Cheating

I have a confession to make: I've been cheating on my knitting.



But let's back up a bit. First you have to know that I've always had a bit of an obsessive personality. If there's something I like, I tend to fixate on it. Knitting is only the most recent obsession.

For years and years, my entire childhood and all the way through college, I was a voracious reader. I went through books quickly, sometimes getting through as many as one a day when I was on vacation. I frequently read more than one book at a time; even during high school, when I had a heavy English reading list, I was still reading for pleasure.

Then I started my current job. After reading all day, the last thing I wanted to do in the evening was look at more words, especially in the early days, when my eyes were still adjusting to work and often wouldn't focus at night. It was about this time that knitting started to consume me. I discovered knitting blogs, started one of my own, and amassed a rather impressive stash.

A year ago, I was bitten by the spinning bug. Fortunately, spinning didn't supplant my passion for knitting, so the two pursuits filled my free time nicely.

About two years ago, I started reading for pleasure again, from time to time. It would take me much longer to finish a book, however, because for one thing, I didn't want to put down my knitting, and for another, it was hard to read without subconsciously editing (so much for leaving work at work). I really needed a story that would grip me and make me forget about other things, even typos. The last book I'd read that did this was probably the last Harry Potter book.

So, last week, when I had my "spring break," I decided that it would be good to give my hands a break from the knitting and spinning I planned to do and add in a little reading for pleasure -- something light and entertaining. My friend had mentioned that she'd read some of the Twilight series and was willing to lend me the first book. So, last Thursday, I sat down to eat lunch and opened the book.

And then it was all over for me: I'd been sucked in (pun intended). By Saturday, I'd finished -- having not picked up my knitting all day. (And that should tell you something. The last time I'd put down my knitting for any significant period of time was when I had my appendix out.) Sunday morning, I went to buy the second book in the series. I finished it Tuesday night. Last night, before Hurricane Knitting, I bought the third and fourth books. I have no doubt both will be finished by the end of this weekend. I'd also say there's a very big chance I will have bought and watched the DVD.

Obsess much? Me?

Lest you think I've completely abandoned my knitting, here is some proof that I have not. I've insisted on keeping my reading at home and maintaining my practice of knitting during my lunch break, if only to give my eyes a rest. And look, a nearly complete Endpaper Mitt!

I also have some deadline knitting to do, in the form of a Mr. Foster that will be a birthday gift for my favorite little cousin. After last night's knitting group, he now has two arms and part of a leg.

I'll be chugging along on these, but if you don't see me on the blog or answering e-mail for the next several days, you'll know why.

Block It Out, B*tch!

You didn't see this one coming, did you?

Pattern: Branching Out by Susan Lawrence, spring 2005 Knitty
Yarn: Lime & Violet Intentions superwash merino/bamboo blend in "Fertility"
Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: March 5/March 16
Dimensions: approximately 87" long and 4.5" wide
Mods: substituted a sssk for the sl1-k2tog-psso to mirror the k3tog better

Unfortunately, my photos didn't quite capture the true color of this yarn -- in real life, it's much more green and the brown is more of a milk chocolate. Actually, this colorway makes me think very much of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

The yarn was very nice to work with. The bamboo in it gives it an amazing shine, and the knitted fabric has incredible drape. I didn't use the full skein because I wanted this scarf to be more of a fashion accessory than one for warmth, so I made it just long enough to loop around my neck, like so:

The lace pattern is perhaps a bit obscured by the variegated colorway, but I love how the finished scarf feels on my neck, and the colorway is neutral enough that it should go with many outfits.

For those of you wondering about the title of this post, well, I guess I've been doing my Ari Gold impression a bit too much, because when I finished binding off and told The Mister that it was time to block, these were the first words out of his mouth.

At Long Last

Those of you who know me know that I'm usually a fast knitter; even the most complex of projects have never taken me more than a few months. So it may come as a surprise to some of you that this project was on the needles as long as it was. Nevertheless, it's now complete.

