Yelapa

I just returned from a journey down to Yelapa, Mexico. Yelapa is a little fishing village with no automobiles - it's a 45 minute Water Taxi ride from Puerto Vallarta to get down there, and we stayed at the most lovely Casa Milagros, which is a mere 182 steps up from the village. But the views!



The place is all very lovely - there is a waterfall at the edge of the village, and a larger one about an hour walk away. The food was wonderful, the people were lovely, the weather was stunning. My biggest concern while there was avoiding burro crap. Easy enough.

Oh, and I got some knitting done:


I had wanted to take along a lace knitting project, but not wanting to get too involved in charts and really PAYING ATTENTION, I opted to cast on for a Pi Shawl. I followed the lead of brooklyntweed, and went for a simple yo, K2tog row every once in awhile. Keeping it simple. The yarn is from Miss Simone - Grignasco ExtraFine, and it sure is extrafine! I'm knitting this on US4s. I plan on completing it sometime in 2037 or thereabouts.

*They say that getting there is half the battle, but this time around it seemed to be a bit more - the getting out of there was a bit of an issue. Heed these words, my friends: If any of you ever think for one minute about going to Houston, Texas - consider our friendship OVER.

Smittens

Well it sure has been awhile, no? What have you been up to? Me? Oh, just knitting up The Comfiest Sugary Softest Mittens EVER!

These are HelloYarn's Fiddlehead Mittens - I was testing them out in this lovely tweedy colorway, using Rowan Scottish Tweed DK, with a lining of Blue Sky Alpaca Brushed Suri. These things are Hard Core. I believe they may be impermeable to the elements. They are adored and coveted by both gay and straight men. They are softer than you could ever imagine. They had a better photoshoot; pictures are here.

These knit up right quick. I started them last Friday, accidentally got waaaaaaay off gauge and knit what was essentially an oven mitt, then knit 2 more at normal size. I got sucked into a Law & Order Marathon and managed to complete an entire mitt in record time, while Mariska & Chris cracked the case(s), and, with the help of Judith Light and Ice-T, put some people in prison. I ended up going down to size US2 needles for these. The linings make me swoon they are so soft.

Meanwhile, in non-knitting and non-L&O news, I've been, as usual, thinking a lot about knitting. What have I been thinking? Well, I suppose I have really been looking more - I have been perusing pattern books, re-evaluating some UFOs, fondling yarn a bit. I've been spinning a bit as well, and thinking more about how *I* want things to be spun rather than how the fiber wants to be spun. I've been.......trying to put all of the pieces together, rather than dealing with them on an individual basis and hoping that they fit. The end result? Unknown. Maybe this is just an extension of my non-knitting January/February trend.

I have to go bask in those mittens before spring comes along!

Shake your booties

I seem to be copying Max in all her knitting lately. I recently finished these baby booties--from Saartje Knits--with help from Miss Max. For some reason the way the straps were written in the pattern didn't quite "grok" with me. But after a few tries and help with the button hole (learned something new there), I finished them right up. They were knit in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino. They're probably for a 12 - 15 month old baby, but they'll be given as a gift at a baby shower next week along with this baby sweater that's probably closer to newborn size.

This is another project that Max completed in 2007: the famed baby sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitter's Almanac. I think I have trouble really recognizing lace patterns, so I started it and made a few too many mistakes for my taste. Since I'm so not fearless about ripping back and picking up stitchs, I just ended up frogging the whole thing and starting again. For me, the second time was the charm. It's also knit in Debbie Bliss, but in the Merino dk.
2008 is getting off to a good start for me in terms of FOs and stashbusting!

Progress! Well, A Start

There you have it, kids! I cast-on for the HelloYarn/Spunky Eclectic handspun sweater explosion. And then.....I couldn't stop knitting. This stuff is so soft! I'm knitting this up on US3s. I used a provisional cast on so that I could easily knit those live stitches up with row 6 or so of the body, in order to get a nice tidy hem edge - hem edge done with Jamiesons. I switched to the handspun, which I am working in 1 x 1 rows - it's blending beautifully!

When I swatched for this I worked it in 2 x 2 rows of alternating colors, but it seemed a little bit too stripey for my liking - I would rather have VERY DISTINCT stripes than the semi-stripes these 2 together were giving me. It's a rather loose gauge, but it has a wonderful hand to it. I started some shaping decreases, which will go for a bit. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the top - crewneck, V-neck, etc. But I have plenty of time before I get there.

