Rhinebeck Haul

As promised, here's my Rhinebeck haul. It's small, mainly because 1) it was my first time and I had no idea what I wanted/needed other than a drop or supported spindle plus some roving; 2) after paying for a wedding, major car repairs on both autos, and DD#2's college tuition in the past year, cash is real short in the Knitter household.

Left to right:
1) One skein of Brooks Farm 4-Play 50/50 silk and wool. This will be a hat for my grad student come December. I had a most difficult time deciding on the color (Brooks Farm has one of the most gorgeous ranges of colors I have ever seen in yarns), then remembered that the pattern has a sunflower theme. The first skein of yarn I picked up was dyed lovely shades of golden peach and apricot. I showed it to DH for his opinion, which was, "It's very orange." As if orange were a negative adjective. I picked up this rose and cocoa mélange sitting next to the peach and apricot (I think I was getting hungry at that point) and DH said, "That's very pretty." Coming from DH, that's high praise indeed.
2) A hand-made and -painted high whorl spindle from Snook Farm. These aren't on the website; I think they must make them just for the fiber fests. The lady said the wood is some kind of hard pine. You can see a little of the yarn I've spun so far on the hook. I have much to learn. The spindle was only $18.
3) One ounce of Coopworth roving from Snook Farm to practice spinning. This is the white fiber I spun. For $3 it's cheap enough that I can play with the roving and not feel bad that I don't get anything useful from it. I had a coupon for 10% off the Snook Farm purchases, so spindle and roving amounted to $20, even with tax.
4) Not pictured (I forgot to take it off for the photo shoot!) is a dainty silver and coral bracelet I bought from one of the Navajo vendors. I'm a sucker for Navajo and Pueblo jewelry, especially if there's coral in it. This one was only $18.

What would I have bought if I could? Well, I had in my budget enough $ for some Bartlettyarn sport weight to make a vest for DD#1 in a color she fell in love with at Brooks Brothers (but not the $385 price tag). But alas! though I stopped there first, they had only 2 skeins and 3 are needed.
I drooled over the Golding lucets. I never even heard of a lucet until I saw them at the Goldings' booth. Such a simple device to make an I-cord! My wrists ache for some reason when I make I-cord on DPNs; I have a 4-pegged knitting Nancy, but it makes a too thick I-cord. A lucet will make a thinner I-cord more suitable for ties or button loops. But $61 for the thing! I could not justify it, no matter how beautiful. A search on the web found wooden ones; granted, not carved like the Golding lucets, but made of precious woods all the same for prices ranging from $9 to $20. I think I'll go for the $9 one in walnut, and that one has only a $1 postage charge.
I never did find a supported spindle. I'll put that on my list for next year, along with a revisit to Brooks Farm.

One last photo from Rhinebeck, this one of the sheepdog exhibition. The little black border collie was a bit too eager to go after the sheep; she kept biting them. We were surprised by this because at the sheepdog championship trials in Morristown, biting is a disqualification. Rocky herds people (us, mainly), Skye herds other dogs (though his parents are champion stock-dogs). Wonder what they would have thought of this show.

Yes, You Can Knit Lace!

If you can make a yarn-over (YO) and knit 2 stitches together (K2tog), you can knit lace.

In fact, you can knit this lace scarf in a weekend while watching TV or listening to an audiobook, once you get into the pattern. The pattern stitch is an old Shetland pattern often called Feather and Fan, but sometimes called Old Shale, although Elizabeth Lovick writes they are different pattern stitches here, and that "shale" is Shetland pronunciation for "shell." A neat thing about it is that it forms its own scalloped border at cast-on and bound-off edges, so all you have to do is knit the thing. Four rows make up the pattern, and it can be modified to suit your taste for more or fewer scallops, or to make a stole or blanket, or to use any weight yarn you have in your stash. For learning this pattern and making the scarf, you'll need about 350 yards of fingering weight yarn (sample shown is a 75% wool/25% nylon blend from Southern Girl Knits and size 7 needles. Gauge is not terribly important; mine was 5 stitches and 8 rows (4 ridges) to the inch in garter stitch (I didn't want the ends to curl), unblocked.

