Project Roundup

I haven’t done one of these posts in awhile. There’s a reason I had all my projects out on the floor of my office, which I’ll get to later. First here’s what’s up in my knitting world.

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The sock in progress. Slow progress, but I do have one finished and the second one started.

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Douglas Fir Hap for Harriet Lorette shawl. I finished the increase section and now just knit straight on until I have a about a third of the yarn left then decrease again. I was struggling with this until I decided to change needles. I started this on Knitter’s Pride straight needles, and I have to say, I really wasn’t enjoying knitting with them. It didn’t help that the needle body is made out of some kind of black carbon fiber composite, and made it almost impossible to see what I was doing unless I was in bright light. I switched to my Chiaogoo circulars and am having much more fun with this.

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Hawk Affection. The Seahawks finally won this week, so I guess this won’t have to get burned in the back yard after all. That’s a good thing, this yarn is Hazel Knits Divine, and it really is divine. It would be a shame to burn it.

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Rogue! I’m having a blast with this one. The pattern is as much fun as the first time, and of course I love Peace Fleece. If you can’t figure out what’s going on in that photo, the sweater is knit in the round to the underarm shaping. You start with ribbing, then purl a turning row, then knit more stitches, then turn up the hem and stitch in place. Then you knit a few rounds and put the main body on a holder while you knit the pocket. The cables at the sides are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. And this time I get to knit this using Knit Companion, which is a whole lot easier. This pattern is well written, but it is a bit on the wordy side, with about eleventy billion pages. Knit Companion lets me just see the parts I really need.

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And a new project! This is a hat. A Toboggan hat, to be precise. The original pattern was written with 2 color wide stripes and a rolled brim. I hate rolled hems on anything, so I did ribbing. I then got the bright idea to buy a million little mini skeins of Peace Fleece in many colors and do mini stripes. It will be a stocking cap with a long tapered end and a braided tassel. And I’ll probably have enough leftover mini skein-lets to make more of these! Or, I know, a sweater! I have a whole sweater’s worth of that grey that I did the ribbing in, I could do a sweater with one row stripes of many colors!

When I get a minute I’ll show you the neat trick I learned to change colors exactly where you want it to change, while weaving in the ends at the same time. Remind me if I forget.

Last but not least, this one is in time out.

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This is the Ruby Slippers Cathedral Stole. It’s a fine pattern, with gorgeous yarn. I just had too many lace things on the needles. Once I finish the Hap shawl, this one is next in line.

So, back to the original question of why all my knitting projects were out of bags and on the floor of my office. The exciting news is that it’s time for our big fall vacation extravaganza. This one is John’s trip, he is having one of those big birthdays this week (sssshhhh, he turns 70 on Friday), so he got to pick the trip. We are going on a cruise, but not just any cruise. Wednesday we fly to Ecuador, spend a few days there, then fly to the Galapagos Islands where we hop on the Silversea Silver Galapagos for a week. We will spend a few days back in Ecuador then home.

I do have the knitting projects packed. I’m taking the first three projects in that line up. Because I’m delusional an eternal optimist, I have a spare ball of sock yarn packed as well. I also, uncharacteristically, have everything else packed as well except the last minute stuff. I get to work Monday and Tuesday, and we leave for the airport Tuesday right after work, so I need to be ready. I’m sure I’ll pack and repack a few times before then. Who knows what the internet situation will be once we get there, but if we are wired, you will hear from me along the way.

I’m off to find what else needs to go in my suitcase!

 

The New Shiny

I need a new sweater. And it's October, so it needs to be wool. I've got a cardigan in progress, but I'm just not inspired by it. It's a top down thing in a lightweight yarn, and I'm just not loving the pattern. It's one of those patterns that has you go through all sorts of contortions while knitting just so you don't have to sew a few simple seams at the end. So it's been in time out, and I finally realized why I'm not working on it. Perhaps the time out will be permanent.

Instead, I started this.

As usual, the color isn't quite right in that photo. This is Peace Fleece, the color is Amaranth. In real life it is a deep garnet colored red, with tiny flecks of an almost blue-black. It is going to make a gorgeous sweater. Here is a photo lifted from the Peace Fleece website that shows the color better. Go buy some, so I don't feel so guilty about having enough Peace Fleece to make six or seven sweaters.

