Needles and Things

Should have

2012-01-30T05:04:00.000-07:00

I should have knit for hours on the shawl. It is so close to done. But I didn't. I did knit some, but the knitting was early in the day and amounted to 4 garter ridges. Since 2 garter ridges is pretty much an hour...I'm starting to wonder if this thing isn't going to be miles wider than I wanted, though each time I have done the measuring, it is just about right. And I honestly don't know if I am going to get the shawl finished in January, but it will be close.

My study was in serious need of reorganization and cleaning, so I spent Sunday doing that and doing laundry and generally getting the house in order. Tonight I have a little work to do out in my spinning area, but when that is complete, my fibre world is tidy again.

Tonight after a bit of work, I shall knit and play and enjoy tidy my surroundings.

Content

2012-01-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

Did I mention that I love garter stitch?

The ladies at knit night do. I think I mentioned it. Maybe once or twice.

And I am just about to move on to the final colour on my garter stitch shawl. I cannot say enough, I love garter stitch.

And I am quite sure I am smitten by the colour changes and the minimal stripes.

I have made a few decisions for this last section. As soon as I am done the colour striping section, another 3 1/2 rows, I will knit it onto many needles, so that I can lay it out and see if I have the width I want and need. If it is wide enough, the white will be knit without increasing on the edges. If it needs more, I guess I will keep increasing.

I won't do any lace on the edging. I will have a bit of each colour left, so I think at the end of the white, I am going to knit 1 garter ridge of each colour from white, moving to the darkest of the grays. Dark edges give the piece some defiinition and weight and give the most sound edging for what is a pretty prosaic wrap. A wrap such as this needs a sound,simple edging with just a dash of character.

So, here is to sound simple edgings with a dash of character. In garter stitch.

I am content.

A linen collection?

2012-01-26T06:23:00.000-07:00

A very long time ago, I was planning on knitting some very simple placemats and a table runner for my table. I had a couple of colours of Louets Euroflax linen, a long gone colour called eggplant and a soft taupe. I wasn't really sure about just how I wanted the placemats to look so the project never got started.

And so it sat and seems to have given birth. Those 4 skeins have begat a fair number of other skeins of linen and they have given birth to more than one other linen blend yarn.

Oops and this one too.

In the first photo, the original eggplant Euroflax, a taupe Euroflax, silvery Punta Montoya Beach linen and right there in the center, a striking blend of linen and viscose, Lang Mikonos multi-colour. The second photo is Elsebeth Lavold's Bamboucle, also a blend. I think there might be another blend in the deep stash, but I can't for the life of me think what it is.

I love linen. I always have. I have about 8 metres of a truly stunning long ago purchase of Belfast or Dublin linen from my embroidery days. Somewhere around here is an old hankie that someone gave me, with a ratty hem, that long ago nuns edged and embroidered for a long forgotten priest.

I have a bunch of linen from a foray to the fabric store when there just happened to be a good sale on linen. Summer skirts and casual shirts are the goal. It isn't the fine delicate Belfast type linen, but a much sturdier sort of thing that will wear like iron but be soft and drapey and oh so grand.

I do love linen but then, if I want to be perfectly correct, I can't think of any animal or plant fibres I don't like. There is a place in the world for acrylic too - just not for that slipper yarn by Phentex. No that shouldn't be in this world.

Oh all right, it can be in some peoples world but not mine. My world is full of linen and other very good things.

I talked about little projects.

2012-01-25T05:01:00.000-07:00

I woke about 3:30 this morning to absolute quiet and absolute dark. The power was off. I snoozed for a while and then got out my wee book light and started looking at mitten patterns in my library of knitting books. I'm trying to focuson some little knitting, trying to bring these back into my head. I feel bad for my pretty Deep in the Forest mittens. I feel as if I have ignored them.

There is knitting on my pretty Forest mittens. I'm right about where the chart gets a little busier and I keep waiting for a good chink of quiet time to work on them. Since chunks of quiet time are hard to come by...

I guess what I really have to do is get over the idea that I need quiet time or even a chunk of time. Truly, a round of mitten knitting takes such little time and so long as I am careful and deliberate in marking down what I have completed, it should be an easy thing to do a row here and there. The only thing I would have to watch my gauge. Too tight or too dramatically loose can kill a colour work project. I've moved the mitten to stop it from being buried in the study. The mitten is now my kitchen knitting in the hopes that I would do a row here and there. Since I haven't been in my kitchen very much this last couple of weeks, not much mitten knitting. Or so I tell myself.

What really is slowing down the mitten knitting is the big shawl. Which I just can't wait to see it complete. I can't wait to wear it. My heart and my hands and that less logical me, who sways to follow absolutely no path at all, want to push on the shawl to make it be the completed January thing.

So to heck with the little projects. I'm working on the big. I'll deal with the rest in February.

Time and knitting

2012-01-24T06:04:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I recall feeling like that last month of school took forever. Christmas felt like it would never arrive. When I was a kid, time moved so slowly and the more you were waiting for something, the slower time moved.

It changes when you get a little older. According to my mom, the older you get the faster time goes. I am sure she is right but I think I am appalled.

If time moves any faster than it is now, there will hardly be time for me to wake up and say what happened to January.

Logic and rational grownup behaviour says that time is moving the same as it always has. Memory tells me exactly what I have done in the past few weeks and yet, there is the inescapable feeling when I look at the calendar, that I missed something, that some part of the month went astray.

When I sat down at my desk yesterday, that is what I felt. January 23 and not a single completed piece of knitting. Not a sock, not a mitt, not a shawl or even the sweater that I must redo - the one I did not finish for Christmas. I didn't even look at that sweater all month.

I enjoy that little Knit Meter widget on my sidebar. Its fun to see how far I have traveled with my hands. But this point, before I finished anything, where there are no completed projects sitting listed on it for the year - I hate that. "I have knit 0 metres this year" I fear it is mocking me.

I knit a lot in January and I have had a very good time, but it is going to take a lot of work to finish anything before months end. That is going to be my goal for January. To just finish one thing. One anything. And that is the January goal.

And then maybe the knit meter will be it's usual fun self.

Knitting, knitting, knitting

2012-01-23T05:02:00.000-07:00

I spent an awful lot of time this weekend knitting. I had really hoped to move forward to the last colour, a rich creamy natural.

However, no matter the number of hours that I knit, it wasn't enough. The rows are getting really long and I have every confidence they will wrap around me just right...or almost just right. If my goal was to have a sontag/ danish tie/wrap around me type shawl, I think I've got it.

I started at the neck with colour 1, a very dark charcoal gray. I increased 6 stitches over 2 rows. I increased at the center every 2nd row and on the sides every row.

Then after I was into colour 2, a slighty lighter warmer gray, I realized that it was getting plenty deep but wasn't nearly as wide as I needed. So I started to increase two times on every 2nd row as well as the 6 increases already under construction. In order to not have a second line of increase openings, I did a double yarn over on the purl side. Increase total every 2 rows is 8 stitches.

When I slipped into the 3rd colour, I started to do that double yarn over on every row. That brought the increases up to 10 over 2 rows and it is moving along at just the right pace for my short stumpy body.

I think that my extremely short bust to waist distance and my girth made working someone else's design less than correct for me. Winging it is working. I think.

It looks ok and seems to be doing what I want it to do, but in all honestly till it is off the needles, I really won't know what I have or if it will work.

What I do know right now, is that the rows are getting really really really long and it is taking forever to knit a pair of rows.

But that was not all!

2012-01-19T22:29:00.000-07:00

Oh no. There was more. As good as the shipment in which I talk myself into buying St. Denis Boreale, was It was not the only exciting thing that arrived yesterday.

There was a little yarn, Palette from Kniticks, but Palette with a purpose. I plan to use it for mittens and hats and other good thing in this year of colourwork. Only it was not the yarn I craved. It was the rest.

Here is the rest.

Knitpicks is once again having a 40% off book sale. It goes for a little bit yet, if I recall correctly. Very good value especially when you know you want the books anyway.

I had my eye on the Alice Starmore from the moment I heard about it pre-publication. It is everything I hoped. Following Alice down a path? What a wonderful way to go.

I read some very good things about Mary Jane Muckletone's book, 200 Fair Isles Motifs. The colour samples are wonderful. Without the sale I probably would have left it on the shelf, but I am really pleased to have it.

And the last, the delicious Norwegian Mittens and Gloves. Annemor Sundbo. Sigh. It is the true gem of the bunch. It was unexpected. I read about it only the day before I ordered it. It was a complete impulse buy and I love it. The mix of history and mittens and patterns and warm charm. It is a gem. If you love knitting traditions and like a mix of history and knitting, you will love this book.

January has been a month of good things. Now I need to settle down and knit and make some of the fantastic things in the pages of these and the other good books and magazines that have come to me this month.

The good stuff

2012-01-18T20:46:00.000-07:00

The light gray sport weight arrived!

Seriously. Does it get any better than this?

Well, no and yes all at once.

Because I did my purchasing of the Briggs and Little through Veronik Avery's online ST. Denis yarn store, I also had the perfect opportunity to do something I had long wanted.

I could try some of her St. Denis yarn. Here is Boreale a fingering weight yarn, the second in her line of yarns.

I have always loved the look of this yarn when it is knit up. I have spent way way too many hours looking at the website pondering colours. I have coveted and I have dreamed and now I have. A little to start but There. Will. Be. More. Oh, yes, there will.

So considering the choice of colours, why did I pick that funny weak kneed yellow white cream?

I didn't. It is the palest, of pale blues. Chalk Blue, an absolutely stunning shade.

Breathe deep. Inhale the yarn fumes. Then stop over at St. Denis Yarns because you really need to try some of this.

It doesn't look like much.

2012-01-17T19:07:00.000-07:00

There is always that stage in knitting, where you know you have put in a lot of time on this project, but it doesn't look like much of anything at all.

And that is right where I am. You have yer dark gray on one side and yer medium gray on t' other.

This is good knitting and I'd be sorry to see it end too soon**, so I guess it is a good thing that I decided I need a light gray before I move into the rich cream.

I plan to end it off with the cream. There may be a simple pattern and there may not. I have not decided. the garter stitch looks pretty good just as it is.

**Well, except for the finish part. The finish part could come faster, if you know what I mean. I can't wait to wear it.

If I was motivated

2012-01-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

If I was motivated, I would go and get my shawl and show you how it goes. But I just don't feel that motivated. Its in the front and the front is cold, cold, cold.

So I will tell you how the office at my place of work is newly renovated and like many newly renovated spaces, the furnace is not balanced well. I'm not in the warm part. We do have a heater but with the cold we have this week. Its not enough.

I might take some of these along for the window. (I thought about inserting an emoticon here, but I don't think I am kidding.)

Going back on what I said

2012-01-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

You know how sometimes you end up doing exactly what you said you would never do again,

and it is never quite so bad as when you did it the first time?

I always said I was never knitting black socks again and yet, here I am. It isn't so bad. They are not going to win any perfection contests (but then my knitting never would and I would never enter anyway) and they are quite simply not something I can work on in the evenings, but a few stitches here and there in the afternoon...It hasn't been so bad.

Maybe it is a weird sort of punishment for finding a nice yarn store in Lacombe Alberta, and having a really really good time.

Happy Mail Day!

2012-01-12T20:03:00.000-07:00

I have done a little online ordering lately. And a little local yarn shopping (but that was for my birthday) . OK, OK, it has been yarn accidents left right and center here at Chez Needles.

But some of it wasn't yarn just happy accidents. This is one of the happy accidents.

I managed to scarf one of 6 copies of the brand new Haapsalu Scarf by Suri Reimann and Aime Edasi. I just happened to visit Elann.com (who are now out of stock) when they just had the book up on their website. And the timing was perfect. I had just earned a $50 certificate too. And it looks like a gem of a shawl book from my quick skim just after I got home. And scarves only in their eyes. Scarves in relation to the very large sized full square Haapsalu shawl.

I'll tell you about some of my other adventures as they come in. But till then, I'll be busy reading and thinking and planning my hear out

and knitting plain black socks and a garter stitch shawl. No way can I read the book and knit on my pretty mittens at the same time.

Stuff

2012-01-11T23:04:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you something else, something I have not forgotten about, but something that I was not allowed to tell you about till after Christmas, because the giver said I must leave it alone till after Christmas. (It almost killed me)

And then it just never happened. I forgot to tell you. I am sorry about that. It is one of those things you really must share with friends.

I was given a gift of some of the very very delicious Loft , Brooklyn Tweed's new fingering weight yarn. Oh my.

Spun by Harrisville, it has a depth and quality all its own. And the colours. Oh my. The photo does look pretty good but in truth it is yummier. Besides that pretty box of yarn to ponder over, in my view everyday for the last few weeks, has been a pretty gift bag full of delightful yarn and some very charming birds.

Pretty, Yes?

And yes, Sandra and all my blog readers, I too wish we could all get together and knit. I've been to Sigrun's house and oh my. When my farmstead is ready, Sigrun and I will be neighbours. We aren't quite around the corner neighbours but country neighbours, the just a little way down the road sort of neighbours. It is only a short drive down the way. Sigrun and I will get together one of these days to knit and toast our cup of tea to all of you!

Knitting has brought so many good things to me. So many many wonderful people and very very close friends, both near and far away.

After digging in the stash

2012-01-10T20:38:00.000-07:00

I was digging in my stash the other day with my daughter in law ( Yes she knits. No not obsessively, but most of the young women from eastern Europe learn when they are young. I aim to fix that!) and because it was very late at night, I let it percolate over night.

When I did, the two buckets of yarn that we had open seemed to get all mixed up together. There was Cascade 220 everywhere.

The next morning while contemplating the sorry state of my space as I sipped coffee, I noticed a little bit of sweet magic.

The cascade 220 is a perfect bridge between the Mini Moochi at the front and the Nuna at the back.

I doubt that I would knit them together, but isn't it pretty how the colours all just work?

I have some very pretty things. Sigh. B)

Solitude

2012-01-10T06:28:00.001-07:00

I heard someone say the other day that knitting is a very social activity. And it is. I have no doubt of that. The modern knit night is the quilting bee of old. Women have always loved to get together to do things in a social atmosphere.

But knitting is also a very solitary pursuit. For every social knitter there are a thousand quiet knitters out there knitting in solitude, valuing it for that quiet.

I think I knit for both. I treasure knitting with friends. Its been a long while now since I have gone to my usual knit nights, and I am really looking forward to it, but I also love the quiet that is my knitting.

Solitary knitting blocks out the sounds of a busy day. The quiet pursuit of one stitch after another, an unbroken rhythm across a row, the gentle clicks of the tips of your needles as they slip past each other as you move along.

These are just some of the things you notice more when you are knitting in quiet solitude. Knitting is rather like a well cut gemstone. Every time you turn it in the light you see another flash of its brilliance. Every time you look at it in low light, you see something else again.

In the Forest

2012-01-08T17:24:00.001-07:00

I am working along on my Deep in the Forest Mittens and I cannot begin to tell you how much this pattern echos life.

