26 Knitting Days Until...

Hi! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. My holiday was a delightful combination of family (my soon-to-be in-laws came to visit), food, Chicago sightseeing and relaxation. I had a great time, but I still wound up feeling like I needed a vacation from my vacation, you know?

Once Thanksgiving had passed, I decided that it was time to begin Christmas preparations in earnest. For me, as for you I imagine - that meant a trip to the yarn store, where I went a little nuts. But it wasn't my fault - the Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb I ordered back in September finally came in, so I had to pick that up,


even though I was there to get stuff for a shawl for my mom. She has specified a color choice, but not a pattern: camel (if you please), and NOT tan. Luckily Loopy Yarns had just the thing - Berroco Suede in "Rawhide." Giddyup!


The next step is to find a suitable pattern. I was going to do Ella from Knitty, which is so beautiful...but then I remembered that it's almost December and I do still have other projects. So, the Suede will lend itself well to largish needles. Any ideas for patterns or motifs? I am looking for a simple, elegant design that will look good on a rectangle. I tried Old Shale and Feather & Fan, and they just looked lumpy. B. Suede doesn't slide on the needles very easily, and - believe it or not - it's actually pretty splitty. Maybe I could do something with dropped stitches? Not sure. But the clock is a-tickin', so I've got to figure this out soon.

Anyway, I'll check you dudes later. Good luck with all that holiday knitting!

Koo-Koo for Kool-Aid

Last night I dyed some yarn with Kool-Aid. Why did it take me so long to try something SO FUN??! It was such a neat process. I started out with a little bit of Cascade Ecological Wool in Ecru, which is undyed. It was left over from another project, so I figured if it didn’t work out – no harm, no foul.

I wanted to try orange, but my grocery store had a limited K.-A. selection. So, I used two packets of Lemon Lime, and a packet and a half of Changin’ Cherry (nice name).

When I started heating the yarn/Kool-Aid mixture, it looked like this:


Then, just like everyone said, the water got clear! So neat.


And finally, here’s a closeup of the resulting color, sort of a tonal spring green:



I think it turned out well! The only thing I would have done differently would be to tie the skein less tightly, or to shift things around a bit during the process so I wouldn’t have white spots where the yarn was bound. No biggy, though – this was just a fun experiment. I’d love to try hand-painting! But I’m a little nervous about the ite-whay arpet-cay in my apartment.

Anyway, a good time was had by all (okay, just me – my sweetie is out of town for a few days). BTW - I finished Simply Marilyn!! Pics coming soon. Have a great weekend, everybody!

Hibernation

Is anyone else dreading the onset of winter? We are supposed to get our first snow on Wednesday, and although I know we are lucky to have had such good weather up until now, I am not ready for the cold! Since I've been in Chicago, there have been a few cold and very windy snaps - and every time it happens I realize I've gone soft. I grew up in Northwest Ohio and then we moved to Illinois - then after that it was upstate New York, and college in Massachusetts. But since then, I've been in DC, which although it's not Florida is certainly nothing like the Great Lakes in the winter. Sigh. Nothing to do but make warm stuff to wear, right? I've knit two sweaters that are waiting for seams, so that's a good place to start. Doesn't stop me from wanting to cast on for something new, though...

I've finished off a trio of hats (no pics - they aren't very exciting), and I've been working on some socks. This yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, but it's one of the 'only at Purl' colorways called Denim Stripe:



I love the way this knits up. Go get yourself some! (You're on your own with the seafoam green, though.)

At my knitting group last week, I was saying how I didn't want to knit socks on US 1s. Everyone tried to convince me that it was hardly slower than using US 2s, and since the socks wear better at tighter gauge it's totally worth it. I think I had a similar rate of progress, but - I kept dropping stitches. To that I can only say: knitter, know thyself! The tinier stitches are too tiny for me, I'm afraid.

I'm also thinking I want some wristwarmers. I've spent my whole life being annoyed about that wisp of cold air that gets up your coat sleeves if you aren't careful - and it never occurred to me to make something to fix it. But seeing as how this Chicago winter is about to spank me good I'd better get cracking. Last Minute Knitted Gifts has a nice pattern that uses Koigu Kersti or Noro Cash Iroha. Let's see...I might have some of that rattling around in the stash...