This, my friends, is the beginning of a new Rogue for me. I knitted one of these back in 2005. Those of you who have been hanging around with me for a long time might remember a little escapade involving a wine glass and three months off work that delayed the completion of my first Rogue.

Here's what the first one looked like.

My old one is starting to look a bit bedraggled, though still wearable. This pattern is so much fun, it almost knits itself. This time I have no plans to try to cut my hand to pieces with a wine glass stem though, so maybe it won't take all year to finish.

Maybe.

 

Evenstar

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Project Details:

Pattern: Evenstar, by Susan Pandorf

Yarn: Colourmart Cashmere/Silk 2/28 NM lace weight, 1500 yards

Needles: 2.75 mm

Started: February 12, 2010

Finished: September 18, 2015

For: Me!

Modifications: None

What I Learned: Oh boy. I learned that slow and steady gets you there eventually. This is easily the most complex thing I’ve ever knitted. The pattern itself isn’t that difficult. The yarn I chose is just a hair heavier than thread, and has absolutely no memory, and it’s a bit on the slippery side. So this wasn’t mindless knitting by any means. And the border is endless. You knit the whole thing in big concentric rings, then knit the edging on perpendicularly to the shawl. The edging is a mindless 20 row repeat, but in thread and with beads so it took forever. There were a couple of complex stitches in there but mostly it’s just following a series of charts.

The pattern is well written, this is the first of hers that I’ve done, but it was clear and mostly without errors (there is a link to errata on the Ravelry page). The lace is charted and written, though why anybody would want to knit lace from written text is beyond me. I started this before I was using Knit Companion, but used it for the last couple sections after I pulled this out of the UFO pile to finish.

Lora asked in the comments on a previous post about the blocking process. I soaked the shawl in slightly soapy water (Kookaburra wool wash), then rinsed in cool water. Silk and cashmere aren’t as durable as wool when wet, so you really need to support the wet lace when pulling it out of the bath. Then I blotted most of the water out with a bath towel, and pinned it out on my blocking mats, which are foam play mats that you can get in carpet shops or places like Costco. I have a ton of them so I can block almost anything.

Before I tossed it in the water, I ran a cotton thread through all the points, then pinned the thread and not the actual shawl. I forgot to take a photo before I had all the pins out this morning, but here’s a mini-recreation to illustrate.

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Lora, I start by stretching it out gently by hand into as close to a circle as I can get it, then start pinning the running thread between the points to stretch. It takes a few times around, pulling a little more each time, and smoothing out from the center to get it as even as possible. I probably could have blocked this a bit larger, but I wanted to retain just a bit of the texture of some of those stitch patterns. I use a yard stick to measure in places to see if I have it even, but mostly I just eyeball it.

I love this one! It’s by no means a practical warm shawl, but I can see wearing it for special occasions. In fact, we have symphony tickets tonight, so I’ll wear it there. I’ll probably leave the tiara at home though.

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Edited with one more photo. John wanted me to add a photo of just the edging. Here you go.

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Bath Time

Blocking Day at last!

The first step was to run a fine cotton thread through all the edging points to make pinning easier later. Then it's into the bath for a soak. I use Kookaburra wool wash and cool water, and at least a 15-20 minute soak to make sure everything is saturated. This has also been hauled all over the place for 6 years, so it likely needs a good wash anyway.

Update to follow!

 

Omg Omg OMG!

It is DONE DONE DONE. I can't wait for blocking to show you a photo. I won't be able to finish this officially until I get home and have a few hours to block it properly, but I know you are all waiting on the edge of your seats to see it.

Sweetpea for scale. And one without the bear.

This is easily the most complicated thing I've ever made. Project Details will follow when the blocking is done.

 

 

The End is Near

One repeat of the edging left to do, then graft the beginning to the end, and block. This might actually get finished.

We're on the Oregon Coast with my sisters and spouses this week. Here are a few photos, all phone photos. The car was packed so full that there wasn't room for the camera bag.

The Oregon Coast is a yarn shop rich environment.

And there has been a little studying going on. I'm hoping Sweetpea remembers it all.

 

Coreopsis!

