the sweater in the yarn I was using doesn't fit any available circular needle size! Who knows what I was thinking? So it's back to the drawing board for me and this sweater.

That feels a whole lot better!

On the job front, they rescheduled and I don't start until tomorrow. I've been pretty stressed out about the whole thing. It's been an odd situation. It's a consulting job through a subcontractor so I have to talk with 4 different people every time something changes and I don't meet the actual people I'll be working with until tomorrow. They want me to come in 2 hours early too and the commute is about an hour and a half or so. Hopefully tomorrow I'll feel excited, right now it's just a bit surreal.

In Not Knit News Today........

2006-04-04T16:47:00.000-04:00

I know, I've been quiet. I've been really busy and swear I've talked to a hundred people on this job quest thing. Some days I'm going a mile a minute and others I'm in Murphville. Murph, murph, murph. Blah, blah, blah. Murph, murph, murph. I hate that I can't concentrate on projects in times like these and when I try I seem to frog a lot. I even started to get nervous about finishing anything because I didn't know when I would get my next fix. I started thinking in terms of lace simply because very little yarn goes a long way. And I started hording fiber.....can't spin it, what if I can't get more??? This is not the creative excitement that I usually approach life from at all! This is soo not me! This was getting downright pathetic.

I've been on the phone for ages, lots of talking, emails flying, great reviews, but always the interviewed, never the hired. This just had to end.

Friday I got the 98% call, just in time for my birthday. How cool is that!?! Today I got the 100% call. They want me, period. Not to interview, to hire. Sign here, start Monday. I'm cool with that. Now where did all of my projects get off to???

The peace of simple things.....

2006-03-26T15:06:00.000-05:00

I was craving a simple project that I could squeeze in a few minutes here and there. Something soothing that requires little thought but was a nice stress reliever and the beautiful Red Socks seemed just the ticket. I wasn't sure if the over-dyed Opal yarn would have any type of self-patterning show-through so a simple pattern would be perfect. I chose the Twisted Socks stitch pattern for petite cable ribs. It is a 2-row, 4-stitch cable pattern repeat which fits the simplicity level I was looking for but the texture of the stitch is great in this yarn. Much better than my photography skills show.

This week was also my brother's birthday. I had made a necklace for him about 5 or 6 years ago that he really loved. He loved it so much in fact he never took it off - literally.
He wore it from the time I gave it to him until the link on the clasp just broke. Slept in it, showered in it, swam in the ocean in it, you name it for over 1500 straight days. I'd say that's a damn fine track record for my workmanship if I do say so myself. It's Black Onyx and Tabacco Jasper and he gets it back for his birthday week.

Add a couple of tributes to Red - kind of an easy one for me, my whole bedroom is red. Did I mention it's my favorite color?? :)

And for future thoughts, Marina mentioned a tutorial on dyeing in response to my last post. Sounds like a mighty fine idea to me. I'll put some thought into it and see what I come up with. Hopefully soon.

Lorraine also mentioned lure coursing for greyhounds - where they chase the little bunny around the track. I'm not aware of any tracks in my area where they can race just for fun, so the girls only get to run at the dog park. Greyhounds at the track run at speeds of around 45 miles an hour, I'm not sure what speeds she gets in the field but she does leave all the rest of the doggies at the park far behind in her dust. If you've ever been curious, you can see their stats online. My girl Kya ran 82 races in her career but I think she is preferring her retirement. At least based on the sounds of the snores, it sure sounds like she is.

Playing

2006-03-19T19:28:00.000-05:00

Remember the Shetland Lace I was playing with a few weeks ago? While I love the moorit shade of Mariah's fleece, it is not a shade that I am likely to wear in a shawl. I decided to try dye colors. The first try was a shade of Red - appropriate for Project Spectrum in March. I like the shade I came up with - deeper and darker with a definite blue red tone even over the browns. I have a great deal of fun playing mad scientist in the dye pot but this is the first time I was trying to counter balance the original shade of the wool. What I didn't want was a brownish red - blood color. I can't wear that shade either.

So, while the shade turned out beautifully, the yarn itself shrank up a bit making it a bit thicker than when it was spun - more like a fingering weight than a lace weight. Very good to know before I spun up a ton and had it turn out way heavier than I wanted.

I played a bit with Sharon Millers Daisy Shawl pattern. I tried a little first in a stockinette stitch but I didn't care for it in this yarn. I re-did it in a garter stitch and I like that much better in this yarn but it's still not great. It is good enough to practice a bit with reading lace charts. After working on the fair isle pattern charts, training the eye to read the lace chart back and forth feels really odd. I'll probably continue with this for awhile as practice then frog it and use the yarn in socks.

I need to find a way to add a bit of sheen or something to the shetland. The dyed color is a bit flat and the subtle shade differences leveled out. It spins so much easier natural than if I dye if first but I may have to in order to get a nice blended depth. Something to play with some more.

