Eleven Stitches

Bloom

There are discussions about product knitters and process knitters.  I'm pretty sure I fit into both categories, depending on the knit.  Bloom certainly falls into the "product knitter" category.  It was lot of stockinette in grey yarn, but I do love the finished product.

Pattern: Bloom by Carol Meldrum for Rowan 36, size L
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in 03, 3.5 skeins
Needles: Addi Turbos Size US5
Time to Knit: Sept 29 - October 24
Modifications: None

I was driven to knit this after seeing this picture.  I was very excited to cast on once I had acquired the yarn, but the knitting stalled between the front and the back pieces.  It was kind of, well, boring to knit.  I had a new resolve after Rhinebeck, and decided I couldn't cast on any new yarn until Bloom was finished. 

I love the finished piece.  It's warm and comfy.  It will go with a lot of things in my wardrobe.  I'm so glad that there's a chill in the air.

29

Yesterday was my birthday!  It was a little understated this year because I've got a cold, but really, I'm most comfortable at home anyway.  It was a day full of knitting, TiVo, and food, which are three of my favorite things.  Oh, and kitties. 

I was pleasantly surprised to get a lot of messages through Ravelry yesterday.  Apparently, a little birthday cake appeared by my picture, making the announcement to all of my friends.  Jess and Casey are so clever!

This was a nice birthday, too, because I feel really at peace with where I am.  There are things in my life that are still unresolved and a little scary (like going back to school), but they're also exciting and positive.  Birthdays are a good time for reflection, and I'm glad that at this time I can really appreciate where I am and where I'm going.

My family, knowing me pretty well, gave me a lot of great gifts!  Here are the knitting-related ones.

Knit Pick's Andean Treasure, a sportweight baby alpaca yarn, from David's father.  I think this will make a very warm accessory.  Colorwork, perhaps?

Two knitting books from my parents.  I've wanted to have Lace Style for a while now, and the Socks book has some wacky patterns in it!  (I like wacky patterns.)

And finally, the Knit Picks Options set with the Harmony wood tips, from David.  They're so pretty!  As you can see, I've already pressed some into use.

Now I'm off for more knitting, TiVo, food, and kitties!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Rhinebeck

It's taken me a long time to get to this post.  I think because I'm still a little overwhelmed by the Rhinebeck weekend.  We wait so long for these festivals, and then they go by so unbelievably quickly. I had a great time, and I'm still a little exhausted!

Jessica and I arrived at the festival at 8:10 on Saturday morning.  We were shooting for 8:30, but I think we were a little excited and got ready a little faster than normal.  This allowed me to take two quite rare pictures: an empty parking lot, and an empty (and completely stocked) booth at The Fold.

The first people we ran into were Jody, Christy, and Heather.  Jessica ran over to The Little Barn for some fiber (and there was a Rhinebeck miracle), and then I headed back to Building A to see if Brooks Farm had opened up yet.  I was hoping to find some more of the red Solana I had found at Maryland, but there wasn't anything close.  I did pick up some Solana in a really pretty purple.

We ran into Ann, who I had never met before, and I'm so glad that we did.  By lunch, Ann and I were sharing food (deep fried artichokes, yum!) and I had a great time talking with her throughout the day.

I also picked up some sock yarn in Building A.  It's a great blend of merino and nylon, and the colors will be great for some stranded colorwork at some point.   This is Aussi  Sock Yarn, and it was only $13 for a 400 yard skein!



From there, we went to Briar Rose Fibers, another one at the top of my list.  I found a sportweight yarn in colors that were very me.  The very helpful lady at the booth was worried that 1600 yards wouldn't be enough for a sweater, so she suggested I get a smaller skein to go along with it.  I'm thinking of a yoked sweater with the brown striped in at the yoke and sleeves. 

From there, we walked through the rest of the booths.  I kept a list of all the booths I would like to re-visit, which turned out to be very helpful later on.  I was really proud of my organization at this festival!

We happened to meet up with Jody, Christy and Heather for lunch, and then went to the blogger meetup. I briefly talked to Casey (Ravelry rock star), but I could tell he was pretty embarrassed by all the attention he was getting.   (Seriously,  whenever I saw him or Jess, people would come up to them and say "I just have to thank you...."  It was so much fun to see.) I also got to meet Deb and I talked with Kim and Christine.  Christine made a very exciting purchase this weekend, yay! (purchase not pictured)

After some fried dough and a little knitting (A muggle walked by and said "Hey, look, it's someone knitting!"  Duh.)  Jessica, Ann and I went back to the stores on my list so I could make my final purchases.  I ran briefly into Oiyi, but it was so crowded that we didn't get much chance to talk.

Green Mountain Spinnery's Green Mountain Green in grey.  I'm hoping this will soon be a Cobblestone for me.

Maple Creek Farms DK merino for Eunny's Deep-V Argyle Vest

And something for my mom (Ravelry link).