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It’s finally off the blocking board, after a little mayhem. I tried to expedite things and just pinned the bottom edges instead of running blocking wires through it, which resulted in a nice scalloped border. I looked at it for a day before I did the right thing and put in the blocking wires, then steam blocked the edge to straighten it out.

Project Details

Pattern: Boneyard Shawl, by Stephen West

Yarn: My own handspan, spun from Bluefaced Leicester wool on my Watson Wheel. I then dyed the yarn using Coreopsis flowers from our deck plants. I blogged about the dyeing here. The fiber came from Paradise Fibers, the brand is Ashland Bay. It was nicely prepared and very easy to spin. It also takes dye beautifully, which is a good thing, since I bought 4 pounds of it originally. This was 366 grams worth of yarn, about 790 yards.

Needles: 4.5 mm

Started: July 16, 2015

Finished: September 3, 2015

For: Me

Modifications: None

What I Learned: Oh my. It is really a lot of fun to see a project through from fiber to a finished wearable item. This is one of those patterns that could be adapted to a wide variety of yarn types, or even color stripes. He has a second version here that uses extra increases to make it wider and shallower. A nice bonus is that it’s a free pattern. I predict that this will get a lot of wear. It’s just the right size for a little warmth around the shoulders, and nice and squishy soft.

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I’m calling this one a success!

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It is finally done. I can’t wait for the blocking to show it off.

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It’s getting a bath and then will be blocked.

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I was able to use almost all of the yarn, there were 17 grams left, which MIGHT have been enough for another row, but I hate ripping out a bind off if I’m wrong. The garter rows use more yarn, and the stretchy bind off I use really eats up yarn.

There will be a Project Details post when it’s blocked and dry.

So what’s next? I suppose I should just finish something already on the needles, but where’s the fun in that?

Here’s some new yarn. It’s obviously Hazel Knits, this is her Divine fingering, which is merino, cashmere and silk.

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What might this become? I know I said I would never make another Color Affection, but that turns out to be one of the most versatile shawls I have.

And what might have inspired that color choice, which is rather on the gaudy side?

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It is football season, after all. I’m off to wind up yarn.

 

Antidote

This past work week was a bit hectic. To compensate, I've done nothing but just what I wanted to do all weekend. There is no better antidote to a crappy week than a Saturday and Sunday spent knitting, reading, playing flute, and cooking with my husband.

The cooking was scallops and grits. Here is the finished project.

Scallops with red pepper, green onion, a little jalapeno, garlic, parsley, and white wine, served over cheese grits. Yum.

Here's the knitting.

I've finally gotten to the last ball of the handspun yarn. I wet spliced it together this morning.

This is a pretty simple shawl pattern, the only challenge will be to guess how much yarn I need for the 12 row garter border. Since this is handspun and hand dyed, I want to use every bit of it that I can.

Out came the trusty drug dealer's scale. The last row I did took 2.6 grams of yarn. I have 126 grams left. Of course the rows get longer as I go, so I'll have to keep weighing as I knit, but I should be able to get several 12 row repeats done still. This should be a nice big cozy warm shawl when it's done.

We're off to the market for provisions, then back to knitting!

 

Days Like Today

Slow down what’s the hurry

There’s no rush today

There won’t be too many

Days like today

     Cheryl Wheeler, Driving Home

The day started out blessedly cool, in the mid-50’s. We decided to put on sweatshirts and wool socks and eat breakfast out on the deck, since there surely won’t be too many perfect days like today.

Breakfast was a frittata made with leftover ratatouille from last night. Here’s the ratatouille.

We’re at that part of the summer where we have a profusion of vegetables, and we’ve used up all the zucchini ideas. Enter ratatouille. This one was a baked version*. You cut up all the veggies, toss with olive oil and lots of chopped fresh herbs, put in a casserole dish and bake. Much easier, and much less mushy than the usual fidgety stovetop version. This one has sliced onions, 2 bell peppers, 2 small eggplants, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and lots of garlic. The herbs were parsley, thyme, marjoram, tarragon, and oregano. The onions were from the store, the herbs from our patio garden, and the rest was from our CSA haul from last week. We had this last night with a white bean vegetarian “stew”, also cooked with lots of garden herbs.

