Monthly Archives: July 2008

Josephine!

Posted on July 29, 2008 | 12 comments

I don’t know why I let her languish for three weeks, unseamed. I think I was afraid she wouldn’t fit. And I didn’t want to know that.

Last week, I pinned it together and realized that it would be fine. I started the seam and then got sidetracked by the toe-up sock. So many projects, so little time!

Last night, I finished seaming. It didn’t take long. And voila! C’est Josephine! It’s very comfortable to wear. Kids were still asleep when I left the house, so no action shots. Maybe tomorrow. But here’s a detail of the neckline. I love the rolled reverse stockinette edging.

The same edging is on the seed stitch sleeve. (And this picture below is pretty close to the actual color.)

The little cord tie is sweet. I laughed out loud when I read the instructions: “Cast on 300 stitches. Bind off all stitches.”

Details:

Josephine Top, Summer Interweave Knits, 2007

Karabella Vintage Cotton, 6 balls for smallest size

Started: May 22, 2008 Finished July 29, 2008

Mods: I made it shorter, adjusted so the ribbon goes *under* the bust, and raised the deep V neckline so I wouldn’t have to layer over another garment. Skipped the rolled reverse stockinette edging on the hem; the cable cast on is a nice edging in itself.

I’m happy with how this turned out. I didn’t love working with the yarn; it has a lot of spin and kept twisting back on itself while I was knitting. The knitting also biased, partly due to the twist, and partly as a function of the lace pattern, I think, but steam blocking took care of it.

Happy dance!

ETA:

12 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Josephine Top, Knit

Away from keyboard; be right back…

Posted on July 29, 2008 | 5 comments

Sometimes you just need to unplug. It was beautiful on Saturday, so we went to Multnomah Falls. Us and a bazillion other people! But it was a good time, anyway.

Multnomah Falls is 620 feet high; it’s the second highest year-round waterfall in the US. This is just the upper portion of the upper falls. There’s a paved trail to the top of the falls. The trail gains 600 feet in elevation over 1.2 miles. Don’t think I didn’t notice.

Photo ops make a great excuse to stop for a moment:

Somehow this fern looks like a sock pattern to me.

We eventually made it up to the top, and could look down at where the water falls over the edge of the mountain.

In this photo, you can see Multnomah Falls Lodge and the parking lot in the upper right corner. It’s a long way down.

But this picture is my favorite. It’s a little waterfall just before the big one. You wouldn’t know it’s there unless you went to the top. It looks mysterious and secluded, but it’s right next to the viewing platform at the top of the falls.

5 Comments

Posted in Blogging, travel, Uncategorized

Tagged multnomah falls, waterfall

Fifteen seconds of fame

Posted on July 27, 2008 | 9 comments

My blog is mentioned in the local newspaper’s online knitting blog today!

Backstory: Last fall, I went to our local high school’s fund raising auction. I purchased five messages on the readerboard. After wishing Kid2 a happy birthday last winter, I couldn’t think of anything else to put up. So I finally did this:

Several friends told me that they saw the sign, but I guess it got more attention than I thought!

9 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Knit

Tagged Knit

That photo mosaic meme…

Posted on July 26, 2008 | 5 comments

I’m not even sure what a meme is, but out in blogland there are a lot of them. I think it means many people doing the same thing? This one has been going around for a while. I was slow to jump on the bandwagon, but I knew I would get there, eventually. Hey, I’m a sheep! But that’s not a bad thing for a knitter. Here’s my mosaic, and I think it looks cool.

1. Ponte San Michele – Vicenza, Italy., 2. Artichoke Lover, 3. Made in Oregon, 4. Blue Morpho, 5. Mozart’s Starling, 6. Lemon drop, 7. Notre Dame at Twilight, Paris, 8. lemon bar, 9. French Knitter, 10. Snowmen family in TX, 11. Tender Love and Care, 12. Piano Innards As Art

In case you want to try it, too, here’s how to do it.

