Category: Knitting

I've finally put aside my Gothic Scarf for long enough to swatch for Juliet.

 
I swatched and I swatched and I swatched.  Since the pattern calls for a bulky yarn, I started with my yarn double stranded.  I'm using Rowan's RYC Soft Tweed yarn for this project, but I must have been having a yarn blank out because it looked like a worsted weight to me.  So, I double stranded it and swatched.

No good — I was getting 12 stitches to 4 inches, not 14 as the pattern demanded.  And, I didn't like the fabric.  It was too thick.  Having looked around on Ravelry and realizing this was actually a bulky yarn, I decided to single strand it.  I started at the pattern's suggested needle size of 10.5 and got a huge piece of fabric, about 5 1/2 inches at 14 stitches.  I knit gauge swatch after gauge swatch, finally ending up just a smidge over four inches on US 8 needles.

Do you think the world would be a happier place if everyone could have socks like this?

Somehow, I envision handing over a pair each to the leaders of warring factions and creating world peace.  It's simply impossible to be sad or angry with squishy pink and green striped socks on your feet.

Here they are again.  Just because I love looking at them.

These socks were a lot like a good book.  It was hard to see them come to an end.  I rationed out the last few rows — only let myself do a few each day over morning coffee and at night.  But finally, today, it was time to finish them.  And best of all, they are a perfect fit.  The joy of socks.

When I went outside, with my accomodating seventeen year old photographer, the sky was almost as photo-worthy as the socks.  Here it is — pre-thunderstorm Alabama sky.

 

My cousin Gail made these for me. 

They are so simple.  And so perfect.

They arrived without warning — a delightful surprise.  They’re really pretty and really soft.  And you can do just about anything with them on, including type on the computer in our winter-cold house.

I love them.

Unfortunately, I did not get to wear them this morning, because Ellie appropriated them.  I’m either going to have to knit a pair for her or share.  I think I’ll cast on.

It’s Done!  This is the Cahaba River Jacket.

Sometimes, unfinished business turns into an albatross around one’s neck.  I reached that point with this sweater, after the knitting was complete.  I knit the sweater from the yarn the pattern was written for, a slubby thick and thin cotton boucle, Iron Cotton from Ironstone Yarns.  It resulted in a really beautiful, loose-weave fabric, that pretty much demanded the lining that the pattern called for.

I learned to sew from my grandmother at an early age, but I rarely sew clothing.  I’m far more likely to be jamming wood veneers or old book pages beneath the needle of my much love Bernina, for a mixed-media art project.  Every time I thought about cutting out the free form, patternless lining, and somehow getting it neatly sewn in, I found other really important things to do.  You know, stuff like cleaning out the refrigerator or folding laundry.  Finally, I realized I had that dreaded disease, lining-anxiety.

The lovely Donna, proprietress of In The Making, my favorite local yarn store, and creator of the pattern, is one busy chick.  I have no idea how she does all the things she does, but I finally caught her in a weak moment, and she agreed to do the lining for me.

It came out perfectly!

And many thanks to Shanna, who scored this beautiful fabric for me and sent it from Japan!

Following my policy of being able to cast on at least one new project for every one "I" complete, I turned to my new manos silk/merino yarn and the Anthropologie Shrug pattern.  This dreadful photo doesn’t reflect the beauty of this yarn — it is the same colorway I used for a felted bowl last fall, only to suffer horrible disappointment when the colors merged too much in felting.  In the back of my mind I always knew I would use this colorway again, so when I saw it in the silk blend, it was only a matter of finding the right pattern.  I’m double stranding the worsted weight to hit gauge, and looking forward to this straightforward, quick (famous last words) knit.

I suppose the moral of the story is, it’s never so bad that you can’t ask a friend for a little bit of help.  Ellie is absolutely in love with the outcome, and this sweater is one of those knits that makes you understand the potential in knitting.  It’s a fabulous pattern, and the result is far more beautiful than anything you could ever purchase.  As much as I dislike being unable to finish something on my own, I’m incredibly happy that it’s finished — and was worn to school this morning!

I finished Ollie’s blue vest just in time.  Just in time, because we woke up to snow!  Just a dusting of it, but enough to be thoroughly satisfying.  I never got tired of the snow when I went to school in Maine, and one of the few things I don’t like about Alabama is the lack of snow.  So twice in one winter, even if it’s just a wee bit, is a wonderful thing!

This is the perfect warm winter vest, knit from a double stranded aran weight Debbie Bliss silk/alpaca yarn.  Double stranding was a mistake, as the twist on this yarn is so loose and it is so prone to tangle that there are a number of places where I missed a strand, and it’s really not a pretty vest at all.  But oh so warm and soft!

This is one of those items I started, then put aside, and picked back up months later.  I need to remember that is always a mistake when knitting for children — it’s a little bit shorter than I intended, but Ollie seems to be really happy with it, which is all that matters to me.

Do you realize what that is?

Yes, I’m aware my bathroom is embarrassingly dirty and I should not, under any circumstances, be showing it off.

But that is my freaking Kushu Kushu scarf, previously one of the joys of my life, now a tangled shard of its former self.   

I woke up.  I went for the shower.  It took me a moment — what was it?  The realization dawned upon me.  The scarf, which I had carelessly left lying out in the dining room.  The skein of metal yarn, nowhere to be found.  The skein of merino had apparently come along for the ride and at some point become detached from the scarf.  Was this before or after it was hopelessly tangled?  The evidence gave up no such secrets, but I was intent on finding a culprit.

Ollie claimed total innocence and quite frankly, this is not his style.  Plus, he worships knitting and would never harm it.  Personally, I suspected one of the Judge’s dogs, but they were nowhere to be found.

There was this

She seemed a little bit too obvious though — sort of like the red herring  suspect on every episode of Perry Mason I’ve ever seen.  And you have to applaud her good taste in snoozing with the Manos Silk (currently in search of a shrug pattern, so feel free to chime in if you have a suggestion).

Hmmmm…..he could have been faking it, but look at how sweet Harry is.  Plus, his style would have been to carry it upstairs and proudly drop it in my lap before insisting I feed him for the second or third time that morning.

I’m guessing that this is my culprit.  He was sound asleep when I walked it, but jerked upright with that deer-in-the-freaking-headlights-guilty look on his face when I asked if he knew anything about the Kushu Kushu scarf.  Guilty.

So, no Kushu Kushu, at least not until I manage to get back over to Atlanta and replace my yarn.  I’m sad — a few rows on this scarf here and there has been one of my guilty pleasures.  And reading the Japanese patterns seems very intuitive to me, particularly this simple one.  Good by my lovely Kushu Kushu.  I’m going to miss you.

I turned instead to the two works in progress that seem to have priority status at the moment.

This is the front of Ollie’s vest, and although I’m somewhat less than overjoyed with the fact that by double stranding the Debbie Bliss silk/merino I insured that several stitches along the way would have that mashy, not-quite right look, Ollie loves this and I’m going to finish it up so he will get to wear it before the hot,  full sun of Alabama summer takes over — probably sometime in Mid-April, so I need to finish this up over the weekend.

The Shibui socks are close to done!  I’ve got about a sock and a half now and I love them.  I’m actually fantasizing about finding the perfect pair of shoes for my socks.  I love how knitting adds new dimensions to my world.