Category: Knitting

Pin Forest

Langsjal Jóhönnu is actually done, all except for the waiting for it to dry part, and that’s not far off. Here are some finishing shots.

Off the needles, finally, and with the lifelines bravely removed.

How much yarn did I have left after the edging?

One gram. I calculated to the tenth of an ounce how much yarn I was using for each repeat, so I could use as much of the yarn as possible, but sort of forgot to figure in the crocheted edging. I just squeaked by.

Here’s one of my latest gadgets:

It’s a sterling silver tapestry needle, from Celtic Swan. I really am coveting their sterling double point needles, (hint, hint to husband), but I settled for this. It’s heavenly, and perfect for finishing a project that’s been in the making for nearly two years!

After the stole got a good soak in the sink, I crawled around on the floor with blocking wires and pins. Here’s the pin forest:

And the long shot:

I am ecstatic that this one is finished, finally. I’ll post project details once it’s dry and I can get an action shot.

And Here We Go Again…

I’m back to being finished with the knitting on Langsjal Jóhönnu, as of this morning. Here it is in a couple of pieces:

And the grafting started again.

That’s it. Row 37, neatly flanked by my safety lifelines, which are going to stay there until this baby is completely f******d.

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got for you in the knitting department. I ended up ripping a big section of Cobblestone, too. I decided that I will drop the line where I start the garter stitch to where my waist would be, if I actually still had one. Since I’d already merrily knit past that before I made that decision, I ripped. There seems to be a lot of that going around here this past few weeks. I’ll show a photo of the sweater in progress the next time.

I also missed my blogiversary in March. How lame is that? March 26th, 4 years ago, was my first post. It’s been a really fantastic four years, and in honor of the anniversary, I hope to have something f******d soon.

In other really big news, we drove this off the lot and home yesterday.

It’s technically John’s car, but I’m really excited that it has lots of room in back for yarn purchases. He was driving a 14 year old Volvo that was on its last legs, so he deserves it, don’t you think? Also, he was trying to think of the last time he actually bought a new car, as we mostly get “pre-owned” cars and drive them to death before giving them up. 1968. 1968, people, that was the last time my hubby actually purchased a brand new car for himself. Oh yeah, it’s a Hyundai Santa Fe. Sweet, eh?

Edited later to add a photo of the new car in action. Apparently it’s dog-approved. And apparently the dogs have a different idea about the yarn-storage compartment. (The light-colored Corgi in front is Pete, the neighbor’s pup.)

Project Roundup

Well. I’m back from my little unintended blog vacation. What can I say, Shift Happens (see previous post!). I have been knitting a bit, though the past couple weeks have been overrun by work, and this week, church activities in preparation for Easter. I haven’t gotten nearly as much knitting to brag about as I’d like, but here goes.

Here’s what I’m working on now:

That’s the Cobblestone sweater, almost up to the underarms. I still haven’t decided if this is for me or for John. I’d love to wear this one, but that line where the stockinette turns to garter at the yoke falls right across the boobage line. In a skinny flat-chested girl, maybe that would be flattering. Me, not so much. We’ll see when it’s done. This is good mindless round and round knitting, sort of like a big sock.

Next:

Yes, this is still the first of the pair. I really need to finish these before I get sick to death of them. I love how the stripes changed at the heel and gusset. This is Madeline Tosh yarn in Amaranth.

Last but absolutely not least, I’m close to actually finishing Langsjal Jóhönnu. I have spent the last few weeks weighing the remaining ball of yarn after every repeat so I could use as much of it as possible. I’ve ended up with 46 repeats, and am ready for it to be done. For those of you who haven’t done this one, you knit the first border, then the body, then on another set of needles knit the second border, then graft the two together. Yes, that would be Kitchener stitching 125 stitches. Here’s where I am:

There’s also an edging of single stitch crochet chain to go on each end, but I’m not sure I want to bother with that. I might start it and see what it looks like. It might help the thing block flatter and not ruffle at the ends.

And the grafting started:

The color in that photo is closer to the real thing than the first photo up there. In some light this looks just navy blue, but in natural daylight, it has a deep royal purple color.

