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........

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:

Block Party!

So many things to report! Max headed over this past Saturday for some Moth KAL action and knit-aide, and a mini-spinning lesson. I crawled around on the front lawn with my bum in the wind:


....blocking Simone's lovely Gothic Leaf Shawl. The neighbors have no idea what to think at this point. The shawl, well, it's just lovely! It blocked out evenly and the cashmere plushed up even more.

I was bound and determined to get some spinning time in this weekend, as I had back-burnered all other tasks while working on the shawl. So I picked up one of my bundles of Citrus merino from HelloYarn and got to work! I have (so far - I have 2 bundles, this is the first) about 350 yards or so of the plumpest softest yarn ever. Here it is on top of the rest of the unspun stuff:

Quite thirsty-making, no?

So now it is back to the Moth! Max has completed her first section of repeats - I have some major catching-up to do. I'm already thinking about how and where I can perform X-TREME blocking - she'll be quite large when done, and those baords just won't handle it.

I Make Lace, I Spin, I Block Lace, I Spin More.

Ah, so much to report! First off, a lovely time knitting this past Saturday, where I worked a bit on Wing O' The Moth with Max before setting mine aside for a wee bit. Simone has asked me to knit a shawl for her for her wedding, so I figured best get started on that.


This picture does it absolutely NO justice - the yarn is stunning (Jade Sapphire's Mongolian Cashmere 2-ply) and the pattern (Sivia Harding's Gothic Leaf Stole) is simple enough to memorize and work through. I'm barreling through this (Simone gave me the yarn and needles on Saturday afternoon, here it is Monday and I have 1/3 of it complete).

For some bizarre reason, the warm weather of last week had me spinning a whole bunch. I managed to make it through my August Fiber Club acquisitions:


This is about 170 yards of Lincoln fiber, 2-ply, kind of coarse, maybe sport weight? I'm not good at that part. This is the August selection from the Spunky Eclectic Fiber of the Month Club.



This is Mollusc, the August selection from the HelloYarn Fiber Club. This spun up to about 260 yards of fingering weight.

I've been enjoying these fiber clubs - I'm trying out fibers I don't think I normally would have picked up, as well as learning more about the different breeds. Also, trying out different spinning techniques. Though I find I continue to spin to yarn weight that I prefer to knit with.

My last item today is this poor picture of the completed hanami Shawl, blocking:


I'm happy with how this came out - the yarn was stunning to work with, the pattern was easy enough to follow. I worked the first half of these charts upside-down, then flipped at the mid-point - I wanted to have the leaf pattern on both ends. This went fairly quickly, and I would consider doing it again, though I think I would make it a wee bit wider.

Next up: more pictures of Simone's shawl, some talk about socks, perhaps some UFOs.....

I Spin, I Knit, I Block, Repeat..........

I figured the best way for me to learn more about this spinning business would be to sign up for Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club - in which I receive about 4 oz. of hand-dyed fiber a month. It seemed this would be a great way to familiarize myself with different types of fiber, and branch out in the world of color to places I might not usually travel to. Well! I got my first bundle the other day, and had a blast spinning it (wish I had "before" shots, but alas.....):

Spunky Eclectic Fiber Club July 2007

"Celebration"
4 oz / 345 yds.

I'm quite pleased with how it came out - it is, for the most part, consistent in weight and twist, and the colors are pretty awesome - it reminds me of the bright/muted tones of salt-water taffy. Can't wait for next month! In the meantime, I signed up for Fiber Club at Hello Yarn as well. While visiting Hello Yarn, I managed to pick up some of this:

Lovely, no? I split this lengthwise a few times and started spinning - I'm hoping to end up with something similar to the Spunky yarn. I've got one bobbin full right now (sorry, no pictures) and hope to fill up another one tonight. I am a sucker for brown and teal and blue together.

In the world of knitting, I decided to NOT wait 4 -5 - 6 months to block the Icarus shawl; I figured it took long enough to knit, and at this point, I just didn't want ot have to deal with it anymore. So, blocking:


No good full-shots. It is off the boards now, but it was too rainy the past couple of days to get any lovely model shots. Oh well. soon enough! It turned out to be a little bit wider than my wingspan, and the alpaca fluffed up justenough - no loss of stitch definition, and not so fluffy that it gets in your mouth or anything (in general use, not in shawl-eating or any such).

Also: Hanami progress:
This pattern is so freakin amazing and fun to work on. Since it is so organic, it's alright if you mess up a little bit. I know I missed a stitch here or there, moved a stitch or two, but the pattern works with you - and it goes super duper fast! And the Lacey Lamb yarn? Buttery.

I am working only the Cherry Blossoms portion of this shawl (no basket weave). The pattern has you work the blossom charts out to one end, then pick up and knit the other end - so, center out. I figured the whole thing was non-directional enough that I could just flip the charts over and work them upside down. Seems to be working out for me just fine:My handy row/chart marking device? It is a magnetic knife-edge guard for kitchen knives. My roommate-chef left one hanging around and I hopped on it - IDEAL for such things. I just fold up my pattern to fit and snap the magnetics on the row I need. It fits in my bag all handy-like, as well.

Next up: my lace obsessions continue! Max & I should be casting on for Wing O' the Moth on Sunday; I'm already planning my next 4 shawls.

Lace Lace Lace

The Icarus Shawl has been defeated. Well, it's off the needles at least, now I just have to block it. I did not run out of yarn!

