I Have Returned

Wow, first of all, I would like you all to know that I am a blog-reading master.  I got home last night at 11pm and didn't begin catching up on blogs until this morning - I had almost 200 posts to read!  And I did it all - this morning, this afternoon... all day. Mainly because I'm a bum, but I'm glad I was able to catch up with everyone.

I had such a good time up at my cabin!  It is by far my favorite place to be and I have so much that I want to talk about here on the blog.  Most of it is unrelated to knitting, but I have an odd desire to document my cabin experience and this is really the only place to do it, so you're just going to have to suck it up.

Today, however, I will update you on the knitting that got done while I was gone.

I finished the back of Delain and started on the front.

I know, the front looks super wonky right now, but that's because after the bottom ribbing, you split it in three parts and work each one separately for a while to make room for the pockets.  Did I mention that Delain has pockets?  Yeah, he's a man of mystery.  I just have a few more inches to finish up on the remaining 20-stitch strip and then I can join them all back together and work until the armholes.

I worked some on the Autumn Arbor Stole as well.  At the beginning on my vacation, I was switching off days of knitting and devoting the entire day to a specific project.

However, after a few days of this, I decided to put the Autumn Arbor Stole on the back burner because it is my process piece and I was trying to get as much done on Delain as I could.  One of my brothers recently requested that I knit him a sweater and the yarn arrived while I was gone, so I knew that as soon as I got home, I would be putting Delain down and picking up what I hope to be some very enjoyable yarn.

This is Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed (85% wool, 10% silk, 5% cashmere) in Butternut, with one skein of contrasting color (Parchment or Pulp or Paper or something like that) for the edging.

The sweater he wants is Franklin by Jane Ellison from the Queensland Collection Book 9, which is full of wonderful men's patterns.  The entire thing is knit in 2x2 ribbing, with no shaping (not even for the sleeves.)  It could be a joy to knit, or it could be... less than a joy.

Lots more about the cabin to come - none of it to do with knitting.  I'm off to swatch, glad to be back!

(Another brother just requested another pair of socks to take with him to college... I'll have to find some suitable yarn.)

Upcoming Vacation

Perhaps for the first time I am actually working on multiple projects at the same time, and none of them are getting left behind while I devote all of my time to another.  I have been trying to work on the Autumn Arbor Stole, Delain (that's my sweater), and spinning throughout the day so that one doesn't fall by the wayside.

A quick Tour de Fleece update:  I have sort of disappeared from participating in the conversations over on Ravelry, but I am still spinning every day.  This is what I have after four days of spinning -

It's not much, but it'll have to do.  I only spin late at night before I go to bed.  That's a little over an ounce of merino, spun relatively thick.  I'm going to make it a two-ply, and figure it'll come out maybe DK-ish?  I have no idea because this is my first time spinning merino and I hear it blooms a lot in the washing.  Right now when I let it ply back on itself it's looking like fingering weight and I figure that'll grow a bit.  I'm spinning it rather lightly because I want a puffy yarn.

I've also worked a bit on Delain.  He's slowly growing.  The entire back is in this strange slipped-stitch "cabled" pattern and is very easy to work on.  I've been putting this one in the back for the past few days because I know I'll be getting a lot of car knitting time in on it in a few days (more about that in a bit.)

 

I'm also slowly working on the Autumn Arbor stole.  Some might assume that I don't like working on it and that's why it's going so slowly, but really I do love it.  I'm taking my time with it because I can and I don't have to rush through everything - each stitch is really a joy to work on.

I wasn't sure if I was happy with the way the colors were working out at the beginning.  There are two large leaf motifs and they each were developing their own different color area.  I was fine with this, but as the stole is knit in two pieces and seamed in the middle, I was a little worried that one half would have columns of color while the other would be more mixed and it would look weird.  I was going to rip and start over, but I couldn't guarantee it wouldn't happen again.

After knitting a few more rows, you can see that the color "pooling" (I wouldn't even really call it pooling because there are so many different colors involved) has shifted and things are mixing up a bit.  I'm just going to keep going with this because I think it's pretty and interesting.  I am curious though what it would have looked like had I gone up a needle size or something...

Ok, on to vacation.  Every summer my family goes up to my Grandparents' cabin in North Dakota.  I love being up there because it's so peaceful and secluded and, well, fun.  It's definitely an escape from the busy life back in a city.

