Tag Archives: Knit

Sock Summit preparations

Posted on July 27, 2009 | 12 comments

Sock Summit is just around the corner! I need to re-learn Judy’s Magic Cast On, and review wrapping and turning before I get to Cat Bordhi’s class, Dancing with Socks. Soon. I have a few other things to do, first.

I’m re-formatting my patterns to give them a visual cohesiveness as a group. They’ll all have the same banner across the top, which is the same one you see here on the blog. I’m about halfway done with the set. Then I need to print them all again, and reload them to Ravelry, too. Don’t worry, there aren’t any substantive changes; I’m just adding the banner and some extra pictures, so they’ll be more visually appealing.

Lorajean at Knitted Wit asked me to knit some samples for her. She’s having a booth at the Summit, and I’m helping her there. Come see us in Booth 223! My patterns will be there, too, and I’ll be there on Friday afternoon. I picked up these yarns yesterday:

The skeined blue yarn is 400 yards of sock weight yarn that I won from Lorajean in June. I think it’s going to be a shawl, eventually. I love this color; it’s gorgeous. It reminds me of a summer sky.

These two are sport weight Falkland (as in Island) yarn; they come in a 100 gram/310 yard skein. The green one is Semi-Solid Peacock, one of Lorajean’s entries in Ravelry’s Dye for Glory contest. Have you voted yet? The colors are even more lovely than in this picture; I just can’t capture the greens the way I want to. I’m knitting a sample of my Seafoam Sock with it. And maybe starting an Entrelac Sock, too.

The pink yarn is Cotton Candy, and it’s going to be a ZigZag Lace Pedi Sock. You can see that I have a lot of knitting to do in the next couple weeks! At least it’s sport weight; it goes pretty quickly for me.

Knit on!

12 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Dye for Glory, Knit, sock summit

My winning ways

Posted on July 15, 2009 | 12 comments

I won a contest! Twisted’s June contest was “Flowers and Knits.” I submitted this picture of the beginning of my Malabrigo Sock yarn Ishbel in our purple irises, and it was the winner.

The prize is this pretty embroidered bag.

The beautiful irises from the photo don’t look so lovely any more, but that doesn’t seem to bother my little friend.

Thanks, Twisted!

When I went to pick up my prize, I also picked up two skeins of Mirasol T’ika, 100% Pima Cotton, 83 meters/50 gm. I’m going to make another Baby Bolero from Leigh Radford’s One Skein for a little girl scheduled to debut at the beginning of September. (Two skeins for a One Skein sweater sounds funny, but if it were a 100 gm skein it would make sense.)

The WIPs just keep stacking up…

I’ve been a cookin’ fool since I got home from vacation. A lot of blueberry baked goods! And tonight’s dinner, lemony zucchini pizza. I adapted a recipe from Smitten Kitchen. Instead of goat cheese, I used ricotta. DH wasn’t sure he could wait for me to photograph the pizza.

But I prevailed.

It was delicious; this recipe is a winner, too!

12 Comments

Posted in Knit, recipe

Tagged Knit

Voilà Ishbel, encore

Posted on July 12, 2009 | 18 comments

The blue laceweight Ishbel is done, finally. She took a little trip to Vietnam, had some good knitting on the plane over, and then completely languished during her time there. I was too tired in the evenings to knit, because I was waking up at 4:30 every morning due to the time change. I did a little knitting in Tokyo, but couldn’t knit Ishbel on the way home. I had a little scare with my circular brass needles with airport security in Vietnam, and didn’t want to risk having to take Ishbel off the needles on the way home from Tokyo. I finished here at home.

Unblocked, the shawl measured 46″ x 17″

This is the lace pattern that I was never able to memorize, even after finishing two Ishbels.

Blocked, the shawl measures 56″ x 22.5″

So the sheep says.

Ishbel, pattern by Ysolda Teague
Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Silk Lace, color Deep Blue
Addi Lace needles, US size 5
Weight: 32 grams

Mods: I made the larger stockinette center, and the smaller border.

This shawl is beautiful. It’s extremely lightweight and ethereal. It is destined to be a gift. There’s more than enough yarn left (46 grams) to make one more, or I may play with some ideas from Evelyn Clark’s book, Knitting Lace Triangles. But not any time soon. Sock Summit is coming, and I have homework!

