I don’t live where I thought

Well, I learned today that apparently I don’t live where I thought. That is, my city isn’t the city I thought it is. After all, we all know that the Internet is never wrong…

Umm…

There was a story in today’s paper about the “renaming” of my hometown. Seems a certain dominant player in the online business had a bit of an error in their software, effectively renaming the city – to one that doesn’t even presently exist in the state! They’ve known since Friday (apparently via complaints – I suppose it’s rather hard to get directions when you don’t know which town name you’re supposed to be searching for), but haven’t gotten it fixed yet (at least not as of 6:00 p.m. EDT). Interestingly, when I did a search for my hometown (“old” name rather than the “renaming”) it landed at the site of our cross-county rival…THE big game IS this weekend – coincidence? I was amused enough that I did snag some screenshots.

In less exciting news, there has been non-lace knitting. It’s actually been concurrent with the lace knitting, but the blanket was more exciting, so it got screen time first. I am very happy to have two partially-finished sleeves, however.

The end is in sight! Almost. The second sleeve is actually as long as the first sleeve now, but they’re both only through the increases. I still have a few inches of straight stretch and sleeve caps to knit. Then there will be the blocking and the setting in of the sleeves and the finishing of the neck. I might be finished by Christmas at the present rate…

Now…I think I need to look into new address labels…

Unexpected lace

So I had all these grand plans for my fall lace knitting – WIP’s to continue (or finish) and new autumn-toned shawls to begin. I can honestly say that my plans haven’t exactly fallen apart…but they have been pushed aside by one tiny little detail. Autumn means chilly weather. And chilly might have been manageable in sticking to my knitting plans, right up until about five minutes after church began this past Sunday. The boiler was out. The church was unheated. And I knew with every ounce of my soul that cobweb weight silk/cashmere blend was not going to cut it. (Never mind that my nice little knitting corner is quite warm and toasty. We don’t think about such rational things when our toes are turning to ice.)

It was thus that I found myself quite unexpectedly casting on for the Hemlock Ring Blanket. I happened to have some Cascade Eco-Wool in the stash (which was really destined for another project, which has now been scuttled) and the appropriate sized DPNs, so I cast on without swatching. Several times as a matter of fact, but I really don’t let the fact that I can’t do a circular cast on without dropping at least one of the needles two or three times bother me. It’s inevitable, so I leave it be. I think it’s doubled in size since I took this picture, so I’m hoping for a quick fall knit. So I can get back on track with my actual fall knitting…

[Cross posted at Seasons of Lace]

Autumn Plans

I believe I promised to be back later this week with a summary of my plans for fall knitting. As it is now about as close to the end of the week as I can get and still be in the same week, I’d better hop to it!

The three-word summary: autumn = lace.

Of course, I’ll be working on some non-lace knitting as well – if nothing else, I want to finish my braided pullover. But with Seasons of Lace in full swing for the fall, I have eyes-bigger-than-my freetime plans for lace knitting.

First up, Lerwick Lace Shawl (Ravelry link). I started this at the end of May thinking it would be the perfect summer knitting – lightweight enough not to stick to my hands during the hot summer weather and complex enough to hold my attention. As it turned out, we had very little hot summer weather (one of the coolest July’s on record) and my attention was distracted by the much less complicated braided pullover. So this has been languishing in the first half of the edging. I picked it up again last night, though, and added another four points, so maybe I can get on a roll and finish the edging before the fall’s out.

Next, a very old UFO. I did some project organizing last spring, finishing up some, frogging and reassigning yarn on others, and delegating others to the “finish-it-soon” pile. (I’ve been on this big organizational kick lately. I’m almost surprised I haven’t purchased some containers to sort my smallish sized stash by yarn content and color family. Hmm….) Anyway, towards the bottom of the pile was a project that I started as part of a mystery stole project, two years ago. Turns out, I don’t follow along with mystery projects very well. It might have actually headed for the frog pond if I hadn’t seen a finished version of the shawl at the Great Lakes Fiber Show this spring. The pattern is Swan Lake by Melanie Gibbons, and I’m using Suri Elegance (Alpaca Yarn Co.) with some variegated blue-purple beads.

