Finished Projects – Page 9 – The Knitting Doctor

Knitting, & More Pup Cuteness

First of all, a cute pup photo:

Lewey would like to thank all of you for the good wishes and congratulations. His 1st birthday was December 14th, and in honor of the occasion, we took a family vote (a little before our 2-week trial period was over) and decided that he’s staying as part of our family. He’s very happy to have a permanent home. He’s also settling in just fine. He had some food aggression issues at his former home, due to being in a house with another non-neutered male Corgi. The breeder that rescued him also had him “fixed”, and that plus a little focused training seems to have fixed the issue. He’s sweet, smart, and a fast learner. The cats didn’t get to vote, by the way. He’s already learned that he can’t chase cats around here, but doesn’t always succeed in the attempt. They both have claws, so sooner or later he’ll learn the lesson the hard way.

Now, on to knitting. We pretty much have your same three projects going here, a big grey sweater, a purple Icelandic lace stole, and a pair of socks. Just so I could have something new and different to show, I started and finished a pair of mittens this past week. I realized that I did not have even one pair of mittens or gloves to wear, which is sort of ridiculous, given the 12 boxes of yarn balls I have stashed in every closet and corner of this house.

Way back when, I bought several colors of Brown Sheep Handpaint Originals, 3 skeins of each. I think I was planning on socks, but this stuff is perfect for mittens. Here they are, a couple of in progress shots, and then finished.

img_1398_3 — What? You didn't think I'd drink white wine with red mittens, did you?

Project Specs:

Yarn: Brown Sheep Handpaint Originals, color Sara’s Dress (I love that name!)
Pattern: Plain mitten, from Ann Budd’s Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns.
Needles: Pony Pearl Dpns, size 3.75mm.
For: Me, the one without any mittens.
Started and Finished: in the past 2 weeks, December 2007
Modifications: Pretty much none, but it’s one of those generic patterns that you can do a lot of things with. For future reference, I made these using the “6 stitch/inch gauge, 44 stitch around” directions. I could go down a size next time and still be happy.

What I learned: It takes very little time to make mittens. This was my first pair, and for those of you new-ish knitters, I’d rate mittens easier than socks. I just love this yarn. Thumbs are cool to knit. But I don’t so much like the spiral decreases at the top of this, finished with pulling the yarn tail through the last four stitches and drawing it closed. Next time I’d try my standard toe finish, which is the paired decreases at either side, then grafting the fingertip end.

I have quite a bit of yarn left over as well. Is it enough to make another pair? Out comes the Magic Scale, and we’ll find out:

Just a couple grams less than half left. So if I make a bit smaller size, I’ll get another pair of mittens! Surprisingly, my sweetie said he would wear this color and would love mittens, so maybe I’ll give him these and make myself the second pair. Isn’t that sweet–matching mittens!

And just so you don’t think I’m completely ignoring my other projects, here’s Big Grey. I have the front and back done, and here’s where I am on Sleeve Island.

Bring on the piña coladas, I might be on this island awhile.

She’s Alive!!

It’s the same damned excuse. Work work work. I just fell out of a 9 day work stretch rabbit hole, and go back tomorrow for another 5 day siege. Then I get a little bit of a breather. So I’ll get a quick post in before I put my head back down.

There’s been hardly any knitting around here for the past couple of weeks. As a sample of how things went, I got home late one night after a long day at work. While my lovely husband made me dinner, I sat in the kitchen and said, “All I want from life right now is to be able to sit here and knit ONE danged row.”

I stupidly picked up that Langsjal Jóhönnu stole, and started across the row. About 7/8 of the way across the row, I ran into a mistake I’d made in the prior row. I messed around with it a bit, trying to fix the row below without going all the way back, then realized I was brain dead and would probably frak the whole thing up if I tried that. So I painfully unknit all the way back over the mostly done row, then the prior row, fixed it, then started forward again. I eventually finished that one row. Be careful what you wish for.