It starts out simply enough. Just a simple little cast on and a garter ridge as a fold line, to tack back later to finish and firm up the wrist edge of the mitten. Then simple knitting for a few rows and some fancy foot work. The braid is a bit of a learning experience, but just like learning your abc's it isn't all that hard once you get the hang of it. You do have to let your assumptions go and do what the errata tells you. I did have a leg up, having done it before for the mini twined knitting class I took last summer.

It stays interesting as your work you way through the middle of the project but it isn't really hard. I think this part would be the knitting equivalent of the early teen years. It goes just right if you follow the rules and listen to your mother, aka the chart. From there on in, I don't know. I'm keeping it covered.

It isn't that I keep my eyes closed. Not at all. I always work like this when I work from a chart. I know where I have been and use the knowledge to inform the next row I knit. I don't really know just where that path is going to go.

Oh I can guess. From the photos of the completed mittens from the pattern and the many projects on Ravelry, its is going to get just a little more hectic down the road. I think this slowly getting more hectic must be a little bit like the teen years.

I'll let you know if the analogy holds as I keep knitting it.

Again

2012-01-06T07:06:00.000-07:00

Again with the sleeping in! Almost late to work late.

So there you go.

A very special something

2012-01-05T05:51:00.001-07:00

Even with all the delicious knitting there is happening around here, not a stitch was knit yesterday. Morning was sluggish and evening was company. My son and his wife came out and we had a lovely dinner. They brought a birthday surprise for me.

My daughter in law brought some vintage patterns from the Ukraine. They are Russian magasines and patterns, vintage 1985-87.

Very very interesting. While the shapes might have changed, there is a lot of fodder for thought in them.

See what I mean? Interesting things, wonderful starting points, but you would modify the shapes and lengths and update the colours. There are some really stunning colourwork charts.

I would also like to thank blogger for helping to upload the photos. Why, those little back room code monkeys know exactly how my photos should upload. How wise of them.

Anyway, my photos aren't that great even if they posted with the original orientation, but I hope you can see just a little of the treasures within.

A Bittersweet Mist

2012-01-03T22:59:00.000-07:00

I have spent a long time thinking about where my knitting would focus this year and just what I wanted to challenge myself with. This year I'm thinking smaller, focusing on colourwork and lace.

To that end, I am setting myself up to start down both those paths. I started the Briggs and Little Shawl. While it isn't lace, just simple garter stitch, it is a shawl and since my new office is, by popular vote, a few degrees colder than chilly, the need is great. It is up first. Besides, it is fantastic lunch time knitting.

On the way home from work today, I had the overwhelming urge to dive into the yarn closet and dig for something. So I did.

There just isn't anything I like so well as diving into yarn and just go shopping. I never really thought of it that way till a friend laughingly said she knew I had a lot of yarn, she just didn't realize it was my own store! Since she said that, I do think just the tiniest bit different about the size of the stash and how I approach it when I am looking for something. I do have a little of almost everything, after all.

I didn't want to just pick yarn out willy nilly. I wanted it to be a purposeful dig. So, with the shawl settled and well begun, I decided it was time for colourwork.

I had two possible projects. One that lovely icy blue and white Cascade 220 for a vest and the other, yarn for mittens. Since part one of the focus is supposed to be on smaller projects, I went for mittens.

There are so many lovely colourwork mitten patterns. My bookshelf has some mitten stunners and there are hundreds of patterns available through Ravelry. There are those wonderful fun Spillyjane patterns (beer mittens, bug mittens...sigh) so many, many more.

I pulled out the box of Pallette, Knitpicks versatile and formerly inexpensive fingering weight. It used to be a really great buy, but now, if I have to pay that price, then I am going to spend the smallest bit more and get a more firmly spun yarn. It still is a good deal, just not one that speaks to me so much anymore.

Anyway out comes the yarn and the choice is 2 colours or many? Two to start, I think. I came across a rich deep bown, Bittersweet. Then I saw Mist, a taupe that changed colours depending what I put next to it. When I held it next to the Bittersweet, the Bittersweet changed colours!

So there you have it. Bittersweet and Mist. I had visions of fogs and forest and deep woods. Deep in the Forest Mittens - A Bittersweet Mist

just begun, the very best place to be, next to almost done.

Yummy Christmas Yarns

2012-01-02T20:40:00.002-07:00

I did get some yarn for Christmas. Apparently if you don't tell them anything else, they give up and get yarn!

So here goes.

The top skeins are a personal favourite, Tove by Sandnesgarn The bottom are two large skeins of Noro Wadaiko. Though he swears he did not plan it, I think the two different kinds of yarns could be used to make something funky and fun. The colours sure work. That wonderful tropical turquoise with the bright multi coloured skein and that rich black brown coordinates wonderfully with the more sophisticated brown,black, cream gray skein. They are stunning and I love them.

Next up,

Sulka. Lovely, buttery, yummy Sulka, which is going to make a wonderful cowl. I am pretty sure which one I will make, but you know how it is, till it goes on the needle, it is all fair game.

And last of all is a little bit of surprise. My mom and dad gave me some money for Christmas. Mum really shouldn't, but her biggest joy is giving something so we accept it. I wanted something special from it, but then, as I was going through my winter knitting bag, I found a real treat. An usused stash cash certificate from River City Yarns. Combined I had enough for something really delicious.

The ladies at the store do it right. They launched an exclusive line of yarns last year, starting with Epic, 2 simple colours of solid performance yarn. This fall, they went just a little farther, to somewhere between heaven and hell (hell because I only have one right now and heaven...well you have to feel it to understand). Eden is immoral and beyond delicious.

I thought I would come home with Eden in this red that surely has come from an Angels hand but they were out. So I had to search for something else.

Yeah, it was hard (not really) but I came up with something I loved for a long time. I wouldn't normally buy this kind of yarn. It is a little rich for me (so is Eden, but I was helpless to resist Eden). I couldn't bring myself to spend the money on it unless it was special money. Just like this.

So, mes amis, I am now the very proud owner of 3 skeins of pure silk, Art Yarns red silk.

I might not have made it to Eden, but surely this devilishly good stuff is a fair substitute. I am in heaven over it.

And then because it's a long drive home and there is plenty of time for free thinking, I remembered this.

I have a skein of Rumple, a silk boucle from Handmaiden that I wanted to make a scarf for my mom with, but she was vehemently not interested. The colours are a pretty fair match. Together or apart? The Silk Collection at Chez Needles! Hmm, I am going to have to think about this.

There are special things on my horizon. What a lovely way to start the year.

A great way to open up a new year.

2012-01-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

I started the New Year by working on a project that I started after Christmas. And by doing so I may have found yet another desert island yarn.

I'm making a simple garter stitch shawl increasing 4 stitches one row and 2 on the next. This give you that glorious wearable horseshoe shaping. Briggs and Little Sport.

It appears just the smallest bit washed out here, but it is the richest deepest of charcoals.

I really enjoyed working with the Regal but this? This takes it to a whole other level. Desert island yarn.

OK, I admit it. I would never be able to get by on a desert island. I mean really. One yarn? Forever? How could I pick between Sandnesgarn Tove, Custom Woolen Mills Mule Spinner 2 ply, the Laceweight Einband? How could one choose between them?

I think I have a have new desert island. My new desert island is going to have a yarn store specialising in delicious, slightly crunchy, old fashioned yarns.

Or else a really really great mail delivery system and a truly speedy internet connection..

A Year End Wrap Up

2011-12-31T14:49:00.000-07:00

This is a good day to sit here and lazily contemplate the year that was.

A lovely shawl for a wonderful friend who was born to wear this colour.

A tiny baby gansey for classes in winging it knitting.

Best bead storage ever.

Everytime I wear this someone comments on it.

The start of a really big blankie.

Learning to shop in Iceland while sitting at home.

A new favourite toe.

Sublime colours. Fantastic yarn.

Joy in simple things

Knitting with delicious yarns.

Breathtaking lace.

Dreaming of spring.

Just fun. So much fun.

I'm particularly proud of this shaping.

A favourite heel.

Best Friends.

The wrong side?

Fun and funky but still very me.

Messing with 3 colours in simple knitting.

More Iceland. For good yarn, it is well worth the trip.

A happy find.

Becoming something more.

Pretty little baby.

Cheery Cherry Cerisara

An elegant collar.

Stripes which I love.

Rich colours

My pride and joy.

A beautiful ball of yarn

Other things to keep me warm.

A much worn sweater

Memories of good times and wonderful friends.

I've had a marvelous year. Some of the other highlights, OK, the biggest highlight was my daughter in law,

who was in charge of fresh vereneki. They were so good...

Probably the only shot of the finished November Sweater, worn very very casually.

And finally, from our bearded household (4 are real),

a wish for the very best in the New Years from my family to yours.

What with al the knitting

2011-12-30T07:07:00.002-07:00

What with al the knitting there was the other night, there was not a lot of sleeping. Last night I caught up.

Slept in a little later, OK, a lot later than normal (Normal is 5 ish, today 6;15 A.M.) and I'm now going to have to rush to make it to work on time. So no knitting this morning. Sheesh.

Updated to add: Well, that explains it. Sick. Yup, in time for the weekend.

Who says so?

2011-12-29T05:55:00.003-07:00

I do feel a burden when I have too many things in the work in progress basket. It just starts to wear a person down when the basket morphs into 2.

But what about when you frog one project and start doing something else with the yarn? Surely no one would say that contstitutes a new project and another WIP? Its is the same thing only different from what it was when I started playing with it.

So the thing I started early this morning isn't new. It's me being good and working on a WIP because I say so. And if I keep saying it often enough, I might believe this isn't a new project.

I started by picking a lacy pattern.

I did a cute little scarf some time ago in this old Dutch pattern. Its really quite lovely to knit. Rhythmic, only 4 rows. My kind of lace.

Then I started thinking about how am I going to knit it. Bottom up? Top down?

Top down I think. Top down simultaneous set in sleeves, which is fast and firm, my favourite way of knitting sweaters. I've got a bit of the neckline done, but not enough to show you anything.

The yarn is a simple, ordinary cotton. A good old fashioned cotton, Carezza from Italgamma. It is inexpensive and crisply spun but not shiny and mercerized. With its soft finish and its demin like blue colour, it should be the perfect bridge between jeans and jean skirts and the office.

The time for knitting warm winter things is done. (Maybe. Its Canada. You never really know.) Though it is the middle of wool season, the same as seed catalogues and Sears Summer catalogue show up about now, this is the time to get ready for spring. In knitting, that means cotton and all sorts of other yummy plant based fibres.

So, its not new knitting day here at Chez Needles. Because I say so.

Knitting in Dangerous Times

2011-12-28T05:42:00.000-07:00

This is a dangerous time, this time after and before. It is the time where last year I finished just one more project, but this year have absolutely no motivation to finish anything more.

I just want to start. Something. Anything. A hundred things.

If I let myself I would start a dozen things. I started one

and now that it is working out just fine, my fingers itch to start another. I've been wanting to work with this yarn for months. Its been sitting, gently calling me from its perch at the top of the pile. It is Briggs and Little Sport and I have a good feeling about this yarn. It will make just the right sort of warm snuggly wool shawl, the kind of wool shawl you wear when you want to be comfy, that you wear when you sit in front of the fire reading...not that there ever seems to be time to sit in front of a fire reading.

Much as I love the idea of this shawl, I would turf it to the side as soon as knit it. Oh my itchy fingers.

I would love to cast on for something colourwork, something small, a pair of mittens maybe. Type the word 'Selbuvotter' into Google and look at the images. How could you not want to knit that? Or Google 'Latvian mittens'

How could seeing things like that not lead to itchy fingers?

And then there is the tremendously pretty snowflake vest from Folk Vests.

These are dangerous times for a knitter, this time after and before. Who knows what might get cast on?

Ooops

2011-12-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

I can't show you the secret projects just yet. They won't be delivered till mid January when we will make a trip to Saskatchewan. And ummmm...I did not quite finish them yet. One to go.

So I shall show you what I did finish. The gray sweater is done and looked fantastic on the wearer. No one could ever doubt how warm and cozy it is. I would show it to you if I had taken a photo of it but all I have in the Christmas photos is goofy photos and I don't know that my daughter in law would want that. (We all had beards!)

What I can show you is a little something that I finished yesterday.

I really love how this turned out but as you can quite clearly see, I ran out of yarn. About 8 rows short to be precise. I thought about ripping back and alternatig rows of plain black and the multi, but I decided not to. The extra weight of the black edge looked ok by me.

And then I confess, I sat about, wondering what to do next. That is a hard thing in a room full of yarn. So many choices.

I pulled out 3 skeins of Briggs and little sport that I had hiding in a basket just waiting for such an occasion. I started what will be a shawl, though I am not sure it will be the one I started.

I bought the yarn with the intention to make an Icelandic sort of shawl though what I started knitting was more of an old fashioned Sontag, the little shawls that one ties behind your back that covers you much like a modern sweater. I need a little something like that. Something that stays just where you put it when you get dressed in the morning and stays tidy while working all day.

I'm still not quite sure what I will do with it. Its more of a gauge swatch right now. I ought to have it sorted by the morning.

4 days

2011-12-22T06:17:00.000-07:00

The office I am currently working at is closed for the next 4 days, so I am going to have a bonus day before Christmas Eve. I'm looking forward to it after working everyday for a month. It came up so suddenly. That is what I get for going temp! I am looking forward to having a few days of family stuff and goofing off.

I'm looking forward to being able to post my fall's mystery project. But not quite yet. I have one small part of it to complete and then a day or two to wait, but then I will have knitting content to show off. Its been short of knitting content lately even though there has been knitting.

Over the next few days, I don't anticipate a lot of knitting time, but over the next week, I hope to do a lot of good relaxing knitting. I want to work on a couple of little WIPs. One is the pretty little Damson made from yarn from a friend, and the other is a sweet little Victorian shoulder shawl started last spring and set aside on encountering lace problems on the border. I can't wait to wear them, but there is more.

Over on the sidebar, you will see the little knit tracker I use. I didn't have a goal for it, but I know I will be over 20,000 km for the year. The closer I got, the more fun it was watching the numbers grow as I finished things. Once the sweater and the mystery projects are recorded, I will be over, but I'd like to get just a little more. I'd also like to finish the year with just a few less things in the WIP basket.

So some pretty little knitting to look forward to for that week between before the world goes back to normal time.

In case I don't post tomorrow, I wish everyone a very happy, blessed Christmas. May all of your knitting days and all of your non knitting days be hapy and filled with the joys of simple things.

All is right with the world.

2011-12-21T05:37:00.003-07:00

I wish there were more hours in a day, but there isn't so I am going to have to fit my expectations into what time I have.

My daughter in law is coming out on Friday to help me and to make vereneki. I'd like to get the meatballs ready and to get the turnips prepped for the oven and stuff the potatoes. The salad ingredients will be prepared and ready. Happy.

I hope to make some dinner buns and some poppyseed rolls but I think the rest of the baking is going to be store bought. We haven't made it to desert in years. The boys have always just liked to go back late in the evening for a turkey and dressing sandwich. (I admit that is my favourite part too). So, desert will be my moms traditional low stress light desert, strawberries and icecream. Plus if anybody wants to come back for brunch the next day, I have strawberries for on top of the french toast. Happy.