And I’ll leave you with a photo of what’s blooming in my front entrance:

I think it’s confused about which holiday is this weekend. Happy Easter everybody!

Face Lift!

I decided to give the blog a new look! A little remodeling and renovation never hurts, I say. What do you all think?

John says “thanks” for the compliments on his new sweater. I still haven’t managed to get it away from him for a good blocking. I guess it will do just as it is.

I have started a new project:

It’s the Cobblestone sweater from the Fall Interweave Knits. The yarn is Classic Elite Skye Tweed, Tapestry. It’s a little weird to knit with, sort of rough and “stringy” feeling, but once it’s washed and blocked it gets very lovely. This one will be for me!

I’ve also gotten far enough into the  do-over of the Madeline Tosh Amaranth sock to show another picture. This one should actually fit. I’m surprised at how different the stripes look just by adding a few stitches around. The first photo is the too-small sock, on fewer stitches, just for comparison.

There you go! I’m off to forage for lunch.

Yes, I’m Alive…

It’s just November, during the month when all the NaBloPoMo people have promised to write a blog post every single day, and I’ve been working on my NaNoWriMo project. I’m going to have to do some serious writing to actually finish this year, which doesn’t leave much time for blogging, knitting, or actually anything else. I thought I’d take a break and check in though, just so you didn’t think I died or something.

We had a great Thanksgiving at the Knitting Doctor household, though it escapes me why my husband went out and bought 20 pounds of turkey when we only had 8 people to eat it. (And two small children, who didn’t eat any turkey. Slackers.) I’ve already had my allotted quota of turkey sandwiches, and I’ve made a fine turkey stock with the carcass. Tonight will be turkey soup, then that’s it for the year. I’m done with turkey.

Here’s where I am with the knitting projects. They are mostly the same knitting projects, and I haven’t made much progress, due to all the frantic novel writing I’ve been doing.

First, John’s grey Peace Fleece sweater:

Actually, looking at that, I have made progress. Since the last photo I showed, I finished the back, and I’m almost to the armhole shaping on the front. I still love this yarn, even if it’s sort of…plain. And grey, very grey.

Next is the Langsjal Jóhönnu. I have done a few rows here and there on this one. I’m anxious to finish this, as I have many, many more lace shawl and stole patterns and yarns that I would love to get to work on.

I have indeed been tempted to cast on other things, but have resisted the siren song of all that yarn over there in the bags and boxes behind me. After Nano writing is over, I plan to get all gung ho about this one and just finish it. It’s starting to feel a little like an albatross.

Then there is my newest sock in progress:

That’s Madeline Tosh sock yarn, in the color Amaranth. It really is that bright, and then some. I adore this yarn.

You might be asking what happened to the last sock I was working on, the one where I never showed finished photos. That’s because it’s not finished. Here it is.

It’s in a time-out to beat all time-outs. Why, you might ask? I love the yarn (Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop), I love the color (Spirit In The Sky), I love the striping, and I even love the needles. There’s one small problem, I can’t seem to find the other hank of this yarn. I know for a fact that I had two, which would be enough for two socks. As I rounded the heel and headed for the toe, I figured I’d get out the second ball so I’d have it ready. Nope. Can’t find it anywhere. And indeed I have looked everywhere. I may just finish this one anyway, though that seems rather hopeful, given that I’ve already torn the house up looking. I took it to Idaho when we went in September, so I’m betting it got lost along the way. Someday I’ll rip it out and knit a pair of children’s socks out of it, but I’m equally certain that as soon as I do, the other ball will show up.

You can all clearly see that I have two balls of the Amaranth yarn up there, for two socks. I’m planning on keeping the two of them together until I need the second one.

Last but not least, a couple photos of Willie, just because he happened to be hanging around when I sat down to download the camera photos.

Go ahead, tell him what a handsome boy he is.

I’m going back to writing. Wish me luck, there are only 6 days left, counting today.