Pattern: Icarus Shawl [Ravelry link] by Miriam Felton, summer 2006 Interweave Knits
Yarn: Ornaghi Filati Merino Oro, approximately 0.73/skein
Dimensions: approximately 70" across and 41.5" tall at center
Needles: 32" US 3 (3.25 mm) Knit Picks circs
Started/Completed: August 20, 2007/March 13, 2009
Mods: none

Yes, you read that right: This shawl was started in the summer of 2007. In fact, this shawl was on the needles longer than The Mister and I have been married! I'm sure the fact that I started it shortly before the wedding had something to do with my abandoning it for a long period of time; I suspect the monotony of the main body of the shawl played a role, too. Lately, though, I started feeling guilty that so many other lace items had been started and completed while this project languished in a bag in my stash, so I resolved to finish my Icarus before casting on for another lace shawl.

As a further reference of how old this project is, the yarn was purchased from Pittsburgh Knit & Bead, a local store that went out of business several years ago. I used about 1,000 yards of the rather generous skein (1,375 yds./100 g) for the completed shawl and the first attempt, which was scrapped when I came across a spot in the yarn where one of the two plies was completely severed.

The pattern itself, once I got past the seemingly endless repetition of the first chart, was quite fun. The later charts were a bit more challenging than lace charts I'd encountered in the past, as some WS rows involved both knits and purls, so I had to pay a bit more attention. And, with the final rows containing 500+ stitches, each row certainly took a bit of time.

Overall, I'm in love with the results. The very thin yarn (I'm not sure if it qualifies as a cobweb weight, but it's close) resulted in a delightfully airy shawl. It was surprisingly resilient when it was blocked -- despite my concerns about its strength, I was able to block the finished shawl with my usual level of severity.

And, perhaps most importantly, it's done. I think I can confidently say that never again will I take more than a year and a half to finish a shawl.

Back to Normal

I didn't intend to be away from the blog for as long as I was, but we had a busier weekend than I was expecting. Then, yesterday was my birthday, so after a thrilling day of work, The Mister and I went out for a nice dinner. All in all, it was a pretty good birthday, and I received some nice gifts in the form of yarn money.

As long as I'm playing catch up, here is what I meant to post for Spinning Sunday:

This is a two-ply fingering weight superwash merino. The fiber was from Enchanted Knoll Farm, purchased from the Loopy Ewe. The colorway is "Big Sky." I had high hopes for some big yardage, particularly as I crammed as much as I possibly could onto my bobbing and had to empty it to ply the rest, but in the end I have only about 370 yards. That's respectable, but not what I was expecting.

Still, I quite like the results. After all, this yarn is shades of my current favorite color combination -- chocqua. And I really enjoyed working with this fiber. It had a very nice crimp to it and was quite fun to spin. I also really love that this is a relatively "green" fiber and it's a good price. I will definitely be buying more in the future.

Meanwhile, on the knitting front, I'm devoting much of my knitting time this week focused on finishing a UFO of long standing: Icarus.

I'm on the final chart and am hoping to finish this baby up by the end of the weekend. My office is actually closed on Friday, so I'm taking Thursday off for a really long weekend. I'm planning on spending much of the time doing fibery pursuits.

Socks, Blocked (Sort of)

Thank you all for your extremely nice comments on my sweater! It's always nice when things work out the way you wanted them to, and I couldn't be happier with the results in this case. I've already worn the sweater twice since it came off the needles!

Check out what I finished last night at knit night:

Pattern: based on Undulating Rib Socks by Ann Budd in Favorite Socks
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock lightweight (100% superwash merino), colorway Tide Pooling, one skein
Needles: two 16" US 0 (2.0 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: February 19/March 4
Mods: did a plain rib after completing the cuff and added an Eye of Partridge heel flap

All I can say is that Ann Budd must be a very tight knitter, because the pattern specified a gauge of 9 stitches to the inch on size 3 (3.25 mm) needles; I need a size 0 to get that gauge. So the result is an Amy-style sock -- very dense, with no holes.

I decided to discontinue the undulating rib portion of the cuff after a few repeats, in part because it was pretty lost in this busy yarn, but mostly because the tight gauge was hurting my hands as it was. So I just carried on with the plain ribbing for the rest of the leg and instep, and that resulted in a nicely squishy sock.

