New Project

I've been away for a while! I was out of town briefly at the end of last week, but mostly I've been trying to recapture my knitting mojo.

I've started a new project, and - get this - I'm using my stash! Woo hoo! I'm making Lucky, the Clover Leaf Wrap from Stitch n Bitch Nation. It's kind of hard to photograph right now, because it is curling so much.

My progress so far:



And a close up of the clover stitch:



The pattern calls for Rowan 4-ply cotton, and I am using 4-ply Botany in a light camel color. It's going to take me f-o-r-e-v-e-r...but I think it will be a nice marriage of fiber and pattern. Also, there are decreases and increases that need to be incorporated into the stitch pattern, which is a new challenge for me. I'm trying to choose more "thinking" patterns in 2005, and this one will definitely kick the year off right.

I am still compiling info from my cruelty-free yarn company inquiries. Most of the biggies have not responded yet, but it's only been about a week and a half since I wrote and I am hopeful. If I don't hear back, I will follow up. I'm still trying to think about how to summarize/standardize all the yarn company responses and how to make this info available.

I leave you with a humorous note from a great LYS. I never thought I'd see a combination knitting blog and dating service! Funny.


Happy knitting, everyone!

My first hat

Here is a photo of my first-ever hat. It turned out pretty well, I think:




But as I said, seaming hats is not something I plan to ever waste my time on. So, since I’ve got some nice yarn earmarked for some hats, I’ll be looking for some easy in the round hat patterns.

In other news, I have gotten two responses to my wool inquiry! I am very excited that these companies are taking my request seriously.

Jo Sharp Classic Wool is cruelty-free; it is made from Border Leicester fleece, and this breed is not mulesed. They plan to issue a statement soon about the situation with their Silkroad line, which they are currently researching.

Green Mountain Spinnery is a certified organic farm. This means they follow the national organic regulations regarding treatment of livestock and livestock handling. Their first priority in purchasing is to buy locally from farms in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Quebec, and neighboring states. They do not buy wool from Australia or New Zealand. From what I understand, mulesing is really only an Australian practice; so, I think Green Mountain Spinnery is a good choice.

So far so good. But I already see that, in asking companies to guarantee that their wool products are cruelty-free, it would be good to have some sort of standard by which to judge them. This is getting very complicated! I will have to think some more about how to do this in a way that will mean something to consumers.

Thanks to Lolly’s great preview, I snagged a copy of the newest Vogue Knitting. So I’m off to do a little bedtime reading!

Happy knitting, everyone!

Onward

All is well here, although my blog has been quiet. Truth is, I’m in a bit of a knitting slump. It seems hard to get started on something new, since I’m trying really hard not to buy new yarn. That means I have to go back to the old projects which were put aside when they got difficult, or my gauge was off and re-knitting is in order, etc. One good thing has come of this so far though – I’ve decided that I didn’t really want the round front cardigan I was making out of Karabella Aurora 8. I bought Stitch ‘n’ Bitch Nation, and found a great pattern called Flower Power that I would be more likely to wear.

Other than that, I made a hat for my co-worker’s little boy. I will definitely make it in the round next time – seaming ribbing on a hat is for the birds. Hopefully I can post a picture shortly.

Continuing on my quest for cruelty-free yarn, I’ve written to the following yarn companies to inquire whether they know the source of their wool products, and whether they have a policy on cruelty toward animals. These are the inquiries I’ve sent so far:

Alchemy Yarns
Berroco
Blue Sky Alpacas
Brown Sheep
Cascade Yarns
Cherry Tree Hill Yarns
Classic Elite
Crystal Palace
Green Mountain Spinnery
Jo Sharp
Knitting Fever
Koigu
Mission Falls
Rowan International
Tahki Stacy Charles

I sent these towards the end of the week, and so far I’ve gotten one response: “The owner of __________has been a vegetarian for 46 years. Need we say more?” Now, there are some companies on this list for whom this response might be credible. But for this particular company, considering the products I know they sell, this seems a great sidestepping of the issue. As I said when I first posted about this issue, it is very difficult to tell where the merino wool from Australia ends up. However, it seems a safe bet that if 70% of the merino wool products sold in the U.S. are made with Australian wool (a factoid from a friend who works at the Australian embassy), lots and lots of yarn is coming from Australian wool products too. Being a vegetarian is, in my opinion, an honorable personal choice. There is no certain connection between not eating meat and making business decisions to sell only cruelty-free wool products. Companies that stay in business sell what people will buy.