Speaking of wishing for things, last week was my birthday. How lame is that, failing to blog your own birthday? I even got to work late, as Friday, the big day, was my late shift day. 7AM to 9:30PM. Do I know how to have fun or what? I got a great present from my lovely husband though, the same one who fixes me dinner and makes sure I have plenty of wine and bourbon always available. I drive an oldish VW Beetle with the original radio/CD player. I also have an Ipod loaded with over 10,000 songs. My guy bought me a new car stereo, one that has a connector wired through the glove box for my Ipod. It is very cool. I find myself just wanting to drive around so I can listen to it.

OK, I promised you a finished knitting project a post or so ago. While we were in Idaho, we went to the yarn shop in Ketchum, and I <<cough, cough>> bought a few <<cough cough>> things. One of those things was a lovely little single skein of Synchronicity by Alchemy Yarns. This stuff is just heavenly. I’d like a whole tub full of it so I could roll around in it all day. Unfortunately, it’s also spendy enough that I decided to spring for only one skein. So I made little fingerless mitts out of it. I sort of made up the pattern, as I was in a cabin in Idaho, and couldn’t resist casting on immediately when I got back from the store. Some day if I can decipher my notes, I might post it. For now, here are the mitts.

It actually was easy to come up with the pattern, except when I got to the thumb. The first attempt looked horrible. Then I remembered, I just learned how to do an underarm gusset with the gansey class. I dragged out my trusty knitting notebook and a pencil, and in a few moments had it figured out. Yeah, yeah, I know, mittens are easy. This is just a basic mitten pattern, find one in a book and just work till you get to your knuckles and do more ribbing. But I’ve never done mittens or gloves, and I’m pretty proud of myself for figuring out how to do them all by myself.

Project Specifications:

Pattern: I made it up.
Yarn: Alchemy Synchronicity, in the color Resolution. It’s a silk/merino blend, and the photos just do not do this yarn justice. I used almost a whole skein for these, with just enough left over to let Lucy have fun with. (What? You don’t let your cats play with silk yarn?)
For: Me
Started: In September, when I was in Idaho.
Finished: Four days later. It wouldn’t have taken so long if I’d had any clue what I was doing.
Needles: Metal double points that I had with me for the gansey class. I think they were 3.75 mm.
What I learned: I learned to trust my knitting instincts and just “let the force be with me”. It’s only yarn. Pattern, schmattern, who needs a pattern?

I’m off to try to catch up with NetNewsWire. I’m 513 posts behind in my knit-blog reading. Have a great weekend everybody!

Boston…

Or, Red Sox, Blue Sox

Indeed we have internet access from our hotel room here, though it took me longer to figure out than I’d like to admit. Other than the rainy icky day we had yesterday, we’ve been having a blast. I even got to do some yarn shopping. More on that later. First, the Sox. We have tickets to the Red Sox game tonight, and in honor of that event, I finished a pair of Blue Sox. Actually they are more purple and green, but what the heck.

Project Specs:

Yarn: Wollmeise superwash sock yarn, in Krauterbeet
Pattern: My own. 72 stitches, picot hem, flap heel and gusset
Needles: 2.00mm Pony Pearls
For: Me
Started: June 2007
Finished: September 2007
What I learned: Hmmm. I always say the same thing about socks. I still love a plain sock. There are all those lovely sock stitch patterns out there, and yet again, I’ve started another plain version for my next pair. I carry these everywhere in my bag, for those odd moments when I can knit just one or two rounds, so I like a simple pattern that I don’t have to think about. I absolutely love this yarn. It has a nice smooth finish and the colors are fabulous.

Now, about that shopping. Laurie, aka Etherknitter, arranged for a few friends to get together to take me on a knitting tour on Saturday after we got here. Julia, Claudia, and Manise (no blog) met us at Windsor Button for the first leg of the tour. We then went to Woolcott over in Cambridge, then out to Lexington to Wild & Woolly. Kathy, Martha, Lucia, and Ruth met us along the way. We had lunch and a lot of laughs during the afternoon. To me, this is the best part about blogging. There are a lot of reasons why I still do the blog, but getting to meet some very wonderful people along the way is a real treat. Thanks, ladies! Here are some photos:

The classic “we’re blogging each other” photo:

Yes, Ruth has a baby in there. Or had, as I think she’s gone into labor since our little foray.