Coming Up For Air

The 16-day work slog is finally over. Due to some trades at work, I did 16 days in a row, with 2 days off about a third the way through so I could catch up on sleep. My “short” days at work are 11 hours, assuming I get the work done on time. The “long” days are 15 hours. I love my job, I love my job, I love my job. Remind me not to agree to trades again. The flip side of all the trading is that I now have 12 days off in a row. Well, 11, I was in a coma yesterday and missed most of it. My plans for today involve not getting dressed for several more hours. At least my husband, a dedicated morning person, has finally learned not to shake me at 7 AM with a “honey, honey, it’s a beautiful day, want to get up and go do something?” Honey, honey, I’m already doing something, shake me one more time, and you’ll lose a hand.

I have done a bit of knitting, but it’s all been on a grey stockinette Peace Fleece sweater with no shaping. Back and forth, back and forth. It’s boring as hell, but also very, very satisfying in a grey stockinette tweedy wool sort of way. OK, OK, here’s a photo.

Really, it is pretty exciting. You should smell this stuff. It has that wonderful sheepy smell that I just love. I’m almost to the underarm shaping on the first piece. And that’s about all the knitting news around here.

Oh, not quite, I forgot about my knitting excitement yesterday. The one thing that I did get done was my annual girlie physical, something really to look forward to when you’d much rather spend the entire day with a blanket over your head. I have a new gynecologist, and yesterday was my first visit. I was knitting away on a sock* when she came into the room, and it turns out that she’s a knitter, is relatively new in town, and wants to come to our weekly knitting fiesta at the local coffee shop. Sweet.

And the most exciting non-knitting news? November 1st is only 12 days away. Who cares, you ask? It’s NaNoWriMo time again! The crazy month where thousands of insane wanna-be writers decide to pick up a pencil on November 1st, and not put it down again until they have a 50,000 word novel done by the stroke of midnight on the last day of the month. I participated in this nutball event in 2004 and 2005, finishing in the first year, fizzling in the second. Last year I decided to sit it out, but this year I’m going for it again. Finishing the novel is of course the main point, but it’s a hoot even if you don’t. The next 12 days will be spent on nailing down some characters and a rudimentary outline of a plot (plot? you mean I have to have a plot?), then rushing headlong into the writing on the 1st. If you’re equally insane, go on over and sign up. And I don’t want to hear any sniveling  that you don’t know how to write a novel. Neither do I. It doesn’t need to be good, nobody but you will read it, it’s all about getting 50,000 words down on paper in 30 days.

Go on over and sign up. If you do, let me know. Here’s my Nano profile page.

*What, you don’t knit with your feet up in stirrups??

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!

Idaho! FO!

I’m back from Idaho, and have a new FO to report!

First, though, I omitted something from my post about the goodie/prize bag I received from Kim. She included a little “L” shaped notepad, and I discovered yesterday that there were also little “L” stitch markers in the bag. Here they are:

Very cute, eh? I love them and just want to cast on something that needs little stitch markers.

Next, I got a couple of requests about one of the yarns I scored in Boston. It’s the Claudia Handpainted Silk Lace, and it is divine. The color is “Chocolate Cherry”.

Click on that to make it bigger, and start drooling. I have no idea whatever to do with this, but it will be lovely to knit with. It will be a shawl or stole someday once I find the perfect pattern.

Now, the trip. I have never taken a knitting class, and was a little nervous about doing so with someone as famous as Beth Brown-Reinsel. Not to worry. She was fabulous. The class was on “knitting ganseys”, and I learned more in 2 days of classes than I have in months on my own. Beth is a very patient instructor, and managed to get a bunch of women of varied skill levels absolutely enthusiastic about traditional gansey construction. In the process, we finished (or mostly finished) a tiny sample gansey. If you have her book, it’s in there, though I’ll warn you, it’s a lot more fun knitting it with Beth alongside coaching.

Here’s my finished gansey, after a bit of steaming with my trusty Rowenta to block the edge into submission:

And a closeup:

I learned tons of cool stuff by doing this sweater. I had never done an underarm gusset, and was very surprised at how easy and intuitive it is. It’s a little like turning a heel on a sock; once you do it, you wonder why you never thought of it before. I also learned how to do a channel island cast on, which is truly cool.