BTW, I did make Blueberry Boy Bait the other night, after buying more butter. (It takes a cup/half pound!) And it was delicious. The boys of the house were quite taken with it, and so was I. The only problem was that it was bigger than my largest platter, so the ends fell off. We ate them right away, warm, so it wouldn’t look bad. Altruistic, aren’t we? 😉

18 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged ishbel, Knit, lace shawl, yarn

Curiosity

Posted on June 30, 2009 | 9 comments

I’ve made two lace triangle shawls so far, the Shetland Triangle and Ishbel. I think it’s ingenious how these start at the center of the neck, and grow out from there. I want to know more about how this works, so I bought this book.

Knitting Lace Triangles by Evelyn A. Clark. The Shetland Triangle is one of her patterns, and it was a fun knit. This book is kind of a recipe book for knitting triangle shawls using four different lace stitches. You can use one, two, three, or all four of the different lace patterns. Ingenious! All of the patterns increase four stitches every other row.

What I really want to know, though, is what happens when the increases are more frequent, as in Ishbel. I know it makes the triangle shallower, but what happens to the lace at the sides? I guess I’ll have to chart it out and see.

9 Comments

Posted in Knit, pattern design

Tagged Knit, lace

I’ve got the blues…

Posted on June 25, 2009 | 13 comments

And I love them! Blue is my favorite color. I’m still plugging away on the blue Ishbel and the blue Ruffle Tank. And now I’ve won some beautiful blue yarn from Lorajean at Knitted Wit.

It’s 400 yards of fingering weight sock yarn, colorway Blue Sky. Lorajean noted that I don’t knit socks, but that’s not completely true. What’s true is that I don’t knit socks with fingering weight yarn! Someday I may. But wouldn’t this blue make a gorgeous scarf or shawl?

I also harvested the first of the blueberries on Sunday when I got home from Carmel. I made blueberry cobbler, and we had it with vanilla ice cream for Father’s Day dessert. It was delicious! While I was picking the berries, I noticed a blue jay on the corner of my roof, with a big fat blueberry in his beak. I think there’s enough for all of us, but that was pretty cheeky of him!

13 Comments

Posted in Knit, recipe

Tagged birds, blue, blueberries, Knit, knitted wit, yarn

Piano weekend

Posted on June 22, 2009 | 10 comments

Picture this: Sitting in your seat, knitting on an airplane. A pattern is on the tray table; Ishbel is in your hands. A ball of blue laceweight yarn is on your lap. You shift in your seat slightly, and the ball rolls off your lap, under the seat in front of you, and down the aisle…

No, it didn’t happen, but I was visualizing it as I was knitting. Just in case, next time the yarn should be in “cake” form!

The weekend was lovely. Five erstwhile pianists (I think only two of us are actively playing right now) who met at piano camp several years ago. Two more piano buddies came down on Saturday to play for us: Satie, Grieg, Mozart, Bach… D’s piano sounds fantastic in its new space. It sounds rich and round. The space is very open, with a cathedral ceiling. And the view from the piano is inspiring, looking across the Carmel Valley.

How could I not be inspired to play? I re-acquainted myself with the Granados Waltzes from Valses Poeticos. And the Adagio movement from Mozart’s K 332.

Friday afternoon’s sky was especially lovely.

Saturday’s walk took us down by the beach.

In other piano buddy news, fellow piano camper Katie Hafner’s book on Glenn Gould, A Romance on Three Legs, is now available in paperback. The book is a great read. Katie is one of the smartest, funniest, and most charming people I’ve ever met.

I did a lot of knitting on Ishbel while listening to my friends. But it’s not done yet. :sigh:

10 Comments

Posted in Knit, music, piano, travel

Tagged Knit, piano

Travel knitting

Posted on June 18, 2009 | 9 comments

I’m going away for a weekend with the Piano Babes. Too bad I haven’t played the piano very much this year. Oops. Knitting and blogging have taken up a lot of my leisure time! But I’ll try to resurrect the three Granados Waltzes from Valses Poeticos that I played this year. Wish me luck.

I’m trying to decide what knitting to take for the plane. I think my socks on dpns (poor languishing Kai-Mei) would be a bad choice because it’s so easy to drop a needle. Circular needles are great for plane knitting, because you can’t drop one! That means I should take the Ruffle Tank. Or my new Ishbel. Or both.