And what all did I bring home? Here’s the evidence:

We’re off to enjoy the sunshine. Next time, new project!

Forest Canopy Shawl

And finally, here are the photos of the blocked shawl. This week got away from me. We’ve had a variety of visiting friends and relatives staying with us over the past 2 and a half weeks, and I worked all last week. It was also cloudy and rainy much of last week, which doesn’t make for very good photos. Those are my excuses, and I’m sticking to them.

Here’s the shawl blocking:

Sorry if that looks a little psychedelic. Here’s the taped-to-the-deck-rail shot.

And a close-up.

Project Specs:

Pattern: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl, by Susan Pierce Lawrence. You can buy the pattern here.*
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr laceweight, a 50-50 wool-silk blend. I’m pretty sure the color is Bottle Green. At least I think it is. I bought this before I started my obsessive compulsive Access yarn database file, and there was no label with the yarn.
For: Me me me.
Started: Way back last fall. September, I think. Yup, here it is. I did the first version in the Mountain Colors Weavers Wool that she recommends in the pattern, and liked it so much I immediately started this one in laceweight.
Finished: Last week.
Needles: Holz & Stein 3.25mm ebony circular.
Modifications: I used laceweight yarn instead of the sportweight yarn called for in the pattern. I just did repeats until I was close to running out, and then did the edging. Otherwise I knit the pattern as written.
What I Learned: I just love knitting lace. The finished project also really impresses people, especially non-knitters. I also love Zephyr yarn. It has a great sheen, and comes in tons of lovely colors. This is a perfect pattern for lace virgins. Trust me, if you can knit and purl, you can do this one.

Here’s how much yarn I had left. The shawl weighs just a hair under 80 grams, and that little bit left weighs 1.8 grams.

Next up on the lace front? Langsjal Jóhönnu**, which has been in hibernation for over a year. I’ll show some photos next time. Right now I’m busy trying to figure out where I left off with the pattern.

*Oooh, oooh, oooh! Her lace patterns are all on sale! Go there now!

**I’m pretty fracking proud of myself for figuring out how to do the accent and umlaut on that word. It only took me 14 months.

Eggplant Sweater, Finished!

Both the vacation and the sweater are finished. I’ll show some photos of the vacation later this week when I sort through them. I think there are some swell examples of knitting on vacation in the bunch.

In the meantime, here’s a photo or two of my latest finished project. This one has been a long time in the making. If it looks like I’m not particularly enjoying this photo shoot, it’s probably because I’m in a wool sweater on a nearly 70 degree day. It also took several tries to get the color right on the photos. It’s still a little washed out looking. The real color is more like the first photo below.

First, final seaming, with the aid of Knit Klips. If you haven’t tried these, get over there and buy some now. I’ve had these for awhile, but it’s the first time I’ve used them. They make sewing seams a breeze.

Project Specs:

Pattern: Laurel Hill, affectionately known as the Eggplant sweater around here. It’s from Jo Sharp Handknitting Collections, Book Number 1.
Yarn: Jo Sharp DK Wool, in a color remarkably close to eggplant skin. Not too remarkably, it’s called “aubergine”.
For: Me me me.
Started: Oh, brother. I had to go way back in the archives on this one. I started this in December 2005. You read that right, people, 2005. An explanation follows in the “what I learned from this one” section.
Finished: June, 2007, in Fairmont Hot Springs, BC, on vacation.
Needles: 3.5mm & 3.75mm circs.
What I Learned From This One: Look for pattern corrections before you start knitting. Jo Sharp pattern corrections can be found here. I started this damn thing a couple of times before I got it going. Sometime around late winter 2006, this one went into hibernation because I was sick of it. I pulled it out again this winter and finally finished the thing. I also learned that I don’t particularly like doing miles of seed stitch. I don’t mind seed stitch, exactly, it just gets boring after about 20 miles of it.
Modifications: I modified the collar a bit. The pattern comes in two versions, one cropped with a snugger fit and a short stand-up collar. The other is looser with a cowl-neck. I did the cropped version, mostly because I was a bit worried about my yarn quantity. I did the collar a bit bigger around than the standard short collar, but not as floppy as the cowl. Otherwise it’s pretty much as portrayed in the pattern book.
Verdict: I like this sweater. The yarn is absolutely wonderful, soft enough to wear against bare skin, and I’ll get a lot of wear out of it. I had my reservations about the dropped shoulder construction, but it looks better on me than I thought it would.