And so I will engage the yarn company staff person who wrote the above comment, and any others who do not seem to appreciate the complexity of the issue. This may be a harder project than I thought it would be.

A Question of Conscience

At Thursday’s knitting get-together at Caribou, there was some serious discussion about the wool in dustry in Australia and the process they use to shear the sheep. You can read those details here. (Go read it - it's important. I'll wait.)



I was really upset by this. Call me naïve, but I was so caught up in the joy of creating and the pleasure of other knitters’ company that it never even occurred to me that there might be cruelty in the knitting world. Due to the Byzantine nature of the textile industry, it’s difficult to trace the path of merino wool from Australia to a factory making what may be your favorite yarn.

Someone on the stitch-bitch dc listserve responded to this information by saying that she wouldn’t knit with wool now that she knows what’s going on. That's one solution, but personally I don’t know if I’d knit if I couldn’t knit with wool. 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.

So here is what I’m going to do: 1) write to the major yarn companies and ask if they know where their wool comes from (i.e. whether it’s from Australia) and 2) can they guarantee that it is cruelty-free. I will post these responses to one or more places: Knitters Review, this blog, and the stitch-n-bitch dc listserve. The next step would be to find ways to exert some leverage on these companies and get them to demand cruelty-free practices from their suppliers. I also want to compile a list of cruelty free producers/sellers. In my view, it is as important to engage the worst offenders as it is to highlight and support those who are setting a good example.

I leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

"I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do."
-Helen Keller

Still no Cheesesteak

But I had a great time in Philadelphia anyway! While my dear b.f was at his conference, I explored the city. I was only there for about 24 hours, but I did a lot in that time. I walked to Rittenhouse Square, which was beautiful – sort of like New York City in miniature. I also walked around the Old City, and saw the oldest continuously occupied street in Philadelphia, Elfreth’s Alley. I even saw the Liberty Bell! I have only been to Philadelphia once before, and I didn’t get to do any sightseeing, so it was fun to be a tourist. And finally, I walked around Antique Row, full of quaint shops and also fun, modern ones.

On to the knitting. I did indeed go to Rosie’s Yarn Cellar… but I’d rather tell you about Sophie’s Yarns in Antique Row. It was a huge, lovely store. Hardwood floors, nice displays with tons of shop samples (not many swatches, though), and a big table in the back for sitting and knitting. They even had fresh flowers!



You can see the owner and two staff members in this photo. They look like they’re having fun!



The shop had lots of handpaints (Interlacements, Schaefer, Cherry Tree Hill), as well as Rowan, Manos, Dale, Colinette, and tons of novelties. I bought some Schaefer Little Lola in a happy color for baby gifts. But the best items were in the back – there was a section of luxury natural fiber yarn: Joseph Gellar Camelhair/wool and Prime Alpaca, Grignasco (I think it was a cashmere blend), and some wonderfully soft Frog Tree Alpaca. Everything was in beautiful natural colors…yum. Anyway, I highly recommend this spacious, lovely, well-stocked store if you’re in Philly.

Other than that, I have a partially finished poncho pic for you:



Apologies for the pajama pants and odd facial expression. I still need to block it and add the 5" fringe my friend really wants. Once I finish, it will be time to dive back into my two UFO's.

Happy knitting, everyone!

Blythe is Born

You may remember that I made a small pink sweater for my co-worker's baby. Well, baby Blythe was born on Wednesday! She is adorable!



Baby Blythe is 10 lbs 11 oz, raising the issue of whether the 3-6 mo size sweater will fit her. Sigh. Well, they say babies lose a little weight when they come home, so we'll see. Otherwise, that sweater may be warming a teddy bear instead of a baby. But hey, it's the knitty thought that counts, right?