So, the drive is about 8 hours, and looks like this the entire way...

While pretty, it gets a bit boring.  This is when I plan to knit on Delain.  I think the Autumn Arbor Stole would be a bit finicky to work on in a car with 5 other people, so Delain it is.  I like knitting on the shawl while sitting outside in the sun anyway.

My cabin is in the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota on Lake Metigoshe.  (I know, who knew they had mountain?) right on the Canadian border.  I couldn't really find a decent map, otherwise I would show you guys where it is.  It's right near the International Peace Garden, but I've only been there (the garden) a few times.  I think I went two years ago, which was the first time since I was really little, and it was kind of sad because it was the 75th Anniversary and they planted so many flowers, but then there was a drought and all the flowers died, so they re-seeded everything, but then there was a lot of rain and all the seeds got washed away, so it was a little sad looking.  Very cool though.

In the above crappy picture you can see the Turtle Mountains and above the trees in the middle you can see a hump and then a tiny hump directly to the left of it.  That, supposedly, is the "Turtle" (its body and head), but it may just be what my parents always told me.  I'll try to get a better picture this year.

Anyway, all that to say that on Friday I will be leaving the comforts of my computer for a week and half so that I can relax on a lake and undoubtedly spend my time...

... kissing frogs.

New Beginnings

I've started some new projects and I'm so happy that I can take as much time with them as I want.  Strangely, I've been knitting on them a lot more than I thought I would, probably because I don't feel pressured to do it.

The first is another lace shawl, the Autumn Arbor Stole by Anne Hanson.  I really love this yarn (in the Mystic Mountain Pine colorway) gifted to me by my sister for my birthday, and I enjoy knitting the pattern as well, which is just plain awesome.

As you can see, I haven't done much with it.  I got rather sick of using post-its to mark which row I'm on and am now waiting for my Chart Keeper to arrive before I continue with this one.  It's just too hard to get in a knitting groove when I have to stop every row and move numerous post-its up half a centimeter each time...  The chart keeper is supposed to arrive tomorrow and then maybe I can start making some progress on the stole.

In the meantime, I decided to cast on for a sweater.  I'm using Berroco Ultra Alpaca in the "Tanzanite Mix" colorway, also given to me by my sister.  (No wonder I haven't bought yarn since Valentine's Day).  The pattern is from an old 2005 Bouton d'Or catalogue and you will all just have to wait until I'm done to see what it looks like because as of right now there are no pictures other than the one in the catalog(ue).  So far I just have a bit of the back done.

I've also joined Team CrankyPants! (I don't know how to get the team picture thing to show up here) for the Tour de Fleece (rav link), so I'll be spinning each day trying to meet my goals (which are relatively sparse and not clearly defined.)  Instead of boring you all with pictures of spindles with in-progress singles, what I think I'm going to do is just take a picture a day of whatever I've spun, and then at the end do a sort of summary post with all the pictures so you can see my progress and I'll post what I ended with as well.

Email still not working, but hopefully it'll be back up tomorrow.  I then just have to figure out how to use the new layout (my University switched to a new email provider or something and is moving us all over there).  If I haven't gotten back to your comments yet, I promise I will when my email is working again.

Just What I Needed

After finishing that shawl, all I wanted to was knit something that I really really really wanted to make, out of yarn that I really really really love, and that would not take really really really long.

So, when I was asked to test knit a hat pattern by westknits using Malabrigo, I jumped on it as fast as I could.  He's been posting versions of this hat on Ravelry for months now, and I have been coveting the pattern ever since I saw his first rendition of the pattern.  In fact, in looking at my "sent" messages over on Ravelry, it looks like I have been bugging him about the pattern since March.  Let that be a lesson that perseverance always pays off.

So let's recap.  (ha, no pun intended):

Pattern: Botanic Hat by Stephen West, soon to be published

Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Tortuga and Bobby Blue (less than half a skein each)

Needles: US 6 and 7

Time taken:  I knit it today

You guys, look, it's reversible!

I love the way the inside of this hat looks.  Or wait, is that the outside?