What’s next? I’m not exactly sure. I have 2 shawls and a pair of socks on the needles, but I like having a sweater going also. I’d planned on doing a sweater for John out of Peace Fleece, but I really don’t want to be working with heavy worsted wool as we go into summer. I’m planning on a little stash diving to see what I come up with. It’s not like I don’t have options in those Rubbermaid boxes. You guys will be the first to know!

Next time, vacation photos!

Randomness

Or, How I Survived an Unintended 3-Week Blog Vacation

I was tagged eons ago by three people, Marjorie, Michelle, and Tam for the 7 random things thing. I’m finally getting around to it, and explaining the blog absence and knitting progress in the process. I’m publishing the rules, but I’m just not tagging anybody, because I think this one has probably reached the end of its blog life. If you haven’t done it, and want to, consider yourself tagged.

Rules:

1. Each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves.

2. People who are tagged write a blog post about their 7 random things and post the rules.

3. At the end of your post you need to tag 7 people and post their names.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Random Fact 1: This has been one hell of a month at work. I signed up for a couple of extra shifts, which is just inexplicable in itself, as I don’t ordinarily sign up to do any more work than what I have to. We also had 3 team members have babies within a week of each other, so we were a bit short on staff and a bit long on patients to see. There used to be a warm-weather slowdown in hospital admissions in the good old days when people got to check in for questionable indications. As a byproduct of much tighter insurance company restrictions on what they will pay for, that doesn’t happen much anymore.

Random Fact 2: I generally work a 7-day on, 7-day off shift schedule. The 7-day off part sounds great, (and it is, really), but the 7-day on is a hell-on-wheels, 90-some hour extravaganza of fun, chaos, and terror. I thrive on fun, chaos, and terror, so it works for me. However, I don’t get much done except work, eat, and sleep, and the latter tends to be limited.

Random Fact 3: I am a total slob at home, and an expert procrastinator. This is in contrast to work, where I am obsessive-compulsive enough that even my coworkers, all obsessive-compulsive internists in their own rights, think it’s amusing. I have an unnatural love for cool and geeky office supplies.

Random Fact 4: They call me the Highlighter Queen at work.

Random Fact 5: My immediate family thinks I’m spoiled rotten and a princess-y prima donna. They are dead wrong. I’m spoiled rotten and a Queenly prima donna. I keep telling them, I’m not a Princess. The Princess has to answer to someone, and that would be the Queen, me. I even have a crown, you’ve all seen it here.

Random Fact 6: I’ve gotten virtually no knitting done this past 3 weeks. If you want to see progress photos on that stupid purple sweater, go back a few posts. I have all the pieces done and am in the process of knitting more stupid seed stitch on the collar, and then have the seams to do.

Random Fact 6 1/2: I love doing mattress-stitch seams.

Random Fact 7: I have actually finished something. The Easter Egg socks are done done done. These are just my favorite socks. Here’s a photo, and Project Specs.

Oh heck, here’s another one, I might get lost and not post again for another month. This is a closeup that shows my perfect little gussets. I loves me a good flap heel and gusset.