As for the pretty red sock yarn, I finally got that untangled - finally. Tangles are really icky for the record. Really icky. But I won the battle and there wasn't even any damage, I was so surprised! Very pleasantly surprised! As a reward to the goofy doggies that had so much fun causing said icky tangle, we have been spending some excellent quality time at the dog park. It's been not too awful cold and not muddy so they've been spoiled every day. The park I take them to is huge - perfect for letting a greyhound stretch her legs and fly like the wind! I marvel at her as she races the entire field for the sheer joy of running. She is so beautiful, maybe I'll figure out how to catch a picture of her soon - so far I just have blurs :)

Greyhounds are Swift!

2006-03-09T13:17:00.000-05:00

Just not the "swift" I was really looking for!
Here lies the aftermath of curiosity. Someone decided to help me out with my Red project for March. Someone that also has a love of yarn. Someone that gleefully tosses skeins to the ceiling so she can pounce on them and bring the 'dead thing' to mama. Someone affectionately known as "Nose".
The same someone you see here sucking up with big brown eyes and kisses as if to say "I'm sorry mama!" as she sees me cringe and give her "the look".

Sensing my displeasure, her sister is quick with hugs and the "I didn't do it!" plea. She is off the hook this time as the evidence was clearly tangled in Nose's toes. It appears that the bulk of my Red project for March's Project Spectrum will be the meditative peace of untangling skeins. Don't mind the screams, it's nothing, really........>twitch<

Edit: Just to make sure no one misunderstands, the story is for humor purposes - no doggies were even reprimanded during the course of tangle scenario - they just have very expressive eyes. The yarn on the other hand....... ;-)

Shaping, shaping, and more shaping

2006-03-07T10:12:00.000-05:00

The sock she is resting. Busy weekend and totally knit-less.
Socks are usually my traveling project but these are a bit much for that. I'm back to swatching for a bit to save the frogging. My challenge is still just getting my head around managing the striping while merging the heel into the arch shaping and predicting what may happen when I get to those toes, because someday really, I will get to those toes. It will be a glorious day too. I will smile, the sun will shine, the birds will sing, and we'll......... sorry, Disney moment. It will be cool though, really, it will. I do look at the book periodically and think to myself, "Self, if you had picked any of the other versions of this sock, you wouldn't have to contend with the two color foot and would probably be done by now." Then I laugh and think "Well, what fun would that have been???"

Rosemarkie is still growing. I made a little progress yesterday and it is now close enough to completion to do body checks - not like I can try it on or anything, I do still have arms myself, but holding it up folded on the center steek and comparing it to the shoulder seam on the sweater I am actually wearing, and I have about 2 repeats left before the neck shaping. That's 44 rows people! 44 rows, that's enough to be count down rows. That's low enough to feel "close". Then I would have 9 rows for the neck shaping. THEN I can cut it!!! Oooo head rush....... OK, I'll slow down for now.

BUT - speaking of nearing the end of the shoulders, I have of course been doing more thinking and I am hoping to end the knitting in the middle of one of the color bands so the shoulders look balanced from front to back. I am also thinking about Janine, the Feral Knitteress, and her notes on Shoulder Shaping which make a bunch of sense. The question becomes, do I want to learn short rows, short rows in the round, and short rows in color stranding before finishing this vest so that I can use this technique? Maybe I am square and don't need shaping? Maybe I should try to knit a pattern as written, just once for comparison sake? Maybe I should acknowledge that this is only my second sweater and I really don't have to learn every possible technique on it? Maybe I will conquer the crazy short rows and then it will confuse me on the edging later? Maybe I should start looking into lifelines because I am nuts and may do it anyway? What do you think - should I go with the short row shoulder shaping or save that for the next project?

I see.........Red!

2006-03-02T16:21:00.000-05:00

Bold, brash, rich, fiery, luscious, ripe, hot, powerful, deep Red!Project Spectrum is a neat concept in that there is nothing specifically required. That fits real well with my creativity style. My world is a celebration of color so I thought it would be fun to stretch this fiber blog a bit with images from that world. It is also nice to have something to prod me into challenging my view and shaking out any complacency.

Since I have a shortage of hand knit socks, this is always a candidate for expression. (Shortage meaning that I am required to actually own store bought socks for any reason) And for The Hammy, the yarn is Opal, I'm not sure which goofy pattern, over dyed in deep Red. It's custom from my local yarn shop and has been in my stash (hahaha) for a while. "Stash" and "A while" being relative here. I had nothing but problems with this yarn when I first purchased it. It knit like cotton - zero elasticity - and I thought it was awful, but pretty. Looks lovely lying about in the foyer don't you think?

Well in honor of Red and Pink, I re-skeined in, split it into equal parts for each sock, and re-washed it. That was exactly what it seemed to need. I don't know what they did to it when they dyed it but it shrank up significantly as it dried and regained it's bounce. My size zero needles are empty at the moment so if I can decide on a simple pattern that goes well with it, I may just start another pair of socks. I wonder if I'm so attached to my handknit socks because that was the first "item" I ever knit? Like comfortable old friends maybe. Maybe it's just because it is Michigan and March and my feet get cold if they aren't in wool socks!