I feel I should mention that there is an error in the pattern that doesn't seem to have been noted anywhere online. If you establish the ribbing as *k3, p1, k1,p1* around, you will need to start on row 9 of the Undulating Rib chart.

You may have noticed that my socks are being modeled by my brand-new Knit Picks sock blockers. They -- along with a larger set for man socks, some stitch markers, some laceweight yarn, and a Mr. Foster kit -- arrived today, much to my surprise. (Three-day shipping -- who knew?)

And that's not the only good mail I've gotten this week. My All Spun Up March spinalong fiber arrived yesterday.

It's BFL, and in my current favorite color combination. I'm determined to finish plying what's currently on my wheel tomorrow night so I can start spinning this!

My Climbing Vines

I have a finished sweater, and it fits!

Pattern: Climbing Vines Pullover (Ravelry link) by Joelle Meier Rioux, Interweave Knits winter 2008
Yarn: Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran Tweed (85% merino, 10% silk, 5% cashmere), colorway 130/Lavender, approximately 8.75 skeins
Needles: US 6 (4.0 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm) Knit Picks Options
Started/Completed: February 7/February 27
Mods: added two extra inches in length to the sleeves to make them full length; added an extra inch of ribbing to the neck

This sweater was a true experiment. I went down a needle size and still didn't get gauge but determined that going down two needle sizes would have resulted in a stiff fabric. So I measured my swatch, did a few calculations, and figured out that knitting the 34 1/2" size should end up in a sweater to fit the measurements of the 38" size, which is what I wanted. As you can see, it did work out in the end, and the sweater fits just as I wanted it to, but I had to make a couple of adjustments.

Because I had fewer stitches per inch and fewer rows per inch, I ran into some difficulties when working the top part of the front. I had to work more rows to reach the desired length for the front, meaning I was further along in the lace panel than I would have been had I gotten gauge, so I had to fudge the neckline shaping. Then, the sections of the front on either side of the neck were narrower than they should have been -- the sweater was actually falling off my shoulders when I tried it on before picking up for the neckband -- so I added some more length to that ribbing to compensate.

I only realized midway through the sleeves that, as written, they would only be about 3/4 length. I didn't want shorter sleeves for this particular sweater, so I added an additional two inches or so of length to make them full length.

Finishing this sweater was much easier than I was expecting, and, in fact, I finished seaming everything in one evening. The sleeves in particular were the easiest I've ever set in. I picked up less stitches for the neckband than called for because of my gauge issues; I just made sure I had a multiple of four that filled the space adequately and went with it.

As to the yarn, I quite liked working with it, although I did encounter a fair amount of VM. I do love the rustic, nubby look it has, and after wearing this sweater all day on Saturday, I can attest to its warmth. My 10 skeins were enough to knit the entire sweater, including two gauge swatches, with enough left over for a hat or maybe a pair of fingerless mitts.

The Mister has declared this my Best Sweater Yet, and I'm inclined to agree with him. I got many compliments on it throughout the day from knitters and nonknitters alike, including one you might recognize:

Handspun and a Knitting Celebrity Encounter

First things first: It's Sunday, and I have new handspun to show you.

This is superwash merino (colorway Tabula Rosa) from Sakina Needles, purchased from the Loopy Ewe way back in my first big fiber order last year. I didn't spin it right away because the color was not what I expected; what looked pink and purple online was actually orange and purple in person. I finally decided to spin it up, figuring that if I didn't like the resulting yarn, I could knit it into a gift or find someone else who would love it.

I spun the entire 4 oz. onto one bobbin and then Navajo/chain plied it. I wound up with approximately 375 yards of sportweight-ish yarn. I had a lot of problems with the dye coming off on my hands while I spun, so I gave it a vinegar bath in the finishing process and had very little dye coming off when it was washed. I still don't know what I'll do with it, but the color is definitely growing on me.

Now, on to the celebrity. This weekend, Franklin Habit was in town doing a reading/booksigning and teaching a lace class at Natural Stitches.

An enthusiastic crowd was there Saturday afternoon for the reading and signing, which was quite entertaining, particularly when Franklin donned his nightcap while signing books.