So...

Grocery list made. Check.

Husband. Check. Son 1 and spouse. Check. Son 2, the sweater guy. Check on alternate under the tree gift, sweater OK after Christmas. Son3. Check. Mom and Dad. Sister did. Check. FIL and MIL, Mr. Needles takes care of. Check. Sisters. Almost check, but I don't need them till just after Christmas.

I should have just the right amount of time to make it to knitting tonight for just an hour. And since I will be working on the last of the knitting, I feel really good about that.

The house might be a disaster, the gifts are not quite wrapped and the kitchen? Well lets just not go there, OK? Its going to be messier before it is clean. It won't be quite the Christmas of my dreams but then they never really are, are they?

I will be surrounded by all my family. There will be way too much good food. A woman could not ask for more.

All is right with the world.

And so it goes

2011-12-20T05:25:00.002-07:00

Arrived. And we are so glad.

Now back to our regularly scheduled knitting. There is going to have to be a real push to get the fall's long secret project out of the way. Mr. Needles will be delivering it...that is if he gets to go to Saskatchewan over the holidays. The doctors are not letting him off so easy just yet. More antibiotics are going to be needed. Oh well.

I have about an inch of cuff left to do and then some short seams and sweater number three is complete. I'm still miffed about not getting sweater 2 done, but I spoke to the gentleman in question and he claims he will survive. He might but I really wanted to have it done for the holidays. He is being awfully good natured about it, so I am going to work my buns off after the holidays to get it done.

And without the pressure of a deadline, I anticipate having a lot of fun with it. I really do like the yarn. Its the perfect guy look and all that simple stockinette of Brooklyn Tweed's design, are just right. Very very guy. The bonus to all this is that I am going to have said gentleman try on what I have done already, so I can see just how much more I need. I'll be able to move on with complete confidence, a much more interesting way to knit.

And then after Christmas, during that long time before gardening and yardwork, there is a winter full of knitting just for me. October, November and December have been mostly about knitting for those I love and care about, and it is time for a little bout of selfish knitting.

One last day

2011-12-19T05:10:00.000-07:00

One last day. I spoke with our son yesterday afternoon and you know, if his smile was any bigger, his face would crack right in two.

This part, this day is much harder for our daughter in law. Its got to be a tough thing to leave your world behind. A hundred years ago, many many young Ukrainian men and women did so before her and thrived and I pray that she will too. But I have no doubt it was a very hard thing to take that last turn at the airport and wave goodbye to her mum and grandma and go through into the secure waiting area at the airport.

One short flight to Frankfurt, one longer flight to Calgary and then a very short hop home.

Flying time

2011-12-16T20:56:00.000-07:00

Right around 5 a.m. on Monday morning, Kiev time, my daughter in law will be getting on a plane to come to Canada.

I am counting the hours.

We have waited so long, hoped for so long and by Monday right about 5 p.m. Edmonton local time, she will be here.

It doesn't sound like much and if you only counted hours in the air, it really isn't. But, add in a stop in Frankfurt and a shorter one in Calgary and well, check out local time in Kiev right now and you get the idea.

It is almost as far away as you can go before you get closer again.

May the weather right across the world be particularly wonderful come Monday, right around the world and make her flight and the flights of anybody flying home, safe and smooth.

I've been waiting all year

2011-12-15T20:04:00.001-07:00

Seriously, I have. I love this video. Enjoy!

Arrrrrgh

2011-12-15T06:16:00.000-07:00

Still knitting. Need more hours in the day. 48 please. 24 is just not cutting it.

I am thinking a lot about textures these last few days. It started with lace and moved on to texture when I kept coming across perfect ways to use these two yarns.

Can't you see it? Pretty green sweater looking like it is overlaid with a net of pretty green multi yarn? Easy knitting with slipped stitches. Maybe easy knitting. I know how this knitting thing goes.

Looks easy, but there is always a little something tricky about simple in knitting. I forsee a 'learning' opportunity.

I'm knitting

2011-12-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

No real blog today. Just that I am knitting.

A Merry Christmas from Mr. Bean. If the add plays, sorry about that.

The good, the bad and the mistake.

2011-12-13T05:07:00.001-07:00

I've finished the bind off. It was long. Very long. All that remains of the sweater is to do the cuffs and sew up the short side seams.

They really should be done by now, but my hands are giving out. There is just no way I will get the sweaters done before Christmas. None at all. I am a little disappointed but it was not going to be do-able unless I was not working and I am, so that is that.

The worst part is I'm pretty sure that Son2's sweater is too small. As I knit this snuggly warm one of my daughter in law, I realized how much more relaxed it was, how much more easy it was on my hands. It was needles are so large that they usually make my hands ache, and the thick very thick yarn doesn't help, but still, a much more relaxed knit than the Remix sweater.

Remix is in a weight I prefer and a fibre I love and yet it was not so much fun as it should be - I know this or it would be done. I think I am knitting it too tightly. The fabric agrees.

I went back to my swatch and checked gauge. I measured the sweater and even though it says it is right, it looks too firm and too ...well, just too. I want to restart it on slightly larger needles and there is no time to do so, and I am a little heartbroken that it isn't going to be done.

I might finish it if I didn't take time to decorate the house or book or do any cooking at all, but those things must be done too. So the deal is I will have two and a half sweaters done before Christmas, but no way will I make 3.

So an evening devoted to cuffs and sweater 3 down. Then I will rip back sweater 2 to the ribbing and will restart. The ribbing will be fine I think, I just need to get more ease into the body fabric and a few more stitches just above. A softer drapey fabric will make a world of difference. Maybe the knitting goddesses will bless me and will make the knitting go fast and happy and joyful.

I'll hope for that.

Done and done

2011-12-12T05:57:00.000-07:00

My daughter in law is now, technically, a resident of Canada. Even though she has never been here! The papers say she is. 7 days till she arrives. I am so very very happy for both of them.

Meanwhile back at the ranch....

I'm binding off the ribbing. I worked on it an hour yesterday. I'm not yet half done.

I know. Because it is the outer edge of an almost circle, it needs a good stretchy bind off. I am doing Jenny's stretchy bind off. There is no doubt in my mind that this was the right way to go. It gives just the right finish and it has all the give I could want. But because it is ribbing, there is a regular yarn over and a backwards yarn over and I keep getting the two mixed up. It makes a huge visual difference at this gauge.

Pretty, pretty. After the ribbing, there remains only cuffs and two really short seams to call it complete . I can't wait too see it in alol its glory. A big snuggly beautiful wrap you up in cozy sweater.

I'm taking it to town today to look for closures. A pin means you could wear it in a dozen ways but there are also some funky closures from Nicki Epstein that would look great.

I love this stage in knitting things. It is so close to done, I can taste its goodness.

Well, there you have it

2011-12-09T06:08:00.001-07:00

Flights are booked and now we just need to pray that the visa stamping goes as planned and we are home free.

I expect a very busy weekend after all the recent excitement. There is knitting to be done. There is baking and cooking to be done. There is some shopping left to do. Less than I thought till I sat down and started really sorting it out. I do have to sort out the mom and dad gifts, but that will take a phone call to a sister to know what I need to do. The biggest shortfall is in the knitting department.

There is about 1/6th of the secret project left to go, and half of each of two sweaters. One of those should be finished by the end of the weekend. The bulky yarn covers a lot of territory quickly. I anticipate reasonable speed on the other as well. Being made from the bottom up, it get smaller from here on in. There will be a small with more stitches on the needles as the sleeves and body are joined, but the raglan shaping will take care of any feeling of tediousness.

I am blessed in the choices I have made. There is minimal finishing on both of these garments. The wool one has felted joins as I go and does not have a lot of stopping and starting. The beginning tail will be used for the short seams, and there shouldn't be much more than another couple of ends.

On the Remix sweater, I am using a technique suggested by a knitting friend and am weaving the ends in as I go. Its is the same sort of technique that I use when I carry strands along the back for colourwork knitting. Easy peasy and just a little tidying up of tails to do. There will be a little bit of sewing and tucking to get the shawl collar set in, but that is about all.

Little finishing, diminishing number of stitches, few ends. My kind of knitting!

And just to get you started right...

My kids loved this once.

The thousandth time? Not so much.

This blog should talk

2011-12-08T05:12:00.000-07:00

This blog should talk about knitting today. This blog promised to talk about knitting and only knitting this week. And this blog was going to talk about knitting when she got out of bed this morning. This blog was in fact, going to talk about knitting, right up until when she sat down and turned on the computer.

But that blog that I planned to write is gone and there is nothing that I want to tell you except that my daughter in law will be here for Christmas.

Forgive me for shouting, but

My daughter in law will be here for Christmas.

She got the call from the embassy this morning that they want her to bring her passport in and that they will have her visa ready for her by Tuesday.

I have a lot of knitting, baking and decorating to do!

Wow

2011-12-07T06:04:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for the encouragement! Its nice to know I am not so loopy as I first thought.

After Christmas, here I come.

In the meantime, a just a little Christmas modern.

Renovating knits

2011-12-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

Way back when, I made a very pretty capelet in one of my favourite colours in a wonderful pure alpaca yarn.

Nice yes?

I loved everything about it. It knit itself in one weekend...and then lay around for months while I tried a couple different ways to hem it.

I mostly wore it at home. The clasps were not a good choice of closure for the sort of work I did at the store. They popped open every time I bent over to get something. And being alpaca, it was warm, too warm for walking, leaning, lifting, carrying all day. It slipped down, down till it was at the bottom of the pile and such a beautiful thing is worthy of far better treatment.

I found a few more balls of this stunning blue when I was digging in the the store room in my last weeks at the store. That, plus the 3 or 4 skeins I had left from this project, means I have enough to turn my pretty capelet into a rather dainty cardigan.

Wouldn't it be neat if all I had to do was join it at the underarms and keep knitting? But sadly no. There would be a little more work to it than that. Still, it is an idea that intrigues me.

Has anybody ever done an afterthought sleeve? Heard of it before? No, me neither. But you know...

I have to think on it some more. I suppose it is a good thing there are sweaters to be done for Christmas. What is it that carpenter's say? Measure twice, cut once. A knitter's afterthought corrolary must be think twice, cut once.

Sheepish

2011-12-04T20:20:00.000-07:00

Oh yes there is knitting.

This amorphous gray blob is an entire bag of yarn. It was zooming along today. The ribbing that joins the 2 ends is begun and will be ripped. Yessirree Bob, I spent an hour knitting the ribbing and then suddenly realized I was supposed to change colours.

So the ripping begins on 2 very longs rows, but thanks heaven it wasn't more. It was time for a break anyway.

This might not strike anybody but a knitter as funny, but Thursday evening as I was measuring and knitting, I decided that there was just no way 2 bags of yarn was going to be enough. So I umm, ordered another bag. I'm feeling just a little sheepish because I am only into bag 2 by 2 skeins.

Which, now that I write it out, is a lot less than I calculated originally (before the sheepish bit). I think I am going to measure it again.

And again. Just to be sure. It said it needed to be 36 inches. I am pretty sure that is what I have.

Unless my measuring was way off, there ought to be enough yarn for a whole other sweater with the bag still to come, the left over gray, and the half bag of charcoal I expect to have left from the ribbing and sleeves of this sweater. Yup right there I can see it. Plenty for a second sweater.

I can't tell if I am happy or sad about this. Sure am feeling sheepish though. Yup. That is me.

Organized and ready to go.

2011-12-02T06:18:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get my holiday stuff organized.

OK. Maybe I'm overstating the case. I have the wrapping, just not the gifts. I need more hours.

In other news, there has been knitting. But not a lot. This Saturday I'll be back on the Sweater for the boy. I think I know what I am going to do. I'll keep you waiting till after the weekend.

Just think. Knitting content next week. All week. Everyday!

Interesting Times

2011-12-01T06:11:00.000-07:00

All summer long, I spun with a friend at the library. Without that, My spinning efforts would have taken years to finish and I would still be handmade yarnless.

I don't have a lot but I do have this:

This bobbin is almost full and there will be one more to ply up before I am done.

This is the same sinlges I showed once or twice before, now plied and soon ready for knitting. I'm aiming for a post Christmas finish for it. I would plan to knit it but I am not sure that it will be something I will want to work with. Time will tell, and I have fallen in and out of love with yarns before. Who knows what will be.

I'm still not really in love with the colours. I never was, though there were times, as my spinning friend well knows, when I liked it better and times when I liked it less. This morning? Less.

Let this be a lesson in why one really must love the colours you spin and why I can't look at fibre in the same way I look at yarn.

Still it is my first big spinning project. My first attempt at really fine singles and soon, my first yarn that there will be enough to do something with.

Will she or won't she

2011-11-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

I have to admit I am worried about getting the sweaters done before Christmas. I'm worried about my other little things getting done before Christmas too. Still, there are enough hours and I must just be more diligent.

Diligence has suffered these last few days. I have been thinking a lot of lace and dreaming of shawls and light elegant things I could wear and wrap myself up in, but I think these dreams are interfering with my focus. I scurry to bed at night to read the lace books I have up there and contemplate what stitch patterns I would use if I was doing my own. I plan an order of shawls that I would make from among my many books. But really I should be doing a little more work on what is before me.

To be completely honest, my worry over son 2's sweater and its too shortness is getting in the way. I am worrying about its size too. I mean if its too short, it might be too small too, right. I have lost my faith in the math even though I redid all the numbers and it seems ok.

I think this is part of sweater knitting. It belongs to the massive middle of a project, the part where it seems like it is taking forever, the part where no matter how much you knit, it never grows any longer. Angst lives there.

I do have the other sweater to work on. I should be knitting my heart out on it, but in a crisis of faith...

The crisis of faith will be done by this evening. This evening is as much time as it can have. So, excuse me while I have a bit of a talk with myself.

Suck it up buttercup. Get over it. Move on. Trust the numbers. This too is knitting.

Having my priorities straight.

2011-11-28T19:46:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest problems I face, that I think many of us face, is trying to find some way to have a good balance between home and work. My previous office job felt like it took the life out of me and yet it did not, not really. I am here, I'm still me.

Working at the yarn store was just a blessing, the blessing of all blessings, so much more fun than anything I had ever done, will ever do or could even dream of doing again but still it was a very one sided way to live.

I have always known that no matter what I do, I want to live in the country, so when we bought the farm a year ago, I knew that certain things would happen. I needed to build barns and fences and plant trees and hay. These things cost money. A lot of money. I knew that I would have to find a full time job.

I did not want it to be at the store. It would have taken all that I loved and turned it into a job. I knew office work would be it. But this time round, temp or not, I am making sure that I find a better balance of working and living.

I have my priorities straight. I intend to eat my pumpkin pie before my dinner and intend to knit several hours before I go to work.

Chores? They will happen, when they happen. I have yet to see the dishes running away with the spoon.

Which always takes me to think of this.

I've never had to wonder about why I like the little things. If I could have picked, I would have chosen that 'bigger chair for 2 more to curl up in.'

2011-11-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

I was just too tired to post Friday morning. I just lay there and chatted with Mr. Needles till it was time to go. Its hard to say how I am doing but I am starting to understand the questions I need to ask. Its kind of scary and kind of fun!

