Stash Queen

I Give Up

Carrying on from my last Manitoulin post, I'd like to share with you some of my uncle's talents.  The yard of his home on the west end is filled with figures, twenty or more.  This is the first fellow you see sitting before the driveway.

They are a combination of metal, wood, and old clothing and props.  Tourists often stop for a better look at his creations. 

Most are people, but there are also a couple of birds, this Mother Goose being one of my favorites.

 

My dad is talented too, specializing in wood carving.  I've shown some of his birds before, posed with my works in progress.  We're a crafty family.

Now for my knitting:  the Rivendell socks are finished and delivered to my daughter.

 

And the bamboo sock yarn scarf is ready to wear. 

 

But I will never run out of UFO's!  I don't dare show you all the projects I've started.  I seem to finish one and start two - I'm worse than that old frog trying to climb out of the well.  I've made some progress on the Hempathy skirt I started last summer and abandoned when I realized I needed a size between medium and large.  At the time, I was in the mood for knitting, not math.  The recent Creative Knitting magazine has a similar skirt so I am now combining the Greetings from the Knit Cafe ruffle with increases from the other pattern.

 

But of course I got distracted and started something totally new.  I've been looking for a scarf to use my Noro Silk Garden sock yarn.  I considered a small Clapotis, but was drawn to the similar but more complex basketweave pattern with dropped and wrapped/dropped  stitches that is in the current Vogue Knitting (the one with the Botanic Medallion on the front - sigh/dream).  It's a "Pay Attention" project, and with company around, there's not much chance of working on this again for a while. 

 

And then the weather discouraged me from knitting anything summery.  Except for a day and a half, it's rained all week.  So, I give up.  I might as well just work on my afghan.  I'm on the last octagon, and I've purchased some purple yarn for the finishing diamonds and border to tie it all together.

Haweater Renewal

I've had a very busy couple of weeks.  I travelled to Manitoulin Island the last weekend of June for my cousin Glenn's wedding.  "Haweater" is the nickname for someone born on the island.  My dad says you have to return every year to keep your status, and I admit I've missed quite a few years since I married, but I've been fortunate to have joyful family events to bring me back the last couple of years.  I choke up when I cross the swing bridge at Little Current.  It was open when we arrived (15 min. on the hour), so I had time to snap this photo.

 

We proceeded to Evansville where the wedding was to take place at my cousin's home on the lake and where we stayed at the Northernaire Lodge.  This is our little cabin,

 

and this was our view.

Food and hospitality was great.  I found out that the owner is a cousin of my internet friend Freshisle Fibers, whom sadly I did not get in to Gore Bay to meet since wedding and family took up all my time.

It was a second marriage for both the bride and groom, and they included their combined five children and eight grandchildren in the wedding party.  This is the groom's side.

 

The reception was held at a local community center, and my cousin's son and my son-in-law organized all the kids, toddlers to teens, for an impromptu basketball game - including the flower girl and junior bridesmaid still in their gowns.  My two grandsons had a blast, even though they were way too young to be actually playing the game.

 

 

I love the Island's casual and laid back lifestyle.  Family and fun - no airs - this is what it's all about!

What - you expected knitting?  I drove this trip, so I was in knitting withdrawal the whole weekend, but I did complete the shrug before I left.  My first Manos yarn, and certain not to be the last.  The wool and silk blend is "to die for," as one of my girlfriends says.

 

High Hopes

I didn't blog last week because I kept thinking if I waited one more day, I'd have a finished project to show you.  It didn't happen, my friends.  Will you settle for almost finished?  Can you imagine what this will look like, soon I hope?

 

It just needs to have the little sleeve seam sewn, and ruffles knit on.  It's the blasted ruffle that goes all the way around the rest of the sweater that made me take a break from finishing.  336 stitches + 3 times increasing 84 stitches = a heckuva lot of stitches, in ribbing no less!  Thank goodness I have the extra long cable for my Denise needle set.  I love the sweater though - I'd even do it again.  But I don't think I'm ever going to sign up for a big circular shawl knitalong.

The sweater is the Saratoga Shrug by Dovetail Designs, the one I fell in love with on display in Knit 1 Bead 2 in Jerome, Arizona.  The store owner said her sample was made in a lighter yarn than the pattern called for, knit to the original gauge, and I followed her recommendation.  This is Manos Silk Blend (from my LYS, Yarns & Such), a DK yarn, rather than the Manos Cotton Stria, a worsted weight yarn, that the pattern called for.  It seems quite heavy enough, but very soft and drapey.