Still working on my friend's poncho. I'm using DB Cashmerino Aran, in the Chocolate color. (BTW- why did they decide to discontinue this yarn? In my yarn wanderings I hardly ever see yarns this color.) At first, the yarn didn't seem exceptionally soft, but now that I have been knitting with it for a while, it really feels very nice. Hopefully there will be an FO photo soon!

Next up, a weekend trip to the City of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia PA. I hope to hit Rosie's Yarn Cellar, and maybe another shop if I'm really good. I also plan to eat cheesesteaks! More on all of this later.

Happy Friday, everyone!

First Post of the New Year

In December, San Francisco looks nothing like the postcards. Winter in Northern California consists of icy rain and bone-chilling wind. Unfortunately, most of the time I couldn’t even see the Golden Gate bridge. But that didn’t stop me from having a great time with my brother and my best friend. Even though my friend was raised and now lives in Palo Alto, there were many things in San Francisco that she had never done. For example, she had never ridden a cablecar! So we did, all the way from Powell and Market to Fisherman’s Wharf. Here’s a view from the back of the car:




We also went to the Exploratorium, which is a hands-on science museum for kids and their families. They have a neat thing there called the Tactile Dome, which is billed as “an interactive excursion through total darkness, where your sense of touch becomes your only guide!” The darkness is indeed total, but I found that my eyes were still open the entire time. Without spoiling it, the Dome experience is one that requires an open mind and not a little physical flexibility, which I found I was lacking. Still, it was a unique experience and one that I recommend to kids – big and small.

And of course, I went to a knitting shop! San Francisco has a wealth of great knitting shops, and we chose to visit Imagiknit, located in the Mission Dolores district. This store was huge! Just huge. There were floor-to-ceiling bins filled with yarn, and lots of tables and sitting space too. The staff were young hipsters and very helpful. So…what did I buy, you ask? Just this:




Yes, that’s right. Just one lonely skein of Koigu Kersti. I would have bought more, but there was only one skein left. I fell in love with this colorway, and I plan to get enough to make a Clapotis. If the dye lots don’t match (which is a good possibility), this little skein will become some nice baby booties.

Anyway, San Francisco was great. It was so good to see my brother and to meet his fiancée! It will be cool to have a sister-in-law, as I do not have any sisters. I foresee much bonding ahead.

So, now it’s 2005. It seems like everyone has got some sort of resolution, so I’ll join in:

1. I will use up most (if not all) of my stash. Partial balls don’t count.


2. I will try some sort of two-color knitting, hopefully fair isle or intarsia but at the very least, stripes.


3. I will exercise 2-3 times per week.


4. I will visit my family more.

That’s all I can come up with for now. This post is long enough already! Happy Thursday, everyone!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has had a nice holiday season! I am looking forward to New Year's, because I am going to San Francisco. My brother and my best friend live there. I've been there once, but only to a suburb. I can't wait to see my brother (I haven't seen him in 1 1/2 years!) and to see such a great city.

Meanwhile, I've been knitting but in fits and starts. The only successful project this week has been this Manos scarf:




Not sure what I'm going to do with it. Right now, I'm just enjoying looking at it!

I'm also working on a poncho for my best friend - you know, the one I am visiting in about 36 hours? Ha. But I figure if I can get close to the cast-off length, she can try it on before I finish it, so it will be custom-made for her. I also promised a scarf to my dear b.f., so I will be working on that too. But it seems hard to get going on projects, now that the holidays are over! Sigh.

While I'm in San Francisco, I hope to make it to Artfibers, and with any luck, I'll find some great yarn for a Clapotis!Yes, I know, I have pledged to reduce my stash in the new year. Well, yarn for one more project won't hurt!

Washington is supposed to be in the 60s this weekend, while San Francisco is only going to be in the 50s, with rain! Go figure. This was my view as I walked to work this morning (hopefully you can see the Washington Monument in the distance):



...a good reminder that the city I live in is pretty special too.

Happy New Year, everyone!!