Meanwhile, I'll be teaching this week - Non-Adhesive Bookbinding. Anyone need a handbound blank book? I'll have about 8 teaching models by the end of the week. This teaching, of course, is cutting into my knitting time - I don't want to put this sweater down!

Spinning and...thinking about Knitting.

I've been thinking a lot about knitting, and spinning as well. Reading, researching, investigating. It is January after all - my traditional non-knitting month. I'll think of it as....planning for the future. I've been making lots of lists, and considering what I'd like to accomplish with my stash-busting. All the while making more stash:



This is some HelloYarn fiber (not club stuff) in the "Bog" colorway. I had 8 ounces, which, when spun up, game about 650 yards or so. I haven't washed it yet to set the twist, but the whole batch was perfectly balanced right off the bobbins. I'm making my way through some "Harvest" colorway roving (Spunky Eclectic) in the hopes of working up a striped sweater of some sort - just a simple lazing around pullover, I think, in soft autumnal oranges, browns, ochres, greys, greens. I'm about halfway through that bunch, and hope to be done this weekend.

I haven't *only* been CREATING stash - I've been busting through it like nobody's business. I quick-like-a-bunny completed that handspun Baby Surprise Jacket:



Doesn't look a bit finished there, does it? It's pretty magical, I gotta tell ya. With just a couple of origami folds you end up with this:



I ran out of the handspun with pretty much just the button bands and bottom rows to finish up. I went to the stash and found a bundle of perfectly matching red Wool/Cotton, and it was *justenough* to complete the sweater! I most highly recommend that everryone make one of these - so fast, super fun, super easy. I've got some cute little green buttons to tack on to this, but my interest in sewing on buttons is pretty minimal (see also: Ireland sweater, Amanda's China Sweater, numerous bags, laptop case, etc etc). I'll get to it soon enough. At least in this case I actually HAVE the ideal buttons.

BSJ!

While I've picked up a new lace project (Muir), I always enjoy having something mindless on the needles:While I originally had some glittens planned for this wool, I opted instead to cast on for a Baby Surprise Jacket. I've wanted to make one of these for ages - they just look like so much fun! And this yarn is a lot of fun, as well. This is about 264 yards of Superwash Corriedale, in the colorway "Party Dress" from the Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club (December). It is navajo-plied in order to maintain the color transitions, and the final product is similar in feel to, say, Cascade 220. I'm quite pleased with it. And I think it will look AMAZING as a BSJ.

That's on US6s, by the way. Straight Single-Point needles! Why? They were the closest and easiest to get to. :)

Trying to Git Things Done

Back to the wheel I go:

This here is my December selection from the HelloYarn Fiber Club. It's 2 oz. of Soy silk/Wool blend, and man-oh-man was it awesome to spin. It wanted to be laceweight, so I let that happen. I decided to keep it as a single-ply, which yielded me about 600 yards. It is ohsofine, and lovely yo touch, and divine to look at. I had been concerned about it not balancing as a single, but the set seemed to resolve any issues in that arena. Lovely!

As for the knitting. WELL. I started up Muir - and by start, I'm talkin' 3 rows - and I'm looking for something mindless. It being January (the month I don't really knit), it's tough getting my knitting mojo back, but I really really want/need to. So for now, I'm re-evaluating some of the UFOs that are clogging up my life, and making DECISIONS.
• The Ugliest Sweater in the World? I'll be frogging that. It appears that it won't have a decent ease to it, so away it goes.
• Fair Isle vest? Still want to do it, though I am re-evaluating where I placed the increases on the original go-round, so I may rip back a bit. Not sure yet....
• Blue Assymetrical Zippy Cardi? Definitely going to complete this - I just need to relocate the pattern :)
• I've got a Kidsilk Haze lace scarf on those awesome kid needles - also need to get the pattern for that one.

Things seem to be fairly under control, no? Until I actually come up with a dedicated plan, a plan involving completing these above items, and knitting things that I am going to WANT to knit in their entirety, I think I'll stick to spinning for a bit. After all, I need to get through a RAW fiber stash, as well.