Probably the best thing, though, was being at an isolated resort for three whole days with a master knitter. Beth spent a couple of hours on the second day talking us through the design process, and showed us how to come up with a gansey sweater pattern of our very own. I intend to knit a full-size gansey some day, but even if I never do, the stuff she taught me will make my knitting much better. And being around a bunch of other great knitters was wonderful. We laughed, shared, and just in general had a blast.

Here are some more photos:

That’s Beth in the middle, with her giant teaching swatch.

That’s Jennifer, who owns Isabel’s Yarn & Needlepoint shop in Ketchum.

Here’s where the retreat is:

Our cabin:

This answers the question of what kind of wine goes with Cheetos:

And the sock enjoying the scenery:

Here’s the details if you are interested in next year’s retreat. Jennifer has done this retreat for several years, and it’s at Redfish Lake Lodge, Idaho. It’s very remote, though they do now have wireless access in the main lodge, if you can’t live without internet access. The cabins range from rustic to more rustic, though we found it very comfortable and absolutely the perfect setting for a retreat. There are no phones in the cabins, and no television, which is perfect. The food was lovely, and the scenery can’t be beat. Ketchum (Sun Valley) is a little over an hour’s drive away, so this really is out in the middle of nowhere. Email Jennifer at her website if you’re interested in next year’s retreat. I certainly plan on going if at all possible.

Next time, another FO!

Project Roundup

I figured it was time for a Project Roundup, and a few other things. First, the few other things. You all might remember the Knitter’s Hunk contest that Kim had a couple weeks ago. I took second place for nominating the winner, Alan Rickman (but only because Emily evoked visions of a naked Alan in her tie-breaking entry–I should have thought of that). As a prize, I got a very cool package full of stuff from Kim.  Here are the highlights:

Note the lovely mitts, the knitting journal, and the spectacular Lavold Silky Tweed!  Oh, and the photo, in case you hadn’t noticed that. She included that as well. Thanks, Kim! Great contest!

Now the PR. I’ve still been working on that bamboo top, but am bored with it. It’s not summer anymore, it’s just miles of stockinette, and it’s going into time-out as of today. Here it is, all bagged up for now. It’s my blog, and I’ll knit what I want to.

I’ll get back to that eventually, but not now. So what’s taking it’s place in the queue?

This:

Miles and miles of grey Peace Fleece, in all its glorious sheepiness. The color is Negotiation Grey, and it will be a sweater for John. I had ordered the pattern with it, which is the Father/Son Pullover from this page, and then tried to convince him that the Cobblestone pullover from the latest Interweave would be better. He firmly likes this one though, so plain plain plain it will be. It’s a good thing I’m happy to knit plain plain plain.

Here’s where I am with Langsjal Jóhönnu. I’m about halfway done with this, and pretty much have the lace pattern stitch memorized. I have 2 more balls of the yarn left, and I have the opposite border done already, so I “just” need to knit till I only have enough yarn to do the grafting, and that’s it.

Here’s the new sock yarn, some very orangey goodness. This is Sock Hop, in the color Spirit In The Sky, one of my very favorite oldies songs.

And the sock it’s making:

You might be wondering what that big ball of yellow yarn up there is. It’s Briggs & Little Regal, another bunch of sheepy-smelling stuff. I get to use that this week. A few months ago my boss showed me a brochure from a yarn shop in Idaho. It was for a knitters’ retreat this coming week. (Click “current events” at the bottom of their home page.) Despite the fact that she didn’t know how to knit at the time, she said “Wanna go??” A short time later we were booked and ready. I’m taking this yarn, and this book with me:

Beth Brown-Reinsel is teaching a two-day class on knitting ganseys, and I am so signed up. And yes, I know I just got back from vacation. What can I say, my boss made me do this. What was I supposed to do, say I’d rather work? There is no internet access (or cellular!) where we’re going, so I’ll check back in when we get home!

Last but not least, before I forget, one of my favorite blogs is back after a summer break. Go check out the latest info on the best way to do decreases!