The pattern has an interesting construction.  It's knit in one piece, including sleeve halves attached to the back and fronts.  The sleeve increases are done in a way that makes a sort of fake seam that keeps it from looking like a dolman.  Then the shoulders are nicely shaped by short rows.  The knit-together shoulder seam carries on down the top of the sleeve and works fine for me as a design feature.  Not hard, and when you're done, you're done - except for the ruffles.

So what did I do while procrastinating on finishing the sleeve ruffles?  Start another pair of socks (even though I already have three singletons on the go)

in a pattern that turns out to be rather ... ruffled at the top. 

I didn't really notice the irony when I began.  They're a toe-up, Riverbed construction from Cat Bordhi, as seen in the newest Knit.1 magazine.  The LYS had not the original yarn but a perfect substitute, and my eye fell on it when I was buying the yarn for the shrug.  So onto my needles it hopped.  The design is called "Blossom Top."  The self-patterning yarn is meant to represent a blue and white patterned vase and the red, a bunch of poppies sitting in it, from a painting used as inspiration which you can see in the magazine. 

 

These were totally fun to knit.  A garter stitch square, the easiest way to begin a toe-up IMHO, makes a nice smooshy toe.  Then nice plain stockinette for awhile with increases hidden under the foot, switching to a ribbed ankle for a good fit, then a radically different color and pattern for the home stretch.  Feather and fan is one of the easiest lace patterns, so still easy as pie. 

I think they'll be fun to wear too.  Jeans will cover the bright ruffle most of the time, but knowing it's there will make me smile.  Kind of like wearing racy underwear that no one knows about but you.

In the Pink

Last weekend I finally sewed up the pink cotton sweater with the classic cables.  Here's the unflattering, squinting-into-the-sun photo that was the best I could manage this morning with my impatient, technophobe husband.

 

The yarn and pattern are both from Nashua, one of the few times that I've managed to use the yarn that the pattern calls for.  I bought two bags of Cotton Focus on sale from Ram Wools last spring.  I made the size medium, figuring that pure cotton tends to loosen up with wearing.  This could have used a bit more ease, so here's hoping it does.  I'll block it more severely next time I wash it.  Still, this will be a comfortable sweater that will never go out of style.  

My other pink knitting is the Lace Ribbon scarf that I signed up to do with a Ravelry knitalong last May.  I thought before this May ended that I should try to get it done, but I didn't quite make that deadline either. 

I'm using Kertzer's On Your Toes Bamboo sock yarn, and I love the feel of it so much that I've already bought more in the blue-gray colorway to make a light scarf version of Clapotis.  My friend Ann Marie wants me to help her get started on a stole-size Clapotis because she likes my turquoise soysilk one so much.  We'll be getting together on her days off to do our own little knitalong.  Even though the initial internet frenzy for the pattern is past, my Clapotis still gets a lot of attention when I wear it and I think the pattern deserves to become a classic.

I've taken some days off from knitting since June 2 when the new Sims 3 was released.  I've bought every game and expansion since the original Sims came out in 2002  and I was at Future Shop the first day to snap up this one.  It is so damn addictive.  I think I'll end here and go play.

Everything Inbetween

It's been a week with lots of variety in the weather, from snow last week to some sunny days this week, with wind and rain and everything inbetween.  On Mon. I resurrected my chaise lounge and spent my first lazy afternoon outside, knitting and listening to an Audible book, enjoying it all immensely.  Yesterday I put the canvas roof back on the gazebo.  It's still not safe for planting flowers this far north, the patio needs a good sweep and wash, and the pool liner has a hole that needs repair, but I'm making little steps towards summer outdoor living.  Summer is so short here that each nice day is all the more valuable to us. 

The week has gone by quickly, including the awards ceremony for my husband's bocce league (his team won!), a day of volunteering to help make crostilli (an Italian deep fried pastry dusted with icing sugar) for the community ethnic festival, the annual Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation dinner (retirees invited and served first), and an afternoon at the library with Bub.  He picked a book in which Franklin the turtle plays soccer, and I was delighted to find the new Sally Melville book which she cowrote with her daughter.  The chapter on Fit and Flatter is excellent with detailed info on how to determine the best length for fitted and unfitted sweaters for your height, and other measurements you should take.  There is a nice assortment of designs for all ages and knitting abilities, some classic and some more contemporary.  I may need to have my own copy of this one.