Happy New Year and All that Jazz

Not quite the year in review, but an end-of-year wrap-up, and some thoughts on this coming year. My final finished (sort of - they are both halves of pairs....) objects for 2007 are the awesome Snail Mittens from The Book of Yarn, and the first of the Marie Antoinette socks, part of a slow-going KAL with Miss Max.
The Marie Antoinette pattern - well, it's just lovely! the pick-up loopy-bits along the back of the foot and the back of the heel are funfunfun to work, the yarn is wonderful, the color is great. I stupidly misread a portion of the pattern and didn't notice until some 60 rows later, so I've almost knit 2 socks already what with the tearing out and the re-knitting. I finished this lovely with about 5 hours to spare of 2007. While Max is completing Joelle's Favorite Yoke Sweater, I knit up sock number The First. I'll put the other one aside until Max is ready to take a shot at it, and there begin the knit-along portion of this project. Anyone else care to join us?
And because I am so good at procrastinating the proper Christmas projects that I had planned, I started up on these mitts a few days before Christmas. I managed to complete this one (these lovelies will be a gift for Miss Amy) using Baby Ull and US1s - they were a blast! And went so quickly.
Here I am modelling one of them - the only completed one thus far. These puppies are double-thick throughout - the other side looks like a fish belly of red and grey stripes. They are super duper warm and comfy.

But for the New Year! As mentioned in a previous post, Miss Max and I had been toying with the idea of a year of Knitting From the Stash. And here we are in a new year........

With minimal discussion, the following decisions were made concerning this venture:
∙ knit exclusively from our stash for 2008
∙ all bets are off for Rhinebeck (stash re-acquisition) and/or Taos.
∙ should some yarn *need* to be purchased for the completion of a project, the yarn purchased cannot exceed the yarn in the stash, i.e. I cannot purchase 9 balls of yarn to accompany the 1 ball that I already have in order to make a sweater.
∙ gift yarn is fine, as well as gift certificates.
∙ if all stash is eliminated, new stash can then be acquired. (HA!)

I'll also mention that I plan on remaining in my 2 fiber-of-the-month clubs, so I will be slowly creating more stash through the course of the year. When I get my act together - hopefully this week! - I'll have all of this stash business sorted out in my Ravelry, so as to be able to really track this to-do.

Oh! I also plan on rewarding myself a wee bit for a job (jobs?) well done - a little bit of Stash for Cash. For every ball of yarn eliminated from stash, for every finished object, for every ounce of newly spun fiber, I'll throw some money at the knitting kitty. Stash can also be traded or sold - any funds acquired through selling of stash will also go towards future fiber-related ventures. Ultimately for more yarn. Or a new wheel ;)

2000 Yards of Lace, 2 Podiatric Garments, A Quilt.

Well, it's been awhile hasn't it?

I've been continuing in my plan to semi-ignore my holiday crafting tasks. Well, sort of.
I managed to finally get around to machine-quilting this quilt-top that I have had kicking around for some time now - next, to put on the binding.It's been easier to work on non-thinking projects. I present to you my variation of the "Azure" socks from the Winter Knitty, made with STR "Cluckers" colorway:
These are on US0, toe-up, blah blah blah. Going pretty quickly.

But I've really been wanting to get another lace project on the needles, so I spent a pre-snowy evening winding up a bunch of lace:That's A Touch of Twist Lace Alpaca in Lavendar, Malabrigo Laceweight in Verdes, and HelloYarn lace in Acid Green.

And while picking up that ball winder, Max also presented me with the Marie Antoinette Honey Bee kits we ordered! We're planning on working these up as a KAL, but Max said sure get to it. So I'm going to do one, and then wait on the second one until Miss Max is ready to go.
So far, I've got the lace cuff done and grafted, and I picked up along the edge.
My notes on this so far: the pattern is EXTENSIVE. It has everything written down and charted, which is great, but mildly confusing (there's just so much there! in so many different formats!). I ran into a very quick brief confusion on the edge lace chart - Row 3 features a BO2, K1, P3.......it turns out that the K1 is the stitch that you loop the second BO over, then go right to the P3. Easily amended. I'm loving the loop pick up thing on this. The yarn is a dream to work with and the color is amazing. It's fun so far, and has a fair amount going on to keep me interested. Well, until I get to a big lace project.

What else is in store for me? More quilting perhaps - I may try and get another quilt done in time for the holidays, but I'm not counting on it. We'll see.