Instructions:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, pick one image for each question.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

In other news, I had the piano tuned this week. It’s pretty stable, tuning wise. I always get the treble voiced down a bit when it’s tuned, because it gets a little too bright as the hammer felts pack down with use. It sounds divine right now. I’m hosting a piano and pinot event next week, so this is perfect timing. I’m not the pianist next week; I just have to clean the house! And serve dessert, pour wine, and enjoy the music.

Oh, I started seaming Josephine this morning. Tiny stitches, but it’s going pretty quickly. I love mattress stitch; it looks so good on stockinette.

5 Comments

Posted in Blogging, Knit, piano, Uncategorized

Tagged photo mosaic meme, piano

A heel is turned

Posted on July 25, 2008 | 5 comments

There’s been some progress on the toe-up sock:

I turned the heel!

It’s exactly the way I wanted it, heel stitch on the bottom of the heel instead of the back. I mostly wear clogs, and the back of the heel doesn’t need reinforcement. I adapted the heel turn from Wendy Johnson’s sport weight toe-up sock pattern; it took a little stitch juggling to figure out where to start/stop the heel stitch and make it look right (centered). It didn’t help that I was using a different number of stitches.

The foot is a perfect fit! It’s very comfortable.

I was getting a bit frustrated with the heel turn last night because of the heel stitch. I considered abandoning the whole thing in a fit of pique. This morning it went fine. Not sure if I can exactly duplicate it on sock two. Will there be a sock two? Or was this merely an academic exercise?

I still can’t decide if I like this method any better than the cuff-down method, but it’s a good thing to have in my bag of tricks. And the toe that started it all still looks great!

5 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged heel turn, Knit, toe up sock

Judy’s Magic Cast On

Posted on July 22, 2008 | 7 comments

It’s magic! It makes a beautiful toe, no provisional junk to deal with. I’m making a practice sock with some Louet Gems that I had on hand.

The stitch pattern is “oblique openwork” from Charlene Schurch’s Sensational Knitted Socks. I haven’t decided what kind of heel to use yet; I think I want a heel flap with heel stitch on the bottom of the heel, because that’s where I tend to get holes. I’d adapt Wendy Johnson’s gusset heel for that. But I could make this sock into a total learning experience, and learn to do a short row heel. We’ll see.

Here are close-ups of the toe:

So far, I like the sock, but I’m not absolutely sold on toe-up. I can see using it if I had a limited amount of very special yarn, and wanted to maximize the length of my socks. But I find it a little discombobulating to be working the stitch pattern on just the instep, and stockinette on the sole, when I’m just learning the stitch pattern. It’s easier for me to learn it if it goes around, and around, and around the leg.

7 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged judy's magic cast on, Knit, sock

Third time’s a charm

Posted on July 21, 2008 | 6 comments

I hope.

The February Lady. I made the baby version, eons ago; I know how it’s done. Simple, no?

No. The first time was my own fault. I fell in love with another yarn, so Lady 1 was frogged and Lady 2 begun.

Saturday, my less than charming third button-hole finally got to me, so I took it off the needles to frog back to re-do it. While it was off the needles, I tried it on. Uh-oh. (Good thing there’s no picture.) The fronts barely met up. And that makes sense; there are the same number of stitches in the front as in the back. Same width, no overlap.

So I frogged THE WHOLE THING. Good thing I like working with this yarn, even though it’s making my hands turn blue. I added 5 stitches to each front, which gives me an inch to overlap. And I redid the buttonholes, moving them a stitch further in and worked from the right side instead of the wrong side, because the side I was working looked way better than the back side. I also continued the raglan decreases further instead of doing the eyelet row. After knitting like a madwoman Saturday and Sunday, I’m almost back to where I was Saturday morning. I’ve divided for the armholes again, and am cruising on the lace. I tried it on this morning (Monday) and it fits perfectly.

Still can’t capture the red, purple, and green in a picture; you’ll have to take my word for it!