Random Project Specs:

Pattern: My own sock pattern. This one is 56 stitches, with a flap heel, gusset, and the toe grafted on 12 stitches.
Yarn: Joslyn’s Fiber Farm Bunny Luxury, in Easter Egg. The yarn is 20% angora, 80% wool, about a sport weight.
For: Me me me (refer back to Random Fact 5)
Started: April 3, this year.
Finished: This morning.
Needles: Lantern Moon ebony, size 2.75.
What I learned: Sport weight socks go fast, provided you actually pick them up and work on them now and then. I also learned to buy yarn when I see it. Joslyn doesn’t sell this particular blend anymore. These will make great Birkenstock socks (yes, I wear socks with my Birkenstocks; this is considered fashionable in the Pacific Northwest).

I’ve already picked out yarn for the next pair, and started them. I’ll post photos next time. Whenever that might be.

Riley’s Pink Wallaby

Project Specs:

Pattern: Wonderful Wallaby, by Cottage Creations
Yarn: Cotton Ease, in Pepto Pink (not the real color name!)
For: Baby Riley, my new great-niece (or is it grand-niece?)
Started: February 2007
Finished: March 29, 2007
Needles: KnitPicks Options circulars, and Swallow dpns, in size 4mm for the cuffs/bottom rib, and size 5mm for the rest.

Modifications: None. If I make this again, I’d do something
differently with the split at the bottom of the v-neck. There’s a loose
stitch there that gaps, and I think there are ways to knit that stitch
so it doesn’t do that. I saw a version of this on Brooke’s blog with a cable up each side of the pouch and around the hood. That would be fun to do.

And Another FO!

I am apparently on a finishing roll. Here is Shedir, finished yesterday.

Here’s how much of the partial ball of Calmer I had left. So this hat took 1 full ball of the Calmer, plus 9.2 grams of the second ball. Further notes on yarn usage are in the Project Specs below.

And an action shot. Sorry, you don’t get to see my face. I’m still in my jammies and pre-shower here. This hat does a great job of covering up bedhead, by the way.

Project Specs:

Pattern: Shedir, from the special Knitty breast cancer awareness issue.
Yarn: Rowan Calmer in Flamingo, left over from my Audrey sweater.
Needles: 3.25mm needles, I used a bamboo 16 inch circular (this brand) for most of it, and Ivore double points once I got to the decreased part of the top.
Started: Version 2 was started on March 18th. I really started it about a week before that, but had to rip it all out due to a cable misadventure.
Finished: April 13th.
For: ?? This one’s going to Rebekah for her charity chemo hat collection.

What I learned: I’m pretty much done with knitting with Calmer. It’s great for chemo hats, as it’s very stretchy and soft. But it splits like crazy, and if you drop a stitch, forget about it. The sproinginess of the yarn makes it just disappear down the line of knitting. This pattern, however, is pure joy. Jenna Wilson, the designer, also did Rogue, and she is a genius with cable design. I learned a lot about how cables are built while doing this one.

On the running-out-of-yarn thing. The pattern calls for one ball of Calmer, and I didn’t quite make it with one. However, to be fair, Jenna says right in the pattern instructions that one ball cut it pretty close for her. I also didn’t bother with measuring gauge, and it’s entirely possible that knitting these on a smaller needle would have made a difference for me. I just went with the size needle that the pattern called for, in a let-the-force-be-with-you way.

This is also a very deep hat measured from brim to tip, a good thing if you have no hair and want to cover everything up. If you are making this just for fashionable wearing, you could make it shorter and get it out of one ball of yarn. That central section of cabling is a 8-row pattern, repeated 5 times. You could leave out one, or even two, repeats, and have a plenty big hat.

—————————————————————————————–

What’s next? I dragged this sleeve out of project oblivion and started working on it. I really need to finish this sweater. It’s the Laurel Hill sweater from one of the Jo Sharp pattern collections, and the yarn is Jo Sharp DK wool. This yarn is just lovely to work with. I have the front and back pieces done, and am partway through the first sleeve. I had to do a little bit of math contortions to rework the sleeve increases, which I might explain in a future post. Here’s where I am. The pins are to keep track of sleeve increases. I’m increasing on each side 25 times, so I put the string of 25 pins on the sleeve, and take one off to mark the increase row each time I complete it. And yes, I still use a cable needle. I have an unreasonable love of double points and cable needles.