Uh, Oh

First off, thanks for all the nice compliments on the Forest Canopy shawl. It’s reblocking as I write this, for a couple of reasons. I blocked it in a bit of a hurry, and it was a little wonky. I also soaked it in my favorite woolwash, Kookaburra Delicate, but was in such a hurry that I forgot to rinse it. I think it might have been OK to leave it, but I wasn’t certain, so I redid it and rinsed it this time. I also got a little more stretch in the process. The final size is about 74 inches across the top, and 35 inches from neck to tip.

I got a couple more questions about the blocking mats that I use. Every time I show these I get a request for info, so I should probably put the link in my sidebar. They are the interlocking foam mats that most people use in kids playrooms. I bought mine online, from Wonder Mat, and got 16 of the 2 foot squares, along with edge pieces. This makes a huge mat, way more than I need for most blocking, but I also use them when John’s grandkids come to visit. We just cover the floor downstairs and they can romp at will. The mats do show holes eventually, but that doesn’t bother me in the least.

Now it’s on to Langsjal Jóhönnu. Here’s how you do the diacritic marks, at least on a Mac. Type option-e, let it go, then the letter you want the accent mark on. For the umlaut, type option-u, then the letter. I think the option key has the same function as the alt key on a Windows keyboard, but a Windows expert would have to weigh in on this one.

Here’s a photo, very roughly pinned out to give you some idea of what LJ will look like:

I am using lifelines on this one, as it’s pretty easy to get off track on this and screw it up. There is no easy purl-back row on this, all 10 rows of the pattern repeat are full of yo’s and decreases.

Now to the “Uh,oh”. A while back, Fleegle was kind enough to post a link to a Chinese online shop selling ridiculously cheap cashmere and cashmere-silk lace yarn. Of course I jumped. It arrived this week. First of all, the service was perfect. I got a prompt confirmation with a note that the standard shipping takes about 30 days. It actually only took about 12 days for mine. I ordered the cashmere-silk, 1600 yards worth of a lovely pink.

Note the “clothing” (wink, wink) on the customs form. This didn’t fool my husband in the least. Neither did the little checkbox that says “gift”.

And just how fine is that yarn, you might ask?

That’s the green Zephyr I used for the Forest Canopy shawl. The pink stuff is 800 yards per 50 grams, and the straight cashmere they sell, at 500 yards per 50 grams, is probably a little more like a real laceweight than sewing thread. Their regular price for both varieties is $9.99, and some of the colors are on sale for $6.99. You could get a damn big shawl for cheap with this stuff. Go buy some, so I don’t feel silly buying pink cobwebs from China. I do have an idea for what this might be someday, but I’m keeping it under my hat for now.

Lookie Here…

It’s DONE!! The Forest Canopy shawl is done done done. It’s in the sink for a soak before blocking, then some real photos, but I couldn’t resist.

Here’s another one to tide you over until the blocking party is over. We keep threatening to get Riley in the canoe on the lake, and this is the summer. Here she is with my sweetie, out for a dog paddle.

I’m off to find pins.

!@#$#@^%*(&!

Whomp!

That was the sound of the knitting goddess whomping me on the head for the sin of hubris. I’m knitting the Forest Canopy Shawl, which I keep referring to as an easy lace pattern. It has 8 pattern rows, half of which are straight purl back rows, and a 5th row is plain knit, so there are only really 3 rows that you have to pay attention to. Should be easy, right?

On top of that, I’m getting close to the end, and have what I think is enough yarn for a couple more repeats and then the 8 row border pattern, which is just repeated once. I’ve been trying to think out how I could safely use as much of the Zephyr lace yarn to make the shawl as large as possible, and still have enough for the border. I finally came upon the brilliant idea of using my drug-dealers scale. I finished a row 8, weighed the remaining ball of yarn, then started in on another pattern repeat. My plan is to finish another repeat, weigh it again, then I should be able to calculate roughly how many repeats I can get out of it. There will be a little fudging with this, as of course the rows get lonnnnger with each repeat, but it should be better than just guessing. I was feeling pretty proud of myself for coming up with this plan. Even a little above average, I would say.

