Two Steps Forward, One (Or Six) Step Back

Finally, thanks to the support and help of my own students, who I am supposed to be teaching, I figured out a way to do some lace without having to rip every five inches. This is so weird, because I've successfully done lace before. Something must have happened to my brain in the past three months, but now with the use of flash cards, yes, I said flash cards, I have successfully knitted ten inches of the February Lady Sweater, and six inches of edging on the Stonington Shawl. I'm not saying there aren't a few mistakes lurking in there, but is it isn't anything I would be ashamed to show to, say, my partner.








Detail of February Lady Gull Lace pattern, which is a simple, four row repeat. However, if you forgot that you were making a large sweater, and are trying to knit an extra large on the amount of stitches you cast on for a large, it ain't happening, folks. Why I thought I was making an XL is beyond me, but I did a lot of ripping until I finally figured out what was going on.
Below is the beginnings of the lace edging on my Stonington Shawl. I had reservations about using the Kauni as the edging, but now I love it. It really holds it's shape and is good compliment to the Jamieson. Thanks to Jill for the card idea.

Christmas is just around the corner. I know, because we got our first Christmas catalog today; a Linen and Things brochure with a picture of Santa himself on the cover. How can this be? Wasn't it just the beginning of summer? Now I think all of the apprehension I suffered about whether or not to buy a new bathing suit, or just simply swim with an old t shirt and shorts. Spending hours trying to get my huge, overgrown perennial garden in some kind of order was a waste of my time because in a matter of weeks it will cut down anyway. Why did we spend thousands of dollars opening the pool, getting the filter fixed, etc, when no one has gone in it, except me, and that was one time.

So if Christmas is really almost here, we better get moving with gift knitting! Shawls, scarves, quick vests and sweaters for kids, wristlets and mittens, caps, afghans, felted purses, socks, the list is endless. So many of us are crazy about lace right now, and the lacy sweater patterns I saw today are so seductive that even the most conservative project starter will succumb! There are so many beautiful, but quick knits featured in the latest knitting magazines. The new yarns in the shop are just crying out to be fondled and used! Oh, I have to hurry and finish just one thing so I can start something new! Just one darn thing!

Here is some the knitting I saw this week....










Jill's lovely Stonington Shawl of Lorna's Laces with the lace edging in progress.













Kristen's wonderful mohair boucle project; she said we dyed it but I don't remember! It's so beautiful, we better find out what colorway it is and get the dye pots out!













Rosemary's Clapotis of hand dyed milk cotton. It is really lovely. By the way, she is the fastest chemo cap knitter I know; so far, I think she's knit ten for us.





Leila's beautiful Clapotis of Lorna's Laces Happy Valley. It's wonderfully drapey.



Lastly, below is the view from one of the decks at the house my son rented on Lake Lanier near Atlanta last month. When I went to visit, I sat there and knit. It was really quite wonderful. You can see the water line is down approximately 15 feet because of drought, and neighboring states taking the water for irrigating. I think of it whenever I see the sod farm near the shop irrigating their sod fields.

KNIT LIKE THE WIND

I have been knitting on this cardigan every chance I get; that includes waiting for red lights, gas station waits, doctor's offices, you name it. I get to knit everywhere, except at Woolbearers, because there is so much to do, getting ready for the Fall.

I started knitting with one skein, taking yarn from the middle and the other skein taking yarn from the outside. So far, I've been able to get complementary colors working together. Now it's a race to see if the green from the outside meets the green from the inside skein. A real page turner -- I can't knit fast enough. Will keep you posted.

New for the fall:

Punta Yarns Lava - 230 yards of hand dyed 70% acrylic 30% wool - machine washable. Great for afghans and kids and babies clothes.

Punta Yarns Merisoft -- hand dyed 100% merino from Uruguay -- so soft (like buttah!)

Tilli Tomas hand dyed beaded or sequined lace weight silk.

we got it!!

I’m Knitting and I can’t Shut-up
Have you ever seen the T-Shirt that says “I’m talking and I can’t shut-up” ? Well, right now, I am knitting and I can’t seem to stop. I finally downloaded the pattern for the Kauni cardigan and I can’t stop knitting. Every row there is another color change and it is so exciting to see. I love, love, love knitting with this yarn. It is so forgiving. If I have to rip (it’s inevitable), the ripped out stitch actually stays in place, so I don’t have to worry about it running down the ladder and then picking up with my knitting needle, I mean crochet hook. The yarn actually seems to soften up as you knit along. It may be because we got the Kauni on cones and it may still have some spinning oil in it. I understand that after you wash your project, it will soften up even more. And did I mention the color changes? I am using the “Rainbow” colorway, and there are subtle changes along the way, but looking at the project from a distance it doesn’t look subtle at all. This cardigan is a great introduction to fair-isle knitting, since there are only 4 rows out of 10 that require you to change yarns every few stitches. The rest of the time you are doing stockinette and letting the yarn do all the color change work. It’s a pretty basic sweater wth some steeking involved – sounds like a great class – eh? Will keep you posted.
Of course, I have absolutely no business starting yet another project. So, instead, I started two more new projects.