There was not a lot of knitting during the week, though I think I compensated for it this weekend. I was really hoping to have the Remix sweater joined a done a little ways up the yoke. No such luck.

The giftee was out this weekend and it seems that the arms are not long enough. He tried the one completed arm on and it ended in that awful miserable place where it is not 3/4 and not nearly full length. I remeasured him and guess what. His arm and the sleeve measure to the same thing, 18 inches (from his underarm to wrist) and yet.... Sigh.

I had not planned to compensate for elbow ease, figuring that over time it would grow just a little longer all by itself. I'm not really sure what to do. I did do an additional inch on one sleeve. I might do more or might not leaving it to fate and post Christmas finishing. I will think on it a little.

Then I picked up the sweater for my daughter in law. Right now it is just a very long piece, knit in stockinette, which will one day, be a square. I worked on it till my hands simply refused to work the purls any longer. I tried working western style, wrapping and flicking the yarn and I tried to do a regular continental purl instead of my normal combined purl, but my hands were quite done. They could no longer comprehend the instructions that my brain was sending.

When the brain is no longer capable of sending signals, where do I go? Why to the kitchen of course.

I finished my day by making some pumpkin pies. With all the American Thanksgiving stuff on TV, all the ads, all the hype, I have had a hankering for a couple of days now. They will be done shortly and then, if I tuck one in the freezer to cool, should be just about right to eat before I'm ready go to sleep. The perfect end to a lovely weekend.

Eeeeeep

2011-11-23T21:16:00.001-07:00

Since I am no longer at the yarn store, I signed myself up at a temp agency. What with one thing and another, I have not been able to take the previous assignments they offered me, but I felt that to refuse the third time would look really bad. I was kind of hoping the quiet would hold off till after Christmas.

So, I'm now back at work, full time, 5 days a week for the next while. How the heck did that happen?

Well, it goes like this. I bought the farm. Farming produced about the same as it did back in the 80's - it is cash flow, not profit (or in my case, potatoes, not peaches) - and in order pay for the farm, I must work.

I had a really good time today. It felt nice to stretch my brain beyond knitting, but much as I love knitting hours and hours a day, I am sitting here, kicking myself, and wondering how on earth am I ever going to get 2 sweaters done before Christmas?

Updated:

Past the bind off for the base of the collar. I might just keep my target finishing date (end of November) on this one yet.

Actual knitting stuff

2011-11-22T20:08:00.000-07:00

I fobbed you off with photos and blocking the last few days, but today I am proud to report that there has been serious knitting accomplished and I have the pictures to prove it

Its almost long enough. Just another 3 or 4 rows and it will be time to start the split for the collar. Then 3 inches after that, I am ready to join the sleeves.

I've a little more knitting to go on one sleeve. The other is already done.

I'm following Brooklyn Tweed's Brownstone pattern. I say following because I am, as ever, not knitting to gauge. I'm doing my own gauge so that it would work with how I wanted this yarn to knit up. But the schematics, the brilliance are all Brooklyn Tweed. I hope he doesn't mind.

When you do this kind of thing, this loosely following a pattern sort of knitting, you have to have faith in your own massive ability to frog and belief that you won't be doing that any more often than if you were knitting to pattern. I have a comfortable level of both. I think.

I'm knitting this with Remix. I'm quite enjoying it and I feel just a little bad. I'm sorry about that, Sel and Poivre. I feel kind of bad that you are not having a good time with Remix, while I am. But this yarn in plain stockinette? The boss. For at least 3 hours a day. After that not so much.

I love the way it looks though, and I know the giftee is going to love wearing this.

I still want to own a bag of every colour - maybe 2. Well at least of the guy colours. I can see everybody in the family wanting one of these.

Sigh

2011-11-22T06:42:00.000-07:00

I love it when a plan comes together.

I confess, I'm a small shawl wearer. I love how they fit our modern way of life.

But I think I am a big shawl knitter. There has been nothing, nothing that compares to the pleasure of delicately displaying this shawl. Don't be surprised if there are more pictures.

Again, it is The Fir Cone Square Shawl by Cheryl Oberle, from the book, Folk Shawls.

Old stuff

2011-11-21T06:35:00.000-07:00

There has been very little knitting these last few days and I do mean very little. It seems as if I just get settled down to have a quiet moment and I am on the run again. People around here are actually expecting meals. On time. And random water runs. And snow to be shoveled.

What is up with that is that Mr. Needles is home from a small surgery and scary bout of infection and so I have extra stuff to do. These are very good things, but it all is cutting into my precious knitting time. The whole 3 sweaters before Christmas is going to be a real challenge yet.

Since there is only so much of the Remix sweater that I can do in a day - its less elastic fibres are messing with my hands - I'm planning to cast on for the last sweater of the group. It is made of pencil thick yarn on larger needles so I expect the knitting is going to be speedy. I hope that the different yarn and needles will mean that my hands feel stresses in different places and I can keep going just a little longer. If I can do that, I might just make this puppy on time!

In lieu of actual grand knitting quantities, I have a long unfinished task to show you.

I had to move it from where it had lain dormant these long months. As I picked it up, I realized it had a stong and not so pleasant odour. It was a blend of the oil scent from its weaving designed put up with a little sheepy Eucalan on top. Not good.

A complete and long rewash was in order. I gave it a second good soak in some Dawn dish detergent. A good long soak.

OK, I forgot about it for the better part of a day. Then soaked in rinse water several times. It now smells a little Dawn like but trust me, that is much much better than before.

I had to do it in two steps. I ran out of pins! I never run out of stuff like that, but I had to pull every pin to task for this mammoth job. I obviously need more pins!

I also did not use the blocking wires. The blocking wires took so long to set up, and there wasn't enough rods to do it all in one shot. I ran threads through the various parts of the shawl. One set ran around the centre of the shawl and another just before the final lace edging. The threads did the bulk of the job of opening the lace.

Its was interesting using lines to block. The last time, when I blocked the centre of this shawl, I blocked it fairly hard. The candle flame pattern needs a really good blocking to lie properly, but that firm blocking meant the shawl was going to be a monstrosity. It would swamp it's eventual owner. Using the lines, I was able to control the outgrowth of the centre a little better. It is a little smaller than before

but the lace looks beautiful.

It is about 65 inches by 78, still a very large shawl. To try to block it square would be brutal on the yarn. I simply should have knit the centre 2 repeats longer. And that note, is going into the book.

I loved every step of this shawl and I can see me doing another for myself.

-25 C

2011-11-20T04:01:00.001-07:00

Right now, at this very moment, at the weather station nearest us, the thermometer is recording -25C. That it is 2:21 a.m. is beside the point. It is cold. The forecast for the deep depths of night (as if 2:21 isn't deep enough) is -30 C.

This deep dense cold makes me wonder about one thing more than almost any other. What the heck were people thinking when they abandoned wool? Or at the very least, what the heck were Canadians thinking when we abandoned wool?

There have always been elegant suits and tailored pants in very expensive wool. It is the most classic of fabrics for modern menswear. It isn't hard to find, for ladies who want that same business like look. But outside of a really great pair of pants, or the odd very expensive sweater, there is little pure wool to be found.

Unless you shop in little boutique shops in trendy parts of town or stores that you would never ever take kids into, pure wool isn't there. In an average mall, you'll probably find only 1 or two stores with pure wool fibres, and I'd be willing to bet that when you do find it, it will be a men's wear store. If you shop in an average chain store, wool isn't there. If you shop on a budget, pure wool just isn't there.

Wool is the perfect fiber for Canada. In Canada, even in the hottest summer, having a light wool sweater at hand is the right thing. Summer nights can be chilly and spring and fall are perfect sweater wearing weather.

But winter...Winter is why Canadians should hearken unto to wool like few other places on the planet. The other wool places are like us, secure in our position on the top or the bottom of the globe. Polar people. Wool people. Wool should be our common middle name.

If I were a really talented writer, I would write a soliloquy on what it is to discover wool as an adult, and wear a wool sweater in the middle of a deeply cold and dark winter night. I would tell you how, when I slip on a wool sweater or toss a shawl across my back, the chill that haunts me, is gone. I would be able to capture the deep comfort that is sleeves curving down around my elbows, making the wool hug just a little more closely across my back as I move and work, and how a nicely buttoned sweater envelops me like my mother's hugs. I would be able to make you read and feel the wool if I were a truly talented writer.

But I am not a really talented writer. I may have been close to good on a rare occasion or two. I might turn a nice phrase once in a while and that is enough for me.

What I am is a knitter. I am a pretty good knitter and I hearken unto wool. That matters to me. That matters more than is rational and sensible. It has meaning in the deepest heart of me and in the cold of a Canadian winter night. It ties the inside me and the outside world into one.

I am cozy. I am comforted. I am warm.

I am also going back to bed.

It's -27 C now. Bed, snuggled under a pile of blankets, wrapped in my sleepy time wool shawl, is, after all, the only sensible place to be.

Snowed in

2011-11-18T05:45:00.000-07:00

You would think that being snowed in would lead to copious knitting. It did not.

What I did do was play on Ravelry. The whole afternoon. Wasted all of my knitting time playing around.

I ought to have been knitting on the sweater. I ought to have been working on the shawly other knitting, but I just did not.

And yet, it was time well wasted. In a week or two there will be an update to the library feature on Ravelry. Its going to be grand. Just wait till you see it.

With a pile of books beside me

2011-11-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

For as much of my life as I could get away with I have gone to sleep with books. I used to read voraciously and bedtime reading was a way to finish up, slow down, cap off the day with an imaginary and fantastic world. Eye problems and age (I fall asleep when I read) make me less readerly, but not less interested in stories. These days it is audio books and traditional books with a lot of pictures that capture me.

Thankfully knitting books have a lot of pictures!

Last night I pulled out yet more lace books. I have three of the 4 Interweave lace series, Tradtional Lace Shawls, The Lacy Knitting of Mary Schiffmann, and Gossamer Webs. I would love to get my hands on a copy of the now out of print Lace from a Victorian Attic, but am a little bit reluctant to pay the premium price that it demands.

Traditional Lace Shawls is what I was going through last night (while watching Amadeus, a smashing combination) and I just have to say what an excellent little book it is. It isn't the biggest, it isn't the most comprehensive, but it is a sound little collection of traditional Shetland style shawl elements. With it, you could happily create and knit shawls for a lifetime.

Taking this time before my planned year of big lace and reading through the books rather than picking elements and knitting is like taking a lace workshop from a whole lot of master knitters, and masterful thinkers. Its the little things, things like some of Margaret Stove's comments on the gauge of lace and her continuous swatches to get a needles size that shows off the lace elements to their best. There isn't any one thing that I can point to in last night's meandering read that strikes me as a revelation, but I feel so deeply inspired by the simple things I read last night, so in tune to the lace knitters who captured air and space and created lace.

There is't a lot of stuff to talk about while knitting the body of a large mans sweater in stockinette. There isn't any illumination in it, just comfort and ease and rest. But knitting these things now, when I have a short timeline and am knitting as much as I can, knitting till my hands tell me to stop, is giving me such time to dream, such time to plan and think and consider.

Beyond dreaming of knitting them, part of it is dreaming of delving into the lace stash but much of it is also contemplating the state of modern lace.

There are still the traditional shawls knit with frevor.

(Stil blocking edges on this one. Or rather still waiting to ~~find~~ make time though knitting is long done.)

But there is also the diversity and grand invention that is modern lace shawl knitting. Diversity of shaping, diversity of motif placement and construction, diversity in edgings. Take a look at this, Atelier Audrea Baron Takes the breath quite away, doesn't it? That motif in the first shawl is simply stunning. And then her Ravelry page. There are no words... I mean look at those edgings! I crave to understand the edgings.

She is just one of many many many really great people out there pushing the limits, taking lace knitting one step farther than it has ever been, keeping it fresh and fitting for our time, keeping the tradition of lace knitting alive and growing.

Lace lives.

And I am having a really, really great time thinking about it all.

Damson

2011-11-16T07:24:00.000-07:00

In the background of all this sweater knitting is a little something else.

Damson is one of the little something elses.

I was really worried about it pooling but the double stranding is doing its job and it looks great. The colours are so rich and intense. I love the depth of the blacky blue and the power of the bluey black offset against that perfect white.

Damson is the perfect shawl for strong colours like these. Its simple offset of garter and stockinette

bordered by the most basic of lace allows the colours to shine. The offset of the two patterns gives it flare. I've just got into the stockinette part as you can see.

These background projects are never fast knits. They are what is picked up when my hands tire of working on a heavier project. And right now, that main knitting is getting heavy indeed. I am about halfway up to the underarms, and the length added on to the density of the fibre means it is getting heavier than I have been able to manage this week.

Next week I have to do better to stay on schedule. Somewhere between here and Christmas, there is going to have to be some fierce knitting.

The new Twist Collective

2011-11-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

A new Twist Collective is up and oh there are some nice things.

I've been playing around and reading and looking instead of writing this morning. I probbably ought to stop it and go do something, but instead, I'm going to go back to look again.

You should do the same.

A slight hiccup

2011-11-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

Its been an odd sort of weekend. Mr. Needles had a little medical thing that meant a long sit in some very uncomfortable chairs on Saturday and a crazy mixed up Sunday. But trust me. I was the lucky one. Mr. Needles, not so lucky. He had to have some quick surgery on a knee. I expect it will be Hopalong and me for a few weeks.

I'm pretty sure there will be ample time for knitting. Heaven knows I did a fair bit of knitting on Saturday. Sunday not so much.

There was significant finishing. Remember that pretty blue Llama and Silk?

The one that a friend knit, is of a worsted weight yarn and wraps closely around my neck. This one is much larger, being in a chunky yarn. The weight of the yarn means it is much much longer. It wraps twice around my neck 3 times and the ends tuck in nicely. Unfortunately when I wrap it around my neck that much, I look a little more in fashion than I usually do.

And not in fashion in a way that I desire. In fashion like this:

Yeah. Not going to do the triple wrap thing. Slouchy double wrap with longer tails is just right. It is as close to this double chin as it is going to get.

In public at least. At home all bets are off. In the privacy of my study, I might choose to be very fashionable. It sure is nice and warm that way. Snugly and soft and good.

Remembrance Day

2011-11-11T05:16:00.001-07:00

Every year at this time, I try to find something that adequately expresses this day of Remembrance. It does not want to be found so....

I do not like war. I do not like fighting. But I firmly believe that we must stand in defense of those who can no longer stand for themselves and sadly, sometimes, that means we send our sons and daughters off. But this is really not the day to discuss that.

It is not a day to discuss if we should or should not join a conflict, not a day to discuss the right and wrong of it. It is not a day to discuss the peace movement.

This is not the day for me to opine, to question, to rant or rave or even tell you how I feel about this these things. I have every other day of the year to think and speak about those things.

This is not my day.

This day is theirs and all they ask of me is that I remember them.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. (Jose Narosky)

so, I stand in remembrance of those who come home too.