I've finished both pair of socks that I mentioned last post, the Stretch and the Noro.  The Noro yarn did bloom with machine washing and drying and feels much better now.  The socks are not identical twins, hardly even fraternal, maybe more like cousins, but I love their uniqueness.  

 

I also finished my hemp Everlasting Bagstopper.  Instead of purchasing something for the cord which allows you to draw the bag into itself for stowing, I made a twisted cord from the yarn itself.  I made the grosgrain ribbon handles extra long so I can wear the bag across the body in case it gets stuffed full and heavy.  I've been wanting a hemp bag ever since I tried the pattern first with dishcloth cotton.  I like both versions, but this one is lighter and draws up into a smaller pouch for having on hand.

 

Inbetween I've made some more octagons for the stashbuster afghan.  The original pattern used twelve different colors.  I have four that I want to use up.  The pattern is comprised of twelve octagons, so I will have three in each of the colors, and each will use a different color for the small center medallion.  No two octagons will be identical.  I have six octagons finished now, half way there.  But there will also be six diamonds to fill in the spaces and an edging in another colour.  I'm thinking some very pale gray from the stash.  The octagons are fun to make.  You use a circular needle, start with the maximum number of stitches and the rows get shorter as you work to the middle.  There's a marker between each of the sides, so all decreases are made immediately after a marker with no counting required.  Easy enough for carry around knitting.

 

So, to paraphrase Lloyd Robertson, that's the kind of a week it's been.

Will It Never End!

We spent a beautiful long weekend in the Laurentians, just north of Montreal, with friends who live there.  It poured rain on Saturday, but we didn't really care.  There was a stone fireplace and coffee laced with liqueurs, friends we hadn't seen in months and great conversation.  We had sunny days for driving both Friday and Monday, so I shouldn't really complain.  But then, I get up this morning and see this again!  

Good thing one can knit in any weather.  My fingers have been busy.  I finished the last sleeve of my pink cotton cabled sweater.  Photo can wait till it's blocked and assembled.  I am almost finished two pair of socks.  First, 2 row alternating Noro socks from yarn my sister gave me.  Not my favorite sock yarn, although I love the colors.  I like Kureyon for sweaters, but the rougher texture and uneven thickness are not so appropriate in socks.  I had to wind several little balls to split up the color stretches so the stripes would vary, so these socks are only being knit at home.

For travel knitting I pulled out some Patons Stretch cotton, wool, nylon and elastic blend.  It takes a little getting used to, getting even tension with elastic yarn, but the speckles make it hard to see any unevenness, and once the socks are stretched on the foot, they look and feel great.

I did succumb to the lure of new yarn.  I completed a small scarf in two sittings out of the Jojoland Rhythm.  This is the Blowsey Ruffles scarf designed by Guernseygal, one of my Ravelry friends.  This pattern gets my highest praise.  It's easy to knit:  the lace pattern makes the ribs look as if they travel, but there is no cable needle or twisting involved at all.  The ruffled edge is a nice designer detail, and the whole thing only takes two balls of a special yarn.  I will make this pattern again.

And I've started my Cleopatra Wrap with the handpainted silk.  On 3mm needles, this will probably take all summer to knit, so I'll work on it between other projects and update you only when I reach significant points in the pattern.  Summer, a nice dream!

It Followed Me Home

I did not come home from Arizona empty-handed. 

The first yarn store we visited in Mesa was Yarn Fifth Avenue.  The owner handpaints yarn for sale in her shop along with many quality yarn brands.  The multicolored skein below is her handpainted laceweight silk, over 1200 yards, enough for a shawl.  I'm thinking of Miriam Felton's Cleopatra Wrap from Sensual Knits.  The two smaller balls are Jojoland Rhythm, a yarn I'd never see before.  It's a twist of colors with long color changes throughout the ball.  The sample skinny scarf made me want to knit a little something with this yarn.  It's a smooth wool with a very soft hand.  Also, I had looked at the current edition of Verena on the new North American website and when I had the chance to pick it up, I did.  I am considering a subscription; it has some very stylish designs.
 