A New Knitter

I work for a small consulting company in Washington, DC. This company, although for-profit, is more touchy-feely than some non-profits I have worked for. I'm saying this so that when I post photos (below) of our office masseur, you'll know where I'm coming from! Anyway, one Friday, Steven came to our office (he comes every other Friday), and I was wearing a cardigan I made. This particular cardigan is very sheepy, as it is made from a light color of Rowan Big Wool. It made quite an impression on him, so he decided to learn how to knit.

Here he is, wearing his first project:




This is made from some sort of Noro, maybe Kochoran. Here's a closeup:

As his next project, he would like to make a cabled sweater. I say, go for the gusto! Steven, you are awesome!

In addition to Steven, it's very cool because there are at least three people at my small company who want to learn how to knit. Even better, our newest staffer P. is a knitter. So, we can both teach people! Our office already has a book club, and P. suggested maybe we alternate reading with knitting. Excellent idea!

Not too much else going on. You may recall I mentioned a hat (and scarf) that needed to get made and mailed - well, I punted. I bought a gift basket instead! Sometimes you just need to say, enough with the hand-made gifts. There's always birthdays, and next year's holiday season!

Happy holidays, everyone and safe travels!

Thanks!

Thank you so much for the kind comments on my post! I really appreciate it.

Lynette asked how much Manos was needed for my scarf. I bought two skeins and held them double, and after cutting 10" pieces for the fringe, I had two small balls remaining. So two skeins will be plenty. (I don't think one would be enough.)

Another reader asked about knitting groups in DC. I'm glad you asked! If I wanted to, I could go to at least two knitting group meetings every week, and those are just the ones you can get to via Metro. Visit http://dcknitters.themindspill.com/ for a listing and be sure to sign up for the Yahoo Group. There's also a DC Stitch-n-Bitch Yahoo Group you can join. I can say from personal experience that all of the groups listed are friendly and welcoming to newcomers. The more the merrier!

More holiday knitting

Now that Polly has shared my sock blocking inquiry, it seems only fair to show you the completed socks in question.




(Note: the one on the left is turned inside-out.) The pattern is "Whitby" from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. I am very proud of these socks and even prouder of the fact that they are already in the mail to their intended recipient. I hope she likes them!

A little factoid about me: in 10 years of waning and waxing interest in knitting, I have never made a hat. Of course, this explains why I decided to make one as a Christmas gift, and why I would choose to leave this gift til last. Naturally. I am now on my third hat pattern, after frogging the first two attempts. They say the third time's the charm, so hopefully I will have a picture to post tomorrow.

One more picture before I go, of a lovely scarf I made for my friend. Manos knit double on 17s makes the most beautiful, cushy, warm scarf! And I made it in about two hours, so that's even better!Have a great day, everyone!

FO Thursday

So, I finally finished the baby sweater! I think it should be against the law for anything that small to have that many seams. Whew! But it's really cute, and I hope baby Blythe (as she is to be called) will be snuggly and warm in it. Here's the sweater, (on my messy desk at work)...



...and here's the cute package it will go in.



The container is in the shape of a Chinese food container, but it's plastic - so you can see the cute tissue paper from the outside. Neat, eh? I got it from the The Container Store.

In other news, I finished an easy scarf from the Noro Transitions. I ended up not doing the horizontal type scarf, because I thought the colors looked really strange together in long stripes. Here's what it looks like before knitting



and after knitting.





This was my second experience with Noro. The first one went okay - I used Silk Garden and Cash Iroha for a long horizontal knit scarf. But I think the color-striping thing wasn't so obvious, because the Cash Iroha is solid-colored. It would be nice, I think, for the colors to repeat in the skein, so you can make something more balanced looking. Not sure what I will do with this scarf. I don't know who on my holiday list would appreciate it. It may to go Food & Friends; it would certainly be nice and warm.

Well, that's it for today. Oh - I almost forgot. Does anyone know if Nigella is a knitter? Check out the cover of her latest book:


Happy knitting, everyone!

Knit...Knit...Knitty!