Victory and Defeat

2006-03-01T18:05:00.000-05:00

Victory - MS-FIFFAS are progressing well. I figured out the trick with the heel turn in two colors, picked up the gusset stitches and made some modifications. I am re-working the calculation charts as I get through the gusset and begin the arch shaping. (yeah!!) I am also re-working the calculations for the arch shaping, they seem to be off. I've modified it but I'm also checking with Meg. The new challenge is that of maintaining gauge. The pattern stitches change to simple stripes with the exception of a panel down the instep. The simple stripes knit to a tighter gauge than the the cuff pattern stitches did, so I'm playing with stitch counts and tension right now. Normally I would frog back to the cuff and start over with the modifications, but the modifications I think of making change as each part develops and changes the tension on the stitches. Because of this, I am going to continue through the foot and keep meticulous notes. I'm hoping to draft a new pattern from these notes and prove it out in a second pair of my own design. Stay tuned! I can't wait to see how this arch shaping turns out.

Victory - I'm down to the last 6 inches on Rosemarkie. (here scissors scissors scissors) I know, they are taking forever. One of these days I will catch up to you all and knit with lightning quick fingers while paying no heed. You just wait! Oh yeah, you're already doing that right!?! Marina posted a great pictorial on steek cutting. I know, she just keeps rubbing it in that she gets to cut stuff every other week! If you've ever been nervous about the steeking process, check out her posts. They make it seem so matter of fact you can't wait to get your hands on the scissors. Oh, and while you are there, tell her how "not creative" she is, yeah, you just tell her - HA!!!! Beautiful work missy! You inspire me all the time.

Defeat with potential Victory - The other interview from before the trip to Texas? - they love me, think I'm fantastic, say I interview like a champ, great leadership skills, never miss a beat and show all the wonderful qualities they want on their team.......... and they hired someone else. Ready? You know it's coming - Yep, because I'm "over qualified". Now, this one is true - but we discussed it in the interview!! She said they are trying to get another position pushed through that will be more appropriate for my "leadership qualities". Now everyone say it with me - HURRY!!

And a note for The Hammy who asked about the alpaca. It is 3ply Superfine Prime Alpaca, 650 yards from Heritage Spinning and Weaving. They must get it in bulk because they re-label it with their name on the tags. We'll see what I manage to do to it.

Many thanks to everyone for their suggestions on the references for Lace Edgings, I really appreciate it. Now I'm armed and almost dangerous :)

Edgings, I need edgings!

2006-02-27T16:29:00.000-05:00

I'll show you pretty pics of the crazy socks as soon as I get my notes in order. I got gleeful at the heel turn and kept on knitting the lovely gusset. I looked down at my notes to make sure I would know what to do for the next one and the page was blank. Yep, I was that excited, didn't pick up that pencil once, I was on a roll! So tonight I will do it again - with pencil this time.

A special note to all of you that have designed an article and created a pattern from it - more power to you!!! I love knowing exactly what steps I took but when the fire takes over, whooo, all thoughts of paper and pens seem to fly out the window. So to speak. There aren't really flying pens and paper out there, although that would be kinda cool too....anyway.....

That luscious stuff is the alpaca that I picked up to make a scarf for my friend Amanda. The project goal is lace practice and I picked out a couple of lace motifs that I would like to use. The problem is edgings. I don't know where to find examples or how to go about creating a knitted on edging so that the design will look finished. I need something without a lot of points, something simple in appearance, and workable in more of a fingering weight than cobwebbish. Love that word :) Any suggestions for resources? Beuller??

EDIT: Recommendations have included the following -
Knitting Lace by Barbara Abbey
Classic Knitted Cotton Edgings by Furze Hewitt (o.o.p.)
Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns by Barbara Walker
Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller
Knitting on the Edge by Nicki Epstein
Lace from the Attic by Nancie Wiseman
Knitting Lace: A Workshop by Susanna E. Lewis (o.o.p.)
http://www.knitting-and.com/knitting/patterns-lace.htm by Sarah Bradbury
Knitting Counterpanes by Mary Walker-Phillips

A Quick Note

2006-02-24T20:36:00.000-05:00

Interviewer: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? hobbies, interests?
Me: Well, this past summer I wanted to knit a sweater
Interviewer: Oh? Did you buy a kit?
Me: No........I researched sheep
Interviewer: Ummm, sheep??
Me: Yeah, sheep. I couldn't keep a sheep because the homeowners association won't allow fencing. So I bought a fleece instead.
Interviewer: a fleece........
Me: Yeah......

While the content is true, I didn't actually say that in my interview. Maybe I should have, it does give an idea of how I approach things. I want to know how it all works, analyze it, experience it, and take from it and give to it the best that I can. Unfortunately, Texas came back with my being over qualified for what they have, but now that they have met me, I may get called back for future positions. I wonder what they would have said if I told them the sheep story?

Well, I have yet to design my first handspun sweater but I think I need a bit more study before I give it a go. I am currently back to my vest. I made up my charts for the armhole and neckline shaping so I'll be happily knitting away at that for awhile. I really like the graphic qualities of this design. Duplicating the chart and drawing out the shaping makes it very easy to follow with just a quick look. My row gauge is a little off compared to my swatch and I'm short, so it looks like I won't have the same number of pattern repeats as in the original pattern. I'm not sure but I think the change is just because I became more comfortable with knitting stranded so my tension relaxed ever so slightly.