Two important things to know:
1) You must cast on loosely so the edge will scallop. I used a long-tail cast-on, and casted on over 2 needles. Use whatever cast on method you like, but make it loose.
2) You'll be binding off loosely as well, so I advise using the bind off method in the instructions. It'll help the bound off edge to scallop nicely.

You'll see, the scarf will have a pretty scallop at each end even before blocking. The top photo in fact is of the cast on edge before blocking.

Feather and Fan Pattern Scarf

Cast on 52 stitches loosely. Knit 2 rows.

Begin Feather and Fan:
Row 1 (wrong side): K2; *K2tog 4 times, YO P1 8, K2tog 4 times,* repeat between *'s; K2.
Row 2 (right side): K across.
Row 3: K2, P to last 2 sts, K2.
Row 4: K across.
Cont in Feather and Fan stitch until scarf measures 44" or desired length from beginning (blocking it will stretch it about 25% percent in length). End row 4. K 2 rows and bind off loosely as follows: K2, then stick left needle into fronts of 2 sts just knitted and K2 tog through back loop; K1, then stick left needle into fronts of 2 sts on R needle and K2 tog through back loop. Continue to BO sts in manner described until all stitches have been bound off. Block, pinning out scallops. Weave in ends.

That's it. You have now knitted a lace scarf. Congratulations and wear it well!
(PS: There's a link to the pdf version of this pattern on the side bar at left).

Mindless Knitting or Boring Knitting?

Sometimes you need a mindless knitting project, one you can knit while waiting in a busy place or while talking to people or at a meeting or training session. Something small and therefore portable. Like a scarf. Now, I need to make 5 gifts for friends who hosted a big luncheon for my DD#1 and her new husband. Gift #1, for the person who gave her house as well as provided a lot of the food (and kept the in-laws over the weekend) is Swallowtail (not mindless but we're coming to that, never fear).
Final thoughts on Spindrift yarn for lace: I'd use it again for 2 reasons. One, it's economical (it took only 4 skeins to make Swallowtail, and the cost was less than $20; can't really beat that); and two, the color range is fantastic. All those heathery shades! If you don't want to spend the bucks on a hand-painted or hand-dyed designer yarn, one of Jamieson's heathers can fill the bill without breaking your bank. And I love the way it softened after a soak in Eucalan, followed by blocking.

Gift #2 for a friend who helped host and shares other interests with us is Frothy, since it's her colors:

Frothy is garter stitch, once called by the great Elizabeth Zimmermann, "nothing but soothing knitting." Boring on it own, but whip it up in this hand-painted bouclé and it has a life of its own. The only attention I have to pay to it is to be sure I pick up both strands since I'm using the yarn doubled, and to be sure to knit into the main filament and not a bouclé loop. Mindless knitting at its best.

Now we have gift #3:

That's Sue Pandorf's Lime pattern, done in Fiesta Yarn's Kokopelli in Cilantro, a wool/mohair blend (really silky). It's basically purl a few rows, then do some YOs/K2tog rows alternating with purl rows. Almost mindless, but not quite. Pretty portable. So why do I find this pattern boring but not Frothy? Wish I knew. Fortunately, I have 36" done on Lime, so even if it's boring, it will be done soon. Do any of you find that mindless knitting is boring knitting? Do you always need a challenging knit?

Gifts #4 and 5 are undecided. For one friend I'd like to do another shawl, perhaps Calais, out of either Dream in Color Starry or Yarn Chef Mulligatawny. For the other, perhaps one of Elizabeth Lovick's scarves in some lovely cream Aran wool.

Stash Diving for Gifts

OK, so it's not bulky mohair; anyway look what I found waaaay at the bottom of the cedar chest:



Cherry Tree Hill Baby Loop Mohair in Gypsy Rose (top), and CTH Baby Loop Mohair dyed by Danette Taylor. Knew those new Addi needles would come in handy. Gauge for these bouclé yarns is 5 sts/in on a size 6. I started this scarf (surprise gift for a good friend) using the CTH yarn doubled on the new Addis.

Over 36" knitted in less than a knitting day (you know, the time alloted to knitting during the course of one's usual day). Pattern is same as I used for the Tahiti scarf:
CO 3 sts, knit a row, inc 1 sts every other row up to 19 sts while working in garter sts. Cont in garter sts until you are sick of knitting, about to run out of yarn (but not quite), or whathaveyou, then dec each end every other row down to 3 sts, bind off. I'll make tassels for the ends 'cause they are so much fun to make. The great thing about yarn like this is that you can knit with it mindlessly, in garter st or similar, and it looks great from the texture and the dying.