Hello friends,

By now I imagine you have seen the new Knitty. With each new issue, this mag manages to surprise and delight me. This one is no exception! I love Cathode, and especially Tempting. I'm not sure if I would wear these in the winter, though, because I'm always cold - but I am considering organizing a knitalong for one of these two patterns. Anyone know how you start one?

No photos today, as I have misplaced the cord to my digicam. But, I am continuing on my Christmas gifts, namely the blue-green socks that I have posted about several times. I am also attempting to make a scarf in Noro Transitions, in the #8 colorway, which was featured on the Knit Happens blog:


My first try was not so lovely as this one - but I am undaunted and will try again. Photos tomorrow, I promise! Until then, happy knitting!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We are getting precariously close to Christmas, but I have noted a strange lack of holiday spirit on my part. Having observed this, yesterday I decided to listed to some Christmas music at work, to try and get the Christmas juices flowing. No dice. And it was even Ella Fitzgerald's "Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas," which is about as far as you can get from the awful, jangly, overbearing stuff they play in the department stores. Speaking of department stores, I began my holiday shopping at one last night. Again, it was a completely lackluster experience. I just felt like I was in there to "buy stuff." Total bummer.

Happily, though, knitting is proving to be the one thing that I find festive about the season this time around. I am making lots of holiday gifts, which feels fun because I know that most of the recipients have no idea what I am planning for them. Also, a colleague at work is having a baby, and I decided to make a tiny pink sweater for the occasion. (It's almost finished, and I will post a photo shortly.)

So I guess all is not lost for this holiday season. How wonderful that the craft of knitting, and the delight of making gifts by hand is reviving my holiday spirit.

Thanksgiving with Mom

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I had a very nice, quiet holiday with my mom, who was visiting from Chattanooga, TN. We went out to dinner (no bird-cooking for me) at an elegant restaurant in Washington, relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. Starting on Friday, we shopped! And shopped, and shopped. We hardly bought anything, mind you, but we enjoyed looking, trying things on, and seeing all the holiday items.

When my mom arrived, she showed me a pair of fuschia gloves she had, and said that she would like to make a scarf to match. I took her to Knit Happens, where we found the perfect yarn. I couldn't believe how well it matched! Mom chatted with a friendly Knit Happens staffer...


...and then hammed it up for the camera with a Colinette throw:




I surprised my mom by 1) buying the yarn she picked out and 2) knitting the scarf for her before her trip back to Chattanooga. Here's mom in her beautiful scarf and gloves, with a beautiful smile to match! As you can see, we look a lot alike:




So, that's pretty much all I have to report, other than that I am starting to freak out about all the knitting I need to finish before the holidays. The Yarn Harlot expresses these sentiments with great hilarity, as she so often does. I can't decide whether it's better to a) knit feverishly on one project at a time, until I finish it or b) multi-task and work on several projects at once. I guess the important thing is just to keep going.

The Yarn Harlot is planning to post gift ideas for knitters, one each day for most of December. I'm not very interested in knitting gifts this year, because I've decided that I want to use up my stash. I did not become a knitter just to have another way to accumulate stuff and clutter up my (tiny) apartment; I did it to make things. So stash-busting will be my New Year's resolution. That said, I do like the aptly-titled Knitter's Stash, and the Vogue Accessories book. Maybe those will be "Merry Christmas to Me" gifts; books don't count as "stuff," just yarn.

Well, must get back to my gift-making. Have a great Friday, everyone!

Untitled

Well folks, I'm back. And thank you so much for the nice notes about my poncho! It is warm and cuddly - you should make one too.

Here's a mild-mannered photo of the crazy place I've been to:



New Orleans is quite the deal, as my Minnesota buddies would say. I have to say, I was not feeling the hedonist vibe there. It was just too gross most of the time. However, I did really enjoy the music, what little I heard since I GOT THE FLU and started feeling sick the minute my meeting was over. Bleh. But I made up for it by buying a bunch of cd's at the Louisiana Music Factory.