Just Enough Ruffles

2011-11-10T05:05:00.000-07:00

I have a very pretty soft gray scarf knitted out of Malabrigo in Laura Chau's Just Enough Ruffles pattern. I've always liked it. Its ruffly, but not overwhelmingly so. The yarn is gloriously soft and snuggly. It is just the right length to wrap around my neck a couple of times and tuck the ends under for superior warmth on a blustery day.

I didn't knit it. I know who did though and she has a knack of finding the most interesting stuff on the web. She donated the scarf and I snuck it out from under my boss' hands in a silent auction fundraiser the store does for the Alzheimer's Society. (I'm tricky like that, but only in silent auctions.)

I bought the pattern because I knew that someday I would want another.

Along came the Llama and Silk, the yarn without a pattern (you know where this is going, right?). Though I tried several things, nothing felt right till I started knitting this pattern's interesting short row shaping that gives it that nudge towards brilliant design.

Llama Silk is a chunkier yarn than the Malabrigo the pattern is designed for but it has the right touch of softness. I have no idea how much this is going to affect the finished size, but I have plenty of yarn and I am very willing to play.

Or I was till I got to the part that says '600 stitches' . The designer seems to be flinging that phrase about rather blithely. Casually even.

I was having a really good time till I got to 600 stitches.

There is one good part. After the whole 600 stitches fiasco, there are only a very few rows. Just enough for the ruffle to gain some depth and an appropriately ruffly appearance.

But still.

Nicki Epstein and Knitting Block by Block

2011-11-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

Nicki Epstein is hanging around our store today. Well, OK, hardly hanging around. Working her heart out, actually and everyone, every single person walking out the door has had an absolutely marvelous time in her classes. She is a lovely warm person, with a wonderful laugh.

But it really made me think about her work, and about all the great designers and knitters, indeed it makes me wonder what they were thinking about when they create.

I'd be willing to hazard a guess that their first thought would be something like, 'neat'. I like to think that way back in time, when the first knit 2 together was done in the middle of a fabric, and the maker realized that it left a hole and that it kind of looked nice, and that when that knitter decided to do a few more holes in that row, that they would have said something close to that.

I'd bet that the person who figured out how to do a leaf shape in lace, had that same reaction. (I sure do when I follow the directions to make one) I'd bet the first person who managed colour work felt the same.

So when I look at the many interesting things Nicki has come up with, when I looked at the her books scattered around the store, I wonder what happens, what she is thinking as she comes up with such interesting things.

I have always held that we who follow, stand on the shoulders of those who go before us. It seems only right, particularly now that I have met Nicki, to say, I'll step lightly and thanks for taking the lead.

PS, her most recent book might be titled Knitting Block by Block but there is so much creativity in it, that you will use it in a thousand different ways.

Multi

2011-11-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

I was all over the map yesterday.

I worked on sleeve 2 of the sweater. I worked on the body of the sweater. I worked on the lovely blue yarn. I worked on some socks. I finished one project besides that. My housework proceeded in much the same way. A little of this, a little of that.

It feels like I did nothing and yet, had I stuck to one thing in either area, significant change would have been seen. Still, all the days work will show up one day when these projects come nearer completion.

It will feel that I suddenly have completed projects springing to life out of thin air.

Today though, I will be taking it a little easy. I have a tiny little cut, so small I don't even remember getting it, a paper cut most likely, on the tip of my index finger. It is right where it interferes a little. I'm going to knit only on socks for today. I can knit socks western style and avoid it altogether till it heals a little. A day or two should take care of it.

2011-11-07T06:44:00.000-07:00

I feel a strong desire to go back to bed this morning and I had a good sleep too. Maybe this is catch up for last week when it felt like I barely slept at all.

There was much sweater knitting yesterday.

I knit a lot on the second sleeve, and then decided that I should knit a little on the body for relief. I find that the small needles in such a tight circle end up being just a little hard on my hands. It was nice to cast on when I had plenty of time to do it right the first time. And yes I did get it right the first time.

I knit as much as my hands were going to take but as usual, there was a bunch of day left, so I wound some yarn. It was that lovely blue Llama Silk that I picked up when I was working the other day.

And then I knit some on it. Nice and relaxed. Larger needles, but not so large that it felt like broomsticks. It was lots of fun. It felt slightly naughty, as if I was breaking a rule. It's kind of a nice feeling. Might do it again today.

Close

2011-11-04T05:53:00.000-06:00

but no cigar.

I did not get away unscathed a third time. We worked hard, but there still was time to shop a little. I did't follow anybody's plan.

This is Diamond Yarns Luxury Collection Llama and Silk. It kind of looks like an ordinary blue, a nice tweedy blue, but this is one of the yarns you have to see to believe. It is one of those colours that defies photography.

It is teal but not, turquoise, but not, navy but not. It has depth and intensity that is hard to define. It doesn't matter since it is mine. All mine.

I have enough for a nice long wide shallow triangular scarf. Possibly a Shape It Scarf. But first...

There is always work going on on the second sweater. Remix is a seriously fine yarn to work with. So much so that if I had the room I would buy a full bag in every colour. Its that rare non wool yarn that might very well do everything well. It's like the Cascade 220 of non wool yarns, but it's tweedy and easy care. There will be more in my future.

Sleeve one is done and sleeve two is underway. There has not been much time to knit but had there been, sleeve two should have been about half done.

Should have been but isn't. This lovely cuff was about an inch wider than the first cuff and had to be completely reknit. And when I was comparing first to second sleeve again last night, cuff two is several rows longer than cuff one and a couple inches has to be frogged to fix it.

I have a ton of work to do today. Working the last few days put a crimp in the laundry schedule and I am out of bread so I have to bake too. These are both things that can happen alongside large amounts of knitting and if heaven works in my favour, there will be a significant part of the second sleeve done before I go to sleep tonite.

And if I get sick of sleeves, I can always start working on the body. The sleeves require increasing all the way up, so its knitting I have to pay attention to. The body is just brainless stockinette.

I'm looking forward to brainless. Brainless knitting is highly underrated.

Day 2

2011-11-02T20:10:00.001-06:00

Again with the no touching of the ArtYarns.

Inconceivable.

I did come up with one other idea that fits the plan criteria. I love the Undercurrent sweater from Knitty First Fall 2011 I have some gorgeous Noro Silver Thaw that would be just about perfect for it. All I need is another yarn to coordinate. There are a couple things at the downtown location that might work, but I didn't even get the chance to think about it. Oh well. I'm back there for a few days next week. Maybe I'll get the chance to figure it out then.

Now, for tomorrow. Tomorrow, I am at the southside location. Southside has some slightly different yarns. I need another plan.

All this planning is hard work. Maybe the plan should be to touch some of the Artyarns. Touching it is the sort of thing I should probably schedule. Its safer that way.

And in breaking news, Mr. Needles sweater is finally dry!

I was asking him to 'vogue' but I clicked the camera too soon. He might have been voguing just after this shot, or maybe it was just that he was bent over laughing at the very idea...

The Plan

2011-11-02T06:27:00.000-06:00

Well the plan worked.

Within a minute of familiarizing myself with where things were in the store, I knew I would not go home with yarn. They did not have the colour I hoped for.

Within a minute of knowing that, I knew that I wouldn't be able to stick to the plan. I played with such lovely yarn yesterday. I spent the morning pricing and sorting and getting the yarns ready for the shelves for both stores. In the afternoon, I worked with students till 4 pm and then priced to the end of the day.

When I say to the end of the day, I mean right to the end of the day. I did not have a single moment to even cruise the store, looking for something interesting, or beguiling or even checking out how much of a particular colour of Remix they had in stock.

So, I came home with no yarn. I stuck to my plan through no fault and with no resolve of my own and I kind of regret that.

I mean, they have Madelinetosh Vintage in stock. They have a whole bunch of new colours and fiber qualities of Iris Schreier's glorious Artyarns in stock. I didn't even get to touch any of it. Not even a single squeeze.

Well I did brush the Art Yarns once in passing, but just once. Not hardly a real touch at all. Barely a fondle.

It was most unfair.

Ice

2011-10-31T21:11:00.000-06:00

I'm doing a few shifts at the yarn store the next couple weeks. Sunday was one of them. I was feeling weak, so I went with a plan of attack.

The plan of attack was that if I bought yarn, it had to be pre-planned and it had to work with something I already had in the stash. It couldn't be a whole project on its own. So, the thinking began. What do I ~~need~~ want in my wardrobe that I did not have yarn for, and that I had a reasonable chance of finding in the store on any given day. And the deal breaker was that if they didn't have exactly what I was looking for, I could not get anything else.

Ever since finishing Mr. Needles Lichen vest, I have wanted a colourwork vest made with Cascade 220 for me.

There were a couple of lovely things in Folk Vests, my recent constant companion.

I checked out a favourite, Scandinavian Star. I checked Ravelry to see what others had done. Right there, without looking any farther, I saw perfection. A lovely blue and white version. Sigh. Breathtaking.

I have a bunch of white Cascade 220 in my stash. I have the the book and pattern. All I needed was a nice icy blue.

Cascade 220 is a fast moving product. If you see what you want, buy it and buy it now. It isn't going to be there the next time you go in. I knew the blues that I didn't want, but was a whole lot less certain of what I wanted. I wanted really soft blue. I wanted cool. Not pastel.

I winned! Planning worked so well, I think I will do it again.

Perhaps a plain sock yarn? No. Too easy.

..........thinking...thinking...thinking...

Ahhh there it is. I have a lone ball of Fritidisgarn in a soft oatmeal colour. I'll use it with some of the Cascade Eco on hand. A gradient sweater perhaps? The New Zimmermann book has one that is firing up my imagination. I don't have quite enough Cascade Eco to get on with, but with the addition of a couple balls of oatmeal, it will be just right. The price is right on Fritidisgarn too. Under 5 dollars a ball. Perfect.

Here is hoping they have the oatmeal colour I want. Otherwise I am toast.

One down

2011-10-31T06:57:00.002-06:00

One sweater down.

It doesn't look like much in the picture but lying flat in its, dampish state, it hardly looks like a sweater.

What an adventure knitting it, though. I followed EZ's design for set in sleeves and knit them simultaneously. I did adjust a few things.

EZ worked off percentages, but since I had no idea and could only take a wild guess at the number of stitches before I started working sleeves together, I fudged it. By the numbers, I think the sleeves and upper body would have been a little too short. So as usual, I followed what felt right and it worked.

I did have a bit of a stop and consider when I got to the top of the sleeves. I wasn't sure how I was going to approach that. Again, I felt that if I followed her instructions implicitly, I would end up with too little room on the shoulders. I did the knit and attach sleeve caps across the fronts and backs all the way up to where the shoulders needed joining. When both the fronts and backs were done, I did a three needle bind off. I considered doing the bind off in the usual way, so the ridge was inside, but I like that little ridgey look. I did it on the outside. Easy peasy and it looks great too.

I kept making the poor fellow try it on. I wouldn't have needed to do that if I was knitting a gansey. I'm comfortable with the fit he would need with those big open sleeves, but this, with its closer and more defined fit, left me feeling unsure. But I think, when you see a picture of him in it, you will agree, it worked out very nice.

So a very good weekends work. Better pictures tomorrow.

On to sweater 2. I'm knitting this one bottom up as well. The pattern shows raglan sleeves, but I may or may not do that. I might do this sleeve again, and give Son2 fitted sleeves. I know the fitted sleeves look great on him, and I am not sure the raglans do. I suppose it isn't a concern on a big broad shouldered guy but...you know me. I will worry till it is done.

Fridays File

2011-10-28T06:45:00.000-06:00

We are still waiting for my daughter in laws paperwork to go through and its getting so very close. Her medical stuff is back in Kiev and we are just waiting for the final decision. If the world works the way it should, she should be here before Christmas. I'm so excited and thrilled.

Its hard enough to move cities within the same country, much less leave and come to a place where the language you hear, where the words on the page, where the TV is so very different. Every facet, every minute of the day will be so very different.

I wonder at my son's wait, and I wonder at my daughter in law. My son is working as much as he can so he doesn't think. My poor daughter in law, my poor sweet girl. Everything is about the wait. When she sits in her home, she thinks about packing. When she sits with friends she thinks about the leaving them.

As you can see, I'm setting myself up to worry for my sweet daughter in law and like all worries, it is energy spent foolishly. My time is better spent elsewhere...only I don't know where. Or how. I hate when that happens. I hate the not knowing what is needed, what will be needed. I'd much rather know and then do. I'm better at doing than I am at not knowing. This waiting to know place is almost impossible to bear.

And so I knit. Its the doing part of knitting that makes it mean so much to me. I can do this and keep occupied. I can do this and not lose my head. I can do this and think about everything else other than the waiting. And so I knit.

I knit from the minute I get up till my hands give out. Then I do other stuff. Yesterday I made a bunch of apple strudel for the freezer and a great huge apple crisp. When that was done, I made a huge batch of chili, some for dinner and a bunch to freeze.

I don't know what I will do today. It might involve housecleaning.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch

2011-10-27T05:32:00.000-06:00

I didn't get a whole lot done yesterday. A few rows in the morning a few rows at night, and that was it. Today though, today, my name is knitting.

I intend to move this one forward. It shouldn't take too long, really. It is after all down hill from here.

After knitting a very large part of the sweater without knowing just what kind of sleeves I would do, just what I was doing on the shoulders, I have finally come to a decision. It will be bottom up, simultaneous set in sleeves with a saddle. Of course, at this point, the saddle is still negotiable. That is part of the fun of not following a pattern. I can change my mind as I go, depending on what I feel like doing the moment I need to start doing it. Sometimes, it blows up my face, but that is part of the fun of it too. The adventure of the unknown.

There will be a point today, when my hands are going to give out. I know that already. When they do, I am going to be working on this.

I have had this quilt topper on the go for at least 10 years. There was no rush on it. I worked on it in batches of time when I had nothing else to do. Its the style of quilt topper from when quilting meant sewing the layers together and elaborate patterning in the stitching was the focus as much as the sewing the top together. I was doing it for the stitching not sewing the topper. The white squares will eventually have a stitched fan across the corner topped with an elaborate spray of roses. The stitching on the white squares will be done in soft dusty blue thread.

Or that is the plan. Its always been the plan. It stayed as a plan for a very long time. Till one day last week, when my hands needed a rest from knitting. I had knit a ton, had wound as much laceweight as I could bear in one sitting, and I still needed to be doing something so I wouldn't drive myself nuts. I dug in the cupboards till I found the quilt top and decided now was the time. Up till now, only half the squares were sewn together and it is time to move this puppy along.

At the time I started it, I meant it to be a quilt for my bed, a queen size. Now I mean it to be for the guest bed, a double. The half done top was magically a 3/4 done top. Its plenty large now, so the only sewing left to do is the plain blue borders.

There has never been a rush to do this, but things change. There is a sort of rush on it now. Remember these?

Taking up a lot of room. It would really be nice to put the 'turn down the furnace, sleep under wool quilt' part of that plan into action.

Looking good.

2011-10-25T21:23:00.000-06:00

There is always a place I get to when I am knitting a sweater, where I feel like my nine year old nephew riding on a roller coaster, in the dark, at Disneyworld, screaming "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die' every time we were headed down. (I was right there behind him. I thought it sweet of him to say exactly what I was thinking. It was in the dark. Big D dark.)