I'm not sure, but it looks awesome.  Do you guys remember when I went a little crazy with the Kiwi hats back in September?  (there were two others that I never even bothered documenting)  Well, I think there is going to be another surge of hats coming on in the future.  One of these is not enough.  Think of the possibilities for color combinations!  You could even knit two hats using the same two colors, but switching the MC and CC and the results would be totally different.  Plus, it's a great way to use those half skeins of Malabrigo you have sitting around from previous projects.

The Tortuga colorway I have had sitting around for quite a while (but actually not as long as the Bobby Blue) and no one has ever been able to tell me what color it is.  I think it is just different shades of gray, but I have a sister who thinks it looks green, a brother who says it's blue, one who says it's purple and navy, my mother things it's pink and blue, another sister says it's wine colored, and then this morning as I was knitting the hat, yet another sister came up to me and exclaimed, "wow, brown and blue is my favorite color combination!"  So, what you you all think?  Is it blue, brown, pink, green, purple, blue, or black?  Your guess is as good as mine.  (I'm pretty sure the Bobby Blue is blue...)

Oh, and just so you all know, my e-mail is going to be down starting tomorrow and it won't be up again until at least Monday.  You can always get a hold of me over on Ravelry, but I may not reply to your comments here on the blog right away because I won't get them until my e-mail starts up again.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

FO: Myrtle Leaf Shawl

You guys, it's totally and completely done.  Ends woven in and everything.  Done.

I have to tell the truth - this project was a total pain in the you-know-what.  Right from the get-go I was having problems with this shawl.  I guess the fifth cast-on is the charm, right?  I have noted many times how crunchy and un-fun this yarn is, and I am standing by those claims.  I never had any problems with breakage (this stuff was practically steel wire), but it was hard to keep an even tension because there wasn't even a hint of stretch in it.  I noticed during blocking last night that my tension must have changed from beginning to end, because it was extremely difficult to get the width of both ends to match.

I have to tell you about blocking, because it is yet another funny story about how I'm stupid (see above link and scroll down to read about my mitten issues.)  Oh, and I have to say thanks to everyone who was so confident in Blocking's ability to work wonders.  I actually did go out and buy two more cases of pins before I started blocking, and it's a good thing I did.  Even with blocking wires, I used over 200 pins (I used blocking wires around the body, and then pinned out the border.)  Ok, back to the story.

The pattern called for yarn that was about 440 yard per 50 grams.

I was knitting with yarn that was almost 700 yards per 50 grams.

The pattern called for size US5 needles.

I was knitting with US4s.

Ok, all is fine right?  I'm using thinner yarn, so I should use smaller needles.  Here's where the stupid come in.  After I finished knitting and got to the blocking part, I tried to block it to pattern specs.  That sounds fine, right?  Helloooo!  I used thinner yarn and smaller needles, OF COURSE my shawl is going to be a little smaller.  Well, I was determined (because I didn't come to this realization until I was almost done blocking) to block this to size and I swear I stretched that shawl to death - I was so afraid I was going to rip it in half.  Surprise, I couldn't stretch it big enough, and only then did I realize why.  I'm a smart one I tell ya.

Project details:

Pattern:  Myrtle Leaf Shawl (rav link) by Jane Sowerby from Victorian Lace Today

Yarn: Habu Textiles A-13 40/2 Kakishibu Ramie, 2.1 cones (about 55 grams)

Needles:  Addi lace needles, size US4

Time taken:  November 5, 2008 (cast-on #5, the real one) to June 30, 2009

I think blocking worked.  Even when it was all pinned out waiting to dry, I wasn't impressed with my work.  However, this morning after taking out all the pins and picking it up for the first time (I love that moment - the picking up lace for the first time after blocking moment), I was all of a sudden happy with the results.  I kind of felt like I was picking up a thin sheet of homemade paper, but it was kind of cool.  It was super flat and transparent and weighed nothing at all.  Guys, this shawl definitely did NOT kill my love of lace.  Thank Jebeezeluh!  (I made him up.)

Ok, all my negativity aside, I'm happy with the results and proud of what I accomplished.  This is only my second lace shawl (I don't count the Ishbel I knit as a lace shawl, a stockinette scarf knit in fingering-weight yarn with a little lacy edging does not a lace shawl make in my eyes), and by far the hardest thing I have ever done - knitting-wise.  I had never done patterning on both sides.  I had never done a knitted on border.  I had never knit with a plant fiber.  Even blocking was a challenge for me, which is not surprising as I lack any necessary finishing skills.  I seem to have fallen asleep during that part of knitter training.