Oh! And cataloging my stash for Ravelry! Max and I plan on Knit-From-The-Stash in 2008 - anyone want to join us? We'll be posting our rules (right, Max?) once we get them solidified.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Continuing on my path to ignore holiday crafting for others until the last possible minute, I have been foolishly working on.....foot garments. It HAS been cold, and this seems a reasonable way to handle the freeziness of it all. I'm on Sock #2 (of 2, just in case y'all were wondering) in the Helloyarn "Dusk" colorway. The yarn is a joy to work with - super squooshy, such vibrant colors, interesting pooling, not splitty at all.



I should be a good little crafter lady and get into the holiday hub-bub, but it hasn't really happened yet.

Miss Alayne was kind enough to send me some remnants of alpaca that she happened to have in her stash, in just the colorway I was seeking in order to complete the Anthropologie Hayride Capelet. After binding off, I had about....2 yards of yarn left - most certainly not enough for an I-Cord and pompoms! So making some cord is on the agenda, and then quick-like-a-bunny writing up the rest of this pattern (I'm halfway there!) for Miss Max to test-knit it (and then have one of her very own). I've got to tell ya, though....I am LOATHE to make any sort of significant length of I-Cord, donchaknow. In fact, I am loathe even to have others do it. Nonetheless, I think I've found a decent solution:



This is my super-cheap modified Lucet. I saw these at Rhinebeck (much MUCH nicer, though!), and they work in a similar way as spool-knitting. You wrap the yarn around a prong and flip the bottom loop over the top loop. Pull yarn to tighten, and rotate lucet in order to loop the other prong.....continue in this manner forEVER. You end up with a really nice boxy rope. I figured a lucet is nothing but 2 fixed prongs that you can easily slide some yarn over. I considered rigging up some chopsticks, but the plastic fork seemed All Class for this endeavor.

I'm taking suggestions for fast, cheap, outta-control holiday gifts I can make - any ideas?

Let Us Revisit A Hat

I continue to avoid any proper holiday crafting. I think I'm a feeling a bit overwhelmed by some other activities that I've been back-burnering for some time now - writing up the Hayride pattern, a button-band reconfiguring for someone, some more foot garments. So for now, I am re-knitting a hat:You may recognize this from awhile ago - a fairly loose-knit hat made with random handspun. Well, Young Sef has been wearing that hat, and it's stretched beyond belief. But he adores it! So he kindly asked me to re-knit it for him. He rides his bike through the winter, so he NEEDS to have the hat; I've loaned him my hat until I complete this (shouldn't take long!) and it sure is getting cold out there. I've gone down a couple of needle sizes (I think the original was on 8s - I present you with 6s) and I think I cast on less stitches. he tried it on this morning - fits okay so far! It was nice to see how the yarn weathered - quite nicely.

Desert/Dessert

I'm trying to kick it into high-gear holiday crafting mode, but I seem to be failing. I continue to knit primarily for myself, or I'm working on non-specific-person crafts, which is fine and good and all, but gives me nothing under the tree. I present to you a little something I am working on, that, um, well...yeah, I think it will speak for itself:


That's some Claudia Hand-Painted yarn in the Desert Dusk colorway. I picked it up over Thanksgiving weekend, when I visited a yarn shop on my (seemingly eternal!) quest for 5" metal US1 dpns (I failed.....anyone got any ideas here?). This yarn is lovely to work with and boy is it sproingy. It will most certainly be a treat for someone's feet. Oh, and that HelloYarn footwear from last week? Well, the first one has reached completion - I'll cast-on for the second one later this week most likely.

Meanwhile.......I received my November Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club selection yesterday. This is Pie For Everyone! - a delicious and wonderful to spin bundle of Falkland Wool:
This stuff is pretty darn soft. It spun up real quick-like, and after plying 2 bobbins worth, I've ended up with something in the realm of 246 yards. It's a.....sport? DK? weight. I didn't give it too much twist in the plying and it came out perfectly balanced.

Any ideas on what to do with this? Might make cute mittens, or perhaps a BSJ?

A Quilt, A Moth, A Hayride

I've got some pictures this time around:



This is a quilt for my father. I finally got around to finishing it, though not in the way that I had originally planned. See, all those little blocks are his old shirts, and they were supposed to continue out to the edge of the top of the quilt. However, they are a drag to cut and sew, I ran into some sort of size issue and had to trim things back anyway, and I just could not bear the thought of cutting more of them. So it got some borders instead.



I machine-quilted the whole thing, which also proved to be a fairly beastly task. But! It's done. If anyone seeks piles of men's dress shirts, let me know - I've got a ton of them left!