Once past the first chart, I flew through this puppy.
Upon completion of bind-off, I immediately cast-on for Hanami:
I'm knitting up Hanami with Lacey Lamb Extrafine lambswool in a Seafoam colorway. This yarn is amazing - it is buttery soft to the touch and has quite a bit of elasticity. It's already proving a joy to work with, and I think the stitch definition is wonderful. I'm using US 3s. The Hanami pattern is originally a basket weave pattern on one end and a cherry blossom motif on the other - the pattern also includes directions for knitting only one or the other. I plan on knitting only the Cherry Blossoms part. The pattern calls for a provisional cast-on and knit one end, then pick up and do the other. I am an impatient, not-into-that-fidgety knitter, and after looking over the Cherry Blossom portion of the pattern - no more than a series of yos, k2togs, and ssks - I figured I'd take a stab at knitting the pattern upside-down. Well, knitting it right side up, but reading the charts upside-down. You know.

This is (so far) a fast fast fast knit. I'm sure my love of this yarn is making it easier. I'm hoping (trying, striving, aiming) to have this done in a quick enough manner that it will not interfere with the Most Knit-A-Long of all Knit-A-Longs that will be the Wing O' The Moth with Max.

I love lace knitting - I like the challenge of it; it keeps me interested. The start of a lace pattern is intriguing, to see how the stitches are going to come together and fall into place. When you can read your knitting and see where things went wrong, see what has to happen next - it's pretty awesome. And, of course, the blocking. Which, in and of itself is pretty boring and annoying, but when you take out hose pins and wires...........Yowzah!

In spinning news, there is no news. I haven't been spinning much this week, but I am itching to get back to it. I (unnecessarily) picked up a bit more roving - I'm looking forward to some time to just sit down and plow through a bunch of what I have, really spend some time getting to know what I am doing, getting a better understanding of the fibers and the machine. While I am happy with the results that I am getting, I really want to know more about why why why the fibers behave in this way or that, and the role of the wheel, and the tension regulation, and and and......I want to own this skill, really embrace it, and completely and fully understand it. I know that's a lot to ask. I'm willing to give it a shot though. And everyone that I know who knits will gain the rewards of my journey through random bundles of randomly handspun randomness.

I WILL Defeat This Shawl

And finally, we have real progress! After slogging through Chart 1 of the Icarus Shawl (and I really, really mean slogging - I realized this weekend that I started this right before my cousin's graduation last June), I flew through Charts 2 & 3, and I am now about one quarter of the way through Chart 4 (the final chart).

It seems to be going well enough, though I am living in fear of running out of yarn. If it gets *super* close, I may check out Ravelry and see if I can pawn some off of someone.

But about the pattern, because I know that's what keeps you coming back:
This pattern is very clearly written (so far). However, the first part just goes on FOREVER - with really nothing to hold your interest. Once out of the Chart 1 doom, it went quite quickly and smoothly - I could really power through the rows. The lace pattern repeat is simple and easy to commit to memory - you can get into the rhythm of each pattern row easily. The pattern of the lace - this is in the knitting, not the charted pattern - reads quite readily; you can see it coming into shape and anticipate what will be happening next. All that being said, at this late stage of the game (row 7 of Chart 4), each row is taking me somewhere in the realm of 15 minutes to complete - I'm at 437 stitches, and this bad boy goes up to 523! This, my friends, is the triangular shawl dilemma...........

Nonetheless, I have my next 2 shawls lined up! I'll be working on Pink Lemon Twist's Hanami Shawl (maybe with beads! ooooooooh) and having a Knit-A-Long with Max for Anne Hanson's Wing O' The Moth (Now with X-TREME BLOCKING!!!!). It'll be the most knit-a-long of knit-a-longs ever - we've got the same beautifully green-brown dyed yarn from Hello Yarn to work with.

Block de Force

A beautiful Saturday.......and some taking care of business.
I finally got around to blocking the big triangle shawl that I finished in November (I can't remember the actual name of it; I'll look it up at some point). This was my first major piece of lacey-lace work. Of course, the Mayor was there to help......One of my co-workers passed on these awesomely huge blocking boards to me - it was time to put them to use! Sadly, someone had pushed all of my pins flush into the tomato (pin cushion, that is). So it took a bit of work to get things out, and the blocking itself took a bit of time, but I did it! Pictures of completed piece to come......

Afterwards, I thought about working on the Clown Vomit sweater, but it was curiously unavailable to me.....

So! I figured this would be the finest of opportunities to get going on the Tour de Fleece 2007! I love watching the Tour de France, and I figured what better way to get more involved in my spinning? I have dabbled a bit here and there, and at some point started spinning for what will (hopefully) ultimately be enough wool for a sweater, but I have been rather lax in my spinning duties.......

Enter the Tour de Fleece! First thing, set a goal for the yellow jersey! Starting today (well, in this case, I suppose continuing, as it's basically been a slog up until now.......), I have to complete the spinning of this specific fleece by the end of the Tour de France. So I've got from July 7th until July 29th to get through this pound or so of wool. I started today with one hank (about 125 yards or so, 2-ply, maybe sport weight), and I got a lot done!
I don't know enough about wool to inform you more on what type of animal this came from, only to say that it has been a joy to spin. It's a lovely blend of blues and greens, with a bit of white and yellow highlights. My spinning has been (shockingly!) consistent; the yarn itself seems to be like "real" yarn. Now I just have to spin....well, a ton more. But! But! I have 2 complete hanks (125 yards and 118 yards, or so...) along with 2 bobbins ready for me to ply.

I'll keep you posted with progress - I enjoy watching the Tour de France, and I enjoy the spinning, so it shouldn't be too much of an issue to keep up. Check the side button for other people's progress. I have high enough hopes that I am already thinking about what my goal will be to get the green jersey as well..............