Lorette

Good lord. I decided to do a blog post about my latest project completion. That was about an hour ago. For some reason, something happened under the hood, and the directory where the photos were supposed to upload got changed to a non-existent directory name. It took me over an hour to figure that out and fix it. So here we are. I have a finished project, and I’m not quite as excited about it as I was an hour ago.

Project Details:

Pattern: Sharon Air, by Casapinka
Yarn: Plucky Knitter Lodge Fingering
Started: August 12, 2022
Finished: October 1, 2022
Needles: US 5
For: Me
Modifications: None that were intentional. I forgot a whole section on one of the side ”wings”. I just did it out of order when I figured out why my shawl was a lot shorter on one side. I added a few rows on the second wing since they weren’t quite the same number of rows on each side.
Rating (Pattern/yarn) *****/*****
What I Learned: I had to change colors MANY times, on this, so got pretty good at that. This also taught me to dig around in the stash before I go buy new stuff. There is some pretty fine yarn in that stash of mine.

I really love wearing shawls like this. I tend to always be cold in the non-summer months (and sometimes in our summer months). It’s nice having something to wrap around my neck to keep warm.

I also really like this yarn. It’s a linen/wool/silk/cotton blend, and is very light and drapey. I bought a single skein of four different colors, and this was the perfect project for it.

Never-ending lace

I am actually going to finish this* one of these days. Ravelry says I started this in 2018. Of course, I haven’t been working on it all that time. Even I’m not THAT slow. I have about 50 rows left, then a single crochet edge along the long sides, then blocking. It’s not really a complex lace pattern, but does require that I pay attention to the chart, so it isn’t TV knitting.

Here’s another photo. It’s a bit hard to get a good picture of unblocked lace, especially red unblocked lace. Most of the photos I’ve taken inside suggest that it’s tomato-red, when it is really a deep ruby-red color.

I’m off to knit a few more of those 50 rows. I’m ready to finish this thing and wear it.

*Cathedral Stole, by Birgit Freyer

What’s up?

Oof. Again. I keep waiting to post until I have time to catch up, but I never seem to make that time. So I’m just going to start where I am.

Two new projects, both “knit-alongs”. the first is Casapinka’s Sharon Air shawl, which started a week ago. Here is where I am.

I’m a few rows into Clue 2. The yarn is from stash*, Plucky Knitter’s Lodge fingering, which is a wool/linen blend. I’m not sure what I was thinking** when I bought four skeins of this in different colors, since one skein isn’t enough to make much of anything that I’d ordinarily knit. It will work perfectly for this though. Here’s a closer view of the stitch patterns.

As usual with a Casapinka pattern, there is lots of fun and goofiness that accompanies the knit-along.

The next is a sweater.

I know, it doesn’t look like much. The pattern is Vanilla Sweater; it’s a top down raglan, knit with Rauma Finullgarn at a relatively loose gauge. Here’s a photo from the pattern.

So far I really like how the Rauma knits up. I think this will be a terrific between-seasons layering piece.

That’s all for now. I have lots more going on, but I’ll save it for next time.

*Because I have SO MUCH STASH yarn.

**Thinking? There is no thinking when it comes to yarn-buying at Chez Knitting Doctor.

Yes, there was yarn

Our excursion Sunday was to a nearby village that was the site of a small knitting factory that opened in the 19th century. The factory unfortunately closed in 1989, but it has been converted into a museum, keeping most of the old spinning and knitting machinery in working order. The original factory primarily made machine-knit (and hand-finished) clothing, especially woolen long underwear.

That is just some of the old equipment on display.

That is a bin of single ply thread ready to be made into either cloth for garments, or finished yarn for knitting.

The museum shop was lovely, with a nice collection of knit items, books, and other souvenirs. You know I was there for the yarn, right?

Some of that did come home with me.

That little guy didn’t end up in my shopping bag, though he sure is cute.

The week that was

Or, Out of Covid Jail

After John tested positive on Sunday, I did the same on Monday. We were restricted to our cabin for 5 days each, so John was out yesterday, me this morning. I felt pretty lousy for a couple of days, but have no symptoms now other than reduced sense of smell.
We missed four ports in Norway, though did get a few photos from our veranda. The prettiest day so far was Geirangar fjord, which was spectacular, with many stunning waterfalls.