Knitting Meme Fun

Although I wasn't personally tagged, I thought it would be fun to answer these questions.

Your favorite needles?
Clover circs, hands down. I have other needles, but if I could replace them all with Clovers, I would. I also like Brittany needles.

The worst thing you've ever knit?
Smooch, from a Rowan pattern book. It had a lace edging at the bottom, which required reading a chart. It was my first chart-reading project, and I must have knit those dozen or so rows about four times before I got it right. The rest of the garment didn’t go any better…I got about 90% done and couldn’t get any further. I started it at least two years ago and just frogged it this summer.

Your most favorite knit pattern? (maybe you don't like wearing it)
I loved making the Whitby socks from Knitting on the Road. They were a gift, so I don’t wear them – but the pattern was so clever. You didn’t have to memorize it, and it looked really beautiful although it was so straightforward. Nancy Bush is a genius in my book.

Most valuable knitting technique?
Probably knitting with dpns. Then I could make socks, and came to understand the concept of circular knitting. (Yes, there was once a time when I could not envision what this was or why you would want to do it!)

Best knit book or magazine?
Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. I love the stories behind her patterns, and the patterns themselves are very well written. I’ve learned some great tips from this book with applications beyond socks, like hole-free methods for picking up stitches, and ways to create an invisible seam when you join your first round in circular knitting. Another favorite is Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. I could page through it for hours; I find it really calming. Maybe that's weird.

Your favorite knit-a-long?
The Lucky-along was fun; I met a lot of nice people through their blogs. I didn’t finish my sweater, though - maybe this winter!

Your favorite knitblogs?
I have lots of favorites, but the ones which come to mind are: ChicKnits, for a perfect cocktail of fun, beautiful knitting and patterns, and great design; Purly Whites for her knitting engineering, and Crazy Aunt Purl because she’s Crazy Aunt Purl.

Your favorite knitwear designer?
Whenever I see a design I like, it’s often by Norah Gaughan. I don’t think I’ve made any of her designs, though.

The knit item you wear the most? (how about a picture of it!)
I have a few spring/summer items, but truthfully, I don’t wear my knitting very much. I’m hoping to change that by making more things this winter. I do really like my Soleil tank top, though.

I don't think I will tag anyone, since it seems like everyone has done it already. Good clean fun.

False Alarm

No new post, just doing some housekeeping on the bloggy-blog. Catch you later.

Merino wool at what price?

Some of you may recall that I was very upset when I learned about the practice of mulesing in the Australian merino sheep industry. This practice, used to prevent death from parasites is done without anesthetic on thousands of sheep in Australia, the source of 65% of the world’s fine merino, according to Vogue Knitting. (Note: See the current issue for an interesting piece about the history of merino wool and a companion piece about mulesing.)

From time to time this issue is raised on blogs, Knitters Review forums and in-person knitting groups. Most knitters seem to agree with the farmers on the sad necessity of mulesing. Others have decided upon learning about this practice to no longer knit with wool. I can understand their feelings, but - that won’t work for me. Cotton hurts my wrists. Most synthetics are gross, IMO. (And they use a lot of petrochemicals in their production, but I digress.) Knitting with wool makes me feel connected to the planet and to generations before me who have done the same. But, as the VK article also notes, merino wool is a luxury -- one that I do not want to enjoy if it means supporting animal cruelty.

So, I did some research. I found that although a number of countries (South Africa, New Zealand, Uruguay and the U.S.) produce merino wool, the mulesing practice is limited to Australia. So I decided to write to yarn companies and ask if they knew the country of origin of their merino wool, figuring that if it was from anywhere other than Australia, I could be fairly certain that the wool harvesting process was cruelty-free.

You can find the results of my research here. My findings are less than scientific and somewhat incomplete, but the information may still be useful to you. I also welcome any additions or updates you may have if you’ve done your own research. Feel free to read, copy, and distribute as you please. (I’d love to know about it if you do - email link is in the sidebar.)

And since we’re on the subject, how about a progress shot of my Uruguayan merino wool sweater:



Happy knitting, all!