I picked up a ball of an odd dyelot yarn for my MSFIFFAS socks by mistake so I took it back this afternoon. One of my favorite ladies at my lys said I can't wear the socks this year until I enter them in some knitting competition they are having. I got a pleasant chuckle out of that one!

Kepler Cables, Shetland Lace & my Calendar Girl

2006-02-20T08:03:00.000-05:00

Kepler she is done, fini!

Knit, seamed, woven ends, washed, blocked and dried! Whew, that took forever. My first cables, first charts and actually my first sweater. The knitting was quick, the only reason it took forever is because it is actually such a dark blue it is near black and the seaming made me blind! I did find that if I only worked on the seaming for a few minutes at a time, early in the day and with natural light, I could work on it with ease. Other than that it was a LOT of eye strain. So it spent a lot of time staring at me from the knitting basket begging for it's day of glory and here it is!! It is a nice sweater and a flattering style. The sleeves are set in and those seams are nice and smooth. The yarn is Rowanspun Aran in Midnight which washed up very nice and bloomed enough to soften it up a bit. The pattern is free from Emily at Fathom Harvill. It is well written and very easy to follow.

I've also been working on testing out some lace weight shetland. The fleece is from a very sweet sheep named Mariah that I had the pleasure of meeting last summer. I love her moorit coloring even though I don't really wear browns. I spun it two ply and definitely achieved a lighter weight than the fingering weight used as comparison in the photo. The issue I'm having is that there is so much loft and a little fluff that it seems much thicker than it actually is. I spun it woolen with a long-draw after preparing the wool with hand cards. I am interested in seeing how the loft works in the knitted lace fabric. I just did about 70 yards for a sampler. I'll knit it up for a test to see what kind of adjustments I want to make for spinning the rest of it. This handspun shetland from Michigan sheep is softer than the fingering weight shetland from Shetland island. Part of the appeal is also in the memories of meeting the flock and a great day with Leslie and Terri at Grace Farm. With all that is going on hand carding everything is taking too much time to get a whole lot done, I can't wait to get a drum carder :)

And last but not least, Kya, my "Calendar Girl". She's a retired racing greyhound from Daytona Beach and starred in the 2006 Greyhound Pets of America-Daytona calendar. She's almost 4 and spent all of her life on a race track until last June. The tricky thing with track dogs is that they aren't exposed to any normal day to day life so everything is new and can make them skittish. I do my best with my girls and foster dogs to show them as much as possible of their new world so they can make the transition from track to family easier. Kya was my third greyhound foster and became Lily's "sister". Lily was my first rescue and has helped me help 28 foster dogs since. Kya hates the cold but loves slippery snow :) She will fit in great if we go to Texas. Speaking of Texas, I think the whole interview process went well but as I've mentioned to some of you, it was such a whirlwind I'm not even sure what happened anymore! I hope to hear something soon, very soon, like hopefully tomorrow. This waiting thing is not the fun part.......ahhh well, back to packing, pooches and fiber.

I'm Back!

2006-02-18T21:45:00.000-05:00

This may be a bit confusing because I ran out of time getting ready and never posted the "I'll be gone" post. But I was gone, and now I'm back. I took that trip to Austin, TX for the job interviews I was telling you about. I left my house Thursday at 12:30pm and with no direct flights, flew in to Houston, caught a connecting flight, picked up a rental car and made it to my hotel in Austin at 10pm. Spent the next hour in search of food since everything I could find closed at 10pm. Finally hauled my find back to the hotel, ate voraciously and got to bed by midnight. Up Friday at 6am, began a series of 9 interviews starting at 9am, added 2 more for a total of 11 interviews by 3:30pm, race back to the airport, turn in rental car, fly out to Dallas to catch a connecting flight, land in Michigan at 12:30am, at a different terminal than I left from and spend the next hour trying to get to my car. Airports are ghost towns in the middle of the night, even on Fridays. Finally make it home at 2:30am to be greeted by 2 loving pooches that exploded in glee at my return and we all collapsed into sleep by 3:30am. What a whirlwind. I am still tired.

The loving pooches spent the night at "grandma's" house and she was kind enough to bring them home so they would be here when I got back, very sweet!! This is the first time the greyhound, Kya, has been separated from me for more than a day since leaving the racetrack in June. She was scared and skittish at her sleep over, but mom tried to help her out. I need to do some more work with her to help build up her confidence in my absence. She is such a sweetheart even if a bit shy.

"Grandma" on the other hand loved her scarf! It is very flattering on her and I hope she enjoys it for many chilly days to come. It was my first design effort and I am very pleased that she likes it.

IT all minimum. a to progress the kept exhaustion and turbulance but MS-FIFFAS of cuff sock second on decent some make could I thought be. not was this me, is woe knitting for great be would time travel that seemI also attempted to turn the heel on the first sock. I think I have the concept down of how to do this two stranded but my first attempt at execution was less than desirable. Getting the tight shaping and even stitches on the heel is the current hurdle.

Now to catch up on what everyone else is up to and cheer on some of the Knitting Olympics stars!