Our cabin attendant, Mohammed, took good care of us for the week. He made sure our window and veranda wall were kept clean so we had a good view at all times.

We arrived in Bergen yesterday, and today is the midpoint of the cruise. Many passengers are staying on for the full trip to Stockholm, though there is also a lot of turnover from people only doing the two week portions. We did a tour in Bergen today, here’s one of the highlights.

Some fine Norwegian wool, and a sheep-themed bag to put it in.

And I finished a pair of socks.

The wool is from deep stash, Elliebelly 100% BFL. Same old pattern. These are for me.

Stay tuned for more adventure now that we are able to explore!

Quarantine

The view from our veranda on the Viking Mars:

And that’s likely all we will see of Norway for the next five days.

John had a scratchy throat yesterday so we retested. He popped up positive. I didn’t, but have the same symptoms this morning. We are waiting on PCR confirmation, but we’re in quarantine. Neither of us feels very sick, which is good. The ship staff couldn’t be any better. We are able to order food from the main dining room menus, as well as from the specialty restaurants. They are crediting us for any shore excursions that we will miss.

And of course, I have enough knitting and reading material so I can’t possibly run out of things to do.

Speaking of knitting, I did manage to find some yarn. This was from Orkney island, the guide on the tour we took was a knitter and gave me directions to a little shop selling yarn.

Who knows what that all will be, but it is awfully pretty.

That’s all for now!

Cruise knitting

We are having a blast so far. Our wifi is a bit spotty, so this will be short. We have a tour this afternoon of Orkney Island. I hear there may be wool shopping opportunities there.

The project up there is a simple garter shawl; no pattern, just garter stitch with increases to make a triangle shawl. I’ll change colors when each yarn runs out. The wool is Icelandic light fingering, dyed with various plants. As we’ll end our trip with a few days in Iceland, I thought it was appropriate.

Stay tuned to see if I find any wool!

T-minus 48 hours*

So far we are still on deck for our vacation. We did home covid tests yesterday just for reassurance (both negative), and had our ”official” lab tests this morning to enable us to get on a cruise ship by the end of the week.

This is my retirement trip, delayed from last summer due to covid. If anything screws this up, I may need to be put into restraints. We do have trip insurance, so if those covid tests surprise us, we’re covered. BUT. I’d be really pissed off. We’ve been REALLY careful about exposure in the past few weeks.

So, where are we going? We decided on a Scandinavian/Baltic cruise. We fell in love with Viking cruises when we did one just before the pandemic shutdown, and signed up for this before that cruise was over. We fly into London, spend a couple of days there, then the cruise goes to Scotland for a few stops. The majority of the trip is along the northern Norwegian coast, going up to the Arctic Circle before heading back, then to Denmark, one stop with a bus trip to Berlin, a stop in Gdansk, Poland, ending up in Sweden. We disembark in Stockholm. We’re making a short stop in Iceland on the flight back. We’ll be gone close to five weeks. The ship was supposed to dock in St. Petersburg, but obviously that’s not happening.

I have everything staged to pack. Not surprisingly, I’ve agonized more over the knitting/spinning projects than anything else. I do believe that there may be a few yarn-acquisition opportunities on the cruise (Shetland islands, all of Norway!). So I’m trying to not overpack and leave a little room for souvenir yarn.

After some dithering, here are the spinning projects I’m taking:

Fingers crossed for those Covid tests!

*And yes, the house, the cats, and the yarn stash will be carefully guarded while we’re away-we have a house sitter!

Mine Hill Cardigan

Oh my!! Another finished project!

Project Details

Pattern: Mine Hill Cardigan. This is another CustomFit design; you choose the basic pattern, which then uses your specific gauge and body measurements that you’ve entered.
Yarn: John Arbon Appledore DK, color Sheep’s Nose
Needles: 3.25 mm
Started/Finished: July 28, 2021/June 16/2022
For: Me
Rating: *****/***** for yarn and pattern. The yarn is wonderful. It’s a sheepy, slightly rustic yarn, which knit up into a nice, drapey fabric. The Custom Fit patterns are no-nonsense, no-handholding, but clear and straightforward. I’m also amazed at the fit of the sweaters that I’ve made using this method. I always tend to knit sweaters that are too big for me. The whole time I was knitting this, I was quite sure that it wasn’t going to fit, but there you are.
What I Learned: I’m learning more about sweater fit with each of these sweaters that I make. Baggy sweaters aren’t flattering for most people. I’m also learning how to be more particular about my finishing work. My seams aren’t perfect, but they are getting better. I’m also getting more selective about choosing patterns that I will actually wear. This will be one of those closet staples that will get a lot of use.