So I’m knitting merrily along, about 3/4 across a loooonnng row 5, and discovered I’d somehow dropped a stitch or something screwy. I haven’t been using lifelines with this one, as it’s a pretty easy pattern to tell when you’ve goofed up. (More hubris.) The only hope was to tink back, stitch by stitch, across lonnnnnggg rows until I got to where I’d fracked it up. I ended up unknitting 3 rows before I found it. Somehow I’d skipped 3 yarnovers all in one little inch long section. I probably didn’t forget to do them, but somehow dropped them on the purl back row. I apparently screwed up the “easy” purl back row. I’m also more than a little embarrassed to admit that it took me that long to figure out that it was dropped yarnovers. Those actually are fairly easy to fix without tinking back, if you know where they should go. An average knitter could probably figure that out.

There are no photos of this. A blob of knitted lace done correctly doesn’t look much different in a photo from a blob of knitted lace with mistakes. Just imagine them, OK?

This is where a knitting blog turned out to be a blessing. I had the very brief, but very definitely serious thought of ripping the whole thing out into a pile of ramen yarn, then taking it to the backyard and burning it. Except I’d have to admit to all of you that I did it. Sooner or later somebody would comment “whatever happened to that pretty green lace shawl you were knitting”, and I’d have to confess. So I tinked. I tinked three very loooonnnnnnnngggg rows. And I reknit, and now I’m back to that row 5. I still don’t know how many repeats I can squeak out of this baby. I’m off to knit rows 6-7-8.

I’m Still Alive…

OK, another 2 weeks got away from me. All of a sudden it’s August, the month of visiting friends and relatives. Our extra bedrooms are fully booked for the next 2 weeks, so if any of you want to come out and visit, take a number. And of course, now that we have people coming to visit, the weather has gotten crappy. It’s only in the 50’s this morning, though it’s supposed to get nicer later.

Here’s what I’ve been working on.

I’m close to the armhole decreases. I’m still working with a somewhat nebulous pattern. I want a v-neck, but after Lisa posted this, I’m revising how v-d it will be. I don’t want it to grow into something I need to wear a camisole with. I also want three-quarter length sleeves, but I’m not sure I have enough yarn. Of course, if this stuff grows that much, I can just do short sleeves, and wait.

I’ve also been working on those Krauterbeet socks, yarn from the Wollmeise. I have one done, and the second started.

I can’t even tell you how much I love this yarn. Wendy posted recently that the hank she had split like crazy, and was very twisty while knitting. It is very twisty, indeed. Mine doesn’t split, though, I’m not sure why the difference. I have, ahem, four more skeins of this in different colors in the stash. Well, I couldn’t just order this all the way from Germany and just order one hank, now could I?

And here’s the shawl and Riley, being Kinneared:

Sorry about the crappy quality of that photo. I just held the camera down and clicked, hoping to get some version of the shawl and the lake. Riley was a bonus. No, she wasn’t drinking the wine, I was, that might account for the photo.

Here’s what else I made last week.

Upscale BLTs, with pancetta, arugula, and mozzarella, and heirloom tomatoes. These were yummy enough that we’re doing them again today, this time with the burrata cheese that the recipe called for, and homemade bread. The recipe is in Bon Appetit from August this year. You can find it here. These are just unbelievably good, so go make some. I’ll take photos of the finished project and post them later!

Project Roundup!

This has been a bit overdue. In looking back in the posts, I keep promising a knitting update, so here it is.

But first, a few photos from the 4th. A bunch of the boat owners on our lake have a boat parade late morning on the holiday, so we turned out to the beach with a few friends and some refreshments to watch.

Here’s John opening the refreshments. There were also Bloody Marys (Maries?) involved.

The parade:

There was knitting going on. My boss is learning how to knit. I gave her the first lesson Wednesday morning. Yes, I know how lucky I am, having a boss that wants me to teach her to knit.

And here is the promised Project Roundup. These are the 3 projects in active rotation. First is the sock.

