Spoils of War

Successfully navigated Sheep and Wool again this year.  Saturday I spent three hours volunteering in the T shirt sale booth, which was fun and netted me a T shirt of my own with the word "volunteer" printed jauntily across the back.  Bragging rights!  Then looked around a bit, but when even Tess's rummage sale (a rare event) could not tempt me, I knew it was time to go home and come again another day.  Sunday was much better for shopping, netting me the spoils shown here:

Three skeins of sock yarn.  The two on the bottom are from Cherry Tree Hill, always a nice place to shop.  It's hard to see the colors in the one on the left, but it's called Birches, and it has a warm white variegated with greys, greens, and golden browns that do remind me of birch trees.  It's subtle and quite lovely.

And the big purchase, from Tess's rummage sale (yes, I went back, how could I not?):

Hand-dyed (as all of Tess's yarns are) angora and merino blend, sort of a light worsted, about 1300 yards, which should be enough to make myself a sweater.  The colors are so me, and the yarn is so soft.  I love it.  Now to find a pattern.

Peter made sure I ate my full quota of lamb sausages, and mom purchased this gem:

So fun was had by all.

The project now on the needles is a pair of socks, grey self-striping cotton/elastic blend with some decorative stitching I'm copying out of Ethnic Socks and Stockings by Priscilla Gibson-Roberts.  Still trying to knit socks that I can wear in the summer.  Sigh.  Here they are:

  Only one active project right now, my garden has been taking up the rest of my time.  Pix of that next time!

April madness

The shawl project has blossomed in a gratifying way.  I started the shawl, then took it to work and showed it to a couple other knitters who know the intended recipient and who are in on what's happening.  They were both very keen on the project.  They also knew of a couple more people to ask, and they joined in, too.  Then I even asked one more person who is a crotcheter.  I think he's going to try a crotchet edging for us.  He's never done anything like that, he said, but he would like to participate.  So we're off and running!  About a week to go, and with this group, I don't think we'll have any trouble having it done in time.  I'm so happy about it!

As the shawl makes its rounds, I am working on the ladder yarn scarf for mom.  It's coming along.  I have knitted 6 of the 10 balls she bought.  I'm sure one more will do it.  So, what to do with the extra 3 balls?  Any ideas?

NSKO East and more

The NSKO East concluded with much knitting accomplished, much enjoyment of each other's company, and me (at least) already looking forward to the next knitting vacation.  Here's the wrap-up:

Gloves, gloves, gloves.  K1Frog2 showed me how to knit them, and I made 4 gloves in 4 days.  To be honest, I was a bit tired of gloves when it was done, but I feel I have burned them into my brain to where I could sit down and do one any time I wanted (like my favorite sock pattern), and I love that.  It was well worth it.  And here they are:

The pair on the left are made from Sirdar Snuggly, a synthetic yarn with a nice, soft feel.  The pair on the right are Debbie Bliss cashmerino dk.  I really liked working with that yarn.  If the washability is as good as the label indicates, I may have found a new favorite all-around yarn.

After the first pair (Sirdar), we had to go to a yarn shop to get the yarn for the second pair (oh, the horror), and of course we found some unlooked-for bargains to round out the shopping trip.  After I got tired of gloves, I spent the last day of the NSKO swatching my finds.  First the Noro (I am a closet Noro addict, though sadly too poor to indulge my cravings):

 I seem to have thrown away the band by mistake, so I can't tell you exactly which Noro this is, but it's a variegated wool base yarn with shiny synthetic wrapped around it.  It sort of sparkles with the colors.  The photo above is before washing, the photo below after.  I have come to believe in washing all experimental swatches, even if the band says it's not washable, just to find out what it actually does when washed.  Most of the swatches I then wash again and throw in the dryer, just to see what that does.  The photo below shows the swatch after washing.  The base yarn felts ever so slightly, which I actually liked, but it does dim the color sparkles a bit.  There's a real trade-off there.  All in all, I think I prefer it unwashed.

The final yarn was not really mine, my mom bought it, but I have sort of appropriated the working of it.  She fell in love with a sample shawl in the shop made with a ladder yarn, then she fell in love with the ladder yarn when she saw some in her colors (a variegated sky blue / golden brown with silver sparkles).  The shawl turned out to be machine knit, so unfortunately I will never be able to duplicate it by hand.  But when she bought an entire bag of the ladder yarn it turned out to be half price, so we are forging ahead.  After looking at some patterns for ideas, we decided to make a scarf.  In this yarn, it will be very drapey, and she can wear it draped around her neck almost like a piece of jewelry.  When I first started knitting it, I was disappointed that it didn't look like the fantastic shawl in the shop, but as the scarf has started taking shape, I have become quite enamored of it.  It has a certain something in its own right.  Here's a photo, although I think you have to see it in person to really appreciate it:

The yarn is Skacel Tropicana.