Next we hit the Fiber Factory in downtown Mesa.  It's a large store with a multitude of brands and types of yarn.  From there I chose more laceweight, wool and silk blend from Grignasco.  You get a lot of knitting for your buck with fine yarn.  I also picked up two skeins of hemp to make an Everlasting Bagstopper.  I know I shouldn't be buying Canadian yarn in the U.S., but it saved shipping costs and waiting.  The pattern booklet is for Berroco Naturlin and has some nice home decor items in both knitting and crochet.

 

The third, unanticipated yarn stop was the died-and-went-to-heaven best!  Knit 1 Bead 2 in Jerome is amazing, and the owner Erica Raspberry is super friendly and helpful.  The store was filled with eye-catching samples; I wanted to knit them all, but settled for purchasing one pattern.  I picked up a skein of Conjoined Creations handpainted soysilk (laceweight again) that was so soft I absolutely could not bear to put it down again.  Then I found the Kauni.  It's hard to believe the two balls below are the same colorway, just wound from different starting points.  Erica pulled up the pattern on Ravelry for the popular squares cardigan and helped me inspect the balls to pick good ones for fair isle contrast.  My friend bought some too, having fallen in love with the sample ruana displayed next to the Kauni cupboard.

 

Then when I got home, I got yarn in the mail from Freshisle Fibers.  It looks even better in person than it did on her blog.  It doesn't know yet what it wants to be when it grows up.

 

On the way home, I had knit two dishcloths, which sparked a binge of absolutely stress-free knitting. 

I think it's over now.  I've got a real bad case of second sock syndrome going on, about four single socks or started socks laying around.  The challenge will be to get some of them paired up before succumbing to summer lace.

Arizona Days

I spent a wonderfully relaxing two weeks in Arizona.  We shared Easter with our friends and their friends, played euchre almost every night, laughed a lot and ate entirely too much.  The thermometer hit 99F the day before we left and then I came home to discover that there is still snow and our high today is expected to be 3C. 

One highlight of our trip was a visit to Tombstone, the site of the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral.  Growing up, I watched all the Western series on TV with my dad, so I loved seeing the re-enactment, the Bird Cage Theatre (also casino and bordello), and Boot Hill Cemetery.  

 

Closer to Tucson, we toured Biosphere 2 where in the 90s a team lived for two years in sealed conditions, practising for space.  Today the facility is used as a huge research lab where every aspect of soil and weather can be controlled.

 

 We were fortunate to be in Phoenix at the same time as the Dale Chihuly glass exhibit at the Desert Botanical Gardens, one of my favorite places anyway.  There were so many fantastic, extravagant pieces that it's impossible to pick a favorite.  Even the simplest were beautiful. 

 

 

There was knitting in the down time.  I knit a pair of booties while I was there, the multicolored ones on the left, then gave the pattern to my friend and she knit the blue/gray ones on the right.  The cool pot is made by man living in Superior, Arizona.

 

I finished my daughter's long overdue Jaywalker socks in a Kaffe Fasset colorway.  I love Regia wool the most, and have admired Fasset's color sense since his first book, so this yarn is perfect IMHO.

 

Also, I knit a knitting bag for my sister's birthday.  The pattern is from Berroco Bags 2 and the yarn is some Red Heart Cotton Twist from the stash.  The handles are vintage, discovered in my mother-in-law's basement after she passed.

There was also stash enhancement; three knitting shops, all different, all worthwhile.  But you'll have to wait for the next post to see.

A Lot of Distractions and One Very Old Frog

I love the Rivendell sock pattern, as I mentioned in my last blog.  I can easily knit a pair of socks over about four days, so they should be done now, right?  Wrong.  I finished the leg chart on the first sock and it looks great. 

But then I got distracted.  Why have I never knit traveling stitches before?  They're so pretty.  The little pattern on the foot of the Firestarter socks is another traveling stitches pattern.  And I'd like more practice doing socks toe-up.  And I have two circulars in the right size for those socks.  I'm liking two circulars now.  ...  So I now have one leg of a Rivendell sock and one foot of a Firestarter sock.  That's worse than second sock syndrome! 

Which pair will I finish first?  Hard to say.  I'm going to Arizona for two weeks and I need some travel knitting, but I don't think I want to be following  traveling stitches' charts line by line while touring around or chatting and laughing with friends.  The lace pattern for the Spring Forward socks is supposed to be easy.  And the Noro Kureyon Sock yarn that my sister gave me is in very springy colors.  And I think this bout of startitis is related to spring fever, so it would be a fitting choice of pattern. ... So now I have half a leg of a Spring Forward sock too.  At least this pattern really is as easy as  described and will make the trip.