Yeah, yeah, I know I haven’t made much progress. There have been other things interfering. For those of you not paying attention, this is the German yarn, the Wollmeise Krauterbeet. I just love the color name, Krauterbeet. It’s much more purple and green than in that photo. This is just lovely yarn, which is a good thing. Since I had to order it all the way from Germany, I couldn’t just order one hank of it, now, could I. Some day I’ll show you the rest of it fermenting in the stash.

Next is the Forest Canopy shawl. I really have made progress, it’s just hard to tell, being a lace shawl and all. This is Zephyr wool-silk, in Bottle Green. I thought it was Basil, but I’m pretty sure it’s the former. I love this color enough to buy more of it.

This one’s getting close. A couple more repeats of the main pattern is about all I will be able to stand, then it will be on to the border, then done.

Now, my new project. I am using South West Trading Company’s Bamboo, in a color called Butter. The color is actually more like real bamboo than butter. If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to have the stuff growing in your backyard, you know what it looks like. I can only hope bamboo yarn really takes off. I have a bunch of it growing wild along my side yard fence. It could be an investment.

Here’s the first attempt. I am making a tee-shirt like top, though if I have enough  yarn, I’ll put 3/4 length sleeves on it. I’m doing a picot/cable edging from one of the Nicky Epstein books for the bottom hem. The first version reminded me of chicken satay on skewers.

Then I had a little mishap and it ended up looking more like ramen noodles. The mishap had nothing to do with the pink wine in that photo. Since I’m making this one up as I go along, I didn’t like the first iteration, and decided on a do-over.

And here’s where I am now. The hem is turned up and pinned so you can see it. The edging is done by knitting 5 rows, doing a picot turning row, then knitting more rows, then a simple 4 stitch cable crossing all the way across.

I haven’t quite come to a verdict on this yarn. It is listed on the ball band as a worsted weight, which isn’t even close. I finally ended up with 3.25mm needles, and it measures out to be more like a DK or sport weight. Oh well, I really didn’t want to wear it this summer, anyway.  It’s making a lovely, drapey fabric at that gauge.

Off to bed, another fun-filled work week starts in the morning!

Purply Picots

I promised a photo of the new sock yarn, so here goes. I ran across this yarn on somebody’s blog some time back, and after a bit of dithering, decided that I needed to have some in the stash. It’s from Rohrspatz & Wollmeise, a German fiber company. Check out that link. If you click on the yarn blobs, you’ll get to the fiber section. There’s a little link on the bottom for “englisch”, in case you don’t speak German.

I emailed the owner, Claudia, and within a matter of hours had an order ready to go. I ordered several different colors of the sock yarn (as long as the boat was sailing this way, you know), and as soon as I finished the Easter Egg socks from the last post, had this one on the needles. Claudia couldn’t have been nicer to work with. Though her website doesn’t have a shopping cart set up, it was no trouble to email back and forth until we got it together. The only real trouble that I had with the order was deciding which colors to get. I really want them all.

Her yarn colors come in three intensities, and the stuff I bought was “medium”. This one is called Krauterbeet, which I readily admit, I bought simply because of the name. And how can you not like purple and green together?

There was a little mishap with the ball winder and swift, which is totally not Claudia’s fault. I readily admit to a measure of operator error in this one. I ended up winding the whole hank by hand, then rewinding it with the ballwinder into 2 equal cakes.

Click on that to get an idea of how lovely the yarn is.

And here’s the beginning of my sock. It should be no surprise to anyone what pattern I’m using.

In fundraising news, Claudia is doing her annual bicycle ride to raise money for the National MS Society. She’s already very close to her original goal of $20,000 ($20,000 all from knitters, people!), and has raised the bar to $30,000, with the deadline on June 25th. Go donate, if you haven’t already. If you do, you will help some folks who really need it. If you don’t, who knows, you just might have very bad karma for the rest of the year. At the very least, you’ll feel guilty if you don’t send her money. And if we can afford blogs and yarn, we can afford a few bucks for a good cause, right?

I’m off to pack. I’m going on a little surprise trip for the weekend, so I can’t say where. Now, what knitting to take?