I can’t seem to knit a sweater as written. There are always modifications that I want, but it’s hard to tell what they are until I have something tangible to work with. Smaller items don’t give me this problem (hats, socks), but the big stuff is more of an investment, and I want it to be PERFECT.

6 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged february lady, Knit

Still not really a sock knitter…

Posted on July 18, 2008 | 6 comments

But last Wednesday Michelle showed me Judy’s Magic Cast On, so I can try toe-up socks. This cast on was just featured by Cat Bordhi (sock goddess) in Knitter’s magazine. Judy is a fellow PDX Knit Blogger, and she’s becoming very famous!

Later that evening, I bought some gorgeous sock yarn from Lorajean. She brought it to knit nite, looking for input on new labels. This won’t be the new label, but I love the new yarn!

There’s a blue undertone to the whole colorway, even in the pink and purple. And you know how I love blue.

I guess I’ll be knitting some socks, soon!

6 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, knit socks, sock yarn

Everything’s coming up roses!

Posted on July 17, 2008 | 7 comments

Last week, Cathy showed me Nicky Epstein’s book, Knitted Flowers. What a beautiful book! I’m not one for a lot of adornment, but I had to make some of these, just to see what they were like. I plundered the scrap stash in search of flower-colored yarn.

The first one I knit was the cabbage rose. This one is made with Tahki Cotton Classic on a US 5 needle. It’s done with a small number of stitches cast on, and then a series of increases, which made it pretty tight on the needle by the time the knitting was done. Leaves were made on a US 7.

The second was the American Beauty rose, also in Cotton Classic. The leaves are from the cabbage rose pattern, though. This one is made with a larger cast on, and a series of decreases.

I made an American Beauty rose in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece on a US 7 needle.

And this one, my favorite, the American Beauty rose bud.

The flowers didn’t take long to make, and they weren’t too fiddly, either. It was a fun project, and I’m looking forward to making more flowers and leaves. There are a lot more flowers in the book; I just chose two that looked simple, so I could sample!

7 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, knit flowers

Needful things

Posted on July 12, 2008 | 7 comments

Let’s see: Josephine is knitted but I still don’t have time to seam until after this weekend. My favorite aunt and her family are visiting (of course she’s my favorite; she taught me to knit when I was 16!) for my brother’s birthday celebration. We went to Twisted yesterday for a little shopping, and to Powell’s, to look at knitting books (and cookbooks, but not for me). I managed to avoid buying more yarn or knitting books, but I did buy these. They are the most elegant pins I’ve ever seen.

While at Twisted, we wound more of my Dream In Color Classy. I told you there was no going back on this one! This means commitment. Although there is one more skein to wind. It just wouldn’t fit in the cute little bag I was carrying. You can see more of the color variations here, but it’s still not as good as real life. The February Lady is coming along nicely; I just moved from a 26 inch needle to a 40 inch needle. It feels better not being so scrunched up.

I just received this as a gift.

It’s a needle case for double pointed needles. I’ve been looking for a way to manage them, and this is practical and beautiful. It’s from Lantern Moon. Now that my needles are in there, I’m wondering where my size 3 dpns have gone? I know which socks my size 4 dpns are living in, but the 3’s should be free. Oops.

Oh, I have a fairly recent Lantern Moon silk circular case, too. I love it; it’s nice to have all my circulars in one place so I can find the right size quickly. And I like that I can just tuck it away. Again, practical and beautiful.

And last of all, I think we’ve declared a winner in the squirrel war.

It’s not me.

I think he’s jumping from the trellis on the front of my house. We’ve moved all the other possible launch points away, and moved the bird feeder, too. The trellis has a really ugly climbing hydrangea on it, and it will probably be removed next spring. But for now, it’s Mr. Squirrel 4, Me 2, maybe. Mookie doesn’t seem to mind. She finds the birds more interesting, though.

7 Comments

Posted in Knit, the squirrel

Tagged february lady, Knit, lantern moon, squirrel