Also:


Viva La Moth! A completed - though not in action - Wing of the Moth shawl. I know this picture gives you no sense of scale; this thing is pretty big! I'm quite happy with how it came out, and it feels wonderful. The topmost lace pattern was simple enough to read and remember, but bored me to tears when I was nearing the end of that section - all those increases! Going into the second lace panel (Twin Leaf I think it is called?) I ran into a bit of an issue with how the 2 different lace patterns fell together. They don't......"line up" to a specific point in the top pattern, and my OCD-brain thought that it was a miscount in the knitting on my part. But no - the numbers all add up, just not the way that my brain wanted them to. I'm happy with how it all fits together in the grand scheme of things, but that first row really threw me.

But I sense you are really here for X-TREME BLOCKING:



This is the bottom center. I think it resembles a beetle-snout/nose. The corona edging is mildly more even than it appears in this picture; there was a wrinkle beneath it. The blocking process took a bit - a lot of going around in circles. I pinned out the top first with some blocking wires, and then I worked from the center of each side out in either direction. Each corona got 6 pins. I attempted to make the circles between them even, with even spacing, to the best of my ability. Once fully blocked, the whole thing was dry within 3 hours - ah, lace! Such swift gratification in the blocking department.

Of course, there was some knitting progress as well:



This is the Hayride Capelet I'm reverse-engineering - I've got about 2 more sets of decreases to go and then I get into the top edging detail - this includes some more aggressive decreasing, some eyelets, the usual. This is moving along with shocking haste! It's a simple Horseshoe Pattern - an 11 stitch repeat, with some reverse straight-stitch between the repeats. I'm working the decreases quite blindly, at the first and last stitches of the reverse sections. From the beginning, I cast on for 15 repeats, with 16 stitches between each section, and 10 stitches at either end. After working some garter stitch rows, I got into the pattern repeats, working decrease rows every 16 rows. I've got to check out the pictures some more to see what happens with the topmost section............I'll probably post the pattern for this once I've got it all figured out. It's a breeze to knit and I highly recommend the alpaca........

On and Off the Needles

Well! Pictures, as promised. The above is a close-up of one of my TWO completed Socks That Rock, and I have to say that these socks do indeed RAWK. They are pretty rad. I'm not quite sure of why this color (Loch Ness) was one of the very few available when I managed to get to the booth dispensing such yarn (and got a free pattern book!), but I think it is just divine.

Also off the needles, after many many years, this blue mercerized cotton lace-ish scarf. I realized that it's scarf-like nature did not NEED me to complete the half ball of yarn remaining; I was never going to get to that. However, 5 rows of garter stitch and an easy bind-off seemed much more reasonable. Now to move it to the blocking pile......
But really what I want to tell you about is some reverse-engineering. Which I love.
I picked up some lovely alpaca while at Rhinebeck, and I think that I had this project in mind for it. I somehow fell in love with this (the drape, the swing, the warm!) and quickly realized that:
1. It's way too expensive for what it is,
2. I'd probably never wear it,
3. Looks easy enough!
and so began the task of reverse-engineering. Made infinitely easier by the most amazing ZOOM feature on that site! You can count the stitches!

Here then is a bit of process: I poked around to see what Barbara Walker had resembling the pattern and quickly found the rather simple "Horseshoe Pattern" - a 10 +1 repeat. Based on the pattern (and the stitch orientation) I could tell that the garment was knit from the bottom up. It was really just a matter of figuring out what the frequency of decreases was between the patterns. Some math, a bunch of random notes, zoom zoom zooming a lot, and a rather large cast-on later (382 stitches) gave me this:
.....and here's the Horseshoe pattern repeat:This yarn is really lovely to work with, and I think my numbers are (thus far) correct. Why am I doing this, if I know that I most likely will not wear it? Process knitter. Through and through. Fer reals.

Meanwhile, this has been beckoning from the "feed me" bin:Quilt pictures soon! Moth - in action! - soon! Handspun soon!

Moth=Landed

I had planned on taking a bazillion pictures of: work on the needles, work finally off of the needles, work blocked. But, alas! I have very little to show. I do, however, have a bit of a teaser:This is the Moth! Completed! blocked! BUT folded up.........