Last week I posted a picture of my Hemlock Ring blanket. I just started a new one out of Jojoland’s Rhythm for our knit-along which starts Friday and Saturday.
We will be getting a new yarn from Mountain Colors called River Twist and while we were at TNNA

in June, we bought a skein and a pattern for this lovely scarf.

With the summer and my kids being home from school (we'll never see this picture again, allergy tests show that Zach is allergic to grass), I don't have as much time to dye. I know that everyone thinks when I'm not at the store I get to sit at home and knit, but usually on my so-called days off, I dye, dye, dye. Driving kids to camp and too many doctors and dentists appointments have kept me from the dye pots. I did however get to dye up some new sock yarn last week. This is from Plymouth Yarns and is called "Happy Choices". We bought a lot of undyed blanks and are going to town. You knit straight from the machine knit piece, unraveling as you go. I can't wait to see this colorway knit up.

Since many of you have asked, I will sign my posts from now on.

Myra

Beautiful Things and Blue Ribbons










Gwen finished the Northern Lights Shawl in four days. I'm sorry, but I couldn't finish anything in four days. She found that the colors used are truly those found in the Northern Lights. It is a work of art.

Sabra entered her socklettes that she is knitting for her future daughter-in-law and the members of the wedding party in the Burlington County Farm Fair. She explains, '

The blue ribbons for the sweater and footies were both in the Knitting Division, Women's apparel class ....... The pink ribbon for the socks was for "Best in Class" .... The sweater is a top down pullover that has a basket weave pattern through the midriff. Myra dyed the yarn for both projects.





Kelly knit the baby blanket from Muench Big Baby. She said it was a quick and fun knit. Her Great American Afghan is coming together!

Barbara Jean felted the balls out of Lamb's Pride as a gift for her grandsons. They are great!












Gwen has one sleeve left to finish on her February Lady Sweater.











This group is our Bung's Tavern SnB. Overheard; Guinness and socks don't mix. Don't try this at home.

It’s so neat to see my student’s finished projects – especially when it’s been a big project. Here are some pictures of Jill’s Adult Surprise Jacket all finished. She knit it out of Plymouth Royal Bamboo, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece and Woolbearer’s Hand dyed cotton. (that's Jill's hubby in the background)

Speaking of finished – I actually finished the Hemlock Ring Blanket in record time. It was so much fun to knit and I loved using the Vermont Organic O-Wool. It only took 2 1/2 skeins and is abut 36" around. It isn’t quite as large as I had hoped – I was going to add a few more feather and fan repeats, but then I decided if we are going to do a KAL in the shop, I might as well make another one out of something variegated. I can’t decide between the Kauni or the Jojoland Rhythm. I’ll keep you posted. Those of you looking for the pattern, go to Brooklyn Tweed's blog and you'll find all the info you need. Just a warning -- there is a mistake in the pattern and I found this yahoo group really helpful. There's also a group on Ravelry working on the blanket.

While Joan wasn’t one of my students, she did take a sock class with Sabra last winter and can’t stop knitting socks or this beautiful shawl out of Woolbearers Hand dyed Cotton.













Dori is a prolific knitter and when she is not flying off to Paris or Jamaica (she is an airline pilot), she is knitting up a storm. Here, her daughter is showing off Mom’s knitting.











Hannah is another gal who always has something on the needles . Here is her shawl from Victorian Lace out of Kid Silk Haze.









Another clapotis from Kathy out of Woolbearers Hand dyed Pima Cotton.







Joann is another amazing weaver, crocheter, knitter --- you name it, Joann can do it. Here is her crocheted Infinity Wrap and a piece of woven fabric













I couldn’t resist taking a picture of some of our hand dyed roving.








Friday Night Meetups have turned out to be big gatherings of a great group of women! Here are some pix.

More Cleaning

Going through some projects in my basement this past week brought to mind an article I read in a weaving magazine not too long ago. A weaver friend was visiting and noticed an unfinished project on the loom that had been there a year ago. "What you have there is a dog", she said. The woman agreed and cut the piece off the loom and threw it.

I think there is some criteria for throwing away UFP's. If the needles that the piece is on aren't made anymore, and were new when the knitting was first started, that qualifies. This includes those argyle socks your grandmother started on bakelite double points. Why pass them down to your kids? So they can feel guilty and not be able to throw them, too? Find a relative that loves to hoard and give the socks to her to finish.

How about socks for a friend you know longer speak to? (Ouch.) Throw. An unfinished afghan that has some mouse chews. Throw. If moths have gotten to the parts of a sweater that you intend to finish before you pass, it's time to say goodbye. You will feel so free, and there will be room for more new yarn.








Tola and her great friends from PA met at Woolbearers for lunch and a shopping spree.











Mary's newest tapestry, hot off the loom. Wish you could see it live. It's a real work of art.














Alice's Simply Shetland masterpiece, inspiring all of us to start our fall projects!


Karen's gorgeous shawl of SWTC Melody and Oasis Bamboo.