I didn’t like my gauge on the project (not to mention that it’s been so long, I think my tension may have changed), so I did frog it for a restart. I washed, dried, and rewound the yarn and spent an evening knitting in July before the aforementioned sweater distraction. In the past two weeks, I’ve managed to finish Chart B, and I think this will be a nice fall project for when I have the time to fuss with adding beads. (I’m good at dropping them, so…)

Of course, what fun would fall lace knitting be without some new projects? (Easily distracted by shinny new lace projects….) The first of the new projects is Rose by Susan Pandorf (Sunflower Designs). I’ve purchased several of her patterns, including all of the Garden Variety designs, but this is the first I’ve tried to knit. Although the pattern calls for copious amounts of beads, I think the lines of the design are strong enough that they aren’t necessary, so I’m opting to knit without any beads. I could, however, be setting myself up for a nice little UFO, as I decided this would be a nice summer stole of linen yarn (knitting it in the fall, I make tons of sense). I think the yarn works perfectly well with the pattern, but my hands aren’t quite as enthusiastic. They’ve been spoiled by nice soft merinos and cashmere-silk blends.

So far, I’ve managed to complete two gauge swatches (blocked, even!) and the first four rows of the actual stole. The picture above represents the swatch at the needle size I’m using.

Finally, THE fall project. Assuming I can find a gauge I like. I bought this yarn in the spring, knowing it would make for a perfect autumn knit, with its reddish and coppery tones. The yarn is Briar Rose Angel Face, and is absolutely lovely. I also knew immediately that I wanted to knit Aeolian with it. There was a knit-along over the summer for Aeolian, but this yarn had to wait for the fall, so I’m just getting started swatching. Based on an initial swatch start, it may be a bit lighter weight than the yarn called for, but I was planning on making the largest size anyway, and as I’m on the short side (OK, downright short), I think it will work out ok.

So, my plans for the fall. Over ambitious much? Guess I’d better get to knitting….

Finding Balance

I have found myself plaugued lately by a list of things I want to do much longer than the amount of time I actually have available in which to do them. This is to say nothing of the things I am supposed to be doing, but don’t necessarily wish to do. It’s been a little nutty at work lately (on multiple levels and for multiple reasons – the latest being a whole office computer & software upgrade), so when I’m at home I’m not really inclined to do anything that might entail work or thinking. You would think that this would mean more time spent knitting, but somehow, the reverse has been true. I’ve spent much more time reading lately, than I’ve done in a long time. This would be a positive, except that too much of that reading has been for studying (which I absolutely despise). I seem to keep getting pushed and pulled between the wants and the needs, and I’ve found myself knitting almost exclusively on the weekends. My progress has been very limited, alas. I keep trying to see where I can cut, what I need to do to find my free time again, but it isn’t working as well as I would like. Finding the balance of doing all that I need to do and all that I want to do is presently eluding me.

However, I have decided that one thing I really want to do is become more faithful to this blog. I started it in part because I wanted to force myself to spend time writing, to continually have that practice of putting thought to paper (even if it’s just about knitting!) that didn’t involve architectural notes or specifications. Further, Seasons of Lace (Autumn) started this past week, and seeing all the lovely lace knitting over there really makes me want to knit lace again!

I had thought I would knit lace all Summer (lace being lightweight and all), but about mid-July I found myself staring at my Braided Pullover again. For some reason I can’t explain, late summer seems to be the time I get the urge to finish old sweater projects. (Although, this year that could perhaps be explained by the unusually cool weather we had most of the summer – knitting with a wool blend was actually feasible for all about about a week in August, even without a/c running.)

I’ve managed to finish the body, including seaming the shoulders. I’ve even tried it on, and I think it fits! (Although, I’m thinking maybe it would have been nice if it were a little longer. If I decide that’s the case, I might try something scary involving snipping out a row and adding more ribbing. I’ll wait until after I block it to decide, though.) I also knit the neckband until I used up that particular ball of yarn.

The sleeves are both started – I wanted to get the ribbing done on both to make sure I’d have the exact same number of rows. The first is partway through the increases, but I’ve put it on hold as I’m iffy on the needle size. If I decide I’m going to wear this with a blouse underneath, I may wish to go up a needle size, to give more room in the sleeves.

Of course, an even more pressing reason for putting this on hold is because I want to knit lace! I’m planning to write up a post later this week with my lace plans for the fall. (Let’s see if I stick to that plan!)

I did learn something unexpected during the body of this sweater. If you look closely at the detail of the cable below, in the lower portion, the first reverse stockinette stitch to the left of the cable is loose. I tried to pull it tighter every row, but it didn’t seem to help. Then, by chance, I read that the Norwegian style purl (YouTube video link) could solve this exact problem. It’s a method of purling intended for Continental-style knitting which leaves the yarn in the back instead of bringing it to the front. I find it a little more fiddly than the method I’m used to, so I won’t use it most of the time. However, as you can see from the upper portion of the picture, it definitely worked.