I get that same gaping hole in the pit of the stomach feeling just before it is time to try a sweater on. What if the fabric looks like trash when it's on him? What if the yarn won't hold together? What if I discover an error in the pattern an inch from the bottom? What if it doesn't fit?

This year the answer is I would have spent an entire month of my life knitting... badly, that's what. It would put a real kink in the 3 sweaters before Christmas plan this year.

It's fine.

Math strikes again. And wins. Funny that.

If it looks like Mr. Needles is standing there a little stiffly, it is because he is gripping the sweater with his armpits to hold it up and is saying testily 'what's the camera for?

He gets the blog part, but the need for a headless shot of a sweater during a fitting is beyond him. He'd rather have this kind of photo.

So I'll give him one. After all, he did hold the sweater up rather nicely.

Little Red in the City

2011-10-25T06:12:00.001-06:00

I have a lot of books. I love my books and I read them through as often as I can, though since the knitting thing became a factor in my days, I read somewhat less. It should come as no surprise that since the knitting thing came along, there has been a massive accumulation of knitting books. I keep thinking that surely, I have the really good ones and yet...

Little Red in the City by Ysolda Teague

available in paperback and digital copy or a combination of both!

I like her work. I have knit several of her Liesl sweaters, and firmly intend to knit that marvelous little pattern again. (I'm going to wait a few years though. Don't want to flood the wardrobe a single pattern no matter how much I love it) I've knit her masterful Ishbel and have a second planned. I'm working on Damson right now. I have the Coraline pattern and it sits at the top of the sweater queue. Her wee baby shoes are the cutest thing out there, bar none. But Ysolda has so much more in store in Little Red in the City.

If you have ever needed to alter a hand knit for anyone, get hold of a copy of this book. It has some of the best and most comprehensive photos and drawings of how and why and where to adjust. She doesn't just tell you this is a good place to adjust, or tell you how to do it, she tells you why.

She tells you why you want to do it here rather than there. Her drawing on one of the garments in the book (pg 55), while discussing short rows, answered a long pondered question. She includes a section on how to calculate the number of short rows you need that takes you far beyond the usual ' add some short rows for bust shaping'.

She not only shows specific things but shows you what the difference looks like on samples. She doesn't just say that colourwork in knitting works better in woollen spun yarns, she shows you why. Her samples (pg 12) of worsted spun birdies and woollen spun birdies side by side clear up the why for even the newest colourwork knitter.

Ysolda isn't afraid to take you on her journey understanding why either. By showing and disscussing some of the things that she didn't think about while working up the designs, she teaches us how to examine our work, how to see our own failures in the way they should be looked at, as lessons.

Sitting, reading the book last night, it felt as if I was sitting in a knit group and having coffee with her. Her warm and chatty style makes the massive amounts of information she gives, easy to take in. You get an overwhelming amount of information without being overwhelmed.

It is a comfortable book, written by Ysolda, a knitter among us, who is right smart and clever, who lives just round the corner. (In this instance, the globe is the corner, but where friendship and knitting are concerned, that just isn't that far.) Not at all intimidating, not at all inaccessible, just warm and friendly and good.

And then there are all the patterns. I didn't even get to the patterns!

My kind of book and I hope yours too. Get hold of a copy. Well worth it.

6 ridges, 12 rows

2011-10-24T07:17:00.000-06:00

I've done less knitting than I planned this weekend. I'd hoped to get Mr. Needles sweater joined, body to sleeves, and the sleeve decreases begun. But I didn't. (These sleeves have been dreadfully slow.) For the life of me, I don't know what I did.

I didn't knit a lot on anything but the sweater. A little on a sock while I cooked my dinner and lunch, a little on my other sock. Not a lot of results there either.

I do know that at the end of Sunday my hands were aching. I know that the weather plays in this. I know it plays in how speedy my knitting is. I do know I put in what felt like a lot of knitting hours. Still, it is what it is. Not a lot of knitting.

It is 6 ridges or 12 rows till I join. Not a lot of knitting. Small rounds. Not much. We'll see how it goes today.

Going to have a quiet day

2011-10-21T05:37:00.000-06:00

I'm going to have a quiet day. I accomplished a lot this week, but I am still behind my target. So I'm going to have a quiet day and just work on getting to that target.

There was knitting yesterday. Much knitting. I did work on a sleeve of sweater number 2, and I think its going nicely. I haven't checked gauge on the knitting yet, but I will.

Oh I will. Several times. Gauge is a stern mistress.

Sneaking off

2011-10-20T06:29:00.000-06:00

I'm sneaking off to town today but before I go I have some stuff to finish up. I have a section to finish in my upgrading. I have a couple of loads of laundry to deal with and I have to figure out what to knit when I go. The first 2 are easy to do. Just sit down and do it. The last one, not so much.

I did move forward on the second sleeve. I didn't get nearly as much done here as I thought, but I did get a lot done in other things, so the balance is probably just right.

The sensible thing to do is probably to keep working on this sweater and get the sleeve knit, but I don't think I can do it. Even this simple pattern takes a fair bit of counting and it is very easy to get off track. I don't like the idea of having to fix it all later.

But...I do have that other sweater in the wings. The Gray Remix is calling and starting work on that project might be just the thing. Son 2 has chosen a Brownstone Pullover from Brooklyn Tweed. It would be lovely if I could do it in Shelter, but Son 2 is not a wool sort of guy. He was, a very long time and about 5 feet ago, the sort of guy you had to cut the feet out of sleepers for. So Remix it is.

I have a swatch worked up.

I have no idea what gauge is yet, but I do know which needle I am going to use. The bottom small section of the swatch was done with 4.5 mm needles and the top with 4mm. I'm going with the 4. It is just right for this yarn. The fabric is stable and soft and just about perfect. There will be a little gauge hinkying around, I think. I haven't counted it yet, but it seems just that wee bit smaller that is the difference between working out perfectly and needing tweaking. I have a feeling it is close to 20 stitches per inch, rather than the 18 the pattern requires.

I'm not worried about it. It's a basic guy sweater. I can gauge hinky in a straight body, no shaping sweater with my eyes closed.

Big talk? Yes. Overconfident? Yes and as we all know, Mother Kniture likes to bite back. Hard. As much as I would like to simply sit down and knit, I am going to take the time and do the math. Twice. Its worth the effort and the time. It might be a simple pattern,

and it might be mostly stockinette, but a sweater is only as good as what goes into it. I intend this one to be good.

I will be ready to start the sleeves when I sit down for coffee this morning but I am not going to rush it. I'll be checking my gauge as I knit just to be sure. And to stay sure.

Wish me luck. Say a prayer to Mother Kniture. It can't hurt.

Little Knitting

2011-10-19T05:46:00.000-06:00

I was a paragon of domesticity yesterday At 9:30 I went up to work on the apples. If you know someone with more than 1 good apple tree, you know that they are giving stuff away in the fall. Its been a great season here for apples. Late frost and warm fall meant that they just got better and better.

Because the variety of these apples was unknown to me, I erred on the side of caution. They reminded me a lot of my Uncle Victor's good eaters. Crisp and juicy to eat but they have a different sort of texture when baked. I made a couple of the pies and made some mini strudels to test just how they performed in baking.

While they are not quite juicy enough for pies, they will be wonderful for strudels. The apple gets mushy rather than staying crisp and developing a lot of juice. For instance, the pies did not really develop that sort of juice that bubbles up from under the crust and soils the bottom of your oven.

Once the pies were done for the day, I turned to bread baking and that took much of the rest of the day. I put on a pot of stew for supper, topped it with dumplings and ended my day with only a little knitting done on the kitchen sock but a lot of good things for my freezer.

Today, there will be knitting. May it be as fruitful as yesterday. I'm aiming for a sleeve.

?????

2011-10-18T07:40:00.000-06:00

I'm knitting away on sweaters here. Mr. Needles is my focus right now. One other has been swatched and a third in the dreaming of stage.

My question is directed to myself this morning. 'Self', I ask, "self, what on earth are you about when you buy yarn?'

Yes that is the question isn't it? My stash is proof of my fear of running out of yarn but really, this is quite ridiculous.

This sweater is a perfect example. Body

and sleeve.

and so far I have used 2 and this much of a third.

Using this as my guide, I would guess that I will use two more skiens of yarn.

I have 8.

So ?????

I wonder if I should change my Ravelry name to something like 'nevergonnarunoutofyarn' ?

Patience

2011-10-17T07:41:00.000-06:00

In thinking about lace, I am reminded of patience. You have to have a lot of patience to knit the stuff, but even before that, lace requires patience.

I was playing around in the big box of lace yarn and realized a skein of Merino Silk was in peril. It was looking ragged around the edges. Its softly folded ends of the skein were looking disordered in a way that usually means knots rather than knits. So I decided to sit down and deal with it.

I know a lot of people who wind this sort of very fine lace by hand rather than on the ball winder. I have done both but this time choose to do it by hand. And it is a good thing too. The messy looking ends meant that there strands were out of order all along the way.

You can get through almost anything in yarn and have the outcome be beautiful if you take your time, don't pull anything tight and accept that it will take just exactly as long as it takes.

Lace is in every way, at every step, a metaphor for patience.

2011-10-15T09:53:00.000-06:00

I fell asleep last night to the sounds of "Serenity'" playing on the DVD player and promptly fell into dreams of Victorian Lace. I have no idea how or why that happened, but I thought the juxtaposition was interesting. Perhaps it is the two sides of me, the lace loving wishing I would grow up and be a lady one day side and the adventure story loving hope I never have to grow up me.

With morning, an early morning, came a powerful need to continue. I turned the movie back on and languished in bed watching it and reading Victorian Lace Today. It was my first lace book bought when I barely understood what knitting was, what its mysteries were, what the different decreases could do and how, goodness me, yarn overs could possibly figure into it all. It was always where I dreamed my knitting journey could take me. After re-reading that lace masterwork, its not a wonder that I have accidentally accumulated so much lace yarn. Its early influence has prepared my stash well.

Still, it is time to leave the dreams aside for a bit and face the work of the day. My house is surprisingly tidy. Even the kitchen is clean - by my standards - and yesterdays work work is more or less done.

I slayed the demon that was slowing my progress in upgrading (just a matter of terms that relate to absolutely nothing else in the program) and am now 1 module away from completion. Of step one. (There are many steps yet to do). It would have been grand to get that last module finished but 4:30 is a good quitting time for work on a Friday afternoon.

In knitting, I would have had the front of the sweater done but I realized part way through knitting it, that I was doing it all wrong. My intention was to knit this one the EZ way, her hybrid or saddle shoulder. The sleeves need to be ready t attach once you get to the underarm of the body part. So I ripped and am working on sleeve one. After the long round of the body, the sleeve is clipping along quite nicely.

Because there is nothing demanding my attention but for a leisurely drive to the farm later today, I anticipate that the second sleeve will be begun, and maybe by the time this weekend is done there will be progress on the yoke of this sweater. That is when the fun begins and I get to follow Elizabeth and her innovations. What suits me most is the intensely practical, prosaic Elizabeth and well thought out common sense leading to great beauty and inspiration.

The work of the day is sleeves, and "Sense and Sensibility"is on TV. Common sense and a little dreaming. That just seems right somehow.

At Loose ends

2011-10-14T06:26:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting here contemplating loose ends. Not knitting lose ends. Heaven knows there is enough yarn here and more desired projects than I can begin to list, and I have a sweater to finish before Christmas and a bunch of other stuff on the go too. Plenty to knit. Plenty of Knitting ends, few of them loose.

I'm at loose ends because I had a plan for this week and it isn't happening because of my faulty memory. I thought it was supposed to happen on Thursday and my whole week was built around it. Week went just right till Thursday. Even Thursday was going right till about 10 a.m. when I realized that Wednesday had been the 12th, and there was no possible way Thursday could be the 18th. No. It happens on Tuesday the 18th.

It was a little deflating. I really don't want to drive in to town and I don't have the mental capacity to work using my slow home internet. I likely will do one or the other, but I am not sure I have the mental capacity for it. If my capacity is small and my network is slow, I ought to deliberately go slowly forward and tackle the things that are giving me trouble. It sounds a little counter-intuitive, doesn't it.

Its like when I am trying to work through a challenging instruction while knitting something. If I go slower than seems possible and take it one instruction at a time, if I focus one one small stitch over and over...

I will peel off the icky parts, struggle through the slowness. All the more time to really absorb it.

I figure that if there are frequent knitting breaks through the day, I just might survive. If I get the sweater front done today, that means the breaks were about right.

There. I feel better now. Loose ends defeated by a plan of attack and couple simple goals. Plow through the parts I am not having fun with in my work and a knit goal to reward me and save my sanity.

Really good day

2011-10-13T07:41:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was one of those days, those days that were just so darn good that you sort of wished everyday was like that.

It wasn't that everything was going my way. There were several times through the day where I faced my inability to remember a thing for more than 5 minutes, there were several times where I had to wonder about the general level of my intelligence. To top it off, I spent very, very little time knitting. It could have been the kind of day where going to bed at the end of it, was the best thing in the whole day.

Instead, all the less than positive things are put to their proper place. None of it was critical bad, and none of it meant anything to anyone but me. I will do better tomorrow. (maybe)

I met a friend for a beer and a nice chat about everything under the sun. We've known each other for several years. We live in the same city. For the past few years we worked just a stones throw from each other but we have only met twice. We talked about all the friends we have in common, who we have also not met, and all the silly things we have talked about and the people that we miss and how conversation and our differences enrich us all. That is how it goes with imaginary friends.

A little later I met up with some knitters at the library. Our knitting might bring us together and there is always talk about knitting and hand work but it is the general conversation and camaraderie that keeps us all coming back. It is a place to get out of your real world for just a bit and step away from being mom, wife, employee, whatever other hat you wear in your day to day existence, and can just be, sharing or listening as you wish. Some times the chat is only knitting. Sometimes its impromptu how to sessions and technical skills. Sometimes it is silly giddy fun,and sometimes it borders on philosophical and warmth and kindness and is so rich and warm that you feel your heart is going to burst with the goodness of it.

That was the kind of day I had. A day where at the end of each little thing I did, I felt the smallest bit bereft that it was done and that there wouldn't be more till the next time - except for that part early in the day wherein I faced my intelligence and found it to be lacking (I could have done without that I suppose). It was the sort of day, where it was so good, that facing the sorry bits was small in comparison with the goodness of everything else around it.

And then I came home and picked up the mail and faced the kindness of other good friends who I have never met.

Curlerchick went out of her way and picked up a copy for me, went down to the post office and sent it on its way. I appreciate the time you took to do this so much. It capped a day filled with warm memories and good friends.

And so I headed off to sleep, surrounded by the good thoughts and happy moments of my day, reading the silly, the ordinary, the sometimes profound and moving thoughts of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. A good writer illuminates the human condition and Pearl-McPhee is a good writer.

I couldn't have asked for more.

Bitten by the lace thing

2011-10-12T05:42:00.001-06:00

Oh yeah.