The lace class was this morning, and it was also quite a bit of fun. In addition to teaching the basics of lace knitting (and yes, I know I already knew them), Franklin also had a lot to tell us about the lace knitting traditions of Orenburg, the Shetland Islands, and Estonia -- which is really why I took the class. He is a wonderful and very entertaining teacher, and I highly recommend taking a class with him if you have the chance.

I think I should add that Franklin also complimented me on my new sweater -- but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see that!

Time to Sew

You know what this means ...


Tonight's goal: sew the shoulder seams and pick up stitches for the collar. I'm hoping to have the rest sewn up in time to wear it this weekend!

My Blue(ish) Heaven

I had way too much fun knitting this little sweater and even more fun photographing it.

Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles (aka February Baby Sweater) by Elizabeth Zimmermann, from Knitter's Almanac
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Paints, colorway Sapphire Seas (9878), approximately 1.5 skeins
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: February 12/February 18
Mods: made the neck opening wider; only did three buttonholes; knit sleeves in the round

This little darling of a sweater is for the daughter of some friends of ours who is due to make her grand appearance sometime in April. I was thrilled to hear that they were expecting a girl, because much as I love knitting for all babies, girls are just so much more fun. It'd been a while since the last February Baby Sweater, so I didn't have to think much about what pattern to knit.

The choice of yarn was almost as easy. The mom-to-be is not a knitter, so something easy to care for was in order. I knew immediately that I wanted to use the Cascade Superwash Paints because I'd enjoyed using it so much for Luke and Leia's sweaters. All that remained was to pick a color -- something that would look good on a girl but not a pastel. The minute I saw this shade, I was sold. (Truth be told, I think someday I'd like to knit myself a sweater in this very colorway.)

The buttons, though they're hard to see in these shots, were pulled from my craft store grab bag. They're translucent with just the slightest hint of purple, and I think they're a good match.

Having knit the baby-sized version of this sweater once and the adult-sized version once, too, the knitting was all smooth sailing. I slipped the first stitch of every row for a neat edge and gave it a nice blocking when it was done. Now I just have to wait for the baby to be born so I can present it to her parents!

A Large Big Thaw

This post has been a long time coming, but I finally got The Mister, his sweater, and some sunlight together at the same time.

Pattern: Big Thaw Pullover by Amanda Berka (fall 2008 Knitscene)
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool, color 8061, just a little more than two skeins
Needles: US 9 (5.5 mm) Knit Picks Options
Started/Completed: January 21/February 6

If there's one positive thing I can say about this sweater, it's that it was a very interesting and fast knit. The sweater is knit from the top down, starting with the saddle shoulder. Stitches are then picked up along the back, with some short rows thrown in for upper-back shaping, and along the front, and then the front and back are joined under the arms and knit down for the rest of the body. The sleeves are worked with short rows to shape the sleeve caps and then worked down to the cuff. Finally, stitches are picked up around the neckline for a garter stitch collar. The large gauge combined with the seamless construction makes for a very quick knit, even for a man sweater.

Unfortunately, the resulting garment -- perhaps especially knit in this color -- somewhat resembles a potato sack. Some aggressive blocking helped to smooth things out, but as you can see from the photo below, the upper arms are especially roomy. If I were better with the math and logic required to adapt sleeve shaping, I would have made them more narrow.

In spite of this extra and somewhat unflattering ease, The Mister assures me that this is a very warm, comfy sweater. I don't think he'll be wearing it outside the house anytime soon, or at all, but it makes for a good lounging sweater for around the house.

Another plus for this sweater is that it was very economical, which is something that's especially appreciated for a project that was less than a success. I used two full skeins of the Eco Wool along with only about 25 yards of a third skein for the collar -- which is probably about the same yardage I used on my swatch. So that means I got an entire man's sweater for about $30, not to mention many hours of knitting enjoyment.

A Front, a Back, and New Toys

Finally, I have real blog content! For starters, my Climbing Vine Pullover is in the home stretch. The front and back are both done (and yes, I'm aware that is is quite possibly the worst photo ever -- there is no natural light to be had at 8 p.m. in February):

I just love how the leaves pop off the front, even though completing the last leaf at the top made me have to wing the decreases at the neckline.