I also picked up some BFL fiber at The Little Barn.  Don't get too excited!  Jessica is going to spin it for me :)

After the festival we grabbed some quick food and hit the Morehouse Merino party.  They were having a tent sale, and I picked up these skeins for really cheap.  This is the only yarn I got that I don't have any real plans for, but I like the colors, and the price was hard to beat!

I tried on their Cowl Top and really liked how it looked, so I picked up the kit in this yarn as well.

I think this top might have the magical quality of looking good on a vast number of people.  Jacquie tried it on after me and also got the kit!  We were worried that we would both go after the brown yarn, but I got the pink and she picked a grey.  I also got to meet (very briefly, unfortunately) Amy and Beth.

After the Morehouse party was the Ravelry party.  I think the bar was a little unprepared for the influx of knitters.  It was really, really crowded.  And crazy/fun.  Elspeth gave me kind of a drive-by hi.  Again with the brief meetups!  It was really hard to talk to all the people I wanted to meet. Jess and Casey got up to thank us for coming and to give away some door prizes, and I had a few heart-swelling "I'm part of a great community" moments.  It was just so cool to see.

Jessica, Ann and I finally got a picture together.  We'd been hanging out all day so it really was necessary.

As the evening wound down, we sat out on the back patio (So much cooler outside!  I could finally wear my sweater!) and I got to meet Tina and her husband.  We finally had to leave because it was approaching midnight, and I had had a very long day!

I didn't go to Rhinebeck on Sunday because I had to work on Monday, but I had a nice train ride home.  I have to say that after all of that sensory overload, I was happy to be by myself and knit for awhile.  I've been working furiously on my current projects so I can cast with some of my new yarn.  FOs coming soon!

Rhinebeck Countdown

I think I've been waiting for Rhinebeck ever since Maryland Sheep & Wool was done.  I can hardly believe it's this Saturday!  Last year I wasn't blogging yet, I had been knitting for less than a year, and I had a harder time fully appreciating the event.  This year, I have old friends that I want to see, new friends I want to meet, favorite vendors to visit, and a good idea of what to expect.  Also, I'll be staying with Jessica, who really knows how to take advantage of a fiber festival!

Last year at Rhinebeck, I bought enough yarn to make three pairs of socks, two sweaters, and two scarves. Although I've got no problem with growing my stash, it's nice to know that I've used up a lot of what I bought last year.

Left to Right: Slip Stitch Socks (my own pattern) in Socks That Rock Mediumweight Lucy and Rooster Rock
Here Be The Dragons in Autumn House Farms Sock Yarn Hattie's Zinnias
My So Called Scarf in I don't remember
Not pictured: Blue Gable in Brooks Farm Harmony

I never knit up the boucle scarf.... I think I'm giving up on boucle.  Is anyone interested in the yarn?  (Ravelry link) It's a really lovely shade of purple.

I'm planning to knit up the Green Mountain Spinnery yarn (Ravelry link) as soon as I dye it.  (That is a whole other blog post.) I love its mule-spun squooshyness, and I'm considering getting some more-- dyed this time.

This is what I'll be looking for:

• More Brooks Farm yarn
• Tweed
• A gift for my mom
• Yarn for stranded colorwork mittens or socks
• Yarn for the Deep V Argyle Vest

I'm not planning to get any sock yarn (other than for stranded colorwork) because I happen to love all of my sock yarn, and I don't have time to get to all of it as it is!

I'm planning to be at the festival on Saturday (possibly Sunday morning) and at the Morehouse Merino and Ravelry parties.  If you see me, say hi!

I'll be wearing this

and carrying this.

I hope to see you there!

 

Chalet Sock

Well, that was fast.  My second incarnation of the Chalet sock seemed to just fly off the needles.

Pattern: Chalet Socks from Folk Socks by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Tess Supersock & Baby, 1 skein
Needles: KnitPicks DPNs US 1.5, 2.5mm
Time to Knit: October 9 - 14
Modifications: I knit 8 rows after the third foot chart before starting the toe.

I think this pattern was the perfect level of difficulty.  It was complicated enough for me to keep interested in the knitting and remain in need of the chart, but once I had glanced at the chart for that row I could knit it by memory.  I've had problems in the past with twisted stitches being hurty, but this time I didn't have any trouble.  This might be because I did more of a cable-without-a-cable-needle method rather than the slipping-two-stitches-as-one method.  I think it puts less pressure on my wrists doing it this way.

As always, Nancy's patterns have such great details.  I love the band of stockinette at the top that breaks up the pattern from the ribbing.  And there's a sweet seam detail running down the back.

I love this sock.  In fact, this sock has made me excited about knitting socks again.  I got a little burnt out over the summer, and the combination of a great pattern and the cool weather has brought me back.

Alas, this sock is not for me.  I made it for a friend, a knitter, and I'll be sending her this sock and the remaining yarn so she can knit the second one.  I hope she enjoys knitting it as much as I did!

Two?

Why are there two Chalet socks in this picture?