Finish Lines and False Starts

2006-02-14T10:03:00.000-05:00

First Finish:
I did finish my Jaywalker socks. They give two sizes and I knit the smallest one but they are a little loose. The original cast on is 76 stitches and 7 stitches between each increase and decrease. I think I can get away with 68 stitches, and reduce it to 6 stitches between the increases/decreases, I will try that next time. I will also eliminate the cuff ribbing and just start them in pattern to eliminate a slight bubble that occurs when switching. The pattern stitch really does keep them up. Overall these are great socks. The simple rhythm of the increases and decreases go much faster and enjoyably than pure stockinette but there are wide stretches of stockinette that could show off numerous types of yarn. They knit up extremely quickly because of the rhythm and because you can grab them and throw in another row anytime, anywhere. I enjoyed them.

Second Finish:
Mom's Mosaic and Cables scarf is finished, washed and blocked. I love it and it is very soft indeed. The Queensland Katmandu has a lovely finished drape that was perfect for this project. I wouldn't think it would be as nice for tight cables but it works beautifully for the eccentric cable pattern here. I can't wait to give it to her, she will be quite happy. It is one I will do again even though that surprises me since juggling 3 balls of yarn was a bit tangle-y. The mosaic stitches and cabling give it body that holds it up against your neck and face to block even the worst winter winds and I think it looks great. I want one :)

False Start:
The heel flap on the MS-FIFFAS is knit flat back and forth so I have had the opportunity to use stranded purling more than just for the corrugated ribbing. I was paying so much attention to making sure my tension was consistent and my floats were good that I oops'd and forgot to read the pattern backwards as well. So that row has got to go and I have my first frogging on the MS-FIFFAS and a false start on the heel flap. I will begin again later when I can pay more attention.

MS-FIFFAS - First Installment

2006-02-12T20:30:00.000-05:00

Meg Swanson's Fair Isle Form Fitted Arch Socks - they need a simpler name don't they?

I am a little obsessive about these right now. The pattern for them is in the back of Meg Swanson's Knitting. The book includes 4 different socks. The instructions are written for an Aran sock that uses gansey weight wool at a gauge of 6.5 stitches per inch. The instructions for the two color socks use 4ply or lace weight but a new gauge isn't listed, it advises you to follow the guidelines for the Aran sock. The 6.5 spi just didn't seem appropriate for a lighter weight yarn so I am making modifications to accommodate my gauge on my favorite sock needles. Part of the instructions also include directions to 'make decisions on the color stripes when you get there'. I will be posting a few blog entries with the results of my adventures with these. I anticipate that there may be more than one attempt to get them right so enjoy following along or skip as you see fit. The part that makes these so different from any other fair isle socks I have seen is the way the arch is shaped. So far I am still working on getting to that part. This is also my first fair isle sock so I may not be too quick to start with.

Notes:

Pattern is for knee socks - first modification is to make them ankle socks. I prefer a 5 to 6 inch cuff prior to working the heel stitches.
My gauge is 9.75 stitches per inch in pattern on Addi Turbo size 1's. I have asked many people about what they prefer for knitting fair isle and the one consensus I have found is that they prefer what they are comfortable with. I love knitting socks with my Addi's. I love my slippery needles, they work for me. Use what works for you - knit happy!
Yarn used is Heirloom Baby Wool. This stuff knits like a fair isle dream. It is 100% new wool and does not have nylon content. It has good body, stretch and is oh so very soft. It is comparable to Dale Baby Ull I believe.
I recently knit the Jaywalker sock pattern which calls for a 76 stitch cast on and relies on negative ease. They were loose on me through the foot. I use 68 stitches for the foot in stockinette stitch for a gauge of 10 stitches per inch and they fit ok but would be ok a little snugger. For the sake of this adventure, using these statistics as references, I decided to allow for a variance of negative ease equal to 1/4th-1/8th inch per inch. I like snug socks.
Top of cuff - 11 inches, Mid-Cuff - 9.25 inches, Ankle - 8.75 inches, Arch to Heel - 11 inches, Arch - 8 inches, Toes - 7.5 inches, Foot Length - 8.5 inches

Accomplished to date:

First draft of measurements adjusted to .75 per inch and stitch calculations to use as guidelines. Stitch counts adjusted up to meet pattern requirements.

Cast on 76 stitches and worked 1x1 corrugated ribbing for 10 rows. I used the long tail cast on out of habit and read recently that using the German Twisted cast on will prevent the corrugated ribbing from curling. I will use that one next time.
Knitting right side out, one color in each hand.
Worked one pattern repeat on the 76 stitches maintaining a gauge of 9.75 stitches per inch.
I'm getting approximately 1/4th to 1/3rd inches of horizontal stretch per inch in pattern. This is accomodating the maximum stretch point across the ankle/heel of 11 inches.
Decreased in pattern to 72 stiches for Mid Ankle measurement.
Worked 10 rows in second pattern repeat.
Decreased in pattern to 68 stitches for Ankle measurement.
Worked 10 rows in pattern but modifying it to branch into the heel pattern and gusset stripes.
Rearranged the stitches on the needles to divide for the heel stitches. The pattern does not split evenly so I have split it 33-35, working the heel on 33 stitches.

You never call, you never write.........

2006-02-08T19:06:00.000-05:00

I apologize to everyone that commented on that last post, for some reason Haloscan didn't send the comments to me. You had great comments too so I will acknowledge them here.

