Cotton Fest

Cotton Fest: A Maryland S & W pre-party




Who do I have to thank for this? Webs and Woolwinders, which were both having sales last week. On the left we have Classic Elite Provence in Japanese Lilac. This will become sort of tank top from one of Bonne Marie’s many cool designs. On the right is Dale of Norway Svale. Because Lauren spoke so glowingly about this yarn, I just had to get some. I was thinking about Soleil for this one, but am not sure yet. Finally, down in front we have…drum roll…Debbie Bliss Cathay! I was just too curious not to try it. This is going to become the Drop-Stitch Shrug from Interweave (it’s not in the magazine, but available in pdf format here.) The color is actually a regal, true purple rather than the blue-violet which appears here.

So what else is new? Well, I’ve started a new project: Shimmer from Winter ’03 Knitty. As I mentioned in a previous post, this is a perfect match for some stash yarn, Crystal Palace Mikado Ribbon. I did my best to take an enticing photo, despite the color:






This is the sleeve cuff, which flares out over the hand. The knitted fabric feels sooo slinky - this is going to be HOT! So, this is going to be my “I’m-cool-and-I’m-in-New-York” item, rather than the Rebecca cardi (we ran into a little problem and it is NOT going to be finished in time). Expect an FO photo soon. Plus, the b.f. will be visiting soon (yay!) and he will help me take some photos.

Take care, everybody!

A Baby FO

Hello there! I have been busy, a-knittin’ and a-stashin’. First, I am proud to say that I finally finished seaming the sleeves on Poppy. I just could not figure out the seaming for set-in sleeves, so she has been languishing for some time now. Knitting has taught me that I am a really visual learner, so I usually need more than one knitting book diagram to figure things out. But this time, I read every knitting book I have, and none of the descriptions or diagrams really clicked. Luckily, I have recently subscribed to Interweave Knits, and had access to the Subscriber-Only Content. They have a section called “Beyond the Basics” where there are tutorials on lots of aspects of knitting. The one called Perfect Seams, Part II was my key to finishing this cutie:



Pattern: Poppy, Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora magazine
Yarn: Blue Sky Dyed Cotton, Color 618
Difficulty: Harder than it looks! Lots of picking up stitches. May have been more of a challenge because the yarn I used had a larger row gauge than the yarn specified in the pattern.
Completion Time: I knitted the pieces in a weekend – the finishing took much longer!

The Dyed Cotton (at least the skeins I bought) has a really odd smell – this garment will need a good washing before I can send it off to its recipient. But, I can see now why set-in sleeves can make a really nice-looking garment. And now that I’ve done it in baby size, maybe I can tackle some me-sized set-in sleeves!

In other knitting news, I have made a good start on the Rebecca Wrap Cardi. Apparently, I have a purple fixation going on - check it out:




This pattern lays out a really nice road map for the stitch pattern – it’s so easy to follow and you don’t have to worry about partial motifs, because they’ve already figured out how many will work on a row. My goal is to finish this before the second weekend of May, when the b.f. and I will be going to NYC. We are going to see Avenue Q, and just generally enjoy ourselves. I have never seen a show on Broadway! It will be great fun.

Anyhoo, I guess that’s it for me today. Next post – stash enhancement! Why someone who is going to Maryland Sheep and Wool in two weeks would buy yarn is beyond me. But it’s cotton, so that’s okay, right? ;-)

Happy knitting, everyone!

Happy Endings

Yesterday, as I trudged home from work feeling somewhat under the weather, all I could think about was getting home, putting on some sweats, and curling up to watch a movie. I was somewhat dismayed when I remembered that I had eaten my last Edy’s Whole Fruit popsicle and thus had no sweet movie-watching snacks – but I was too tired to battle my way through the checkout line at Safeway.

So I continued home, and found this:
Godiva chocolates,

and long-stemmed roses.

From whom, you ask? Only the world’s best boyfriend! I keep him anonymous because I assume he would want it that way, so suffice it to say – sweetheart, you’re the best! I love you.

I then settled in with some knitting and a movie, and chomped on the chocolates. Bliss!

On to the knitting. As promised, a photo of the completed baby sweater. Let’s just call it “Rainbow Brite,” shall we?