Swallowtail is almost done. It too will be a gift. I'll have to make 3 more gifts for friends who hosted a big post-wedding luncheon for DD#1 and new SiL back in March. Think I'll use the Danette Taylor for one of them, but I'll have to find something different to make with it. Scarves/shawls are good because I don't need measurements, so I can truly surprise the recipients. Also, everyone in NJ wears them and needs several to get through the winters. Also, they can be made relatively quickly. What else shall I use from stash? I have 6.5 oz (maybe 400 yds) of some lovely creamy Aran-weight wool that I think will be perfect for this scarf by Elizabeth Lovick. And the Yarn Chef Mulligatawny I bought; I have 2 skeins of that. One for a gift and one for socks for me, perhaps? Sound good to you?

While I was gone

Spring sprung around the EK household:




And (cue the trumpets) Carefree was finished at 9:14 pm last night, in time to wear during the next cold front this weekend:


Thoughts on the pattern: Fun to knit, though there were a few confusing spots. In the end, I followed my instincts. I also shortened the collar by a half-inch; I didn't want it coming up so high in the back; I'm glad I did so.

Thoughts on the yarn (Jaggerspun Zephyr 2/8): I love it. I wish it came in more weights (fingering, sport, worsted).

And here's Swallowtail. I confess, much as I like Jamieson's Shetland yarns, I'm not liking Spindrift so much, or maybe I'm not liking Spindrift so much for a shawl. Hope it softens when I soak it in Eucalan. The color (Twilight) is absolutely heavenly.


Evenstar wants a photo taken before I begin the next clue:


And last, some new yarn I've acquired. Both are Dream in Color Starry, Midnight Derby (left) and Good Luck Jade.


Tonight is devoted to knitting clue 4 of Evenstar. Off to do it!

Lost and Found Department, I

Among my missing knitting things as I mentioned is my favorite Bernat pattern book for vests, Small Change #240. The women's vests don't thrill me much, but the men's vests are great classics. See if you don't agree:The way DH is with vests, I really need this book. I just bought 2 copies, one on eBay, and one from Vintage Knits, for about $2 each plus $2 shipping. Figured about $10 is definitely worth it to have 2 copies of a books I use constantly. Now watch: my old copy will turn up as soon as one of the new ones arrives.

Last night after my MRI (must have been the Xanax still working), I had one of those inspired moments, where I could "see" where some of my lost knitting supplies went. And in following my inspiration, I found nearly all of my Addi Turbos. Wow, I'd forgotten I had so many (and they are so clearly marked if they are out of their bags). Progress of sorts, I call that. To celebrate, well, really, because I couldn't think too much from the Xanax (the only way I can do a closed MRI, and this one took 2 hours- 2 entire hours in an enclosed rattling metal tube!), I started this little lovely:The yarn is Danette Taylor's handpainted loopy mohair in Tahiti; somehow I wound up with 2 cakes of it. To start, I casted on 5 sts using the usual long-tail cast-on on size 9s. Knitted one row, then inc 1 st at each end by knitting into the front and backs of those sts. Continued in garter st and inc every other row until 27 sts were reached. Knitted another inch or so, then changed to size 10 1/2 needes to open up the boucle. Why did I start on the smaller needle? I recall some sage advice from the great Elizabeth Zimmerman about the ends of scarves getting so much wear they get bedraggled over time. She liked to knit toes for her scarves. I didn't think toes would work with loopy mohair, so I thought a firmer gauge would help. What will I put on the ends? Probably shortish fluffy tassels. Have any ideas? I'd love the hear them.

Do I need another scarf? No. When did that ever stop a knitter? I have another cake of this loopy mohair to ponder over.

I once made a hat and scarf set of this yarn years ago, in the Azalea colorway:
Gifted it to a good friend. This set was done in brioche stitch. Seeing it makes me wonder whatever happened to Danette Taylor? Her colors were amazing.