Last, but certainly not least, is an action shot of the Wallaby sweater and baby Riley. I had her momma take photos now to show how tiny she is in comparison with the sweater. This is the smallest size in the pattern, and is more small toddler size.

This photo just cracks me up.

And a close up to show just how pretty she is. I’m pretty convinced she’s going to be a redhead, like her grandma, my sister.

Don’t forget, today is World Grits Day! Kris is asking us to show our Grits and Sticks photos. We’re having our grits for dinner tonight, so my photo will be up tomorrow!

Finished Projects!

I actually have finished knitting something! Two somethings, to be precise.

First up is the Baby Riley birthday present. It’s off in the mail, so I can safely show it here. A couple of you guessed correctly, this was the Wonderful Wallaby pattern.

Project Specs:

Modifications: None. If I make this again, I’d do something differently with the split at the bottom of the v-neck. There’s a loose stitch there that gaps, and I think there are ways to knit that stitch so it doesn’t do that. I saw a version of this on Brooke’s blog with a cable up each side of the pouch and around the hood. That would be fun to do.

What I learned from this project: I have never knit a whole sweater in the round before. I’d still do most of my adult sweaters in pieces, as I think you have a little more control over the blocking process with flat pieces. I also don’t hate doing seams as much as many of you do. Mattress stitch seaming is actually fun to do, once you figure it out. For kid items, the in-the-round method is perfect.

Although I have a ton of Cotton Ease in the stash, this is embarrassingly the first thing I’ve made from it. The new colors are much more subtle, though again, for kid stuff, the bright crayon colors of the old CE can’t be beat. For cheap yarn, this stuff knits up wonderfully. I think I’d go down a needle size next time I use this yarn. I only used 2 balls plus a little from a 3rd for the smallest size in the pattern. CE has great yardage for the price.

I’d also note that the smallest size in the pattern is for a largish baby/toddler. This won’t fit a newborn, but that’s OK. Most new moms get loads of newborn items that the kid grows out of before they even get a chance to wear them. This probably won’t fit her until the winter months later this year, which is a good thing, considering that they live in the Phoenix area!

My other finished project:

Pattern: My generic, top down, picot hem socks. These have a 72-stitch circumference.
Yarn: Dicentra Designs superwash sock yarn, in the color Solar Energy, purchased from Teyani at Crown Mountain Farms. Don’t click that link if you are trying to limit your yarn acquistion. And don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Needles: Pony Pearl dpns, in size 2.00 mm. Yes, I knit the whole sock with that size.
Started: Remember this post?
Finished: This morning, in my jammies.
For: me!
Modifications: This is one of those logic puzzles, I think. Is it possible to call it a modification if you made up the pattern yourself?

What I learned: I shouldn’t try to cast on with size 2.00mm birch needles and drink martinis at the same time.
Seriously? Knitting a whole sock on 2.00 mm needles is not any harder than knitting them on bigger needles. This yarn is a bit thinner than some other sock yarns, but the finished sock at this gauge has a very nice feel to it. I really like this yarn, and will probably buy more of it when my next “free” day rolls around.

By the way, the Brittany Birch people did send me a replacement for that broken needle. They sent a whole set, not just the one needle. So if you ever break one, just email them and tell them your sad story.

What’s next on the sock knitting list? Well, since Easter is this coming weekend, I couldn’t resist this lovely hank of yarn from my stash.

This is Bunny Luxury, from Joslyn’s Fiber Farm. It’s an angora/wool blend, in the color Easter Eggs, and is approximately a sport weight. I don’t think she sells this particular blend any longer*, but it is amazingly soft. I thought this was an appropriate yarn for the season, even if there is no chance that I will finish them by Easter of this year! I just dare you to look at her yarn colors without buying something.

I’m off to wind up yarn.

Next time: Another installment of The Daily Bread.

*This is not the same yarn as the Bunny Heaven that she has currently available. The Bunny Luxury is 80% wool and 20% angora.