My copy of 2 at a Time Socks and my long Addi circular came in.  I thought I'd try yet another method of knitting socks.  This is supposed to be the answer for people who have trouble getting a pair of socks finished.  So I studied the instructions and illustrations and successfully completed the ribbing and half a leg of a pair of plain socks in some Patons Stretch that was on sale a while ago.  Socks with some cotton in them for summer, you know.  ... I set them aside once I'd done enough to prove to myself that I could do it, but I'm not comfortable enough yet to make these a carry-around, low concentration  project.

Feeling guilty about all the recently started socks plus a couple you've seen previously, I decided to finish the fastest pair - the sportweight Regia socks from the yarn leftover from my sweater of about six years ago.  You can see that the sweater is well-worn, but it won't take the socks too long to catch up.  They get washed so much more frequently.  Anyway, at least that's something finished. 

What other old projects do I have that wouldn't take too long to finish?  What's in that bag?  Why, it's that Christmas sweater that's almost three quarters done.  An allover design of intarsia multicolored Christmas tree lights  on a green duplicate stitch string.  No one even uses those old style lights anymore.  And now that I'm retired from teaching I'm really not into seasonally themed picture sweaters.  There's the Vogue Knitting pattern magazine at the bottom of the bag; I remember that I ordered a kit from one of the advertisers to get the actual yarn used in the model.  My God, it's dated 1988!  But the Chantelaine black wool tweed background yarn is gorgeous and was expensive. I'm thinking the tweed allover cabled scarf from Scarf Style.  ...  Ribbit, ribbit.  Do you know how long it takes to unravel an intarsia sweater, after you've picked out all the duplicate stitching.  Two nights,  with the result being four almost complete balls and a lot of little balls, probably adding up to a total of almost eight of the original nine balls.  And not something I'm even considering knitting this spring. 

Although I did just finish another small winter project.  A Thermis cowl from one ball of cream/blue tweed Classic Wool.  I wanted to try its variation of waffle stitch, since I liked the stitch from my Back To School Vest so much. 

Considering that we got eight inches of new snow last weekend and we're in the middle of a nasty snowstorm tonight, I may even get to wear it this season.  I definitely plan to make another one in the fall.  I couldn't resist this beautiful yarn from Fresh Isle Fibers and contacted her to purchase two skeins before it even made it into her shop.

What I should have been doing is finishing the pink cotton cabled sweater that's been hibernating since last fall.  It would be a nice weight for layering to wear on this trip.  So now I'm madly trying to finish a sleeve and a half so I can sew it up and wear it on our flight Tues.  I never learn.  Wish me luck, and I'll let you know how it went when I get back in about three weeks.

Sick, Sick, Sick

How sick have I been?  I didn't pick up knitting needles for five and a half days!  That's sick.  This flu is one of the worst I can remember having.  Fever and chills for three days.  Left with a sinus-stuffed head and raw throat, but at least I can hold my head up now, and walk across a room without feeling drained and dizzy. 

This is what Bub had the week before.  No wonder he just wanted to be held.  "I cold, Nana.  I need a bear hug."  This week the little Dude has a streaming nose again, but seems to have escaped the real fever flu.  Hopefully, spring will end this germ cycle soon.  Husband, daughter, and son-in-law have all had some version of it too.  Plus daughter is in the crunch of the last two weeks of her nursing courses.  We're all exhausted.

So what does one knit, coming out of a dark time like this?  Something magical, elvish, the Rivendell sock that I've never forgotten since the Yarn Harlot knit hers.  Here's the top half of the leg, Chart 1, completed.

I don't usually purchase single sock patterns; there are so many beautiful free patterns.  But I had to try this one, and I'm glad I did.  I knew that I would use some kind of leaf pattern when I bought this light green semi-solid Meilenweit.  Rivendell is so different from the all-over leafy lace patterns, and not difficult.  The smocking wraps in the cuff are a bit fiddly and slow, but easy enough to do with the photo illustration of the technique in the pattern.  I am loving doing the leg - I haven't enjoyed seeing a chart materialize like this since I made the Chevalier mittens. And the foot will be a breeze.

I can hear the Little Dude awake from his morning nap.  Must close the laptop, put the knitting needles out of reach,  and swing into Nana mode until the next nap time.