That's the NSKO report.  This week I did start one new project, though.  After I returned to work I found out that one of my co-workers, an incredibly kind and sweet person, is undergoing tests to see whether she has ovarian cancer.  It shouldn't happen to someone so nice.  I have decided to knit her a prayer shawl.  I went upstairs to browse the stash for ideas on what sort of yarn to get for it, and in the first bin I pulled out there it was: a big bag of Lion Brand bulky weight organic cotton in a pretty light blue (she's blond and fair complected).  I took it as a sign.  I have started the shawl (sorry that it wants to load upside down):

It's the classic prayer shawl pattern, bulky yarn done up in seed stitch.  I hope to have it done before she goes in for surgery in about 3 weeks.  Lots of knitting ahead.  I think there's one person who follows this blog who also knows who I'm talking about, and if you would like to help me knit this, I think it would be great to do it as a shared project.  I'm not sure who else at work knows what's going on, but if you know of any other knitters who know or who you think it's okay to tell, my dream is that a bunch of us knit on this and give it to her to show that we are all rooting for her.  Let me know what you think.

NSKO East

The theme of this year's NSKO East is...gloves! My first pair ever!  Thanks, Kate!

Christmas Knitting

Well, it's Valentine's Day, about time I posted my Christmas pictures.  So here they are!

Sweater vest for Peter: basic, classic, just the way he wanted it.  Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool.  Used a pattern to help with the neck and armhole shaping (although I had to knit the neck 3 times), but mostly just knitted it to match a sweater vest he already has and likes.  It was simple enough.

And the piece de resistance, Aran sweater for mom:

She picked the pattern at last year's Sheep and Wool, and I knitted it from Ralene's Jacob sport weight.  Once I washed it, it fluffed amazingly and looked more like a worsted, and the texture softened up delightfully.  The fluff effect really covered any unevenness in the stitches.  I'm very pleased with it.  And it knitted up surprisingly quickly!

Current projects: 2 baby blankets.  A cousin of Peter's and a friend from Chicago both having babies this spring.  The cousin's blanket is Loops & Threads Country Loom, acrylic and amazingly soft, knitted in the classic washcloth pattern (corner to corner diagonal, garter stitch with a narrow border).  The friend's blanket is Caron Simply Soft in a basketweave pattern made with knit and purl stitches (not Entrelac). 

I took the second blanket to work on at my fiber group meeting this week.  It didn't occur to me until I got there that taking acrylic to the fiber group might get me some funny looks.  But they were very nice.  Honestly, it's just hard to find a natural fiber yarn with the washability of synthetics.  And for babies, it's got to be washable!

And Starting...

Serious preparations are under way for the NSKO.  I can't believe it's less than two weeks away.  I'm getting excited.  I am preparing three projects to bring with me.

The first project on the packing list is an Aran fisherman sweater for my mom.  It will be made with the sport weight Jacob wool I bought last summer from my friend who raises Jacob sheep.  Mom bought a pattern she liked at the MD Sheep and Wool festival.  I have cast on the back and knitted about halfway up.  It's a fun pattern and I now know it by heart, but it does require constant attention, so this one is for periods of serious knitting without too many distractions.

The second project is a jacket with an entrelac yoke.  I bought an amazing variegated blue yarn with silver highlights (they say genuine silver, but I think it's Mylar, it has never tarnished) at Sheep and Wool two years ago.  Way too expensive for my pocketbook but sooo irresistable.  Only enough to be an accent in some larger piece.  This summer I developed the notion that it would be fabulous combined with another yarn in the entrelac in this jacket, so I bought some solid blue worsted wool to go with it.  This week I have been knitting gauge swatches to decide what size needles to use.  This weekend I'll buy the needles I need and then I can get started.  I have knit enough entrelac lately that I think I can do it with only minimal brain power, so this might be the one to do while travelling.

The third project I haven't started at all yet.  I decided that since I'm making something for mom and something for me, I should also make something for Peter.  I have some tweedy brown wool I bought almost a year ago now at a sale at a Jo-Ann superstore because it said "Peter" to me.  I think it will look good worked up into a plain, ragg style sweater.  I think I will take that on the trip as the simple, work on it while the flying Wallendas are taking over the living room project.  I'll use EZ's proportion method as the pattern, maybe do something decorative on the yoke when I get that far, but at the beginning I should be able to work on this one in my sleep.  Perfect for socializing.

As for shopping on the trip, I need to look for some yarn with fabulous stitch definition.  I just found another man's sweater pattern which I just love, with some really interesting stitch patterns.  Not complicated, but cool.  I want to make it.  I need yarn that will show all those neat looking patterns.  It will be good to shop with a purpose.

Finishing!

Today is a good day.  I finished something last night, just in time to show it off at knitting group today.  It makes me happy.  Here it is:

It's a baby blanket for someone I work with.  She's having a boy in October, so I got it done in time!  It's entrelac done in garter stitch.  The yarn is a variegated 80% acrylic 20% wool.  It went through the washer and dryer flawlessly and feels soft in the nice way that wool can feel soft.  I'm very happy with this yarn.  It is lying on top of a twin size bed, to give you an idea of size.  Large for a baby blanket, I guess, but several mothers have told me it will be marvelous as a blanket to spread out on the floor and put the baby on with room for a little squiggling around.  Works for me!  I can tell you that the worsted yarn in garter stitch is nice and warm, also good for winter.  I'm glad the weather cooled off as the blanket got larger -- holding it on my lap to work on it in warm weather was a challenge!