PDXKnitterati

Virtue is its own reward

Posted on May 5, 2010 | 11 comments

That’s what they say. But it’s pretty sweet to get an additional reward.

Dez over at Knitting Asylum had a drawing for people who donated to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti. I won a prize! Pen and tape measure, and a beautiful stitch marker necklace made from Czech glass and shell. These are really pretty, and what a great way to keep track of them.

Thanks, Dez!

I was away for the weekend up at Menucha Retreat Center, working at our annual women’s retreat. This one was filled with music! We sang through the Holden Evening Prayer Service on Friday evening, which was lovely. Some of my Day Old Pastries were on hand to help with the music for the rest of the weekend. I love my Pastries.

I did get some knitting done. See my prototype shawl on my knee, and the new one in my hands? The new one is coming along swimmingly; I really like it. I’ll show it to you, soon. Check out the handknit socks, too.

My favorite thing at Menucha, besides the view…

…is the labyrinth. It’s a good place to be silent and meditative.

It’s always interesting to discover a new epiphany when I reach the center.

This beautiful garden is across from the dining hall.

There’s a hidden space up there, with a rock bench facing this.

I love spring, in all its glory.

How was *your* weekend?

11 Comments

Posted in Day Old Pastries, Knit, music, travel

Tagged Knit, Menucha, music, spring

Incense

Posted on April 28, 2010 | 17 comments

I was overcome by the photos of Passiflora in the new Twist Collective blog, so I ordered the pattern and yarn online. It was nearly instant gratification. The yarn made it to my doorstep in 3 days.

I chose the same color as the sample knit. Choosing color online is difficult; you never know if your monitor is giving you the real deal.

This is gorgeous. It’s called Persian Violet. The yarn is Elann Incense, a worsted weight blend of wool, silk, and bamboo.

I’m trying to not cast on just yet. I get jangly if I have more than 2 or 3 WIPs, and I have that many already. Another shawl, the April sock, and the baby blanket stripe…on top of that, it’s a really busy week at work. I don’t have time to knit, or play the piano, and I have to practice guitar for this weekend’s women’s retreat.

How long do you think my will power will last?!

17 Comments

Posted in Knit

Color blast

Posted on April 27, 2010 | 8 comments

Lorajean (Knitted Wit) is expecting her second baby in June. The knit nite group wants to knit a blankie for Bubba-to-be. Our first group project was a blanket for Little e, two years ago. I learned some valuable lessons about group projects and gauge back then!

We were stymied when it came to color, though. We asked Lorajean for input, and she said that she’d love to dye the yarn.

I love these.

There’s one more color, but it’s already in Cathy’s capable hands. It’s like the limeade green in the picture, but darker, and semi-solid.

We’re planning to knit garter stripes like the blanket at the end of this Yarn Harlot post. It’s quick (bulky yarn, 14 sts), easy, and gauge will not be an issue. We’ll have two stripes of each of seven colors. Yarn gets distributed at knit nite tomorrow. Perfect! And you can see that I’ve already started…

8 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged baby blanket, Knit, knitted wit, yarn

April fugit

Posted on April 26, 2010 | 6 comments

April is flying away from me, but I finally managed to cast on Star Athena’s April Fool’s sock before the month evaporated entirely.

This is Fly Designs Monarch sport weight yarn; the color is called Sailing. I’ve used this yarn before, for my Seafoam Socks. I’m reminded how much I like knitting with it; it’s quite bouncy! The sock is cast on at the toe, worked up through the cuff with a waste yarn bit before continuing to the other cuff, down the leg, and to the second toe. I love the elegance of Judy’s Magic Cast On. So simple, so tidy, so perfect.

Rather than a plain vanilla stockinette sock, I’ve added ribbing because I like snugger fit of a ribbed sock. I add a baby cable twist every 6th row, so I can see my progress, and it makes it easier to count rows and see if the second sock is the same length. I’ve decided against the short row heel; I’m going to knit my standard flap and gusset heel. I like how it fits my foot, and I know how many rows this takes me on this many stitches, so I know how long the flap will be, which means I know how long to knit the foot before I start the heel! No surprises, please.