This is a tough color to photograph, especially since my corner of western Washington apparently didn’t get the memo that it is summertime. It’s in the mid-50’s and overcast here today, which makes taking pictures chancy. If we ever see sunshine again, I’ll get a photo outdoors so you can see the true color. Here it is still skeined up, which shows the color better:

And a close up of the front stitch pattern:

One last photo. We might be going somewhere next week.

Stay tuned!

Hansel Hap

Finally, the mystery project has been gifted, so I can show you what I’ve been up to.

It’s a baby blanket!

Project Details

Pattern: Hansel, by Gudrun Johnston

Yarn: Miss Babs Yummy 2ply, various colors

Started/Finished: February 2022/June 2022

For: Steph and Paraj’s baby girl

This is the medium size, and is plenty big for a baby blanket. I didn’t add the lace border, since it was big enough without, and I was running short on time. This is a straightforward, easy pattern, really only basic knitting skills required. The pattern was easy to follow. This would make a nice shawl also, there might be yarn in my stash for another one.
The baby isn’t here yet, but I’ve done my part.

Here’s one more photo.

Great big fun

I had a little out of town trip over the weekend. My great-niece Elise graduated from high school in Sacramento, and I flew down to join the festivities. Fun was had by all. Here are a few photos.

There weren’t a lot of masks in evidence, either on the airplanes, or in Sacramento. I’ve only been home for two days, but so far I’m testing negative for Covid. We have a big trip coming up in late June, so from here on out John and I will be trying to isolate as much as possible. This is my retirement trip that got postponed from last summer due to Covid, so I’m going to be really pissed off if it gets canceled again. More on that in a future post.

I have all the pieces for my newest sweater finished and blocked. I started seaming things together last night. I have one sleeve in, and am sewing up the side seam. Once it’s put together, there is a wide band that goes up and around the fronts, I suppose that will take forever, but I’m beginning to see the light at the end of the sweater tunnel. I might even have this finished to take on our trip. here’s a photo.

Those clip things to hold pieces together for seaming are one of the great knitting-world inventions. I tossed the packaging long ago, so have no idea of the brand or where I got them, but they really do make lining things up much easier.

I’m off to do more sewing! I do have a great big finished project to show you, but it is a surprise, so it needs to be gifted first.

Glitter pigeon

Or, here’s what I’ve been spinning lately.

My phone camera really doesn’t do justice to the beauty of that fiber. The fiber is from Abby’s Yarns, and is 50% merino, 49% silk, and 1% firestar. It looks pretty grey, but in natural light it has little highlights of pale green and lavender. And glitter, like a sparkly pigeon.

And how about that pretty spindle? That is a Greensleeves, a Damsel Monique. It holds a ton of yarn, yet is very lightweight considering the size of the whorl.

Glitter pigeon is the color name that Abby gave this. Just like a real pigeon, it looks like boring grey until you catch it in just the right light.

I promised you a new sock

That’s the yarn I hauled out of deep stash (aka the ”my precious” collection). It’s from Elliebelly yarns, though she sadly is no longer dyeing yarn. The color is Viper, and it really does look a bit like snakeskin knitted up.

These socks will be for me. I only wish I’d collected more of her yarn while it was available.

Blocking day

I’m getting closer to a finished sweater here. I have half a sleeve left to knit, and decided to block the other finished pieces this morning so I’m ready to start assembling.

This is the Mine Hill Cardigan, I’m knitting it up in John Arbon’s Appledore yarn, which is just gorgeous. Those photos show it mostly as grey, but it is a lovely light grey-blue heather color.

Here is the pattern photo so you can see what it will look like. I’m doing the sleeves longer, but otherwise it’s knit as written. Oh, and no pockets. This is a rather light, drapey yarn, and I think pockets would just be saggy. Saggy pockets are worse than no pockets.

That front band will take a little time, but I should have a finished sweater to wear soon! Here’s the other sleeve in progress.

Author: Lorette

Thursday

Sharon Air