New Ishbel? Yes! I was feeling sorry about not using that glorious blue Claudia Handpaint Silk Lace. It was a bit spendy, and I was feeling guilty. I bought some Addi Lace needles, and it has made all the difference. I also went down a needle size to a US 5. The silk glides along on the metal needles, and I’m a happy camper.

This doesn’t meant that I don’t love my Lantern Moon Ebony needles. They’re still my favorite. And they’re working great on the Ruffle Tank! I finished the back, and have cast on for the front. This is a great knit, just enough pattern to it that I’m engaged, but simple enough to knit while watching old episodes of Firefly. Mmmm, Firefly. I’m going to be sad when the 14 episodes are done!

Have a great weekend! What’s on your needles?

9 Comments

Posted in Knit, piano, travel

Tagged addi lace, ishbel, Knit, Ruffle Tank, yarn

I feel lucky…

Posted on June 15, 2009 | 14 comments

And I am! I’ve won two contests in the past week, and am now the happy owner of two new sock patterns. The first is Zoom Zoom, by Samantha Roshak at KnitQuest.

The other is Cotty, by Carrie Sullivan at IrishgirlieKnits.

These both look like fun knits. I have Socks that Rock Mediumweight in Alley-Oop, and I think that will work for Cotty. I’ll have to buy (twist my arm) fingering weight yarn for Zoom Zoom. but I’ll probably wait for the market at Sock Summit.

Thank you, Sam and Carrie, for the patterns, and for permission to use your pictures, too!

For someone who wasn’t a sock knitter, isn’t it funny that I have sock patterns, sock yarn, and am going to Sock Summit in August? Never say never!

14 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, knit socks

WWKIP Day: Where did you knit?

Posted on June 13, 2009 | 22 comments

I made it to two WWKIP Day events. The first was at the Hollywood Farmers’ Market. I met the organizer, BubblesAnne from Ravelry. It was great to meet her in person; last fall I knit several squares for a charity afghan she was making. We knit, met some nice people, and answered questions about why were were knitting at the market. I forgot to bring my camera, and completely forgot about pictures.

I also went to Pioneer Courthouse Square to knit with Melissa, KnitFemme on Ravelry and Twitter. She said they’d be on the stair, so I circled the place and didn’t see any knitters on the stairs.

Then I noticed the group at the end of the flowers. There were a few more people at this gathering, and even more after I took this picture with my phone!

Don’t ask me names, though; I’m really bad with names. I think that’s Emily on the left? I do know that she made the most delicious vegan chocolate chip cookies. Wow!

After all the knitting fun, I helped DH at a wine-tasting event. The wine was tasty, and so were the Moonstruck Chocolates!

Here’s the sky at the end of the event:

Where did you knit today?

22 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged Knit, WWKIP Day

Promises and Potpourri

Posted on June 11, 2009 | 14 comments

I can’t remember exactly when our blueberries ripened last year, but there are promising signs out there.

All five bushes are heavily laden again this year. I hope they’re ripe soon; I love blueberries!

My Ruffle Tank is showing signs of promise, too. The knitting is easy, and it’s a great take-along knit. I’m almost to the armhole shaping on the back, and still on the first of three skeins of yarn. I don’t think I’m going to run short.

It’s interesting knitting with this linen/merino mix. It’s string-like, but not really hard on the hands. I know that when it gets washed and dried, it’s going to get a lot softer, and it will help even up the stitches, too.

And one more sign of promise:

This robin is nesting in Carole’s lilac. Since our wreath nest was abandoned, Carole says we can share this one instead.

In other local news, Lorajean of Knitted Wit is having a contest. She’s participating in Take Steps for Crohn’s & Colitis, a fundraiser for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation. For every $5 you donate to Take Steps on her behalf, she’ll enter your name in a drawing for some wonderful prizes, including a Lantern Moon circular needle case, and hand-dyed yarn and fiber.

Deb Accuardi of Mt. Hood Fibers is starting a local sock club, which includes a lunch at Gino’s Restaurant in Sellwood (Portland) with every yarn/pattern release (every other month from October 2009 through August 2010).

And lastly, Saturday is World Wide Knit in Public Day. Last year I was on a camping trip, knitting in a field. I have several choices for this year: Hollywood Farmers’ Market at 8 a.m., Pioneer Courthouse Square at 10 a.m., or Hillsboro from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Get your needles ready!

Looking for a WWKIP Day event near you? Check here!

14 Comments

Posted in Knit

Tagged contest, Knit, Ruffle Tank, WWKIP Day, yarn