First off, thank you so much for the compliments. I'm glad to hear a lot of you like that yarn as much as I do. I even took her to meet one of my favorite ladies at the local yarn shop today who thought she was quite lovely. Actually I just took it with me to compare it to different colors based on your suggestions. It did not contrast well with natural colors but looked good with a bright cream or white but they had to be bright and clear. On the darker end of the spectrum, deep blue and forest green were very flattering but they didn't have the perfect shade. I may spin up a little in the forest green for accents to go with this yarn but I decided to stick with solid colors for the Form-Fitted Arch socks to get the highest contrast.

I don't know about you, but I have one heck of a time finding solid color sock yarn locally. I need to stash a few colors of Naturespun or something to cut down on the insanity that ensues when I think I'm not going to find anything. Lucky me, my favorite yarn shop has a punch card they credit all year and give you store cash to spend in the beginning of February. I managed to find a few goodies and it was like they were giving me presents. Like yarn isn't presents already I know, but free yarn that you get to pick?? Sweet! So I ended up with Heirloom baby wool in periwinkle and bright white. That should do Meg's sock patterns justice! Now I just have to finish the Jaywalkers and get started.

I picked up the stitch holders I needed to continue with Rosemarkie. All of my stitch holders apparently went on vacation because I couldn't find one anywhere. Or maybe they were just hiding? Either way, I can now do the armhole and neck steeks. I will start those tomorrow.

I also picked up some luscious prime alpaca for a lacy scarf for one of my girlfriends. She absolutely loves alpaca so I thought I would make her something out of it. She is always doing things to spoil us (me and the 'girls') rotten and I do my best to reciprocate. She even gave the girls their own huge jars of peanut butter and treats for the holidays. Obviously she is worth it. I don't have a pattern selected yet and I haven't decided when I want to start it. The yarn is approximately fingering to sport weight, 3 ply pure alpaca and approximately 650 yards. I want it to be lacy or textured, something with a really nice stitch pattern but not too delicate. I have to finish the Mosaic and Cables scarf for Mom and then I can start plotting a pattern.

And last but not least I grabbed a back issue of Interweave Knits with some patterns I love and a flyer for a workshop with Beth Brown-Reinsel that I would be estatic if I could attend and still get the job in Texas. Speaking of that job in Texas, I had the second phone interview and am waiting for the phone call to tell me what day I fly in. And I'm now prepared with knitting so I'm all set.

Purple.........and green, again

2006-02-03T02:08:00.000-05:00

It never seems to fail - add a dose of something purple in my life and I have to balance it with something green. Since the Jaywalker socks are turning out purple, I made green yarn. It's hand dyed roving in several shades of green from an evergreen to chartreuse. I spun this one up with the intention of using it for socks so it is pretty high twist and quite elastic but balanced - but it won't split when knitting. It is approximately sport weight, a smidge over 100grams and 325 yards. I have been considering using it for the Form-Fitted Arch socks with natural as the other color or something like a deep blue. I'm not sure if it is subtle enough and it may detract from the color work, which I don't want to do. I was hoping for a soft variation like you get with a heathered yarn combined with a solid. I have such a hard time just using plain solid color yarns but I love heathered shades. And socks from handspun can't be beat.

Another option I am considering is handspun shetland in moorit and cream. Or I have a gift card to the LYS and I could get merino in solid colors. Any thoughts? I know I am overthinking it just because I'm hoping for something that can stand up to a bit of frogging if it becomes necessary while I'm trying to work out the fit.

Wool Socks and 10 Gallon Hats?

2006-01-30T22:08:00.000-05:00

Not a whole lot going on with the knitting, unfortunately. As some of you are aware, I have been job hunting for a bit now. I have also been planning to move to Maine (I'm in Michigan now) in February. My sister and her family are moving to Maine, my brother in law is in the Navy and they will be stationed there for three years. I figured I would head on out there too, why not keep them company for awhile. Well, last week I got a fantastic call for a job that fits my qualifications, and what I enjoy doing, to the proverbial 'T'. I had my phone interview and that was a great success. They are now making arrangements to have me flown in for a full round of face to face interviews. Flown in - to Texas! I looked at my new wool socks and started laughing. I am so going to have to re-think all of my knitting plans for 2006 if I move to Texas. I'm not complaining, I love to learn new things. I also love jobs that I enjoy so wish me luck!
I did finish my Mosaic Socks finally. They are done in Regia which was nice to knit with, no complaints. They washed up beautifully and are the most comfortable pair I've knit so far. Each pair gets better and I think I have fine tuned my sock
formula pretty well for standard gusset heels so I think I will try short-row or after-thought heels now. One thing that is a major advantage with this pair is that the cuffs are stiffer with the two colors so they stay up very well.

One design I have been eager to try is the sculpted arch socks from Meg Swanson in Knitting. Not only are the patterns gorgeous, but the whole idea of custom, perfectly form fitted socks sounds like a little slice of heaven in wool. I have tiny feet with high arches, sounds like a perfect pattern doesn't it!