Do you think I’ll be done before these are gone?

6 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, knit socks

pdxfroggerati

Posted on April 25, 2010 | 14 comments

I had a lot of practice with tinking and frogging on this last project. I figured I should live true to the class that I teach at Twisted, ” Tink, Drop, Frog.” Yes, all those fixes really work, even on things more complicated than stockinette!

I frogged (rip-it, rip-it) 12 rows of lacy knitting when I realized that I didn’t have enough yarn to do an extra 16 row repeat *and* a border. And then I had to frog again when I messed up the border. While I was frogging that, I decided to take it back even further so I could have a deeper border. Here it is unblocked.

I love blocking. It’s like magic…

But I don’t love this shawl.

:sigh:

It’s pretty, but I think the pattern in the body is too bold for the more delicate border. And I love the undulating border, with its little sparkly beads.

This was my first experience with adding beads to my knitting, other than a one hour wonder class with Sivia Harding at Sock Summit last summer. I really like it! These are a little subtle with this yarn, but the blue on the inside of the beads was such a perfect match, I had to use them.

When I first envisioned this shawl, it was all about the pattern in the body. I was inspired by raindrops running down a window. So maybe that part of it needs a different border, but for now, I’m going to knit another shawl and play with this border some more.

Raindrop Shawl (my own exploration)
Knitted Wit Superwash Merino fingering weight, 100 grams
US size 6 needle
Size 6/0 Toho beads

14 Comments

Posted in beading, Knit, pattern design

Tagged beads, Knit, lace shawl

Overheard, in my head…

Posted on April 18, 2010 | 24 comments

The conversation this week:

Wow, I have a lot of yarn left. Look at the size of that ball. I’m sure I can get one more 16 row repeat done before I start the edging.

Are you sure? Right now you have 256 stitches, and 16 rows is at least 4096 stitches.

Yeah, but look at the size of that ball of yarn. No problem.

OK, this lace pattern is so much fun to knit; go for it.

Hey, I’m on row 11, and this yarn seems to be disappearing at a prodigious rate.

Um, maybe you should weigh the yarn before this next row, and see how much yarn you’re using per row.

OK, 21 grams; OK, now 18 grams. That’s 3 grams per row…

Um, that means you have enough for 6 rows, maybe. Which means the last 4 rows of the lace repeat, and, um, TWO rows of edging.

Carp.

And so, gentle reader, I took the whole thing off the needle, ripped out 12 rows, which is at least 3072 stitches, and got it all back on the needle.

This is the same picture, because I’m back at the same place. I took it after the big rip; I didn’t take one before because I didn’t really listen to that little voice, until it was too late. Sorry about the lighting; it was 1 a.m. But I had to do it then because I couldn’t go to bed knowing that it would be waiting for me in the morning.

Look at all those markers!

Onward.

24 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged frogging, Knit, lace

More April fun

Posted on April 13, 2010 | 13 comments

Halfway through April, and I haven’t told you about the April Single Skein Club package from Twisted…tsk tsk. April just flew in on those blustery March winds, and I forgot!

April’s package centers on a sweet pattern by Portland’s Lee Meredith, also known as Leethal. She is always marvelously inventive, and this month’s package confirms it. This project is customizable to the max.

The yarn is from Imperial Stock Ranch in Shaniko, Oregon; it’s their Native Twist Bulky. This is a single ply, soft spun wool. It’s from the sheep at the ranch, truly a home-grown Oregon product!

You may be wondering how to get from this yarn to the hats pictured in the pattern.

This looks like it will be a fun project!

13 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, single skein club, twisted, yarn

Car knitting

Posted on April 12, 2010 | 11 comments

On Friday, The Teen and I went with a group of his friends and their parents to tour the University of Oregon. We had a great info session and tour. No pictures, because that would have been embarrassing, right?