The sleeves are in the works, being knit at the same time, and I'm hoping to finish them up within a week so I can get to sewing this baby together.

As to the toys, well, that's a story. You see, I placed the order for them at the Woolery some time ago, and it shipped quickly, arrived at its destination last weekend, and only got into my hands last night. Why, you ask? Well, even though I put in the correct address when I placed the order, my address was correct in the shipping confirmation e-mail, and (as I discovered upon opening the box) it was correct on the invoice, the box got sent to our old house. So, last night before Hurricane Knitting, I stopped by the old place to retrieve my package from the front stoop. Fortunately the contents were still dry, though the box had been dampened a bit from yesterday's rain.

Now, here are my new toys! First, a new niddy noddy, an improvement upon the old one in so many ways.

This is a walnut Kromski model that is a full two yards around. (A niddy noddy, for those of you unfamiliar with the tool, is used to skein handspun off a bobbin.) This will make it much easier to calculate my yardage, as my old niddy noddy was only 60" around and required a number of calculations to determine how much yarn I had. Now I'll just have to count my loops and multiply by two.

I realize that this particular model matches Jen's wheel better than mine, but it's a better quality than mine and the two ends actually stay put.

My other new toy is what's called a spinnner's control card. This is used to help you spin a particular thickness to achieve a desired weight of yarn. I'm hoping this will help me to spin a more consistent yarn as well.

Still to be blogged: a finished project that inadvertently matched me last night at knitting!

Distractions?

I was intending to have a post ready for tonight on The Mister's Big Thaw Pullover, but, alas, the weather did not cooperate long enough to do a proper photo shoot over the weekend, so it will have to wait. Suffice it to say that, as predicted, it's not the most flattering sweater in the world, but a good blocking did help and The Mister assures me that it's quite warm and comfortable. All the same, don't expect to see him wearing it around town; it's a strictly lounge-around-the-house type of garment.

Can I distract you from the lack of sweater photos with some pretty fiber shots? I managed to grab my camera during the short period of time when we had sun on Saturday, just before I left to run several errands (but before The Mister was out of bed). I snagged these two braids of top about a week and a half ago in an All Spun Up update; I'd been very good at resisting Kristin's fiber for a while, but I knew I had to snag these before someone else did.

This one is a merino/bamboo, a blend that I really loved spinning up once before and that is destined to become some shiny laceweight.

And then there's this superwash merino, which made me think of Sarah, Plain and Tall, one of my favorite books as a child. (Why, you ask? Because in it, Sarah says a number of times that her favorite colors are the colors of the sea -- blue and gray and green.)

I should have some knitting to show you in the coming days -- progress on my Climbing Vines Pullover and a baby sweater. Stay tuned!

Made from Scratch

The pride I feel from my most recent finished object is something akin to what I imagine a baker might feel upon finishing a fancy wedding cake made from scratch.

Pattern: toe up stockinette worked over 60 sts, with a Fleegle heel, 3x2 ribbed cuff, and sewn bind off
Yarn: my own handspun, from 70% superwash merino/30% alpaca fiber dyed by Kristin of All Spun Up
Needles: two 12" US (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: February 2/February 11

I am not normally of a fan of toe up socks. I can never seem to get them to fit quite as well as those knit from the cuff down, not to mention the issues with a too-tight bind off. But because my yardage with this yarn was limited and I wanted to maximize my use of it, toe up was the way to go.

Inspired by Dave's socks, also knit with ASU handspun, I decided to try out this new heel. It is fabulous! It starts with gusset increases, and then the heel is completed with what amounts to a really big heel turn that has the appearance of a short-row heel when worn. Working the last couple of decreases while knitting in the round again helps to eliminate any holes.

I solved the tightness at the top with Elizabeth Zimmermann's ingenious sewn bind off. I probably did it a little looser than necessary (so the top is a little ruffle-y when not worn), but it makes for quite a comfortable cuff.

Amazingly, even with my big feet and a generous leg, I still have some yarn left, maybe enough for a pair of baby socks. And now I have some really cozy socks to wear to keep my feet warm as the temperatures are due to drop again (I guess yesterday's high 60s were only a tease).