There was plenty leftover, so we made a frittata this morning. I put a little grapeseed oil in the skillet, then enough ratatouille to cover the bottom of the pan. I heated it up, then poured over whisked eggs and cooked until mostly set, then ran it under the broiler to finish cooking. I topped it with a bit of grated gruyere and broiled for another half a minute.

 

And just because I’m in that sort of mood, here’s some music for you.

What will you do with this perfect day?

* If you need a “real” recipe, this was from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook.

 

Coreopsis

I was about to catalogue that lovely Coreopsis dyed yarn and get it into the stash, and then decided that this is just ridiculous. It's not every day you make your own yarn. I handspun this on my Watson wheel (100% BFL fiber), then dyed it myself using flowers we grew in the back yard. It deserves better than to disappear into the stash forever.

So I hunted around for an appropriate pattern, and came up with Stephen West's Boneyard Shawl. I didn't want something complex and lacy, since this is roughly worsted weight and a bit on the rustic side. I also already have 3 lacy complex shawls on the needles. This pattern is one of those that you could knit with almost any weight yarn, and is adaptable to variable yardage. These are fine qualities when one is knitting with handspun that isn't entirely even, and when one isn't 100% certain of the yardage. An extra bonus is that it's a free pattern. I can see making more than one of these.

Here's where I am.

This is pretty much dead simple. It's mostly stockinette, with a garter row thrown in every so often, and increases along each side of the center spine and at each end. You knit until it's big enough, then knit on several rows of garter stitch and bind off. Bob's your uncle.

And yes, those are little Buddha stitch markers. I made those myself, too, with little Buddha beads I found a long time ago.

Have a happy weekend!

 

Dyeing Adventure

I realized today that I never blogged about my dyeing adventure a few weeks ago.

I had bought a whole bag of Bluefaced Leicester white spinning fiber some time back, thinking I’d dye it first and then spin. I’ve discovered that it is a whole lot easier to felt unspun fiber than yarn, so after one attempt, I spun it first with plans to dye later. Here is the result.

 

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The dye material is tickseed, or Coreopsis (with a bit of dried marigold I had saved from last year that wasn’t enough to dye anything by itself). John planted these in pots down by the lake, and I’ve been dead-heading them since they started blooming earlier this summer. I simmered in water for an hour or so, then let sit overnight (mostly because I ran out of time). The next morning I strained out the flowers, and in went the wool.

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The wool was mordanted with a mixture of alum and cream of tartar to help the dye set. It all simmered for another hour, then I let it sit until it was cool. Then out of the dye pot, rinse, dry, and skein it up.

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That is 366 grams of wool, about 790 yards total. I think it will make a nice rustic wrap of some sort.

 

I’m home from work today with a migraine, not getting a whole lot accomplished. It’s getting better at this point, though I still feel like somebody poured Karo syrup into my brain. It makes for a waste of a perfectly good day off.

 

And, because it’s my blog, and I can, I’m posting one more photo of my last finished project. I posted this on Facebook, and somebody commented that all it needed was a tiara. Here you go, Dorothy.

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Though THIS is the one I really want.

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So you suppose Princess Sofia will send that to me when she grows tired of it?

 

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I finally got around to getting photos of this today.

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Project Details:

Pattern: Heaven and Space, by Martina Behm

Yarn: Bouton d’Or Songe, in PINK. 3 skeins. I bought this in a yarn shop in Nice, France when we took a cruise that left from there in 2006. Deep stash. 570 meters out.

Needles: 3.75 mm

Started: December 6, 2014

Finished: June 7, 2015

For: Me!

Modifications: None. This is one of those patterns that you can adapt for pretty much any yarn. I knit until I had just enough left over to do the bind off.

What I Learned: Note to self. Please remember to check the lot numbers on ball bands in the future. This was knit with 3 balls of yarn, after I blocked it, I noticed that the center ball of yarn is just a shade off. Not enough to notice when it’s around your neck, but still.

Here’s another photo.

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That one shows the shape better. It starts from one point (the one at the top in this photo, then increases at both sides, then binds off at the long straight side. If you look carefully you can see the very slight shift in color in the center section.

Last but not least.

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Lewey says “Happy Fathers’ Day!”  He adores his human dad.