I will get back to finishing the Rogue cardi; that hood was killing me. I was only too glad to set it aside for a (long) while. And it seems that Jenna isn't doing her blog anymore (as if I should complain). Wonder if she still takes questions. I should set a deadline for Rogue for DD#1's wedding. Yes, one of the good things that happened this year is that DD#1 got engaged. Maybe with the holiday break, I'll finish it. I like a challenging knit as much as the next knitter, but I have to admit, Rogue is beyond challenging (and I found Enchanted Forest quite easy).

Spring Will Spring and I'll Knit Socks, Part 2

In searching for a new sock pattern, I found out that Evelyn Clark, a designer whose socks I enjoy knitting so much, now has her own website. On which is this pattern called Twining Leaves Socks. This makes the third sock pattern with a leaf motif (of course I had to buy it) that will sit because I cannot find the right green sock yarn to use. Oh sure there's green sock yarn a-plenty out there. But my soul craves a yarn that won't bore me yet will stand up the the demands of a sock. Be variegated enough so I'll knit 2 of them but not too variegated that the pattern will be lost (Lilacs socks I made a while back come to mind). On a whim, I Googled for green handpainted sock yarn and found:



That's hand-painted Fyberspates Blue-Faced Leicester fingering/light sport weight, from Wales, UK no less. You can find it here. Just what I need, another sock yarn addiction.



Say hello to Belle in the foreground (yeah, say hello to Duke too, sulking there in the back). Belle is a baby cockatiel (to be accurate, she's a cinnamon pied pearl cockatiel and we are not entirely sure she's a she-but we're hopeful). We bought her just this Sunday, because DD#1's dear 14 year old cockatiel hen Scooter passed away last week. Fourteen is a respectable age and Scooter led a charmed life, having survived pneumonia twice and another respiratory infection. She'll be missed. Duke though stopped eating and was frantically looking for her. So as not to lose him (he's only about 8 1/2), we went and got Belle. When I say it's a zoo around here, I'm not joking.

If It's (Nearly) Spring, Do I Still Knit Socks?

If the yarn looks like this, of course! This is a special colorway that Sundara Yarn (link on left) is doing in honor of her second anniversary selling on line. It's called Tulip, and it sure reminds me of the Apricot Beauty tulips I have planted around my house.



So what luscious sock will it be? Open to suggestions; the delicate color begs for something with a lace stitch.



And this is the new Beaverslide Dry Good sock yarn which came today. The color is called "Whitetail Fawn" and it feels as good as it looks. Definitely it's meant for gansey socks.

Lupine is moving along; heel is turned and ready for gusset stitches to be picked up. Can't wait to wear them, I will post pictures! It's so good to be knitting again.

Guess who'll be playing at Lincoln Center with the New York City Opera again? Yup, DD#2 has been begged to return to play Tosca with them. Originally she thought she'd have to pass due to a prior musical commitment. But with a change of date on the part of the NYC Opera program, DD#2 is now free to play clarinet #1.

Cringing Along

See the new yarn Sundara yarn that came today? That's Ruby sock yarn and Grass sport merino yarn. When I added them to my Ravelry stash, I came up with 31 lots of yarn, and I know I haven't added everything yet. I cringe as I type. The only cure I suppose is to knit more. So I'm off to knit some more of my Lupine socks. I had nearly finished 1 sock- and discovered that Sasquatch could wear it (and I take a size 7 shoe). So frog I must, and now I'm up to the heel flap.
NB: If you want to see a delightful little movie, rent "Miss Potter." It's about the life of Beatrix Potter, it stars Renee Zellweger, and it didn't nearly get the good press it deserved in my very humble opinion here. The views of the lake country make me want to pack up and move there, to raise sheep of course!

Here's Claudia

I promised a shot of Claudia knit in the round, and here it is. Tah dah! It is almost done, I've started the dec (though I may run out of Jo Sharp, hmmmm.... will probably finish it off with some navy tweed Harrisville orchid line, being a silk/wool blend that knits to the same gauge). Navy and burgundy- a nice color combo. PS- no bias on this hat, must have been the st I used that cause the biasing with the other hat I made out of the Jo Sharp Silkwood. Knit and learn.
Speaking of color combos, here are some yarn duos I picked un on sale for more Ships Project hats. First, Beaverslide wool/mohair in Indian Fire and Deep Creek.

Next, Lamb's Pride in Winter Blue and Turquoise.