With all of the stuff going on with interviews and plans for moving,
I don't get much time where I can relax and concentrate on my knitting right now so I haven't made much progress on anything exciting. I did cast on for a new pair of socks since I completed the other ones. They are the infamous Jaywalkers and I'm doing them in Trekking XXL. So far I like the yarn a lot. It has color variation without distinctive stripes or color pooling. I may be nuts but I really hate self patterning yarns that make strange color pools in socks. The Trekking isn't doing that so far. The more I knit with it the more it blooms just from working with it so they should be pretty nice after they are washed. I was intrigued by the Jaywalker pattern because it is a negative ease design that claims to stay up very well. I like socks that are molded to my foot more than heavily ribbed to stay up so I thought I would give them a try.

If I end up going to Texas, I'll have to find some alternatives to wool for socks won't I? Wish me luck!!

The Last Blog........

2006-01-30T20:21:00.000-05:00

OK, I think I'm the last blog on the internet to get tagged with the latest Meme thanks to the Knitting Hammy ....... She tagged me in public too so hiding is probably not going to work. I find her Chairman of the Bored entry quite amusing in conjunction and think the meme should be ammended to include 4 eccentricities like:

I can't stand it if my food touches on my plate and will eat everything but leave any edges that overlap.
My bra and panties *have* to match, just have to or I'm out of synch all day. If I'm bummin' around the house my outfit doesn't have to come close to matching though.
I have a *major* addiction to boots, all kinds - from combat to kid, but high heel with laces and long skirts of a modern and historic flair are the best.
I don't think ceilings should be left plain white unless it is a specific design element in somthing like a white on white on white room. Otherwise, it looks like it was simply left out of the design plan.

Now that tells you how much of a nut I may possibly be far more than what jobs I've had, now doesn't it? :) on to the meme.......

Four Jobs You've Had In Your Life:
1. Project Manager
2. Business Analyst
3. Property Tax Superviser
4."Display Manager" - my first job - I arranged and polished plumbing fixture displays after school and I loved it.

Four Movies You Could Watch Over and Over
..........only if I can knit
1. Breakfast at Tiffany's
2. Highlander (only the first one)
3. Matrix (only the first one)
4. Anything with Katherine Hepburn

Four Places You Have Lived
..........13 moves within two counties in the same state my whole life - but now I am supposed to be moving to Maine next month or possibly Texas if a job offer comes through
1. Royal Oak, Michigan
2. Clarkston, Michigan
3. Hamtramck, Michigan
4. Oxford, Michigan

Four TV Shows You Live to Watch
.........I don't watch tv much but when I used to....
1. Law and Order
2. CSI
3. Star Trek - Next Generation
4. Charmed - I know, I can't explain it, it has to be the 'metaphysical chicks kick butt' thing

Four Places You've Been On Vacation
1. Virginia - White water rafting, class 4's
2. Bruce Peninsula, Canada - every summer when I was younger, walking the escarpment and diving off the cliffs into Georgian Bay
3. Key West, Florida - ocean fishing and floating with dolphins, I was in love. I tried to run away to the Keys but lacked key resources........like cash :)
4. Chicago, Illinois - 10 hours sleep total in a 4 day weekend. I learned all about big city night life and shopping - wow! I'd love to go back with friends that appreciate culture. I don't regret the whirlwind party but I'd like to actually explore the city.

Four Of My Favorite Foods- mmmmm....
1. King Crab dripping with hot butter
2. Artichokes, whole and steamed
3. Filet Mignon in Burgandy Wine sauce
4. Pistacio ice cream

Four Places You'd Rather Be Right Now
1. Doing something silly with my brothers and sisters. Something that doesn't happen as much now that we are older but is cherished when we have the chance.
2. Hot air ballooning
3. Knitting and Spinning in the hills of Scotland with a Fair Isle guru as a mentor
4. On the top of a mountain shouting down into a valley listening to my voice echo - just because

Four Bloggers I am tagging : I think the internet is all out of victims, but if you missed out or think you escaped somehow, consider yourself tagged with the eccentricities included :) And leave a comment so we can come over to visit you!

Bandwagons

2006-01-23T17:46:00.000-05:00

I don't jump on too many bandwagons or join in every group that comes along, but sometimes I just luck into some that I can't resist. Two that have been calling to me lately are the 2000 Socks KAL that Amie is doing over at her blog Rose By Any. She challenged Amy over at Boogie Knits to finish all of her UFO socks by February. Between these two I got motivated to dust off my poor unfinished socks that have been sadly neglected. I didn't mean to neglect them but I just lost my Tiny Needle Mojo for awhile. I don't know what was up but after I turned the heel on these puppies I kept knitting tighter, and tighter, and tighter - and it was awful. It hurt to knit these silly socks and I couldn't figure out what I was doing differently. So they ended up in the bottom of the knitting basket, footless and haunting. After the Amie/y's rousing motivational posts I dug the little guys out and low and behold my Mojo was back!! I still don't know what happened but I'm glad it is over and my Tiny Needles are flying effortlessly once again. Now they just need some toes and a little luv and they will be all set.