After taking all my lace books upstairs for bedtime reading, after playing in the lace, I am ready to dream lace again.

Last night I was reading Gossamer Webs. I've always been just a bit intimidated by Gossamer Webs and delicate things that are Orenburg shawls. But reading carefully, paying close attention to the details of construction, there are a couple things I noted that make me wonder if its all in my head.

They are knit on small needles, 1.75 to 2.00 mm and no bigger than 2.75mm needles. That is pretty small as far as needles for lace goes. Most lace shawl patterns on Ravelry are knit with needles somewhere in the range of 4 mm and up. (Not counting for personal gauge, of course)

Orenburg shawls rely on very simple stitches. Yarn overs, knit 2 together and Knit 3 together. Yup, that is it, all on a garter stitch ground. Like anything else in knitting, this very simplicity is the heart of its mystery.

One of the things that intimidated me was that Orenburg lace is noted for having patterning on both sides. But...the patterning that happens on both sides is no more difficult than what I did on the Watershed (which wasn't so hard once I found my rhythm.)

Orenburg lace won't be hard to do, but it will be intense. Its beauty is in the very fine fabric created by tiny stitches, and the sheer number of elements worked to create these stunning shawls. Add to that the very very fine yarn and you have created a masterwork.

Knitting lace isn't a mystery, it is just mastering your fears. And then doing it.

Makes me think I will finish the pretty pink thing.

The pink shawl isn't related to Orenburg at all. Not in its structure, not in it's patterning. It is related in the things I have chosen to make my version of Icarus with. I've used one of the finest yarns in my collection, Skacel Merino lace and I am knitting on small needles, 2.75 mm.

If I ever want to knit Orenburg lace, I am going to have to be able to finish this relatively simple to knit shawl.

Its kind of pretty. And I do have those many, many kinds of pink beads. I might just be reconnecting to it.

But not till after these sweaters are done.

Playing around

2011-10-10T21:01:00.000-06:00

I did a lot of knitting this weekend, but I wish I could have done more. My hands always give out before my heart does.

So I tidied the ever messy study, and had to put away a lately come to me skein of Centolavaggi. I've had a long love for this yearn...let's just pretend that was a spelling error, OK? It was my first laceweight affair before I knit and it tipped me over the edge.

I've collected some lovely lace yarns. There was a show of it last year during camping season. The show starts on June 7 and goes all week. I've picked up a few pretty things since then.

It occurs to me that though I love lace and have a large stash of beautiful things, delicate things, bright strong things, delicate dainty lacy things, there hasn't been a whole lot of knitting with it.

This past year, I sort of promised myself that besides the WIPs, I would work on sweaters. Maybe this coming year, I will work on shawls. Concentrating on light lacy delicate shawls of elegance, daring, and loveliness unsurpassed sounds really interesting.

Might be the yarn fumes talking, but shawls and lace are definitely going to be on the menu.

Giving Thanks

2011-10-09T21:08:00.000-06:00

There are dozens of things to give thanks for this year. I have a wonderful husband, some great kids, a wonderful daughter, who heaven and Canada Immigration willing, will be here soon, and so much much more.

But mostly, I am thankful that this is done. Done zippering, done blocking, DONE.

Years and years in the making. The first idea of it was in 2008!

A Penchant for Little Things

2011-10-07T06:27:00.001-06:00

For anyone who has hung around this blog long enough, it will come as no surprise, that I have a penchant for small things. I have a few books I have spoken of and many more that I haven't. I am pretty sure I have shown a few pictures, though in my searching, I couldn't find a time when I did.

I love little things. I have them hiding in a box, because I have no where to put them. While I would love to have a huge cabinet house, in all my years of searching, I haven't found anything that would work at a price I was willing to pay. But now I think I have.

A local raveler was looking to get rid of a small cabinet leftover from a bathroom renovation. See that wee bottom shelf? Garden. Inside there is plenty of space for some wee rooms, a living room, a dining room, maybe a bedroom. Might be space for an attic too, if I had another shelf. It won't be huge and grand, but it will be a wee slice of miniature. I just have to convince Mr. Needles to put some glass in the center of the door panels.

The cabinet inspired me and has had me thinking small lately . To that end, new knitting needles arrived yesterday.

Let's give it a little context.

The yarn in the picture is Misti Alpaca Laceweight. The big needle is a 1.5 mm Addi Turbo. The middle needle is a .75mm needle or an 6/0 in US sizing and the wee one is a .5mm or 8/0 US. I have not lost it completely, though. As evidence, I submit that there are 3 sizes of needles available for order that are smaller. I'm not sure I could even see a .25 mm needle.

The two wee tiny needles are from Althea Crome, the hands behind the tiny sweater from the film Coraline. Check out the things she has on her website, Bugknits.com. Needles, patterns, and a gallery of itty bitty treasure.

I'm contemplating knitting wee soft treasures for in my rooms. A wee kitchen has to have dishcloths and tablecloths. A wee living room needs curtains and a blanket to cozy up under tossed across the sofa, a bedroom needs wee garments hanging at the ready and some socks under the bed. And garden rooms need wee blooms and greenery and quite possibly cats and chickens too.

Right now, I have two sweaters for large men on the go. I have another blanket on the go too. All big stuff. Contemplating itty bitty is the perfect antidote.

Sweaters biting back

2011-10-06T09:24:00.000-06:00

I did not have an internet connection this morning. In a series of internet kerfuffles, this bugs me most. Not having an internet connection isn’t going to kill me, but it sure impedes life as I know it. And like it. Please ignore the early morning whine you hear in my voice. It really is related to the knitting.

I’ve worked a little on the sock, a little on the Damson, and a little on Mr. Needles new sweater over the last few days. I have not had a chance to finish the last few stitches of facing on Mr. Needles vest, and the likelihood of getting to it is almost zero. I need a little bit of my brain left to do it and my brain, after working at the yarn store, is just not used to intense thought every single day.

Because Damson, sweet thing though it is, is in the plain garter stitch part, and the sock is just a plain funky coloured sock, I wanted to talk about Mr. Needles new sweater.

The plan is for a very simply knit sweater. Above the arms it will get interesting, but the bottom is pretty plain. I wanted to do a little something to relive any tedium so I planned for a garter rib pattern for the body. I’ve had a real bugger of a time getting it set up.

First, I erred on counting the stitch gauge from my swatch so I cast on too few stitches. This was rather inconvenient since I already had the whole of the bottom ribbing done. I decided to think of this garment as an EZ percentage system garment, so all that needs doing is to increase up to the number of stitches I needed. Sounds easy, right?

It wasn’t easy at all.

First I divided my stitches for front and back unevenly and I did not discover that till at the end of the second sides increases. Undid that and redid them correctly, but I forgot to do them on the second side. I redid that and then finally knit merrily onward. I had about 4 inches of body done and I realized that the first plan of 6x2 garter rib did not look as nice as I hoped. Somehow that simple pattern looked busy. So I ripped back to the ribbing and started over again.

All the numbers had to be rejiggered for the 9 x 3 count that I am now going to do. I sat down and merrily knit errors left right and center. Once again, knit a little and back to the ribbing. Rinse. Repeat.

I think I have it now. I have the same number of stitches on the front and the back. I have the stitch pattern all set up, the 3 stitch garter ribs stitches off setting the panels of 9 stockinette. I don’t know if this is the perfect look, but no matter what happens I am not redoing it.

And yet, I have this feeling...

It feels as if the sweater is trying to tell me something. Maybe the sweater really wanted to be plain stockinette but is letting me make the garter ribbing...and is sitting tight till I have put at least another ball of yarn into it. And then it is going to bite me.

Sweaters can be like that, you see. Not vindictive. I don't think a yarn thing could ever be truly vindictive but yarn things are not about to try and convince a bullheaded moose type that her plan isn't going to look right.

Nah, a sweater usually sits back and lets you go on till you have invested heavily into it and then it will bite back.

Not vindictive, but hard enough so that you get the message. No. Not vindictive at all. Whatever gave me that idea?

Significantly different.

2011-10-05T06:40:00.000-06:00

Contrary to what the title implies, there is nothing significantly different in the knitting today. I worked on the pretty little Damson shawl a little yesterday, and a wee bit - two or three rows - on a sock and that was it. Some days just end up not being busy with the knitting sort of days. It was a working on the computer day and in this instance, that didn't mean spending hours on Ravelry looking at projects and dreaming.

Its going to be a little like that today too. There are going to be a few days like that in the next week or so, but then I should be back to my normal knit all day self. So, in advance, if the knitting content seems sketchy, well, my bad.

On the very upside, I have been asked to knit a sweater by one of my boys. Granted he passed boyhood long ago, and he is a rather tall and broad shouldered man, he asked for a sweater.

We had a disscussion on Facebook about colour (he did not care) and fibre (he wanted cotton, but substantial cotton), and we came up with this.

The warm yummy goodness of Berroco Remix. I like it for several reasons. Its completly made from recycled fibres. Its got a significant natural fibres content. It feels good in my hands. It has a tweedy casual look. The colour is one of their new grays, with a warm brown undertone. Its really quite striking. Dressy an casual at the same time. Manly.

I can't wait to knit it. Had I been smart I would have taken his measurements when he was here last. I could be knitting on it had I been smart. But I wasn't, so I have to wait till I see him again. What I can do is knit a swatch and I can do that today in the corners of the day. I'm a little excited. I'm a lot excited.

Someone very important to me asked for a sweater and that is significantly different.

Weekend Cool

2011-10-04T06:53:00.002-06:00

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I was at a wedding this weekend. It was a nephews wedding to a lovely small town Saskatchewan girl.

There are certain things that happen at small town Saskatchewan weddings. The food is amazing and homey and just like your mother made only you don't have to do the dishes. You locate all the venues easily - just look for a large number of cars and the hall is across from the water tower. The bar is down at the end of main street and someone knows which door is the right door - they've been there after a football game. The hall is small and friends of the brides or the grooms are manning the bar and two cute girls man the guest book (hey, I watch stuff like this. I have two very eligible bachelor sons, and I am in need of grandchildren - you never know when inspiration will strike them). It is typical and the weddings are all the same. They are warm and wonderful celebrations of friends and family and all the people in the place knows everyone else, or if they don't, they farm or the rest of their family does so there is always something to talk about.

And then, if you were at this wedding, there was a big band for the dance. I know. It is rare at all but the very biggest wedding to have a live band these days. And when you do have a live band, it is an old fashioned polka and waltz band because those are the inexpensive ones. But a full 16 piece orchestra, with horns and a rhythm section? Never happens. It was wonderful and unexpected and a lot of fun. Stone Frigate Big Band Way Cool.

So was the knitting. There was the ordinary and expected sort.

They are comforting and fun and nice and stripey and just waiting for some afterthought heels.

And then there is the little bit out of the ordinary.

I expected the strong bright colours. I choose the yarn because of that shot of yellow. What I didn't expect was the little lozenges of fun and

I didn't even see the bright bands of clear primary blue till I took the picture this morning.

It was and excellent weekend.

Sluggish of Head

2011-10-03T06:39:00.000-06:00

I attended a wedding on the weekend and find after hours of driving and knitting and celebrating wedding and knitting and eating, I am a little sluggish of head.

I should have linked to the video or better yet...

What I did was merely add the garment to the step where you are making the zipper knittable. If I had not already had the bands done, I would have approached it differently. The second side goes in today. I dearly hope I can repeat the sterling experience and results from the first side.

The whole thing is very neat and is going to be the way I install zippers from here on in.

I did get some socks done and worked on yet another pair on the weekend. They are still in a bag in the front entrance. I am entirely to lazy to go get them for photos now. I'll get to them later.

Thinking about it

2011-09-30T00:03:00.000-06:00

It has been quite some time since I finished the knitting on the Lichen Vest for Mr. Needles. July 6 according to Ravelry. And ever since then, as is my wont to do, I have been thinking on it.

This vest needed a zipper. It just had to be that way for it to be worn. If he doesn't like how it looks, it will never be worn and my beautiful knitting would have been wasted.

I had seen the tutorial by Eunny Jang about making the zipper a knittable thing, but once it was knittable, just how do you put it into your garment?

If no ribbings were knit, its an easier thing, but I already had my front bands and collars. My steeks were all stucked (Does steek have a past tense?) There wasn't any going back. How do I get that nifty thing to work for me.

I wanted to put the zipper right at the edge and all I could see was trouble. So I thought on it. And thought some more.

While doing my chores today, I knocked the stack of finished but not blocked projects down. I did that several times through the day and finally moved the stack to my study. The strings sticking everywhere irked me. They irked me so much that I started to weave the ends in on Folklore. I do not look a gift horse in the mouth. Ends it was. All the ends on all the projects that were on the stack of things needing blocking are now woven hidden and tucked. All the buttons are sewed on too. And it was only 4 o'clock.

So I got daring and stopped thinking. This happened.

I marked the zipper to my gauge as shown in the video. Then I started installing it. I caught one stitch right at the edge, pulling a single strand of yarn from the front through to the back side, where

I caught the loops on a needle.

And here, if you look closely you can see the right side, the side without loops, the side with just a single strand of yarn laying tight and hiding along the last row of corrugated ribbing. If you look carefully, you can see that most stitches are crossed by that single strand. You can also see that every few stitches, I skipped one. No one but you and me will ever notice that.

Once I was done getting loops set, I started knitting the live stitches held on the needle at the back side of the work.

I knit enough rows to hide the steek stitches and then sewed it down on the backs of the picked up stitches for the corrugated ribbing.

You can hardly see any sewing at all, front or backside. It turned out so incredibly well.

I still have one side of the zipper to do and the requisite facing for the steek and then a bit of facing on the collar and this one will be done and finished crisp and clean and neat.

The perfect warm sweater for crisp fall days outdoors. Perfect for deep cold winter. Just right.

I am content.

It wasn't a knitting sort of day

2011-09-29T07:53:00.001-06:00

I've been going through the usual doldrums after I finish a big project. I've been very sluggish. Sluggish of head but light of heart.

Yesterday I spent the whole afternoon winding yarn. I had a very very good time. Sometimes winding yarn is just the nicest way to play with my yarn.

I know that a lot of people don't recommend that you wind your yarn till you are ready to use it. The act of winding does put some pressure on the strand, so when I do a big wind, I make sure that the tension is easy and that the yarn doesn't get under much stress. A lot of the time, I wind off the swift and then rewind without any tension at all.

First wind only, I think I wound close to 10,000 metres yesterday. About a third of it was rewound a second time. And that is just the skeins I can think of. 2 storage boxes are now fully wound. I am thrilled to have these two particular boxes ready to go. They are boxes of 'scarf' yarns, yarns that I have 2 or 3 skeins of meant for small projects, shawls, scarves, mittens, hats. Pretty yarns for pretty things.

These boxes are often the boxes I look to when its time for travel projects. And it is time for a travel project. A nephews wedding is this coming weekend. I am looking forward to it for the unadulterated knitting time. And sleeping time. I sleep a lot when we drive.

Digging in the yarn, I came across two pretty skeins which are close to my heart.