I’ll be back soon with lace. I promise!

the best of intentions…

I had the best of intentions to write at least one post while on vacation. It’s not like I had too many pressing tasks to get in the way….

Well, except for the knitting of course! I finally finished the Artichaut for Chris of Briar Rose Fibers, and went to Anne’s for a little blocking party. If you visit Anne’s site, you’ve already seen these pictures – they’re hers. (I hope she doesn’t mind me posting them  – I wasn’t able to get any myself as it was dark by the time we finished blocking.)

Pattern: Artichaut, from Summer 2009 Twist Collective
Yarn: Briar Rose Angel Face, 100% alpaca laceweight, colorway “Artichaut”
Needles: US 1 (2.25 mm)
Verdict: I rather enjoyed this pattern, and I still can’t get over how much the alpaca stretched on blocking (over 30%). It seemed really small on the needles (I knit the petite size), but blocked out a tiny bit bigger than the pattern states. The yarn was also lovely the knit with – so far, the nicest alpaca I’ve used. This is one of Anne’s more difficult patterns, as there are increases and decreases on both right- and wrong-side rows, but with some extra stitch markers between repeats (OK, I admit it – I was too lazy to count), I didn’t really have any trouble. Other than my annoying tendency to pull the needles out of the knitting when I picked it up! Sigh…

I also spent quite a bit of time working on my Lerwick shawl, but I don’t have any updated pictures. Think more of the same. It could be quite unexciting for a while. And finally, I finished up some simple afghan squares.

A while back, I stumbled across a group on Ravelry which knits afghan square which are then sent to a Louisiana-based woman who assembles them into afghans for the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. It’s one of the (if not the) poorest spots in the country, and afghans are always in need. There was a little inner-group competition in June for more squares – I managed to finish (8) 6″ square to add to the total. Half were knit on the bias, and half were mitered squares. I plan to keep knitting more as I have time – especially since I discovered that knitting these goes along really well with reading – I just use a strategically placed stitch marker to remind me that it’s an increase or decrease row.

I’m thinking I need to find another good summer knitting project – there are times when the really fine lace of Lerwick is a little too fine – especially late at night. I keep pawing through my stash and my patterns, but haven’t quite found a match yet. There may be a trip to the yarn store in my future…!

this ‘n that

You would think that finishing up a major work project and being done with overtime (for the time being) would lead to a  major spurt of knitting….but then you’d be wrong.

Unfortunately, hanging over my head was still the dreaded spring cleaning. Dreaded, mostly because it takes so darn long. I don’t feel like I have a lot of “stuff”…but there’s still more than enough to go through. And of course, I’m one of those people who feels the need to alphabetize their CD collection. (I’m also one of only two people at work who can find a contact’s business card in less than 30 minutes. No, I don’t think it’s a coincidence.) I seem to have two extremes – either I’m chronically organized with everything in its place or I’m nose-deep in piles that I haven’t taken time to work through and put away. Which makes cleaning oh-so-fun. High standards and a year’s worth of failing to meet them….

So, anyway, knitting has been sparse. But the spring cleaning is finished (yea!) and I’m on vacation all of next week (double yea!), so I’m hoping to get back in the swing of things. I do have some knitting I haven’t shared yet.

This is a very scrunched up and almost finished Artichaut, in Briar Rose Angel Face. Earlier this year Anne asked me to knit a sample for her booth with Chris at Sock Summit later this summer. Since the pattern wasn’t released until June 1 (in the Summer Twist Collective), I couldn’t share it until then…by which point I was inundated with the rest of my life, of course! It’s another lovely Knitspot pattern, although trickier than most, as there is patterning on both sides. (My simplification solution has been stich markers between repeats. Lots of stitch markers.)  The yarn is also very lovely, an alpaca laceweight. It’s actually much nicer on the hands to work with than the yarn I used for my Alhambra. But then again, I’ve yet to have any complaints about any of Chris’ yarns.

Moving from challenging to even more challenging, I’ve finally started the Lerwick Lace Shawl from Heirloom knitting.

I’m using a cobweb weight cashmere-silk blend (from Colourmart) which is absolutely lovely to work with. Even though I’m using 1.5mm (US 000) needles. (Eek!) I have so far about 8 points finished on the edging, out of 152. I think I’ll be working on this one a while… It will make good summer knitting though – it’s very lightweight and I don’t think the fine yarn will stick to my hands quite as much as heavier, woolier yarns do in the heat of summer. I may have to find a somewhat easier project to work on for breaks from this, however. At least I have plenty of yarn to choose from!