Pippa Cardigan

I didn’t record all the details on this one. I started this one in May 2006, finished in November 2006. The yarn is Elann Luna, in Coppered Sienna. The pattern can be purchased here.

STR Socks!

I didn’t record the final details of this one on my blog. This is Socks That Rock sock yarn, the lightweight version, I believe. It’s the color Rainforest Jasper from the Sock club, though I used my own pattern. 68 stitches on size 1 needles, picot hem, heel flap and gusset. What’s not to like?
I finished these in September 2006, for me.

Saturday Sky, and Finished Project Redux

The sun has slowly started to appear since I took that one, but clearly, fall has arrived. There’s a nice chill in the air, getting down into the 40’s at night, fine sleeping weather. It makes me want to break out all that fine wool and start knitting sweaters.

I was able to get a better picture of the completed Forest Canopy shawl yesterday. One benefit of the ridiculous amount of money we spent fixing our wood rot problems is that I have a great glass deck wall to model shawls. You have no idea how much better that makes me feel about the whole project.

And as promised, I started a new one, from the same pattern.

Those of you paying attention might note that the yarn is not Knitpicks Alpaca in Vineyard that I posted about last time. I had this Zephyr left over from another project, and there is a little more than 2 oz. of it, probably 700 yards or so. I thought the color suited the name of the shawl, so there you have it. I’ll use the alpaca for something else. (A third one, perhaps?)

I started this on the Knitpicks Options needles, but had a heck of a time with the wool silk blend slipsliding away from me, so switched to my favorite needles of all time, Holz & Stein ebonies (3.25 mm, for future reference). I bought some of these previously via a friend who lives in Germany, but the shop that used to carry them doesn’t anymore. Fortunately I found the motherlode of Holz & Stein, and after several emails back and forth with a lovely woman named Ursula, this arrived yesterday.

These are simply the most decadent needles I’ve ever used. Here is their website, though it acts a bit squirrelly if you use Firefox as your browser. Email Ursula, and these could belong to you, too. They are not cheap by any stretch of the imagination, but just perfect. The tips aren’t as sharp as the Options, but the join is lovely, and the ebony divine. Any of you spouses out there that are looking for a gift that will make your knitter-spouse swoon, this might be it.

I especially love that Ursula put this in the package:

It’s a cute little ebony pencil with Holz & Stein stamped on it, and a tape measure wrapped up to look like a sweet. How sweet!

The grandkids are here this weekend, so who knows how much actual knitting will get done. I’ll show you two last pictures of the day. First is Willie, as you don’t get to see many pictures of him here. Now that the weather is cooler, he’s hanging out in the house more. Yesterday was a fine day for a cat to enjoy a patch of sunshine.

And here’s John explaining the finer points of opening a bottle of wine to one of his grandsons:

Don’t worry, he didn’t get to drink any of it with his cinnamon grahams. Have a good weekend!

Finished Project!

First of all, many thanks to all of you who gave me moral support regarding my hearing thing. The good news is that it’s nearly back to normal. I still have a tiny bit of deficit in the very low frequency tones, but not so much as to be noticable without an audiologist telling me that. The ringing in my ear is gone, and I’ll be off the steroids as of tomorrow. So all is well. I still have to get an MRI, just as a precaution, but it’s not scheduled for another week, and I don’t expect any surprises there. I still cry at weird moments, thanks to the prednisone, and am having bizarre dreams, but I’m having to take fewer drugs to counteract the side effects of the original drugs, so that’s a good thing. I hate polypharmacy.

The one really swell side effect of prednisone? Though it’s made me terribly nauseated, so I can’t eat much, I haven’t lost an ounce, in fact I have gained weight. Son of a bitch, is all I have to say about that. This is all making me really sympathetic to the complaints of my patients when they whine about drug side effects. Count me in on the side of whining.

Now, on to the knitting. I finished the Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl last night in the wee hours, and it’s on the blocking board. Here are photos. The Ipod is for scale.

Before the big stretch:

And after:

Sorry it looks a little technicolor. Next time I’ll grab mats of the same color.