It was too dark to get any proper pictures of the Moth IN ACTION ( it is XTREME, recall?) but I will work towards that goal this evening. The blocking portion of this project went fairly well; it was the usual pinning here there and everywhere only to return to where I had started from to do it all again. In other words, the usual. It is very glamourous and I cannot wait to show you all.

I also managed to finish my Socks That Rock experiment - I had originally planned on just knitting through half the ball for each sock, but I ended up tearing the first one back a bit (I didn't care for the pooling changes once I added calf shaping). I gotta say, these things are SPROINGY. They're pretty cozy, too. I completely understand the attraction and STR love now. And of course: THE COLORS.

I got back to the wheel for a little bit, trying to finish up my September Fiber from HelloYarn (I'm quite behind, see) and a wee bit of tackling October's Spunky Eclectic Fiber. BUT! My main project this weekend (and this week - hoping to complete this bear soon) is a quilt that I started TWO YEARS ago for my father. It's made out of his old button-down shirts. It's a BEAST, I tell ya. But I need to just git it done already so I can move on to bigger and brighter pastures.

More pics tomorrow, I promise! Oh, and a tale of reverse-engineering! I'm teaching this week, so there will be books too!

Here's another Moth teaser:

A Rather Large Wheel On Which to Spin Fiber, and 2 Cats In Costumery

Here's the glamour shot that yesterday's bobbin is a part of - this is a Country Craftsman wheel that I snagged from craigslist. The wheel itself was crafted in Littleton, Massachusetts - it is a reproduction of a wheel from the 1700s. This particular wheel was only ever used for display purposes, and is in WONDERFUL shape! All I needed was a piece of string!

This wheel differs a fair amount from my other one (Ashford Traditional, for those not paying attention). First of, this is double-drive - see how the string goes around the big wheel twice?The large wheel controls both the whorl and the bobbin (on my Scotch tension wheel, the drive-band controls the flyer). The flyer here is tucked into little hard leather "hooks". Also, this has the giant crazy flax distaff - that big thing sticking up in the front. The overall size - well, the top of the big wheel reaches my waist, and the footprint is much larger as well. The whole thing is held together with little wooden pegs. I've only got one bobbin - I'm either going to see about having a few constructed or find some online. While construction has stopped on new wheels, the bobbin and whorl assemblies are still available.

That blue stuff on the wheel? That's some mystery fleece from Amy - I just grabbed a little something to take for a test drive. I can tell that it will take a little bit of getting used to how this puppy wants to spin, along with the double drive business. I've become very in tune with the tensions and nuances and speeds that I can take my Ashford , and what results I can comfortably achieve - with this new wheel, there will definitely be a bit of trial and error as I get used to how it works. Don't worry - I'll keep you updated.

Oh, and here we are Halloween! Mingo The Cat will be rockin' it "Three Amigos"-style:
I don't know what The Mayor kitty will be wearing - her glamourous cape from last year?



Which brings me to this question about Halloween:
Last year, The Mayor was on the front porch helping to give candy to strangers. She was wearing this cape. A gaggle of young girls came a hopping up the stairs, and after oohing and aahing over how cute she was, one of them asked "What's she supposed to be?"

It's a CAT wearing a CAPE - is that not enough?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!??

Tomorrow! A sock report - I've opted to rip back a bit of sock #1 (of the SocksThatRock experiment) and then throw on some ribbing. I am currently in 2x2 ribbing boredom, so I will try my darnedest to git some progress on that. So close, but so far. THEN! Well, I haven't really thought about what come after that........

In Which I Make Books & Knit & Simone Gets Married!

Here ya go! A week in six pictures......

I was teaching last week. I had a most wonderful Limp Vellum Bookbinding class - 7 students, 3 day class, make great book. I talk about the Red Sox a bunch, and harangue the students. It's great fun! I got a little bit feisty:

(photo by R. Craig Fansler)

This is an example of the sewing technique we were doing - the Herringbone Stitch. We were creating models of a 14th century binding. The sections of the book are sewn around alum-tawed skin, which is held taut on these sewing frames. Yeah, I know - pushpins are not the most 14th-century technique, but, hey, ya gotta go with what works. One of my students posted more pictures of books in action on his blog.

Then off to Vermont I went! For the most lovely (albeit rainy) wedding festivities of Miss Simone and Scott - here is the lovely Simone modelling her contract knitting:

One of the photographers had exclaimed "If you get a chance to touch this thing, DO IT."
The ceremony, the food, the setting, the company, ESPECIALLY the wedding party - all lovely! Miss B also had a handknit garment:

A lovely little capelet (NOT a shrug!), which ended up blocking out all sorts of wonderful.