I also went to two knitting stores, the Garden District Needlework Shop and the Quarterstitch. The former is quite large with a tremendous selection (Rowan, Alchemy, Prism, Cherry Tree Hill, Colinette, etc. etc.). The former is quite a bit smaller, eclectic (yarns are arrayed by color rather than gauge or another conventional method), and is - you guessed it - in the French Quarter. Unfortunately, neither store was set up for sitting and knitting - I hope there is such a place where N.O. knitters can hang out.

I did very little knitting, as I was first busy working and then busy being sick. But, I am happy to report that I am taking three days off from work (yay!), my mom is coming to visit (double yay!) and that she wants to go to the knitting store (too many yay!s to count). So, stay tuned for fun knitting adventures with Mom.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

The Poncho

So, I finally finished the poncho. As I said, it had to be re-sized, since the Yarn Girls "one-size-fits-all" pattern was not. Here I am, in all my poncho (and messy apartment) glory:




I'm pretty proud of myself, for re-sizing and finishing the poncho as well as learning how to use the self-timer on my camera. Ha.

Specs on the poncho:
Pattern: The Yarn Girls Guide to Simple Knits, Winter Poncho
Yarn: Cascade Pastaza (black) held with Colinette Mohair (Tapis colorway)

This project made me less afraid to work with mohair. I had Jo Sharp Rare Comfort in my stash to make a sweater I really liked, but when I tried to cast on, I made a big knot with the hairy yarn. But on Sunday I tried again, and I am making good progress:





The color is pretty accurate in this (overexposed) photo. I'm making this.

I am headed to New Orleans for work for the rest of the week, so the blog may be a little quiet. I hope to pop in at least one of the cool yarn shops there, so check back for stash enhancement photos! That's all for now - see you again soon!

Last Weekend

I spent last weekend in this wonderful town:


Ann Arbor, Michigan, home of the Wolverines and also home of my dear b.f. It was great to spend time with him, but weekends are so short! I miss him so much already.

In case you were wondering about the poncho - I finished it like I said I would, but it was COMPLETELY ENORMOUS. I mean, I would need to gain about 20 pounds, and then be about 6 months pregnant before the thing would not engulf me in wool. So sad. I've already ripped out half of it, and now have to - GASP - do knitting math to resize it! Yes, I have to resize it because the Yarn Girls were under some mistaken impression that One Size Fits All. Sigh.

I wish I had a knitting group to go to tonight - I could really use some fiber fellowship. I think there's one on Thursday. Maybe I will post some pictures!

That's it for now. Take care, all.

A Picture Is Worth 1000 Words...

This was painted on the sidewalk outside my polling place in Washington, DC. If you can't make it out, it says, "Our Dreams Will Never Fit In Their Ballot Boxes." I hope that someday we have a president who will fulfill many of our hopes and dreams, in a way that benefits all of us. I was born in 1975, and so I wasn't around for the Kennedy years; but I hope in my lifetime to see another president inspire the country like he did.

And of course, while staying up late to watch the election returns, there was knitting.


I started this poncho on Sunday night, and my goal is to have it finished to wear on Friday, when I go to Michigan to see my dear b.f. I think I can make this goal - in the photo you can see the front (on top) and back pieces (still on the needles); I'm nearly done knitting, then I just have to sew the side seams. It was 70 degrees in Washington yesterday, so hopefully the weather in Michigan will be more befitting a woolen poncho.

That's it for today. Have a good one!

I'm Baaaaack!

Hello there!

I have really neglected my blog, but for good reason - I have been travelling a lot for work, and I've only been working on one project (the multi-colored cabled sock), so there wasn't much to say about that. But now that I'm back, I have some serious stash enhancement to report:



The yarn is Colinette Mohair in the Tapis colorway, and Cascade Pastaza in black. Delish.
You can see in the background the pattern I'll be using, the Winter Poncho pattern from The Yarn Girls book.

And here's a pic showing what I've done so far:



This poncho is going to be gorgeous! I only hope I don't feel too self-conscious wearing it. I'm not often one for look-at-me garments; but hopefully this will be understatedly fabulous, which is my fashion holy grail.

So, about this posting business. I'm going to try and post three times a week (weekdays and weekends). Any more than that is wishful thinking. I do hope you'll continue to visit me!

Happy knitting!