Project Specifications:

Yarn: Mountain Colors Weavers Wool quarters, color Sagebrush. I used all but a few yards of the skein, though I possibly could have squeezed one more pattern repeat out of it.
Pattern: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl, by Susan Pierce Lawrence. This is just one of my favorite patterns. It looks all fancy and complicated, but is easy-peasy. The pattern repeat is just 8 rows, half of which are purled on the wrong side, so it’s easy to memorize after a couple of repeats. It’s also very easy to tell immediately if you’ve gotten off a stitch.
Started: September 1, 2006
Finished: September 14, 2006. I’d have finished it sooner if I was not such an easily distracted person. And I’m the slowest knitter in the west.
Needles: Knitpicks Options circular, size 4mm.
For: ?? This one is going in the gift pile, I can’t say for whom just yet.
What I learned: Lace can be fun and easy. I knew about the fun part, but easy? That was a new one. I also learned a bit about the construction of lace shawls.
I liked this one so much that I’m going to knit another one, this time in lace weight. Susan has a picture up from yesterday of one that she knit in Knitpicks Shadow. What do you know? I just happen to have one skein of that in the stash! Here it is, in a lovely red wine color.

This one might have to be for me. I’m off to wind up yarn.

Pink Panther Dragon Scales Washcloth

Yarn: Euroflax linen, sportweight, Pink Panther
Pattern: Dragon Scales Washcloth, from Knitters Stash.
Started: ??
Finished: August 29, 2006
Needles: Vintage faux tortoise shell straights, size 3.25mm (labelled Imperial size 10)
For: ?? This might be a gift, or maybe just for me.

What I learned: I learned that I hate knitting complex stitch patterns from text. I would much rather knit from a chart. I kept losing my place in the pattern until I sat down and charted it out, which only took a few minutes. I can’t quite figure out why this stitch pattern scallops on one edge and not the other. If this was a big shawl it would irritate me, but it’s just a facecloth.

I liked doing this more than I thought I would. The yarn is just lovely stuff. I’ve made one other linen cloth from this book, and they are wonderful for facecloths. I have enough of the Euroflax linen to make a whole trousseau worth of cloths. I think I’ll go get out the stitch dictionary and get to work.

Finished Project, Of Sorts

I have actually finished something. In looking back through my archives, it has been two months since I actually completed any knitting projects. So, small though it is, I’m posting this, just because it’s my blog and I can.

I started this eons ago, and finally sat down last night with a Tivo full of JAG reruns, and finished the thing.

I have a half a hank of the Pink Panther left (and a billion other hanks of Euroflax in other colors, I can’t resist the stuff), so I will cast on for one of the other patterns in the book before I forget where I put it.

I also made some new stitch markers last night. I have a whole box of beading supplies to make these, and I saw a Buddha stitch marker on someone’s blog recently (don’t remember where, if it’s you, let me know in the comments). I found little Buddha beads online, got them in the mail this week, and went to work last night. Really, these only take a few minutes to make.

Aren’t those just adorable? How can you not smile when you’re knitting with little fat Buddhas on your needles? Click on that to get the full effect.

I also bought some sheepy stitch markers recently, from Mousie Masala. Go see her, she has lots of good stuff. Here are the sheep:

And my Buddhas on the needles:

Click on that picture too, to make it big enough to see the Buddhas, and my little handwritten chart. You can see my fancy-shmancy needles there, too. Every time I show a picture of these, I get at least one comment about them. If you want them, scrounge around Ebay and watch for them. Look for vintage tortoise knitting needles, and you’ll find them. I have a whole vase full of them in various sizes.

Oh, OK, here they are.

And just in case anybody wants to see another view of what my lake looks like today:

This house was definitely built with the focus on the lake. We have three levels of deck/patio, and this one is off our master bedroom on the top floor. We call it the “crow’s nest”, and it is our private little retreat that nobody else gets to visit. It’s a great place for martinis in the evening. Which gives me an idea, it’s almost cocktail hour!