Lucky me; I wasn’t the driver so I had four hours of car knitting, round trip. I didn’t want to work on my shawl, because I didn’t want to have to keep track of the pattern. And I wasn’t ready to start the April Fool’s socks yet. But I did knit all of the garter stitch band for a Quincy hat.

This is Quincy in Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted, the color is Red Hot Passion. My sister requested this hat for her birthday. I finished the garter stitch band in the car, and finished the hat at home that evening. A one day project!

I originally started this hat after Christmas with Lamb’s Pride Bulky, but even though the yarn knit to gauge, it was much heavier than the specified Classic Elite Ariosa. I wasn’t happy with it, and it made my hands tired to knit to that gauge. After avoiding it for a couple months, I decided to start over with the thinner yarn. The worsted is a little light for this project; the perfect yarn would have been somewhere between the two. But it was all about the color; Sis wanted it to be the very red of the OXO Cable fingerless mitts (see sidebar) I designed for her Christmas present.

Here it is with the original bulky garter stitch band underneath. The first one was close to done, but I was running out of yarn, and didn’t love it enough to buy more. That’s telling. Using the worsted on a size 9 needle resulted in a slightly floppy hat, but that’s what I had on the trip. I think I may felt it down just a little. It still needs to be blocked, anyway. My hands were much happier knitting to this gauge!

What else did I do with my weekend?

I put a new trellis on the front of the house, and planted a clematis vine on it. I’m looking forward to vivid purple flowers. Our previous trellis had a climbing hydrangea growing on it, but it wasn’t happy with its newly sunny location (we took down a huge birch tree a few years ago; it was stressed after being hit by a pickup truck). The hydrangea and its trellis has gone to live at a friend’s house. Everybody wins!

What did you do with your weekend?

11 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, quincy hat

April Foolishness

Posted on April 9, 2010 | 13 comments

We were spoiled by a spectacular early March; warm and sunny. I could get used to that. Alas, March went out like a lion, with lots of wind and rain. It’s still cold in April. But even the cold doesn’t make me want to finish my Heather Hoodie right now. I don’t want to knit with bulky yarn; it makes my hands tired. What’s a girl to do?

Ummm, cast on a new project? Sure! This is a shawl using Knitted Wit‘s fingering weight merino wool. Lorajean calls this color Blue Sky. It’s a cheery color, and knits like a dream. I love it! I started this project with an idea that’s been percolating in my mind for quite a while. I had several false starts, but it’s finally working out the way I want it to. I’ll show you what it really looks like, later.

The other bit of April fun comes from Star Athena. It’s her Socks for All Seasons Pattern Club. The club runs for 12 months, and you can choose to buy each month separately, or sign on for 3, 6, 9, or 12 months. I’m in for three months of fun. I used to say that I’m not a sock knitter, but apparently that’s not true since I have a lot of hand knit socks. Not as many as Shannon at Twisted (50 pairs, oh my!), but enough that I don’t wear store bought socks very often. I just don’t knit socks with fingering weight yarn; I’m too impatient!

This month’s pattern is written for four different gauges, so it’s perfect for me. I happen to have a ball of Fly Designs Monarch sport weight in Sailing (see how I love these blues?). The pattern is called April Fool, and it’s simple yet crazy. The socks are knit in one piece, the first one toe up, with a bit of waste yarn in between at the edge of the cuffs, and then the second one top down. No second sock syndrome here! This will be my simple project when I’m not knitting the shawl, which requires some counting.

Happy spring!

13 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Knit, knit socks, shawl

Coincidences

Posted on April 5, 2010 | 15 comments

I delivered my Felted Slip Stitch Tote to Twisted last week. My original tote has come home and is now carrying my current project. If it looks familiar, it may be because it’s the knitting in my blog header.

While I was at Twisted, Shannon and I realized that we were both wearing Leyburn Socks. And Dansko clogs.

Shannon’s (on the right) were knit with BMFA Socks That Rock Lightweight; I’m guessing toe-up. And mine were knit from the cuff down with Mirasol Hacho, which is a DK weight yarn. We love our Leyburns! Thanks to Shannon for the picture!

15 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged dansko, Knit, leyburn sock