The car-ride to Vermont? Lots of time for knitting! Experiment Number 194595495: What's the big deal with Blue Moon Fibers "Socks that Rock" yarn? Like, why does everyone LURVE it so? I decided to find out for myself:
Lest you think that I am not thorough in my experiments, I present to you TWO of these dandies:
This is the "Loch Ness" colorway - one of about 3 colorways remaining by the time I got to the booth selling this stuff at Rhinebeck. I gotta tell ya, it's pretty freakin' nice stuff. It's rather sproingy, and I like the striping. It is super NOT splitty, It seems that it will weather and wear well. I think I can undertand now, and I will even go so far as to recommend this yarn to y'all. I'll revisit it, methinks.

I'm going to throw out this teaser:
I'll be back with pictures of my new friend tomorrow ;)

Branching Out & The Potential for Light at the End of the Tunnel

A quick post before heading out to Rhinebeck this weekend, and also very few photos.

Simone received her lovely cashmere shawl this past weekend - I was loathe to give ti up, it is just so luscious, but, alas. I was rewarded with the pattern, yarn, needles, and measurements to craft a little cover-up for Miss B to wear at/during/after Simone's wedding. It's progressing smoothly, though not much to look at yet, so no pictures. Also no pictures: the completed MOTH! I have yet to block it, so at this point it is just another lumpy bundle of green yarn. You've seen it before. Hoping to block it soon soon soon - I mean XTREME block it - but I'm looking for the space - it ends up at some ridiculous size.

I did manage to get some pictures of a quicky Branching Out scarf:


This is using my Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club September offering, "Aspen". It's a merino/tencel blend and has a great sheen to it, which I wanted to show off. I really like the color transitions:



I'm trying to refrain form casting on anything else - I'm hoping to catch a case of Max's Finishitis, and really take a huge stab at my unfinished projects. Or at least make some decisions on many of them. Here are the things that are up for consideration:
- Ugliest Sweater Ever (need to work on collar shaping)
- Assymetrical Light Blue Zippy Cardi - sleeves :P
- some ancient cotton lace scarf thinger (I think i just need to bind off and call it quits on that one)
- Hush! lingerie - dreadfully tedious and boring at this point, but potentially good to have on hand at work for lunch and meetings, etc.

Those are the only major ones that I can think of off the top of my head - those are the ones that have been marinating for quite some time; I'm hoping my gauge hasn't changed significantly. How do you battle YOUR finishitis?

Reunited, And It Really Does Feel So Good

(clockwise from top left: Icarus, Crystalline, Hanami, Gothic Leaf)

I present to you four lace shawls. And the drama surrounding 2 of them.

In early August, I headed down to The Jers to see family and for a mini-vacation. I had just completed the Icarus Shawl, so I brought that, and I also brought along my First! Ever! Lace! Shawl!, the Crystalline Shawl. On my way back up to Boston, I visited with my grandmother, where she promptly kidnapped the shawls to show off to her Bridge Ladies. A week or two after that, I called down to see if she could send them up here - I wanted to enter them into a fair. So to the post office grandma goes!

That was August 23rd.

The shawls never arrived. I had hope (albeit, minimal), but my grandmother was HEARTBROKEN. DEVASTATED. I explained to her that I am a process knitter, it's okay, I still have hope, etc. But I could hear it in her voice every time I spoke with her that this was making her crazy.

On Tuesday she returned home (from bridge) to her envelope of the shawls! With a big sticker stating "Address Does Not Exist"........I have lived in the same place for EIGHT years. My house was built in the 1880s. I receive mail and deliveries.

Anyway. They're back! Here are some individual pics of the two missing shawls (taken at grandma's):

Icarus - knit with Misti Alpace Lace.


Crystalline Shawl - knit with.........I can't remember :(

I'm glad to have them back! Meanwhile, more lace was made: Hanami (more, better pictures to come), and the Gothic Leaf Stole, for Simone:


I completed Simone's Shawl (well, it still needs blocking) in less then 2 weeks. This was knit with the most luxurious Mongolian Cashmere.

I put everything on hold to knit this up - I know myself enough to know that I would have waited until the last minute otherwise. Expect more posts on spinning soon........I have some catching up to do.