The other group that has caught my eye is the SFCKAL hosted by Rebekkah at Bowerbird Knits. Sweaters From Camp is an excellent book produced by Meg Swansen, Amy Detjen and Joyce Williams compiling 38 color work patterns designed by Knitting Camp participants. The KAL starts February 15th and you can chose any sweater in the book as your project. Rebekkah is right, this book is full of beautiful designs that haven't seen much publicity on the web. The one that appeals to me most for now is Snow Sky by Ann Swanson (photo courtesy of Rebekkah at Bowerbird Knits from the book Sweaters From Camp, design by Ann Swanson.) I have already decided that I would not want to do this sweater in shetland. I want it to be softer, not pilly but more cuddly than shetland. It is only in two colors, a charcoal grey and a light grey. I was thinking it may be nice to add some hints of grey green and grey blue. I did some spinning experimenting with the tones and came up with this.

I think it captures the very soft hints of color I was envisioning. Now I just have to find the right yarn in these colors that sets off the pattern and is nicely soft. Since these colors are so soft and so greyed I may have a challenge on my hands. And as far as dying them myself? I don't think I could recreate that experiment if I tried unfortunately. I do so love the color combination for this sweater though.

I may not be able to participate in the knit along officially when it starts since I am also looking to move across the country at that time but go check it out. If you haven't seen the book yet I think you will be pleased.

Knitting and Hugs

2006-01-15T22:21:00.000-05:00

The mosaic & cable scarf would have been done this weekend as planned. All of the yarn was gone, it should have been done, right? Not exactly. Apparently I like wide scarves snuggled up to the neck and crossed over in front under my coat. Other people like to wrap and flip an end over one shoulder, or tie in front either over or under a coat. Other people need a much longer scarf than I do. It didn't occur to me originally that Mom would be like other people and may have much different scarf requirements than I would. It's a scarf, it's not lace or anything, it wasn't supposed to be complicated. When I started the scarf I made it too wide for her needs so it ended up too short. It's perfect for me, but it's not for me. I had a choice. I could either frog the whole thing and start over, making it thinner or I could pray my LYS had another ball left in the same dye lot - of a yarn I purchased 3 months ago, and make it longer.I figured the decision basically came down to whether or not they had any. They did - one ball in that color that just happened to be the same dye lot. So the decision was made, and I'm still knitting.

So on a chilly Sunday afternoon, I curled up with my knitting and the girls curled up with each other, and a couple of tasty bones. Kya is the brindle and white greyhound and Lily is the brindle greyhound pillow. Ahhhhh.......wonderful.

Rosemarkie Mulberry Colorway

2006-01-12T16:35:00.000-05:00

I had some questions on the yarn and colors that I am using for this project. The yarn is Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift from Two Swans Yarns in the following colors:

a.Mulberry 598
b.Pine 234
c.Moss 147
d.Twilight 175
e.Foxglove 273
f.Purple Heather 239

The pattern is Rosemarkie from Alice Starmore's Celtic Collection. The original yarns were Rowan and have been discontinued since the book was published. The yarn I chose knits to gauge but the colors are completely different than the original. Use the original colors, my colors or your own colorway. I highly recommend it for anyone that is looking for a relaxing fair isle project.

Added Commenting and Trackback

2006-01-12T09:04:00.000-05:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

I added Haloscan comments to capture your email addresses when the comments are emailed to me to help me respond to everyone.

A new year, a new blog, and a few old projects

2006-01-10T15:01:00.000-05:00

Well everything can't be new at the same time I suppose. I considered starting a new project to ring in the year but realized I had too many on the needles already. How many is too many? The magic number at the magic combined level of dedication or intricacy that makes me feel overwhelmed at the thought of trying to complete them. I don't like that feeling. I am not a speed knitter, or even a quick knitter, so if the pile is too high, I feel daunted. If it isn't high enough, I don't feel challenged. Tricky formula, verrry tricky.

So to christen my new blog, I decided I could take another picture of.... ....you guessed it.

Step by step........ sloooowly she grows...... step by step...... Rosemarkie that is. Really. She is growing, she is a whole 10 inches tall now, but I have a committment knit that I have to finish before I can dedicate the time to her that she deserves. And she deserves a lot of my knit time. She is colorful, appealing, has a fabulous sense of rhythm, glides what seems like effortlessly across the needles, she is a divine knit. I had to make a concession that the last row I knit for the night is one row on Rosemarkie so I wouldn't be crabby. So far it is working. It is so hard though with only a few inches to go before some excitement happens and I start steeking for sleeves and stuff. Oooooo steeking!! Yep, I'm excited. It has gone much quicker than I expected. I started in on December 15th and didn't get to work on it too much over the holiday. It's the rhythm of the pattern I think, each row has a definite rhythm in the number of stitches in each color so it's a breeze but not just boring. I understand why this was rated as the easiest pattern in the Celtic Collection.

So what is the committment knit? That crazy scarf I promised my mother. A scarf you say? A scarf is supposed to be one of those wickedly quick projects that are whipped up in no time flat, what's my problem? I like the scarf, the stitch pattern is easy, the yarn is super soft and nice to work with, it doesn't roll anymore than it shows in the picture, sweet colors..........but I'm using 3 balls of yarn at the same time and the tangle makes me nuts. I now know to never plan a large scale intarsia project. I could accomplish it, but it wouldn't be my cup of tea. Bright side, it should be done by the end of the week.

Then the next committment is Kepler but I'll deal with that when I get there :)