Finally, I’ll leave you with the strawberries…

I had to go around to the side of the house over the weekend to check if the phones not working was a result of in-the-house or out-of-the-house issues (Answer: out-of-the-house. A very naughty squirrel chewed through the lines.) I don’t usually venture to this side as it’s just a narrow strip between our house and the neighbors, so I usually miss these. However, this year the timing was just right to stumble upon these bright little beauties. I believe they are alpine strawberries, and they’re not very edible (at least, not compared to the local farm berries my mom picks every year – I’m not sure anything beats those), but they are really a cheery little spot of color.

finally finished!

It has been a long hard slog, full of stress and nightmares and lunacy and way too many hours crammed together at the very end, but at last I can say, “It is finished.”

The never-ending project of continually moving target deadline is done. Or at least, mostly done on our end. The drawings went to the printer this morning, the construction manager will have them tomorrow, and we can breathe again. Briefly. I’m sure in a day or two we’ll start getting swampped with calls – the “can I substitute x for y” or “I can’t find x in the drawings” or “what on earth do you mean by y?” variety. However…just having the drawings finished, and out to bid is a major accomplishment and relief on this project. On the other hand, I’ve been so tied to this project for the past year-and-a-half (less breaks while the client tried to decide what they were doing…), that I’m feeling a little adrift.

But not too adrift. There was a little too much overtime there at the end! I actually didn’t knit from Tuesday until Saturday, thanks to this little project…and with all those lovely new yarns sitting around, too!

However, finally finished can also apply to another project that got finished (i.e., finally blocked!) just before work went into deadline mode.  Girasole è finito!

(more pictures on Ravelry)

Pattern: Girasole by Jarod Flood

Yarn: Cashmere 3/28NM Heavy Lace Weight from Colourmart. (Roughly a light fingering weight.)

Needles: US 3 (3.25 mm) (DPNs and circular)

I still love this pattern. The “plain” rows got a little tedious towards the end, simply due to the number of stitches, but it was still a very enjoyable knit overall. And I absolutely love the cashmere. It washes up to be very soft. Interestingly, my tension on the DPNs at the beginning was tighter than with the circular needle. In fact, it appears that my tension gradually loosened towards the end of the shawl, leaving the edging so loose it almost resembles filet crochet.

yarn!

Well, the holiday weekend (US Memorial Day) is winding down. It’s been a glorious, gorgeous weekend. And I really don’t want to go into work this week – deadline central. Overtime is guaranteed, which means knitting time will be almost nil this week. However…OK, I have to confess. After this weekend, I really can’t begrudge the overtime.

It was the annual Great Lakes Fiber Show. And I may have gone a little overboard with the purchases!

From Knitting Notions:

(3) skeins of Classic Merino Lace, colorway Pacific (these were on sale as she’s discontinuing the colorway)

(1) skein Classic Merino Lace,  colorway Lilac. I believe this is destined for Crocus Pocus.

From Briar Rose Fibers:

(1) skein, 2500 yards, of Angel Face, an alpaca laceweight. I’m pretty sure this will be fall knitting, probably as the Aeolian Shawl.

(1) double skein (1000 yards) Sea Pearl, a wonderful merino-tencel blend. I’m currently thinking this might become a Trevi shawl, although I’m not 100% certain.

I have to just say, Chris’s (Briar Rose) yarns are absolutely lovely. I don’t think there was a single skein in her booth that wasn’t gorgeous. And she’s really nice, too. I can see why Anne has colaberated with Chris so often!

The final yarn purchase was my real splurge. I’ve been thinking for a while that it would be nice to have a natural-brown sweater or cardigan. So, when surrounded by all those yarns and all those temptations, I came across this handspun, I gave in.

According to the tag, it’s a 70% Border Leisceter, 15% silk, 15% alpaca blend. The seller was from Michigan, and doesn’t appear to have a web site. I don’t know enough about handspuns to know what the quality of the spinning is, but it’s pretty to look at. I got three skeins, which should be enough for a nice sweater. I’m not sure what yet. I do know that I’m not going anywhere near it until the cooler fall weather!

