Month: April 2015

Great Yarn!

The yarn fast is officially busted. I can talk ad nauseum about what made me decide to not buy any yarn for 1 year, 43 days, but I know you are here for the yarn.

 

When I fall, I don't fool around. That is enough yarn for 3 mid-sized shawls. The shop is A Great Yarn, which is a new shop in Chatham, it is a combined yarn shop and used book store. The owners couldn't be any nicer, and she carries some really unique yarns.

From left to right in the second photo:

Hikoo Rylie, color is Sandbar, which is a very soft pale sage. It is 50% alpaca, 25% mulberry silk, and 25% linen, about a worsted weight. There are 500 meters.

The second is Plymouth Linaza, color Red. This one is 50% alpaca, 25% linen, and 25% tencel, sport weight. 804 meters. I think it is the exact color of the lovely cardinal that has been serenading us out the window of our room at the Inn.

Last but not least is Zitron Glanz Punkt (who knows what that means?), color is Beach Glass. This is 60% silk, 40% modal (tencel), also about a sport weight. 600 meters total.

1904 meters added to the stash.

These little shawls-to-be will provide me with great knitting pleasure. I don't feel one bit guilty. The colors will forever remind me of this trip–the beach, the sandbars, and that very cheerful and brilliant red cardinal.

We've had a great adventure in Cape Cod. We got here Sunday in the late afternoon after dawdling around along the coast. Yesterday we dawdled around all day driving north up the Cape, dipping in and out of the Cape Cod National Seashore (a National Park). We mostly had the beaches to ourselves all day.

Today we stuck around the Chatham area. We went to the yarn shop, then spent a lovely hour or so at the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center, which is a small museum devoted to the whole Marconi wireless invention and the evolution of wireless from the early 1900s to after World War II. The first transatlantic wireless transmission from the US to Europe was from the towers that he built just north of Chatham. We saw the site yesterday, though the towers are long gone due to beach erosion. And Chatham was the location of one of the major wireless units that intercepted Enigma-coded transmissions from German submarines, then transmitted them to Washington DC where they were then decoded. It is a fascinating story, and we learned about the whole thing from the lovely enthusiastic woman that was running the museum today. We spent the afternoon in the sunshine checking out the waterfront, and have dinner reservations later this evening.

Tomorrow we head back to Boston for my medical conference which means three whole DAYS of knitting.

That's all I have to say. I'm going to go take a nap and dream about knitting.

 

Cape Cod Breakfast Conversation

We're on a little mini-vacation this week. I have a medical meeting later in the week in Boston, and we arrived a few days early to visit Cape Cod since we've never been here before.

Here was the conversation at the breakfast table this AM.

Me: “I'd like to stop at that yarn shop we passed* yesterday.”

John: “Aren't they closed today?”

Me: “What?”

John: “Aren't all yarn shops closed on Mondays?”

Nice try, dear. Nice try.

Here are a couple of photos. First is from Plymouth, the monument that honors the Pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower.

And next is the sock on the way to Cape Cod.

*Cape Cod appears to be a yarn-rich environment. We drove by at least three yarn shops yesterday. I'm getting a feeling that the yarn-shopping fast may be approaching its end.

 

Pink & Orange!

One pair of socks done, another pair started. I tossed the stash, and this is what came up next.

 

The yarn is Trekking, fairly vintage. The color is imaginatively named “1000”.

I just love knitting little picot sock tops. They are sort of a pain in the arse to get started*, but they are so freaking cute once they get to this point.

I know, I know. I am a sock nerd. This will be the same damn pattern, with picot tops instead of ribbing. I live on the edge.

*Cast on, knit seven rows plain, then do one row of yo, k2tog around, then another 7 rows plain. Then turn up the hem and knit the next row with the cast on row to make a little picket fence top. Ingenious. I didn't make this up, I learned it from Claudia.

 

Monday Is A Good Day

For new socks!

 

Project Details:

Well, it's the same old pattern, my generic top down, ribbed cuff, heel flap sock. Knit on 72 stitches with 2.25 mm Ivore double point needles. The yarn is Opal, one of the Dreamcatcher colors.

I started these back in September, finished yesterday. And no, they don't match. That's intentional. I actually knitted one sock from the outside of the yarn ball and the second one from the inside, so the stripes are mirror images. I am endlessly amused by self striping sock yarn.

These are for me. Though John looked at them and said “I'd wear a pair like that!”.

I haven't started the next new pair of socks yet, but as you all know, I plenty of sock yarns in the stash to choose from. Stay tuned for what comes next.

 

A Hap Of A Different Color

Hap version 2.

The Whisky Galore!* yarn just didn't work with this pattern. It is a very fine drapey yarn, and really wants a lighter, more delicate lace pattern. Since I already have a big light and delicate lace shawl in progress (Evenstar, I'm looking at you), and I already had the Hap pattern loaded into Knit Companion, I went rummaging through the stash looking for a more suitable yarn.
This is another well-aged stash selection. It is Elemental Effects Rustic Lace, a 100% Shetland wool yarn, which is a much better fit for this pattern. Here is a photo of the yarn.
It's pretty tough to get a photo of that color, especially on a grey April day. It's a deep bluish green, more green than blue, and approximately the color of our backyard Douglas Fir trees at twilight. So Whisky Galore! has been renamed Douglas Fir!
This isn't actually version 2, it's more like version 5. This isn't that complicated of a pattern, but I kept screwing it up and having to rip it out. I think I have it off and running at this point. I don't think this will be TV knitting, but only because of the dark color of the yarn.
If you are trying to figure out the pattern, it is knit side to side. The body is garter stitch, with those lace mesh points at the bottom border of the shawl, knitted on as you go. The garter section keeps getting bigger until it's big enough, then knit straight on for awhile, then decreases again at the other side point. I have 3 skeins of this yarn, so it should be a biggish shawl when done.

*Yes, the yarn name has the exclamation point in the color name. If the dyer thought it was important, so do I.

 

Because I Can

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Let’s call it New Project Saturday, shall we?

That is well aged yarn. It is Old Maiden Aunt, a lace blend of alpaca, silk, and cashmere. Who knows when I bought this, the date on the photo in the database is from 2012, but the dye lot on the ball label is 2009. Knitting from stash, what a concept.

The color name is Whisky Galore, which is no doubt why I bought it, but it really is just the loveliest shade of Scotch whisky.

And what might I be making with this?

How about this?

hap4lo_medium hap3lo_small2

A Hap For Harriet, by Kate Davies. The pattern calls for Old Maiden Aunt lace weight, though one of the heavier lace yarns from that line. The Whisky yarn is a bit finer, and has the silk and cashmere so will be more drapey, but I think it will be a good match. I also have more yardage (1189 meters) than the pattern calls for, but Kate is nice enough to have instructions in the pattern as to how to up or downsize the shawl to fit your yardage.

I’m off to find needles  to match.