I'm going to try a bicolor brioche with 1 combo. Never was into multi-colored knitting, but there's a request out from the troops for brightly-colored hats, so I'm willing to try. If I really hate it, at least I have gorgeous bright colors to work with. I decided that I won't make any more hats out of acrylic yarn, only wool or wool and other natural fiber blends. Read somewhere that synthetic fibers are like plastic: they never break down. So call it my push for greener knitting.

Fresh Watermelon From Fresh Isle Fibers

With the completion of the Lilacs socks (which I might give to a certain daughter) and in need of a mindless sort of pattern as I sit during tonight's Town Council meeting (more on that later), it was fortunate indeed that my single-ply mixed-breed yarn from Fresh Isle Fibers came yesterday. The luscious cake of yarn will knit into these: Socks that have slices of watermelon on them! I love watermelon, eagerly anticipate the first one hitting the market each summer. It's my preferred dessert during the steam-bath we call weather right now. Simple stickinette st will turn itself into slices of melon, complete with seeds, how clever! The pattern is here; scroll down for the single-ply apttern for the one at top is for the worsted-weight yarn. Marian from Fresh Isles is very nice to deal with; spinning and dyeing are a passion of hers. As before, I did the unjoined cast-on, knitting for 1 rows then joining to work in the round. For this sock, I casted on the 2x2 rib in K-P cast-on, but did it as K-K-P-P cast-on. Seemed to work out from what I can see. And I'm trying out my new Inox Prym needles, since Addis don't come in 2.75 mm and these do. So far I like them, maybe not as much as Addis (certainly not as much as Addi Gold), but much more than the stretchy needles. When the socks are done, I'll wear them with this sweater and this pin
Town Council meeting tonight is in the town east of me; I don't want it spreading west so I'm taking an interest and showing up. The Council will discuss a proposed ordinance to ban all tethering of dogs. Lest you think this is a good thing, just listen to the owner (moi) of 2 large-breed dogs. Even Collies, those near-geniuses of the canine world, do not come equipped knowing every rule of the house. They need training, they need discipline (until they pay the mortgage and household expenses, yes they do). Tethering on a long lead while working in the garden was a method I used to train each dog the boundary of the property; to leave joggers and walkers passing by alone; to ignore cars (and hence not give chase to them). Most towns have dozens of ordinances preventing homeowners from fencing in property. You read that right. I was lucky; my backyard was all fenced in before I bought it years ago, before the ordinances restricting fencing were passed. Nowadays, a homeowner around here needs a variance to put a fence in to protect children - and dogs. Makes a lot of sense, right? You pay over $10,000/year in property taxes (I pay considerably more), yet your property is not your property to protect. The benighted ordinance, moreover, requires a kennel with floor of 10 by 15 feet per dog and with fence of 8 feet high. In a town with a fence ordinance that decrees fences shall be no more than 5 feet high. You don't have to be a lawyer to see that there is a problem here. Kennel with floor- ever put something on your grass for even a day? Ever notice how quickly grass underneath dies? Everybody will want to kill lawns, I'm betting. 10 x 15 feet per dog, that's 150 sq ft, that's over 10% of my total property including house footprint per dog. And renters will be able to do, what? They rent houses in part to own dogs. How many landlords be willing to comply with dead lawns, unsightly kennels, and the rest? Better to enforce existing anti-cruelty laws and go after negligent owners who tether their dogs all day while at work. That's wrong, that's illegal, that's enforceable. And that's why I'll be there, knitting my watermelon sock during the discussion of the ordinance.

Look What Came!

Yep, more yarn. To be specific, more Sundara sport merino for socks. These are 2 of her semi-solid colors, which she says will never be repeated: on the left, Blue-Violet over Cotton Candy; on the right, Shell over Cocoa Butter. The blue-violet yarn fairly screams for Evelyn Clark's Lupine sock pattern. The Shell has yet to be decided. Now I'm still looking for an off-white sport or DK weight sock yarn, but not a solid off-white; something more interesting than just off-white. Maybe Lisa Souza hard twist merino in Mother-of-Pearl, which I would have bought but it comes in 500 yds for $25; wish it had a smaller put-up as well for the sock knitters, say 250 yds for $15. Maybe I'll ask Lisa about it; worst thing she could do is say no. And I'm searching for a nice green with character, maybe green with other colors like Yarntini Appletini or Lime Twist, if I could ever get any. If you know about other yarns, please let me know. I've checked a few already, and either no greens or off-whites, or the gauge comes only in fingering/sock weight and the price is too prohibitive for doubling. Thanks.