When I was photographing the new yarns, I realized that I’d never gotten around to catalouging any of the yarns I’ve bought pretty much since February. Again, from Briar Rose:

(1) skein Angel Face. It’s actually a deeper lavender/eggplant than the picture shows. I’m not sure what this will become.

From The Woolen Rabbit:

(1) 800 yard skein of Merino Laceweight, colorway Mama Mia. A very gorgeous blend of oranges. I’m still undecided what to do with this. (Yes, I am very guilty of buying yarns without a plan. Although, in this case, I had a plan, but changed my mind after the yarn arrived.)

And finally, (1) skein of Merino Laceweight, colorway Chocolate Chambard. This will become Iris.

In sum, I think that I have more than enough yarns to keep me busy for probably a couple years! I also had reached the point where yarns seemed to be spilling out everywhere, so I took some time this morning and sorted and shelved my yarns (and needles). I think everything’s now neatly in a home so I can knit without the dreaded cloud of a yarn mess hanging over me. Now if only I could decide which project to knit!

too many choices…

The knitting has been pretty unexciting around here lately. At least, to me that is. I think I’ve managed to find one of those black holes of knitting wherein no matter how many rows–or pattern repeats–one knits, the project doesn’t get any bigger. I’m not even working on a circular shawl, or a garter-stitch scarf!  Yet I keep pressing on, primarily, I think, because I know I need to finish it and so I tell myself “just two more rows and then you can work on something else,” by which point it’s too late to move to something else. Note: although the length of said knitting is not (apparently) growing, the length of each row is.

Of course, the other reason I keep working on this little miscreant is that I’m not sure what I’m doing next. That is, I’ve picked a pattern. I’ve picked the yarn. I just haven’t been able to decide on the needle size. You see my quandary. Ahem. This doesn’t even relate to my typical “gauge issues.” It’s lace. Rectangular lace. Gauge is almost an afterthought consideration here. I just couldn’t decide which swatch I liked the best.

It took me three weeks to decide that I really did like the middle one the best (and only after swatching a bit of the center pattern). I’m choosing to blame stress at work.

At any rate, I expect this to be my summer project. And possibly fall as well… The specs:

• Lerwick Lace Shawl (Sharon Miller, HeirloomKnitting.com)
• Cashmere/Silk blend, 2/48NM Cobweb Weight from Colourmart
• Size 000 US needle. (Really, it’s not as bad as it sounds. I’m used to teeny needles.)

I’m planning on (mostly) following the traditional option of  knit the edging first, then the borders, then the center. However, instead of all the sewing called for by the pattern, I intend to knit the center to the borders as I go. Another knitter on Ravelry used this plan, with lovely results. Now that I’ve finally decided on a needle size, I can’t wait to get started!

Which means, it’s probably about time for another project to pop up. After all, I haven’t had a good rash of startitis in quite a while. There are also many lovely yarns looking longingly at me, just waiting to be knit–some have even been assigned patterns, so danger is eminent. To compound matters, the Great Lakes Fiber Show is this weekend. I expect to do some damage…after all, Briar Rose Fibers and Knitting Notions will be there, and I bought more than enough from them both last year! (In fact, most of it is still sitting around. Although some has been used.) I’m hoping, however, to find some yarns for some of Susan Pandorf’s Gardern Variety Patterns, which are the latest addition to my growing pattern stash. I think I’m going to have quite more than enough to choose from to knit this summer!

another month, another post…

I do seem to be on the one-post-a-month scheme, don’t I? Although this time my knitting itself is partially to blame – I somehow managed to find relative project monogamy and, well, Girasole pretty much looks like a big blob for the majority of its lifespan as a WIP. A big red blob in my case. Not extremely bloggable, that. However….

….it’s almost finished. When I took this picture (which turned out fortunate timing – the weather since has been bleak and dreary) I still had a bit of the edging left. It was one of those never-ending edgings – an all-knit based, simple 6-row repeat that, while right for the shawl was just a little to monotonous. It seemed like I would never get to the end, and then, all of a sudden, it was done. All that remains are a little bit of grafting on the edge, the weaving in of ends and a good blocking.

I’ve decided that, given the arrival of spring I really don’t feel like working on sweaters at the moment. So they’re in time-out – not for bad behavior on their part, I suppose more because I’m behaving badly! I’m expecting it to be all-lace-all-the-time for a while around here…maybe around September I’ll be hankering for a bit of sweater knitting again.

In other news, we’ve certainly had our share of April showers lately…more gloom than sunshine, I do believe.

But I think these more than make up for it. (And it’s supposed to be a lovely weekend!)