It turns out that my first go at the Chalet sock was slightly too small on size US1 needles.  It was close.  I felt like if necessary, the sock could be completed in this size.  But I hate worrying while knitting (it usually leads to ripping out, in my experience), so I cast on with US 1.5s to try again. 

I like the result a lot.  It pulls on easily without looking too big.  Now that I'm sure I like the second one, I'll rip out the first so I can use the yarn!

A Really Big Swatch

I got a lot done on my Gap-inspired sweater over the weekend, and I've decided to rip it all out.  Once I finished the yoke I realized that my sleeves were way to big, by several inches.  I considered how I could fix this, but I also was reminded of all the other things I would like to fix as well.

Although I did do some swatching, I really planned out the sweater as I went along.  The little design issues taken individually were not big problems, but eventually there were enough that I feel like a re-knit is the way to go.

I'm really not much bothered by this.  I learned a lot from what I've knitted so far, and I'm certain that next time will be better.  Also, I am predicting that I'll want another skein of this yarn to finish the sweater properly, and I'm hoping I'll be able to get a similar color at Rhinebeck. 

The next time around, here is what I plan to fix.

1.  Make the sleeves smaller.

2. The short-row back shaping was really good, but since I was knitting more rows in the back, I did more increases there, too.  This time I want to cast on more front stitches to compensate.

3. My cables kind of just appear out of the reverse stockinette.  I want to have them appear out of stockinette, and also do a quick increase right before the cable row to keep those little pockets from forming.

4. For some reason, I did k1f&b for the increases, and I didn't put any stitches in between the two increases.  I think this makes the stitches look stretched out and sucky, and I'm planning to change both my increase method and the number of stitches in between the paired increases.

5. I need more stitches across the front, which I can conveniently take from the sleeves.

6. My sleeves ended up having long stretches of reverse stockinette, and I think I'd rather have them be cabled or have stockinette instead.

I'm excited to see how the next iteration works out!

PS.  The wedding was fabulous, and we had a wonderful time.  We also took a lot of notes of things that worked and didn't work.  I'm super behind on blog reading and e-mails-- I hope you'll forgive me!

New Cast-Ons

I fell in love with a Gap sweater.  It was a swing cardigan.  Although I've seen many patterns recently, this is the first swing cardigan I'd seen all finished up, and I had to try it on.  It fit perfectly.  I loved the shape.  I then tried to figure out what to do.  I didn't want to necessarily buy this cardigan, but I wanted to get every detailed measurement I could.  I retreated to the dressing room and took a picture.

I didn't have a tape measurer on me, so in the end I bought the sweater.  I'm hoping to return it soon.  It's cotton/acrylic, so the wool sweater I make to copy it will end up being much nicer.  I know, love 'em and leave 'em.

Since the shape is the main thing I'm trying to copy exactly, I found a cable pattern that I like.  It's called Garlic Knot from the Vogue Stitchionary Vol II.  I cast on Sunday night, and this is what I had as of yesterday afternoon.

After casting on, I did some short row shaping so that the back comes up higher than the front.  It's been working out well so far. 

I also cast on for Bloom on Sunday night.  This is what I had as of yesterday afternoon.  We all have to start somewhere, right?

Finally, I cast on a new sock on October 1st.  I know I won't be exclusively knitting socks this month, but it's fun to celebrate Socktoberfest in my own way.  (Metaphorically speaking, I'll be the one sitting at home with a beer instead of flying to Germany and donning a dirndl.)

This is a Chalet Sock, from Nancy Bush's Folk Socks, in Tess Supersock & Baby.

I'm going out of town for a wedding this weekend, and I'm planning to concentrate on these three while I'm traveling.  We'll see how much I can get done!
 

Mixed Results

This was one of those weekends where a lot of things went wrong, knitting- wise.  And yet, it wasn't a bad weekend.  I'm not sure how that works, but I'm not questioning it too much.

Bad Thing: I attended an event this weekend which I only expected to last a couple of hours.  It actually lasted seven!
Silver Lining: At least I could knit, and I was sitting outside in the sunshine, so it really wasn't too bad.  If I had known, I would have brought the projects that were on my to-knit list instead of my "emergency" knitting projects.  But hey, I made progress on something.

Bad Thing: I finished my Bulky Cabled Cardigan, and it makes me look 30 lbs heavier when I wear it.  Why do I try to knit with chunky yarn? I considered posting a photo to illustrate this, but I could not bring myself to do it.
Silver Lining: I got to check my project off on Ravelry?  And mark the yarn as "all used up"?  I'm thinking about using my sewing machine to take in the sides and arms some, and then cut away the excess.  Unless there's someone who really needs a sweater that makes them look shorter and rounder?  Anyone?

Bad Thing: I had to frog my indulgence sock back to the toe because it didn't fit and I was too stubborn to admit it until after I turned the heel.
Silver Lining: I had wanted to start the patterning earlier on the toe, and now I have the chance to do that.

I also cast on for two new projects last night. They seem to be going well, so things are looking up.   I hope that your weekend knitting met with more success!