Pattern: Daisy, from Knitty. (Written by the infamous Yarn Harlot.)
Yarn: Schaefer Yarns’ Little Lola (it’s the same as Lola, just a smaller skein).
Difficulty: Easy peasy! Just lots of ends to weave in.
Completion time: About one week for knitting and sewing up.

This will be for my friend A. On a suggestion from a co-worker, I plan to customize it for a boy or girl by choosing more gender-specific buttons. One baby gift down, two more to go! I am going to try this pattern in my continuing quest for the world’s easiest, best baby sweater.

I have completely stalled on Lucky! I will try to get back into it and work on the sleeves this weekend. Meanwhile, I have finally started working on the Rebecca Wrap Cardi. I have also begun to organize my stash – perhaps there will be more on this later. And Lauren, I have considered being a librarian! In fact I’m still deciding what I want to be when I grow up, and this is still in the list of possibilities!

Happy knitting, everyone – may all your purls be perfect!

Spring Cleaning

As all you knitters know, it can be hard to keep track of all your
knitting stuff: stash, needles, notions, patterns, swatches, ball
bands…the list goes on and on. So I decided to start taking control of
the growing knitting chaos in my apartment and do a little spring
cleaning.

Step 1: Corral the list of projects and materials used into one
place for easy reference.

Months ago, I purchased Char Loving's Knitting Journal for this
purpose, but I hadn't taken the plunge. I somehow decided that I
couldn't put anything in unless it was in the exact
order the projects were completed. (Type A? Me? Naah…) But when I
finally decided it didn't have to be *perfect*, I started putting
stuff in there. Now, I realize how useful a book like this can be for
organizing all those little project-related doodads and details. Here
are a couple of samples:




I don't think this journal will accommodate gauge swatches, but that's
not such a big deal for me since I rip them out half the time anyway.
Mainly it just helps me know what I've made, what I made it with, and
what I thought of the yarn and pattern. And of course, it makes me
proud to see photos of all the neat projects I've made with my own two
hands!

Step 2: Unsnarl and tame the circular needles

I also (finally!) got a needle holder. I plan on getting several, but
I started with one for circs because they get so tangled and I can
never find the right one. I ordered it from an eBay store, EHwa
Aprons. The package came quickly and when I opened it, I was
amazed:

(the outside)



(a close up of the inside - the top is satin!)



The stitching is expertly done, and the fabric was so beautiful! I got
to work stuffing all of my needles in, and I am pleased to report that
all but one pair of 13s and one loooong pair of 19s fit! Not only
that, but when I folded and tied it with the attached strap, this is
how small it was:



Awesome. I plan to order more, more, more from this eBay seller! I
think the stash is the next element of knitting organization to
tackle.

So, that's it for today. I took pictures of the rainbow baby sweater,
but alas – the digicam batteries died before I could upload them. That
will be my next post!



Happy knitting, everyone!

Just a Little Knittin'

Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments on Lucky! I am pleased with how it is coming along so far. And Melissa - no worries about the trim! I know it will look great.

I've been hunting around for more cool spring patterns, and I have a few more to share:

• Orangina from Glampyre: I haven’t bought the pattern yet, but I will soon! It looks like it doesn’t have much shaping, if any, so this would be a pretty quick project. And can we say – “I’m a 4-ply convert!”
  
  
• Crumpets from Chiagu, a new online magazine. What a sweet dress! Baby girls get all the cute patterns! I think it would be nice even without the beads.
  

The great thing is that you can buy these patterns on-line, and then download a pdf of the pattern. So easy! Oh, and also in blog-land: there is a Knit-a-long for the Nothin’ but a t-shirt pattern from MagKnits! Go here for more info. I am planning on it!

Continuing in my break from Lucky, I am working on a baby sweater. I bought a skein of Schaefer Yarns’ Little Lola when I was in Philly in January. It is the best baby yarn!! It looks like this in the skein,



…and it knits up like this:



I love how the colors blend one into the next – and they don’t pool, from what I’ve seen so far. I am in awe of hand-dyeing in general, and Schaefer’s method in particular produces beautiful results. I should have an FO picture of this little gem shortly.

Happy knitting, everyone!