(The required shawl-on-bush picture)

I did have one little tiny, um, not issue with the pattern per se, but I questioned it a tiny bit when I was working on the border.  (oh, by the way, if you have the older version of this book, there are a few errata and you can get them here or on the ravelry page for the pattern.)  The long sides of the body of the shawl have slipped stitches on the edges, so that when you knit on the border (which is knit back and forth in a small strip and attached to the body every other row), you are actually attaching the border every two rows for every two rows, does that make sense?  The slipped stitch spans two rows, and you're attaching the border every other row, so it all evens out.  The ends of the shawl, however, remain as live stitches and the border is then attached as two rows of border for every stitch of the body.  Do you see the problem?  There are going to be way more border rows than there are stitches in the body.  I realized this as I was knitting the border, but I thought blocking might help it because maybe the body stitches were wider horizontally than the border stitches were tall.  Even if this is the case, the border on this shawl is much more bunched together on the ends compared to the sides.

(For some reason this picture makes me think of old wooden boats out at sea)

(and this one reminds me of some sort of Indian clothing of which I know nothing and therefore am being extremely stereotypical)

I'll be packing this up soon and shipping it off to my LYS in Wisconsin.  I hope it survives the trip and arrives looking just as good as it does now.  Oh, also, the pattern calls for 1200 yards of yarn, and most people on ravelry used about that much, so how did I manage to get by using only about 750?  I haven't figured that one out yet (I don't think the smaller needle size can really account for such a large difference.)

I think a little celebration is in order.

The Blob

I am happy to say that these are the last pictures you will be seeing of this shapeless form.

Because I finished it!  Thanks so much everyone for your sympathy about my dropped stitch fiasco, it was greatly appreciated.  Many of you even messaged me asking how the fixing process turned out, which I appreciated as well.

I wasn't happy with the way things looked after I had laddered down and reknit the one leaf that was missing.  I ended up ripping back the border, and then ripping (well, I actually tinked it, one stitch at a time) to below where the stitch had dropped to and reknit that portion of the body.  (Ugh, that sentence was confusing and extremely grammatically incorrect, sorry.)  I'm really glad I did, because I had plenty of, "um, WTF is going on here?" moments when I got to the part I had "fixed."  There were stitches everywhere, and at one point I had even twisted strands of yarn so that one row of stitches overlapped another, it was very strange.

Anyway, it all worked itself out, I was able to reknit the body without a problem, and just this morning I finished the border.  Now all I have to do is weave in my ends, wash, and block the shawl.  I'm so close to the end!  I held it up today and then felt very, well, less-than-impressed because it took me FOREVER to knit this shawl and it looked so small in my hands.  Blocking better fix that.

and look, I was finally able to get a picture that showed the variations in "color."  For one reason or another, the darker parts of the yarn were much stiffer and scratchier than the lighter ones, which were more lofty (if one can use that word to describe this yarn) and drapier (again, if possible.)  Let's hope I have enough blocking pins, I don't want to have to run to the yarn shop in the middle of my blocking party (so far I'm the only one invited, don't feel bad.)

Possibly FO pictures tomorrow?  Keep your fingers crossed for me.  Please and thank you!

The Surgery

Step 1: Assess the situation

Step 2: Gather all required materials

Step 3: Very carefully pull out the insides to get to the problem area

Step 4: Fix the problem and prepare to stitch everything back up

Step 5: Leave patient to rest for a day or two

Well, it turns out an entire leaf was missing all due to one dropped stitch.  I ripped the border back to that spot and then laddered down to where I knew, or at least kind of thought, I had all the correct stitches and some sort of idea of how to fix the problem.  I don't have any dropped stitches anymore, but it still looks like there's a giant hole in the lace.  Everything is way too loose, especially up by the needle where there are supposed to be four rows of garter stitch.  Any ideas as to why this is?  I haven't a clue.

I did some spinning therapy yesterday.  Aren't those colors pretty?

I also swatched for a sweater.  I need to move up a needle size.  More on that if this shawl every gets finished.

Thanks everyone for your kind words and suggestions and sympathy!  I had a bit of a panic.