It is Alchemy Yarns Juniper in the San Francisco Sky colourway. Blue and inky black and taupe and gray and blue and dusty gray blue and crisp puffs of white. It is a pure merino but such fine quality merino that it feels like I am knitting with cashmere.

For almost two years I worked with the two best co-workers a person ever had, Sweaterrae and Nikknits. Such fun should be illegal or required for healthy living. I'm never quite sure which! Sweaterrae gave me this lovely stuff and I am knitting it to a pattern that Nikknits called her Dammit shawl (named after the frequency of the use of the word while knitting), Ysolda Teague's Damson.

It has an interesting shape and switches to stockinette for an interesting but not difficult to remember lace edging, the perfect combination for interesting knitting while traveling.

The other knitting that will happen this weekend is a Bride's bag for my nephew and his lovely new wife. As usual, it will be knit only on the day of the wedding and will I hope in a small way capture the good feelings and blessings of the day. I found a skein of a very beautiful pure alpaca yarn, 100% locally grown, locally processed Alberta yarn, the perfect thing for a couple from Saskatchewan, choosing to start their life together here in Alberta.

I have to get all my things in order today: Clean out and gas up the car, check Mr. Needles choosen gear, press, launder, etc, get knitting packed, make sure to put wee granny apple green and turquoise baby jacket in suitcase...Yes, I will get to meet the wee fella to!

If there is time at the end of the day, I think I am going to wind a little more yarn. There is some pretty green and gold and multi coloured Hacho yarn that is shouting pretty loudly to be knit with. And some rich deep cranberry red Ultra Alpaca... No Mr. Needles, this is from the stash too.

And that gorgeous new blue Cascade 220 and then some Harrisville and some...

Can't

2011-09-28T06:09:00.000-06:00

Before I understood the one small thing I did differently when I knit and how I had to adapt those few stitches I needed, can't was all there was in knitting. Once I understood, can't simply disappeared.

Once I got the idea that I can't out of my head, everything changed. There isn't anything I look at in knitting that I don't see as something I can do for myself. Some of them will be harder and some of them will take a lot of thinking, but they are all something I can do. Sweaters that are not knit to my size, sweaters that are not knit to my gauge, extraordinary lace. Whatever it is in knitting that you think is too hard for you to do, that you aren't possibly skilled enough to do is there for you, just waiting for you to try. And every time you try, you learn something wonderful.

Next time you feel like you can't, change the word. Say it out loud. Change it to 'I haven't learned how yet'

Big difference. Huge. Life changing.

A Simple Thing

2011-09-27T06:40:00.000-06:00

When you finish a project from the WIP pile, surely you ought to be able to cast on anything you want without feeling like you are not following your plan.

I did. Cast on that is.

A nice faded jeans looking blue gray Briggs and Little for Mr Needles. Guys are so easy to knit for. Find some yarn and a simple idea. Knit straight till the arms Make neck and sleeves. Cast off. Easy.

I cast this on because Ecuador isn't going to work out for the yarn I choose. I am not tied to the pattern but I am tied to the yarn. I love my Zauberball Chocolate. Its just too pretty to use on a project I am not sure of, and Ecuadors wedges would defeat the marvelous soft blending of colours, which is the prime attraction of the yarn. I must think on this some more.

I'll think while I knit on the simple guy thing. I'll also be thinking about that WIP basket. I might just pick another something out of there for a little spice as a break from the simple knitting of the sweater.

A tale of 2 underarms

2011-09-26T06:32:00.000-06:00

Fooling around with patterns is required if I want things to fit properly and that is an interesting and continuing journey.

The Watershed and the Cerisara are great examples.

Cerisara, knit from the top down, was changed a lot at the underarms. The directions for the size I knit for a good fit through my shoulders, said to cast on 13 stitches at the underarm. I cast on 30. BIG difference.

I changed the number because though my shoulders might be relatively narrow, my chest is not. I knew that if the numbers are not on the front and back of the knitting and I need them and don't want to play lace games, then the only place I have to pick them up is at the underarm. As I found, it is a tricky thing. My original cast on of 42, a number that was perfect for my gauge and the number of inches I wanted the sweater to be, led to saggy underarms. My bodies depth could not support 42. I had to opt for an open sweater - less inches than I wanted, but as an open garment, it seems to fit nicely. On Cerisara, there are no increases in the lace section. I picked up all the stitches I needed for the 'skirt' fit after the stockinette section was begun.

On the Watershed, I stuck with what the pattern said. It is meant to be an open little coverup. I didn't anticipate any fit issues so I set aside 12 stitches for the underarm. I ran into the problem of having too many stitches to get rid of and not enough vertical room to do it in. My measured length between shoulder and bust apex is an inch shorter than an average person and that inch is a lot of knitting space I didn't have. Watershed turned out wider than ideal at the neckline. In order to wear it so it looks nice, I have to fold the lacy collar over. It still looks nice but it isn't the look I thought I would get.

The perfect place to have gotten rid of those stitches was at the underarm. I could have avoided a too wide upper chest and collar, had I remembered the lessons learned in Cerisara and applied them. In fact, I still might rip Watershed back and have the perfect sweater for the price of a days worth of work.

I took a class once. I learned so much but it didn't answer every question. I asked a question about underarm stitches and came away with the answer that more than 4 inches cast off is just never done - the fabric would sag. I instinctively felt that something was missing. It seemed too absolute.

I'm starting to understand the missing stuff. On my body, more than 4 inches might be just the thing. My bust and body depth will support more but there is a limit to it.

In a perfect world, I would know exactly what to do in a given situation, but with the vagaries of knitting and the impossibility of perfect worlds I suspect that it will be a lifetime full of lessons. And ripped back knitting.

Compendium redux

2011-09-23T06:48:00.000-06:00

So you remember how I made that nice list of tasks yesterday?

Zero. Yup, not one single thing from the list got done.

I'm working on upgrading some of my computer skills and I was almost done it for the day, when I got a call from my brother. He was on the way by with a very good friend and said he was stopping for coffee.

We had a great visit and it was marvelous seeing him, but after he was on his way again, my whole day was turned on its axis, and I did not

seem to accomplish anything.

And then I went to town and met my husband and my youngest son for dinner. It was his birthday (He is 27) And that pretty much took care of my day.

I did about an inch on my August sock.

It was pretty great too, considering it is my favourite sock yarn blend of cotton wool and nylon and has nice strong stripes.

It was really the perfect day, just not the day that was scheduled. It's the way the world is supposed to work, that schedules get bumped for important stuff. And these guys, both my brother and my son, are some of the people I would dump a pile of knitting stuff for in a heart beat.

A Compendium

2011-09-22T06:57:00.000-06:00

I finished up the bit of knitting on the pretty green Watershed. It will block today. Several things will get blocking today. OK, a lot of things will block today.

There is a significant amount of knitting getting completed here at Chez Needles these last few weeks. Added to the things I finished earlier this summer, the blocking pile is a big pile. With the arrival of sweater weather, it needs to get done. I will block what I have room for and then finish tomorrow.

I also hope to put the zipper in Mr. Needles vest.

And then I need to decide what to knit next for Mr. Needles. I think I know what I am going to do, but I have not decided which yarn to use. I have a navy Cascade 220 , one of my favourite yarns. I have some good heathered denim Briggs and Little and then there is some rich green Mission Falls 1824. Since there will be no more Mission Falls, that is the one I am least likely to use at this time. I want to knit just a plain, saddle shoulder sweater, the perfect plain simple garment that all men would wear. Just typing it out helps. I think I'm going with the Briggs and Little. I haven't used any yet and a simple sweater will be a great way to get acquainted.

I already cast on an Ecuador, sweater for myself. If you click the link you can see another of designer Jojo Locatelli's designs, Pole. Pole is the heavier weight first version of this style. In Ecuador, it gets to its fullest, finest version of itself. The heavy collar is gone replaced by an open free and floaty neckline.

Oh and did I mention I finished a pair of socks yesterday? Its hardly fair, but there was just an inch and some ribbing to go. I started up another pair of those too. Well two really, though I do have to rip one back to the toe.

It wasn't a big day of knitting. It was just that the knitting was bits and pieces. Good bits and pieces, though. Really good.

I tried.

2011-09-20T22:03:00.000-06:00

I tried. I even stayed home today instead of heading to knitting just so I could knit for the extra hour ( 1/2 hour each way). I had a really really good time though I was not nearly such nice company as my group of knitters.

But no matter how much I busted my buns, I did not finish.

Just a short strip of the the lace edging remains to be knit.

I can already tell that I am going to be really pleased.

Seriously, who wouldn't.

And now for something completely different!

2011-09-20T07:07:00.000-06:00

And yet, sort of the same now that I think of it. After finishing Cerisara, I dug through the WIP basket. I don't so much as make a decision to work on a thing as to pick up what the spirit moves me to work on.

Just the other day I had assigned this to the ho hum, probably going to be tossed pile. Yet, when it was time to move on to another project, I felt the lovely green wool and was inspired to see what I could do.

The wool is 770 m of Rennaissance, a now sadly discontinued yarn from Classic Elite. I wish I had known this yarn before it was discontinued. A stash could only be better for having some. The pattern is the really sweet little Watershed from Amy Swenson of Indigirl Knits

Like my version of Cerisara, this is a little vest which is designed to be worn open. Its skims your back keeping the chill off without being all encompassing like a cardigan. It's the perfect all season piece that everyone could use. It's pretty without being fussy.

It had been tossed into the bin because of an error. I had tried to fix the error with no luck, so I knew I was going to have to rip back to before the error. I did that, but then the most amazing thing happened.

I picked up all the stitches. Considering that there were yarn overs on every row, I was beyond pleased. Then I figured out which row of the lace I was on. It was so natural, so easy to sort out. Then I knit up all the yarn that was out of the ball. I was back to where I was before I ripped, pristine and ready to conquer the world or at the very least, this project.

In under an hour, I ripped back, picked up, figured it out and re-knit. 1 hour. It sat for 10 months because it needed one hour of thoughtful work.

The picture was taken Sunday evening. I was about ready to split for the arms. I did not spend much time on it yesterday, but even so I've rejoined and have begun the raglan decreases.

My definition of fun includes finishing two projects in a week. Two garments? So much better. But this? This is so far above mere finishing. This is something I never even thought about, never imagined.

There is a dip in the WIP basket. Be still my beating heart.

Cheery Cherry Cerisara

2011-09-19T05:39:00.001-06:00

If only the photos could convey the colour of this yarn. It is stronger, more vibrant, more cherry than any photo I have yet to take. This one makes me want to get dressed up and go out to dinner. It turned out grand, didn't it?

It's currently pinned to my dress form so that the neck details block nicely.

My favourite details.

The lace wins hands down, but I am very pleased with the way the bands look too. Can a rolled edge be crisp? This is.

The pattern has a ribbed edge, but that struck me as a funny finish when a major element like the collar was rolled.

I debated about doing a tubular bind off, but I don't think that would have had the heft a good hem needs. I thought about an edging like the sleeve bands, which provides good balance to stop the roll, but decided I didn't want a strong element making such a determined horizontal line across my backside. This yarn needed a quieter finish, a less showy finish. A nice sewn hem provides the heft needed to keep it from rolling up, and gives it a nice clean finish.

Its going to need a good body blocking once the collar section is done. The stockinette and the hem need work but I don't want to disturb that delicious lace at all.

I'm hoping the collar is dry this afternoon so I can do the rest this evening. I'm ready to put this cheery cherry Cerisara into use.

Pssssst, You will never guess what I picked up to work on. I was shocked. Most amazing. Tomorrow.

Bye Bye Birdie

2011-09-16T07:17:00.000-06:00

I was sitting yesterday contemplating how much I was not enjoying knitting the sleeves on Cerisara. Everything, right up to the sleeves has been idyllic.

I was not knitting on Cerisara, but I was thinking about it. I was knitting on a different sweater, a new sweater yet right there beside me was a perfectly lovely sweater I was avoiding. A perfectly lovely sweater that I really can't wait to wear. And yet, I could not make myself knit it. It was starting to feel like dishes, like one of those things you have to do but that you really don't want to do.

I don't want to do that anymore with knitting. I want to be able to figure out exactly what the problem is and sort it out before I put it down. I do not want my knitting life be endless piles of things I stopped working on for years because I had a problem.

So I sat there and calmly kept knitting on the new sweater. Counterintuitive, you say? Not really.

What was bugging me? I needed to pick it apart. The sleeves were tighter in this lace than I was comfortable with. I could take the sleeves back to before the under arm join, and pull back the body and then put back the stitches I took out from the underarm cast on. The trade off would be sleeves that fit my arm or a saggy, baggy under the arms sweater.

I did not really want either.

Bye pretty little perpendicular join that made me feel so clever. Bye pretty little sleeve cap. Bye pretty lace.

Check. Done. I've knit a nice sleeve edging that will carry the design feature of the rolling front edge and am moving on to the skirt of the sweater. A few more increases there and then it will be pure simple lovely stockinette.

I'm going to knit a plain garden variety long sleeved high necked pullover to wear with it for the days when I want cherry sleeves.

I feel much better now. I am enjoying knitting on Cerisara again. I am really looking forward to wearing it. I have a swatch done for the next sweater. I do not have yet another project in the WIP bin. A very productive day.

Oh dear...

2011-09-15T05:30:00.000-06:00

Help.

There are strange yellow things on the lawn!

What should I do? Aghhhhhhhhhhh

The really odd part is other than the lightest touch of frost, it has not frozen in the yard. It's late for a killing frost. Oh things are looking just a wee bit worn and tired, but the frost tender things are still standing. The ligularia, the bleeding hearts, the lady's mantle, all of these still provide green freshness to the yard. It will come to an end soon, just as sure as those golden leaves are falling.

Oh sweater weather. How I love thee.

Considering

2011-09-13T20:54:00.000-06:00

When the year began, I decided to work on clearing up some of the WIPS in my baskets. I have done OK, but I have the hard part left. The lace.

These 3, (in order) the Lehe, Icarus 2 and the River Valley shawl will be finished. There is so little on each of them to do. Lehe needs just a few more repeats till it is time for the border, the Icarus is ready for the edging, and the River Valley shawl has been pulled back and just needs the last clue, the magnificent border to be completed. It really isn't a lot of knitting.

I am less sure of these.

The pink is the first Icarus. It is stunning, but it is such fine yarn. I am not entirely sure that I love this fine of a yarn with this simple of a pattern. It is pretty boring knitting but you cannot ever stop thinking. The columns must be perfect.

The green is Watershed by Amy Swenson. I love this pattern but there is a mistake. I've tried repairing the mistake, but I am going to have to go back to before the error. It lace patterning on both sides and 3 different charts for each row. If I do it, I am going to pull back to where the back panel started and begin again. But I am also very concerned that I will run out of yarn. It is a short little thing and I hoped to have enough to go longer, but I'm not sure I have enough to go long enough to make it look right on me. There isn't anyone who has any of the this yarn in this colour out there, and I am not about to call the entire continent looking for some. I have to think a lot more about this before I do anything.

I really hate the idea of ripping them back. I don't really want to and yet...

There is one more from the yarn my son brought back from his first trip to Ukraine. I will do it next, but it is going to have to wait till I have one more pair of socks done.