Knitter's ADD Strikes Again

More evidence of my knitter's ADD: I HAD to start knitting with the Sundara Cherry Blossoms sport merino, I just had to. So I started Jeanie Townsend's Peach Petals Socks with the same tubular cast-on as for the Embossed Leaves socks. I really like that cast-on for magic loop, it makes it much easier for me to join. It was worth the pain of learning to cast on alternating knit and purl sts. Now this yarn is not only beautiful, it yummy to knit with. Really lovely. Has a kind of springiness usually seen in crepe yarns (but I believe it is plied) that makes it very nice to knit. I'm using size 4 circs and my gauge in stockinette st is about 8 sts/in; the yarn is stretchy, the cast-on is elastic, and I am a sock-optimist: I am always hopeful that socks will fit. Maybe not perfectly, but they will fit. We shall see.

I Am So Bad .....

because I gave in to temptation and bought this yarn (Meridian sport merino) from Sundara Yarns even though I have tons of yarn to finish knitting up.

And because I also bought this yarn, Sweet Briar, from Sundara.
And because I couldn't manage to do the heel nicely on the toe-up Milanese spiral lace socks for DD#2, so I frogged and made a modification of Emilee's heart lace socks instead.
And because I'm so intimidated by CookieA's Twisted Flower socks, I most likely won't make them for DD#1 just yet.
And because all of this amounts to a ton of procrastinating about knitting the cardis I promised the DDs and the other projects sitting around half-done.
I hate knitter's ADD.
On to a cheerful topic: Suggest nifty sock patterns for the yummy yarn I shouldn't have bought but did!

Ta-Da! EFA Back Finis!

Yes it is done. The back of EFA, which weighed a lot at one point, being up to around 150 sts of Aran-weight wool on the needle. Not blocked, but completed nonetheless. Later today I hope to block it, then I can put it together and do the finishing before starting on the sleeves. I left the back neck stitches live on a strand of washable wool, so I don't have to pick them up, just knit them on. Here's a close-up of the trees:

Now a break from EFA until the back is blocked out.

Meanwhile, as a dyed-in-the-wool Lord of the Rings fan, I'm announcing that the Children of Hurin came out today. My DDs have offered it to me as an early birthday present. And in a wild coincidence, I found this sock yarn and pattern. So of course I bought the yarn:

and the pattern. And it turns out that the designer, Laura Andersson, is a scientist turned knitting designer, as well as fellow LOTR fan. Maybe someday I'll leave the lab too, and become a full-time knitter. One can dream.....

EFA Right Front Finis

This is what I accomplished over the weekend, this and turning the heel on sock #2 of DH's CTH Supersock merino in Java. Night mode on camera in daylight = yellow cast, have to remember that for the future. Lotsa blocking coming up, maybe I should get started now and avoid the rush (I have only 1 weany blocking board). Now I'm setting the charts for the back, and this is the part that's most challenging. There are charts within charts within charts it seems, and the stitch count for 1 chart varies but the total stitch count for the row does not. Good to have rubber stitch markers, the ones I really like the best by far. They bounce across the room less often (for me anyway) than the hard plastic ones. As for fancy bead and wire markers, all I can say is I won a set and I never use them. Don't get me wrong, they're very pretty, so pretty in fact I should make earrings or hair sticks or a shawl pin out of them. But they just don't work as stitch markers for me.

As if I needed more yarn, I read on Jenna's blog about irresistible Sundara's yarn, and so I clicked on the link to discover this. Of course I ordered a skein (sport merino, thank you very much) to make a to-die-for (to-dye-for?) pair of spring socks, a lacy pattern I should think. I can hear myself explaining to DH about why I spent $22 on 1 skein of yarn for 1 pair of socks: "It's not my fault! The website made me do it!" It's not just knitting socks that's addictive. The very yarn is addictive (and since accumulated sock yarn doesn't count as stash, one can buy and buy, even if one is participating in the stash fast of 2007). Am I participating? I think I need a quantity of yarn that would count as stash first, ahem! Or a fortification of supplies so my knitting muse would be satisfied.