Back to Tweed

I had hoped to have modeled Big Thaw pictures for you this evening, but unfortunately The Mister came down with a nasty bout of stomach flu and has been in bed for the past two days, so his photo shoot will have to wait until he's back on his feet.

I do have some sweater I can show you, in this case the completed back to my Climbing Vines Pullover.

I'm really loving this lavender Kathmandu Aran Tweed that Amy helped me to pick out at Bloomin Yarns. Tonight I start the front, which is by far the most interesting piece.

I've also been working on some very plain but very fancy socks (you might recognize the yarn):

I'm knitting these toe up to maximize my yarn use, and I'll have some things to say about these when they're done. I just hope that the weather gets a little colder when they're done so I can wear them at least once before the end of winter!

Cape Cod, in Fiber

It's Sunday (somehow the rest of the week since my last post got away from me), so that means some pretty shots of handspun are in order. The latest yarn started life as this fiber, four ounces of superwash merino from Spirit Trail Fiberworks, purchased from the Loopy Ewe. The colorway is Cape Cod -- a very appropriate name, in my opinon.

I turned it into approximately 325 yards of two-ply, approximately sport weight, I'd say. The yardage is a little less than I was hoping for, but the appearance of the yarn is exactly what I wanted: great blending of colors and a nice tight twist.

I think this will make some really squishy socks, don't you?

The Mister's sweater is done and is getting a good blocking tonight. Modeled shots to come!

Return to Sixburgh*

So, I'm back. The Mister and I were away for the weekend in Deep Creek, Md., so he could do a little skiing. I do not ski (I've tried, and it doesn't agree with me), so I was happy to curl up with my knitting and watch some TV. I managed to get the entire sleeve of his Big Thaw Pullover done before we left to come home.

Unfortunately, it looks like this sweater is going the way of the Cambridge Jacket in its sleeve size. I'm beginning to think that men's patterns are written assuming a much more muscular build than my husband has. Perhaps those roomy arms are meant to be filled by large biceps? The Mister said he didn't mind the roomy arms so long as both arms are equally roomy, and I think it will work out okay as this sweater has a sweatshirt-y feel to it, but I think I'll stick with Elizabeth Zimmermann sweaters from now on.

We were home in plenty of time to watch the Super Bowl; thankfully we stayed home, so I didn't have to scramble to get things together for a party. Needless to say, we were quite thrilled with the result of the game, though I could have done without the anxiety at the end of the fourth quarter. I did finish the second of my game-day dishcloths (knit entirely during the playoff games and the Super Bowl) just before the end of the game, and I'm thankful that I wasn't working on a fitted garment, because I'm pretty sure my gauge was affected by all the excitement.

I took a vacation day from work yesterday, in part because I knew I'd be up late Sunday night but also because I needed a day to get some things done that I normally do on the weekends. Fortuitously, having the day off also allowed me to run over to Natural Stitches when it opened and sign up for Franklin's lace class. I know that I am already fairly experienced lace knitter, but I've never taken a real knitting class, so I thought it would be fun. It's also right before my birthday, so I'm considering it my birthday gift to myself. Plus, it's Franklin!

Once I got that and a couple other errands done, I returned home to spend the rest of the day in fibery pursuits. First, first I spun for a few hours while watching Juno on HBO, then I picked up my knitting and finished watching a disc of the first season of The West Wing. The knitting accomplishment for the day was finishing up Renata's socks:

Pattern: Monkey by Cookie A. (winter '06 Knitty)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, colorway Glenwood, two skeins
Needles: two 12" US 1 (2.5 mm) Addi Turbo circs
Started/Completed: January 26/February 2
Mods: changed all purls to knits, knit one less repeat on the leg, and inadvertently omitted one plain row in the lace pattern (but I can't tell the difference)

These, along with a fair amount of leftover yarn, will be delivered to Renata, weather permitting, at tomorrow night's meeting of the Hurricane Knitters (7 p.m., Waterworks Barnes & Noble).


*As if it weren't enough that our mayor already changed his name to Luke Steelerstahl, apparently we now live in Sixburgh, PA.